Eternal Life Begins with Learning

"That’s..."

Chu Mu hurriedly fumbled inside his robes, and a local map was immediately in his hand.

Jade Emperor Mountain, the sister mountain to Jade Pillar Mountain, was just opposite him. But the location where the light had appeared just now was quite far away.

To the naked eye, it had to be at least a hundred or two hundred miles of mountain paths!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Chu Mu followed the trail he’d just blazed and bolted straight down the mountain.

’The Spiritual Qi... is a little richer?’

After sprinting for about a hundred miles deep into the mountains, Chu Mu’s eyes grew brighter, and the feeling of anxiety in his heart—the fear of gaining and losing—intensified.

He crossed three more mountains, covering at least another hundred miles. Within his Divine Sense Perception, the Spiritual Qi had clearly grown richer still.

But his distance estimate was clearly wrong. As the saying goes, mountains are farther than they look. It was still a great distance away.

He kept sprinting until sunset, when the mountain peak Chu Mu had set as his destination finally appeared before him.

"Such rich Spiritual Qi..."

Chu Mu breathed it in greedily. In comparison, the Spiritual Qi in these mountains was at least twice as rich as what he’d felt in the mortal world, if not more!

With Spiritual Qi this rich, Chu Mu would never believe there weren’t any Cultivators here.

What he didn’t know now was whether this Cultivator presence was a single individual, a faction, or a gathering place for people from all over.

Chu Mu took a deep breath, suppressing the anxious feeling in his heart. He had already released his Divine Sense and was meticulously searching the vicinity.

After walking for less than a quarter of an hour, Chu Mu’s steps suddenly came to a halt.

At the same time, his expression stiffened abruptly.

Chu Mu took several steps back. Before him, his naked eye saw a sheer, steep cliff face.

But in his Divine Sense Perception, the area before him was completely flat.

’An illusion... an Illusion Array?’

Chu Mu frowned, approached tentatively, and extended his Divine Sense to probe again.

After his Divine Appearance, he had conducted countless experiments.

The most important of these were, without a doubt, the tests on his Divine Sense.

Divine Sense was profound, covering everything in all directions without any blind spots. At the very beginning of his Divine Appearance, its range was a radius of a little over nine meters and ten-some centimeters around him.

But after several months of study, and perhaps some imperceptible refinement, its range had now increased by nearly fifty centimeters.

With him at the center, everything within a radius of nearly ten meters was revealed in the finest detail, all under his control!

Of course, this was without any obstructions. Divine Sense could see through mundane physical objects, but it still faced a certain degree of resistance.

For instance, when he tried to peer into the ground, he could penetrate about a meter at most before his power failed him, unable to probe any deeper.

Divine Sense could probe without blind spots, but it could also be focused like a person’s line of sight. By retracting his awareness from all other directions to concentrate on one, the probing distance of his Divine Sense would multiply.

When condensed into a straight line, his perception could reach a distance of nearly forty meters!

Right now, he condensed his Divine Sense and sent it probing into the cliff face before him.

What appeared in his mind’s eye was a deep and secluded canyon, its end nowhere in sight even at a distance of forty meters.

After a thorough investigation, Chu Mu withdrew his Divine Sense. Standing before the cliff, he slowly reached out a hand, tentatively touching toward the cliff face.

There was no sensation of touch at all. His arm slowly sank into the cliff face. At a glance, it looked as if his entire arm were embedded in the rock, an utterly bizarre sight.

"What an amazing Illusion Array!"

Chu Mu exclaimed in amazement.

It simulated reality, and an entire mountain at that. Such a massive simulation, yet to the naked eye, there were no flaws. Even when he stuck his hand in, there wasn’t the slightest ripple, as if his hand were truly embedded in the cliff.

Something so miraculous... if its technical principles were understood, it would have been an epoch-making invention in his previous life, one that would have undoubtedly shocked the world!

Yet here it was, sitting unremarkably before him. According to the descriptions in the Puppetry Skill inheritance, this kind of Illusion Array was considered commonplace in the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

After a moment of testing, Chu Mu hesitated no longer. He took a step forward and walked directly into the "cliff face."

There was no unusual physical sensation whatsoever; it felt no different from taking a normal step.

However, what his eyes saw had changed from a cliff face to a deep and secluded canyon.

He turned his head to look back, only to see that he was surrounded by mountains. The cliff face he had just seen was gone.

Chu Mu took a step back, and the cliff reappeared. He took a step forward, turned around, and the cliff vanished again.

After a moment of silent contemplation, Chu Mu began to walk slowly along the deep canyon before him.

Chu Mu was on high alert, Power surging around his body, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.

The canyon looked very long, but in reality, he reached its end in just a few moments.

As Chu Mu walked out of the canyon, the original silence seemed to dissipate completely with his exit.

What greeted his eyes was not the mountains he had seen from within the canyon, but a vast valley covering hundreds of acres.

The roar of a waterfall thundered as it cascaded down a cliff at the far end of the valley. The water formed a small stream that split the entire valley in two before finally flowing into a lake not far in front of Chu Mu.

On both sides of the stream, houses were arranged in a picturesque, scattered pattern, stretching from the end of the valley all the way to the shores of the lake.

High above the valley, a shimmering shield of light, flickering with faint Runes, was clearly visible, covering the entire valley.

As the scene unfolded before his eyes, Chu Mu’s breathing grew somewhat ragged.

He forced himself to remain calm, pretending to casually survey the... town? before him.

From his vantage point, he could clearly see the town bustling with people, and from time to time, flashes of Spiritual Light would even flicker.

Clearly, everything he saw indicated that this "town" was no ordinary mortal place.

He had imagined a scene like this many times.

But now that it was truly and tangibly laid out before him, he actually felt a sense of being at a loss.

’Now... what should I do?’

Standing dazed at the valley’s exit, the same sense of bewilderment he’d felt right after transmigrating now resurfaced in Chu Mu’s mind.

"First time here, newbie?"

A leisurely voice sounded from beside him, instantly dispelling Chu Mu’s bewilderment and putting him on high alert.

Then, he saw a table set up to the side, where a young man was slouched lazily behind it, looking half-asleep as his voice sounded again.

"According to the rules of Jade Emperor Valley, for those with Divine Appearance who haven’t yet reached the Qi Cultivation Realm, entry is free. You can move about the valley normally, but you can’t stay the night."

"Unless you’ve rented a residence in the valley or have special permission, if you get caught, it’s three years in the punishment cells."

"Also, private fighting is strictly forbidden in the valley. Violators will have their souls extracted and used to light lamps!"

"As for the rest, there’s not much to say. If you’re fortunate enough to step into the Qi Cultivation Realm, you’ll find out what you need to know on your own..."

"Wear this. It’ll notify you when your time is up."

"If there’s anything you don’t understand, don’t ask me. Go find out for yourself!"

The man tossed a ring over, then paid Chu Mu no more mind, closing his eyes as if going back to sleep.

Chu Mu caught the ring, glanced at the man, and held it in his hand, ultimately choosing not to put it on.

Without further hesitation, he followed the path along the lake toward the town not far away.

The lake occupied a large area. In addition to the continuous stretch of houses from the opposite shore to the end of the valley, there were also houses picturesquely situated along the lakeside.

A street circled the lake, lined on both sides with what looked like ordinary residences. But on closer inspection, one could almost see faint streams of light twinkling on the walls and wooden doors of the houses.

With the sky already dark, these twinkling streams of light were quite conspicuous.

Lamps were hung high under the eaves along the street.

The lamps were clearly not lit by candlelight. They seemed to be cast from bronze, with misty white Jade Stones inlaid around the sides and base. A faint white fluorescence flickered, soft yet bright.

Although the sky was dim, the street was fully illuminated under the glow of the lamps.

Most of the doors on both sides of the street were shut tight, and there were few pedestrians to be seen. The few people he did see were all walking hurriedly. As for Chu Mu, an outsider, no one seemed to pay him any mind at all.

The anxiety in Chu Mu’s heart slowly eased as he walked.

The flow of people on the street only picked up noticeably as he neared the valley across the lake.

The ring of houses along the lake was clearly not the main area of the valley. The part of the valley on the inner side of the large lake was the central district of this Cultivation Immortal Realm town.

Chu Mu did not advance further. Instead, he walked to the side of the street and quietly observed this small town of the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

There were two streets, running parallel to the stream, extending from the large lake all the way to the end of the valley.

Lining both sides of the streets were storefronts of varying heights.

The streets were bustling with pedestrians, lively... and noisy.

The layout was not too different from that of a mortal town.

But every scene he witnessed was expanding Chu Mu’s understanding of the world.

Directly in front of him was a three-story pavilion. Its style was not much different from those in the mortal world.

But the sign above the door glowed with a faint fluorescence. The two words, "Huichun Pavilion," were very conspicuous in the night.

Inside the shop, the counters shimmered with light and flowing Runes. Jade Bottles were each enveloped within, clearly protected by some kind of Runic Restriction.

To the side of the main entrance, there was a... screen? about half a person’s height.

Chu Mu wasn’t sure, but it really wasn’t that different from the display screens of his previous life. It had a metal frame and a flickering screen—clearly some kind of cultivation creation.

Characters flowed across the screen, which seemed to be a price list, displaying the prices of the items sold at Huichun Pavilion.

At the very bottom of the screen...

’What was he seeing?’

’Huichun Pavilion is recruiting long-term Qi Cultivation Realm apprentices to assist with... drug testing? Monthly Stipend negotiable?’

The corner of Chu Mu’s mouth twitched. He shifted his gaze to look at the other shops.

The street was bustling with pedestrians, and their attire was incredibly varied.

There were some with disheveled hair who looked like beggars, some in magnificent clothes who resembled the pampered young masters of rich families, and some scantily clad, alluring women as well as... men...

Most of them were either carrying or had strapped to their backs an equally varied assortment of weapons. Some, even more strikingly, were walking down the street in creations resembling the mechas of his previous life, CLANKING and CLUNKING along. Bystanders hurried to get out of their way, their reverence obvious.

But without exception, a feeling deep within Chu Mu was very clear.

Every single person before him, no matter how insignificant they seemed, was definitely stronger than him.

Every single one... was a Cultivator!

...