Current Situation

So, he probably wasn't unlucky enough to have a Five-Element Spiritual Root, right?

Thinking this, Wen Xu heard someone push the door open with cheerful footsteps. Before the person even arrived, his voice had already reached him: "Wen Xu, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted your words. How are you? Are you still hungry? Do you want another Grain-Repelling Pill?"

This time, he did not even need to open his eyes to confirm the newcomer's identity.

"Brother Bian, I'm fine. Thanks to you, I was able to leave the Cloud-Breaking Secret Realm."

Bian Chunchou thought to himself, Thanks to you for what? I'm the one who got carried by you. If not for you, I probably wouldn't even have passed the Preliminary Trial. "Don't call me Brother Bian, just call me by my name. Names are meant to be called, after all. Let me tell you some good news—I passed the Preliminary Trial! Wen Xu-Xu, do you want to come and take part in Yonglu Mountain's disciple selection together?"

Wen Xu:...

Current Situation

Bian Chunchou was the kind of person who loved to go wild with excitement whenever he was happy. After all, modern people—who didn't go a little wild? The only difference lay in what kind of wildness they unleashed. Seeing that Wen Xu's expression was untroubled, knowing the other man did not blame him, he gestured and danced around with joy as he described the tension and excitement of the preliminary ranking results just then.

"You passed the Preliminary Trial?"

"Yeah, yeah! I actually thought it was pretty touch-and-go, because Li Zishen, who came in first, actually plucked a tier-four spiritual plant. He truly lives up to his background from a spiritual plant aristocratic household! The people behind him drank quite a bit of soup just by following him. I heard other people predicting that Young Master Li will most likely be able to become an Inner Sect disciple."

Wen Xu smiled and chimed in: "So there are even spiritual plant aristocratic households."

"Yeah, and there are beast-taming, pill-refining, talisman-making, and lots of other aristocratic households. It's a pity, though—there are so many cultivation aristocratic households, how is it that there's no room for a tiny little me?" Bian Chunchou used to lament that there were so many rich people; now that he had come to the Cultivation Realm, he still envied other people's good fortune.

Hearing this, Wen Xu felt a rather sympathetic resonance: "Some matters cannot be envied, Brother Bian still needs to set his mind at ease."

Thinking of the other man's eyes, Bian Chunchou immediately changed the subject: "Ah, let's not talk about this first. I heard Elder Zhan say that the Cloud-Breaking Secret Realm connects upward to the Mortal Realm, and occasionally mortals accidentally enter the secret realm. Most of them choose to stay in the Cultivation Realm. What about you, Wen Xu-Xu?"

Actually, if it were up to him to choose, he would definitely pick the Cultivation Realm. But Wen Xu-Xu was a born-and-bred ancient person whose family and friends were still alive in the world. If he chose to stay here, then before reaching the Golden Core Realm, there was absolutely no possibility of returning.

And the Golden Core Realm was not so easily attained.

There were so many cultivators in the Cultivation Realm, ranging from the Qi Refining Stage to the Foundation Establishment Stage. Even with the lowest-grade Five-Element Spiritual Root, as long as one put in enough effort, anyone could succeed in Foundation Establishment. That was because Foundation Establishment, to put it bluntly, was simply a matter of filling up all the Qi Seas inside the Dantian.

Once the Qi Seas were filled, the majority of cultivators could naturally achieve success as things took their course.

A Golden Core, however, was different. It required fusing the Qi Seas within the body into a single, smooth Golden Core. It sounded very simple, but the practical difficulty was immense. The journey from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core was a process of broadening, fusing, and comprehending the Qi Seas inside the body. During this process, the sect did not even have concrete, step-by-step problem-solving methods, because everyone's circumstances were different—even with identical spiritual roots and similar life experiences, the manifestations in individual people would still vary.

The saying that a master leads you through the door, but cultivation depends on the individual, described precisely this logic.

Not to mention the subsequent Nascent Soul Realm, Spirit Transformation Stage, Body Integration Realm, and Tribulation Transcendence Realm. To his knowledge, the number of cultivators in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm across the entire Cultivation Realm did not exceed double digits. Even those in the Body Integration Realm were scarce, while those in the Spirit Transformation stage were figures at the level of sect masters and vice sect masters. In slightly more remote places, a Nascent Soul expert was the lord of a city and the pinnacle of combat strength.

As for cultivators ascending to become Golden Core True Persons, rumors among the common folk placed the average age of advancement right around a hundred years old. By the time a century had passed, the mortal world would long since no longer be the familiar world Wen Xu-Xu knew.

Of course, if Wen Xu-Xu happened to be a cultivation genius, that would be another matter entirely.

"I certainly won't go back right now. The reason I accidentally entered the Cloud-Breaking Secret Realm was precisely because I was hunted down to a desperate impasse. To return at a time like this—how is that any different from walking to my death?"

Bian Chunchou slapped his thigh: "Oh, right! You're such a good person—what kind of monster could possibly be so hateful as to hunt you down?"

"I don't know either, but that person seemed to be hunting me down because of my appearance."

Whoa. Bian Chunchou instantly conjured a hundred dog-blood melodramas in his head. He immediately shook his head to cast those unhealthy speculations out: "Then in the Mortal Realm, do you have any other attachments?"

After all, cultivation required the cultivation of the mind. If the obsessions in one's heart were too deep, it would severely affect one's cultivation speed.

"I have not started a household, nor am I bound by any betrothal. My foster father passed away from illness three years ago, and now I am simply standing alone in the world."

Bian Chunchou's comfort was uniquely his own: "Ah, then we're the same! My dad also passed away a few years ago, and right now I eat my fill alone with no family to worry about. So really, can the two of us not team up to take the Yonglu Mountain examinations?"

Wen Xu did not immediately agree. He was actually a person with a strong competitive streak, and compared to Yonglu Mountain, he naturally wanted to enter the top-ranked Harmony Sect even more. However, his spiritual root had not yet been tested, so it was difficult to voice aloud. Instead, he said: "May I ask Brother Bian a question?"

"What question? Just ask. But call me by my name."

Before this, Wen Xu had been a scholar. Scholars had the most rules, and among acquaintances, how could one casually address others by their first name? He was momentarily unable to change his habits completely: "Brother Chunchou, why did you choose to take the Yonglu Mountain examinations?"

Very nice, I've been promoted from Brother Bian to Brother Chunchou. Next time, I should be able to drop the 'Brother' altogether.

"Oh, this? Well, I have a bit of a prestigious-school complex, so I'm not considering other sects for the time being. Among the Five Major Sects, Bitter Crossing Temple consists of Buddhist Cultivators. My head aches just looking at academic texts, and Buddhist Cultivators sound headache-inducing. Even though I wouldn't need to shave my head, I unilaterally feel that I have no affinity with the Buddha."

"Next is the Heaven-Shattering Sword Sect. I actually really want to go there—after all, those are Sword Cultivators! If you practice well, you can kill enemies across realms, but... it's too far. Really too far. From here to the Heaven-Shattering Sword Sect, just the travel expenses for the teleportation array alone cost a hundred low-grade Spirit Stones. My economic strength does not permit me to covet it."

Wen Xu:... What a realistic reason.

"Finally, there's the Harmony Sect—the number one grand sect in the world, the sect yearned for by all cultivators. Distance-wise, I can make it there as well. But they succeed because they're number one, and they fail because they're number one. Because of their towering reputation, far too many genius cultivators apply. To be safe, I've decided to make Yonglu Mountain my top choice."