Cultivating Immortality Through a Hundred Lifetimes: I Possess the Heavenly Book of Merit

Spring of the fiftieth year of the Qingli reign.

Fengguo Langya County.

Yu Mansion.

Yu Yan, whose temples were graying, woke up with a start. He leaned back in his rattan chair and the first thing he saw was the peach blossoms in full bloom in the courtyard. Then he heard a commotion of voices outside the courtyard.

"I have spent all my wealth and traveled thousands of miles to come here, hoping only to see the Immortal Master Yu."

"I am Master Shen from Langya. My daughter has been intelligent since childhood. I wish to offer her a hundred acres of fertile land and request an audience with Master Yu. I do not ask for any favors, but only that she serve me!"

"The Liu family of the capital offered a thousand taels of gold, only seeking to establish a good relationship with Master Yu, without any ulterior motives..."

A weary scholar, a wealthy merchant, and a prominent family from the capital.

Regardless of age or social status, they all came together today outside the Yu family mansion in this small county town, seeking immortality.

The "Master Yu" they mentioned is not Yu Yan, but the younger brother who was taken away by the Master many years ago.

Having been away from home for sixty years without any contact, is he returning now to fulfill a promise made years ago?

Yu Yan stared at the peach tree that had grown so large that it would take two people to hug it. His vision gradually blurred, and he seemed to see his younger brother's smiling face covered in mud when he planted the tree.

Sixty years have passed since the two brothers planted this peach tree together.

When he first came into this world, he was famous for his youthful intelligence, which attracted the attention of immortal masters. He thought he could embark on the path of immortality, but was told that he could not cultivate without spiritual roots.

On the contrary, it was his younger brother, who followed him around all day with snot bubbles, who was favored by the immortal master and rode away on a cloud together.

Before leaving, she held Yu Yan's hand and said that after she finished her studies, she would definitely find another way for her brother to cultivate immortality.

Back then, this matter caused quite a stir. Everyone knew that the Yu family had produced a potential cultivator, and countless high-ranking officials and dignitaries came to visit, but Yu Yan turned them all away.

After everyone left, he sat in the courtyard, staring blankly at the newly planted peach tree.

Now, it's the same scene as before, the same noise, but Yu Yan is no longer young. The wind blows his sparse white hair, which looks like water plants swaying at the bottom of a river.

Over the course of sixty years, he watched the peach blossoms bloom and fade again and again, hoping for his younger brother's return every year, only to be met with disappointment each year.

Sixty years have passed in the blink of an eye. The once spirited and handsome young man has now become an old man with dark spots all over his body and his life force waning.

"Longevity!"

Yu Yan suddenly called softly to his only son, who was standing by and serving him.

"I just dreamt about your uncle."

Yu Changsheng stepped forward and pulled the blanket up a little higher on his father, comforting him, "Father, Uncle will be back today, so you don't have to see him in your dreams anymore."

He grew up listening to his uncle's stories. Although he was curious about the legendary immortal master, he had never seen the real thing and had no obsession with it.

Yu Yan didn't respond to his son's words, but just kept talking to himself in his hoarse voice.

"He hasn't aged at all; he still looks like a child. He calls me brother. I asked him what the Immortal Mountain is like, but he wouldn't tell me. He just smiled, and as he smiled, he melted away, turning into a cloud of mist..."

Yu Yan stopped to catch his breath, and the wheezing sound, like a broken bellows, made Chang Sheng look worried.

"Father, stop talking. Uncle is coming soon. He's a celestial master; he'll definitely have a way to make you better."

Yu Yan shook his head and ultimately did not continue speaking. It was not that he did not want to speak, but rather that the few words he had just spoken had exhausted his strength.

Yu Yan still remembers the cool mist in his dream, which seeped into his bones, and then he woke up.

There was no younger brother like a child in reality, nor any good fortune in cultivating immortality; only increasingly heavy breathing and a chill running through his body.

He knew that after sixty years apart, his relatives might no longer be relatives, and the promises they made back then could no longer stand.

But now that his younger brother is about to return, he's having delusions again.

Really, have you found a way to cultivate immortality?

Is it possible to cultivate immortality without spiritual roots?

Has the younger brother fulfilled his promise?

As the sun set, the noise outside gradually faded, and peach blossoms fluttered up in the air, swirling once before her son called out:

"Nephew greets Uncle!"

Yu Yan squinted, his wrinkles deepening into deep furrows, and forced himself to sit up.

A figure appeared under the peach tree, but he couldn't make out what it was.

"Is Er Gou back?"

Yu Yan's tone was filled with joy, not only because of the promise he made to his younger brother, but also because he was welcoming this long-lost relative.

But the figure under the tree did not respond.

"Chang Sheng, go and bring out the peaches I froze last year. Your uncle has been away from home for many years and has never tasted peaches he grew himself."

"good……"

Yu Changsheng stood up and was about to leave quickly when he heard his uncle's words.

"Never mind, it's just a peach anyway. I came here to settle my karmic debt."

Yu Yan was taken aback, but then he saw the figure reach out and seem to stroke Yu Changsheng's head, or perhaps look at everyone in the Yu family, before shaking his head and sighing softly.

"The matter of spiritual roots cannot be forced, and the difference between immortals and mortals is the same."

"Cough cough cough..."

Hearing the other person's calm, still voice, Yu Yan's last glimmer of hope vanished.

He didn't know where the strength came from, but his thin, dry hands gripped the wooden cane beside the chair, and he stood up shakily, wanting to get closer to his younger brother, closer to the "immortal," but every step he took felt like it weighed a ton, making it difficult to move an inch.

"Is it really impossible to cultivate without spiritual roots?"

"Ergou, tell me, is the difference between immortals and mortals merely a difference in spiritual roots?"

The empty courtyard remained unanswered. The figure made no large movements, but simply exhaled softly, causing the peach tree in the courtyard to sway. The fragrance of the blossoms intensified, petals fell, and the peaches grew and ripened, weighing down the branches.

"Since you have no spiritual roots, then let us use these spiritual peaches from this tree, which can strengthen your body, to repay the karma you suffered back then."

Yu Yan eventually lost his balance and fell. Chang Sheng caught him quickly, but his eyes were fixed on the peaches on the tree, dumbfounded.

The blur before Yu Yan's eyes gradually dissipated, and the person under the peach tree had a young and indifferent face. His white Taoist robe floated without being stained by the dust in the courtyard, and his eyes were as deep as the sea. It was no longer the Er Gou who affectionately called him brother in his memory.

This is Immortal Master Yu, Immortal Master Yu who has already embarked on the path of immortality!

There is a difference between immortals and mortals!

"Hehehe—"

Yu Yan smiled bitterly, and finally fell silent. He picked the nearest peach, and when he looked up again, the immortal master had already left.

The peach blossoms on the ground were swept up by the wind, swirling and flying over the wall towards the unseen horizon, but his courtyard wall could be seen from one end to the other.

"Is it really impossible to cultivate without spiritual roots?"

Supported by his son, Yu Yan reclined on a rattan chair, his eyes closed, the peach in his hand already warm from being held in his hand.

The air was filled with the fragrance of peaches, but the scent in his nose grew fainter and fainter, as if his aged body was exhaling its last breath.

Physical fitness is nothing compared to cultivating immortality and longevity.

He closed his eyes, and a flood of memories came to mind: the excitement of the immortal master's arrival, the disappointment of being told he had no spiritual roots, the joy of being received by the immortal master for his many acts of charity and disaster relief, and the despair of being constantly rejected.

From youth to middle age, from the joy of marriage to the happiness of having a child, from a house full of children and grandchildren to the pain of losing a wife.

From youthful vigor to old age.

From birth to death...

He felt as if he were walking on an extremely narrow ridge between fields.

On one side of the field is smoke and dust, wife and children, farmland; on the other side are clouds and mist, immortality.

He walked on this ridge, sideways, for his entire life.

His eyes were always fixed on that direction, but his feet never actually crossed it.

Immortality is unattainable, and longevity is hard to come by.

"Spiritual Root!"

"Spiritual root..."

The final sigh faded into silence, and the mournful call of Changsheng reached Yu Yan's ears. Yu Yan wanted to respond, but the sound seemed to grow fainter and fainter. Then his body was upside down, and his senses were in disarray. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a golden space.

A blue jade book floated in the center, and as if sensing Yu Yan's gaze, it slowly opened it.

On the first half of the page, the young Yu Yan opens the granary to the refugees. A rosy glow breaks through the clouds in the sky, as if an immortal is reaching out, visible but untouchable.

On the second half of the page, in his later years, Yu Yan lies in a wooden coffin, holding that peach in his arms. His children and grandchildren kneel below the hall, bowing their heads and weeping. Outside the hall, peach trees are laden with fruit.

Those who perform good deeds such as disaster relief and raising children and grandchildren without abandonment will receive two hundred merits and can be reincarnated.

"A book of merit for a hundred generations!"

Accumulate good deeds throughout your life, and you will obtain what you desire in this life.

It was this extraordinary treasure that brought him here, but as time passed, he never saw it again.

I thought it was just a coincidence, but I never expected it to happen again after I died.

"Can accumulating merit lead to reincarnation and the acquisition of something of equal value?"

Yu Yan sorted through the information in his mind, his breathing gradually becoming heavier.

If that's the case, then can the merits I've accumulated in this life be exchanged for spiritual roots after reincarnation?

As he thought of this, he saw the number two hundred appear at the bottom of the page. As time passed, the number decreased rapidly like sand in an hourglass, and the next page slowly separated, turning over when the number reached twenty.

The second page is blank with words but no pictures. The lonely "twenty" floats at the end of the page, eventually transforming into five colors and flying into Yu Yan's brow.

In an instant, Yu Yan understood.

Reincarnation spiritual root—this will be his aptitude for his next life.

"Spiritual roots, cultivation of immortality..."

Yu Yan murmured softly, his hands trembling, and in a daze, he pressed his hand on the jade book.

A golden light flashed, and the entire figure fell into it. The jade book closed, passing through the endless clouds and mist, traversing the long river of time, and quietly entered the water without causing a ripple.