Longzang

Chapter 49 The Long Journey to Immortality

Master Fenhai hummed a little tune as he returned to his residence. He went straight to his study, first rummaging through the shelves, taking down the most precious magical treasures, elixirs, and rare herbs displayed in the center, carefully packing them into boxes, and then meticulously labeling them with their uses, materials, and prices. After doing this, he searched the entire room, finally finding a jade toad in a corner of the storeroom with great difficulty.

Judging from its appearance, this jade toad is of average quality and ordinary craftsmanship. Aside from slightly improving the feng shui and bringing good fortune, it's utterly useless. But what feng shui can compare to a jade toad hanging in an empty valley?
But Master Fenhai solemnly placed this jade toad, which was so superfluous that it was not even suitable as a decoration, in the center of the treasure shelf, and even carefully wiped it a few times.

Originally, this shelf held three small fairy swords, but now they have been moved to the side.

The news that Wei Yuan had successfully manifested the visualization diagram caused a small ripple among his classmates, before fading into silence. His visualization diagram was personally sealed by True Lord Xuan Yue, and no one below the True Lord level could see it, so his classmates naturally had no way of knowing the truth.

Although the students were curious, they quickly put the matter out of their minds.

Historically, the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon's maximum size was twelve zhang, with a medium-grade extraordinary phenomenon. Bao Yun's eleven-zhang visualization diagram, though smaller, possessed a top-grade extraordinary phenomenon, effectively surpassing all previous sages. Cui Yu's visualization diagram, though only six zhang, also had an extraordinary phenomenon approaching top-grade, and the blessing he received was a celestial sword aura, making his overall combat strength considerable. Furthermore, with the Cui family's support, he could potentially advance further, practically guaranteeing his place in the Heavenly Rank.

Wei Yuan's progress in expanding his visualization diagram took an unprecedented amount of time, clearly indicating a lack of comprehension and talent, hence his slow cultivation. Wei Yuan's innate talent was seven feet nine inches, which would make him an unparalleled genius outside, but among the disciples of the Tai Chu Palace, he was only considered average. Furthermore, he came from a poor background, lacked secret methods for opening wisdom, and had not undergone any refinement of his physique. Therefore, his classmates generally accepted that Wei Yuan was currently rather slow-witted and would need several more years for his mind to fully mature.

If one's innate talent and comprehension are combined, and the cultivation method is not suitable, it is not impossible for it to take a year just to visualize the imagery.

If the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon painting were placed outside the Taichu Palace, there would be many mediocre people who would not be able to establish a foundation for their Dao even after decades of cultivation.

The classmates tacitly agreed that this was something Wei Yuan found difficult to talk about, so they kept quiet about it. In fact, even if they hadn't witnessed it themselves, they had heard of similar examples countless times. Countless disciples from impoverished backgrounds made a name for themselves upon entering the palace, but in the long process of cultivation, they were gradually caught up with and even surpassed by disciples from powerful clans, and many even lost their Dao hearts as a result. There were very few who truly rose from humble beginnings and eventually became True Lords.

The classroom was calm yet tense. All the students had begun to forge their bodies, each of them giving it their all on the path of cultivation, fearing that they would be outdone by the others.

The students were already arrogant, and Ji Liuli constantly fanned the flames, always comparing them to the Zhigu Sect. Every class was filled with stories of so-and-so from the Zhigu Sect making a breakthrough or acquiring some family treasure, forcing everyone to cultivate like crazy. They were all sick of hearing the phrase "the Zhigu Sect is like this and that."

After Xuan Yue Zhenjun sealed the heavenly fortune, Wei Yuan finally embarked on the path of body forging.

That day, upon returning from the Azure Sky Palace, Zhang Sheng explained in detail to Wei Yuan the various details to pay attention to during the Body Forging stage. The first step in Body Forging is to refine the muscles and tendons, gradually transforming the physical body into the foundation for an immortal embryo. This stage marks the beginning of transcending the mortal realm and entering immortality; the body will undergo significant changes, with greatly increased strength and speed, and greater resilience to blows.

Wei Yuan had already experienced this firsthand during the last duel. His classmates had all begun to forge their bodies, and their strength had increased dramatically. Even Wei Yuan, who had been born with superhuman strength since childhood, couldn't withstand it.

After explaining the precautions, Zhang Sheng put down three bottles of Qi-Nourishing Pills, letting Wei Yuan cultivate on his own, and then hurriedly left.

These three bottles of Peiyuan Pills are not a three-month supply, but a ten-day supply. From now on, the dosage of Peiyuan Pills will be changed from one pill every three days to three pills per day.

After Zhang Sheng left, Wei Yuan didn't linger and immediately began cultivating. This time, he again transformed into a jade toad, but looking at the clear, full moon in the sky, Wei Yuan felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. However, what followed was familiar: inhaling and exhaling moonlight.

As soon as the jade toad opened its mouth, moonlight poured down, instantly filling its large mouth and overflowing. Even with its enormous mouth, swallowing this mouthful was somewhat difficult. After swallowing the moonlight, the jade toad gurgled and burped.

Such abundant moonlight was naturally a testament to the miraculous effects of the three Qi-Nourishing Pills. However, moonlight alone was not enough to unleash the full medicinal power of the pills; a torrential downpour also began in the visualization.

The Jade Toad adjusted its posture, aligning the full moon, its mouth, and its rear end in a straight line. Then, it tilted its head back, opened its mouth, and caught a mouthful of moonlight. This mouthful was much more comfortable, as the moonlight went directly down its throat into its abdomen, skipping the intermediate steps.

He was bathed in moonlight all night, and before he knew it, dawn had broken. Awakening from his meditation, Wei Yuan felt a subtle tingling and itching sensation throughout his body—his flesh and blood were beginning to regrow. The visualization in his sea of ​​consciousness had also changed; a small patch of the ground was solidifying from a void. Judging by its size, it would probably take at least six or seven hundred days for the entire ground to solidify.

This is the result of taking three Qi-Nourishing Pills. The medicinal effects have now reached the limit that Wei Yuan can withstand; any more and the Jade Toad won't be able to swallow them. But three Qi-Nourishing Pills a day is equivalent to dozens of days of arduous cultivation, so it shouldn't be this slow.

Wei Yuan found the copy of the Devouring Moon True Monarch's insights and read it carefully again, finally confirming that there was still a problem in his cultivation.

Only a small portion of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the medicinal power of the Qi-Nourishing Pill transformed from the moonlight was used for body forging; the vast majority disappeared into thin air, with no one knowing where it went. However, Wei Yuan was certain that all this spiritual energy and medicinal power remained within his body, not dissipated or lost. It seemed as if some invisible entity within his body absorbed most of the medicinal power and spiritual energy.

On his first attempt at cultivation, judging by the volume of the visualization diagram he filled, Wei Yuan's cultivation speed far surpassed that of ordinary disciples, considering he was using Qi-Nourishing Pills like food. However, Wei Yuan's visualization diagram was truly absurd; proportionally, the progress was shockingly slow. Ordinary students could usually complete muscle forging in three or four months, and some with exceptional talent and sufficient pills could even complete it in a month.

Wei Yuan could only try to stop thinking about his progress.

After that, Zhang Sheng no longer visited once a month, but once every ten days, bringing three bottles of Peiyuan Pills each time. He also talked to Wei Yuan much more, which was good news.

The bad news is that the Peiyuan Pill really doesn't taste good; it has a strange smell and tastes like...

He hadn't felt anything when he ate less, but now that he was taking three a day, it was strange. The taste was layered and surging up, and it lingered for a long time. Wei Yuan could hardly swallow it after only a few days. He felt like vomiting whenever he saw the Peiyuan Pill, which was even more unpleasant than swallowing moon essence.

Although it tastes terrible, one Qi-Nourishing Pill is equivalent to more than ten days of arduous cultivation for Wei Yuan, and three pills are equivalent to accelerating the body-forging process by forty or fifty times. Wei Yuan has to eat them.

Wei Yuan guessed that many people must have complained about the taste of Peiyuan Pill, but Zaohua Guan just wouldn't change his mind.

Wei Yuan maliciously speculated on the thoughts of those old bastards at the Creation Temple. They figured that no matter how many Qi-Nourishing Pills they refined, they would all be bought up anyway, so why bother improving the taste? The Creation Temple wasn't a restaurant.

Every day before cultivating, Wei Yuan would curse the Temple of Creation in his mind, and then curse it again after cultivating. But despite cursing, he still had to take his medicine and absorb the moonlight, and the days passed by like this.

There was one more thing Wei Yuan hadn't anticipated: the senior sister's foundation-refining ritual, which took place every seven days, would have to continue.

Wei Yuan had asked Ji Liuli when she would be able to complete the purification process, but unexpectedly, his senior sister changed her mind, saying that the path to purity was endless, and besides, Wei Yuan's foundation was still very weak, so he should continue the purification process.

So in addition to taking medicine and inhaling moonlight, they also had to be cleansed.

Wei Yuan then discovered that the path to immortality was not only long, but also tedious, repetitive, and required enduring many strange and unusual things.

I wonder if those high and mighty True Lords and True Men are still in good mental condition.

And so, month after month passed, and Wei Yuan felt that time was passing more and more slowly, as if each night could have several extra hours.

(End of this chapter)