There is a progress bar in my cultivation of immortality

Zhi Gong's visit lasted less than a quarter of an hour. After discussing business, Wang Ping inquired about the internal situation of the underground gate and then ended the conversation. During this time, he only offered a few words of encouragement to the puppet Wang Qian.

After Zhi Gong left, Wang Ping sat alone under the spirit tree for a while before entering a meditative state.

Ten days later.

He awoke from his meditation and arrived on time at the impromptu gathering organized by Zhixin and Quanxing. The place was the same as before, and Zhixin and Quanxing had been waiting for a long time.

"Greetings, True Lord Changqing."

Upon seeing Wang Ping, the two immediately stood up and bowed in greeting. Regardless of their inner thoughts, they were extremely respectful to Wang Ping on the surface, as they still vividly remembered Wang Ping's performance on the outer planet.

Wang Ping appeared very easygoing, but a trace of malice suddenly appeared in his mind. This was a very common malice in human nature, and it was the malice that he had suppressed when he first started cultivating. This kind of malice had not appeared for a long time, but it kept popping up from time to time in the past few days.

This is most likely because his cultivation level has now reached the pinnacle of this starry sky, and the malice that was suppressed deep in his heart has emerged as his humanity has been gradually released. Coupled with the loneliness that Yu Lian felt after going into seclusion, this malice has been amplified considerably.

At the beginning of his cultivation, this malice at most made him pick up his longsword and cut down some saplings, but now his malice gives him an impulse to destroy the starry sky, and the malice that is born at this moment is to capture two people and read their memories.

However, Wang Ping could suppress this level of malice in an instant with his current cultivation level, and then erase it from his memory.

"You two fellow Daoists are so polite."

Wang Ping returned the greeting with a cupped hand.

After exchanging pleasantries and settling down, the three chatted for a while before Quan Xing got down to business: "I invited the True Lord here today because there's a small matter I'd like to inquire about."

He spoke quickly, making polite remarks, and then changed the subject: "The thousand-year time limit set by the True Lord is about to end. My question is, is there any possibility that our war with the foreign lands will end?"

Wang Ping used to dislike people like Quan Xing who were clever in a petty way, but now he was quite interested in talking to him and asked, "Do you think we need to end this war?"

Zhi Xin clasped his hands in a fist and asked, "Is it really impossible?"

Wang Ping exchanged a glance with Zhi Xin and said with a smile, "You True Lords are not tools for your fight against Wei Ling and Qian Xi. Don't think you can resolve your internal strife through us."

He spoke of it so casually.

But Zhi Xin's heart skipped a beat. Just as she was about to say something, Wang Ping continued, "You had countless opportunities before the extraterrestrial war began, but you hesitated every time. Who do you think you True Monarchs are?"

His tone remained relaxed, as if he were chatting casually with an old friend.

Upon hearing this, Zhi Xin immediately straightened up, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "True Lord, please forgive us. It is not that we are hesitating..."

"Let bygones be bygones. If you only want to ask this small question, then I can only say that our determination to eliminate the rebels from outside the region has never changed."

Wang Ping interrupted Zhi Xin, speaking with a firm tone.

Zhi Xin had no choice but to swallow back the words she wanted to explain. Quan Xing chuckled and said, "I have been cultivating for tens of thousands of years. Although I have reached the fifth realm, there are still things in the world that are beyond my control and that I cannot do without."

He seemed to be speaking up for Zhixin, but then he bluntly pointed out Zhixin's problem: "You always want to have your cake and eat it too. You want Wei Ling and Qian Xi to provide secret methods to continue your cultivation, and you also want to exchange them for safety from the True Lords. There's no such thing as a free lunch."

He pointed directly to the key reason why the older generation of Star Gods from beyond the realm were wavering. If they really wanted to break away from Qian Xi and Wei Ling, they had plenty of opportunities before the war with the extraterrestrial stars ended, but they simply couldn't let go of the sixth-realm secret technique released by Wei Ling and Qian Xi.

More importantly, this secret technique is currently most effective only through cultivating extraterrestrial demonic energy; the Five Elements Yin-Yang rules of the inner starry sky will certainly not give them any chance.

Zhi Xin didn't seem embarrassed when he was exposed. He seemed not to have heard Quan Xing's words and cupped his hands to Wang Ping, saying, "There is another matter I want to tell True Lord about this gathering. Wei Ling and Qian Xi plan to follow the example of the Misty Sea's arrival back then and drag the extraterrestrial destruction rules into this starry sky."

"Oh?"

Wang Ping immediately became interested. "A bold plan." He gave a fair assessment first, then smiled and said, "The reason why the Misty Sea was able to descend upon this starry sky is because this starry sky originally contains the Five Elements rules. Its descent is a fusion of the basic rules of this starry sky, and it is extremely resistant to the rules of destruction of the basic rules of this starry sky."

His eyes gleamed with a faint green light as he stared at Zhixin and asked, "I'm very curious to know how those two plan to do this?"

Under Wang Ping's gaze, Zhi Xin's speaking speed noticeably increased, "Qian Xi has already refined the boundless starry sky surrounding the star barrier. I personally witnessed him merging with the demonic energy from beyond the realm. Under the starry sky of his dojo, a preliminary extraterrestrial energy rule has been formed, which is what you call the 'rule of destruction'."

“It is eroding this starry sky every moment. I can clearly feel that it is merging with our starry sky. Although the rules of this starry sky reject it, they have formed a delicate balance with it. This balance is more solid than your spiritual stability, which proves that it can exist in this starry sky.”

After listening, Wang Ping fell into deep thought. Zhi Xin and Quan Xing wisely kept quiet. After thinking for several dozen breaths, he first looked at Quan Xing and asked, "I know that you have established secret channels with the outer realms in recent years. I want to send some puppets to the border of the outer realms. Is that feasible?"

He also wanted to make an attempt to see if the rules of the outer borders could allow his puppet to survive. If so, there would be many more things he could do.

Quan Xing readily agreed, "No problem, I'm happy to help."

He made no mention of compensation.

Wang Ping then looked at Zhi Xin and asked, "What do you want to exchange this information for?"

Zhi Xin said, "I have a disciple who wants to return to the Star God Alliance. I have accumulated some resources over the years of cultivation and plan to build an ecological zone for him so that my lineage can continue."

He spoke very quickly, as if afraid Wang Ping wouldn't let him finish.

To be honest, other True Lords would probably also obtain this information, and its value is not worth the demands he made, but he still brought it up.

Wang Ping agreed without much consideration, as he lacked intelligence on the outer borders. Zhi Xin was currently his only source of information, and he would also need Zhi Xin's help with the initial identity issues when his puppet entered the outer borders. After the matter was settled, Zhi Xin couldn't wait to leave. After he left, Quan Xing cupped his hands to Wang Ping and said, "Many of us are now cultivating the demonic energy of the outer borders, and we have already developed some unique cultivation techniques. There must be the shadow of the outer border rebels behind this. They want to coerce our millions of people and cultivators."

Wang Ping did not rush to express his opinion. The person in front of him seemed humble and respectful, but Wang Ping could not fathom his true thoughts, nor did he want to. So, the only response he received was a silent bow, and then Wang Ping cut off the projection signal.

...

"Troublesome things just keep happening one after another, there's never a break."

After his consciousness returned to the Jiuxuan Mountain Dojo, Wang Ping gave a brief evaluation of the gathering and then gazed at the branches and leaves of the spiritual trees in the mountains in contemplation. After a while, he entered the 'self-discipline' state of divine arts, using the devout prayers of millions of believers to fill the gap in his humanity that had gradually faded due to long-term comprehension of the rules.

After an unknown amount of time, the fluctuations of the communication token awakened him from his meditation. When he opened his eyes, his consciousness was clearer and more transparent than ever before, as if it had been washed by a mountain spring. He did not rush to check the messages, but first used his primordial spirit to sense the state of Yu Lian. The hundreds of feet long body in the river was still asleep.

After confirming that Yu Lian was alright, he casually stretched out his left hand and started calculating the time. This meditation lasted for two standard Zhongzhou years. During this time, Liu Shuang and Shen Xiaozhu came to visit once, but when they saw Wang Ping in meditation, they flew back to Hu Qianqian's dojo.

"You seem a little lost." Xinghai's illusory figure appeared in the brightest area in front of the spirit tree, his voice seeming to travel through layers of clouds.

Wang Ping looked up at the clear blue sky above Jupiter, where wispy clouds drifted slowly, and sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on his face.

“This is human complacency,” he said softly. “Since I joined the Thousand Trees Temple, I have been cultivating for thousands of years without ever stopping. Now, there are only a handful of people in this starry sky who can threaten me.”

He suddenly stopped speaking. Having cultivated for so long, he had long since transcended the mortal realm, yet at this moment he experienced the weariness that only mortals could feel. This contradiction brought a bitter smile to his lips: the closer he got to immortality, the more he longed for a brief rest; the stronger he became, the more he missed the pure persistence he had when he was weak.

Xinghai's figure swayed slightly, as if digesting these insights, and then he said, "But there are still many threats outside this starry sky. Didn't you vow to leave this starry sky?"

“I know.” Wang Ping leaned casually against the rough trunk of the spirit tree, feeling the texture of the bark against his back. “Those threats have never disappeared…”

He fell silent halfway through his sentence.

Xinghai pressed on, asking, "Are you doubting the future? Doubting whether you can truly leave this starry sky? Now that you have established yourself among the True Monarchs, do you want to stop and rest for a while?"

Wang Ping replied, "I have never given up on my original ideas, I'm just a little lax now. This is the most basic demand of human nature."

"But isn't your spiritual practice precisely about overcoming laziness?"

Only then did Wang Ping look at Xinghai and say with a smile, "We cultivate to overcome laziness and all desires in order to achieve longevity and freedom, but longevity and freedom are the greatest desires."

This is the essence of spiritual practice. Countless people have restrained their desires for thousands of years, practicing as if it were a daily routine, all for the sake of one day being able to truly release those desires. It's contradictory, yet it is the reality.

Upon realizing this, Wang Ping immediately suppressed the thoughts that shouldn't have arisen, while Xinghai said, "There are many powerful life forms outside the realm. It's too early for you to slack off now."

"Don't worry about me, I know exactly what I'm doing."

As Wang Ping spoke, he summoned the 'Heaven-Stealing Talisman' and said to Xinghai, "Its compatibility with my primordial spirit is still slowly increasing, which means that my cultivation has not slackened."

Xinghai's illusory eyes became real at this moment. He stared at Wang Ping for a long time and said, "Human cultivators are indeed completely different from many life forms."

Wang Ping replied, "Because we human cultivators have experienced periods of weakness and also experienced the true mortal world."

"The same applies to the demon race."

"But the bloodline power of the demon race allows them to cultivate smoothly, while we cannot."

Xinghai didn't speak again. He turned his head and glanced at the blue sky that Wang Ping was staring at, and then disappeared in front of the spirit tree.

Wang Ping gazed at the spot where he had disappeared. A gentle breeze blew through the mountains, carrying the fragrance of distant grasses and trees. This should have been a moment of tranquility, but the communication token in his hand kept emitting energy fluctuations, disrupting this rare peace.

He had no choice but to take out the token, stroking its cool surface and feeling the fine lines on it with his fingertips. He knew this must be a message from Lieyang, for an upcoming meeting.

The token vibrated once more. Wang Ping sighed softly and infused a wisp of spiritual energy into his fingertip. Lie Yang's voice immediately rang in his mind, still as impatient as ever, as if a matter of utmost importance awaited his attention.

Just as Wang Ping had guessed, Lieyang instructed him to open the projection space of a meeting room a month later.

After replying to the message, Wang Ping casually placed the token on the grass beside him, leaned back against the rough tree trunk, closed his eyes and felt the cool touch of the bark. Then, his gaze subconsciously fell on the branch where Yu Lian always liked to perch.

After a brief moment of silence, Wang Ping opened his eyes, reached out and controlled the puppets in the lower courtyard to turn on the projection signal in the conference hall in advance, and personally came to the conference hall to light two incense sticks for the statues of the two saints.

Stepping out of the hall, he was greeted by a rich aura of wood spirit. He subconsciously flicked his sleeves, a simple gesture that reminded him that he was, after all, still a human being with human emotions and contradictions. Perhaps it was these contradictions that allowed him to maintain his true self on the long path of cultivation.

It's a very simple principle, but sometimes we just forget it. It's like how an alcoholic always forgets the resolution he made to quit drinking when he woke up from a drunken stupor, and then he remembers it when he wakes up the next day, and so on and so forth.

The same applies to spiritual practice. We will always make the same mistakes, and then wake up again and again, repeating this cycle until we achieve complete enlightenment.

"Haha~"

Wang Ping chuckled softly, and in a flash, he arrived at the highest point of Mount Jiuxuan. Gazing down at the frozen river below, he sensed the presence of the Rain Lotus. After exhaling, he entered a meditative state again.

A month goes by in a blink of an eye.

Wang Ping awoke from his meditation early, gathered his thoughts, glanced at the sleeping riverbank where Yu Lian lay, and transformed into a streak of light, landing at the entrance of a conference hall. He accepted the two incense sticks prepared by the puppet, entered the hall to offer incense to the two sages, and then took his seat to await the arrival of the other True Lords. (End of Chapter)