I cultivate the Purple Mansion Golden Elixir Dao on Earth

Jiang Songjing couldn't believe a word of the "survival of the fittest" that Lin Yu mentioned.

He rolled out of bed, stood up in surprise, and carefully examined Lin Yu's expression.

But the expression on Lin Yu's face didn't look like she was joking at all.

It was as if it were just a historical fact recorded in an ancient book or a principle written in a chapter of a Taoist manual. When it was spoken, it was so natural that Jiang Songjing was in a daze.

"'Life'...is such a thing really possible in the world, or are you kidding me?"

"certainly."

Lin Yu remained calm.

"That's incredible..."

Jiang Songjing said blankly, then paused, remembering that her words seemed to be questioning Lin Yu.

"...Brother Lin, it's not that I don't believe you. It's just that this kind of thing goes against my worldview."

Jiang Songjing gave a wry smile.

"Neither the education I received from childhood nor the serious Taoist books I read after becoming a Taoist priest mentioned anything about 'living souls'. But today you suddenly tell me that there are such things as 'living souls' and 'dead souls' in the world, and that human dreams can be disturbed by 'living souls'... It's like, it's like..."

Jiang Songjing's words swirled in her mouth, but she couldn't find the right adjective for a moment.

Lin Yu casually answered:

"...It's like a fish that has always lived in the sea, suddenly leaping out of the water one day and discovering that the world is not just made of water and mud."

"—Yes, that's it!"

Jiang Songjing's eyes lit up for a moment, but then widened in surprise.

"Brother Lin—"

"Are you suggesting that everything I knew in the past only covered the world beneath the surface?"

"...That interpretation isn't wrong either."

Lin Yu pondered for a moment, then smiled and said:

"Heaven and earth have their constant order, and all things follow their principles. The human body originates from the beginning of essence and energy, and the end of mind and spirit. Within this, there exists something formless and intangible, which cannot be perceived by the naked eye. This thing is sometimes called 'spirit,' sometimes 'the master of thought,' sometimes 'the living soul'... In fact, they are all describing the same thing. It is nourished by the body, but it also affects the physical body in return. If the physical body no longer exists, it will turn into a 'wandering soul,' gradually peeling away and dissipating in the world."

"...So that's a ghost?"

Jiang Songjing asked in a murmur.

"Exactly."

Lin Yu replied.

"If ghosts exist... then does the legendary cycle of reincarnation also exist?"

Jiang Songjing asked again.

"Reincarnation must exist in this world."

Lin Yu replied.

"If reincarnation exists, then... do practitioners who strive to transcend reincarnation also exist?"

Jiang Songjing continued to ask.

He asked the question with a mixture of surprise and longing.

Lin Yu answered without hesitation:

"It exists naturally."

He stood smiling in the room, and his words, though casually uttered, stirred up a tidal wave in Jiang Songjing's heart like a heavy stone.

Now that things have come to this, even if Jiang Songjing is incredibly stupid, she should be able to understand Lin Yu's meaning.

"Brother Lin...you mean, you're the legendary cultivator!?"

Lin Yu did not answer him immediately.

He pondered for a moment, then said:

"What do you think a spiritual practitioner is?"

"—Of course, they are immortal beings who drink celestial dew in the morning, eat clouds and mist in the evening, fly through the sky and escape into the earth, have formed a golden elixir within themselves, and possess incredible magical powers!"

Jiang Songjing answered without hesitation.

Since he went to school, he must have read a lot of online novels. Later, he became a Taoist priest, so he was not lacking in imagination and vocabulary in this regard.

So as soon as he spoke, he threw out all his fantasies about "cultivators" from novels and myths!

But Lin Yu simply smiled and said:

"I don't have those abilities you're talking about right now. Even if I did, they wouldn't be the essence of cultivation."

Jiang Songjing was taken aback:

"Then... what is the essence of cultivation?"

Lin Yu then smiled and said:

"Cultivation is learning and building; practice is the Way."

"—Therefore, in my view, a practitioner is someone who walks the path. Whether they learn from another's path or build their own, ultimately it is all to reach the end of a path."

This was Lin Yu's summary of his two-hundred-year cultivation journey from the beginning of embryonic breathing to the attainment of the Golden Realm in his previous life. But to Jiang Songjing, it only left him confused, his mind preoccupied with Lin Yu's earlier statement.

"Brother Lin said he doesn't have those abilities yet..."

"...According to what this means, does that mean he will have it in the future?!"

The moment this thought surfaced in his mind, Jiang Songjing found it difficult to suppress the surging emotions in his chest. For a moment, he was filled with both longing and fantasy, disbelief, and a few doubts mixed in:

"A cultivator... a legendary cultivator has actually appeared at our [Baiyang Temple]?!"

"Although many ordinary people have revered Taoism and the mystical since ancient times, we orthodox Taoists understand that all magical powers and techniques are nonexistent... Otherwise, if they could casually unleash their supernatural abilities and annihilate armies, how could Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Taizu of Song have ascended the throne? Nor would there have been events like the Jingkang Incident or the Jisi Incident!"

"I've heard that in the last century, countries around the world, including nations, invested a lot of human and material resources in researching superpowers and supernatural phenomena. Countless people used qigong, mind reading, prophecy, etc., to defraud others, but no empirical results were obtained."

"...With the power of the nation, we are not yet capable of finding true practitioners and discovering the path of cultivation. What merit do we, [Baiyang Temple], a dilapidated little temple, possess?"

"But……"

Jiang Songjing was filled with doubts. But in an instant, her thoughts changed.

"But Brother Lin... this Mr. Lin is so familiar with the Taoist theories of Xuanzhen and Tianyi, and he also knows the secrets of the Baiyang Temple's character system by heart. He is clearly not one of those low-level swindlers."

"If you're talking about hiring someone like that to scam me... what is there to scam me out of? A few thousand dollars a month in subsidies? Or this piece of land with no development value and no municipal demolition plans?"

"And then there was that unusually vivid and bizarre dream..."

"Not to mention he prepaid a month's accommodation fee yesterday, at 500 yuan per day!"

"...If this price were to be revealed, everyone would just think he was scammed by our [Baiyang Temple], right?!"

Jiang Songjing's thoughts churned, but finally became clear.

He exhaled a heavy breath, looked at Lin Yu, and gave a bitter smile.

"Brother Lin, the things you said—if it weren't for me, many people on the street would probably think you're a swindler."

Lin Yu stood in the dormitory room, her expression unchanged from the moment she arrived.

The ancient well is still, calmly sinking into its depths.

However, upon hearing Jiang Songjing's words, the smile on his face changed slightly, like ripples on the surface of water.

Like a ripple that lightly brushes across the surface of water.

He looked at Jiang Songjing and said slowly:

"So, do you want to cultivate?"