You've only been cultivating for a few years, and you're already talking about cultivating

Jade Bridge means rainbow.

Once sword cultivators of the Jade Bridge Sword Sect reach the Foundation Establishment stage and can control their swords, their sword energy transforms into seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, stretching across the sky like a bridge or a ribbon. This is how the Jade Bridge Sword Sect got its name.

Qi Fei stood on the stone steps of the Jade Bridge Sword Sect, looking up at the sword lights.

To use one's own perception to encompass the real "world" is "law." The means to achieve this is "magic."

So what about a sword? What is a sword? And what are sword light and sword energy?

These questions stayed with him.

Life went on like this.

Morning bells and evening drums, meditation and breath control.

The fellow disciples gathered together every day to discuss their daily cultivation progress, what sword techniques they had practiced, and when they would be able to establish their foundation.

Some people have been stuck in the Qi Induction stage for three years. They meditate for two extra hours every day, hoping that one day they will wake up and find their Qi Sea full so they can establish their foundation.

Some people, having just reached the threshold of Foundation Establishment, were so excited that they couldn't sleep all night and got up in the middle of the night to practice their swordsmanship.

Besides Qi Induction and Foundation Establishment, he also met his senior master who was at the Golden Core stage.

That day, my master was giving a sermon on the back mountain, and his disciples surrounded him. Qi Fei was also among the crowd.

My senior master sat on a futon, his face ruddy and his spirit vigorous, speaking animatedly about the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir. At the height of his enthusiasm, he opened his mouth and spat out a perfectly round golden elixir.

The pill was the size of a longan, its entire body gleaming with golden light. It hovered in mid-air and slowly rotated. With each rotation, wisps of spiritual energy surged in from all directions and were absorbed by it.

The disciples watched, completely mesmerized. Some held their breath, some clenched their fists, and some had a gleam in their eyes, wishing they could have one in their own mouths.

Qi Fei also looked at the golden pill.

The question in my mind grew even stronger: Is this the Golden Elixir?

Back at his lodgings, he sat on the bed, staring blankly at the moon outside the window.

Seeing the moon, he seemed to remember something.

I seem to have met a monk about the moon before, what was his name again?

He couldn't remember.

Not only could he not remember, but even his memories from before joining the sect were gradually fading. It was as if he had always been a cultivator of the Jade Bridge Sword Sect, spending his days cultivating.

But he still had doubts.

The cultivation here doesn't focus on the "real world" or the "reflection in the mind," but rather on spiritual energy, spiritual roots, elixirs, and cultivation techniques. It seems that as long as you accumulate resources, you can become an immortal one day.

I don't talk about the three "selves" in my inner world, I only focus on the clarity of my thoughts.

But were those thoughts truly their own?

Is it the body's instinct? Or hormones at play? Or is it dopamine driving them? Or is it even the competitive mentality of "everyone else has it, so I can't be without it" that's pushing them along?

Isn't their practice similar to that of the two-headed beautiful python they saw? "Enslaved" by their own bodily instincts, they don't even have freedom?

Can one become an immortal through this?

Does that mean I can become an immortal?

No, that's not right.

Also, who is the two-headed python? Why do I have such a strong impression of it?

Qi Fei shook his head.

Although he couldn't remember some things, he still remembered the doubts in his heart.

He needs to find someone to clear up his doubts.

Qi Fei sat on the bed all night. At dawn, he got out of bed, washed up, opened the door, and went to find Yu Xing.

Yu Xing was the person he knew best in the Jade Bridge Sword Sect.

When he found Yu Xing, Yu Xing was practicing swordsmanship in the bamboo forest behind the mountain.

The sword flashed through the bamboo leaves as fast as lightning, yet the bamboo leaves remained motionless as the sword tip grazed the bamboo branches, and not a single dewdrop fell from the branches, demonstrating Yu Xing's control over the sword.

Qi Fei stood outside the bamboo forest and waited.

Wait until Yu Xing sheathed his sword, until he put it back in its sheath, until he turned around.

"Senior brother," he said, "I have a few questions."

"You say it," Yu Xing said.

"Senior brother, do you know about 'reflection'?" Qi Fei then explained the "cave metaphor".

After listening, Yu Xing laughed: "Nonsense. What's the use of this?"

Qi Fei was taken aback; he hadn't expected this answer.

"This is how we seek the truth," he explained, "to find the essence of things. Knowing the essence of things allows us to better understand the world; better understanding the world allows us to recognize the relationship between the world and ourselves..."

"Stop, stop, stop." Yu Xing raised his hand, making a stop gesture, his expression changing from calm to impatience.

"Those are all crooked and evil methods, none of them are useful. Especially not for cultivating immortality."

Qi Fei looked at him and said seriously, "Senior brother is wrong."

"These are useful for cultivating immortality. Cultivating immortality is also about seeking truth. If you don't even know what the world is like, how can you know what 'immortal' is?"

Yu Xing seemed to have heard a joke; the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, but he suppressed it again.

"Immortals are those who live forever and ascend to heaven," he said. "That is what immortals are."

"Now that you've joined the Jade Bridge Sword Sect, as long as you cultivate diligently and break through to new heights, one day you will ascend to immortality and become a celestial being."

He paused, a hint of pity appearing in his eyes as he looked at Qi Fei.

"Junior brother, before you entered this sect, you probably learned some random things. Forget about those things as soon as possible."

"Those things?" Qi Fei frowned. "So, cultivating immortality doesn't require knowing what the world is like, or its essence?"

"Those things you mentioned—reflections, caves, essence—are not the path to immortality." Yu Xing shook his head.

"Our Jade Bridge Sword Sect has produced immortals, true immortals, immortals who ascended to heaven."

"Our cultivation method can lead to immortality. This path has been trodden by our predecessors and it is viable."

He patted Qi Fei on the shoulder, as if he were patting a lost child: "The path to immortality is right before your eyes, don't make a mistake."

Yu left, leaving Qi Fei alone in the bamboo forest.

So, they cultivate immortality without needing to know what the world is like? They just need to follow the steps of cultivation to become immortals?

This is a proven path. The Jade Bridge Sword Sect has produced immortals who have ascended to heaven. If I can become an immortal like them…?

But this... isn't this a joke?

If you don't even know the real world, if you are "enslaved" by your own instincts and not "free," then what kind of immortal are you?

That's just another kind of two-headed beautiful python!

"Senior brother!" he suddenly called out.

Yu Xing's footsteps stopped.

In the distance, from the shadowy bamboo grove, a blurry silhouette turned. It was too far to make out the expression, only a silhouette, a sword slung diagonally over a shoulder, and a pair of eyes looking in this direction.

"You're wrong," Qi Fei shouted. "You're all wrong."

It takes immense courage for someone to declare a sect or the entire world "wrong." But this "wrong" was something Qi Fei arrived at through reasoning and argumentation.

If you can't even distinguish the world, if you can't even recognize the three "selves" in your own heart, then what is spiritual practice?

Is it like a gluttonous snake accumulating spiritual energy?

Yu Xing looked at Qi Fei and said only, "Junior brother, you have already fallen into demonic possession. You'd better watch yourself."

Then, he sighed, seemingly feeling sorry for Qi Fei.