Tinnan

The sky stretched high beneath wisps of cloud, and the night was waning.

Deep in a rarely traveled mountain wilderness in Xi Zhou, within the Yue Kingdom, lay the Nameless Valley, shrouded in clouds and mist.

The hazy moonlight passed unhindered through the mist, spilling into the silent valley and draping it in a thin veil of silver.

The valley was small enough to take in at a glance. Its most conspicuous feature was a modest courtyard at its center.

Apart from that, there was only the Herb Garden in front of the courtyard, covering a little over ten mu.

At that moment, a young man with swordlike brows, star-bright eyes, and a face like polished jade was cultivating in the Herb Garden, seated in a peculiar posture.

With each breath he took, the vital essence of the plants gathered in the surrounding Medicine Field flowed into his body along with the spiritual qi around him, transforming into pure true qi.

An unknown amount of time passed. As dawn approached, a blazing sun leaped into view in the direction of the valley entrance, its fiery glow staining the horizon red.

The young man suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward the red sun, still only partly visible beyond the valley entrance.

The crimson clouds on the horizon reflected in his clear, limpid eyes, and a trace of hazy purple flickered in their depths. He first exhaled a breath of stale air, then inhaled forcefully.

In the air nine zhang above and before him, a wisp of hazy purple qi suddenly bloomed amid the rosy light. Like a roaming purple dragon, it was drawn into his belly in a single breath.

Only after a long while, once he had absorbed that wisp of Great Sun Purple Qi, did the young man rise and stretch comfortably.

"The White Yang Diagram truly deserves its reputation as the foremost Foundation-Building Profound Art in the Zu Mountain World. I've only mastered the first three diagrams, yet I've already cultivated my way back to the sixth level of Qi Refinement. Dispersing my cultivation and starting over was well worth it."

Having finished stretching, Lin Yun sensed the pure White Yang true qi within his Cinnabar Field and could not help voicing his admiration.

A year earlier, his grandfather in this life had reached the end of his lifespan and passed away in seated meditation. In his grief, Lin Yun had pierced the veil of oblivion that came with rebirth and recovered the memories of his previous life.

Back then, on his way home from work, he had collided with a Dayun truck that had somehow driven into the city. His soul had then drifted in a daze through a region veiled in immortal radiance before finally being reincarnated in this place called the Tian Nan Continent.

Lin Yun still remembered how, as he passed through that region of hazy immortal light, spheres of various colors had emerged and crowded into his soul.

More astonishing still were their contents: texts of profound and exquisite Daoist Books.

The White Yang Diagram he was cultivating now had come from one of those spheres of light.

Besides that, the spheres had contained numerous supreme Daoist Books pointing directly toward the path of immortality, including the Nine Heavens Profound Scripture, the Purple-Cyan Treasure Register, the Guangcheng Heavenly Book, and many others.

Once Lin Yun recalled all this, he guessed that the region of hazy immortal radiance he had passed through must have been the renowned Zu Mountain world.

Compared with a world like the Zu Mountain World, where immortals dwell, the primordial qi of heaven and earth here is far too thin. To continue cultivating the White Yang Diagram, I'll need to find a spiritual site rich in spiritual qi. Only then can I continue my secluded cultivation. Lin Yun silently compared the primordial qi of Zu Mountain with that of his current surroundings.

This so-called primordial qi of heaven and earth was simply another name for what cultivators commonly called the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.

Afterward, Lin Yun raised his head toward the crimson clouds on the horizon and once again sensed the primordial qi all around him, honing his sensitivity to it.

Within his vision, apart from the rising sun on the horizon, which radiated dazzling golden light and the supremely yang primordial qi of the sun, other kinds of primordial qi were exceedingly scarce. They were also relatively dormant and difficult to mobilize. Only the various types belonging to the five elements were comparatively abundant and active.

Lin Yun sighed softly. "No wonder cultivators in this world need a Five Elements Spiritual Root to sense spiritual qi and cultivate. Without a Five Elements Spiritual Root, and without mastery of the Supreme Clarity Profound-Gate Qi Discernment Method like mine, how could anyone sense the spiritual qi of the five elements in this world? How could they ever set foot on the path to immortality?"

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and lightly tapped the air. After a moment, an egg-sized mass of five-element primordial qi gathered at his fingertip, forming a five-colored sphere. It then transformed into a streak of five-colored sword qi about an inch long, winding through his palm like a swimming fish.

"Moreover, in this world called the Tian Nan Continent, it's extremely difficult for cultivators to mobilize the primordial qi of heaven and earth. Ordinary cultivators can scarcely move it at all. They have to refine it into their own magical power before they can cast spells."

With a wave of his hand, Lin Yun dispersed the sword qi in his palm and murmured, "Tian Nan, Tian Nan... cultivating immortality in this world really is a hard road..."

At that point, Lin Yun's voice abruptly faltered, and he said in a strange tone, "Wait! The Tian Nan Continent... I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before..."

Lin Yun paused again, then hurriedly took a pitch-black triangular token from his robes.

Looking at the token his grandfather had only passed down shortly before his death, he said with a complicated expression, "The Ascension Token of Yellow Maple Valley! So this is that world..."

After recovering his memories of his previous life, he had found that his spiritual root was poor and his family's cultivation method was nothing special either.

With the legacies of so many Daoist Books from Zu Mountain at his disposal, Lin Yun had unhesitatingly discarded his original magical power, dispersing his cultivation to begin anew.

For over a year, he had cultivated the White Yang Diagram so obsessively that he forgot to eat and sleep, giving little thought to the world he now inhabited. Only at this moment did he realize that he was in the world of A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality!

Just as Lin Yun realized which world he was in.

Far away, outside the valley.

Two figures, one tall and one short, glided swiftly along a steep, treacherous mountain path, heading deeper into the mountains.

The tall, burly figure wore an extremely ill-fitting black robe, stretched taut by his powerful muscles. From behind, he looked like a hulking man, yet he had an unusually youthful, delicate baby face.

The short, scrawny figure also wore an ill-fitting black robe, but he looked like a child who had stolen an adult's clothes. His face, however, was prematurely aged.

These two men, whose faces contrasted so sharply with their builds, strode along the perilous mountain path as swiftly and easily as if walking on level ground.

The tall, baby-faced man suddenly spoke in a rough voice. "Big brother, the Taiyue Mountain Range is northeast of this mountain, right?"

The short, scrawny man with the prematurely aged face briefly checked his stride and replied in a shrill voice, "Yes. What is it, second brother?"

"Then aren't we right under Yellow Maple Valley's nose? Big brother, do you think doing this might bring Yellow Maple Valley down on us? They're one of the Yue Kingdom's seven great immortal sects! Besides, they say our target's ancestors came from Yellow Maple Valley. What if we..." the baby-faced giant said worriedly.

"Hmph! What are you afraid of? The sect already investigated everything. The Lin family may have come from Yellow Maple Valley, but they severed ties centuries ago. There's only one cultivator left in the Lin family now. How is he any different from a rogue cultivator? Between us brothers, one is at the ninth level of Qi Refinement and the other at the eighth

level. What the hell are you afraid of?" the short man said to the baby-faced giant, disdain showing on his aged face.

After a pause, a gleam of fervor flashed through the short man's eyes. "As long as we catch that Lin brat, we brothers will get a share of this Blood Sacrifice. With this opportunity, plus whatever fat we can skim off the Lin family, heh heh... we might just have a chance at Foundation Establishment. Then even the position of Xi Zhou branch master wouldn't be beyond our reach!"

The baby-faced giant was simple-minded. Hearing his elder brother describe that glorious future, he gradually set aside his doubts.

A flush rose to his face, and he said excitedly, "You're right, big brother! To think we could have a chance at Foundation Establishment too! Heh, joining the Black Fiend Sect really was the right choice! It's all thanks to you bringing me into the sect back then."