Yes, cremation was also prevalent in the cultivation world. Unless a clan or sect had the means to protect its graves, most cultivators would rather set their bodies ablaze than risk having their corpses dug up and refined into corpse puppets, leaving them unable to rest in peace even in death.
By now, among the Bing-Gui Immortal Seeds Lin Changheng had befriended, only he and Dantai Feiyue had never been to battle. The rest had either fought and been wounded or had died.
Someone like Bai Fengxian, who had only been disfigured without suffering any lasting damage, could be considered lucky.
At the request of the two families' widows and orphans, Lin, Xu, and Bai took charge of the funerals.
After some deliberation, they did not scatter the two men's ashes into the Black Water River. Instead, they buried them high up in the green hills and planted a young pine over each grave.
One day, when the trees stood tall and their canopies spread wide, they would watch over the changes in the immortal path, the shifting seas and mulberry fields.
"The immortal path is heartless. I wonder whether, when our time comes... anyone will find us a good place to rest?"
Xu Fugui suddenly sighed.
"The three of us should make a pact here. No matter which of us falls from the immortal path, the others will find him a good place to bury him." Bai Fengxian fell silent for a moment, then looked at the two of them and made his suggestion.
"Agreed." Lin Changheng thought for a moment and nodded.
"Sure." Xu Fugui agreed as well.
Three hands piled atop one another. The pact was sealed.
"Brother Lin."
One day, a voice suddenly called from outside Lin Changheng's courtyard, accompanied by a series of gentle knocks.
But if anyone had entered at that moment, they would have found no trace of anyone, either inside the house or in the courtyard.
"Coming."
A reply suddenly rang out from within the courtyard.
There was someone there after all?
Then a wondrous sight unfolded. On a patch of soft, yellow earth in a corner of the courtyard, a faint fluctuation of earth-element energy appeared.
Next, the yellow soil rippled like flowing water. A figure swayed and appeared out of thin air.
A sharp-eyed observer might have noticed that the figure seemed to have been spat out by the earth, trailing a few wisps of dust.
It was none other than Earth Escape...
[Earth Escape Art: Path Glimpse]!
The long-awaited, highly practical life-saving technique had finally become his!
About a month earlier, after Dantai Feiyue had continuously supplied talisman ink, the Rock Mountain Turtle Treasure Seed had finally completed its Spirit Snatch.
The Origin Cauldron had also nurtured a treasure seed for the first time—a yellow-brown one.
The spiritual resonance of his Earth Spirit Root had gained another strand, bringing the total to eight.
At the same time, he had directly refined Earth Escape without a second thought.
In an instant, the pulse of the earth surged toward him like a tide. Lin Changheng immediately felt its strange rhythm, and his breathing unconsciously fell into sync with it.
There was also the flow of earth energy—
It was not chaotic, but followed a rhythm older than breath itself.
From then on, the solid soil beneath Lin Changheng's feet was no longer an obstacle. It became a flowing "river," and he could begin to borrow the "waves" of earth to travel through it.
[Effect: Initially sense the rhythms of the earth; briefly merge with the soil and travel through it]
Overjoyed, Lin Changheng went straight to an uninhabited mountain nearby to test it out.
Once he had mastered this strange technique, he could enter the earth with a mere thought, as long as some part of his body touched the ground.
It was an extremely wondrous state. The hard earth beneath his feet merely rippled like water.
It was neither opened nor damaged, yet he had already entered the soil.
From Lin Changheng's perspective, his entire body was like a drop of ink falling into a lake, sinking gradually amid the ripples of yellow-brown spiritual energy.
Soon, he vanished completely beneath the ground, leaving no trace of himself.
"How wondrous!"
Lin Changheng could not help feeling both delighted and amazed. This one skill alone could help him evade some sudden dangers from the outside world.
He could sense that he was seven or eight feet beneath the soil.
He could go deeper, too, but at a depth of one zhang, the earth became unyieldingly hard. His feet felt as if they were standing on solid ground, and he could not sink any farther.
But this was, after all, the most basic form of the Earth Escape Art: Path Glimpse, so Lin Changheng was more than satisfied.
"Let's try traveling through the earth."
With a thought, Lin Changheng continued his tests.
His eyes narrowed as he focused on sensing his surroundings. Before long, he detected a certain rhythm in the earth. The moment he activated the strange technique, he was already traveling beneath the ground.
Carried along like a current, he reached a spot ten zhang away almost instantly.
The tightly packed rock and soil around him no longer obstructed him. Instead, they parted naturally like flowing water, then silently closed behind him, leaving only the faintest traces.
"Tsk, tsk. Even though it's pitch-black underground, in my perception, it looks like starry sand scattered across the earth, dotted with hazy yellow lights... It's quite beautiful—a sight I've never experienced before."
After about five breaths, Lin Changheng, swimming beneath the earth like a fish, began to feel uncomfortable.
The soil was pressing in on his body, and his breathing was growing labored.
He immediately picked a spot and burst out of the ground.
His robes had not even picked up a trace of dust.
"Truly miraculous."
After resting for a while, Lin Changheng resumed his tests.
Before long, he had reached a conclusion.
This Earth Escape Art: Path Glimpse allowed him to enter the earth as soon as he touched the ground. Once underground, he could go no deeper than one zhang and could stay no longer than five breaths.
He could travel about fifty zhang.
If he encountered danger, he could not escape with Earth Escape alone. But its strengths lay in how silently he could travel, how unpredictably he could change direction, and how erratically he could shift position. Combined with other methods, such as breath concealment techniques or a Hiding Talisman, he could leave the battlefield and vanish without a trace.
He would be extremely difficult to find for a short while.
The quick mind Lin Changheng had cultivated through years of solving problems soon came up with a way to compensate for its shortcomings.
He firmly believed that problems were dead, but people were alive; there was always a suitable solution.
Since Earth Escape was still weak, he could play to its strengths and make up for its flaws. Wouldn't that give him the optimal solution?
Once he had accumulated more Rock Mountain Turtle Treasure Seeds and the Earth Escape Art improved again, its duration, distance, and depth would all change. Then there would be no need for such workarounds.
The courtyard gate opened.
Dantai Feiyue walked in and plopped down on a stone stool in the courtyard, then pushed a wooden box toward him. Her starry eyes scrutinized Lin Changheng with suspicion. Clearly, he had taken far too long to answer the door.
They had been close for many years now, and the awkwardness of their early days had long since faded.
"Could this be..."
Lin Changheng didn't take the bait. He smiled warmly, drew the box toward himself, and opened it.
Inside lay four talismans, their strokes as sharp as silver hooks and iron strokes, their spiritual light rich and bright.
"As requested by Grandmaster Lin, two low-grade Breath Concealment Talismans and two low-grade Hiding Talismans, all of Premium Grade quality."
At that, Dantai Feiyue gave a soft snort, picked up her teacup, and spoke as she drank.
"Sorry for the trouble, Immortal Maiden."
Lin Changheng flicked his sleeve, and the wooden box and talismans disappeared. Then he looked at the princess, who was sipping her tea as if she owned the place, and couldn't help giving her a strange look.
"What? Is there a flower on this young lady's face?"
Dantai Feiyue noticed his gaze and instinctively paused with her cup in hand, asking in surprise.
"Your Highness is so beautiful that flowers pale in comparison..."
Lin Changheng's voice drifted over. Dantai Feiyue secretly delighted in his words, though she kept up her calm, unruffled expression.
But Lin Changheng pointed at the teacup in her hand. His next words made Dantai Feiyue's pretty face flush bright red, radiant as a blaze:
"It's just that I was the one who drank from that cup a moment ago. If you're really thirsty, Immortal Maiden, you can simply say so and I'll pour you some. There's no need to spare those few leaves of spirit tea on my account."
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