Chapter 11 – Cultivation, Yet Still a Grind

“In today’s cultivation world, a mortal who wishes to cultivate has only a few choices.” Kou Hong explained patiently.

“The first is to join the Myriad Immortals Alliance. The Myriad Immortals Alliance is a loose coalition formed by numerous cultivators. Within the alliance, one can earn contribution points by accepting and completing tasks, or through trading with others. With these contribution points, one can exchange for cultivation techniques and resources within the alliance.”

“The second is the Five Elders Society. The Five Elders Society is an organization founded by five supreme powerhouses, with enormous influence. As long as one has the aptitude for cultivation, they can voluntarily join and choose a cultivation technique. The price, however, is that one must sign a soul contract and serve the Five Elders Society for a set period of time.”

“The third is to join a local faction. Although these factions can’t compare to the two behemoths above, local factions tend to be more united and rarely assign any dangerous missions, making them more suitable for those with laid-back, easygoing temperaments. As for certain other miscellaneous organizations, none of them are particularly reliable—not even worth mentioning.” Kou Hong laid out the general state of today’s cultivation world.

Li Fan frowned at this, somewhat puzzled. “From your description, it doesn’t sound like cultivation techniques are all that scarce in the cultivation world?”

Kou Hong let out a cold snort. “That’s because the techniques obtained through these methods are all incomplete.”

“Incomplete?” Li Fan was taken aback, then it dawned on him. “To obtain the next tier of techniques, you have to keep slaving away for them?”

“Exactly!” Kou Hong said bitterly. “These techniques were all newly compiled by the major factions over the years. Cultivating to the peak of Qi Refining is already their limit. If you want to go further and establish your Dao Foundation, you need to switch to a new tier of techniques. The same applies above Dao Foundation.”

“Switch techniques? If you have to switch techniques and start over with every breakthrough, doesn’t that mean all your previous efforts were for nothing?” Li Fan was somewhat shocked.

“Not quite.” Kou Hong shook his head. “All cultivators must study the Supreme Primordial Scripture. Legend has it that this scripture was the supreme canon of the ancient Taishang Sect—the very foundation upon which the sect was built. After the Great Calamity, the Taishang Sect was reduced to ashes, leaving only a fragmentary remnant of the Supreme Primordial Scripture in the world. This scripture is not a cultivation technique per se, but rather something closer to a secret art. Its function is to allow cultivators to freely dissolve their own cultivation and power levels without significant loss, enabling them to quickly recover their original level after dispersing their power and switching to a different technique.”

“What an extraordinary method,” Li Fan marveled. “It’s just that this remnant appeared at a remarkably convenient time. Only with something like this could the world’s cultivators accept the constant switching of techniques.”

Li Fan said with a cold laugh, “If you ask me, the Supreme Primordial Scripture may not be limited to just a remnant at all. I suspect whoever is behind the scenes is only willing to release the portion about dispersing cultivation and restarting.”

Kou Hong let out a long sigh. “Who doesn’t understand that? But what can anyone do about it? True, complete techniques are nearly impossible to find. Being bled dry is frustrating, but at least there’s a visible goal and path forward. If you push hard enough, you can still reach it. Those unwilling to be controlled their whole lives, willing to risk death by venturing into various Secret Realms and ancient sect ruins in search of fortune—they’re the minority, after all.”

Li Fan nodded, having gained a general understanding of the current state of the cultivation world. This was completely different from the unfettered, single-minded pursuit of immortality he had imagined. Instead, it bore a certain resemblance to the world he had known before transmigrating.

Reflecting on all of this, a cold laugh rose in Li Fan’s heart.

Kou Hong hadn’t noticed Li Fan’s unusual demeanor. Instead, he couldn’t help but lament, “Daoxuanzi died without ever knowing that the reason I grabbed the technique and ran wasn’t merely because it was a Core Formation technique—it was because it was a true technique that leads directly to the nascent soul realm.”

“If it had only been a Core Formation technique, perhaps I could have restrained myself. But it was a nascent soul true technique…” Kou Hong repeated himself over and over.

Hearing this, Li Fan’s heart stirred, and he touched the ring on his finger.

He had already confiscated all of Kou Hong’s and Daoxuanzi’s belongings, storing them in this storage ring. Perhaps because he had experienced countless reincarnations and his spiritual power far exceeded that of ordinary people, this storage ring—which normally required a Qi Refining cultivator’s spiritual sense to operate—he could use with ease. However, if he couldn’t find a way to leave the immortal-barren land, these things would be utterly useless to him, so he hadn’t yet bothered to examine them one by one.

After that, Kou Hong shared a few more common pieces of knowledge about the cultivation world with Li Fan—such as how a cultivator’s death would trigger celestial phenomena within a certain radius. Finally, they returned to the main topic: Li Fan’s theory about airships left over from the Great Migration era.

“There may indeed be such a possibility.” Kou Hong thought it over carefully for a long while before speaking.

“I once heard a certain rumor that over the past several thousand years, mortals who were originally exiled to the immortal-barren land have occasionally slipped back into the cultivation world. But most of these are just idle gossip and hearsay, with no solid evidence.”

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Sometimes rumors are the truth of the matter.” Li Fan’s spirits lifted. “After all, mortals and cultivators are connected by countless threads. It would have been perfectly natural for cultivators to leave a backup plan for their mortal families back then. I imagine these mortals were able to return precisely through such arrangements left behind by those cultivators.”

Kou Hong, however, was not so optimistic. “Even so, thousands of years have already passed. And this world is quite vast—the chances of finding anything are vanishingly small.”

“As long as there’s even a sliver of hope, I will not give up.” Li Fan’s tone was resolute.

“I really don’t know how an old man with one foot in the grave can still have this much fight in him…” Kou Hong muttered under his breath.

Li Fan pretended not to hear and addressed Kou Hong solemnly, “As long as you help me find a way to reach the cultivation world, I will not only release you and let you come with me—I will also return everything belonging to you and Daoxuanzi, every last item.”

“Including that nascent soul true technique!”

“Do you mean it?!” Kou Hong jerked his head up, a sudden spark of hope igniting in his eyes.

“Of course.” Li Fan nodded.

“Fine… In that case, I’ll do everything in my power to help you.” Kou Hong gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.

Though he had been tricked by Li Fan multiple times and had no idea how much of Li Fan’s promise could be trusted, he was like Li Fan in this regard—as long as there was even the faintest glimmer of hope, he refused to give up.

Trapped here for decades, then dying of old age.

That was absolutely not what he, Kou Hong, wanted!

……

And so, with Kou Hong’s assistance, Li Fan collected historical texts and records from across the land, striving to find clues about the Great Migration era from scattered references in ancient writings.

At the same time, Li Fan mobilized the army to excavate ancient tombs on a massive scale, hoping to uncover some trace of evidence. Though this sparked public outrage and officials submitted daily petitions of protest, he suppressed them all by force.

Regrettably, too much time had passed since the Great Migration era, and his remaining lifespan in this life was far too short.

Sixteen years later, anchored at Year 66, Li Fan was approaching the end of his life, yet had still found nothing.

After ordering Kou Hong’s release, Li Fan went alone to the underground chamber beneath the Grand Preceptor’s Manor.

With a flicker of his mental will, Li Fan extracted every item from the storage ring and laid them out one by one.

First, his gaze locked onto a jade slip emanating a faint golden glow.

It was none other than the nascent soul technique that had driven Kou Hong and Daoxuanzi to turn against each other.