When Ren Anmin learned that his grandson had needed only two days to maintain his perception of "spiritual light" and take the first step in the Supreme Dao of Forgetting Emotion, he felt not delight but alarm.
Cultivation was not something where faster was always better.
People had always praised and envied those who advanced with fearless vigor, but even fearless vigor ought to have its limits.
It had taken Ren Anmin three months to perceive spiritual light steadily. He had reckoned that his grandson, being far more gifted than he was, might manage it in a month, perhaps even ten days or a fortnight.
But he had never imagined his grandson would need less than three days. It had taken him only two!
Once the surprise passed, Ren Anmin could not help worrying.
Slow progress was nothing to worry about; it merely meant poor aptitude. But progress so fast it defied imagination raised the possibility of cultivation going awry.
Immortal sect cultivation methods sought to turn the unreal into the real. With conviction at their core, they brought about changes in body and mind, allowing a person to transcend the ordinary and become a sage, then ultimately surpass the limits of life and attain Longevity.
In that process, people often confused illusion with reality and took their fantasies for truth. In milder cases, they suffered hallucinations and needed to recuperate; in severe ones, they fell straight into madness.
Ren Anmin worried that something might have gone wrong with his grandson too.
He placed a hand on Pan Long's head and had him focus and calm his mind according to the cultivation method, bringing forth that wisp of spiritual light again.
A moment later, his jaw dropped. He stared, dumbstruck.
The spiritual light was real, not a hallucination.
"That's impossible!"