Chapter 213: Lifespan

The end of the year is already upon us!

After Duan Rong achieved the Micro-Perception Realm, he began to ponder the Consummation realm.

However, he clearly could not find the way in this regard. He very much wanted to ask Xiao Zongting for advice, but he felt that telling Xiao Zongting directly that he had already achieved the Micro-Perception Realm was truly too astonishing.

Moreover, there was no excuse he could use to justify it.

Duan Rong had no choice but to give up and explore it slowly on his own.

Once Duan Rong was free, he would often read miscellaneous books in the pavilion, wanting to learn more about the various secret anecdotes and legends of this world.

Duan Rong put down the book about the Filthy Blood Sect he had been holding, a look of deep contemplation appearing in his eyes.

Recently, he had already read several miscellaneous books recording the Filthy Blood Sect.

Naturally, there were exaggerated and sensational elements among them, but it was an indisputable fact that the Filthy Blood Sect had been wanted by the Taiyi Sect in the Qingzhou region for over ten years.

Furthermore, not only had this Filthy Blood Sect not been defeated, but it had instead become increasingly prosperous under the encirclement and suppression of the Taiyi Sect.

"This Filthy Blood Sect really has some tricks up its sleeve!"

Duan Rong sighed with a deep look in his eyes, casually pulled a book from a stack on the stone table, and continued to flip through it.

As Duan Rong read, his expression suddenly turned stern, revealing a look of disdain!

"This..."

"What kind of absurd nonsense is this?!"

This book actually claimed that there were people in this world whose lifespan could reach ten thousand years!

"Isn't this just bull? Ten thousand years? What, are they immortal?" Duan Rong curled his lip and set the book aside.

"Full of nonsense!" Duan Rong cursed.

In his past life, those fabricators only dared to make up someone called Peng Zu, and only for eight hundred years at that.

Here, it was even worse; they dared to make up even ten thousand years, and it was so detailed, as if it were the absolute truth.

Just then, at the courtyard gate of Liu Lu, a knocking sound rang out. Duan Rong swept his Divine Sense over and saw Ximen Kankan standing outside the gate.

Ximen Kankan had been quite busy over the last half of the year; not only was he being forced by his father to practice martial arts again, but he had also started learning the family business.

Duan Rong opened the courtyard gate, and Ximen Kankan smiled at Duan Rong with tired eyes.

Duan Rong glanced at Ximen Kankan and said, "Why do you look half-dead?"

"I'd rather be completely dead; it would be cleaner," Ximen Kankan muttered as he walked in.

Duan Rong also knew that Ximen Kankan had been tortured quite a bit by his father over the past six months, so he laughed: "If you were dead, what would happen to your Spring Palace Painting enterprise?"

"Fine, I came here today precisely for my Spring Palace Painting enterprise," Ximen Kankan said, and the two were already sitting in the pavilion.

Duan Rong poured a cup of plain water for Ximen Kankan from the kettle on the stone table.

When Ximen Kankan saw this, he said with dissatisfaction: "I went through all the trouble to come here, and there isn't even any tea?"

"The tea ran out a few days ago, and I haven't gone to buy any yet."

"You really are frugal." Ximen Kankan picked up the cup of plain water and gulped it down.

Duan Rong usually only pondered matters of cultivation and was indeed not very attentive to things in daily life.

Ximen Kankan put down the water cup, looked at Duan Rong, and said: "It's almost the end of the year. The registration for the Registered Disciple selection starts in a few days. Is your sixty thousand in silver ready?"

"I'll give it to you in a few days." Duan Rong's silver was all kept in the cave on Wild Boar Mountain; he planned to go into the mountains tomorrow to retrieve the sixty thousand in silver to give to Ximen Kankan.

"You have it all ready?"

"Ready."

Ximen Kankan was somewhat disappointed; he had originally counted on Duan Rong to draw a few Spring Palace Paintings for him, but he hadn't expected Duan Rong to have already prepared everything.

Duan Rong naturally saw Ximen Kankan's thoughts at a glance and said: "Once I've registered, I'll draw one for you as a token of gratitude."

Ximen laughed upon hearing this, slapped Duan Rong on the shoulder, and said: "You're a good friend!"

Duan Rong's gaze shifted; he suddenly saw the book he had left face-down on the stone table. He looked at Ximen Kankan and asked: "This book says that some people's lifespan can reach ten thousand years. That's just nonsense, right?"

"How can you believe what's in these miscellaneous books on the market?" Ximen Kankan said.

Duan Rong nodded repeatedly; it was just as he thought. He picked up his water cup, but Ximen Kankan's next sentence almost made him spit out a mouthful of water.

"I heard my father say that the longest lifespan in this world seems to be five thousand years."

"Five thousand years?" Duan Rong was full of astonishment.

Ximen Kankan glanced at Duan Rong and said: "Yes. Once you achieve the Original Spirit Realm, your lifespan can reach five thousand years."

Duan Rong was so shocked he couldn't speak. He could tell that Ximen Kankan wasn't joking with him.

Ximen Kankan continued: "Actually, after the Qi Refining Realm reaches the Consummation realm, the lifespan reaches two hundred years. At the Qi Cyclone Realm Great Perfection, the lifespan is five hundred years. At the Cave Crown Realm Great Perfection, the lifespan can break the thousand-year mark. At the Nascent Soul Realm Great Perfection, the lifespan is two thousand years. The Original Spirit Realm lifespan is five thousand years."

"The Ancestor of the Taiyi Sect has a Nascent Soul Realm cultivation; it is said he is already over a thousand years old!"

"The Taiyi Sect Ancestor? Over a thousand years old?" Duan Rong was digesting the information Ximen Kankan had just provided when his expression suddenly changed. He looked at him and asked: "Why do so few people in the martial arts world talk about this? And these miscellaneous books rarely write about it either. I only saw one that did, and it was wrong—it wrote the Original Spirit Realm lifespan as ten thousand years?"

Ximen Kankan said: "That's normal. Below the Qi Refining Realm, everyone just has a normal lifespan. Even if you achieve the True Qi Realm, it just means your body is strong and you rarely get sick. A hundred years is already a rare, long life!"

"Only by becoming an Inner Sect Disciple of the Taiyi Sect will you have the chance to advance to the Qi Refining Realm!"

"And Inner Sect Disciples almost never move about in the secular world!"

"The supreme ruler of the Qingzhou secular world—Wei Wuya, the Prefecture Master of the Shenyun Prefecture, the capital of Qingzhou—is at the True Qi Realm Fourth Layer Great Perfection, but when it comes down to it, he is only an Outer Sect Disciple of the Taiyi Sect."

"In other words, in the secular world, no one has ever seen a thousand-year-old monster; they don't even get to see Qi Refining Realm cultivators who can live for two hundred years."

"Moreover, the Sect forbids such news about lifespans from spreading in the secular world. They say it easily confuses people's hearts!"

"Anyone who has been in the Taiyi Sect, whether a Registered Disciple or an Outer Sect Disciple, knows this, but the Sect strictly forbids discussing it openly."

"On the market, any book that mentions lifespans is confiscated. The one you're reading is likely a fish that slipped through the net."

"If my father hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known either. I originally thought my father was lying to me, making it up to trick me into practicing martial arts. But later, I discovered that it was all true. So, there really are people in this world who, like the old turtles in the river, can live for several thousand years!"

After Duan Rong saw Ximen Kankan off, he stood dazed in the pavilion for a long time.

This news was too great a shock for him.

It could be said to have shattered his worldview!

He had originally thought that although this world was different from his previous life, it was nothing more than this: this world was a Martial Path world, and his previous life was a world of money; although the appearances were different, the logic and methods of their internal operations were ultimately the same.

He had always thought that the Original Spirit Realm of this world was about the same as the richest person in the world in his previous life.

But, looking at it now, he was wrong, because the richest person in the world in his previous life was still just a mortal, and would also die.

However, the Original Spirit Realm can live for five thousand years!

Moreover, this was only the news that Ximen Kankan had heard.

Then what about above the Original Spirit Realm?

Could it be that there is no such thing as longevity?

Perhaps... this world... contains... eternal life!

Duan Rong suddenly felt a chill all over his body, but what living creature could resist the temptation of eternal life? Even if there was only a sliver of a possibility!

Duan Rong stood up abruptly from the Stone Chair, muttering to himself with a fanatical look in his eyes: "Taiyi Sect... eternal life..."

(End of this chapter)