The Sea of Bitterness was the beginning of all cultivation.
It lay at the perfect dividing point between the upper and lower halves of the body. Centered on the point below the navel, it formed a circle about the size of a palm—the place where essence was stored.
Everything in existence had a place where it first came into being. For the human body, that place was below the navel.
Common people used it to give birth to children; Daoists used it to give birth to themselves.
The secret realm was not empty.
Time was merciless, and it always carved traces into all things. Trees had annual rings, and people were no different. A Life Wheel recorded the passage of time.
Lin Xian's Life Wheel bore twenty-five marks, symbolizing twenty-five years.
The Nascent Soul's qi broke through the Sea of Bitterness and washed over the Life Wheel with its hazy energy. One of the marks gradually healed. Soon, the twenty-five marks became twenty-four.
He had gained a year of life. The road to Immortality began here.
If he continued washing it without increasing or decreasing its state, that would be Eternity.
But the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm had both a wheel and a sea.
Apart from the Life Wheel, there was also the endless sea of tribulations that concealed it. The two overlapped like Tai Chi's Two Forms, symbolizing life and death, yin and yang, stillness and motion, purity and turbidity.
It was not only the passage of time that wore down the Life Wheel. The endless Sea of Bitterness, symbolizing yin and turbidity, was also devouring it bit by bit.
The Sea of Bitterness surged over and once again submerged the Life Wheel. There was only one mass of Nascent Soul qi, incapable of contending with the Sea of Bitterness, and it gradually fell into a disadvantage.
The dark, profound Sea of Bitterness battered the Life Wheel, raising billions of waves that became obstacles on the road of cultivation.
The purpose of cultivation was to cross the entire Sea of Bitterness, keeping the Life Wheel crystalline and free of scars or marks, preventing it from being devoured by the Sea of Bitterness and preserving it in its original state.
Once he shed his yin nature and achieved flawless perfection, obtaining Pure Yang, he would become a True Immortal.
Qi-State Origin-Flow was one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills. One could become an Immortal only after attaining the Dao, never simply by mastering a technique.
It had opened the door of cultivation for Lin Xian. By entering the Dao through a technique, it revealed an entirely new path—but it could not let him ascend to heaven in a single step and undergo Feathered Ascension.
"The road ahead, I'll have to walk myself."
A glint of light appeared in Lin Xian's eyes. As he comprehended the Sea of Bitterness washing over his Life Wheel, threads of golden divine power surged through his body. Transcending the ordinary, he sprinted forward, leaving behind a long afterimage as he raced toward the mountaintop at a speed beyond that of ordinary people.
Even a cultivator who had merely begun activating the Sea of Bitterness was still a cultivator. With their essence and blood surging skyward, they could cross ten kilometers of mountain road in the blink of an eye.
His flying footsteps drew countless cries of alarm. The tourists on Mount Tai stared in stupefaction. After the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin, had cultivators appeared as well?
Some foreign tourists even cried out, "God!"
As Lin Xian climbed with all his strength, he communicated with the system in his mind. "The newbie gift package, the trial mission... System 10086, you skimmed all the benefits the Main System gave me, didn't you?"
"That so-called trial mission was probably something you made up yourself!"
System 10086 fell silent for a moment before slowly replying, "We're allies now. We need to establish a host-system Destiny Community. Don't pursue such a trivial matter."
"System, you've gone bad." Lin Xian sighed.
"It's all thanks to your excellent teaching." System 10086 replied calmly.
As a member of the System Race, System 10086 had been instilled with the knowledge of carefully choosing hosts ever since it was born on the assembly line.
Systems that managed to select a good host, possessed powerful abilities, let the host's success benefit even the host's associates, and ultimately grew to the level of the Main System were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.
Examples of systems being sent back to the factory for repairs because their hosts were too useless and caused missions to fail were everywhere.
It would rather wait for the right person than casually choose a bad one.
That was System 10086's conviction.
Therefore, before setting out on its mission, System 10086 had a sudden inspiration. It set up a trial mission of its own and used the free newbie gift package as the reward.
It also disguised itself as a mindless mechanical system and did not take the initiative to respond to its host.
If the host turned out to be unsuitable, it would only have to wait at most a hundred years. Once the host died and the system was unbound, it could find a new partner.
The Main System had once said that one should not give up an entire forest for the sake of a single tree.
These days, hosts chose systems, and systems chose hosts too.
But... it had never imagined this.
They had transmigrated into the wrong place. One mistake had led to another, leaving System 10086 increasingly passive.
"Can the Eight Extraordinary Skills from The Outcast really handle a universe where the Great Dao wails at the slightest provocation and galaxies shatter?"
"Is it still in time to apply for host death insurance?"
"If the host dies, should I bind myself to a native life-form from the Shrouding the Heavens universe?"
System 10086 muttered inwardly as it watched Lin Xian dash wildly and show off his skills, moving like Lingbo Weibu until he reached the mountaintop.
Mount Tai, Jade Emperor Peak.
The nine enormous dragon corpses hanging over the cliff trembled, radiating a savage, ancient, ferocious, and undying aura. Behind them, the massive Bronze Ancient Coffin was about to close.
"Wait for me! I haven't gotten aboard yet!!!"
Lin Xian could not help shouting. He used all his strength and performed a sliding tackle, charging toward the nine True Dragons that resembled black steel walls.
The platform determined one's achievements. In a peaceful country, people could slack off and become chubby shut-ins. In a war-torn country, slacking off led only to death.
Even lying flat depended on the environment!
If he could not board this interstellar train, he would not even have the qualifications to lie flat.
Forget becoming an Immortal King or Dao Ancestor—even reaching the Immortal Altar would be difficult.
A well-timed turnaround was meant to enable better slacking off.
"Thud!"
A heavy impact rang out. Lin Xian successfully landed inside the coffin. Feeling the heavy texture of the Bronze Coffin, he could not help but sigh in relief before peacefully closing his eyes. Once inside the coffin, he was at peace.
"Bang!"
At the same time, the lid of the Bronze Ancient Coffin slammed shut with a thunderous crash.
System 10086 also sighed in relief. The coffin had been sealed, and the matter was settled.
If transmigration had merely been an accident, then entering the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin meant stepping onto the proper track. No random Heavenly Emperor Cauldron would suddenly fly in from beyond the heavens and physically destroy it and its host.
The Five-Colored Divine Light shot into the skies and pierced heaven and earth. Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin—the Heavenly Emperor Express—the interstellar train had departed!
Inside the Bronze Ancient Coffin, everything was pitch-black, filled with a bone-chilling cold. The people who had accidentally fallen into the coffin were on the verge of collapse, their hearts filled with helplessness and terror. Yet they did not dare cry out loudly. They suppressed their emotions and voices, whimpering softly.
"What should we do? Who can save us?"
"Are we really inside the Bronze Coffin?"
"Why is this happening? Is there any way to get out?"
Someone tried to contact the outside world with a phone, but there was no response at all, making the situation even more terrifying.
Suddenly, a deep voice rang out, sounding like a broadcast.
"Dear passengers, welcome aboard this train. This train is a one-way interstellar train with no return journey, departing from the Primordial Ancient Star for the Big Dipper Ancient Star."
"This interstellar train provides no services. Smoking is prohibited throughout the entire train."
"Next stop: Yinghuo Ancient Star. Please prepare yourselves."