Awakening

Li Yan now fully understood what had happened to him. He also recalled the old man's words forbidding him to open his eyes when he had regained consciousness the second time, and naturally understood the intention behind them. If he had opened his eyes upon waking, he would certainly have instinctively sat cross-legged and circulated his cultivation to continue refining the medicinal power. The fire poison that had just been suppressed within him would have erupted again. Where would he have found the luck to encounter another person like the gray-robed old man, someone with immortal arts and divine powers, appearing in time? Then only a dead end would have awaited him. At this thought, his heart still palpitated with lingering fear.

The old man's voice drifted over again, though it now sounded somewhat faint and unsteady. "All right. Having told you all this, you must understand why I saved you now, yes?"

Li Yan raised his head to look at the old man's illusory figure. He nodded and said softly, "Of course I understand. I should be the person with the spiritual root from the 'Gui Water Immortal Sect' whom you were seeking." Ever since the gray-robed old man had spoken of the five ancient sects seeking people with special constitutions and spiritual roots, Li Yan had already guessed it. It was not difficult for him to figure out. The old man had saved him, then told him of his own origins and purpose—how could Li Yan not understand?

"Yes. You are the person I have bitterly sought for millions of years. This strand of Divine Thought of mine is also about to dissipate. Earlier, I placed our sect's immortal art, the Gui Water True Scripture, into your sea of consciousness. You may sense its existence later. It is a complete set of immortal arts, from the Qi Condensation Realm all the way to the Mahayana Realm. However, you can only see the contents that correspond to your own realm of magical power. Only as your cultivation continues to rise will you be able to open the corresponding cultivation formulas. Naturally, you can now only see the formulas and immortal arts of the Qi Condensation Realm. If you are unfortunate enough to perish, this set of immortal arts will immediately vanish as well." At this point, the old man could not help sighing.

"Kid, if I had found you at a normal time, then even with the magical power remaining in my Divine Thought, though I could not display great divine abilities, accompanying you for a thousand years would not have been a problem. During that time, I could have carefully guided your cultivation and spared you many detours. But after straightening out your meridians and suppressing the fire poison, I can only be like this now. The road ahead can only be walked by you alone. How far you can go will depend on your own fortune."

Seeing the old man speak this way, Li Yan stammered, "Immortal... Immortal Elder, I... I don't want to cultivate immortality. I want to go home and reunite with my father and mother."

The gray-robed old man was stunned upon hearing this. In his understanding, cultivating immortality was something everyone yearned for. Not to mention a legendary great figure like himself taking disciples—even if some trash Qi Condensation Realm cultivator went into the mortal world and announced that he was accepting disciples, countless people would fight until their heads bled for the chance. This truly caught him by surprise. Still, he did not care much. With a sneer, he said, "Hmph. Do you think you still have a choice? If you do not cultivate immortality, the fire poison in your body will likely breed and grow stronger in a few years. Once it breaks through its suppression, you will still die. Besides, after your earlier cultivation, combined with my restructuring of your meridians and guiding the medicinal power today, you are already at the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm. Do you think this teacher of yours, now that he sees you awake, will let you leave? Sooner or later, he will absorb your spiritual power. That is death as well. If you cultivate the immortal art I gave you, perhaps you may still have a chance to fight for survival. And you say you do not want to cultivate immortality?"

Li Yan stood stunned for a while, pondering inwardly. Just now, his mind had been wholly fixed on returning to his parents' side, and he had truly overlooked the environment he was in. Just as the old man had said, he was now riding a tiger and unable to dismount. Not cultivating meant death; continuing to cultivate still left him a sliver of hope for survival.

Seeing Li Yan remain silent, the old man gave a cold laugh. "Put away those childish thoughts. You should think more about how to stay alive. With the poison in your body, if you cultivate the Gui Water True Scripture to the peak of the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, you should be able to force it out. You should understand this after reading the cultivation method later."

"You may cultivate more beside this pool. It will strengthen and assist spiritual roots primarily aligned with water, such as ours. Strategist Ji did not choose this valley as his residence at random. This is the only place nearby with even a little spiritual energy. That spiritual energy comes from deep beneath this pool. There should be something like a very small spiritual spring beneath it. After the spiritual energy spreads out, it can roughly remain within this valley. Otherwise, none of you would be able to cultivate. But there is too little spiritual energy here, and the spiritual spring is too small. Otherwise, Green Mountain Pass would likely have ceased to exist long ago and been occupied by an immortal cultivation sect."

"There is one more thing. I do not know whether it is a blessing or a curse. Because the spiritual power in your body entered the Dao through poison, although I have sorted it out, given my current condition I could only repair your meridians and keep you alive. That has already exhausted nearly all the little magical power I had left. I can no longer alter the poisonous nature of your spiritual power."

"As your spiritual power circulates throughout your body, the poison hidden within it will continuously grow stronger and seep into your muscles and bones. But after you switch to cultivating the Gui Water True Scripture, if you reach the peak of the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, the poison within that spiritual power can be refined away. So what you need to care about now is how to cultivate the Gui Water True Scripture well and how to escape. Only after escaping will you have the right to plan anything else."

As he spoke, a solemn note unexpectedly emerged in the gray-robed old man's already misty, illusory voice. He was deeply worried as well. After more than two million years, he had finally found someone to inherit the legacy. If Li Yan ultimately died at the hands of some tiny trash cultivator in the Qi Condensation Realm, it would be unbearably stifling. In the past, against such a minor figure, a single thought from him could have reduced the man to ashes. Yet now, he could not do it at all. It truly stifled him to the extreme.

His true body was now in an unknown place, while this strand of Divine Thought was nearly dissipated. If he had not helped Li Yan repair his body, then with the power his Divine Thought possessed before, had he awakened normally, he could still have killed a third-layer Qi Condensation Realm cultivator. Afterward, he could have endured for several more years. But when he first awakened, Li Yan's life and death had hung on the space of a few breaths. Where had he had the time to kill Strategist Ji first? By the time he saved Li Yan, his own magical power had also been spent until the lamp was dry and the oil exhausted.

Li Yan furrowed his brow as well. Just as the old man had said, the main issue now was how to escape alive from the hands of his teacher.

The old man's voice drifted into Li Yan's ears once more. "You should have about a year left. At that time, regardless of whether you have cultivated to the peak of the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, Strategist Ji will make his move. The poison in his body can be suppressed for only about another year at most. But if you can diligently cultivate the Gui Water True Scripture to the peak of the first layer within this year, then perhaps there may be a slight chance of turning the situation around. There might even be an unexpected surprise, heh heh."

At this moment, ill intent could actually be heard in the old man's misty voice, but he did not continue. Instead, he changed the subject. "Still, if you wish to escape this place, perhaps you can do so through this Marshal Hong in the city. He is extremely eager to obtain Strategist Ji's so-called 'martial arts.'"

"Furthermore, I sensed that besides Hong Linying, there is another martial arts expert in the Marshal's residence who is no weaker than him. Although the two of them together cannot possibly be Strategist Ji's match, they can still keep him occupied for a short while."

"Also, for the time being, you need not worry about the safety of your father, mother, and family."

"If you can escape, they will only become your fetters. Strategist Ji will not pass up the chance to use them as bait."

"Oh, a reminder: Strategist Ji has already mastered some rudimentary immortal arts, such as the Wood Thorn Art, Fireball Art, and Wind Blade Art. You must deal with them carefully. Though these are insignificant entry-level immortal arts, immortal arts are still immortal arts. They are not something mortals, or a beginner rookie like you, can withstand." So said the old man. When he spoke the words "martial arts," he emphasized them slightly, though his voice had become exceedingly illusory.

Hearing the first half of his words, Li Yan was somewhat puzzled. He did not know why the gray-robed old man had suddenly begun laughing with such ill intent, though it clearly was not directed at him. Before he could think further, he heard the old man mention Marshal Hong's intentions, and his eyes lit up. He recalled what had happened at the training ground that day. At the time, he had not known Marshal Hong's intentions. The man had even sent inner force wandering through Li Yan's body once. So he had been coveting Strategist Ji's cultivation method. This might indeed be an opportunity he could use. But as for how he was to deal with Strategist Ji's immortal arts, he had no clue for the moment. Those were immortal arts.

"All right, kid. It is impossible for me to say much more to you. I hope that my true body may meet you someday. But at the very least, you ought to call me 'Sect Master.' Remember, this old man is called Venerable Overturning Water, Dong Fuyi." By this point, the old man's voice had become nearly inaudible. His figure then began to turn into specks of water mist and slowly disperse.

Watching the water mist forming in the air, Li Yan hurriedly called out, "Old man! Old man! You haven't told me how to get out!" But no further sound emerged from the mist. What Sect Master? You didn't even explain things clearly. And I somehow joined an immortal sect for no reason at all—a rootless immortal sect at that. There is probably only me left in the sect now. So where is the immortal art? And how am I supposed to leave this spiritual space? As he pondered, the mist before his eyes scattered completely. With its dissipation, Li Yan suddenly felt his vision blur, followed by a wave of dizziness, and everything went black.

Li Yan felt cold all over. He abruptly opened his eyes, only to be met with a sheet of glaring white sunlight. It dazzled him so badly that he hurriedly shut his eyes again. Then a familiar voice came over. "Disciple, you have finally awakened. How do you feel? Are you feeling any better?"

Upon hearing that voice, Li Yan's body stiffened. After pausing for a moment, he slowly opened his eyes again. The first thing he saw was a man in black robes, leaning slightly forward to block the sunlight. A lean, kindly face was watching him with concern. It was his master, Strategist Ji. Li Yan could not help forcing a smile. He looked around to either side and only then discovered that he was lying on the ground, soaked through. He pressed a hand against the ground and sat up, finding that he was still beside the pool. The sunlight in the sky was still slightly toward the east, as if it were still morning. After hesitating briefly, he asked, "Mas... Master, what happened to me?"

Seeing Li Yan awaken, Strategist Ji could not help letting out a breath of relief. He straightened up and said gently, "While cultivating, you suffered a deviation in your meridians when drawing qi into your body and fell into the pool. Your master just rescued you. About a quarter of an hour has passed, but you remained unconscious, so your master could only keep circulating cultivation to heal your injuries. You are no longer in serious danger now. Your master—eh?"

At first, he had spoken while thinking, but as he continued, he habitually swept Li Yan with his Divine Sense and was startled. As Li Yan awakened, the aura around him was continuously changing and strengthening. His face, which had originally still been somewhat twisted and swollen, was gradually recovering as well. With that casual sweep, he discovered that Li Yan had somehow reached the initial stage of the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm. His expression turned dazed, and he lightly shook his head.

After fishing Li Yan out of the water, when he had first sent spiritual power into him to treat him, Li Yan had shown the slightest response. Afterward, he sent in several more threads of spiritual power, but there was no further reaction. Yet when he checked Li Yan's breathing, it was normal. When he had scanned Li Yan's body with Divine Sense then, Li Yan had seemed badly injured. As for his realm, he had still been at the stage of drawing qi into his body, without successfully breaking through to the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm.

This had inevitably disappointed him greatly. Still, as long as Li Yan was alive, there would be hope of attempting another breakthrough. So he had once more circulated spiritual power into Li Yan's body, hoping to ease the fire poison within him. Yet Li Yan remained motionless, showing no sign of waking. Strategist Ji could only stand beside him, observing while he pondered. After roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Li Yan had awakened on his own.

With that habitual sweep of Divine Sense just now, how had Li Yan become a first-layer Qi Condensation Realm cultivator? Had he been mistaken? He released his Divine Sense again and swept it toward Li Yan. He did not believe that anyone here would know what Divine Sense was. A moment later, even with all his composure, delight could not help appearing on his face. It was indeed the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm without question. He also saw that Li Yan's eyes were more sharply black and white than before, several times clearer than they had been. But then suspicion arose in him again. He had scanned Li Yan several times with Divine Sense earlier and had confirmed that Li Yan had not reached the first layer. How was he to explain this now?

Yet shortly afterward, he put aside his doubts. For these forty-nine days, Li Yan had cultivated right under his nose. What problem could there possibly be? Perhaps the several streams of spiritual power he had sent into Li Yan's body had worked. Or perhaps the boy's constitution was somewhat special, and he was simply being overly suspicious. As for why he had failed to notice Li Yan's breakthrough earlier, perhaps Li Yan's aura had been unstable while unconscious. Combined with his having only just broken through to the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, his aura had been too weak. Now that Li Yan had awakened, his aura was naturally beginning to reveal itself.

As Li Yan watched his teacher, who had stopped halfway through his words with a surprised sound, he suddenly felt an invisible force spread over his body. It was as though someone were peering into his entire body, leaving no secret hidden from them. "Divine Sense!" The term flashed through his mind and emerged of its own accord. Once he confirmed the thought, he felt even more clearly as if a pair of eyes were seeing straight through him from top to bottom, inside and out.

The sensation was so illusory, yet he truly felt it. He could not explain it, and it made him deeply uncomfortable. At the same time, he was astonished to find that his five senses had become extraordinarily sharp. Without even turning his head, he could hear fish swimming in the pool and the low chirping of all kinds of autumn insects in the valley. Glancing from the corner of his eye, he was shocked to see dewdrops on the grass dozens of zhang away as clearly as if they were before his eyes, every bright speck of light dazzlingly distinct. Ants crawled among the blades of grass and dewdrops, diligently carrying things beneath the sunlight. He could even see the antennae on their heads constantly swaying.

When he turned toward the pool, threads of mist-like qi immediately appeared before his eyes, intertwining, twisting, and spreading. He guessed that this was the spiritual energy Dong Fuyi had spoken of, spreading out from within the pool. Li Yan found every sight before him utterly incredible.

Moreover, judging from what his teacher had said, he had been unconscious for only around a quarter of an hour. Yet in that space, he had spoken with Dong Fuyi for a long time. If he had not misjudged the time, it should have been at least an hour. How was that to be explained?