Planning for the Future

As someone who had always been deeply fond of Xianxia, someone who wished to live free and unfettered, and someone afraid of death, now that he had a chance to cultivate immortality and seek longevity, Shi Xuan would certainly pursue it without the slightest hesitation.

And to cultivate the Dao, wealth, companions, methods, and location were all indispensable.

As for wealth, he had inherited the old daoist's estate, so he still had a thousand-odd taels of silver. But he had accumulated very few cultivation resources. As Old Daoist Xu had put it, cultivation materials were scarce in the Land of the Central Plains.

As for companions, according to Old Daoist Xu's teachings, the highest cultivation in the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces only reached Soul Departure. Once Shi Xuan's cultivation grew higher and he encountered bottlenecks requiring the stones of other mountains to polish his jade, he would likely find it difficult to locate people of the same realm to discuss and explore matters with. Much less when he ran into difficult problems or passages in Daoist magic he did not understand and needed to consult someone of a higher realm.

As for methods, he already possessed a Fundamental Great Law that pointed directly toward the Great Dao, so there was no need to seek that elsewhere. However, from the contents of the Treasure Record Upper Scroll, it leaned more toward the Dao itself. In terms of techniques, it only contained a dozen or so Daoist arts naturally derived from the Daoist Arts within.

The artifact-refining content amounted only to the few methods Qingyunzi had copied down at the end of the upper scroll for refining magical artifacts. And according to his memories, Shi Xuan only recognized a few of the required materials. The rest were materials that only appeared in myths, storybooks, and storytellers' tales, while several he had not even heard of. Most importantly, there was no basic content on artifact refinement at all. Shi Xuan nearly burst into tears. He had been thrilled when he saw things like the Heaven and Earth Mountain River Diagram, the Life and Death Disk, and the Five Fires Burning Heaven Banner, but the result was truly a pitfall deep enough to bury a man!

The alchemy content was much the same. It seemed these were not part of the Treasure Record at all, but merely several pill formulas and Artifact Diagrams Qingyunzi had appended at the end. Besides, Qingyunzi had lived a very, very, very, very, very, very long time ago, which was why this situation had arisen.

As for location, from what Old Daoist Xu had said, the environments around several famous mountains and great rivers were quite favorable.

Shi Xuan sighed. It seemed that in the future, he would inevitably have to set foot on the same road as Old Daoist Xu—traveling the world in search of immortals and the Dao. After excluding the places Old Daoist Xu had visited, only three places in the Land of the Central Plains appeared worth investigating: Tongxuan Mountain, Mang Mountain, and the Imperial Capital. He had added the last one himself, because if the Cultivation World truly existed and needed contact with the mortal world, then aside from famous mountains and great rivers, only the capital of a dynasty could likely meet its requirements. Whether those requirements involved gathering items, spiritual herbs, and other resources, or recruiting disciples of exceptional talent. He had inferred all this from the various novels he had read before, coupled with some experience. If he was wrong, then he would simply treat it as a wasted trip.

Once he had finished traveling through the Land of the Central Plains, if he still had not encountered an immortal opportunity, he would prepare to set sail across the sea for the East Sea Immortal Island so often mentioned in myths and legends. After that, he would head south of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, then to the Western Desolation Forbidden Land.

Shi Xuan took a sip of cold water. His long-term goals and the steps ahead had now been roughly planned out. In the near term, he first needed to recover from his injuries, then preferably restore his cultivation to the body's previous level. Once he had the ability to protect himself, he could proceed to the next step. Having followed the old daoist for ten years, he still possessed skill in medical theory, medicinal theory, treating injuries, and prescribing medicine. Within half a month, his body could recover completely.

The main issue, however, was that his body and soul were at different levels. The body belonged to Du Bai. It had already passed the Body Tempering Realm and reached the level of generating Internal Energy and strengthening the soul on its own. The soul belonged to Shi Xuan. He had exercised regularly while attending school in his previous life, but after starting work he had neglected it. His Soul Realm was only at the initial stage of the Body Tempering Soul Nurturing Stage. This was also why Shi Xuan had not immediately begun visualization cultivation. During visualization, Internal Energy would guide and strengthen the soul. At his current soul level, it was highly possible that an empty vessel could not bear too much nourishment. To be cautious, he would temper his body daily and wait until his soul, slowly nourished by the flesh, reached the soul strength of the initial Soul Strengthening Stage before beginning visualization.

Back then, Du Bai had taken seven years to temper his body from the beginning until he entered the Qi Nourishing and Soul Strengthening Stage. But now, the body had already reached the Qi Nourishing Stage, and its nourishment of the soul could not compare with before. Shi Xuan estimated that his soul would enter the Soul Strengthening Stage several times faster than before. As for exactly how long it would take, he would have to wait a while and judge from the nourishing effects.

Moreover, the medicinal bath formula Du Bai had used during body tempering, as well as the medicinal soup he drank, had all come from Old Daoist Xu's true teachings. Now Shi Xuan had better options. The Treasure Record provided three medicinal formulas, each divided into a medicinal bath and an oral dose.

But just like the pill formulas and Artifact Diagrams, they were equally damn deceptive. Many of the herbs listed were either unheard of or existed only in legends. The first formula in particular, the Dragon Emperor Blood Refining Pill, consisted seventy or eighty percent of materials he had never heard of or that came from myths and legends. The second formula, the Human Immortal Body Tempering Soup, had forty or fifty percent such ingredients.

Fortunately, in the third formula, the Primordial Yuan Marrow-Changing Soup, even the finest physicians outside might say that over twenty percent of the ingredients were unheard of or legendary. Yet they were present in Old Daoist Xu's formulas, where their ancient names and their modern names after the passage of time had both been marked!

Of course, nothing in this world was perfect. There was still one medicinal herb, "Stone Top Ginseng," that had not been labeled. But Shi Xuan remembered seeing it in an ancient text. He could basically confirm that it was one of Stone Treasure, Red Ginseng, or Taihenlian. As for which one, he could only go out later to buy some of each, find several experimental animals, and test them to find out.

In truth, even if all the medicine names matched up, Shi Xuan still intended to test them on animals first. After all, over such a long evolution of names, it was entirely possible that another medicine had evolved into the name currently used. For example, Jia and B might originally have existed, but after changes over time, Jia's name became Ding while B's name became Jia.

Of course, if that happened, Jia and B would most likely differ in medicinal properties. Shi Xuan was now considered proficient in medicinal theory, so he should be able to distinguish them. But what if Jia and B happened to possess identical properties, differing only in minute details? Then B might have masqueraded as Jia in Old Daoist Xu's formula, its properties coincidentally harmonizing with the other medicines and producing an effect. Yet in the medicine Shi Xuan planned to use, those minute differences might make it poisonous. The odds were very, very low, but what if? When it concerned his own life, the more cautious he could be, the better. If something truly went wrong, who would he cry to?

Having decided on the road ahead and the matters he needed to handle soon, Shi Xuan's heart finally settled. Only then did he notice that he was terribly hungry. He changed into a Daoist robe, tucked over a hundred taels of silver into his clothes, and planned to go out and fill his stomach first before handling such major matters as buying medicine. As for the few relics Old Daoist Xu had left behind, he would wait until the dead of night to examine them.

After leaving the courtyard, the sunlight nearly dazzled his eyes. Seeing that it was already past noon, no wonder his stomach was growling so fiercely. He locked the courtyard gate, greeted the neighbors on both sides of the street, and headed toward the alley entrance.

The neighbors were greatly surprised. Aunt Zhang on the left said to Grandma Li on the right, "Well now, this kid was usually shy as could be. Whenever he saw us, he would just lower his head and pass by. Did the sun rise in the west today? He actually took the initiative to greet us."

"I think that after his grandfather passed away, he has tasted all the flavors of life. I think the kid is quite good. Your daughter is fresh and pretty, and she is quite a match for him. His family has money too—they can definitely produce several hundred taels of silver." Grandma Li had a fanatical love for matchmaking.

Aunt Zhang sighed again and again. "That dead girl of mine read for a few days with her second uncle and now she is proud as a peacock. She always wants to find herself a Jinshi lord. Why does she not take a good look at herself? Jinshi lords are stars from the heavens descended to earth. Is she worthy of one?"

After Shi Xuan left the alley, he arrived at a bustling, prosperous avenue. Rather than choosing one of the gorgeously decorated grand restaurants, he followed his memories into a small noodle shop by the roadside.

"Uncle Liu, three liang of plain noodles and half a jin of braised pig intestines." This shop's braised intestines were unmatched in the city. One had to know that this city was the Prefecture City of Xia'an Prefecture, one of the most prosperous places in Yangzhou apart from Yangzhou City itself. It was no small town. It also stood by the Yangtze River and controlled the canal routes, making it a famous transportation hub among the thirteen provinces of the realm.

"I say, kid Du, you usually came very early. Today it is nearly past noon already." Shopkeeper Liu had finished slicing the pig intestines and waddled over with his great belly. He was still quite concerned about this neighbor he had watched grow up.

"Ah, do not mention it. Last night, I kept thinking about what I should do in the future. I thought so much that I could not sleep. It felt like there was a mountain of pressure on me." Shi Xuan recalled Du Bai's usual manner of speaking before Shopkeeper Liu, but he still unconsciously revealed some of his current tone.

Fortunately, Shopkeeper Liu was concerned with what he had said and did not pay much attention to his tone. "I see that you have trained yourself a fine body. Why not go work at the yamen as a yamen runner? The salary is not much, but when everything else is added together, it is still quite a bit. Your family may have some savings, but you cannot sit and eat until the mountain is empty. I have some connections in that area."

After thinking for a moment, Shi Xuan said, "Uncle Liu, I have a relative in Anjing City. I plan to leave in half a year and seek refuge with him. Under the Son of Heaven's feet, there should be more opportunities as well." It could also serve as groundwork for his eventual departure. The surrounding neighbors basically only knew that Shi Xuan trained his body; they knew nothing about his cultivation of Daoist arts. Indeed, very few people in the world had likely ever truly seen Daoist magic.

As for the matter of his Daoist robe, several successive Sons of Heaven had believed in the Dao. Thus, by the customs of the realm, many wealthy merchants, and even Confucian scholars and high officials, enjoyed wearing Daoist robes at home. In other words, Daoist robes were the designer casual wear of the modern age. Therefore, there was nothing unusual about Shi Xuan wearing a Daoist robe without carrying a Daoist Certificate. At most, people would assume he was the son of a wealthy merchant or a scholar.

"Under the Son of Heaven's feet, there may be many opportunities, but there are also many dangers. I know you are young and ambitious, but you must know your own limits." After saying that, Shopkeeper Liu patted Shi Xuan on the shoulder and went to serve newly arrived customers. Just then, the plain noodles were brought over.

Shi Xuan had long been starving, but with ten years of experience in Daoist cultivation and body tempering, he knew he could not wolf down food at such a time. He ate slowly. A bite of plain noodles, a bite of braised intestines—the noodles were light and refreshing, while the intestines were richly fragrant, smooth without being greasy. It truly was a delicacy of the mortal world.

He drank down the last mouthful of noodle soup, feeling utterly satisfied. Shi Xuan, a foodie in his previous life, was finally full and content, and felt that being alive was truly wonderful. Then he stood, paid Shopkeeper Liu for the meal, called out a farewell, and headed toward the south of the city. Several large medicinal shops were located there.