Chapter One: [Deposit Your Brain Here, Relax a While.]
Ten-Mile Slope.
Before the dilapidated Mountain God Temple.
"Master... Is this really the mountain gate of our number-one immortal sect in the world?"
The ethereal young girl, whose pitch-black long hair was tied with a red string, looked up at the broken temple before her, her expression hesitant and wordless.
The young man wearing worn-out Daoist robes turned back to look at the Immortal Seedling he had managed to swindle over with such difficulty.
With a look of high-expert demeanor on his handsome face, Chu Xingchen said, "A mountain is not high; it is famous because of immortals."
"You are still young, so do not get caught up in superficial appearances."
The young girl dressed in a pink fairy dress showed a look of sudden realization:
"I understand, Master! Is there actually a universe hidden within?!"
"I saw that The Qishan Immortal Cultivation Story was written just like that-open a broken door and the inside is resplendent with gold and jade!"
With an excited expression, Li Yingling trotted all the way and pushed open the dilapidated, drafty doors full of excitement.
Her eyes were full of anticipation for the hidden universe inside.
Then, what came into view was...
A divine statue that had been destroyed until only half remained, and the spiderwebs on the roof beam had not even been swept clean.
The original offering table had been moved in front of a broken wooden board, looking as though it was being used as a desk.
But one corner of this offering table was crooked, propped up by someone with a stone.
Beside it was also a stove simply piled out of stones, on top of which sat a small iron pot.
Li Yingling felt that this was simply a dilapidated, unvenerated ruined temple.
And it looked just like where a beggar lived!
Chu Xingchen also stepped into the ruined temple, his expression calm and not feeling awkward in the least as he said:
"Do not read those storybooks written by mortal folks in the future; it is easy to rot your brain reading them."
"Wait, Master will take apart the wooden board on the side of the divine statue for you to use as a bed. This temple is a bit big, so you can sleep wherever you want."
Li Yingling only felt the world go dark before her eyes as she timidly asked:
"Master... cultivation is not supposed to be like this, right?"
Chu Xingchen said with absolute certainty, "Cultivation! Is precisely like this!"
Li Yingling asked timidly, "But aren't other immortal sects all resplendent with gold and jade, with vast palaces suspended above clouds atop soaring peaks and the like?"
"Have you seen it with your own eyes, or which fellow Daoist told you?"
"In the storybooks... aren't they all written that way?"
"You also know those are storybooks. Modern cultivation does not pay attention to this; as long as one can successfully cultivate into an immortal, that is practicing a good art of immortality."
Seizing the main point, Chu Xingchen said, "What do those mortal folks understand about immortal cultivation? Do you know what the Great Dao is simplest?"
Hearing this, Li Yingling weakly said, "B-but... but this is too simple."
"Talk less nonsense. Are you going to cultivate or not?"
"...Cultivate."
Chu Xingchen sat down on the wooden board, gave a light cough, revealed a faint smile, and said:
"Then why aren't you coming over to kowtow and pay respects to your master?"
Hearing this, Li Yingling seemed to move her steps with some reluctance.
Yet there was no turning back now either.
Going home now would mean being married off by her father to the second fool of Minister Wang's household.
That second fool needed to be fed even when eating.
Whenever he saw a woman on the street, he would go aba aba.
A ruined temple was a ruined temple; it was still better than feeding a second fool.
Li Yingling knelt on both knees, abruptly gave Chu Xingchen a loud kowtow, and said:
"Master is above, please accept a bow from your disciple, Li Yingling!"
[Completed beginner quest: Recruit one disciple.]
[Reward distributed: Flawless Golden Core!]
[Detected Li Yingling, spiritual root is a Single-Attribute Water Spiritual Root]
[Distributing teaching materials]
[Supreme Lunar True Profound Spirit Water Heart Sutra]
[Items have been distributed to the inventory]
Chu Xingchen instantly felt refreshed and relaxed.
Three years. It took a full three years to successfully recruit a disciple whose qualifications were certified and approved by the system!
This system requirement was that a person must possess immortal-becoming qualifications before the system would recognize them as eligible to be taken as a disciple.
Wasn't this requirement absolute nonsense? At the very lowest, an Immortal Seedling needed a second-grade spiritual root just to qualify as one.
Let alone that such people were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, even if they did exist, they were treasures coveted by the major sects.
How was he, a minor cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm, supposed to find such a blind disciple?
For a full three years, with the cultivation base of the Foundation Establishment Realm, he had stealthily walked all the way across the Black Tortoise Kingdom.
Only to trick-bah!
Only to recruit his very first disciple!
He took a look at Li Yingling before him using the system panel.
[Eldest Disciple: Li Yingling] [Cultivation: None] [Golden Trait: Cultivation Genius] [Purple Trait: Strong Fortune] [Blue Trait: Beautiful]
Although this young girl also had the intention of using him as a shield.
And he knew she was taking him as her master because she did not want to marry the Minister of Works's foolish son, given these trait attributes, what else was there that he could not accept?
The reason he chose to live in this Ruined Temple was also to lie low and avoid the limelight.
Within a thirty-li radius of Ten-Mile Slope, there was not a single trace of human habitation, and he had gone through great difficulty just to find a ruined temple here.
Otherwise, who the hell would be willing to live in this place?
It also took three days of plotting before he successfully brought Li Yingling out.
The beginner task was finally completed!
As the sound of the task completion rang out, along with an influx of heaven and earth spiritual qi, his own cultivation base also rose step by step.
A golden core slowly condensed within his dantian.
As a single-spiritual-root genius, Li Yingling was naturally extremely sensitive to changes in spiritual qi.
Yet after all, she had not yet stepped through the threshold of cultivation.
She could only feel the aura on Chu Xingchen's body abruptly leap up a flight of stairs.
"Master... What is this?"
Chu Xingchen offhandedly replied, "I'm just too happy to have taken in an affectionate disciple like you, so the cultivation I was suppressing inside leaked out a little bit."
"Alright, you don't need to kneel. Get up."
Li Yingling nodded with a sudden realization, then stood up and asked with some confusion:
"Then what about my fellow disciples? As the number one sect in the Black Tortoise Kingdom, Master must have taken in quite a few disciples, right? Where are they?"
"Currently, there's just you."
Hearing this, Li Yingling froze. "Ah? Master, you..."
With a calm expression, Chu Xingchen said, "Your master walks the elite path, only taking in predestined Immortal Seedlings, and never taking in crooked melons and split dates."
"Then can this sect even be called the number one sect in the Black Tortoise Kingdom?"
"Your master can single-handedly flatten the Black Tortoise Kingdom by himself. Why couldn't it be called the number one sect in the Black Tortoise Kingdom?"
It's over. As expected, she should have listened to her mother's words: men who look handsome just love to lie!
If Li Yingling hadn't seen Chu Xingchen actually antagonize the Minister's household for her sake, this looked no matter how one sliced it like she had run into a swindler or perhaps a lunatic.
"Master... Please don't deceive me."
Chu Xingchen directly took the Supreme Lunar True Profound Spirit Water Heart Sutra out of his system inventory.
An old, withered, yellowed book appeared, all wrinkled and rumpled in his hand.
The characters for Supreme, Lunar, and Profound Spirit on the cover were all smudged together, making the text illegible.
Fortunately, the remaining three characters were still exceptionally clear.
He directly tossed this book to Li Yingling at his side.
"Just cultivate this one. Once you cultivate it, you'll know whether your master lied to you or not."
Hearing Master's utterly resolute tone, this definitely had to be some kind of top-tier immortal cultivation divine art!
Joyfully, Li Yingling looked toward the cover of this book.
A large blob of characters on it could no longer be made out.
And the remaining three characters.
Li Yingling recited in some shock, "Water Heart Sutra?!"
Then she looked toward Chu Xingchen with a Master, you're tricking me again gaze.
What kind of top-tier immortal technique was called the Water Heart Sutra, for fuck's sake?
This was just too watery! The cover was blurred to this extent; could the contents inside be a complete mess too?
Could it be that Master rummaged this up from some roadside stall?
Wouldn't cultivating with it cause a deviation in her vital energy?
Which of the peak mental cultivation methods in storybooks didn't come with their own aura right upon appearance, and which ones didn't come with five-colored divine light?
If this ragged book were thrown out onto the street, people would probably pick it up to use as toilet paper!
Li Yingling looked at the battered book in her hands and asked feebly,
"Master, how about we change to a different one?"
Before you continue