Do You Remember When the Immortal Asked the Way

By the babbling brook, the boy gripped his small wooden sword tightly, staring fixedly at the white-haired man who descended on a flying sword.

"Your foundation is excellent. Would you like to come with me?" the white-haired man said.

Though young, how could he not see the scenery of the whistling azure sky? Just as he was about to agree, he first heard a stubborn voice from beside him: "Take me!"

The speaker was his playmate, also the one he had just defeated in their "sword duel."

The boy knew his companion's stubbornness well—for instance, this very "sword duel" today; he had lost count of how many rounds it had been. But this companion, having lost once before, was obstinately determined to win back before stopping.

The boy thought, then we can go cultivate together.

Many details he could no longer recall, but he still remembered the white-haired man's eyes. As clear as the stream, as lofty as the sky.

The white-haired man looked at them with those eyes, at the two inseparable childhood friends, and a faint, enigmatic smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

"I only take one disciple," the white-haired man said.

He repeated: "Both of you are good, but I will only take one away."

What to do? the boy thought at the time.

But he only had a moment to think; in the next instant, he was pushed into the small river.

Bang!

The sound of splashing water.

His friend, the one he had played with since they were bare-bottomed children, still just a child himself, had pushed him into the water without hesitation!

Through the rippling waves, he saw his "friend's" expressionless face, and the white-haired man's ever-calm gaze.

Then, a frost-white sword light shot into the sky.

His playmate and the white-haired man were wrapped in that magnificent, dazzling sword light, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, arriving abruptly and departing just as abruptly.

Like countless legends of immortals seeking the Dao, brushing past the pitiful and mediocre mortals.

Leaving behind only what could not be let go, what could not be believed, what startled him awake countless times in the middle of the night!

Jiang Wang opened his eyes. The pitch-black night enveloped his surroundings, and him as well. The dormitory was exceptionally quiet; Ling He and Du Yehu's breaths were long and steady, carrying a special rhythm.

Jiang Wang knew they were practicing the Basic Breathing Technique. Though shallow and fundamental, it was only taught to inner disciples. It was the century-old foundational art of the Zhuang Kingdom Daoist Academy.

The inner courtyard selection at Maple Forest City Daoist Academy held few surprises. Ling He, Du Yehu, and Zhao Rucheng had all become new inner disciples, their names recorded on the Daoist Jade Registry enshrined in the Sacrificial Hall.

But until their Dao Veins manifested, they could not yet be considered true Hemp-Robed Daoists.

Vein-Opening Pills were worth a thousand gold and hard to come by. Even though Maple Forest City Daoist Academy was state-supported, it could not distribute them free to every disciple. As the best among the outer disciples selected for the inner sect, they would generally have to endure at least a year, accumulating enough merit, before they qualified to obtain a Vein-Opening Pill.

Only the top contributor among the outer disciples each year could exchange their contributions for a Vein-Opening Pill. This was the academy's special incentive for outer disciples. So with Jiang Wang in this cohort, no one else could replicate his path.

Even so, Jiang Wang had only accumulated enough contributions for a Vein-Opening Pill through life-risking, bloody battles. And now, within a hundred li of Maple Forest City, there were no more West Mountain Bandits to eradicate.

Joining the Daoist Academy as an outer disciple, training hard, defeating countless competitors to enter the inner sect. After entering the inner sect, continuing to cultivate diligently while accumulating task contributions, finally receiving a Vein-Opening Pill, and stepping into the Transcendent—this was the normal path for a Zhuang Kingdom cultivator. It could be considered a visible, broad road.

But compared to those with naturally manifesting Dao Veins who directly entered the inner sect to begin cultivating Dao techniques, these youths taking the outer disciple promotion route indeed wasted too much time.

On the path of cultivation, one step slow meant every step slow. This was why Jiang Wang had risked his life to complete tasks while an outer disciple, and also why Fang Pengju could not curb his greed. No one was willing to wait so many years!

So Jiang Wang understood Fang Pengju's craving, but could not forgive his methods.

For martial artists as outstanding as them—whether Ling He or Du Yehu—who among them desired the Transcendent less than Fang Pengju? Yet none of them had stooped to such despicable means.

Jiang Wang's father had once said: A person is defined by his choices. Jiang Wang deeply agreed.

And he himself had just been caught in a difficult choice.

As everyone knew, cultivators had nine ranks, with the first rank being the highest, and the ninth rank regarded as the beginning of the Transcendent. The mark of achieving the ninth rank was forming a Dao Vortex, with Dao Essence generating on its own.

Cultivators had passed through an incalculably long history, and naturally had very detailed and in-depth research on this first step into the Transcendent.

The spine was considered the great dragon of the human body, and the Dao Vein was hidden within it. After the Dao Vein manifested, a cultivator could use their blood and qi energy to feed back into the Dao Vein, thereby generating Dao Essence. Dao Essence was the foundation of all Dao techniques and the basis of the Transcendent.

Take Jiang Wang's Earthworm Vein as an example: each time he mobilized the "earthworm," he needed to expend a considerable amount of blood and qi energy, channeling it through the entire spinal great dragon before he could generate one unit of Dao Essence. And a cultivator at Jiang Wang's level could at most perform two pulse-charging sessions per day, accumulating two units of Dao Essence. It wasn't that he wasn't hardworking, but his body wouldn't allow it. The blood and qi consumption was too great; harming his source and spirit was entirely not worth it.

After accumulating Dao Essence, the next step was to use the spirit to control the Dao Essence, arranging the corresponding array points exactly according to the Foundation Array Diagram. When the array was complete, the Dao Vortex would be born.

As a cultivator who had already opened his veins, Maple Forest City Daoist Academy had naturally taught him the Foundation Array Diagram. It was the Zhuang Kingdom standard Return to Origin Formation, with a total of eighty-one array points. That meant, without a single mistake in laying out the Foundation Array Diagram, he would need at least forty-one days—nearly a month and a half—to truly become a ninth-rank cultivator. (The two units of Dao Essence Jiang Wang had previously accumulated had been exhausted in battle.)

Before this, Jiang Wang had nothing to be troubled about. But now, having unexpectedly entered the Great Void Illusion Realm and inherited Zuo Guanglie's "True Insight Ruins Blessed Land," unlocking the corresponding Sword Discussion Platform and Dao Evolution Platform, he had new worries.

Yesterday, after obtaining the Return to Origin Formation Diagram, he had, to test the Dao Evolution Platform's effect, invested all 1850 points of merit into deducing the Foundation Array Diagram. In the end, he obtained the immensely complex Celestial Star Formation Map. The entire Foundation Array Diagram had three hundred and sixty-five array points!

Not to mention the difficulty of laying out the Celestial Star Formation Map, even if he could perfectly replicate the Foundation Array Diagram, it would take at least half a year to generate his first Dao Vortex.

And after that, advancing from ninth rank to eighth rank required establishing three Dao Vortices, and from eighth rank to seventh rank required establishing nine.

Calculating this way, the time was far too long!

The Celestial Star Formation was undoubtedly stronger than the Return to Origin Formation, but the lengthy time required for its foundation was precisely what made Jiang Wang hesitate. He needed to improve his cultivation as quickly as possible to catch up to those cultivators with naturally manifesting Dao Veins, yet time waited for no one.

But after tonight's dream and awakening, he had already made his choice.

Jiang Wang closed his eyes, urging the single unit of Dao Essence generated from yesterday's pulse-charging to move slowly within his spine. In the vague perceptual world where he controlled the Dao Essence, this was a vast, boundless, and infinite space.

Because the great dragon dwelled here, this place was also called the Spinal Sea.

But among cultivators, it is known by a more resounding name—the Heaven-Connecting Palace!

Breaking through the Heaven-Connecting Palace and opening the Heaven and Earth Gate marks the transition from a beginner cultivator to an intermediate one.

Within the boundless Heaven-Connecting Palace, a single Dao Essence is as insignificant as a speck of dust. Yet it does not drift with the current; instead, it resolutely and stubbornly carries out Jiang Wang's will. It shifts, shifts again, and finally comes to a halt at the ideal location.

That is the position of the Sun Star within the Celestial Star Formation Map.

The moment this Dao Essence came to rest, Jiang Wang seemed to see once more the eyes of that white-haired cultivator from his youth.

He would never forget, when he was pushed into the water.

Those eyes seemed to say to him—

"The path of cultivation is one of struggle."