"Little Fifth, back when I saw you turn the tables and kill that Lin whelp with your Dao Infant cultivation base, then break through to the Cave Heaven realm, I knew for certain that your cultivation method must be extraordinary, or you possess a special constitution that makes you far more suited to the Lin family's cultivation art than that Lin whelp ever was." Gong Changshou rarely spoke at such length to Situ Jian. Now that he had suddenly pulled back the sparse veil between master and disciple, it was clear he had reached the point where he needed to make use of Situ Jian.
"Master is most perceptive," Situ Jian replied calmly, not refuting Gong Changshou's words.
That art the Lin whelp practiced, the one that lets its user siphon other people's cultivation bases, was just a modified version based on a tattered ancient scroll. The Demon Sect is full of similar supernatural abilities. But such arts can almost never be cultivated on a large scale — do you know why that is?"
"Because the cultivation base stolen from others is inherently tied to that person's own Dao foundation. If you mindlessly absorb external cultivation without refining it to make it your own, you will only suffer demonic deviation, and end up with your soul scattered and your path extinguished," Situ Jian answered without hesitation.
"Exactly right." Gong Changshou nodded. "Most cultivators who practice this art die at that very step. They get addicted to the thrill of plundering cultivation from others, never having to put in the work to cultivate on their own, and before they know it, they meet their end. And yet, that effortless, fast shortcut to raising one's cultivation is impossible for most people to resist. For a sect, if they want to nurture a single disciple to practice this art, they have to sacrifice the cultivation of dozens of other cultivators at the very least. And if that disciple makes even one small misstep, all that early investment goes up in smoke. Worse, once you reach the mid to late stages of cultivation, past the Dao Infant realm, this art demands a level of natural talent from the cultivator that is absurdly high — otherwise, they will self-detonate before long."
The best possible method, theoretically, is to only absorb a tiny sliver of external cultivation at the start, use that to boost your own base, and force yourself to rein in your greed. You don't absorb the next person's cultivation until you have fully refined every bit of the previous stolen power and made it fully yours.
But human nature is nearly impossible to change.
Once you get used to getting something for nothing, once you've tasted how easy it is to climb the ranks fast, once you've walked that shortcut for so long, asking you to go back to normal cultivation, even to work harder than an average ordinary cultivator, is nothing short of cruel.
Every sect that ever tried to mass-produce cultivators who practice this art failed completely.
On top of that, they discovered that once you start cultivating this art, you can never go back to practicing any other normal cultivation method.
In other words, it is a path you can step onto, but never turn back from.
At this point, Gong Changshou looked at Situ Jian with a seemingly kind expression in his eyes. "But this art also has one extremely great advantage. Once you cultivate it to the mid to late stages, it lets you kill opponents far above your own realm. That's how you were able to kill that Lin whelp whose cultivation was so much higher than yours back then — his very bones became the stepping stone for your path to immortality. If I'm not wrong, you were born to be perfectly suited for this art. And I, your master, have been covering that secret for you all this time."
"Who is it that Master wishes me to kill?" Situ Jian asked in return. "As long as it is your order, this disciple would never dare to disobey."
"There's no need for you to actually kill anyone, really." Gong Changshou was pleased to see Situ Jian was being so cooperative, it was worth the time he took to call him over and explain all this.
"Your Fourth Martial Uncle Zong An is one of the Nine Sons of Longevity, just like me. His cultivation is almost on par with mine," Gong Changshou said with a faint smile. "Aside from the No Defilement realm cultivators from other sects, within our own Longevity Dao Sect, he is the only one who poses any real threat to me. The two of us have been locked in open and secret struggle for ages, and neither of us will ever let go of this chance to advance to the Great Vehicle realm. I don't ask you to actually kill him — you wouldn't be able to, anyway. But injuring him badly enough that he can't take part in this competition for the Great Vehicle promotion? That, you can absolutely do."
Ever since the day he saw Situ Jian kill that Lin whelp, Gong Changshou had realized Situ Jian was an exceptional card to play.
His master, the Land Immortal Wuweizi, had taken in a total of nine disciples.
He allowed them to scheme and compete against each other, but strictly forbade them from taking each other's lives.
Because all nine of them were his master's property. If their master wanted them to live, they had to live.
If he wanted them to die, they had to die.
That was why Gong Changshou had to come up with a plan that could seriously injure his junior martial brother without killing him, and without the whole thing tracing back to himself.
And the second he realized what Situ Jian was capable of, that plan immediately came to him.
"The entire territory of the Longevity Dao Sect stretches for thousands of miles, but every inch of it falls under my master's spiritual sense. If any one of us were to die, he would sense it immediately, and it would draw his full attention." There was undisguised pride and longing in Gong Changshou's voice. "But with your ability, as long as I help you siphon off a portion of Zong An's cultivation, my master will merely turn a blind eye. After all, you are his grand-disciple. He would never make things difficult for you."
Gong Changshou might say that, but Situ Jian did not buy it for a second.
If what Gong Changshou said was true, then every single disciple of the Longevity Dao Sect could be considered a grand-disciple of Wuweizi. Was he supposed to believe that the Land Immortal would shelter every single one of them?
Besides, Zong An was a peak No Defilement realm cultivator, just like Gong Changshou. How could Situ Jian, who was only at the Cave Heaven realm, possibly have the ability to absorb Zong An's cultivation?
But Gong Changshou had already laid all his cards on the table. If Situ Jian refused now, he doubted he would ever walk out of this cave alive.
"What brilliant plan does Master have in mind?" Situ Jian asked.
"That great Great Vehicle art of the Black Spirit Dao Sect, the one that can even fend off a Land Immortal? It's still nowhere to be found. Those guys from the Black Spirit Dao Sect really hid it well," Gong Changshou huffed. "But after our sect spent ages going through the Black Spirit Dao Sect's scripture depository, we dug up a fragmented scroll of an art that is very similar to that one. My junior martial brother Zong An has always loved to study all the cultivation arts under heaven, learning from them to complement his own path. Now that his big promotion is right around the corner, he will definitely come to look through this art to boost his own chances. That is when I will step in to help you subdue him."
The plan sounded straightforward and crude, but it should work surprisingly well.
Situ Jian's mind raced rapidly, and he immediately cupped his hands in a salute. "This matter cannot have Master's hand in it. These are critical times. If Master gets directly involved, Zong An will surely get suspicious and be on high alert."
Gong Changshou froze for a moment, then nodded in approval. "I was being a little too hasty there. Your reminder is very well put."
At a time like this, Gong Changshou had already pushed himself to the limit by not immediately secluding himself for his own breakthrough, taking the time to scheme against his rival instead. His thinking was naturally not as sharp and meticulous as it usually was.
"What do you think we should do then?"
"Why not draw the two younger Martial Uncles into this situation?" Situ Jian proposed after a short moment of silence. "Those two younger Martial Uncles did not get the Blood Spirit Pearl, and they are still working hard to stabilize their No Defilement realms. If they are the ones who step forward to set this in motion, Master can stay completely above the fray, with no risk to yourself at all."
"Oh? You already have a way to make that happen?"
"I would at least like to try."
...
Song Ping was holding a tray of brewed tea, on his way to deliver it to Wen Jingshu.
He had been granted an exception to be taken in as a formal disciple, but his cultivation level was still far too low, and his natural talent was nothing exceptional. So in between his hours of hard training, he did everything he could to be as helpful and attentive to Wen Jingshu as possible.
He was a cultivator who had never even succeeded in breaking through to the Dao Inquiry realm, so when Wen Jingshu showed him such unusual favor, it naturally drew the resentment of many others.
Even when he was bullied, Song Ping remained mild-tempered. When someone knocked his tea over, he would just smile good-naturedly, go brew a fresh pot, and never pick a fight.
After a while, the people who had been picking on Song Ping gradually grew bored of tormenting him.
He was as soft as a lump of dough—pestering him simply wasn't fun anymore.
Whenever they tried to pick on Song Ping again, though, they would feel a wisp of divine sense quietly locking onto them, and they would immediately dare not lay a hand on him.
Song Ping picked up the tea set again to brew tea for Wen Jingshu, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all.
He never made complaints, nor did he come crying to her for sympathy.
Wen Jingshu set down her teacup, glanced at Song Ping, and asked faintly, "Is there anything you wish to tell me?"
"This disciple has nothing to report, Master," Song Ping said, lowering his head cautiously.
"Then why have you changed into a new dao robe?" Wen Jingshu pressed on.
"It's only that I noticed my old robe was torn, so I changed into a new one," Song Ping replied.
"Still lying!" Wen Jingshu thumped her teacup down hard on the table.
Song Ping knelt on the ground in utter panic. "Please calm your anger, Master. This disciple knows his wrongs."
Wen Jingshu looked at the face before her—one that bore a passing resemblance to someone in her memories, but held a completely different expression—and suddenly felt a wave of tedium wash over her.
Her elder brother had been a mortal, but the person in front of her was a cultivator.
Looking closer, Song Ping wasn't even that much like him after all.
And his personality was so timid and shrinking, nothing like her brother's poised, unyielding demeanor.
Apart from the similar face, the two were nothing alike.
Once she realized how little Song Ping resembled her brother, a quiet weight lifted from Wen Jingshu's chest.
She had originally suspected that Song Ping might be a trick Fu Ge had deliberately sent to mess with her, but now it seemed that wasn't the case. If Fu Ge had really arranged this, Song Ping would have been made to look far more like her brother.
He was just a plaything, after all. It would be amusing to keep him around.
Thinking of this, Wen Jingshu's expression softened a little.
"You are my disciple. Even with your low cultivation, you are the young master of this mountain cave. From now on, if anyone dares to show off their power in front of you, you may kill them without hesitation." Wen Jingshu flipped her wrist and bestowed a magic treasure on Song Ping. "With this to protect you, ordinary cultivators will not be able to harm you."
"Thank you, Master! Thank you so much, Master!" Song Ping was so overcome with gratitude that tears streamed down his face.
"It's nothing. You can even afford to be a bit more arrogant," Wen Jingshu said after staring at Song Ping's face for a long moment.
"Yes, Master."
"Master, Situ Jian is outside asking for an audience."
"Him." Wen Jingshu had originally not wanted to see him, but then she remembered something and nodded. "I see. My good senior brother must have come to get me to pick a side. Fine, I'll see him. Song Ping, you may leave now."
"Yes." Song Ping bowed and withdrew slowly.
Wen Jingshu let out a soft sigh.
She was relieved that Song Ping was not too much like her brother, yet at the same time she could not help but wish he resembled him just a little more.
This contradictory feeling left her unable to tell what she truly wanted.
Situ Jian walked in from outside.
He happened to catch sight of Song Ping coming out just as he arrived.
The two only exchanged a quick glance, looking like total strangers who had never met before.
"The top-tier unique skill of the Xuanling Dao Sect is in the scripture depository? And the Chang Sheng Dao Sect people have already found a fragment of its scroll?" Shu Xin was shocked, never expecting to hear such a piece of news.
"The news has spread everywhere now. Cultivators from all other sects are hurrying toward the scripture depository," the cultivator Shu Xin had grabbed to question said, seething with silent rage but not daring to lash out.
He had tried to resist just a moment ago, and Shu Xin had beaten him until he was crawling on the ground, begging for mercy.
"I see." Shu Xin nodded. "You can go now. Next time you see me, behave yourself."
"I will never dare to be disrespectful again! Thank you, senior!" The cultivator, overjoyed to have his life spared, fled as fast as he could.
Good heavens, he thought to himself. From now on, I will never dare to snoop around a fancy flying boat like that ever again.
[There really are a huge number of cultivators gathering, especially in the direction of the scripture depository.] The spirit sword was so excited it was practically leaping out of its sheath. [Let's go set up an ambush near there. Loads of demonic cultivators are practically lining up to get themselves killed and give me their power.]
It was just waiting for all those powerful demonic cultivators to show up.
"Keep your voice down, I can hear you," Shu Xin said, scratching her ear. "You've already cleaned a good part of your blade. You can't expect to get all the way clean in one go, right?"
[...How would you feel if you were halfway through a bath and someone dragged you out?] The spirit sword said, sounding aggrieved. [Am I wrong for wanting to be completely spotless?]
Fine, fine, you're not wrong. I'm the one at fault, okay?
"Master, I want to go check out the commotion," Shu Xin said. She had no real interest in that particular cultivation technique, but since every other cultivator was heading over there, and the spirit sword had been chattering nonstop in her ear, she was dying to go see what all the fuss was about.
Her love for joining in on the fun had reached its peak.
There was no helping it—it was a hobby baked right into her very soul.
"You want to go to this commotion alone?" Xu Guan asked.
"Yep," Shu Xin said bluntly. "And actually, it's better if we split up. Master, I'll go represent our Wenxin Sect at the scripture depository to see if I can grab some benefits for us. You can go the other way, and while everyone's attention is fixed on the scripture depository, you can sweep through all the hidden, little-known corners of the Xuanling Dao Sect. Teacher Wang and the others taught here for years, so they know this place inside out."
This two-pronged plan meant that even if one of them came up empty-handed, the other would be sure to bring back some solid gains to fall back on.
"Sounds good." Xu Guan had no real interest in this kind of chaotic event anyway. Once all the cultivators crowded into the scripture depository, the place would be a total free-for-all. He would have had his hands full trying to keep his disciple safe, on top of protecting all the other cultivators who had chosen to follow them.
If only Shu Xin went alone, with her skills, escaping from danger would be no trouble at all.
"Master, we want to go too," Yuan Dawei and the others said, getting excited as soon as they heard about the big, lively event.
"No," Shu Xin cut them off before Xu Guan could even speak. "Your injuries haven't fully healed yet, and that place is going to be the most dangerous spot around. If you come with me, you'll just slow me down."
Yuan Dawei and the others looked a little dejected, but they didn't dare argue out loud.
They were desperate to prove they could be useful, but they had no way to refute what Shu Xin had said.
"Alright, that's enough," Xu Guan said, stepping in to smooth things over. "Your senior sister will only be gone for a few days. Here's an idea. Didn't Teacher Wang mention that the Xuanling Dao Sect opened up a small secret realm for its later-generation students to train in, but before they could officially open it, the whole sect fell apart? That secret realm should still be undiscovered by anyone else. We can head there first."
Keeping so many people fed and supplied with resources was going to cost a staggering amount.
What's more, they were planning to recruit new disciples for their sect later, and those new disciples would not be able to contribute anything for decades—they would all need the Wenxin Sect to pour resources into their training. Just thinking about all those expenses was enough to give anyone a headache.
"Fine," she agreed. Even if she couldn't join in the bustle, getting a chance to explore the secret realm was still a pretty good deal.
Yi Renjie, Yuan Dawei and the others had also calmed down a fair bit, only looking at Shu Xin with undisguised envy.
They knew they had to focus on their cultivation going forward, so that one day they could follow in their senior sister's footsteps and take part in all sorts of important events too.
"Don't worry, I'll be back in no more than ten days at most," Shu Xin waved her hand, then bid her master and junior fellow apprentices a quick, resolute goodbye, and in the blink of an eye, she had already vanished from sight.
"Stop staring. The cultivation world is on the cusp of falling into chaos now. The only thing you should be doing is improving your own strength," Xu Guan sighed. "It's only going to get harder for you to catch up to her pace from here on out."
Some people were simply destined to shine brightly, especially in these troubled times.
The cultivators of the Longevity Dao Sect had taken control of the Xuanling Dao Sect's scripture repository.
The untainted realm leading elders from several other major Dao sects and demonic sects had also nearly all arrived at the scene with their disciples in tow.
Who wouldn't want Xuanling Dao Sect's top-tier supernatural abilities?
Even if they didn't have the skill to snatch the most precious one, the scripture repository was bound to hold plenty of other powerful cultivation methods. There was no way the Longevity Dao Sect was going to get away with keeping everything for themselves.
For the time being, the Longevity Dao Sect had stated their terms: they would only take half of the cultivation methods in the repository, and the remaining half would be distributed through free exchanges between all sects, as they had previously agreed.
But every other present sect had outright rejected this proposal.
The most valuable treasure Xuanling Dao Sect had was that one supernatural art comparable to the power of a land immortal. No one had been able to find it before, so everyone had held their tongue while the Longevity Dao Sect guarded the scripture repository. But now that they had gotten their hands on such a coveted prize, making them one of the biggest winners of the whole mess, it simply wasn't reasonable for them to still claim half of all the remaining cultivation methods for themselves.
The Longevity Dao Sect's people tried to explain that what they had found was only a fragmented scroll, and that they hadn't even confirmed if it was real, but none of the other sects were willing to listen.
When interests this significant were on the line, no one was going to back down easily.
"Fellow Daoist Qu, it's been a while, I hope you've been well," Shu Xin thought it over, then headed to the temporary lodging of the Myriad Dao Sect, sent in her visiting card, and asked to meet Qu Yougu.
The moment Qu Yougu heard that Shu Xin from the Inquiry Divine Sect had come to call, he practically sprinted out to welcome her in, and immediately ordered his servants to prepare all kinds of fine food and drinks, his attentiveness so thorough it was almost over the top.
White Crane Dao Lord, who was watching nearby, was completely stunned.
Since when did his normally unflappable disciple become this eager to please?
He hadn't noticed it before, but now that he was paying attention, the change was so obvious it was hard to miss. Ever since the group had stepped into Xuanling Dao Sect's territory, Qu Yougu had been searching for someone, and whenever White Crane Dao Lord asked him who he was looking for, Qu Yougu would never say. Then Xie Xianzhi had told him she had run into Shu Xin, but that Qu Yougu had been stuck at a different entrance at the time, and Qu Yougu had moped around for ages after that. He'd later tried to ask after the Inquiry Divine Sect's whereabouts, but couldn't get any useful information, so he'd stopped bringing it up.
Now, watching Qu Yougu chatting and laughing easily with the female cultivator, White Crane Dao Lord almost wondered if his disciple had been possessed by a demonic cultivator.
What on earth?
He distinctly remembered his disciple as a man of few words, who never so much as spared a second glance for any of the female cultivators in his sect.
Over the years, White Crane Dao Lord had fended off countless romantic suitors on Qu Yougu's behalf. Everyone with eyes could see that as the sect's chosen Dao heir, and the successor to the Formless Dharma Lineage, Qu Yougu had a boundless future ahead of him. Forming a dual cultivation partnership with him would bring benefits so huge you could see them with the naked eye.
As a result, female fellow apprentices, daughters of cultivation clans, and daughters of powerful masters had all thrown themselves at him, practically throwing their dignity out the window. Even one of White Crane Dao Lord's old friends had come to him, gushing about how beautiful his own disciple was, saying she didn't even need to be Qu Yougu's official Dao companion, and that she'd be happy just to be his temporary concubine for dual cultivation.
White Crane Dao Lord had once tried to bring the idea up to Qu Yougu, telling him he didn't even need to take a formal Dao companion, that dual cultivation could still help boost his practice, but he'd barely gotten a few words out before Qu Yougu flatly rejected him.
All those female cultivators who had tried to throw themselves at him, coveting his untouched primordial yang, had all called him a blockhead behind his back, saying that if it wasn't for his heaven-defying talent, he'd never get to taste a single home-cooked meal a female cultivator made in his entire life!
But now? White Crane Dao Lord couldn't see a single trace of that unromantic, wooden side of Qu Yougu at all.
He was chatting with this female cultivator perfectly happily, like he'd been doing it his whole life.
White Crane Dao Lord scratched his head, feeling a rare twinge of melancholy.
Wait, did his disciple have a crush on this type?
But Shu Xin was Xu Guan's apprentice, sure, her talent, roots, and cultivation level were a perfect match for Qu Yougu, but she used to be Situ Jian's fiancee, and Qu Yougu and Situ Jian were pretty good friends, weren't they?
This...
White Crane Dao Lord thought these young people's romantic lives were far too complicated for him to follow.
"So Fellow Daoist Shu also wants to know what's going on with the scripture repository?" Qu Yougu didn't feel disappointed at all. After all, if this whole mess hadn't happened, Shu Xin never would have come to visit him. "I don't know all the details, my master told me what little I do know. From what I've heard, the Longevity Dao Sect really did get their hands on that fragmented scroll, but the whole thing is written in ancient script that they can't decipher. That's why they've been gathering all sorts of learned scholars to try and translate it, and that's how the news of what they found leaked out in the first place."
"Wait, so the Longevity Dao Sect isn't even sure if that cultivation method they found is actually Xuanling Dao Sect's core supreme art?" Shu Xin asked.
"More or less. But even though they haven't fully translated the whole thing, the aura it gives off is unbelievably powerful, there's no way it's anything trivial," Qu Yougu explained. The most important reason you can't just casually copy a cultivation method onto a jade slip is because of the unique aura the method carries. That aura helps cultivators quickly lock onto the corresponding Dao resonance, making sure that what they're practicing matches what the original cultivation method describes. Without it, you're extremely likely to go mad from deviant cultivation.
At the same time, whether a cultivation method carries that unique aura usually determines its upper and lower limits. Some unscrupulous auction houses sell all sorts of nameless, unvetted cultivation methods, and they'll get a powerful cultivator to inject a fake aura into them to trick buyers.
"I see now," Shu Xin nodded. "That makes this whole mess even more worth showing up for. I left the Longevity Dao Sect ages ago, and I'm kind of curious to see some old faces I knew back then."
"Fellow Daoist Situ... I heard he isn't coming to this event," Qu Yougu brought the name up unconsciously. "I'd imagine Fellow Daoist Shu is a little disappointed about that, right?"
"Not really," Shu Xin replied casually. "I'm used to it by now. We don't get to see each other that often anyway."
That guy Situ Jian was even better at causing trouble than she was, and he was so good at plotting behind the scenes that no one ever saw it coming. He was definitely a case of the student outshining the teacher.
Qu Yougu couldn't pick up on any hidden meaning in Shu Xin's words, but just hearing her say that she rarely saw Situ Jian made him feel inexplicably giddy. He didn't stop to think about why that was, either.
White Crane Dao Lord was hiding in the shadows, and he'd seen every part of their conversation, every little shift in Qu Yougu's expression.
And now he felt even more of a headache.
His disciple was completely clueless about his own feelings. What on earth was he, the master, supposed to do about this mess?
