Chapter 13

Ruan Ci's Dao Path

The vastness of the Langhuan Zhou Tian is not something a mere mortal can imagine at will. If Ruan Ci hadn't followed Xie Xie Yan Huan up into the gale winds and opened her Heavenly Eye to overlook the Zhou Tian, she wouldn't have known that the Langhuan Zhou Tian was so vast that even South Zhuzhou was just a palm-sized piece of land. Yet, this palm-sized piece of land was a world that a mortal could hardly walk out of in a lifetime. From Song Guo to Chen Guo, Wang Panpan led Ruan Ci for a night, a journey that would take a mortal at least two months. According to Wang Panpan, the shortcut Ruan Rong and Ruan Qian took—since they had practiced martial arts and could initially sense the Dao rhymes of heaven and earth—would be much faster than ordinary people, taking about half a month. If it weren't for the fact that they no longer needed to hold talismans to avoid the miasma and all had spiritual jade on them, they wouldn't have been able to leave Song Guo at all, even without the great array blockade.

Once they left the borders of Song, the mountains were green and the waters were clear. Standing on the mountain peak, this boundary line was extremely distinct: one side was yellowish and craggy, while the other was lush with green water and blue mountains. The majestic pass stretched out, locking away what seemed to be two different worlds. However, yellow soil was constantly being blown into Chen Guo by the wind, and one could see the people of Chen Guo walking toward the pass like ants. Wang Panpan said, "These are merchant caravans going to Song Guo to do business, as well as gold diggers wanting to mine spiritual ores. Song Guo has been a wasteland for seven hundred years. Have you ever thought about where the wood used to build houses and the clothes you usually wear come from? They are all traded at the border with other countries."

Ruan Ci's concept of the border was extremely vague, as this matter seemed strictly forbidden to be discussed in Song Guo. She said, "Is that so? But we don't produce anything, so what do we use to trade?"

"Of course, it's the Grain Rice! Hmph, you people of Song Guo can be considered as being in bliss without knowing it. You usually cook jade for drink and hold rice for food. Do you know that these are rare treasures in other countries? A mortal eating one grain can prolong life and be immune to all diseases; it is the legendary 'Immortal Food.' How can it be eaten as a meal like you do?"

In Ruan Ci's view, the people of Song Guo had eaten spiritual jade for generations, and there was nothing strange about it. Hearing Wang Panpan say this, she hurriedly asked for clarification. Wang Panpan then said, "The Master also told you that this Grain Rice is condensed from the Thick Earth Divine Light, but spiritual jade also has its secrets. The three sects set up a great array to block all water spiritual energy in Song Guo. This could only lock the outside water spiritual energy from entering, but removing the water vapor from all rivers and lakes in the country was not so easy. They knew the Master could transform into a drop of water to hide, so they condensed all the water in Song Guo into jade mines. This kind of spiritual jade mine is actually a type of spiritual jade transformed from water spiritual energy. The jade mines wither and regenerate; it is simple to say. The people of Song eat jade to live, and the spiritual energy is stored in their bodies. After death, it returns to heaven and earth, naturally condensing into mines again. This array is very clever."

"For the three sects, arranging for you to eat this jade also has benefits. Song Guo's five elements are out of harmony, nothing grows, and there are no medicinal herbs. If there is an illness, how can it be treated? It is better to let you consume spiritual jade and Grain Rice, so that you are immune to all diseases and live long, allowing the Song people to continue to survive in the country. In any case, after a person dies, the water spiritual energy will be drawn away by the array and continue to condense into jade mines, with minimal loss. Moreover, with this cycle, the Song people will naturally dig everywhere in search of jade mines. However, spiritual jade mines are not allowed to be sold outside; only some Grain Rice is sold, which is enough to exchange for daily necessities. Even the fire crows of Song Guo, when killed and sold outside, are quite rare demonic beasts."

Wang Panpan couldn't help but feel some admiration for the person who set up the array. "Inherited generation after generation like this, with the array running without breaking, the physique of the Song people has become better and better over seven hundred years, and many excellent seedlings for cultivation have emerged. Once the array is gone, various immortal sects can come to select talents to fill their ranks. And the Song people will naturally be overjoyed, with the resentment of being trapped for seven hundred years dissipating—this array is very exquisite, and even the ending is well-calculated. It is not something a medium-sized sect like the Lingxiao Sect could set up; there must be a master behind it."

Ruan Ci whispered, "The resentment won't all dissipate."

Wang Panpan smiled, "You would certainly say that because the Ruan family was just wiped out, but your resentment toward the enemies who destroyed your family is not that strong, and you don't even know who did it. If you were a child of some Wu family or Zhang family, would you care about the Ruan family next door now that you heard the array is broken and immortal masters are coming to select disciples?"

"Besides, don't think that you won't die if you don't have to fight for spiritual jade mines. I tell you, the life of mortals is about the same everywhere. The Song people haven't necessarily died more in these seven hundred years. All in all, everyone is strong and healthy, and there are immortals accepting disciples. Compared to Chen Guo, they have actually profited."

Ruan Ci was skeptical, but she knew nothing about the lives of ordinary mortals, so she didn't argue, only wondering, "Liu Jizi told me that many immortal sects will be accepting disciples in the three countries of Song, Chu, and Wu in the next few years. It sounds like they have all come, not just the sects that guard the three countries, and even sects from the Central Continent will come. But these sects have wasted seven hundred years of hard work and didn't get the sword. They have finally cultivated these good seedlings for cultivation, and now they have to hand them over to others?"

"They would like to monopolize them, but they absolutely dare not." Wang Panpan sneered, "Not only do they dare not monopolize them, but I'm afraid they can only accept a few of these good seedlings, otherwise it will inevitably arouse suspicion. Xie Xie Yan Huan was seriously injured on Little Bamboo Island and fell into Song Guo. Supposedly, her injuries could not have been healed within seven hundred years, but when she came out again, her spirit was better than before. Naturally, some sects will think whether Xie Xie Yan Huan colluded with the three sects, promising to send the successor of the Donghua Sword to the three sects. The three sects blocked Song Guo on the surface but secretly helped Xie Xie Yan Huan heal her injuries. This time, the origins of the disciples accepted by the three sects must be clean; otherwise, accepting them would be in vain, and they would be killed one after another within a few years."

Regarding matters related to the Donghua Sword, Ruan Ci felt confused and terrified. She only felt that although these immortals had extraordinary magic power and could move mountains and fill seas, their lives were ten thousand times more dangerous than those of the Song people. To keep the Donghua Sword until Xie Xie Yan Huan returned, she had to be careful at every step. It was not that one could act recklessly just because one had magic power; without a brain, it wouldn't work either.

But in any case, magic power was still the foundation of everything. Her heart for cultivation was burning. After settling down on a small hill in Chen Guo with Wang Panpan, she asked Wang Panpan to teach her the Dao. Wang Panpan, however, didn't teach her, saying, "I am a demon and cannot teach you. Besides, you have no spiritual roots and are destined to be unable to cultivate the truth. You must be of the miscellaneous cultivation sect, so I can't teach you even more."

She couldn't teach Daoist magic, but she could teach some knowledge. She told Ruan Ci to sit cross-legged in the stone chamber they had opened up and spoke at length about the Daoist schools of the myriad heavens and worlds, "All of this must start from when the Dao Ancestor of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements opened up the universe..."

There are three thousand Great Daos, but there are more than three thousand ways to achieve the Dao. In the Great Heaven brought by the Dao Ancestor of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements from the old universe, there was already the Dao lineage of that universe circulating. In the Great Heaven newly born in this universe, there were also many living beings deducing ways to achieve the Dao. Since the chaos of creation, no one knows how many kalpas have passed. Even the Golden Immortal Dao Ancestors who hold the three thousand Great Daos cannot escape themselves in the kalpas. The various Dao lineages fight endlessly. To this day, the most common way to achieve the Dao in the universe is called the 'Truth' of achieving the Dao, which is what Wang Panpan calls 'cultivating the truth.'

No matter what Dao lineage this method belongs to, it always involves interacting with the spiritual energy of the universe, internally cultivating the Nascent Soul, and externally cultivating the physical body. Internal and external interaction, Foundation Establishment to refine the body, Golden Core to refine the Qi, Nascent Soul to refine the spirit, Grotto-Heaven to refine the law—Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Grotto-Heaven, Dao Integration—climbing up step by step. After finally becoming a Dao Ancestor, like the Dongyang Dao Ancestor of the Langhuan Zhou Tian, one refines the Dao back to oneself. Eventually, one day, the Dao fruit will mature and be perfect, carrying and protecting the Great Heaven, and separating from this universe, just like a Dao fruit falling to the ground, giving birth to a new universe. The creator of this universe, the Dao Ancestor of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, also walked this path of cultivation, so this is the 'True' Dao of this universe.

"In the future, when you enter the Dao gate, you will know that there are many demons, ghosts, and monsters in the world, but as long as they are divided into these four steps and gradually improve, whether they are ghosts, demons, humans, or monsters, they are all considered to be on the path of true cultivation." Wang Panpan said, "But true cultivation is not the only path to transcendence. Anything outside of true cultivation is miscellaneous. There are many miscellaneous cultivators, and I don't know them all. I only know there are vessel cultivators, law cultivators, talisman cultivators, body cultivators, intent cultivators, thought cultivators, demon cultivators, wish cultivators, etc. True cultivation and miscellaneous cultivation are not clearly separated, and many combine both. Like you, if you were in another Zhou Tian, you would be an excellent seedling for true cultivation. A mortal who can open the Heavenly Eye, even if they have eaten spiritual jade for generations, has amazing aptitude. But in the Langhuan Zhou Tian, you can only walk the path of miscellaneous cultivation. The Master left the Donghua Sword to you, so you should naturally be a vessel cultivator."

Being a vessel cultivator is simple to say; as the name implies, from the beginning of cultivation, one pours all their efforts into forging their own life-bound magic treasure. As cultivation improves, one refines the impurities of the magic treasure, constantly refining the essence, and investing many heavenly materials and earthly treasures, eventually forging the magic treasure to the level of a cosmic spiritual treasure. One relies on the spiritual treasure to enjoy infinite power. Many Dao lineages passed down by innate cosmic spiritual treasures are of the vessel cultivator lineage. Ruan Ci was born with a Donghua Sword, which is superior to all vessel cultivators. You must know that the biggest hurdle for vessel cultivators is that the heavenly materials and earthly treasures for refining vessels are extremely difficult to find, while the benefit is that there are no three disasters and six calamities that true cultivators must face, and there are no mental barriers. With Ruan Ci's situation, it is naturally smooth sailing. She only needs to sacrifice and refine the Donghua Sword, and she can naturally possess extraordinary cultivation through the feedback of the Donghua Sword.

"However, a vessel cultivator's cultivation is all in this life-bound magic treasure. The day you return this sword to the Master is the day your cultivation is lost. Once the cultivation is lost, your life will not be long. Cultivators only cultivate this life; your true spirit has plundered the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, so you cannot enter reincarnation, cannot sense the Dao rhymes, and cannot be a ghost cultivator in the Langhuan Zhou Tian; you can only dissipate." Wang Panpan sighed, "So the Master also knows that if the sword is given to you, you will definitely not return it."

Ruan Ci smiled, "I should have died long ago anyway. Living until then should be enough, right? It's very likely I won't even live until then."

Wang Panpan shook her head and stopped talking. Ruan Ci asked her again, "Sister Xie said she waited for me in Song Guo for seven hundred years. She was on Little Bamboo Island at the time; was she actually not injured? Could she calculate seven hundred years ago that I would be born? This is too bizarre."

If Xie Xie Yan Huan hadn't fallen into the three countries, Song Guo wouldn't have been blocked, the Ruan family might not have risen, and whether Ruan Ci would even exist was hard to say. If Xie Xie Yan Huan could calculate this intricate fate seven hundred years ago, then this ability to calculate would indeed be too magical. However, Wang Panpan didn't explain and brushed it off, "The Master scattered all her magic treasures on Little Bamboo Island and released all her spiritual beasts back to heaven and earth, leaving only me, whom she favored the most. I only started working for the Master after arriving in Song Guo. Before Little Bamboo Island, I always lived in the Master's portable small Grotto-Heaven and never cared about outside matters."

Xie Xie Yan Huan could actually carry a small world with her! Ruan Ci couldn't help but yearn for it, wishing she could enter an immortal sect and practice Daoist magic the next moment. However, Wang Panpan was not in a hurry at all. After resting for a few days, she separated a large cat to hunt some wild beasts and taught Ruan Ci how to skin, cut, and roast them. Ruan Ci ate salty food for the first time and was very unaccustomed to it, feeling the fishy smell in her mouth, just as sour and astringent as the wild fruits she usually ate.

"In Song Guo, you have eaten spiritual food since you were young; I'm afraid you won't be able to enjoy mortal delicacies." Wang Panpan couldn't help but sigh, "If I had known you were hard to raise, the Master really left me a big trouble."

Ruan Ci forced herself to eat a few bites and said, "I can get used to it slowly," but couldn't help turning her head and vomiting. Wang Panpan said, "Forget it, don't eat, just starve to death."

That's what she said, but she still went out overnight and hunted a spiritual beast, throwing it on the ground. Ruan Ci ate it and called out that it was delicious. Wang Panpan said angrily, "I ran thousands of miles overnight and finally found this lone roe deer. Other spiritual beasts are either kept in captivity or live in groups. If you want to kill them, you have to kill them all, but if you kill too many, you can't preserve them without a storage bag, and it will attract others' attention. It seems that living in one place for a long time won't work. I have to teach you some body-cultivation techniques quickly, otherwise, having to take you with me every time will tire this cat to death."

She then spat out a small booklet from her mouth and said, "Actually, this is also the beginning of true cultivation. No one practices Daoist magic at the beginning; everyone has to temper their physique, connect their body meridians, and repair congenital hidden illnesses. From now on, you will practice this so-called secret manual during the day, and at night, try to visualize the sword intent and connect with the Donghua Sword. When you can connect your heart and mind with the Donghua Sword and make it as you wish, I will take you to the city to see."

Ruan Ci had never even seen the streets of Song Guo. Now that she was in Chen Guo, she really wanted to travel around, but she was sensible and didn't mention it. Hearing this, she was overjoyed, took the secret manual, and looked through it carefully. She saw it was seventy-two styles of long fist. She had an extraordinary memory, remembered it all after one reading, practiced it several times, and was already very familiar with it, yet she didn't feel tired at all and didn't feel any different after finishing it.

Wang Panpan was very surprised, wagged her tail, called her over, probed her pulse, and said, "For ordinary people, it's considered a genius if they can learn it within a month of starting. If they practice seriously, it's the limit to practice it twice a day. What's going on with you?"

After probing for a while, she couldn't help but sigh, "You are indeed a seedling cultivated generation after generation, washed and refined by spiritual energy. Your foundation is too thick; you are like unpolished jade, an excellent seedling for cultivation. It's a pity."

She hurriedly spat again, "Why did I learn to speak like Liu Jizi!"

Since Ruan Ci could bear it, Wang Panpan didn't stop her from practicing. Ruan Ci practiced the fist dozens of times a day and only felt refreshed. She jumped into the mountain spring to take a bath—she loved water very much—and returned to the cave with her hair wet. Following Wang Panpan's instructions, she sat cross-legged, placed her hands on the Donghua Sword, immersed her heart and mind, and tried her best to feel the shape, touch, and weight of the sword on her knees.

Strangely, the Donghua Sword felt as light as nothing on her, and Ruan Ci couldn't pull it out. But as she visualized it, the Donghua Sword became heavier and heavier, sinking deeper and deeper. Ruan Ci only felt as if her whole body was being pressed into the mud, her eyes went black, and she lost consciousness.

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Updated. This chapter can slightly explain some of the doubts left before. If you have questions about the worldview, you can also leave a message. I will look at them and answer them in the author's note tomorrow.

Hmm~~~~~~ I'll send a red envelope in this chapter.

I had shrimp, stir-fried dried tofu, and braised pork for lunch today. The shrimp was basically bought for the cat. Also, regarding yesterday's spring pancakes, I actually meant that people in the North probably don't eat this kind of thin pancake meal made from rice milk and wrapped with stir-fried dried tofu and stir-fried bean sprouts like in the South. I didn't expect it to spark a discussion about spring pancakes in the comment section. It shows that the country is vast and has many resources, and even in the form of thin pancakes, there are many variations~

In addition, everyone in the South should remember to avoid the rain when going out. This ghostly weather is raining endlessly, and it's stiflingly hot.

. Thank you to the little angels who gave me overlord votes or irrigated with nutrient solution between 2020-07-03 12:04:50 and 2020-07-04 12:08:09~

Thank you to the little angel who threw a rocket launcher: Guo Guozi x1;

Thank you to the little angel who threw a grenade: Yu Yu Wan Yao x1;

Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: Hu Li Mei You Wei x2; Qi Ran, Li Li He Ping x1;

Thank you to the little angels who irrigated with nutrient solution: Wei Hua x58 bottles; skifare, Fu Lai Ge, Feng Yu Chui Hua San x10 bottles; Kuang Xiao Er Wang, Ming Ji, Lan Zi De Jia, sliwe x5 bottles; Shen Bu Ke Ce De Xia Xian x3 bottles; 18205385, Cheng Bi x1 bottle;

Thank you all very much for your support; I will continue to work hard!