Planning for the Future

As someone who has always been passionate about Xianxia, someone who wishes to be free and unrestrained, and someone who fears death, Shi Xuan would naturally pursue the opportunity to cultivate immortality and seek eternal life without hesitation.

To cultivate the Dao, wealth, companions, Dharma, and location are all indispensable.

Wealth: He inherited the old Daoist's legacy, so he had a thousand taels of silver, but his accumulation of cultivation resources was very little. In the words of Old Daoist Xu, "In the Land of the Central Plains, cultivation items are scarce."

Companions: Judging from Old Daoist Xu's teachings, the highest cultivation in the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces only reached Soul Departure. Therefore, when his cultivation improves in the future and he encounters bottlenecks requiring external help, it will be difficult to find people at the same realm to discuss and explore with, let alone seek guidance from someone at a higher realm when facing difficulties or incomprehensible sentences in Daoist arts.

Dharma: He already possesses the Fundamental Great Law that directly leads to the Great Dao, so he doesn't need to seek it externally. However, based on the contents of the Treasure Record Upper Scroll, there are only about ten types of Daoist arts that naturally derive from his own Daoist arts.

The content on artifact refining only includes a few methods for refining magical artifacts that Qingyunzi himself recorded at the end of the upper scroll. Furthermore, from his memory, he only knows the materials for a few of these artifacts. The rest are materials that only appear in myths, storybooks, and storytelling, and he has never even heard of several of them. Most importantly, there is no foundational content for artifact refining. Shi Xuan almost shed tears. He was very excited when he first saw things like the Heaven and Earth Mountain River Diagram, the Life and Death Disk, and the Five Fires Burning Heaven Banner, but it turned out to be a complete rip-off!

The content on alchemy is similarly disappointing. It seems these are not the contents of the Treasure Record, but merely a few pill formulas and artifact diagrams that Qingyunzi himself attached at the end. Coupled with the fact that he was a person from a very, very, very, very, very, very long time ago, this situation arose.

Location: From Old Daoist Xu's perspective, there are several famous mountains and great rivers with good environments.

Shi Xuan sighed. It seemed he would inevitably have to embark on the same path as Old Daoist Xu, traveling the world to seek immortals and inquire about the Dao. Then, excluding the places Old Daoist Xu had visited, there were only three places in the Central Plains that needed to be explored: Tongxuan Mountain, Mang Mountain, and the Imperial Capital. The last one was added by Shi Xuan himself because if a cultivation world truly existed and they needed to interact with the mortal realm, besides famous mountains and great rivers, only the capital of a dynasty could meet the conditions. This applies whether the condition is the collection of items, spiritual herbs, and other resources, or the recruitment of disciples with outstanding talent. These deductions were based on various novels he had read in the past, combined with some reasoning. If they were wrong, it would just be a wasted trip.

After exploring the Central Plains, if he still had no immortal destiny, he would prepare to set sail and go to the East Sea Immortal Island, which is often mentioned in myths and legends. The subsequent order would be the south of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, and then the Western Desolation Forbidden Land.

Shi Xuan drank a mouthful of cool water. His long-term goals and plans were roughly laid out. In the short term, he needed to heal his injuries and ideally restore his cultivation to its previous level to have the ability to protect himself before proceeding to the next step. Having followed the old Daoist for ten years, he had some skill in medical theory, pharmacology, wound healing, and dispensing medicine. His physical body would recover completely within half a month.

However, the main problem was the difference in the physical and soul realms. The body was Du Bai's, which had already passed the Body Tempering Realm and reached the level of naturally generating internal energy and strengthening the soul. As for the soul, it was Shi Xuan's. It was fine when he was studying in his previous life, but after starting work, he neglected exercise. His soul realm was considered early stage in the Body Tempering Soul Nurturing Stage. This was also why Shi Xuan did not immediately begin Visualization cultivation. Visualization guides internal energy to strengthen the soul, and at his current soul level, it was highly likely to cause the soul to be unable to absorb nourishment. To be cautious, he would continue with body tempering daily. Only after his soul reached the early stage of soul strengthening through the slow nourishment of his physical body would he begin Visualization.

It took Du Bai seven years to temper his body from scratch and enter the Qi Nourishing and Soul Strengthening Stage. But now that his physical body had reached the Qi Nourishing Stage, its nourishment to the soul was incomparable to before. Shi Xuan estimated that his soul would enter the Soul Strengthening Stage several times faster than before. How long it would take specifically would depend on the nourishment effect over time.

Moreover, the medicinal bath and medicinal soup formulas Du Bai used for body tempering were obtained from Old Daoist Xu's true inheritance. Now, Shi Xuan had better options. The Treasure Record provided three medicinal formulas, each divided into a medicinal bath and a medicinal soup.

However, like the pill formulas and artifact diagrams, they were also problematic. Many of the medicinal ingredients were unheard of or legendary. Especially the first formula, the Dragon Emperor Blood Refining Pill, seven to eight tenths of the ingredients were unheard of or legendary. The second formula, the Human Immortal Body Tempering Soup, had four to five tenths.

Fortunately, for the third formula, the Primordial Yuan Marrow-Changing Soup, even the best doctors outside might say that more than two-tenths of the ingredients are unheard of or legendary. However, these ingredients were present in Old Daoist Xu's formulas, along with their ancient names and their current names after the evolution of time!

Of course, nothing is perfect. There was still one medicinal ingredient, "Stone Top Ginseng," which was not labeled. However, Shi Xuan remembered seeing it in ancient texts and could basically confirm it was one of Stone Treasure, Red Ginseng, or Taihenlian. Which one it was, he could only find out by buying some of each and testing them on experimental animals.

In fact, even if the medicinal names all matched, Shi Xuan intended to test them on animals first. This was because after such a long evolution of medicinal names, it was possible for another medicinal ingredient to evolve into the current name. For example, if the original ingredients were A and B, after evolution, A's name became D, and B's name became A.

Of course, if such a situation occurred, it was highly likely that the medicinal properties of A and B would be different. Shi Xuan was now proficient in pharmacology and should be able to distinguish them. But what if A and B coincidentally had the same medicinal properties, with only subtle differences? In that case, it was possible that drug B, disguised as drug A, was present in Old Daoist Xu's formula and worked well with other ingredients. However, in the formula Shi Xuan intended to use, it might be toxic due to subtle differences. The probability of this happening was very, very low, but one had to consider the possibility. When it came to one's own life, it was better to be cautious. If something went wrong, who would he cry to?

Shi Xuan had set his future path and the immediate tasks he needed to accomplish. His heart was finally at peace. Only then did he feel extremely hungry. He changed into a Daoist robe, pocketed over a hundred taels of silver, and planned to go out to fill his stomach first before attending to important matters like buying medicine. As for the few relics left by Old Daoist Xu, he would examine them when it was late at night.

He left the courtyard and was almost blinded by the sunlight. Looking at the sky, it was past noon, no wonder he was so hungry. He locked the courtyard gate, greeted his neighbors, and walked towards the alley entrance.

The neighbors were quite surprised. Aunt Zhang on the left said to Grandma Li on the right, "Hey, this kid is usually so shy. He just walks past us with his head down. Did the sun rise in the west today? He actually greeted us first."

"I think after his grandfather passed away, he's tasted all sorts of things. I think this kid is quite good. Your daughter is so lovely, and they'd be a good match. His family is also wealthy; they can definitely afford a few hundred taels of silver." Grandma Li had a fervent passion for matchmaking.

Aunt Zhang sighed, "My wretched girl, after studying with her second uncle for a few days, she's become so arrogant. She always wants to find a Jinshi, without even looking at herself. Are Jinshi like celestial beings descended to earth? Can she be worthy of them!"

Meanwhile, Shi Xuan exited the alley and arrived at the bustling and noisy main street. He didn't choose any of the elaborately decorated grand restaurants. Relying on his memory, he entered a small noodle shop by the roadside.

"Uncle Liu, three taels of Plain Noodles, and half a catty of Braised Pig Intestines." The braised dishes here were the best in the city. One must know that this city was the prefectural capital of Xia'an Prefecture, a first-class prosperous place in the Yangzhou territory besides the Yangzhou prefectural city. It was by no means a small town. Moreover, it controlled the Yangtze River and the Canal, making it a famous transportation hub among the thirteen prefectures of the empire.

"I say, Du kid, you usually come very early. It's almost noon today." Shopkeeper Liu, after slicing the pig intestines, waddled over with his large belly. He was quite concerned about this neighbor he had watched grow up.

"Ah, don't mention it. Last night, I was thinking about what I should do in the future, and I couldn't sleep. I feel a lot of pressure." Shi Xuan recalled Du Bai's tone in front of Shopkeeper Liu, but unconsciously adopted his current tone.

Fortunately, Shopkeeper Liu cared more about the content of the topic than the tone. "I see you've trained your body well. Why don't you go to the yamen and become a yamen runner? The salary isn't much, but the benefits add up. Although your family has some savings, you can't just live off it forever. I have some connections in that regard."

Shi Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Uncle Liu, I have a relative in Anjing City. I plan to leave in half a year to join him. Being under the Son of Heaven's Feet, there will be more opportunities." This could also be considered laying the groundwork for his future departure. Most of his neighbors basically only knew that Shi Xuan was training his body; they were unaware of his cultivation of Daoist arts. In fact, very few people in the world had truly seen Daoist arts.

As for the issue of the Daoist robe, several successive emperors had believed in the Dao. Thus, it was a common trend in the empire for many wealthy merchants, and even Confucian scholars and high officials, to wear Daoist robes at home. In other words, Daoist robes were like modern designer casual wear. Therefore, it was not unusual for Shi Xuan to wear a Daoist robe without a Daoist Certificate. At most, he would be mistaken for the son of a wealthy merchant or a Confucian scholar.

"Under the Son of Heaven's Feet, there are many opportunities, but also many dangers. I know you are young and ambitious, but you must also know your limits." Shopkeeper Liu said, patting Shi Xuan's shoulder, and then went to attend to a new customer. At this moment, the Plain Noodles were served.

Shi Xuan was already starving. However, with ten years of experience in cultivating his body, he knew not to eat too quickly at this moment. He slowly began to eat. One bite of Plain Noodles, one bite of Braised Pig Intestines. It was light and refreshing, full of braised aroma, smooth but not greasy. It was truly a delicacy.

He drank the last drop of the noodle soup, feeling utterly comfortable. Shi Xuan, a foodie from his previous life, finally felt that life was good after a satisfying meal. He then got up, paid Shopkeeper Liu, bid farewell, and headed out towards the south of the city, where there were several large medicinal herb shops.