Dragonreach Waters, Coiling Dragon Island.
Fu Henghua sat in the cultivation chamber on the third floor of Langhuan Hall, carefully conducting a cultivation-art simulation on a Jade Puppet.
Puppet dolls were a common tool cultivators used to simulate cultivation arts. Improving and repairing cultivation methods was an extremely dangerous undertaking. One careless mistake could lead to qi deviation. Naturally, cultivators could not risk their own bodies from the very beginning.
Humanoid puppet dolls thus emerged as the times required. Fed with essence blood and made to circulate true qi within, they became "another self."
After the puppet completed its cultivation experiment, the cultivator could then try it personally, greatly reducing the chance of qi deviation.
The puppet before Fu Henghua was a Jade Puppet, the finest quality among "cultivation-practice puppets." It could reproduce seventy percent of a human body. Flesh, skin, and meridians were manageable, but bone marrow and the imprints of life's inheritance were difficult to recreate through the puppet's "human-sacrifice substitution principle."
Naturally, it was immensely valuable.
"The moon cradles the Jade Rabbit, the sun conceals the crow; turtle and serpent entwine to form True Martial. Yin and yang join in harmony to aid the Supreme Ultimate; the five elements gather in clusters..."
Henghua silently calculated the formula. A man and a woman stood behind him as protectors, praying for success this time.
"It has to succeed, it has to succeed. If it fails again, we really have no money left." As the maid responsible for the accounts, Xiaoyu knew that Fu Henghua's entire fortune had gone into acquiring the puppet and simulating cultivation methods.
This Jade Puppet was their final one.
If it failed again, where could she possibly get money for her young master?
The guard Hengshou silently thought, If the old master learned of the young master's extravagant ruinous ways, how many days would this beating leave him unable to get out of bed?
As spiritual qi circulated through the Jade Puppet in simulation, Qi Refining Level One, Level Two, Level Three... it steadily climbed all the way to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The Gilded Jade Garment covering the puppet's surface began to activate.
The Jade Garment was crudely handcrafted. It was spiritual armor Fu Henghua had made himself, modeled after the Gilded Jade Garment he had seen in a museum in his previous life.
Talismans and spiritual sigils surfaced across the jade plates, activating streak after streak of spiritual light. Transmitted through golden threads, the light enclosed and protected the Jade Puppet.
Suddenly—
The Thunder-Warning Bell on the eastern side of the room reacted. The small violet-gold bell shook rapidly, sounding a piercing alarm.
All three raised their heads at once.
Violet light flickered as heavenly lightning slowly gathered overhead.
"It's starting. Xiaoyu, Hengshou, withdraw!"
The three had long been prepared.
With a flip, Henghua decisively leaped out the window, his fingers forming the Wind-Riding Art. A pure wind swept in, setting his robes fluttering as he stood suspended in the air.
The maid Xiaoyu opened and shut the door, then drifted gracefully out of the cultivation chamber.
Seeing his companions abandon him without the slightest loyalty while he happened to be blocked at the doorway, Hengshou silently took out a black iron umbrella. Opening it, he hid in a corner to avoid the lightning.
Rumble—
Lightning crashed into Langhuan Hall, and the splashing flames ignited the area before the building.
At Coiling Dragon Pavilion, Fu Danwei reclined on a couch, leisurely enjoying a maid's massage.
"The human world drifts on for twelve hundred years. Wealth, glory, and splendor are all..."
Before the old man could finish humming—
Rumble—
A heaven-shaking blast interrupted him.
The maid's hands suddenly tightened, and the old man jerked upright. Her face drained of color as she cried, "Mercy, Master!"
Ignoring her, the old man looked toward Langhuan Hall behind Coiling Dragon Pavilion.
Black smoke billowed, and blazing fire roared.
"You little bastard, causing trouble at home again! Sooner or later, you'll torment your grandfather to death!"
He only had ten years left to live. Could he not even peacefully enjoy his final ten years?
Fu Danwei's beard trembled with rage. "Someone, go look in the back. What is that brat tinkering with now?"
The attendant hurried to move, but before he could run out, a handsome and spirited young man entered.
Dressed in a dark-red fitted outfit, he bowed. "Grandfather, who are you angry with?"
"Who else could it be? Your troublesome cousin—you have no idea, he burned down Langhuan Hall again last month!"
Again? Was that the seventh or eighth time this year?
Fu Xiangfeng offered a conciliatory smile as he presented a gift to the old man. "Isn't my cousin's arrogance something you indulged? Look, I brought back a Spring-Returning Pill for you. It helps preserve one's looks and extend one's life."
Fu Danwei rubbed his head of snowy hair and sighed. "Don't trouble yourself. Your grandfather only has a few years left. My greatest hope now is for some of your generation to become Golden Core Cultivators. Then, even if Coiling Dragon Island is surrendered, you may have a chance to reclaim it."
He casually placed his fingers on Xiangfeng's wrist to inspect his cultivation.
Suddenly, the old man exclaimed in delight, "You broke through? You formed Samadhi Fire?"
Joy over Fu Xiangfeng's breakthrough made him forget Fu Henghua's latest mess for the moment.
Xiangfeng's face carried a hint of restrained pride. "I had a minor fortuitous encounter during this trip." He lightly pinched his fingers together, and a burning flame drifted forth.
Samadhi Fire was refined from a cultivator's essence, qi, and spirit, one of the most common methods for subduing demons and vanquishing devils.
"Good, good—"
Remembering something, the old man pulled him toward Langhuan Hall.
Fu Xiangfeng hurriedly dispersed the Samadhi Fire.
"Come, come. Let's find your cousin and have him simulate your cultivation method for you. Cultivation must be carefully examined at every realm. The slightest change requires the cultivation method to be revised and adjusted."
Cultivation methods differed from person to person.
Methods adapted to a person's needs; people were not meant to passively cultivate according to a method.
If an Earth Canon Immortal Art of the fire attribute were given to a cultivator skilled in lightning arts, it naturally needed revision according to the actual circumstances. If modified properly, lightning and fire could be cultivated together, achieving twice the result with half the effort.
If an immortal scripture required its cultivator to be blind, would a normal person have to gouge out their own eyes to cultivate it? Naturally, the method should be modified to add a path that ordinary people could cultivate. After all, methods of becoming immortal were hard to find. Rather than make do with a low-grade cultivation method, it was better to improve and repair an immortal art into one's own exclusive method.
Some cultivation methods suited men. If women cultivated them instead, they likewise needed to be modified anew. When the first cultivator in ancient times observed heaven and earth and created Daoist arts, they naturally improved their own cultivation method when passing it on to someone of the opposite sex.
Xiangfeng quickly followed the old man. What began as being forcibly dragged along became him voluntarily supporting the old man. "That theory of my cousin's again?"
"Your cousin causes trouble in a thousand ways and disasters in ten thousand ways. But in one respect alone, his talent for creating cultivation methods is truly exceptional."
Xiangfeng silently nodded.
Indeed, among the Fu Family's clansmen currently at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages, most used cultivation methods related to Fu Henghua. This boy's cultivation might be poor, but when it came to calculating and creating cultivation methods, he was truly a capable hand.
The two arrived at Langhuan Hall and saw gardeners carrying buckets as they put out the fire around the building.
"Watch yourselves. Don't burn down my library." Not far away, a youthful-faced boy who somewhat resembled Fu Xiangfeng gestured and directed them.
Henghua's hair was disheveled, and Xiaoyu was fixing it again beside him.
"Xiaoyu, leave me alone. Protect our flower guests first."
The girl wore a helpless expression. With a wave of her hand, deep-blue Frost Profound Qi drifted over the flowerbeds, extinguishing the flames on the scorched branches.
Seeing Fu Henghua blackened like charcoal by the blast, Fu Danwei's anger surged skyward. He grabbed a jade ruler and prepared to beat him.
Henghua caught sight of his grandfather charging over from afar and decisively fled into Langhuan Hall, flipping out the sign by the entrance.
"Library grounds. Fighting prohibited."
Eight gleaming golden characters hovered at the entrance as an immortal restriction enveloped Langhuan Hall.
Fu Danwei was a great Golden Core cultivator, so naturally he did not fear the immortal restriction Fu Henghua had created. But upon reaching the library, he remembered the eighty thousand Daoist books stored inside. He silently lowered his hand and stood at the entrance, scolding and cursing.
Fu Xiangfeng hurried over to support the old man. "Grandfather, calm down, calm down. Little Six, come out quickly. Help your Third Brother choose a cultivation method."
Standing inside the library, Henghua saw Fu Xiangfeng soothe the old man and silently removed the restriction. Yet he did not go outside, instead standing at the door and inviting them in.
At the same time, he gave the maid Xiaoyu a meaningful look.
After the gardeners put out the fire, Xiaoyu quickly pulled them away to coordinate their stories. She smoothed over the matter of her young master causing trouble once more.
"But Third Young Master has returned, and the old master is happy inside. He probably won't be too harsh on Young Master, right?"
Inside Langhuan Hall, the three members of the Fu Family stood together.
With a solemn expression, Henghua picked up the register at the entrance. "Yisi Month, Gengshen Day, the seventh day of the fourth month. Fu Danwei enters Langhuan Hall with his grandson Fu Xiangfeng."
Seeing his grandson assume the posture of a library master, Fu Danwei's eyelids twitched, but he forced himself to remain silent.
There was no helping it. Since Henghua had displayed his talent for simulating cultivation methods and repairing damaged scriptures, he had naturally become the family's "librarian."
The rules he established for the library had been approved by all the clansmen. As an elder of the Fu Family, Fu Danwei naturally could not take the lead in breaking them.
If he did not take them seriously and uphold the rules, then after he was gone, what if other clansmen took the opportunity to bully his grandson?
Suddenly, Fu Danwei thought of something and carefully inspected the library.
The library possessed an antique elegance and had three floors. Redwood shelves displayed the Fu Family's collected true and mundane books, twelve categories and seven hundred twenty thousand volumes in total. Of these, the six cultivation categories were Dao, methods, arts, techniques, miscellany, and records. Eighty thousand volumes covered everything in the cultivation world: astronomy and geography, Daoist arts and spells, pills, artifacts, talismans, formations, and strange tales.
Naturally, there were also books written by Fu Henghua himself, such as <Chart of the Hundred Classics and Thousand Meridians>, Compendium of a Thousand Arts, Dream-Watching Divination, and Northern Dipper Origin Star Chart. All were graduation results Henghua had completed under the instruction of Golden Core experts specializing in their respective fields. The book he had most recently finished, Record of a Thousand Herbs, was an ancient cultivation pill formula newly compiled and organized under the meticulous guidance of the pill-dao expert Ge Liu.
After the Continent Overturning, many heavenly treasures and earthly materials of the ancient cultivation era had either changed names or vanished entirely. Replacing them with other medicinal ingredients had become imperative. This was also the work of one branch of Dharma Performers, the Golden Fang medicine-repair masters. Put simply, it was pharmaceutical manufacturing from his previous life.
"Nothing seems to be missing. Where did that fire and explosion just now come from?"
After searching around, Fu Danwei's gaze fell on the staircase leading to the second floor.
Not good!
Henghua's heart stirred, and he hurriedly said, "Ahem... Third Brother, did you break through to the True Fire Realm?"
"Yes. I came to select my next cultivation method. Should we use a spiritual puppet to calculate it?"
"When you came before the New Year, I saw that you had reached Foundation Establishment Perfection and calculated that you were about to break through. I already prepared three True Fire Realm cultivation methods for you. Of course, it would be best to inspect you first."
Fu Henghua reached out and lightly patted Fu Xiangfeng's shoulder.
"A trace of phoenix qi lingers around you. Did you encounter an external opportunity? Did you pick up a phoenix feather, or eat spiritual grass tainted with phoenix qi? The phoenix is the essence of wind and fire. It seems the three books I prepared for you are perfectly suited."
Then Henghua fetched a wooden puppet. "Inject your mana—what are you doing, Elder?"
Fu Danwei paused, halting his ascent upstairs. "This old man is going upstairs to take a look. Aren't cultivation methods above Foundation Establishment all on the second floor?"
"I calculated Third Brother's cultivation progress before the New Year and already placed the texts he needs on the first floor."
With a beckoning gesture, Fu Henghua summoned three cultivation manuals from a small shelf in the central hall.
"You're in such a hurry. Come, help Third Brother appraise them while I examine his body."
After pulling Fu Danwei back, Fu Henghua secretly glanced toward the top of the stairs. Hengshou lowered a red tassel—everything had been cleaned up.
Henghua secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as the scene was cleaned up and Grandfather did not discover it, all was well.
Fu Henghua had been secretly simulating cultivation methods for himself behind the family's back.
Fu Xiangfeng infused true essence into the wooden puppet. The crudely made, simple puppet transformed into a small figure resembling him, with acupoints and meridians appearing across its surface.
Then he operated the cultivation method he was currently practicing, and true essence slowly flowed through the puppet's meridians.
Cultivation methods arose from cultivators "taking nature as their teacher." They used the human body to imitate heaven and earth, manifesting the workings of heaven and earth within the body.
Legend held that the world's first cultivator had been an ordinary mortal. By observing the principles of heaven, earth, and nature, they thoroughly comprehended the workings of true qi. Thus, every cultivation method could be viewed as the operation of a principle of heaven and earth.
Fu Henghua watched the puppet. The flow of true essence resembled a gust of wind moving through heaven and earth.
"Wait a while first. Let the true essence make a few more circuits. By the way, Third Brother. Now that you've returned, do you plan to go out again?"
"I'll stay home for a few days for now, settle my mind, and cultivate properly. What, are you planning to have me bring you something again?"
"No, I was only asking."
"Your Third Brother will be going to Windgate Island later to oversee our family's business."
Fu Danwei flipped through the three cultivation manuals.
Cultivation manuals came in two types: public editions and secret-script editions.
Public editions were written in ordinary text and could be read and cultivated freely. Secret-script editions, however, were usually higher-level methods written in special spiritual script to preserve secrecy.
Deciphering spiritual script was also one of a Dharma Performer's duties. These three cultivation methods were all public editions Fu Henghua had already deciphered.
Read them, and learn them.
After reading them, Fu Danwei handed them to Fu Xiangfeng. "Your brother chose these for you. One is the Mystic Wind Secret Art, one is Wind-Fire Dual Cultivation, and the other is Fire Essence Purification. Forget the third; it does not suit you. Choose between the first two yourself."
Fifteen hundred years ago, the Donglai Divine Continent sank, and the world's primordial qi changed greatly with it.
Originally, the five elements had been evenly balanced, with water and fire qi occupying equal shares. But by the era of ten thousand islands, water spiritual qi had become abundant between heaven and earth. Cultivating fire arts had become exceedingly difficult.
As heaven and earth changed, cultivators were shocked to discover that cultivation formulas originally created and passed down during the Divine Land Era gradually failed to keep pace with this new environment.
Cultivation methods took heaven and earth's myriad phenomena as their teacher. When heaven and earth changed, the methods naturally had to change as well.
Water spiritual qi completely overwhelmed wood, fire, earth, and metal. Every cultivation method and spell founded upon "yin-yang and the five elements" needed adjustment.
The tidal pull distorted Taiyin, indirectly changing the paths of the sun and other stars. Every Daoist art using stars as a medium had to be adjusted accordingly.
Thus, the profession of Dharma Performer emerged as the times required.
They simulated the Dao of heaven and earth, and modeled the principles of myriad phenomena.
Xiangfeng understood that fire arts were difficult to cultivate, so naturally he would not choose one.
After roughly reading the first two, he frowned. "Isn't there anything faster? Something to form a core as soon as possible?"
Fu Danwei's gaze shifted, carrying both gratification and emotion.
Hearing Xiangfeng's words, Henghua did not even lift his head, staring fixedly at the wooden puppet as he said:
"The three stages of Foundation Establishment begin with establishing the Dao foundation and purifying true essence. Then one refines True Fire and tempers jade liquid. Finally, one forms the Mystic Womb, unites the water and fire, dragon and tiger, and achieves the Great Dao Golden Core Realm. This process takes decades at the shortest and centuries at the longest. If Third Brother plans to rapidly form a core within ten years, forget it."
Fu Henghua excelled at calculation. In his projections, Fu Xiangfeng would not have a chance to attempt Core Formation until at least fifty years later.
After all, not everyone was a genius like himself, capable of forming a Golden Core within sixty years. By current common standards, forming a core in three hundred years already made one an ordinary genius.
"Even if I gained a phoenix opportunity?" As he spoke, he pushed the puppet's simulation forward bit by bit according to his own cultivation speed.
Henghua observed the route of cultivation, recording his Third Brother's cultivation speed through each meridian. "I truly could not predict your opportunity involving a phoenix feather. But I had already considered the possibility that you would gain an opportunity.
"Fifty years. Only fifty years from now will you have a chance to form a core. As for the fastest person in our branch to form a core, we must look to Fifth Uncle. Though he is only one step from Core Formation now, there is little hope within ten years. It should take thirteen years."
Only three years short, and Coiling Dragon Island faced the danger of changing hands.
Fu Danwei also said, "Feng'er, you need not concern yourself with Coiling Dragon Island. Even if your Seventeenth Uncle takes this island, he is still a member of our Fu Family. He will not mistreat our Cypress Sovereign Hall."
"But he belongs to White Elm Hall," Henghua said flatly. "White Elm Hall may have few members, but it still has more than a dozen direct-line clansmen. Once you are truly gone, Elder, Coiling Dragon Island naturally will not be for our family to live on."
In Dragonreach Waters, the Fu Family was a cultivation clan neither large nor small. Over a thousand years, several great Golden Core cultivators had guarded it, and its reputation had become illustrious.
Yet there were too many monks and too little porridge. Among the Fu Family's three islands and eighteen islets, only two possessed lower-grade first-rank Spirit Veins.
One was Profound Phoenix, whose Spirit Vein was about to ascend into a middle-grade third rank. It was the ancestral court of the Fu Family.
The other was Coiling Dragon, this very Coiling Dragon Island, governed by Fu Danwei, an elder of Cypress Sovereign Hall. This island stood alone far from the Fu Family's other islands and islets, with water demons frequently appearing nearby. In his early years, Fu Danwei and his father had left the clan and come to this land of ruins, constructing the Spirit Vein and managing it for several centuries.
Now that Fu Danwei's lifespan was nearing its end, Cypress Sovereign Hall lacked the strength to guard Coiling Dragon Island. Meanwhile, White Elm Hall's Golden Core cultivator was at the height of his power and a heaven-blessed genius, yet currently possessed no cultivation sanctuary.
The clan's plan was for Cypress Sovereign Hall's branch to move out after Fu Danwei died of old age, allowing White Elm Hall to move in. White Elm Hall would then temporarily assume responsibility for protecting the Cypress Sovereign Hall clansmen.
Moving out was easy. Returning afterward, however, would be difficult.
Fu Danwei smiled. "Golden Flame Islet by White Elm Hall is not bad either. I discussed it with the Grand Elder. Later, we'll merge another spirit islet into it. At the very least, you'll have a lower-grade second-rank 'Swallow's Chin' Spirit Vein."
Fu Xiangfeng felt a bitter taste in his heart.
Their Cypress Sovereign Hall had managed Coiling Dragon Island for seven hundred years. They had painstakingly upgraded its Spirit Vein from lower-grade third-rank bit by bit. Though others in the clan had contributed as well, their branch had clearly given more. How many uncles and elders had died fighting for Coiling Dragon Island? And the only reason this island had recovered its former appearance was because a host of the old man's friends had come to help back then.
Whether it was himself or Heng Hua, both had been born and raised here.
How could the memories and sacrifices of several generations be yielded so easily?
Heng Hua also recalled the deaths of his parents.
During that demon tide thirty years ago, Cypress Sovereign Hall had suffered grievous casualties. Fewer than twenty direct-line clan members remained. Fu Danwei, a Golden Core elder, had even burned three hundred years of his lifespan to kill those three Golden Core flood dragons.
At the thought, Heng Hua lowered his brows and bowed his head, hiding the redness at the corners of his eyes. Calmly, he said, "Rest assured, Grandpa. Your grandson is already helping you deduce a cultivation method. Once you break through, you'll gain another five hundred years of life. This Coiling Dragon Island will still be ours."
"You?"
Fu Danwei looked at his youngest grandson and slowly shook his head. "Don't go messing around, brat. Just honestly deduce cultivation methods for the clan. In the future, the position of Transmission Elder will certainly be yours. Our clan's library will still be under your care. As for everything else, stop stirring things up. And—don't set fires in the library every day!"
His youngest grandson possessed exceptional talent in deducing cultivation methods. A few years ago, an immortal sect had even come specifically to accept him as a disciple, intending to train him as the sect's most important scripture-transmitting disciple.
But he was still young and inexperienced. Counting from the womb, Fu Henghua had cultivated for sixty years and only possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation.
Children like him, whose parents were both cultivators, were born with all hundred meridians unblocked and a lifespan of three hundred years. Compared to him, sixty years was merely the age of first adulthood.
When he was young, his grandson had once asked his father why Spiritfolk like them grew so slowly. Why could they not grow into adults within a dozen or so years like mortals?
His father had then answered him with a string of questions.
"If mortals cultivate into cultivators, and the children born from cultivators are Spiritfolk, then when birds and beasts cultivate into demon spirits, what kind of bodies do the children born from demon spirits possess?"
"Many demon races retain the habits of their original forms and can produce thousands, even tens of thousands, in a single breeding. Are all those descendants demon beasts?"
"If only most retain the bodies of their original animals, while a few become demon beasts, do those exceptional few mature as quickly as their original animal forms?"
The Heavenly Dao was balanced; where there was gain, there was loss.
Powerful lives blessed with talent would always be restricted in various ways.
The more obvious examples were mighty beings such as dragons and phoenixes. Young dragons and phoenixes had yet to develop their minds, and their childhoods passed even more slowly. Three to five hundred years might not be enough for them to mature.
The suppression of a Spiritfolk's mind was merely an insignificant price compared to the great talent and bloodline divine abilities they possessed from birth.
From the hints his father had vaguely dropped, there seemed to be some immense secret behind the deficiency in Spiritfolk minds. Fu Henghua could investigate it himself once he had grown up.
Now, Fu Henghua had been born with a Spiritfolk body. Though he had endured the trouble of mental suppression, he had also been born with Wisdom Heart, one of the six bloodline talents of Fu Clan's Panlong Island.
He could remember anything at a glance, comprehend myriad methods, and was most adept at deduction.
Heng Hua could now easily calculate immortal cultivation methods at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment levels. But once Golden Core and Soul Formation were involved, he was completely at a loss. Even though he had formed a Golden Core once, he knew the what but not the why, and remained confused about how to form an immortal Golden Core.
Langhuan Hall contained eighty thousand cultivation classics. Among them, there were only thirty-three proper scriptures and fragmentary texts involving Golden Core and Soul Formation cultivation altogether.
Inspired by those books, Fu Danwei believed his grandson understood the Golden Core realm better than ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. But to say he could create a cultivation method for Golden Core Cultivators was still unrealistic.
Seeing that Fu Danwei did not believe him, Heng Hua could not be bothered to argue.
Did he really think he had been playing with fire in Langhuan Hall all these years?
Those had all been perfectly legitimate acts of testing cultivation methods.
Heng Hua thought to himself, When the time comes, I'll lay the cultivation method right before him. Facts are the most convincing answer. And while I'm at it, it wouldn't be too much to move Grandpa's treasure vault into my room, would it?
Speaking of creating cultivation methods, Fu Henghua suddenly recalled a joke from the cultivation world:
Master: "Why haven't you formed a Nascent Soul yet?!"
Disciple: "I don't have a Soul-Formation Method."
Master: "Then hurry up and deduce one!"
Disciple: "But I'm not a Nascent Soul Cultivator, so I can't deduce a Soul-Formation Method!"
Master: "Then hurry up and form a Nascent Soul!"
Disciple: "But I don't have a Soul-Formation Method!"
In the end, the master was nearly angered to death by his rigid disciple and drove him out the gate.
Though it was merely a joke from the Divine Land Era, one whose truth was unknown, it pointed to a problem beneath the surface.
Where had the earliest Nascent Soul cultivation methods come from?
If the first Nascent Soul Grandmaster had successfully formed a Nascent Soul using an existing Nascent Soul cultivation method, then where had that method come from? If the method had been created by a Nascent Soul Grandmaster, then how had the Nascent Soul Grandmaster who created it formed a Nascent Soul in the first place?
The same question could be applied to Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and even ascension into immortality.
Where did methods for becoming immortal come from?
If immortals passed them down, then where did the first immortal's cultivation method come from?
Thus, cultivators proposed the approach of "practice—theory—practice."
Through immense amounts of practice, they sought the laws governing Heaven, Earth, and the myriad phenomena, then used them to simulate cultivation methods that would carry themselves another step upward.
Foundation Establishment cultivators observed the myriad phenomena of Heaven and Earth, creating and deducing a Golden Core path unique to themselves.
Golden Core Cultivators underwent millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of deductions and practical trials to create their own unique path to Soul Formation.
But failed deductions and cultivation deviation followed one after another. Some cultivators cherished their own feathers and would rather seek another's help than lightly risk themselves.
Dharma Performers, cultivators who specialized in deducing cultivation methods, thus gained their own standing. Most sects and lineages had their own Transmission Elders. Helping fellow clansmen or cultivators who practiced the same methods to deduce their techniques would undoubtedly yield twice the result with half the effort. It also freed other cultivators to strive for their sects and lineages.
Ordinary cultivators deduced cultivation methods one level higher, tailored to themselves.
Dharma Performers could cross two minor realms, or even one major realm. With special talents such as Wisdom Heart, Heavenly Eye, and Mystic Wisdom, they comprehended the principles of nature and compiled them into functioning cultivation methods.
Fu Henghua was one such person. Having successfully established his foundation through immortal methods, he had already touched upon the principle of "inner-born true fire" and could calculate the three realms of Foundation Establishment, True Fire Realm, and Mystic Womb. But when faced with the method of forming an immortal Golden Core, he could only scratch his head. As for Soul-Formation Methods beyond that, even if he dared create one, no one would dare cultivate it.
Even if there were Core Formation experiences from some tradition outside the immortal path... at the stages of Golden Core and Nascent Soul, Outer Dao experience would not be of much use. At most, it could be called "a strenuous attempt, with life and death left to Heaven."
"What a pity. If Grandpa's Dao Heart had not been damaged and his ambition utterly lost, there would be no need for me to rack my brains in every way. Given his talent, the most reasonable thing would be for him to deduce his own cultivation method."
Fu Danwei stared at Heng Hua, considering his future as well.
A Dharma Performer, a cultivator capable of calculating cultivation methods for others, was naturally a treasure to a lineage or sect. But precisely because he was a treasure, the lineage would never permit such a person to leave easily.
"The old man has ten years of life left and can protect him for a while. If the old man is gone, the others from Cypress Sovereign Hall may indeed move away. But he must remain to continue guarding Langhuan Hall. I fear he will have little freedom for the rest of his life."
With that thought, Fu Danwei made up his mind and said to Fu Xiangfeng, "When you go to Windgate Island later, take Little Six with you—"
"What?"
"Me?"
Fu Henghua had been about to examine his third brother's body. Upon hearing this, both were stunned at once.
Then they spoke in unison: "No!"
--
Supplement:
The Feng Shui Dragon-Reading Art states: Donglai's Spirit Veins are divided into upper, middle, and lower grades, with three ranks in each grade. Spirit Veins of differing grades nurture different spirit roots and exotic beasts. For lower-grade first-rank Spirit Veins, dragons and phoenixes are the finest, and they can produce Panlong Wood and Phoenix Parasol Wood.
Supplement:
Cultivation Compendium: Spiritfolk:
The path of cultivation runs contrary to Heaven. For cultivators, bearing children is ten times more difficult than for mortals. The shortest pregnancies last ten months; the longest may last several years.
The Spirit children born from them have lifespans of three hundred years, all hundred meridians unblocked, and can enter the Dao from birth, thus incurring Heaven's jealousy. Before reaching adulthood, they undergo three "Spirit Qi Eruptions."
The first occurs at one month of age. Survive it, and they live; fail it, and they die young.
More than ten years later, a Spiritfolk's development stops, with both mind and appearance remaining childlike.
The timing of the second Spirit Qi Eruption is uncertain. Failure means death. Surviving it ushers them into adolescence; males become capable of producing semen, while females have their first menstruation.
Surviving the third Spirit Qi Eruption means adulthood.
The timing of Spirit Qi Eruptions varies, with the latest occurring as late as one hundred years.
The ancients said, "Only a hundred-year-old Spiritfolk may be called an adult."
Spiritfolk are commonly found in cultivation lineages and are nurtured by Spirit Veins. If the Spirit Vein is destroyed and the clan line severed, Spiritfolk vanish.
In this work's setting, Spiritfolk possess outstanding cultivation talent, so their minds are locked by the Heavenly Dao.
With a lifespan of three hundred years, their minds also mature slowly. Sixty years of age is equivalent to the stage of sixteen to eighteen years old.
The reason the timeline has been stretched out is that readers do not want to see Foundation Establishment at eighteen, Golden Core at thirty, and immortality at one hundred, do they?
Please do not obsess over time in cultivation novels. At every turn there are thousands or tens of thousands of years, yet all the protagonists retain youthful appearances. Must they all be given the mentality of old people according to mortal old age?
--
A friendly reminder: xianxia novels involve longevity, so their timelines are stretched very long.
Using one thousand years as the standard, sixty years is only just the beginning.
Please do not ask why someone is still a youth in appearance and temperament at sixty, rather than looking like an old person.
Do not strictly impose real-world sixty-year-old grandpas onto this.
I do not want xianxia stories to be nothing but old men and old women dueling with swords and spells. Aren't handsome young men and beautiful young women with eternal youth better?
Isn't it better for young people to travel together as righteous heroes, wielding swords and roaming the world?
Before you continue