Immortality Cultivation: Fellow Daoists, please live for two more episodes!

Outside the light screen, Zhou Youyuan leaned against the stone wall and let out a long breath.

Despite using secret techniques multiple times, Pei Changgeng's lifespan is less than 15 years.

but……

We won...

Actually, the fight between Pei Changgeng and his group on the screen was thrilling, and Zhou Youyuan outside the screen was also watching the excitement.

Logically speaking, they were both cultivators who had broken through the Xuan Guan and were seeking immortality and the Dao, but the recent reversals and the endless trump cards revealed by both sides still made him sigh that the path to immortality was difficult to contend for.

It's like millions of people walking a single-plank bridge; the winner isn't guaranteed to live, but the loser is certain to die.

Fortunately, in the end, Pei Changgeng still won.

Alive, capable, and still standing after winning a tough battle, he's the best among the four Yuan people.

Once he leaves the secret realm and enters the inner sect, given his inherent talent and aptitude, and with sufficient resources, it's only a matter of time before he returns to the Heavenly Palace.

Not only could they use this to send the giant thunderbolt away, but his Yuan dynasty might even be able to rise further...

As Zhou Youyuan thought of those two words, he lay on the stone bed staring at the ceiling, the smile on his lips growing wider and wider.

"Pei Changgeng, oh Pei Changgeng."

He muttered under the covers, "You better hold on for me..."

"Whether I can lie down and relax from here on out depends entirely on you."

……

Inside the light screen, after a period of recuperation, Pei Changgeng's complexion improved considerably, and his wounds had mostly healed.

He turned to look at Li Feiyu, and seeing that the other party was honest and didn't seem to have any intention of double-crossing him, he hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth as if to ask something else...

A sigh drifted out from the screen.

It wasn't Pei Changgeng's voice, nor Li Feiyu's; it came from somewhere unseen in the frame, a lazy tone, like someone humming casually after being woken from a nap:

"Sun Youde is dead too?"

In an instant, Li Feiyu and Pei Changgeng realized at almost the same time what had happened.

One was a treasured artifact taken from his bosom, clearly a priceless treasure; the other rose from the layers of vines that coiled around his feet.

But it didn't work...

The image froze again.

The wind was still blowing, the fallen leaves were still swirling, and Pei Changgeng's loose hair was still fluttering, but he was motionless, his guarded movements frozen in place, and Li Feiyu's posture as he reached for something also stopped.

Zhou Youyuan's hands slowly clenched under the blanket.

The last time I saw this scene was the night Zhao Donglai died.

Foundation building.

It's Foundation Establishment again, could it be...?

The voice drifted over again:

"It's alright, as long as the items are here."

A hand appeared in the picture, reaching out from the void, only the part below the wrist, the rest hidden in an invisible fold.

The hand first made a hand seal, and a cloth bag floated out of the air, directly putting Li Feiyu into it.

Then he rummaged through the storage bag at Sun Youde's waist, picked through it for a moment, and took out something and held it in his palm.

"Hmm, not bad."

Another voice came from further away, as if separated by several mountains:

"Should we deal with this Qi cultivator?"

"Rules are rules. Sun Youde has been doing things for me for three years, handling no less than ten cases. None of the people he's been in contact with are completely dead. If someone traces this back to me, it'll be troublesome."

"OK."

The voice in the distance seemed to move slightly.

All living beings are like birds in a cage, while immortals and Buddhas are like eagles on a perch.

Even if Pei Changgeng and Li Feiyu could defeat powerful enemies at the Qi Refining level, they would still be no match for beings at a higher level...

Pei Changgeng's head slid off his neck.

There was no blood. The incision was as clean as if it had been cut by a single hair. The blood vessels and muscle sections were completely removed. The head had rolled twice on the ground, face up, with its eyes still open.

The voice nearby said:

"It's a pity about this body cultivator. He has good physique and could be a good candidate if nurtured for another two years."

"You want to accept it?"

"Forget it, the [Awakening of Insects] is about to take shape, so we can't worry about these things now."

The sound faded, the hand withdrew, the folds closed, the scene returned, the wind began to blow again, and only corpses remained in the forest.

Damn it!!!

Zhou Youyuan stared at the screen, motionless.

He had long suspected that Li Feiyu was no ordinary person, but he never expected the cause and effect to be so significant.

And Pei Changgeng...

It's happening again...

It's as if no matter how much he plans, no matter how hard the people he hires work, it's as if...

Sometimes, however, one cannot resist the whims of someone in a higher position.

Moreover, that method just now... might be even more advanced and exaggerated than he imagined, even at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Those below the Foundation Establishment stage seem to be no longer considered beings of the same level, or even anything at all; they are insignificant, easily crushed one after another with a single step...

Ants.

Ha, Foundation Establishment? I'll go to hell with you.

The book "The Record of Sending Off the Dead" seemed to be moved by Zhou Youyuan's resentment, and turned its pages on its own without any wind.

[Settling your talent experience...]

A tree that stands out in the forest will surely be felled by the wind. Those that are not felled are not so because the wind is not fierce, but because their roots have not been severed.

[At the fourteenth level of entry, without recommendation or reliance, one knocks on the mysterious gate with the fist, strikes the Yellow Court with the fist, and treads upon the Heavenly Palace with the fist. No room for retreat is left in the fist; this is the ultimate state.]

[The moon and water devour people, layer by layer, until those who survive become either the butcher's knife or the fish's flesh; they must be one of the two.]

Of the 120 disciples at the same time, less than 20 survived after three years. Some sought favor, some formed cliques, and some sold their old ways to find new ones, all following the path of seeking survival within the cauldron.

Pei Changgeng did not follow this path. Those he killed were all invaders, those he protected were all within his duty, and there was nothing he would refrain from doing throughout his life.

[There was once a disciple of the outer sect who entered the sect two years earlier. He had mediocre talent and average aptitude, like firewood being added to a furnace; his life would not last more than three years.]

[However, it never lit, because Pei Changgeng shielded him from a knife attack, distributed the cakes, and hid him behind his back while he was being punished by kneeling.]

[Later, an inner disciple attempted to seize his foundational bones for body refinement. Pei Changgeng single-handedly stormed the Discipline Hall, injuring three stewards. He declared that inner and outer disciples should not interact, and then rescued the disciple.]

[The inner gate remains unmoved. The way of gradual encroachment is never rushed; what is lost on one front can be gained on another.]

Three months later, the person entered the inner sect, leaving behind a letter containing only the sentence: "You can stop me once, but you can't stop me forever." A dark green jade plaque was attached at the end of the letter.

Pei Changgeng burned his books and collected his plaques, and thereafter never revealed his name to anyone.

Half a month later, he was imprisoned in the imperial jail for "using forbidden secret techniques," but no evidence was found and no one paid any attention to it.

[After selling the Heavenly Palace in one year, his divine consciousness was completely lost. After punishing the Yellow Court in two years, the Azure Gods were scattered. His nine-layered body was reduced to three empty shells.]

[When asked why he was imprisoned, he did not answer. When asked again, he still did not answer. It wasn't that he didn't know who had harmed him, but rather that he refused to reveal their name.]

[If he revealed it, her departure that day would have been meaningless; since she had chosen that path, he would accept it.]

Others may not choose their own path, but one must abide by one's own responsibilities; this is the rule, and once established, it must not be changed.

Three years later, an inner sect female cultivator came to the prison to find him, saying that she had studied his innate constitution and that the method she cultivated was the art of "replenishing one's essence," using a human as a vessel to extract the essence and blood of one's own bones to strengthen one's cultivation path.

Those who were taken away in the past are now taking others away; those who were once blocked from behind are now standing before the prison.

Pei Changgeng has been released from prison, but we have not met.

Whether it is the same person or not is unknown, and there will never be a day when it will be known.

On the day of his release, he retrieved the dark green jade token from a hidden compartment and clutched it in his palm. The jade surface was worn smooth by the lines of his palm, indicating it had been handled countless times since his release.

[Less than a day after his release from prison, he was hunted down and attacked again, using the enemy's Red Heart Palm technique to strike the Yellow Court. He then died three months and thirty-nine days later, fighting his way from the fourth level back to the eighth.]

Those killed were all invading people; there was no indiscriminate killing or plundering of fellow disciples.

[Knowing that the withered tree transforming into blood and the incomplete technique would damage his path, he pondered for half a day, yet still chose to cultivate it. Without cultivation, the necessary task could not be accomplished.]

[Keeping the promise made in prison, I entered the secret realm, killed Qingyuan, broke the array plate, carried the Death Chime across, and fought against flying swords. I used withered wood to transform into blood to take a place of death once, and absorbed essence blood to survive the final battle.]

[The foundation-building process was completed in a single stroke. Just like when the Heavenly Palace was sold off, there was no room for retaliation.]

The stone wall carvings stop at 1,095, with 47 days remaining until the grand competition.

The jade pendant is still in the storage bag; the marks from the wear and tear on my palm are still there.

[Those who retained their licenses have been undergoing three years of recuperation; their former appearance is likely no longer recognizable.]