I only want immortality.

"Junior brother, you've been confused your whole life, and you're still confused at the end."

Chun Jun Sect Ancestral Hall.

With his white hair and beard, Li Pinghe stood with his hands behind his back before the brand-new memorial tablet. Gazing at the three characters "Murong Xiao," he recalled every detail related to him, sighed, and ultimately refrained from saying anything too harsh.

The person is gone, and saying more is useless.

He took a stick of incense, lit it, extinguished it, and placed it in the incense burner.

As wisps of smoke curled upwards, Li Pinghe's gaze swept over the names on the ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall, and he felt a moment of disorientation.

These names were once living, breathing people, people who remembered his past, and fellow students, teachers, and friends who lived with him for many years.

Now, they have all become cold, lifeless words, worshipped by their descendants, yet forever oblivious and unaware.

Li Pinghe didn't want to become that name too.

So, twenty-six years ago, when he watched his once spirited and playful senior brother die on his bed, his name becoming nothing more than a cold, lifeless name, he made a decision.

Leaving the sect, relinquishing everything, he will give his all at the end of his remaining life.

He wanted to lay the foundation for the Way.

The Dao Foundation is the foundation of the Great Dao. Once it is achieved, one is reborn and can live for two hundred years. It is like an immortal being, with a lingering presence.

Unfortunately, Chun Jun Sect had no Dao Foundation lineage. He had traveled to various kingdoms in Jingnan and mentioned this method, but was refused entry.

At that time, he was still holding a grudge.

Because he initially lacked the aptitude for cultivation, he relied on his innate "treasure" to change his fate and painstakingly grind his way to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

His peers had long since perished, but his brilliance remained undiminished.

So he sat on Canglang Mountain for twenty-six years.

"What a pity..."

Li Pinghe gently touched the space between his eyebrows.

That place is the upper dantian, which is also the sea of ​​consciousness of a cultivator.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, two objects were stored.

One is a gourd, and the other is also a gourd.

These two gourds are of different sizes; the larger one is yellow, and the smaller one is green.

The yellow gourd has a dry, dark skin with cracks on the surface. It is crooked and not round, and the character "踞" is faintly engraved on it.

If you focus your mind on it, you can see that there is another world inside the gourd.

Inside is a book, warm yellow in color, which slowly floats and sways within the gourd, absorbing and releasing spiritual energy. The book is inscribed with "Shangdong Xuanqing Shiqi Lu".

The pages of the book turned slowly, and after a long while, a wisp of magical power flowed out of the gourd, left the upper dantian, and traveled down the meridians, passing the middle dantian, and finally entering the lower dantian, disappearing without a trace, like a clay ox entering the sea.

This is why, despite having no innate talent for cultivation, he was still able to persist in cultivating until he reached the tenth level of Qi Refining.

Any cultivation method, spell, or skill that he has thoroughly understood will generate a scroll in his upper dantian. Place it in the gourd, and it will operate on its own, helping him to cultivate. In fact, during the cultivation process, it can gradually fill in the gaps, making it perfect and even surpassing it!

The "Shangdong Xuanqing Food Qi Record" is a culmination of his research and compilation of various Qi cultivation techniques, which he improved using this yellow gourd. His cultivation was virtually unimpeded.

Perhaps because he himself did not have the aptitude for cultivation, even with the help of this yellow gourd, his cultivation speed was still extremely slow. At the age of eighty-seven, he was still only at the ninth level of Qi Refining. It was not until he was a hundred years old that he finally reached the tenth level of Qi Refining.

It was also when he reached the tenth level of Qi Refining that a second green gourd awakened in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The green gourd skin was wrinkled, like a premature baby, and there were characters on it, which read "蹻".

Inside, there stands a bronze bell with cracks all over its surface.

He explored for a long time before discovering that the green gourd's function was to nourish and repair.

Anything that can grow with the passage of time, or anything that is damaged but can be repaired, can be stored in this green gourd, and its effects will be multiplied. The spiritual spring on Canglang Mountain was nurtured by him using the green gourd.

However, the nurturing of the green gourd seemed to have its limits. After more than ten years of nurturing with the spiritual spring, it made no further progress. So he chose a broken bell that he had obtained during his travels in his early years to slowly nurture and repair.

These two were his reliance in hoping to cross the chasm, but after sitting in seclusion on Canglang Mountain for many years, even though he had accumulated some unorthodox skills, he had not made any progress on the fundamental path.

He gradually realized that the true foundation of the Dao, which he had never glimpsed and which each school cherished like their own, might be the real iron chains that bound him.

He realized it too late. Even though his qi, blood and magical power had not declined like those of people his age, and were even still vigorous, how could he possibly cultivate the Dao Foundation True Method in such a hurry?

Moreover, whether he understands it or not, it is virtually impossible for him to obtain the Dao Foundation True Method from various schools.

He had resigned himself to his fate until the news of his junior brother's death arrived. In his melancholy, he also sensed a rare opportunity.

"The Foundation Pill of Dao..."

"The Song Dynasty is in chaos..."

"The chaos of Wuling".

It seemed like a coincidence, yet it also seemed to be connected by an unseen thread, like a crack in the ground, brewing an even greater surge.

He stood on the crater of the volcano, about to erupt, waiting for that fleeting opportunity.

You'll either be burned to death or be reborn.

Before that, he had to live, to live well.

Only by being immortal can one achieve longevity.

Thinking of this, he gazed at the memorial tablets and bowed deeply to them.

He then turned around and slowly pushed open the door of the Ancestral Hall.

"Welcome back to the sect, Elder Li!"

Murong Xian, with his handsome appearance and a smile, and Zhao Yuanxiao, with joy and shame in his eyes, were all waiting outside the Ancestral Hall.

Li Pinghe stood with his hands behind his back, his white hair and beard fluttering slightly. His gaze was calm yet as deep as the sea. As he swept over the crowd, they were all awestruck and bowed their heads respectfully.

Until it landed on Murong Xian.

Li Pinghe suddenly spoke up:

"I have been away from the sect for many years, no longer an elder, but a guest minister. Does the sect leader agree?"

"What?!"

Zhao Yuanxiao was taken aback: "When did my senior uncle leave the sect? We had no idea!"

But then Murong Xian suddenly spoke:

"This matter was known only to my grandfather and was never made public... However, my grandmaster was originally a senior member of the Chun Jun Sect. Now that he has returned to the sect, he should be reinstated and his position as an elder should not be refused."

"Once a word is spoken, how can it be taken back?"

Li Pinghe shook his head and said, "I have already agreed with Chen Xu that I am only a guest elder and will not concern myself with the actual affairs of the sect. I would appreciate it if the sect leader would grant my request."

"this……"

Murong Xian hesitated.

Unaware of the crucial point, Zhao Yuanxiao hurriedly said, "Now that my master has returned, he should be given the position of Grand Elder. No villain would dare to offend him!"

"Lantern Festival".

Li Pinghe shifted his gaze slightly, looking at Zhao Yuanxiao.

Zhao Yuanxiao immediately became obedient and respectfully knelt down to bow to Li Pinghe: "Uncle-Master, please give your instructions."

His actions truly surprised many of the younger disciples outside the Ancestral Hall. Even Murong Xian was taken aback and couldn't help but glance at Li Pinghe again. When this grandmaster left Chun Jun Sect, he was still young and knew very little about him. Even though he had heard his grandfather mention him from time to time, he had never actually seen him.

However, at this moment, through Zhao Yuanxiao's kneeling, he finally glimpsed a small part of the prestige that his grandmaster had once possessed.

But this only made him more restless.

Can he control such a person?

After a brief moment of hesitation, he arrived at a positive answer:

can!

Not for any other reason, but because, in just a few more years, he will be able to cross the chasm between Qi Refining and Dao Foundation, and become the only true Dao Foundation cultivator in the history of Chun Jun Sect!

At that time, no matter how glorious you were in the past, you will have to obey my orders.

His eyes gradually brightened.