Over a year ago, near the border of the Xi Dynasty, Daoyi was controlling the immortal boat to fly to the Xi Dynasty. Along the way, she would integrate with the common people and experience the life of mortals. As a soul cultivator, Daoyi used the vicissitude of life to polish her understanding of the soul and emotions.
Compared to mortals, cultivators have an infinitely long lifespan. At the same time, they were less subject to change, so how could they compare to the progress a mortal went through? A mortal near the conclusion of his lifespan might have a will that was even stronger than a cultivator who lived over three thousand years.
While polishing her emotions, Daoyi had a sudden thought while eating at a teahouse. There exist numerous mortal societies in the Heaven Continent, but hardly any of them had any contact with cultivation. At most, they would discuss immortals in legends. Some even thought that immortals were only legends and attributed the earth-shaking battles between immortals as natural disasters. Despite this, she still heard numerous mortals aspiring to become immortals.
Was immortality really so attractive? The answer was naturally yes.
Even Daoyi, who experienced and suffered through the apocalypse, could not deny this. For the chance to live another day, the survivors did everything they could: schemes, betrayals, reckless actions, and much much more. Almost everyone gave up their bottom lines. Some even sunk to the point of resorting to cannibalism.
Daoyi was no different. She, too, wanted to live. If she wanted to have a happy and carefree life, she would have committed suicide instead of living a life worse than death. If you could live, who would want to die?
Still, was immortality worth giving up the chance of regular life? Daoyi wasn’t Tianyi. She had difficulties in her cultivation and often consulted the elders on Jade Peak and her master. She was already considered a genius, so how hard must it be for those less talented?
Daoyi wanted to find out if the mortals would still embark on the path of immortality if they knew of how difficult it would be. Since she wanted to find out, Daoyi immediately took action. She wasn’t someone who procrastinated, and even if she were, she would have died much earlier during the apocalypse.
People called him Daoist Qingli, and he accepted that name too. He had long forgotten what his name was after living on Qingli Mountain for over fifty years. Yes, he was called Daoist Qingli because of the mountain.
Daoist Qingli wasn’t a cultivator, and Qingli Mountain didn’t have much spiritual qi. Despite so, numerous wealthy people still came yearly to pray at Qingli Temple, and they all respectfully addressed him as Daoist Qingli.
In truth, Daoist Qingli was simply a poor orphan who had a lucky encounter. His family was wealthy. Unfortunately, his parents had died from the river flooding, and he ran up the mountain to avoid the flood. On the mountain, he happened to see an immortal flying high above. With a single hand, that immortal stopped the flood.
From then, everyone said that an immortal lived in Qingli Mountain. Even Daoist Qingli thought so. Before, he had always thought that immortals were only myths, but after seeing it personally, he searched the mountain, hoping for an encounter. To his disappointment, he only found a broken temple but not a hide nor hair of the immortal.
Just as Daoist Qingli was descending the mountain in disappointment, he met some people who asked him about it. At that time, he didn’t know what he was thinking, but he claimed to be that immortal’s servant. Using the nonexistent immortal’s influence, Daoist Qingli had the rich and wealthy fix the temple, and from then on, he became the respected Daoist Qingli.
This day, after sending away the honored guests, Daoist Qingli returned to his room to sleep after dinner. Most of the time, his servants and disciples will take care of miscellaneous matters, and he only needed to appear for important guests and occasions.
That night when he fell asleep, he dreamt of the time when the immortal solved the flood with a single palm. Daoist Qingli’s brain was a bit muddied, but he climbed the mountain to search for the immortal once more. Only this time, he found the immortal.
“I can see that you and I have a predestined fate. Are you willing to be my, Immortal Qingshui’s, disciple?”
Daoist Qingli didn’t even need to consider and immediately agreed. Thus he was taken back to his master, Immortal Qingshui’s sect and from there on, embarked on the immortal path.
It wasn’t like anything Daoist Qingli had imagined. He didn’t immediately gain riches or fame but was instead average. He had a triple spiritual vein, and he had to live like an ascetic. For food, he couldn’t eat meat or regular vegetables. Instead, he had to ingest spirit dew for fear of polluting his body and blocking his qi flow.
It wasn’t just food that caused Daoist Qingli to harbor suspicion over his choice, but the effort needed. Every day, Daoist Qingli would be awakened before dawn in order to exercise his body, and then he would meditate until he needed to sleep.
Twenty years. Daoist Qingli spent twenty years in the Qi Gathering Realm, and after enduring pain and misery from the Foundation Establishment Heavenly Tribulation, he became a foundation establishment disciple.
Daoist Qingli thought that all his hardship would be over, but he was wrong. After entering the Foundation Establishment Realm, he only got an artifact and some pills from Immortal Qingshui. Aside from that, he had to fight with his fellow sect members for resources while cultivating.
He discovered that as his cultivation increased, the more worries he had. Immortal cultivation did not mean being carefree and worry-free, but troubles and competition. Daoist Qingli discovered that immortal cultivators were like mortals. They, too, had seven emotions and six desires, but they were far more powerful than mortals.
After realizing this, Daoist Qingli couldn’t help remembering his other life’s experience. Although he lived for far fewer years, he was respected and carefree. He did not have to worry about gathering resources or anything else constantly. An impulse of wanting to run away and live among the mortals struck him.
But Daoist Qingli knew it was impossible. Although he had to fight for resources, the sect had also nurtured him. The sect would brand him as a traitor and hunt him down if he left for whatever reason. Knowing this, he could only grit his teeth and continue on his path.
Time continued to pass, and Daoist Qingli became used to cultivating. He no longer thought about the life he felt was a dream and wholeheartedly cultivated. Eventually, he reached the peak of the Unity Realm, the Transcending Mortality Realm, and underwent the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation.
He failed.
Daoist Qingli awoke with a start, sweat covering his forehead. He frantically looked around and saw himself in a relatively simple but elegant room. Outside, he could hear the birds chirping in the morning and the first rays of light from the sun. “Didn’t I fail my Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation?”
It took another two hours for Daoist Qingli to regain his bearings. “That was a dream, but it was so realistic…”
“Master, are you awake? Should I prepare breakfast?” A servant asked.
“Yes, I will arrive in a few moments,” Daoist Qingli said. His whole body felt unnatural as he said those words, as if there was a dissociation with his current identity.
Daoist Qingli prepared to dress. No matter what, he should figure out his exact situation first. He had heard of cultivators entering illusion and dying within because they couldn’t escape.
As he got up from his bed, a jade pendant fell onto the ground with a crisp sound. Picking up the jade pendant, Daoist Qingli saw the words Qingli carved into it. His pupils shrunk into needlepoints.
In his memories, Daoist Qingli’s sect issued jade pendants to each member. These pendants would be their identification tokens. A moment later, Daoist Qingli knew what the jade pendant was for.
As long as he wished to embark on the immortal path, he should break the pendant in half, and Immortal Qingshui will pick him up. If he doesn’t, then he can continue his current life.
Daoist Qingli stood there with a conflicted expression as he stared at the jade pendant in a daze.
Daoyi waved her hand and destroyed the jade pendant that Daoist Qingli stored away. At the same time, she erased part of the Daoist Qingli’s memories aside from a few martial arts that could help him strengthen his body. It can be considered compensation for being her experimental subject.
If she chose those living at the bottom of society, all of them would choose to become cultivators. In contrast, it is the choices of those who experienced life to the fullest that interested her. After experiencing all the ups and downs of life, would they still choose immortal cultivation? To her surprise, most people chose not to embark on the road of cultivation after learning the truth.
Daoyi changed her methods again. Instead of those who experienced a full life, she chose those still in the progress of climbing the ranks of life, perhaps a martial art genius on the cusp of reaching the pinnacle or a business person still in the process of building his commercial empire. Compared to those like Daoist Qingli, who was nearing seventy and whose heart began to lose the will to fight, perhaps they will choose a different option.
The difference wasn’t that large. Perhaps only ten percent more chose to embark on the immortal path. Daoyi didn’t understand why. They were people still in the prime of their life and full of ambition, did her illusionary dream cause their ambition to be grounded down?
Was it really like her master said, that people who embark on the immortal path because of fate? Daoyi decided that she needed to understand more. She thought that she had seen through the human heart during the apocalypse, but she was wrong.
As for those who chose the immortal path, Daoyi didn’t take them as disciples, but she did leave them with the public version of the Five Element Method in their consciousness. She would not take them as disciples, but she still fulfilled her promise to those who wanted to cultivate. As for what would happen to them, it was up to fate.
While testing the hearts of mortals, Daoyi reached the capital of the Xi Dynasty. Once she entered, she felt the atmosphere of the capital was off, but she didn’t think too much about it. Even the Fu Dynasty, a nation stronger than the Xi Dynasty, was embroiled in war, so it would not be strange for the Xi Dynasty to be ensnared by conflict.
Daoyi did not plan to visit the emperor, nor did she want the Jiang Family to know of her presence. She only wanted to talk to her mother and leave. With her current cultivation, she dare say that none in the Xi Dynasty would be able to detect her unless she wished them to.
“Mother, I’m one step closer to finding the mastermind behind the Xu Clan Massacre. I only discover his name, but I don’t know anything else. Once I return to the sect, I will ask them to investigate the mastermind and then set off for the next clue.” Daoyi didn’t say the mastermind’s name, the Great Detacher of Emotions, aloud. From Mengfei, she learned that powerful immortals had numerous methods to detect when people mentioned them. Daoyi wasn’t even sure whether she was noticed by the Great Detacher of Emotions when Fu Xiuyi, the Fu Emperor, said his name.
After talking to her mother’s tombstone, Daoyi stepped out of the Qi Ducal Estate. When she stepped out, Daoyi paused when she saw a message written outside the walls. It was written in special ink that only soul cultivators could see, but that was not the most crucial part. The most important part was that it was written in a script that only Tianyi, Daoyi, and Xi Ri could know.
The three of them discussed methods to leave messages to each other in case something happened. Originally, they wanted to use English or other Earth languages, but they decided not to because other reincarnators would be able to read them as well. So, they essentially made their own version of the language for themselves.
The three used a special ink that only soul cultivators could see. Tianyi could no longer see it because of the convergence of his qi and spiritual sense, but Daoyi still could. Xi Ri could too, but he had to use an artifact. However, Tianyi could see them too if he opened his third eye, not that Daoyi nor Xi Ri knew.
[Something is wrong, leave immediately!]
Daoyi’s pupils shrunk into needlepoints. She didn’t waste a single moment and turned to leave, but a voice stopped her.
“Third Sister, how come you are leaving without saying hello to Father or Mother?”
Daoyi’s slowly turned around to see Jiang Chunye, a possible reincarnator. She recalled when Tianyi said the concealed weapon she used to attack her years ago was a gun. So, Daoyi knew that even if Jiang Chunye was a reincarnator, they could only be enemies.
Still, she couldn’t help but think that their meeting was too coincidental. Daoyi’s eyes drifted behind Jiang Chunye to see a gloomy man wearing the dark-shaded robes of the Nihility Sect, Hun Jusang.
“So it’s Second Sister and Daoist Hun. What a coincidence to meet both of you here.” Daoyi replied, a perfect smile on her face, but her eyes were like the abyss. No one could tell what she was thinking.
