Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Early morning.

The morning mist still lingered as Jingmen, a crossroads for people from all directions, had already fully awakened.

Merchants and travelers at the docks, common folk from the surrounding villages and towns entering the city—the boisterous crowds thronged at every gate.

The city-guarding Inspectors shouted ceaselessly, maintaining order among the people.

The streets within the city were also bustling with people, a picture of clamorous prosperity.

Though it was not yet time for the Hundred Herbs Pavilion to open, its main doors were already ajar.

Chu Mu, dressed in blue robes, stood before the entrance holding the reins of a fine horse. Xu Yuan had a somber expression, unable to hide his reluctance to part.

"Focus on your Cultivation. Read the medical books I left for you when you have time."

"I’ll be back once I find it. Don’t worry..."

Chu Mu patted Xu Yuan’s shoulder. Though his words were comforting, a hint of confusion seemed to linger in the depths of his eyes.

’What will be the outcome of this journey...’

No one knew.

In this era, skeletal remains on the roadside were not uncommon. Perhaps he, too, would become one of them, unnoticed and uncared for.

Feeling the worried and reluctant gaze of Xu Yuan before him, Chu Mu couldn’t help but feel a warmth in his heart.

’Such concern is a rare thing in this unfamiliar world.’

"I’m off!"

Without any chest-thumping vows, Chu Mu simply flicked his sleeves, took his horse’s reins, and turned away.

He blended into the bustling crowd, slowly vanishing from Xu Yuan’s sight.

"He’s gone..."

Xu Yuan murmured, his disappointment palpable.

Even if his Martial Arts Cultivation was profound, he was, after all, just a boy in his early teens.

***

"I’m gone..."

At the north gate, by his fine horse, the blue-robed Chu Mu paused and looked back, his feelings a complex mix he could not hide.

A moment later, he swung himself into the saddle, and the fine horse galloped away.

***

Ordinary people, when traveling, would naturally seek the main roads and go around treacherous obstacles.

Chu Mu, however, sought out the treacherous obstacles, treading through mountains.

Wherever it was remote, mountainous, or difficult to traverse, that was where he went.

The fine horse that had left Jingmen with him had long since been sold. A single bag of dry rations was his only provision as he braved the elements.

In the blink of an eye, several months had slipped by.

「Jade Pillar Mountain.」

It was located southwest of Jingmen County, about five hundred li from Jingmen.

On a giant boulder in the mountains, a figure in tattered clothes sat cross-legged with his eyes slightly closed.

With his every breath, a gentle breeze seemed to stir around him, causing the corners of his clothes to sway. Faintly, one could even hear the heavy thumping of a heart.

After a long while, the cross-legged figure slowly opened his eyes. He exhaled a breath of turbid air that shot out like a Flying Sword, traveling several zhang before slowly dissipating.

This person was, of course, Chu Mu, who had left Jingmen several months ago.

In those months, winter had passed, and early spring had arrived once more.

Chu Mu had trekked over mountains and waded through rivers, covering a distance of several thousand li.

Although his Body Refining Technique had reached Perfection, this only meant that within the mundane system, the Essence Qi from grains and meat, as well as the effects of worldly medicines, could no longer aid his body’s growth.

The mundane path of Qi and Blood Cultivation had reached its end. But after Divine Appearance, the emergence of a higher level of energy—Spiritual Qi—undoubtedly meant that Qi and Blood Cultivation now had a much longer future ahead of it.

Using the wonders of his Divine Sense, he practiced Breathing Spiritual Energy into his body. Following the theoretical system of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, he used the effects of Spiritual Qi to replace the Essence Qi from food and medicine, strengthening his Qi and Blood and nourishing his organs, sinews, and bones.

Even without a formal Cultivation Method, by relying on the miraculous properties of Spiritual Qi and Breathing Spiritual Energy during his months of travel, Chu Mu’s gains were still considerable.

Chu Mu stood up. With a slight movement of his toes, a KRAK sounded out. The giant boulder beneath his feet visibly fractured, and then, with a BOOM, it split in two.

The crack looked as if it were natural. There wasn’t the slightest trace of a mark under his toes. An uninformed observer would likely assume the boulder had always been this way.

[Name: Chu Mu.]

[Skills: Basic Blade Technique (Refined Skill) 153/5000]

[Body Refining Technique (1000/1000)]

[Alchemy: Dragon and Snake Soup: Refined Skill (598/2000)]

[Spiritual Radiance Value: 3005.2%]

Chu Mu glanced at the Body Refining Technique, which remained unchanged. His gaze lingered for a moment on the enormous accumulated Spiritual Radiance Value, then settled on his second skill to reach the level of Refined Skill.

The one he had never stopped practicing since coming to this world... his Blade Technique!

Chu Mu lightly gripped the hilt of his saber, and an indescribable feeling of lightness instantly filled his mind.

The saber was just a mundane Iron Saber, weighing no more than a few jin.

A saber of several jin, which he once found difficult to even control, had felt no different from a blade of grass ever since he stepped onto the path of Qi and Blood Cultivation.

Not to mention now, when his Qi and Blood had already reached Great Success and been nourished by months of Breathing Spiritual Energy. Forget a saber of several jin; even one weighing several hundred jin would be nothing to his current body.

The saber should have felt as light as nothing.

Chu Mu drew the saber. Holding it in his hand, he slashed down. Yet, there was no feeling of weightlessness at all. Instead, the strike was visibly powerful and heavy, as if it weighed a thousand jun!

The blade moved again, the sense of immense power growing even stronger. The blade whistled through the air, and the sheer ferocity of every visible strike was enough to make one tremble!

"Lifting the light as if it were heavy, lifting the heavy as if it were light..."

As the blade stilled and returned to its scabbard, Chu Mu’s murmur followed.

Back when his Blade Technique first became proficient, its subtle influence on his spirit had led him to many speculations about its future.

And now that his Blade Technique had broken through to Refined Skill, these speculations had become reality.

Lifting the light as if it were heavy, lifting the heavy as if it were light!

A seemingly illusory theory had become real.

And this reality originated from himself.

If he believed, it existed. If he didn’t, it wouldn’t.

It was as if a kind of belief supported this reality’s existence.

And this belief, while acting upon reality, also directly affected his Divine Soul, as thoughts are born from the spirit.

Every time he gripped the saber, Chu Mu could clearly feel that belief taking root in his spirit, subtly influencing it in some unseen way.

This influence was clearly different from the nourishment that Spiritual Qi provided to his spirit.

But limited by his understanding, Chu Mu couldn’t figure out the nature of this influence or what it would ultimately lead to.

However, it was clearly an advancement of his own skill. As long as he proceeded step by step and didn’t do anything reckless, it shouldn’t be a bad thing for him.

"Huuuh..."

Chu Mu took a deep breath and gazed at his surroundings, a trace of confusion reappearing in his eyes.

Several months had passed since he left Jingmen. To be precise, it had been three months and eighteen days!

In three and a half months, he had climbed every mountain and crossed every river in his path.

Wherever there were strange rumors that ordinary people avoided at all costs, he would head straight there.

With his current physical constitution, even in the rugged mountain forests, covering one or two hundred li in a day was an easy task.

A ten-thousand-li journey across three directions.

And still, there were no results.

Chu Mu pulled out his map. Of the dozens of counties circled around Jingmen County, more than half had already been crossed out.

A general direction, a general distance.

There were too many uncertain factors involved.

After all, the area his Divine Sense could reach was a radius of less than ten meters around him.

And as for the Array Restrictions of the Cultivation Immortal Realm, unless they manifested in a worldly form like that white mist, they were impossible to spot with the naked eye.

This point became increasingly clear to him as he spent his free time pondering and understanding the Puppetry Skill.

It was even possible that, on his ten-thousand-li journey, he had repeatedly missed the gathering places of Cultivators.

It was for this very reason that his pace of searching for Immortals had slowed recently, and the time he spent in any one place grew longer and longer.

He was unwilling to miss the slightest clue, no matter how small the possibility.

’The rumors seem to be false again...’

Chu Mu thought to himself as he scanned the surrounding mountains.

He had already been in these mountains for seven or eight days.

The reason was a rumor he had heard nearby about frequent sightings of Immortals Flying and the presence of Immortals in the mountains.

But after searching for seven or eight days and combing through the mountains, he hadn’t found a single trace...

"A Cultivator?"

Chu Mu suddenly looked up at the distant sky. A faint light seemed to be shooting up from the ground into the heavens.

BANG!

Forgetting all about controlling his Power, Chu Mu stomped hard on the fractured boulder. Under the surging Power, the rock exploded.

Meanwhile, Chu Mu was already sprinting madly through the forest, crashing through bushes and trees, plowing a path through the woods.

In the span of just a dozen breaths, after leaving a clear trail through the forest, Chu Mu was already standing on the mountain’s peak.

***