Advancement

What was all this?! Did these words even have any necessary connection between them? Taste it, really savor it—when the words in these cultivation arts were put together, they were about as incompatible as his Fire-Water Spiritual Root, weren't they?!

"What's wrong with you? You look completely listless."

Yonglu Mountain had a gigantic Scripture Repository Tower at the very top of Disciple Peak. It contained more than a hundred thousand cultivation arts of all shapes and sizes. Even for Fire-Water Spiritual Roots, Bian Chunchou had managed to dig out four manuals.

Then, according to his own preferences, he chose the one in his hands, Water-Fire Harmonization.

Water-Fire Harmonization was, in truth, a derivative hexagram of the Eight Trigrams. The Already Fulfilled hexagram had Kan above and Li below, with the two complementing each other. Kan was water, Li was fire; Already Fulfilled meant water and fire joining together in use.

With Bian Chunchou's literary attainments, once he got to this point, he... could not understand a single bit of the following water-and-fire theory. The descriptions were far too abstract, far too unbridled and fantastical. Water and fire had somehow been depicted as things interwoven between substance and illusion.

How was a science student like him supposed to understand this? By running experiments?

"Don't say any more. Cultivation arts are so hard."

Hearing this, Chen Zui wore an expression of deep fellow feeling. "I understand you."

"You can't understand them either?"

Chen Zui frankly admitted, "This morning, I was even scolded by Master."

Bian Chunchou practically wanted to hug someone and weep. It was too hard, truly too hard. Did the Cultivation Realm have any literature cram schools? He would sign up, all right? How could anyone write cultivation arts in a way that nobody could understand?

"I was scolded by Master too. Wuwuwu, Master was so fierce!" Yet he still could not bring himself to dislike Master.

Chen Zui took three steps back in distaste. "Don't wipe it on me. Dirty."

"You think I'm dirty too! Back then, who knows who it was, with a beard so thick that anyone who didn't know better would have thought—"

"Thought what?"

Bian Chunchou wiped away nonexistent tears. "Nothing. I've decided to go to Six Lectures Peak for class later. Maybe if I listen more, I'll gain some insight into cultivation arts."

"That makes sense. I'll go with you."

"Should we ask Wen Xu-Xu to come too?" After thinking it over, Bian Chunchou drew the simplest Communication Talisman and sent it over. This was also the only simple low-grade talisman he had learned so far.

"Ah, he didn't reply. He must be busy." Bian Chunchou dragged Chen Zui outside. "Let's go save seats first. If Wen Xu-Xu sees the Communication Talisman and wants to come, at least he won't have nowhere to sit."

Saving seats was a university student's specialty. He was the ver—

"So many people!"

Bian Chunchou looked up at the vast sea of people and asked a senior brother about it. Only then did he learn that today's lecture was being given by Sui Yuan True Person of Pill Peak. Sui Yuan True Person was the one who had obtained the Fragrant Elixir King Grass fifty years ago. He had now advanced to Golden Core, and his teachings could more or less benefit those in the Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage.

"Especially disciples with wood- or water-element Spiritual Roots—they're all up front. If you didn't come earlier, you can only sit in the back with us now."

Bian Chunchou: ...

Advancement

Before long, Sui Yuan True Person arrived with graceful, unhurried steps.

Yonglu Mountain had no rigid rules concerning attire. After receiving their disciple robes, disciples could alter them according to their preferences. Lengthening or shortening them, layering formations onto them, embroidering talismans—everything was permitted. They could even change the style if they disliked it, so long as the Yonglu Mountain emblem remained on the sleeves.

Sui Yuan True Person wore a moon-white Daoist robe. As he walked, rippling light seemed to flow between its folds, clearly showing that many talismans had been layered onto it. He was eighty-two this year, yet already possessed Middle Golden Core cultivation. He was an outstanding figure among the younger generation of cultivators on Hengze Continent. At the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion in the very center of Hengze Continent stood a Hundred Prodigies Ranking. As its name implied, the Prodigies Ranking recorded the favored sons of heaven among cultivators. Those listed had to meet extremely strict requirements for age and cultivation: they had to be Golden Core cultivators or above, and under a hundred years old.

Thus, every person on the ranking was a cultivation genius with a name to their credit.

It was worth mentioning that although this ranking stood in the plaza of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, it was not compiled by the pavilion's members. According to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's public explanation, the Prodigies Ranking itself was a peerless top-grade artifact. It could communicate with heaven and earth, detect the cultivation circumstances of prodigies, and automatically arrange the rankings accordingly.

At the very top of the Prodigies Ranking was Qi Yu True Lord, the current eldest senior brother of the Hehe Sect.

According to unreliable rumors, Qi Yu True Lord had already reached the Nascent Soul Middle Stage. But he was ninety-nine this year, so he likely had no chance of advancing to Spirit Transformation before falling off the ranking.

In truth, the Cultivation Realm had never produced a Spirit Transformation cultivator under a hundred. Even someone as gifted as Jun Zhaoying had only felt her way to the threshold of Spirit Transformation after passing one hundred. From Nascent Soul to Spirit Transformation, the barrier appeared to be only one step away, yet only cultivators who had truly advanced knew that it was the hardest step to cross. As for why, one could only feel it most directly after truly touching that threshold.

Foundation Establishment cultivators lived two hundred years, Golden Core cultivators five hundred, while Nascent Soul cultivators had lifespans of a thousand years. Some Nascent Soul True Lords had advanced to Nascent Soul early, and had even been renowned cultivation geniuses in their youth. But what of it? Plenty of Nascent Soul True Lords still could not advance even as their lifespans drew to an end.

Yonglu Mountain had two people in the top ten of the Prodigies Ranking. One of them was Zheng Jin, the junior granduncle of Artifact Refining Peak.

As for Sui Yuan True Person, he possessed wood-water Spiritual Roots and Middle Golden Core cultivation. He ranked eighty-second on the Prodigies Ranking. It did not sound very high, did it? But one had to know that this ranking counted every cultivator under a hundred in the entire Cultivation Realm.

In other words, he had defeated at least 99.99% of all cultivators under a hundred on the continent to make the ranking.

Bian Chunchou craned his neck toward the lecture platform at the very front. Cultivators had exceptional eyesight, but his cultivation was too low, so he did not dare use spiritual power. He could only make out Sui Yuan True Person's high crown and broad sash, his elegant and unrestrained bearing.

As for what he looked like, Bian Chunchou could not see him at all. After all, his current seat was no different from sitting at the very top of a concert venue.

But after Sui Yuan True Person settled down and began the lecture, Bian Chunchou and Chen Zui did not dare make the slightest movement. This was the most basic respect owed to one's teacher, and Qi Refining cultivators simply could not pull little tricks under the nose of a Golden Core True Person. How was that any different from courting death?

"Today's lecture concerns the two words, 'heart and thought.'"