Chapter 483: with translation of chapter title

Wu Qian and Long Zhou exchanged a glance and laughed: "Fellow Daoist, do you have any idea of establishing your own sect?"

Yan Buji shook his head: "Not for now."

"It's not a bad idea to cooperate with us; we'll handle your identity. If you think we're doing poorly, you're free to leave and do things yourself."

Yan Buji raised his eyebrows: "You two are open-minded; I thought you'd use some rules or the like to suppress me."

"That's not the case." Wu Qian waved his hand: "Fellow Daoist, since you went to the arena to participate in death matches and make a name, isn't it for real combat? In that light, for cultivation you've also abandoned many affairs, so you don't have that much time to handle them."

Long Zhou nodded: "I also understand that Fellow Daoist, fighting alone you could naturally make a career, but if we two handle things for you, you just need to focus on the death matches and cultivation—wouldn't that be better?"

Yan Buji thought: "Then you don't cultivate on ordinary days?"

"It's hard; once one reaches Nascent Soul, cultivation is no longer simple accumulation of mana but accumulation of Dao Marks. Apart from daily seated contemplation of the Great Dao principles, there's no efficient way to improve it." Wu Qian and Long Zhou sighed together.

Cultivation is not easy; a cultivator who reaches Nascent Soul and does not engage in deadly battles can have a lifespan of over a thousand years; breaking through Nascent Soul in one go grants the cultivator a thousand years of lifespan, and breaking through minor realms in Nascent Soul adds three hundred to eight hundred years of lifespan; for a Nascent Soul cultivator, this lifespan is not short.

Yan Buji also inquired: a normal cultivator with slightly better talent who can break through Nascent Soul before the age of five hundred will have a lifespan of nearly twelve hundred years;

Late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators can even have a lifespan of up to three thousand years.

Not to mention the later Void Union and Union Dao cultivators; each breakthrough adds lifespan in thousands of years, and likewise each cultivation session's time span grows larger.

Cultivators aspiring to the Immortal Dao don't have that much time to manage their subordinates' forces; most of the time they are either in closed-door seclusion or searching for treasures, and unless their forces face a crisis that forces them to act, they don't even have time for daily entertainment.

This is what a pure ascetic cultivator is.

Ascetic cultivators are not those who have never experienced prosperity or seen the world; to them, unseen things are novel, but if they are bewitched by the facade of prosperity, they naturally cannot be considered ascetic cultivators.

This leads to a saying above the Immortal Dao, called Dao Heart.

What should cultivators practice, what level of practice counts as achieving the goal, and after achieving the goal what should they do?

Most cultivators basically only have the first two ideas, and they can know them clearly, but many cultivators are unclear about what to do after achieving the goal.

Is it to set a new goal, or to stop here and look back at the past, or to cherish the present and enjoy the future?

For cultivators, the purpose of cultivation has never been merely to become an immortal and become an ancestor as they say; those who can see through it are often only a small minority.

Most people both desire higher cultivation yet are lazy, and enjoy present life while fearing it.

Cultivators are also people; any sentient being with wisdom will have worries, even Nascent Soul cultivators are no exception.

Dao Heart is the standard for judging whether a person can maintain their ideas firmly in every time period. Ideas and goals may change, but whether one can persist in oneself and guarantee the self is fundamental.

In Yan Buji's view, Long Zhou and Wu Qian belong to the type who, after reaching Nascent Soul and undergoing a period of ascetic practice without gaining improvement, thereafter become somewhat lax in cultivation and turn to developing their forces.

This is also quite common in the cultivation world; Yan Buji won't say much more, but on the contrary he also needs someone to help him manage his reputation in the Heavenly Spirit Realm.

"Then, let's cooperate happily." Yan Buji laughed.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, I believe we will develop even better!" Long Zhou and Wu Qian said with clasped hands.

Not long after, the Golden Core martial cultivators in Dongxing City also heard that the martial cultivator Xu Long was going to take disciples.

In the streets and alleys, many cultivators were also discussing this matter.

"These martial cultivators, they won't think that with Xu Long they themselves will also break through, will they?"

"Exactly, after all the sage personally severed the path of Martial Dao; how could one possibly break through so easily?"

"Speaking of which, why did the sage sever the path of Martial Dao?"

"I've heard a saying: martial cultivators were too strong to deign to become saints, seeking true transcendence, so after the sage attained the Dao, to prevent martial cultivators from causing chaos in the world, he severed the path of Martial Dao."

"Huh? Is that really so outrageous?"

Ling Yan and Xiao Ran, along with them, were also sitting aside, preparing to go to the Dongxing Sea Region.

Hearing the city's gossip by chance, Ling Yan couldn't help but wonder: "Wasn't it said that a martial cultivator brandished a blade at the sage, and as a result the sage severed Martial Dao?"

"If you put it that way, which sage before attaining the Dao didn't come through a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood? If everyone held grudges, there would be no cultivators left in this world." Xiao Ran said helplessly.

"Then why is that?"

Xiao Ran shook his head: "I don't know; speaking of which, who exactly spread the rumor that the sage severed Martial Dao? Don't you find it strange? It's as if everyone tacitly agreed that since martial cultivators are no good, one should cultivate the Dao instead."

The child beside them said nothing, just remained in thought.

Xiao Ran glanced at him and transmitted his voice: "Old thing, what's wrong?"

"No, nothing, just thinking of some things."

"Huh?"

The child looked at Xiao Ran: "Even in my era, it had long been rumored that the path of Martial Dao was cut off; indeed, that is the case—martial cultivators have dwindled until today, ten thousand years later, and only now have we seen a few extraordinary martial cultivators."

Xiao Ran frowned: "What do you mean?"

"What those venerable sages think is none of our business, but before there was Wuji, and later there came Ye Zhilong and Xu Long; probably there will be even more in the future. The winds and clouds of heaven and earth are unpredictable; we'd better make plans early."

Xiao Ran frowned, nodded slightly: "I will consider it."

If more and more martial cultivators capable of breakthrough appear in the future, we might well encounter formidable martial cultivators; if we face them, each could be like that Xu Long, so we really ought to think of countermeasures early.

In that case, the construction of armaments also needs to be re-planned; we should refine some new Immortal Accumulation Artifacts early to cope... Hmm, we should also look for body-tempering techniques and the like; in short, we just need to strengthen our preparations for various situations!

Ling Yan looked at them: "Let's go, what are you doing staring at each other?"

The child laughed, ran over and took Ling Yan's hand: "Big sister, I'm here~"

"Tsk!"

Xiao Ran made a tsk sound, silently cursing the old thing for being shameless.

Thus, the three of them set off together for the Dongxing Sea Region.