I have Immortality In The Cultivation World

Chapter 195: Chapter 191: Where There Are Immortals, There Lies Fame

qin zheng had never heard of the name kunlun before and was still curious, but he did not continue to ask.

fortune granted by the immortals is hard to come by; every word one says must be contemplated carefully.

buddhists and taoists both speak of methods for cultivating immortality and the path to eternal life, but they have never shown any mystical abilities. when faced with an unreasonable martial artist, they often have to tuck tail and flee in disorder.

now that he had encountered a true immortal, it was clearly an indication of good fortune shining upon him, and qin zheng couldn't help feeling excited.

"then i shall impose upon the immortal for a year, and later i will offer incense morning and evening to repay the kindness of saving my life."

"it's nothing."

zhou yi flicked his fingers, and a flash of mystical light fell from his hands.

qin zheng, entering an unfamiliar realm for the first time, remained vigilant even in the presence of an immortal, his qi-blood circulating in his legs ready to employ his qinggong.

the spiritual light moved even faster, landing on qin zheng's body. in the blink of an eye, his wounds healed as if they were never there. even the lingering hidden injuries from martial arts practice disappeared.

qin zheng felt his body light and healthy in a way he never had before, and he hurriedly bowed in thanks.

"many thanks, immortal."

"i am merely a cultivator, and the path to becoming an immortal is still out of reach. do not call me an immortal again."

zhou yi pondered for a moment and then said, "my family name is zhou, and my daoist name is xuan yi. you may directly use this daoist name or call me mr. zhou."

"alright, mr. zhou."

upon hearing the word 'cultivator', qin zheng couldn't help but ask, "i have seen the term 'cultivator' in secretive buddhist and taoist texts. could it be the same as what is referred to as a seeker of the path of immortal cultivation?"

"indeed it is."

zhou yi pointed to a pavilion not far away and said, "let's sit down and talk."

the pavilion was built outside the daoist temple, constructed with several bluestones as supports, and lush grapevines covered the top, providing natural shade from the sun.

qin zheng half-sat on the stone chair, his gaze looking towards the date tree beside the pavilion. the branches were strangely shaped, and the tree trunk was half decayed and rotting, half smooth and new, ancient in appearance and somewhat odd.

an immortal's domain is only normal if it's out of the ordinary!

zhou yi ordered, "child, pick some tea leaves and come here."

a spirit ginseng child popped out of the ground, tucked the jade stone hoe into its slanted storage bag, and then pulled out a jade box from inside it. it clumsily climbed up the spiritual tea tree and picked nine new buds.

seeing the strangely shaped spirit ginseng, qin zheng recalled his recent experience, and his complexion turned slightly pale.

zhou yi said, "this child has a naive mind and startled the gentleman. i will certainly reprimand it."

"no harm done, no harm done. it was only my rash intrusion."

curious, qin zheng asked, "this little daoist child, looking like this, could it be one of the legendary demon race?"

"you could say that."

zhou yi smiled as he explained, "originally, it was just a spirit ginseng in the medicinal field, but as it grew over the years, it slowly developed a spirit. out of kindness, i took it under my wing to serve as a daoist acolyte."

qin zheng thought spirit ginseng was like a hundred-year-old ginseng and said, "how long do ginsengs take to develop a spirit?"

zhou yi calculated with his fingers and said, "the child's age in the medicine field is probably over nine thousand years."

nine thousand years!

a storm of shock surged in qin zheng's heart as he tried to calculate the true age of the youthful-looking daoist before him. if even his servant child was nine thousand years old, he must have been cultivating for at least ten thousand years!

the spirit ginseng child flew in the air, holding the jade box above its head, its eyes filled with a plea for mercy.

"since mr. qin has said no harm was done, this time i will spare you. but if you dare to err again, expect no less than a hundred years of labor."

zhou yi was always lenient with his spiritual pets, rarely enforcing any hierarchical formalities, but he would not tolerate bullying. if they inadvertently provoked someone like daoist xiao, a killer star, even trivial matters could lead to a cataclysmic disaster.

being entangled in karma is the last thing anyone would want!

these words fell upon qin zheng's ears as if they were the sound of morning and evening temple bells.

the true nature is revealed in the minutiae. buddhists and taoists observed strict hierarchies, even categorizing immortals into different ranks. to qin zheng, these seemed merely mechanisms to control the faithful, just as emperors control their subjects.

qin zheng fell silent for a long while and sighed. having practiced the body refining art, he began to temper his qi-blood. the body refining techniques of the immortal dao, after tempering with spiritual energy, yield a physical body with qi-blood far superior to that of ordinary people.

continuing to cultivate qi-blood martial arts yields twice the result with half the effort!

zhou yi extended his divine sense and noticed that qin zheng's qi-blood martial arts were weaker, but the upside was that his cultivation method became gentler.

this fit the characteristic of transmutation within cultivation techniques; from rudimentary to subtle, the core principle was the constant shortage of resources, necessitating putting effort into the finer details.

in the days that followed, zhou yi didn't make a special effort to pay attention to qin zheng.

occasionally, he would give a pointer or two on the method of cultivation, imparting wisdom from a higher perspective, which qin zheng needed several days to comprehend.

several days passed.

qin zheng grew accustomed to the life of the immortal realm, eating and sleeping— not much different from common folks, except that there were many mysterious and strange things, like the spirit ginseng children diligently farming, and the blood vines that resembled children.

and the divine tree that stood towering at the center, reaching straight into the heavens.

the spirit ginseng child had never met outsiders since its birth, and quickly started playing along with qin zheng.

"big, big, big!"

the meter-long hoe, upon facing the wind, enlarged to seven or eight meters, perfect for qin zheng's use.

the spirit ginseng child then took out another jade stone hoe. with each adult and child, one human and one spirit, they made noises as they loosened the soil for the spiritual medicines.

qin zheng looked at the spiritual medicines in the field, humbly asking, "mr. ginseng, what effects do these strange flowers and herbs have?"

the spirit ginseng child, having gained a free laborer and rare words of praise, introduced them generously.

"this is mystic pearl grass, a treasure bead forms every millennium, suitable for alchemy and artifact refining."

"yin and yang spirit fruit, gathering the energies of yin and yang and condensing into a spirit fruit, consuming it can increase the odds of solidifying pills."

"this is the five-colored auspicious cloud mushroom..."

all of these spiritual medicines were exceedingly rare, nurtured only by major forces of the righteous and demonic paths. small sects from the eastern sea couldn't afford them; after all, with their thousands to tens of thousands of years required to mature, these sects might collapse before the herbs even ripen.

qin zheng listened carefully, noting their names and appearances, planning to create a chart once he left. no matter the effort needed, he would find one!

"this spiritual medicine is interesting, called longevity bamboo. it sheds its skin every hundred years, and after a hundred cycles of decay and bloom, the shed skin becomes comparable to a treasure bead, without the need for further refinement."

the spirit ginseng child beckoned qin zheng over, saying, "it's still three to five months until the next shedding. take good care of it, and when it sheds skin, i'll give you half of a piece."

qin zheng suppressed the excitement in his heart, "won't this anger the true person?"

"what status does the immortal have? such things would hardly matter to him," the spirit ginseng child replied, "i've kept all the previously shed skins, and offered them to the divine tree."

qin zheng, curious as a child, wanted to inquire about everything related to immortals, "what's the divine tree? and why does mr. ginseng offer tribute to it?"

"that's the divine tree; its background is extraordinary!"

the spirit ginseng child boasted, "if i offer tribute often, hoping it will sprout branches sooner, the immortal might break one off and grant it to me, then i could become an immortal myself!"

becoming an immortal!

qin zheng silently noted these words—'divine tree' and 'becoming an immortal'; such top secrets were not even recorded in the confidential scriptures of buddhism and taoism.

half a day was spent organizing the field of spiritual medicines, and in the afternoon, qin zheng visited the scripture pavilion.

since he lacked divine sense and couldn't use jade slips, he could only browse through collected paper books—a feeling of leaving empty-handed from a mountain of treasures.

qin zheng returned the books he had finished reading to their original place, his eyes scanning over the spine of each book, finally resting on one of them.

"chronicles of xuan xiao daojun's life."

"xuan xiao, this name, why does it feel as controversial as buddha's adversary?"

after skimming through a few pages, qin zheng furrowed his brows. xuan xiao's experiences seemed similar to buddha's adversary, only that their roles and statuses were reversed.

the buddha entered the demon path, while xuan xiao daojun eradicated demons and upheld the dao!

at dusk.

while eating his meal, qin zheng couldn't resist asking,

"true person, is xuan xiao daojun a demon king, or a savior?"