The Immortal Path is Difficult

"Grandfather, are you alright?"

After instructing those nearby to clear the battlefield, Shen Changchuan turned his gaze toward Han Qinhu, who stood not far away.

"I'm fine, just accidentally tossed aside by this beast. It's nothing serious."

"You should go inside and recover your mana first. The road ahead isn't long, but until we reach our destination, there may still be times when we need you to act."

By now, Han Qinhu had already stood up from the ground. He casually brushed the dust off his clothes and spoke with an indifferent, hearty tone, his voice full of vigor.

Seeing that Han Qinhu was truly unhurt, Shen Changchuan nodded and turned to return to the carriage.

That giant wild boar had possessed strength at least at the fourth level of Qi Refining!

To kill it in a single blow, he hadn't dared to be the least bit careless, and that strike alone had consumed nearly half the mana in his body.

Although there were still ten miles left to their destination, who knew if they would encounter any more accidents along the way?

Furthermore, even upon arriving at Dawan Village, he was essentially an outsider being parachuted in. He had no idea how the village would react to his arrival, or if the family cultivator currently guarding Dawan Village would make things difficult for him for usurping their position.

He needed to quickly recover his mana and bring his state to its peak as soon as possible.

With that, Shen Changchuan didn't linger for further pleasantries and hurried back into the carriage to meditate and refine his mana.

Han Qinhu didn't mind this in the slightest.

He walked over to the giant wild boar, which lay on the ground like a small hill. Looking at the shadow cast by its massive frame, the lean, sturdy muscles that looked as if they had been cast from steel, and the small nick on its neck where he had struck it, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

This was the gap between a mortal and an immortal.

He was a martial artist who had spent half a lifetime honing his craft, yet with decades of cultivation, he had barely managed to break the skin of this monster.

Meanwhile, Shen Changchuan had only practiced immortal arts for a few years, yet he was already capable of slaying the same beast in a single strike!

The disparity was truly enough to make one feel disheartened.

However, the moment he remembered that Shen Changchuan was his own grandson—his own kin—Han Qinhu's back straightened involuntarily.

My grandson has the potential to become an immortal!

Han Qinhu thought to himself with a secret sense of pride, a warm, satisfied feeling bubbling up inside him.

"Father, what do we do now?"

At that moment, a muffled, thick voice pulled Han Qinhu back to reality. He saw Han Dayong approaching, dragging his mace behind him.

"What else can we do? Just arrange for the men to pack up!"

Facing his own dim-witted son, Han Qinhu glared with his tiger-like eyes and snapped, "Clear out the miscellaneous items from the carriage behind us, and get a few men to hoist this beast onto it!"

"Also, have someone extract the magical artifact from the demon pig's head. Clean it carefully and send it to the young master's carriage."

Han Qinhu issued his orders with practiced ease, taking command of the situation.

His father's irritable scolding made Han Dayong shrink his neck. Though he didn't know why his father was angry, the thick-headed Han Dayong knew exactly what he needed to do, so he hurried off to help with the cleanup.

Half an hour later, the team, having taken a brief rest, set off once more.

Inside the carriage, Shen Changchuan had already ceased his meditation.

As he was only at the late stage of the third level of Qi Refining, he didn't possess much mana, so the time required to meditate and restore his reserves was not long.

A quarter-hour of focused refinement had already restored his mana to ninety percent.

It might seem somewhat slow, which was undoubtedly a major trouble when it came to combat.

But this was still considered decent.

If he were in the late stages of Qi Refining—the seventh level or above—relying solely on meditation to recover would take at least an entire day!

To shorten the recovery time, one would have to rely on spiritual items like spirit stones or pills, or cultivate in a place rich with spiritual energy.

Clearly, for Shen Changchuan at this moment, He could only rely on his own meditation to refine and recover his energy; he was not yet qualified to be so extravagant as to use spirit stones or medicinal pills for recovery.

Shen Changchuan flexed his wrists.

Inside his sleeves were specially sewn needle pouches. Two golden needles had already been cleaned and delivered by his subordinates, and he had carefully tucked them away inside.

Although it felt a bit uncomfortable against his skin, it was fortunate that if any sudden accident occurred, he could use them immediately.

A little inconvenience, one would get used to it.

Being cautious in one's actions was never a mistake.

Adjusting his sitting posture, Shen Changchuan habitually focused his mind, his gaze fixed on the void ahead.

At this very moment, a faint light screen appeared within his field of vision.

Name: Shen Changchuan

Realm:
Late Stage of Qi Induction, Third Layer

Cultivation Method:
Elephant Mountain Qi Absorption Art

Magical Artifacts:
Two Golden Needles (Quasi-low-grade magical artifact)

Spells:
Golden Needle Stab: 100% (Perfection Trait: Slight increase in hidden weapon accuracy, negligible experience in Metal-element spell cultivation)

Lightness Technique: 81%

Wind Blade Technique: 52%

Fireball Technique: 43%

Vine Technique: 13%

A very rudimentary panel, it had no other functions, merely displaying Shen Changchuan's general status.

The percentages shown were progress bars, which could also be described as his proficiency in cultivating that particular spell.

And when a progress bar reached one hundred percent, just like the Golden Needle Stab above, some traits would appear afterward.

How these traits appeared or what the principle behind them was, Shen Changchuan had no idea.

But he could clearly feel that once those traits emerged, his accuracy in using the Golden Needle Stab had improved to a certain extent.

That feeling, it was as if he had gained new insights after mastering a certain spell.

Or perhaps it was like being infused with some kind of knowledge and experience.

As for the specifics, he couldn't say for sure.

However, one thing was certain:

those suffix traits were good things.

Just like earlier, the fact that his two golden needles could precisely strike the giant wild boar's eyes after he activated the Golden Needle Stab was the result of the trait brought about by raising his Golden Needle Stab cultivation progress to 100%.

"It's a pity that the progress bar for this thing relies entirely on self-cultivation; there's no way to add points. I don't know which guy designed this, but at first glance, it's clearly a flop."

"Nowadays, the 'invincible at the start' genre, the 'mindless point-adding' genre, or the 'gain experience or lifespan by killing enemies' genre are the true way to go!"

Shen Changchuan couldn't help but complain to the panel before him once again.

But clearly, the panel, just like the dozens or hundreds of times before, remained completely motionless.

Shen Changchuan had no choice but to accept reality.

There was no helping it;

even if his golden finger was a bit lackluster, it was at least a golden finger.

It gave him, at the very least, the confidence to gain a foothold in this strange world.

Indeed.

For Shen Changchuan, this was an alien world.

He was no native of this realm, but a transmigrator who had arrived two and a half years ago.

Roughly two and a half years prior, he had been a "chosen" wage slave—someone who had only been out of school for a few years, loved slacking off at work, reading novels, and playing games.

Then, one night while pulling an all-nighter to grind a progress bar in a small game, his vision went black. When he woke, he had transmigrated into the body of Shen Changchuan, who had just been severely wounded in an attack by a demonic beast.

Accompanying him was that useless little progress bar panel floating before his eyes.

At the beginning, Shen Changchuan felt quite uneasy. After all, this was a world where the path of immortality existed, and he had transmigrated into the Shen Clan, a formidable cultivation family. Heaven knows if there was such a thing as "soul snatching" here, and if someone might see through him.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario did not come to pass.

His status was merely that of an inconspicuous concubine-born son, and not many people paid him any mind.

Furthermore, after transmigrating, he had digested the original owner's memories and kept as quiet as possible, acting with extreme caution.

To outsiders, his drastic change in temperament was simply the result of having walked through the gates of hell, lying comatose for seven days and seven nights after his near-fatal injury.

Such occurrences seemed perfectly normal in this world.

Even the mother of this body harbored no suspicions.

And so, Shen Changchuan quietly settled into the Shen Clan.

After a month-long adjustment period, Shen Changchuan learned that this world was a vast, boundless realm of cultivation, and he also discovered the nature of his "gold finger"—the progress bar.

At the time, Shen Changchuan was filled with excitement.

Back then, he couldn't help but fantasize about using it to soar into the heavens, becoming an ancestor of immortality in this world, or perhaps even transcending the world itself!

However, Before Shen Changchuan could even plan to reveal his talent through the panel to catch the eye of his cheap father or the clan and receive prioritized training, an incident within the Shen Clan poured a bucket of cold water over him, instantly cooling his enthusiasm.

It was the death of one of his half-brothers—a young man with decent talent who had reached the sixth level of Qi Refining—who had committed suicide by stabbing himself seven times in the back!

How did he know it was seven stabs to the back?

Because when the terrified Shen Clan servants were carrying the body to the physician, they happened to cross paths with Shen Changchuan.

At that moment, he had seen with his own eyes the hilt of the blade still sticking out of the man's back!

Shen Changchuan did not know the specific details of that affair.

He only knew that two days later, that cheap brother was declared dead.

The official cause of death was suicide.

Not long after, the biological mother of that "suicidal" brother reportedly went mad and was driven away to a small temple on the West Mountain outside the city to recuperate. The brother's full-blooded younger sibling was also sent to the temple under the guise of filial piety, ordered to serve their mother.

Shen Changchuan, a "chosen" wage slave who had only been in the workforce for two years and had barely caught a glimpse of corporate darkness, had never witnessed such sinister and treacherous power struggles within a great clan.

Moreover, he suddenly recalled that the reason the original owner had been lying in bed for seven days and nights was because he had been attacked by a demonic beast while out!

Heaven knows if that was truly an accidental encounter with a beast, or something else entirely.

Terrified out of his wits, Shen Changchuan immediately reined in all his ambitions and carefully played the part of a transparent background character within the Shen Clan.

He didn't even dare to cultivate too diligently, fearing that if he accidentally displayed extraordinary aptitude, someone might hand him a script for a "suicide by seven stabs to the back" as well.

This was why, after two and a half years, his cultivation level and various progress bars remained at such a pathetic level.

Yet, it was precisely because of this that Shen Changchuan saw more clearly the darkness beneath the glamorous exterior of this great cultivation family, and invisibly avoided the death traps that might have come his way.

Over those two years, two more of his cheap brothers met with "accidents"—one drowned, one fell off a cliff—while another went missing, and two sisters eloped with others.

Even as a recluse within the Shen Clan, Shen Changchuan could feel the undercurrents surging within the family.

The struggle for favor between the First Madam and the Second Madam, the infighting between various factions for power and profit, all grew increasingly intense, with even external forces becoming embroiled in the mess.

It left the bystander Shen Changchuan trembling with fear.

Fortunately, he had made some plans in advance, and with the help of his mother, he had managed to secure an external posting, effectively escaping the vortex of the Shen Clan's main residence in Tiannan City.

Otherwise, Shen Changchuan wasn't sure if he could have survived the future internal strife of the Shen Clan.

"Sigh, this useless progress panel. I don't dare dream of becoming an immortal ancestor anymore. Let's just focus on surviving and trying to live a little better."

Recalling the experiences of the past two and a half years, Shen Changchuan couldn't help but heave a long sigh in his heart.

Reality had long since smoothed away his sharp edges.

As for becoming an immortal, he no longer indulged in such daydreams.

His greatest dream now was simply to one day reach the Out-of-Body stage, possessing enough strength to stay out of the Shen Clan's affairs, and then return to Tiannan City to bring his mother out and away from that vortex.

Thinking of his mother's love and the sacrifices she had made to help him secure this external posting, Shen Changchuan sighed once more.

It was no easy feat for him to be sent away on an official assignment.

Before his departure, he had heard that his mother had been ordered by the First Madam to be confined to the ancestral hall for half a year.

His mother had said nothing about it, and Shen Changchuan had not asked.

Because, as a mere third-layer Qi Refinement cultivator, he possessed absolutely no power to change anything.

Only by ascending to the Soul Formation stage could he hope to have any say within the Shen family.

Yet, although the Soul Formation stage was the next level after Qi Refinement, the Qi Refinement stage consisted of nine layers, each one incomparably difficult to traverse.

To complete all nine layers of Qi Refinement and break through to the Soul Formation stage, one's aptitude, financial resources, and destiny were all indispensable.

The entire Shen family was said to number in the tens of thousands, yet true cultivators at the Soul Formation level numbered only a few dozen.

It was only because he possessed the progress bar panel that Shen Changchuan had a few more shreds of confidence.

Even so, he dared not claim that he would definitely be able to break through to the Soul Formation stage in the future.

After all, the path of immortality is arduous indeed!