What was immortal cultivation?

"Ah!"

The soldier inside the formation frantically backed away and soon joined the fifteen people circling around. In his eyes, the belt his captain had thrown toward him had become a primordial beast.

"This must be a formation. I never imagined that legend about cultivators was actually true."

The captain outside the formation exclaimed in wonder once again.

"Lin Kui of the Xia Kingdom's Wolf Fang Special Forces pays his respects to Senior Zhang."

Lin Kui cupped his hands and bowed toward the house, announcing his name. Several minutes later, he tried taking another step forward. Sure enough, his surroundings no longer changed.

He then walked up to the soldier circling around, knocked him unconscious with a palm strike, and carried him out over his shoulder.

"Captain, there's something strange up ahead. I just..."

"I know. Wait here until I come out."

After giving the soldier his instructions, Lin Kui headed toward the courtyard again.

"Hello, may I ask..."

"My dad's inside. Come with me."

Before Lin Kui could finish, Zhang Jun interrupted him, then led him to Zhang Hongxing.

"Are you Zhang Hongxing, Senior Zhang?"

Although Lin Kui had already guessed that the man before him was an accomplished cultivator, his youthful appearance still shocked him. Especially after hearing Zhang Jun call this man his father, he could hardly believe it.

"How did you hear about me?"

Zhang Hongxing looked at Lin Kui curiously.

"Dr. Xu Qinian told us about you. He said you were his master. I actually came to ask you to go to Xinzhou and help Professor Yang Weiguo recover his health."

"What did he tell you?"

Zhang Hongxing suddenly regretted accepting Xu Qinian as his disciple in name. It had only been a few days, and he had already brought trouble to his door.

"Please don't misunderstand, Senior. Dr. Xu didn't mention you at first. It was just that several department directors at the hospital were being far too aggressive. In his agitation, he brought up your name."

"With Qinian's medical skills, who could have grounds to be aggressive toward him?"

"You don't know the circumstances, Senior. This is what happened..."

As it turned out, when Xu Qinian heard that his visitors wanted him to treat Professor Yang Weiguo, he packed his bags and went with them without a moment's hesitation. But when he arrived at Central City Hospital, a doctor named Liu Weimin refused to let him administer treatment.

As a result, every doctor at Central City Hospital ranked deputy department director or above took part in a show-of-hands vote.

In the end, most opposed allowing Xu Qinian to treat him.

Normally, that would have been the end of it.

But Xu Qinian swore that he could cure Professor Yang with absolute certainty. He was even willing to put it in writing that if he failed, he would pay with his own life.

Even then, the doctors still refused to let him proceed.

They even claimed he was a foreign spy whose purpose was to harm Professor Yang. Otherwise, why would he make a guarantee so unfavorable to himself?

Fortunately, Lin Mo, the assistant who had been caring for Professor Yang, stepped forward at the critical moment.

After Xu Qinian administered acupuncture, Professor Yang's stroke symptoms immediately improved. His skewed eyes and crooked mouth returned to normal that very day, but his body could not withstand the strain.

The following day, he could not get out of bed at all.

The doctors led by Liu Weimin stepped forward once again, accusing Xu Qinian of treating Professor Yang by stimulating his body's latent reserves. They even claimed that this method would greatly shorten Professor Yang's lifespan.

When it came to arguing, Xu Qinian was indeed no match for Liu Weimin and his group.

After several exchanges, they provoked him into bringing up Zhang Hongxing, saying that as long as he agreed to help, he could make Professor Yang as hale and hearty as himself.

"And you believed him just because he said that?"

"We didn't believe him at first either. We only came here hoping to give it a try. But now, I'm absolutely convinced. Please help Professor Yang, Senior."

Lin Kui knelt before Zhang Hongxing. For a professor like Yang Weiguo, who devoted himself wholeheartedly to his country, he considered kneeling well worth it.

"Dad, why don't you help Professor Yang? Without him, our country's technological development would definitely have been much slower."

Zhang Jun, who stood nearby, also spoke up.

Yang Weiguo's greatest achievements had all come during the thirty years after Zhang Hongxing's departure, so he could not share the respect Zhang Jun and the others felt for Professor Yang.

Still, he had to give his son some consideration.

"Get up. I'll help Professor Yang."

"Thank you, Senior."

"If there's nothing else, head back first. I'll go to Professor Yang myself tomorrow."

"Yes, Senior."

Lin Kui turned and withdrew. After rejoining the soldier outside, he drove straight away.

Only two hours after he left did Zhang Hongxing finally approach the fifteen people, who were already utterly exhausted, and give each of them a warning.

It was a warning they would never forget, one that would haunt them like a nightmare.

Afterward, they supported one another as they made their way out, their eyes filled with deep terror.

"Dad, nothing's going to happen to them, is it?"

As the person caught up in the incident, Yan Mei had been keeping an eye on the fifteen people the whole time. When she saw Zhang Hongxing release them, she walked over.

"Don't worry. Nothing serious will happen to them. But what about you? Are you still planning to go to work there tomorrow?"

"Can I still go?"

"Of course. As long as you want to. They won't dare make things difficult for you again."

"Forget it. I'll find another job."

Thinking of how those people had behaved today, Yan Mei had no desire to return to work there.

After what had happened at Yan Mei's company that day, Zhang Hongxing simply gathered the whole family and taught them a basic Immortal Cultivation Method.

But even after an entire night of his personal instruction, not one member of the family managed to get started.

Immortal Cultivation was not something just anyone could do.

It required constancy, perseverance, and, above all, talent.

Even in the Immortal Cultivation World, where spiritual energy was abundant, ordinary people still made up the majority of humanity.

"All right. Cultivation isn't something you can rush. If you're willing to persevere, you can keep going. If you don't want to practice anymore, that's fine too. Just follow your own wishes."

"Dad, what do people become when they reach the end of Immortal Cultivation? Is there an immortal realm above our heads?"

"No. Even if there were, it wouldn't be above our heads. In essence, Immortal Cultivation isn't actually all that different from our current technological development.

"One simply focuses more on external power, while the other focuses more on one's own potential.

"Because spiritual energy is sparse here, technology has developed relatively well. In other places with abundant spiritual energy, there might well be more cultivators instead.

"All right, that's enough about Immortal Cultivation for now. It's almost time for Lele to go to school. I should get ready to take him to kindergarten."