Inside the Eternal Immortal Sect.
Disciples came and went.
Every time he visited the Eternal Immortal Sect, Li Wei always felt a sense of awe.
Having been neighbors for hundreds of years, Li Wei increasingly felt the Eternal Immortal Sect was extraordinary.
It was also the sect with the strongest Xianxia atmosphere he had ever seen in the entire Imperial Dynasty.
These past few years, the family had accomplished many great deeds on the outside, and the immortal sect was similarly displaying its divine might.
Located by the northeast sea of the Imperial Dynasty, the inland was not peaceful, and neither were the sea regions.
Sea demons from the East Sea invaded, and sects from all over the world dispatched experts to eliminate them; the elders and disciples of the Eternal Immortal Sect were among them.
In a war lasting decades, an Elder led five hundred disciples of the immortal sect on an eastern crusade against the merfolk.
They slaughtered them until a Body Integration realm merperson fled, even barging into the merfolk tribe to seize their heavy treasures.
That year, the so-called Divine Race of the Duskwild Prefecture in the Eastern Frontier clamored arrogantly, causing all the Void Refining, Body Integration, and even Mahayana experts in the world to gather and compete.
Originally, the Eternal Immortal Sect didn't want to get involved.
Who knew that the cultivators of Duskwild Prefecture would send the Eternal Immortal Sect a pink dress?
Furious, Ancestor Lan took three elders there.
After taking a brief trip and returning, no one knew what happened, but the cultivators of Duskwild Prefecture completely lost their arrogant attitude.
Xu Xian, an inner sect disciple of the Eternal Immortal Sect, was no more than five hundred years old and had only joined the immortal sect nearly three hundred years ago.
Walking the mortal realm, he slew a Void Refining snake demon within the Monster Race territory and swallowed its snake core.
A five-hundred-year-old Void Refining expert, his declaration of "I will not return until I reach Body Integration" greatly shocked the world.
The people of the world said that in the Southern Frontier laid a poisonous snake and a red-crowned crane; the poisonous snake was the Li Clan, and the crane was the Eternal Immortal Sect.
Meanwhile.
Inside this sect, Ancestor Lan was loitering around the courtyard where the Li Clan members were cultivating, refusing to leave.
The immortal-looking old man flicked his sleeve and twirled his teacup, sipping his tea with slow, graceful movements.
Smacking his lips with relish, he nonchalantly said to the few people in front of him,
"The Dao scriptures of the world originate from the Dao Ancestor.
Therefore, there are cultivation methods to guide the people of the world to cultivate immortal qi, elevating even those at the Nascent Soul realm to the status of immortals and gods."
"The Dao Ancestor opened a path, and thus there came to be many, many paths in the world, forged by our predecessors.
There were those who failed, and there were also those who forged smooth and open paths.
I am one of the latter. I have dabbled in all the Dao lineages of the world, and I know a thing or two about all the Daoist arts.
When it comes to the rules of the world, no one surpasses me."
"If I were to occupy the Daos of everyone in the world, I'm afraid it would take tens of thousands of years for someone to find a path from the boundless sea of Dao paths."
Having spoken, he drank his tea again and gently set down the teacup, exuding the perfect demeanor of a transcendent immortal.
After delivering these words, Ancestor Lan's face was full of intoxication, bathing in the spring breeze that isolated them from the wind and snow outside the sect's array formation.
"..."
In front of Ancestor Lan, Li Xinghuo was expressionless, Li Zhiheng wore a fake smile, and Li Jianshu's eyelids drooped.
Only Li Jianning nodded continuously with a grave expression.
Seeing Ancestor Lan acting smug and complacent, looking like he wanted to continue boasting, Li Jianshu shook his head vigorously.
"Senior possesses vast Spiritual power. Please don't mention it again. This junior... has already taken the Old Ancestor as my master, and cannot learn the methods of others."
Hearing this, Li Xinghuo and Li Zhiheng nodded in perfect unison.
They had come to the Eternal Immortal Sect over half a year ago.
Stationed in the territory of the immortal sect, if any surrounding foreign enemies dared to enter Azure Cloud Prefecture, they could cut off the opponents' advance.
Similarly, they could anticipate enemy moves from within the Eternal Immortal Sect, serving as a surprise force.
But regarding their arrival, only Sect Master Duanmu Qi and Ancestor Lan knew.
From that day on, Ancestor Lan would come to boast in front of them whenever he had nothing better to do, wanting to take them in as disciples...
Li Xinghuo gripped the jade slip in his hand and glanced at his clansmen beside him, the corners of his mouth twitching.
He had long heard of a figure like Ancestor Lan, and had heard even more about Li Jianning cultivating 720 dantians after becoming Ancestor Lan's disciple.
Originally, he had secretly cursed, wondering how there could be such an unreliable person.
Now that this matter had fallen onto his own head, he finally saw it for himself.
Inside the jade slip was a cultivation method tailor-made for him by Ancestor Lan based on what the old man had seen and heard.
[Sacred Manifestation Dao-Guiding Art]
[Grade Unknown. A unified Dharma formula derived from Ancestor Lan's sudden flash of inspiration. Unperfected.]
[Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends Dharmic Avatars transform into one hundred and eight star constellations, guiding the soul into the stars...]
This was still fine, but once it got to the latter part, problems arose.
[Shatter the physical body and soul to enter the Dao. Although the body dies and the Dao perishes, the divine soul remains in the world.
Wait for the eternal glow of ten thousand mortal hearths, use burning incense to ignite the one hundred and eight constellations, and shatter the Dao to open the gate—only then can true Body Integration be achieved.]
How was this a cultivation method? This was asking him to go and die.
Li Zhiheng and Li Jianshu each held a jade slip in their hands as well... If they practiced it, they wouldn't even know how they died.
"The people of this world are blind," Ancestor Lan continued profoundly.
"One must know that only by enduring the bitterest of hardships can one rise above the rest. True opportunities are only found by seeking life amidst death."
He paused, letting his words hang in the air.
"You three possess extraordinary aptitude. To have reached such a level of cultivation at your age means your futures are limitless—not a fraction inferior to Xu Xian and Duanmu Yushu of my sect.
Just look at Jianning; under my guidance, he now walks a superior Dao path."
You've got to be kidding me.
Li Jianshu's face gradually turned dark.
If it weren't for the protection of their family's Old Ancestor, this younger brother of his would have been killed by Ancestor Lan hundreds of times over by now.
As for Xu Xian and Duanmu Yushu, rumor had it that those two would turn and flee the moment they even caught sight of the old man.
Only Li Jianning maintained a respectful expression. "Master guides me with heavenly methods; this disciple is endlessly grateful."
Seeing that the Li family members remained unmoved, Ancestor Lan didn't mind either.
He then proceeded to patiently and systematically persuade them a bit more, speaking with extravagant embellishments, before finally smiling,
"I will give you only one chance. I can perfect your cultivation methods for you. If you let this slip by, you will never see such an opportunity again."
"..."
Silence.
They simply watched him turn to leave.
Ancestor Lan walked to the door without looking back, his tone leisurely as he tossed over his shoulder, "Last chance."
The group remained perfectly quiet, continuing to stare at his retreating back.
He didn't break his stride, smoothly disappearing around the corner.
A beat passed. Then, the old man reappeared from behind the wall, his face flushed bright red.
He gnashed his teeth, blew at his beard in frustration, and glared at the silent group before finally letting out a defeated sigh.
"Fine. I'll come back in a couple of days."