Chapter 5 - 2 Are You the Clown Sent by Heavenly Dao to Slap Our Faces?

Wang Qi lay on the ground for a moment before standing up and saying, "I need to prepare. In a few days, I'm heading out to find that 'opportunity' and start living a life of slaying and seizing treasures from those who hold virtue." Suddenly, Zhen Chan interjected, "Wait." "What's up?" "You still lack the self-awareness of a cultivator," Zhen Chan stated. "Mana needs to be tempered, needs contemplation. After improving your mana, you can relax for a bit, but after indulgence, you must meditate again for a while to comprehend the mental method." With a sigh, Wang Qi sat back down in the Spirit Gathering Array. He contemplated the mental method Zhen Chan had left in his body. The peerless mental method wasn't written down; it was just a feeling. Following the obscure will in his mind, Wang Qi directed his mana and contemplated its characteristics throughout the process. Sensing the mana in his body responding to his will, growing cold or hot at his command, Wang Qi shook his head and chuckled inwardly. Such an unscientific power indeed. After finishing, Wang Qi closed his eyes to taste the changes in his body. When he opened his eyes, he felt an inexplicable sense of illusion, "Old man, did I succeed?" According to the descriptions in the cultivation technique in his mind, he had actually managed a perfect breakthrough... "Is there a problem?" "Isn't it too smooth?" Wang Qi scratched his head, feeling puzzled. Doesn't the story of a protagonist breaking through always involve nearly losing their life, spending countless savings, then experiencing a sudden reversal at the brink of failure, and preferably some unprecedented coincidences to successfully cultivate the hidden achievements within the technique! If breaking through was this easy, wouldn't it be considered a flop if written into a novel! After getting the reason clarified, Zhen Chan nearly screamed his soul out in exasperation. He bellowed inside Wang Qi's head, "Ridiculous! Ridiculous! Are you actually using common rumors as benchmarks to measure your cultivation achievements? You're struggling to break through the first realm; with such talent, how can you possibly overcome the final barrier? Do you still treat cultivation as a joke to this day!" Wang Qi shook his head, "Not a joke, a game, okay! A game! This kind of bloody and violent thing should definitely be banned from children." Zhen Chan could only say, "Enough, enough. Speak less to me in the future." Next, Wang Qi spent three more hours adjusting his state after the breakthrough and stabilizing his cultivation. When he finished and got up, he suddenly remembered something. "By the way, old man, do cultivators have any good techniques for concealing their aura and cultivation progress?" "Why do you need that?" Wang Qi naturally replied, "Concealing one's cultivation to play the pig and eat the tiger, slapping faces, is where the thrill lies!" Zhen Chan immediately regretted engaging with him. He felt that taking this brain-damaged kid seriously was a stain on his twenty thousand years of life, "This ring comes with an exceptionally superior Concealing Breath Skill. Although you're just starting in Qi Cultivation and can't unleash its full range of miraculous features, it's definitely enough to fool ordinary Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment Cultivators." "Do you have any skills for making money too?" "Making money?" "Like, creating artifacts from thin air, or alchemy with a hundred percent success rate..." "Hah?" Wang Qi curled his lip, a hint of disdain in his tone, "Really unimpressive." Zhen Chan fell silent for a while and then spoke helplessly, "The Alchemy Method and Artifact Refining Skill, I've given them both to you. Learn them yourself." Wang Qi nodded in satisfaction and started calculating with his fingers, "Fine, that satisfies another thrill point." "Kid, what's the point of doing all this?" "For fun!" "Reaching the pinnacle of cultivation, reigning over the Immortal Dao, and receiving admiration for thousands of generations, is also a kind of fun. Why don't I see you pursuing that?" Wang Qi, who had already begun to pack up his belongings at home in preparation for leaving, stopped his work and held the ring up to his face, "Thousands of generations? Can my concern really change something that will happen in the future? Would later generations' admiration bring me any tangible benefit? Moreover, reign over this world? Old man, don't you think that this world is truly boring?" "Boring?" "Nothing but stagnant water. According to you, eight thousand years ago, the first Foundation Establishment Cultivator was born. After ten thousand years, the first Ascension Immortal emerged. Forty thousand years ago, the Immortal Dao peaked, and then it gradually weakened due to the exhaustion of Spiritual Energy and diminishing resources?" "True. My body and Primordial Spirit were destroyed, and I can no longer sense nature's spiritual energy. But based on the rate of decline of spiritual energy ten thousand years ago, we've probably already entered the End of Law Era, where not even a Mahayana Grandmaster can be seen in the entire world..." "So in another forty thousand years, won't the Immortal Dao be doomed? Think about it, leading a bunch of people doomed to end their line—it sounds quite uninteresting and meaningless." Zhen Chan remained silent. Being a Great Cultivator from the Mahayana Realm, he was naturally more aware than anyone else of the shortcomings inherent in the Immortal Dao. Cultivators seek cultivation, aiming to seize creation from Heaven and Earth to forge their "True True Self." The Spirit Element a single cultivator takes is like a scoop out of an endless ocean, but however vast the universe is, it cannot withstand the endless extraction of generations of descendants. "The immortals will eventually strip this world bare, I can't control the world, nor do I want to—you know, I hate trouble the most. So, let the world and others be, it has nothing to do with me, I just want to live a splendid life." Having said that, Wang Qi no longer paid attention to the silent Zhen Chan and began preparing for his future adventures. In cultivation, one speaks of a method, wealth, companions, and territory. The only thing I possess is the "method." The other three are not something this desolate village can provide for Wang Qi. Since the cultivation at the Spirit Body stage mainly focuses on tempering the body, and does not produce any magical effects, if a clash with a Qi Cultivation Stage cultivator were to occur, a sure death would follow. Moreover, Zhen Chan also made it clear that the best way to progress through the Spirit Body stage is to advance step by step on your own, without relying on any elixirs. Therefore, Wang Qi had not ventured out in search of so-called "opportunity." But now, everything was different. "Since it seems like a journey of no return, the house and fields at home are of no use... I might as well sell them cheap to the villagers... Mmm, for three acres of land, I suppose I could sell... the old house to..." Suddenly, the jade ring trembled violently. Wang Qi felt like he was holding a vibrating phone: "Old man, old man, you turned on the vibration all of a sudden?" "There is the presence of a cultivator, at the Foundation Establishment Stage. I don't know what their intentions are, so quickly infuse mana into the ring, and I'll help you hide." Although Zhen Chan had perished ten thousand years ago, leaving only a residual soul, according to him, he was a Great Sect Leader of his time, a top-tier expert with cultivation that had reached the pinnacle of the Mahayana Realm, just one step away from ascending to the Immortal Heaven and wandering the cosmos freely. Even now, as a mere lingering soul, he possessed unfathomable abilities. Without any hesitation, Wang Qi poured all of his mana into the jade ring. A cool sensation spread from the ring, enveloping his entire body. Then, Wang Qi's spirit and presence were thoroughly concealed, as if he had turned into a dead tree or a stubborn stone. "Wait a minute! Old man, you shouldn't know any current information about the Immortal Dao, right? I think it might be a good idea to ask first?" "We don't yet know if the other party harbors ill intentions. If they do, wouldn't you be courting death by carelessly approaching them? Just wait!" Zhen Chan's voice actually had a seriousness to it. In his Spiritual Sense, the mana aura that clearly belonged to a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator had initially been flying toward the center of the village, but around three hundred zhangs away, it suddenly turned and flew in their direction. Three hundred zhangs, Zhen Chan knew, was the limit of the Spiritual Sense range of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator, and that's for those cultivators who had specifically practiced the Divine Thought Method. Been discovered? Impossible. Though Zhen Chan was only a residual soul, the Spiritual Sense that could detect mana could still extend more than ten li. He would have warned them the moment the other party entered this range, and Wang Qi had activated the ring while the other was still over two li away. Foundation Establishment Spiritual Sense extending over two li? That completely defied heavenly principles! But to see through the ring's inherent concealing spell at the Foundation Establishment Stage? Absolutely not. In the era when the Immortal Dao was flourishing, it was impossible for someone to see through the ring's spell by relying on a cultivation not even close to two major realms higher, much less in this End of Law Era? Wang Qi only saw a streak of white light flying towards him from the sky. Zhen Chan said in a deep voice, "Pretend like you know nothing for now." Because he was wary of the approaching cultivator, Wang Qi did not respond to Zhen Chan. "Breathe in... breathe out... breathe in... breathe out... good, don't be nervous... keep smiling... relax your facial muscles, show six teeth... stay minty fresh, well okay that's probably not doable." Wang Qi faced the light and displayed what he thought was a charming, standard smile. "What in the world are you doing..." Zhen Chan was bewildered. "A good first impression," Wang Qi squeezed out the words between his teeth. "Idiot! You should be pretending to be busy working now!" "Bullshit! I haven't even put away the Spirit Gathering Array in the yard, wouldn't it be suspicious if I acted like I know nothing?!" Just then, the white light stopped above the Wang Family's old home. The light scattered, revealing the figure of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl. She was extremely pretty, dressed in a red gown, with a purple little sword under her feet. "Sword Control..." Wang Qi's face showed a hint of admiration. In his past life, he had fantasized countless times about one day riding an Immortal Sword, touring the world. Although he had been introduced to the path of cultivation in this life, his cultivation had not yet reached Foundation Establishment, so he could not yet control artifacts. However, the girl's next words shattered his reverie. "The one down there, yea, you, the Ancient Method Practitioner who just broke through the Qi Cultivation Stage, come with me!" "Eh, eh, eh! Miss, what are you talking about? I really don't understand!" Wang Qi denied vehemently. The girl showed a disdainful smile: "You think you can fool present-day cultivators because you have an ancient treasure with an outdated design concept? Your completely Spirit Sense-blocking act is far too conspicuous, okay? Plus, your Cultivation Technique is outdated by thousands of years." Ah? Wang Qi was dumbfounded. Crap, this is not in the script, hello? Wasn't it agreed that we're in the End of Law Era? Wasn't it agreed that the older the Cultivation Technique, the more authentic? Since when did Cultivation have an expiration date crap crap crap... Not only was Wang Qi in turmoil internally, but even Zhen Chan wasn't able to remain calm. "What on earth is this girl... what kind of terrifying alien treasure is she carrying with her..." "No... I think I know who she is..." Wang Qi communicated to Zhen Chan ineptly with his Spiritual Sense. "What?" "She must be Brother Tiandao's stooge sent to slap our faces!"