The cave abode on Immortal Mountain enjoyed spring all year round. Even though autumn had arrived, the climate remained pleasant.
Yet Li Ling felt a biting chill, as though cold winds were scraping his bones.
"How laughable, how lamentable! People ask where the land of immortals lies, never imagining it is right here within this cave!"
As it turned out, his fortune had flourished, and he had already obtained an opportunity of such immense magnitude.
But the more he realized this, the more the chill pierced his bones.
Daoist Que Luo's fate was warning enough.
He had already cultivated to Spirit Transformation and kept to a secluded corner, contending with no one, yet someone had still set their sights on him.
Clearly, an Otherworldly Grotto-Heaven truly was a boat or raft. When the flood came, it might preserve him and those around him, allowing even his chickens and dogs to ascend when he attained the Dao.
But it could also become a death warrant.
This was the lesson of seeking peace in a secluded corner: in troubled times, nowhere was truly safe.
If the apocalyptic catastrophe of the present era truly arrived, where would cultivators everywhere go?
Would they become Daoist Que Luo, or You Heng?
Whichever choice they made, surviving this calamity still seemed difficult.
But one thing was certain: possessing a Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land like the Que Luo Immortal Abode was better than having none. Advancing to Spirit Transformation and possessing a powerful Dharma Body and Dao Fruit was better than being weak.
This was an unassailable truth.
Thinking about it now, his earlier guesses about You Heng's motives had probably been somewhat misguided.
His exact words-"The great cycle is now nearing its end, and the era is about to change. It is time to complete my years