Chapter 45: This Boy, Fang Yu, Has Extraordinary Insight!

Within the Spirit Ruins Grotto Heaven, all was serene and pure.

Fang Yu walked through the Spirit Ruins Grotto Heaven and saw a medicinal field not far off, where ginseng roots were as thick as a child's arm, lingzhi mushrooms hung high, and other unknown herbs glimmered with faint light.

This scene resembled the Fang family's medicinal fields, but in the Fang family, servants tended the fields—core disciples like Fang Yu needed only to cultivate.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo murmured in admiration; they had never seen such medicinal fields and now felt their horizons had expanded.

Yet when they looked at Fang Yu, they noticed he showed no surprise, realizing this Fang Yu must come from equally wealthy origins, and inwardly marveled.

Under Wei Wei's guidance, the group arrived before a mountain, where three or five thatched huts, seven or eight clumps of bamboo, and a single medicinal field lay.

Everything appeared ordinary, yet tranquil and natural, peaceful as an otherworldly pure land, calming the soul.

"You'll stay here for now."

After several Elders gave their instructions and departed, Ye Fan's other classmates were not brought here but sent elsewhere.

Those few had not consumed the Divine Herbs of the Ancient Wasteland, so they could not be compared to Fang Yu, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and others.

"So we're staying here?"

Watching the elders leave, Pang Bo felt as if in a dream—were they now truly settled in the Spirit Ruins Grotto Heaven, beginning their cultivation here?

"It seems so for now. I wonder when we'll finally begin cultivation."

Ye Fan examined the thatched huts, also feeling as if in a dream.

They had traveled thousands of miles—no, billions of miles—from Earth to the Northern Dipper Star, finally entering the Spirit Ruins Grotto Heaven and becoming its disciples.

"To cultivate, you must stand out, be respected by others. But standing out may also draw envy, for we consumed the Divine Fruits of the Ancient Forbidden Zone—some perverts may target us."

Fang Yu spoke.

He was also pondering how to attract the attention of the sect's Elders; he couldn't wait here indefinitely, receiving only daily bits of cultivation knowledge.

That knowledge was useless to him.

"That's true—people's faces don't reveal their hearts. Those Elders seem kind, but what if some heretical Elder targets us…"

Ye Fan nodded.

"Forget all that for now—we must cultivate. Strength is all that matters; no one can harm us then. But this place is so plain, Fang Yu—should we eat a few Immortal Cranes?"

Pang Bo muttered.

Outside the small thatched hut, a few Immortal Cranes were visible nearby, plump and immediately catching Pang Bo's attention.

Just then, a boy of twelve or thirteen arrived with a food box.

Pang Bo took the box and saw its contents were extremely plain: lotus root slices, huangjing, fu ling, and Tianma—all mostly medicinal herbs.

"We're supposed to eat herbs? Can you even eat this? Not a scrap of meat—these past two days we ate wild fruit and water, and now this?"

Pang Bo blinked, then laughed. "Can't you bring us a roasted chicken?"

The boy stared, dumbfounded: "N-no, there's no roasted chicken here. We don't provide that."

"No roasted chicken? But there are Immortal Cranes, White Deer, and many rare beasts—why not roast one or two? They're plenty fat."

The boy stared as if confronted by a serpent or ghost, utterly speechless.

"Entering the Xian Sect isn't so great after all—life's too austere, no meat at all. How are we supposed to live like this?"

Pang Bo complained.

Ye Fan felt the same—he craved meat.

Fang Yu didn't care, but he was baffled by the herbs delivered—why didn't the Spirit Ruins Grotto Heaven's Elders refine them into elixirs?

Just handing out raw herbs would cause medicinal toxicity; unlike elixirs, which remove impurities through refining and retain only the essence, allowing full absorption.

These herbs were inferior to his Essence Pill.

So Fang Yu continued to refine his Essence Pill, while Ye Fan and Pang Bo, though disdainful of the lack of meat, still swallowed the herbs.

"By the way, what do '苦海,' '神桥,' and '彼岸' mean? Can you explain them?"

As the boy was about to leave, Ye Fan asked curiously.

"I don't know—I've only just entered the Spirit Ruins Grotto Heaven."

The boy shook his head.

"It seems you're already eager."

At that moment, an elderly man with white hair and a ruddy complexion appeared before the mountain, his sleeves fluttering as if riding the wind as he arrived before the thatched hut. He nodded to the bowing boy and said: "You may go."

The boy sighed in relief and left immediately.

"Who are you?"

"I am Wu Qingfeng, Elder of the Spirit Ruins Grotto Heaven. I instruct all disciples within their first three years of entry."

"Greetings, Elder."

The group bowed.

"No need for formalities. Whatever you don't understand, I can explain."

Wu Qingfeng was exceedingly gentle and kind.

"We wish to learn about cultivation."

Pang Bo spoke.

"Do you find this sky clean?"

Wu Qingfeng did not answer immediately but asked instead.

Ye Fan was about to reply that the sky was cloudless and crystal-clear, utterly clean—but Fang Yu spoke first: "Though it seems cloudless for ten thousand li, dust is endless—even within the span of your palm and fingers, infinite particles float."

"Hmm?"

Wu Qingfeng's expression shifted—he had not expected Fang Yu to articulate such insight, and he glanced at him again. "You have remarkable insight."

Fang Yu smiled; this was common knowledge among many middle schoolers.

"Then what do you think this endless dust is?"

Pang Bo furrowed his brow. "What else could it be? Naturally, it's dust."

Fang Yu, however, shook his head. "A great man once said, 'One flower, one world; one leaf, one bodhi.' That speck of dust may well be a world in itself."

"Hmm?"

Wu Qingfeng was stunned once more, seemingly not having expected that this youth named Fang Yu would have grasped the meaning so profoundly.

"'One flower, one world; one leaf, one bodhi.' Not bad — precisely so!"

Wu Qingfeng was already somewhat delighted; he felt he had found a treasure — someone with such a profound comprehension of the myriad things of the universe. Meanwhile, Pang Bo, by contrast, felt that next to this he was nothing but a fool.

He decided not to speak for the time being.

"A single grain of dust is indeed a world, and so too is our body. Though invisible to the naked eye, it contains endless gates — so many that they are like the dust between heaven and earth. To be able to open so many gates and discover the true self — that is cultivation."

Elder Wu Qingfeng began to explain, his gaze falling on Ye Fan and Pang Bo. "Now, do you understand?"