Do Not Get Close to Women

Soon, Lu Chuan swallowed all the gathered fire spirit energy, nurturing the Li Essence within his chest and abdomen.

A moment later, he drew circles with his hands to signal the end of his cultivation, slowly opening his eyes as the light around his body gradually faded.

Outside, Shen Gongbao laughed, "Disciple, you must be hungry. Come, your master will treat you to a meal."

Hearing this, Lu Chuan realized his stomach was indeed ravenous; after all, he hadn't eaten for nine days and nine nights, and even with true energy, he couldn't hold out forever.

The cultivation of the Samadhi True Fire could be interrupted, for those who had not yet attained immortality were still human. While they could endure hunger better than ordinary people, they were still human, and there was no such thing as living without food or drink.

One must know that even after becoming an immortal, one did not stop eating or drinking entirely; it was just that the quality of their sustenance improved significantly.

By then, they would feast on clouds and drink the essence of the air, consuming immortal fruits, rare treasures, dragon livers, and phoenix marrow, while drinking jade nectar and liquid pearls.

As for martial artists, that went without saying.

It was only because he hadn't felt hunger or thirst while cultivating that he had continued until he succeeded.

Thinking back now, this must have been related to the cup of immortal tea he drank before entering seclusion.

However, even with the immortal tea, it was clear he had lost weight after nine days and nights of seclusion, though his eyes had become much sharper.

"Coming!"

Lu Chuan opened the door and stepped into the courtyard, where he indeed saw Shen Gongbao standing with his hands behind his back, smiling.

"Master, I have mastered the Samadhi True Fire."

Lu Chuan was in a fantastic mood; the Samadhi True Fire was truly a formidable Daoist technique.

If he had mastered it back when he encountered that female demon outside Chaoge City, he wouldn't have needed to run for his life.

One must know that the Samadhi True Fire was the greatest bane to demons, ghosts, and monsters, and that female demon was a spectral entity.

As long as he lured her in and spat a mouthful of fire, she would undoubtedly have been burned to ashes, her soul scattered, never to be reincarnated.

"Your master is already aware. Come, let's go out and stroll around Chaoge."

Shen Gongbao laughed, "To think that we, master and disciple, have been settled here for over two months, yet we haven't gone out to look around even once!"

"Very well!"

Lu Chuan readily agreed; he also wanted to go out and see the world.

The two left the shop one after the other. It was high noon, and although it was already summer, the streets were still crowded with pedestrians, especially near the Chaoge South Gate, which was the busiest area.

Their shop was located not far from the South Gate, but because the goods they sold were poor, there was naturally no business to be had.

"Disciple, your master suddenly remembered something he must warn you about," Shen Gongbao said halfway there.

Lu Chuan smiled, "Please speak, Master; this disciple will keep it in his heart."

"Before your Daoist arts reach great success, you must not get close to women, otherwise it is very likely that..."

Shen Gongbao feigned a serious expression, pausing there to consider how to phrase the second half.

"Get close to women?"

Lu Chuan was stunned and hurriedly asked, "Likely to what?"

"At best, your cultivation will be broken and years of effort will wash away like water; at worst... you will face a bloody disaster!" Shen Gongbao said.

"Broken cultivation? A bloody disaster?"

Lu Chuan was dumbfounded. Although he hadn't thought about women yet, being told this by Shen Gongbao caught him off guard.

Was the requirement for cultivating immortality these days... really this high?

No meat in the early stages, and no touching women until the Daoist arts were perfected? But didn't novels mention the concept of Daoist companions?

"Hmm!"

Recalling the plight of Jiang Ziya, Shen Gongbao nodded with deep conviction.

In truth, it was indeed inadvisable to get close to women while cultivating the Dao; the virgin body should not be broken, but this was limited to the early stages before one had sufficient cultivation and self-control.

Because one's cultivation was low in the beginning, self-control would not be very strong, and the affairs between men and women consumed too much essence, energy, and spirit, making it all too easy to become addicted.

Once one became addicted, their path to the Dao would be completely ruined.

However, once Lu Chuan cultivated the Five Elements Formula to a medium level and possessed a certain degree of cultivation and focus, these influences would no longer matter.

Still, saying this was truly for Lu Chuan's own good.

One only had to look at the fate of his senior brother, Jiang Ziya, to know how serious and terrifying the consequences of getting married and touching a woman could be.

He intentionally delayed and raised the difficulty because he estimated that by the time Lu Chuan's Daoist arts reached great success, he would likely be at the realm of Refining Spirit to Return to Emptiness.

By then, his desire for romantic love would surely be less intense, and if he were even more exceptional, he might even be able to sever the desire for the opposite sex entirely.

Without these distractions and entanglements, Lu Chuan's chances of becoming an immortal would be much higher.

"Disciple, no need to thank me. When you are older, you will understand your master's painstaking efforts."

Shen Gongbao felt a great sense of accomplishment, imagining that when his disciple eventually became an immortal and he revealed the truth—

"This kid will surely be moved to tears, with them streaming down his face, right?"

Nearby.

Lu Chuan fell into deep contemplation after hearing these words.

"Great success in Daoist cultivation, is it?"

Shen Gongbao said he needed ten years to reach great success; he was currently sixteen, so ten years later he would be twenty-six...

That's fine, that's fine. I won't be too old by then.

Lu Chuan felt relieved in his heart. As for women... he still held to his original stance: he would not force it, and would let fate take its course.

In this world, when fate arrives, you cannot stop it; if there is no fate, then he would just have to continue being a bachelor!

Lu Chuan suddenly thought of an... emmmmm, very interesting question.

A multiple-choice question: one answer is to become an immortal but never be able to have a woman, and the other is to be able to have a woman but never become an immortal. If one could only choose one of these two answers, he wondered how the men of this world would choose.

The master and disciple walked side by side. Although they were thinking about the same matter, their thoughts were as far apart as the north pole from the south, completely opposite.

Fortunately, Shen Gongbao did not know what was going on inside his disciple's head at this moment, otherwise, he might have had the urge to strike this rebellious disciple down with a single palm.

Rebellious disciple, this master is racking his brains just to make your path to immortality a little easier, and you, on the other hand, actually dare to think about women...

The two remained silent for a time, continuing forward while harboring their own thoughts.

"Disciple, you must remember what I said just now."

Shen Gongbao said with a serious face: "Before your Daoist cultivation reaches great success, you must absolutely not touch a woman. Otherwise, if you break your virginity too early and leak your primordial yang, your Daoist cultivation will truly be broken, and your training will be ruined."

His words were essentially half-false and half-true, making it all the more difficult for Lu Chuan to discover anything.

Before one could refine essence into qi, this virgin body absolutely could not be broken; otherwise, the primordial yang would leak prematurely, and that shallow foundation of Daoist cultivation would be destroyed.

Lu Chuan nodded quickly: "Master, this disciple will remember."

Seeing Shen Gongbao speak so seriously, he dared not have the slightest doubt in his heart and quickly committed it to memory. After all, he did not want to joke around with his cultivation.

"Right?"

Shen Gongbao suddenly stopped in his tracks and asked: "Are you still a virgin?"

"Master, in the past, this disciple's spiritual apertures were not opened, and I was a fool for sixteen years."

Lu Chuan immediately had a head full of black lines: "Although this disciple is quite handsome, no woman would like a fool, right?"

"A normal person wouldn't, but another fool might not be so sure."

Lu Chuan: "!!!"

He seemed to hear a crow flying over his head, cawing with laughter. This old guy was truly... formidable; he could give you internal injuries with just a few words.

However...

He should learn from this. Not only did he need to learn Daoist arts, but he also had to learn this sharp-tongued wit of his. One can never have too many skills; he might find them useful in the future.

"Excuse me, coming through!"

The two walked a distance toward the city. At a fork in the road, a person suddenly came toward them, squeezed between the two, and headed to the left.

"Hey, brother, stay a moment."

Lu Chuan spun lightly a few times, his figure arriving before the young man, and he raised his hand with a smile to stop him.

"You..."

The man looked behind him, somewhat surprised at how Lu Chuan had gotten in front of him, but still asked sternly: "Little brother, is there something you need by stopping me?"

"Brother, we have been walking along this road," Lu Chuan said: "and have already seen several people like you, hurrying off in that direction. I wonder if there is some excitement to be seen over there?"