Cultivating Immortality in a World of Chaos

Under the peach tree,

“Fang Xiong, I truly regret my past choices…”

Feng Manlou, now middle-aged with slight frost at his temples, eschewed his usual favorite Peach Blossom Wine. Instead, he poured himself a large bowl of Scarlet Blood Wine and downed it before lamenting dejectedly.

“Why dwell on such matters? Mu Wen’s brief fame was earned through risky ventures back then. You chose stability, gaining a loving wife and cherished children, enjoying years of tranquility - that’s no loss…” Fang Xi spoke calmly, clad in a jade-green robe.

As Feng Manlou gazed at Fang Xi, he couldn’t help but feel the stark contrast between Fang Xi’s youthful vitality and his own aging appearance, which deepened his sorrow. “Come… let’s drink!”

Fang Xi opted for Peach Blossom Wine instead of Scarlet Blood Wine.

This wine had a clear green hue, emitting a subtle fragrance of peach blossoms. With its smooth taste, it was highly favored among cultivators. Occasionally, Widow Wang or Lu Guo would sell some at local barter markets on Peach Blossom Island, finding it even more popular than Scarlet Blood Wine and yielding various essential items in exchange.

Observing the radiant youth under the peach tree, sensing the ethereal aura around him - serene yet vibrant, free from worldly desires - Feng Manlou genuinely believed that this was a true ascetic who had transcended fame and strife, disliking conflict. Moved, he sincerely said, “Fang Xiong… thank you for your wisdom!”

“If the world cheats me, betrays me, or humiliates me, what should I do?” Fang Xi plucked a peach blossom branch and replied mildly, “Endure it, yield to it, avoid it… Wait for a hundred years, then revisit the situation!”

“And after those hundred years, what then?” Feng Manlou’s eyes lit up.

“After a hundred years, naturally both myself and my enemies will have turned to dust. Unless they miraculously reach Foundation Establishment?” Fang Xi rolled his eyes in response.

After sending off a bewildered Feng Manlou, who seemed lost in philosophical contemplation, Fang Xi headed to his cultivation room.

Running through one cycle of the Everlasting Spring Art, he found no sign of progress at the bottleneck.

With unwavering calmness, he affixed a ‘Protection Talisman’ behind the cultivation room door, then entered the secret passageway leading to the underground cave.

Swish!

A massive pitch-black banyan tree nearly dominated the entire cavern space!

Standing over nine meters tall, its canopy blocked out the sky, with countless aerial roots cascading down amidst intertwined root systems on the ground.

In a corner, the tier-1 mid-grade Tai Sui trembled visibly, seemingly fearing that the Demon Tree might devour it…

‘This Tai Sui… ever since advancing to tier-1 mid-grade, it has become quite intelligent…’

‘Does this behavior indicate it’s about to ascend to a tier-1 high-grade mythical beast?’

Fang Xi reassured Tai Sui through their blood pact connection, feeling slightly exhilarated.

If Tai Sui reached tier-1 high-grade, the growth rate of the Demon Tree would undoubtedly accelerate significantly!

After his usual ritual of feeding the tree with flesh, Fang Xi sat cross-legged beneath it and began cultivating the Longevity Technique!

Puff!

Puff! Puff!

This day seemed different from the rest! Following the first aura root penetrating Fang Xi’s back, a second, then a third followed suit…

Immersed in the transcendent state of the Longevity Technique, oblivious to his surroundings, Fang Xi instinctively drew upon the vitality essence qi and forces of sun and moon cycles from the Demon Tree…

Through his spiritual introspection, Fang Xi could ‘see’ the countless emerald-green networks within him finally taking complete form, interconnected seamlessly. Streams of plant essences coursed through these channels, permeating throughout his entire body!

The Azure Wood Spirit Body - achieved!

With a sudden surge,

Bam!

Fang Xi felt momentarily disoriented, but as he regained consciousness, he sensed an overwhelming vitality coursing through his body, incomparable to before!

“So this is…the Azure Wood Spirit Body?”

He gently touched his face, a glimmer shining briefly in his eyes: “Ten years… confined to one place, enduring arduous cultivation for a decade… My Azure Wood Spirit Body has finally been accomplished!”

Without delay, Fang Xi eagerly attempted to circulate his ‘Everlasting Spring Art’, sensing for the world’s spiritual energy!

Instantly, he felt astonished.

Under the influence of external spiritual pressure, vast amounts of spiritual energy surged towards him at speeds several times faster than usual!

His body effortlessly absorbed this influx, channeling it through his qi passageways into the dantian, transforming it into magical energy!

The speed of his cultivation skyrocketed exponentially!

This sensation was incredibly exhilarating, causing him to repeatedly immerse himself in circulating the technique, oblivious to time swiftly passing by.

Finally!

Fang Xi sensed that the Everlasting magical energy within his dantian had reached its limit, continuously expanding new pathways within his body.

In an instant, his magical energy nearly doubled!

The Everlasting Spring Art ascended to a higher level, entering the late stage of the seventh layer of Qi Refinement!

“Haha… with a talent now comparable to tier-1 high-grade spiritual roots, the bottleneck of Late Stage Qi Refinement is no longer a hurdle!”

“Accomplishing the Azure Wood Spirit Body and breaking through to the late stage on the same day - truly a double celebration!”

Fang Xi opened his eyes, bursting into laughter.

At just thirty-three years old, even if his Longevity Technique failed, he still possessed the Azure Wood Spirit Body.

With this newfound aptitude, achieving Foundation Establishment seemed within reach! The hope for immortality was now tangible!

“Wait?”

Fang Xi suddenly felt something amiss. He opened and then closed his eyes… sensing as if a third ‘eye’ had appeared at his forehead!

Despite having his physical eyes shut, this ‘eye’ allowed him to perceive everything clearly within a ten-meter radius around him.

Moreover, he could even observe himself from different angles. In his field of vision, he saw a young man clad in azure robes, sitting cross-legged with eyes slightly closed!

“This seems like… divine sense?!”

Drawing upon his previous experience during the auction when using a magical artifact to project his spiritual sense, Fang Xi quickly recognized it as the ‘divine sense’, typically associated only with Foundation Establishment cultivators!

“According to legends, even a cultivator in the initial stages of Foundation Establishment can extend their divine sense up to sixty meters away, perceiving every minute detail within its range!”

“My current limit may be just ten meters, but it is indeed divine sense!”

“But, this, this… could it be a unique feature of the Azure Wood Spirit Body, enabling a cultivator to develop divine sense prematurely, even in Late Stage Qi Refinement?!”

“Or is it due to the Demon Tree’s peculiarity? Or perhaps the result of multiple factors combined?”

Fang Xi began to understand why major sects fervently sought out cultivators with exceptional spiritual bodies.

“Now… with dragon-like blood qi and developed divine sense! I’ve already overcome two out of three barriers to Foundation Establishment!”

Fang Xi found it almost unbelievable. “Doesn’t this mean that after reaching the tenth level of Qi Refinement, even without any medicinal pills, I would have at least a thirty to forty percent chance of success when attempting Foundation Establishment?”

Of course, attempting Foundation Establishment without proper safeguards could lead to severe injury or death, so Fang Xi would never choose such a reckless path. When he decided to make the attempt, he would undoubtedly rely on a Foundation Establishment Pill for added assurance.

“Divine sense, I’ve actually cultivated divine sense!” Fang Xi eagerly emerged from the underground cave, using his newfound divine sense to perceive the world anew.

In the pond, the big azure fish was stealthily cultivating its demonic aura, constantly watching Fang Xi with deadpan eyes, fearing it might end up as sashimi anytime soon.

After all, their ten-year deadline had arrived!

Within the insect room, several generations of gold beetles now predominantly displayed a green hue, indicating they were quite usable.

Fang Xi ventured outside towards the fields. With his current divine sense limit being nine meters (thirty feet), he needed to approach closely for detailed observation.

Inside the wooden hut, Lu Guo was diligently meditating and cultivating. In a corner beneath the floor, Fang Xi detected a few low-grade spirit stones hidden away - unsure how the lad managed to accumulate them.

Next, Fang Xi approached Widow Wang’s residence, but upon scanning with divine sense, he hastily covered his eyes, having inadvertently witnessed something private.

He turned and quickly left. Fortunately, most Qi Refinement cultivators couldn’t detect such scans; otherwise, it would have been truly awkward…

---

Several days later.

Underneath the peach tree in Fang Xi’s courtyard, he had spent these past few days mastering his divine sense, learning to expand and retract it with ease.

At that moment, he put down a jade slip in his hand.

Remarkably, this jade slip contained the legacy of array theory - “Introduction to Array Theory”!

With his newfound ability, those previously complex and mysterious formation markings now seemed significantly simpler.

“With divine sense assistance, everyone can be a little genius!”

“No wonder they recommend acquiring divine sense before delving into the jade slips. It truly makes things much easier…” Fang Xi couldn’t help but feel impressed.

After developing his divine sense, he felt sharper and more perceptive, even noticing a significant acceleration in his thought processes. This prompted him to revisit the four arts of cultivation, which had once been challenging for him to grasp.

To his surprise… what were once insurmountable difficulties now appeared as smooth pathways!

“Unfortunately… my resources and time are limited. I still need to practice the Everlasting Spring Art and Longevity Technique daily, along with tending to my crops and fish…”

After some thought, Fang Xi made his decision.

Given these newfound capabilities, he would naturally focus on mastering formations - the pinnacle of the artistry hierarchy!

Then, as secondary expertise, pill concocting!

As for artificing and talisman crafting? They would have to rely on serendipity…

Of course, if during his studies he discovered exceptional talent in one particular skill, significantly surpassing the others, Fang Xi would promptly adjust his priorities accordingly.

“Haha… Now I can be considered a formation prodigy too,” Fang Xi chuckled gleefully, retrieving the jade slip that accompanied his purchase of the Little Cloudrain Array.

With his enhanced divine sense, revisiting the jade slip provided him with numerous new insights.

“The way I previously set up this formation was too rigid…”

“Formations should be dynamic; altering these key points could increase its power even further…”

“This area seems somewhat flawed…”

Fang Xi walked through the formation, observing it with his divine sense and comparing it to the array diagram, uncovering many discrepancies he hadn’t noticed before.

Before, he was practically blind! Now, with his eyes finally opened, he could fully grasp the formation’s intricacies.

At that moment, scanning with his divine sense, Fang Xi noticed Widow Wang working nearby and couldn’t help but glance at her figure appreciatively. “Well hidden indeed; one wouldn’t suspect anything…”

In the next instant, maintaining a composed expression, Fang Xi exchanged pleasantries with Widow Wang.

The Wood Attribute Cultivation Technique inherently excelled in concealing one’s aura, and being at a significantly higher realm than both Widow Wang and Lu Guo, he effortlessly hid his breakthrough to Late Stage Qi Refinement from them!

“As for Ruan Xingling… I need to find a way to conceal this from her too.”

After all, he had initially portrayed himself as someone with mediocre aptitude, deeply immersed in arduous cultivation. How would he explain such a sudden breakthrough?

Unlike the patriarchs of the Feng and Mo families, he hadn’t used tier-breaking medicinal pills!

“Breaking through to Late Stage Qi Refinement at age thirty-three seems quite implausible given my supposed aptitude. It’s best to keep this concealed…”