Confession

The Peach Spirit had already stepped onto the path of cultivation. In terms of cultivation alone, it had reached the Qi Induction into Body realm.

Yet Zhou Yi was not afraid in the slightest. If a beast had undergone Qi Induction into Body, he might have avoided its edge for now and settled the score later. Plant spirit monsters, however, were much easier to deal with.

Not only did plant spirit monsters cultivate slowly, but in the early stages, they were virtually no different from ordinary plants. Only their lifespans were exceptionally long.

The Peach Spirit before him had no ability to move and was naturally restrained by fire. A simple mundane flame could burn it half to death.

The Peach Spirit had grown in a clever location, right where spiritual energy converged. Combined with the wood-element spiritual energy it gave off, the place was no worse than a famed spiritual mountain or great river.

"This humble Daoist is Chixiao, deputy sect leader of the Kunlun Sect. I shall borrow this treasured place to cultivate for a while. From now on, we shall be neighbors."

The Peach Spirit's branches and leaves trembled. A wave of indignation flowed through its Divine Sense, but it could do nothing about it.

Zhou Yi found a piece of greenstone nearby, moved it beneath the peach tree, and sat cross-legged upon it to meditate.

The Peach Spirit would naturally drive away any tourists who approached, sparing him from disturbance.

The air contained dense wood-element spiritual energy. Even though he could sense it, refining it was difficult.

First, he had no Spiritual Root. Second, he had no cultivation technique. At present, his Soul Power could not forcibly draw spiritual energy into his body.

According to his senior brother Yan Chixia, entering the Dao through martial arts, with a flawless body and perfected soul, was the only way for those without Spiritual Roots to embark upon cultivation.

Spiritual Roots were innate and rarer than one in ten thousand, but they did not completely cut off the path of cultivation for ordinary people.

Zhou Yi had never expected to directly undergo Qi Induction into Body and ascend in a single step. Instead, he followed the existing experience and entered the Dao through martial arts.

Ape Python Body Refining Technique!

Python Form Internal Refining!

Not the Primordial Chaos Technique.

The Primordial Chaos Technique was merely an ordinary Daoist cultivation method, while the Ape Python Body Refining Technique was a top-tier martial arts inheritance.

After reaching the perfected level of the technique, Zhou Yi no longer needed to be bound by forms. Even while sitting cross-legged in meditation, his body naturally took on the posture of a coiled snake.

Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound echoed from within his body, tempering his five organs and six bowels.

"Hum—ha—"

With every inhale and exhale, threads of spiritual energy entered his body and tempered his muscles, bones, blood, and flesh.

The wood element excelled at vitality. In just two hours, all the minor ailments and hidden injuries in Zhou Yi's body were completely removed.

"No wonder this is a spiritual land. Even if I cannot directly refine the spiritual energy, every breath brings it into my body to temper my flesh. By that logic, those born in the Immortal Realm breathe immortal qi from birth and naturally live forever without aging, don't they?"

Zhou Yi could not help sighing. Countless cultivators across countless worlds pursued the immortal Dao by every possible means, yet to the natives of the Immortal Realm, perhaps it was simply something they possessed from birth.

"At this rate, it will only take a few days to condense Internal Qi."

Zhou Yi beamed and cupped his hands toward the Peach Spirit. "Thank you for your hospitality, Fellow Daoist Peach Tree. This humble Daoist shall return tomorrow."

Knowing it could not drive Zhou Yi away, the Peach Spirit simply ignored him. Not even a ripple of Divine Sense emerged from it.

It must be a girl. Otherwise, why would it be so tsundere?

Zhou Yi grumbled inwardly and headed down the mountain.

By now, dusk had deepened and all the tourists had left.

There were many guesthouses beneath Peach Blossom Mountain, and quite a few unlicensed taxis looking for fares at night. By the time he returned home, it was already past ten.

When Zhou Yi cultivated, he had set his phone to silent mode. His parents had called several times.

As soon as he entered, he saw his mother sitting expressionlessly on the sofa. When she saw Zhou Yi come in, she deliberately coughed twice, making it clear that Her Majesty the Empress Dowager was furious and the consequences were severe.

His father, Zhou Dayou, stood nearby pouring tea and giving him meaningful looks. Don't provoke your mother. In a few days, you'll pat your ass and leave, while I'll be the one suffering.

Zhou Yi's home was an ordinary two-bedroom apartment, small but cozy.

His parents were ordinary office workers. They were by no means wealthy, but neither were they poor.

"Dad, Mom, I quit my job. I plan to cultivate immortality and seek the Dao on Peach Blossom Mountain."

The moment Zhou Yi spoke, Yi Wan, who had intended to question him about ignoring her calls, immediately lost her composure.

It was no big deal if her son had quit his job; he could always find another one. But what did cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao mean? Was he going to become a Daoist priest?

"I'm not becoming a Daoist priest."

Zhou Yi seemed to see through his parents' thoughts and tapped the coffee table with his index finger.

Thud!

A crisp sound rang out as a round hole appeared in the solid wooden coffee table.

It was a forceful finger technique, the Gold Pointing Finger. Once mastered, it could pierce gold and iron.

Of course, Zhou Yi's fingers were not yet strong enough to pierce gold or iron. After puncturing the coffee table, he secretly used Origin to repair the damage.

His parents stared in shock. They touched the coffee table and inspected it several times before confirming that it was real kung fu.

"The world has changed..." Zhou Yi said. "Spiritual energy has suddenly appeared between heaven and earth, giving rise to the foundation for cultivation. By chance, I joined the Kunlun Sect. From now on, cultivation will be my priority."

Zhou Yi did not hide anything. He explained everything in detail: what Spiritual Energy Revival was, and what cultivation was.

The two people before him were Zhou Yi's closest family, the people he trusted and loved most in the world. He had nothing to hide from them, except the Gateway to Myriad Wonders.

As for the Gateway to Myriad Wonders, whose origins were unknown, it was impossible for Zhou Yi to have no doubts in his heart.

Zhou Dayou and Yi Wan had both passed the ideal age for cultivation. If he kept hiding it from them, he would be directly cutting off his parents' paths of cultivation. Doing such a thing would make him unworthy as a son.

Besides, even if some trouble arose, Zhou Yi was confident he could resolve it.

Zhou Yi had cultivated for only a few years. Forget being detached from all emotions—even the thought that his parents might one day die, leaving him alone in the world, filled him with unbearable sorrow.

The great Dao was long. Walking it alone was far too lonely.

He fetched paper and a pen, then drew the Primordial Chaos Stance. It included not only the breathing method for stance training, but also detailed diagrams of the human meridians and annotations.

With the realm of an Innate Grandmaster and a perfected Primordial Chaos Stance, Zhou Yi had a commanding understanding of it. The stance training method he wrote differed from the original by thirty percent.

It was not that Zhou Yi could casually alter a Daoist inheritance. Rather, he had adjusted and trimmed it according to his parents' age and physical condition.

People nearing fifty could not begin with the complete stance training method. Without Origin to heal hidden injuries, one careless mistake could cripple them through training.

"The Ape Python Body Refining Technique is obscure and difficult to understand. You two should first learn the Primordial Chaos Stance. Once you achieve minor mastery of it, you can switch to the Ape Python Body Refining Technique."

Zhou Dayou picked up the manual and read it word by word, sentence by sentence, still feeling that everything that had happened today was too fantastical.

Yi Wan, however, was incredibly excited—not because she could cultivate, but because she felt her son had made something of himself.

Her coworkers' sons had studied abroad, entered government-affiliated institutions, or started businesses and become bosses, each one showing off. Now her son was cultivating immortality. Someday, she too would become an immortal. Why weren't all you ordinary mortals kneeling already?

In just a few minutes, Yi Wan had already begun pondering the proper entrance style for the Queen Mother of the West.

Zhou Dayou suddenly asked, "Son, you said that after Spiritual Energy Revival, monsters will appear too?"

Zhou Yi had not told his parents about the Wolf Demon. It had been a life-and-death crisis, and telling them would only add to their worries.

"Not later. There are monsters already, and one is right on Peach Blossom Mountain."

"What? There's a monster on Peach Blossom Mountain?"

Zhou Dayou could not help raising his voice. Remembering that he had been on the mountain during the day, he felt a lingering fear.

Influenced by film and television, he believed monsters would surely harm people.

Either they had human bodies and tiger heads, lion heads, or leopard heads, and loved eating human flesh and drinking human blood.

Or they were peerlessly beautiful and seductive, fond of draining men's vital yang energy.

"Don't worry. It's a little Peach Spirit. That Peach Spirit has exceptional talent and happened to grow where spiritual energy converges, so it has already become a plant spirit monster."

Zhou Yi shrugged. "But it has only just developed consciousness. Its mind is immature and it is not even as clever as an elementary school student."

After he explained the difference between plant spirit monsters and beasts that became demons, his parents became extremely interested in the Peach Spirit.

Forget the rule that no spirits could be born after the founding of the nation—even in five thousand years of history, there had been no definite record of anyone ever seeing a monster.