Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Red Fire Separation and Reunion lights up the night sky, just like red lanterns illuminating the banks of the heavenly river.

Across the boundless wilderness, Zhang Fan is like a solitary lamp in the darkness, the True Flame blazing furiously, shattering the deep gloom, casting its light for a thousand meters around, startling a hundred ghosts into wailing at night, and making the evening wind shudder with fear.

”An expert indeed... Yujing City truly lives up to being the capital of Jiangnan Province; a land of outstanding people, crouching tiger, hidden dragon.”

At this moment, atop a distant mound, two pairs of eyes were fixed in the direction of Zhang Fan and the others.

In the hazy night, a man in a windbreaker wrapped his tall figure, his eyes sharp as an owl’s, gleaming with a peculiar radiance in the darkness; under the Primordial Spirit Observation, the soaring flames were reflected deep within his pupils.

Behind the man followed a woman, tall and slender. Her appearance was not particularly outstanding, but her aura was unique—like a ray of light amidst the wind.

”So what if he’s better than you?”

The woman stepped forward, standing beside the man, gazing in Zhang Fan’s direction, and couldn’t help but ask.

”The Palace Master once said, the moment people become obsessed with comparison, they stray farther from the Dao.”

The Way; there is no distinction between high and low, no differentiation between good and evil, no variance between strength and weakness…

”Cultivation has always been for longevity; only fools contend out of blind aggression.”

Fang Changying intoned softly, slowly withdrawing his gaze, fixing it instead on the distant Deserted Mountain shrouded in the vast night.

”You certainly have great ambition; no wonder the Palace Master values you so highly. Even that lunatic Zhao Jie Xuan would avoid you at all costs upon seeing you.”

Jiang Li’s lips curled slightly, a meaningful smile appearing on her delicate face.

Mentioning that name, Fang Changying’s gaze grew ever more reserved and inward.

”Zhao Jie Xuan… that man hides very deeply; his heart is set on entering the Primordial Palace. He has issues,” Fang Changying said blandly.

”The Three Palaces contend for the Profound, illuminating fate… It’s said the Ancestral Master left all the secrets of the Three Corpses Illuminating Fate there; the Primordial Palace is the most mysterious of them all...” Jiang Li said in a low voice.

The Primordial Palace corresponds to the Mud Ball within the human body, the abode of the Primordial Spirit—mysterious beyond compare.

Wuwei Sect Members are not permitted to come and go from the Primordial Palace at will; only when each generation’s Human Xiao inherits the great position may they enter and pay respects, meeting the Lord of the Primordial Palace.

”He wants to enter the Primordial Palace? That’s nothing but a fool’s dream.”

Fang Changying shook his head, showing not the slightest worry.

It’s difficult even for Wuwei Sect Members to find that legendary ancestral court Daoist temple, let alone be admitted to the illustrious Primordial Palace.

Just then his gaze sharpened, fixed on the bleak and desolate Deserted Mountain, silent and brooding.

”Still haven’t decided whether to enter the mountain?” Jiang Li couldn’t help but ask.

The heavens have light and darkness, the earth has yin and yang; every place has its pole of extreme yin—a cradle for uncanny forces, playground of mountain spirits and great demons.

Yujing City is the head of all Water Dragons; its extreme yin locale is precisely Deserted Mountain.

Within this mountain, who knows how many spirits and monsters lurk, how many spirit monsters and demons it has nurtured.

Yet, if it were just that, a cultivator as skilled as Fang Changying would not be so wary and apprehensive, as if hesitating to provoke the tiger.

”Where there’s Jue Miaoguan, there must be wonder... Who would have thought that atop Deserted Mountain in Yujing City, there exists a Daoist temple...”

”A single Daoist temple, a single Daoist, and already they are among the world’s greatest,” Fang Changying murmured softly.

Though Deserted Mountain is a barren place with no inhabitants, within lies a Daoist temple, hidden amidst wild grasses and buried in abandonment, forgotten by the world.

In that temple lives but one Daoist, yet that Daoist is an unparalleled master of this age—once crossing hands with the Living Zhenren of Zhenwu Mountain and retreating unscathed.

”The Palace Master says the Observatory Master of the Perfect View’s cultivation is earth-shattering, among the top five in the world, perhaps even the top three.”

A look of gravitas appeared even on Jiang Li’s beautiful face; to receive such praise from the Lord of the Profound Palace—one could only imagine this one’s cultivation.

”Experts of that level are usually eccentric by nature. To intrude without caution is asking for disaster, not blessing—we’d best wait a while longer.”

Fang Changying made his decision. He was not yet fully prepared, so naturally dared not enter the mountain rashly.

”Let’s go.”

With that, Fang Changying turned to leave.

Whoosh—

At that moment, below the hill, a car flashed its blinding headlights, bumping its way over an unpaved path, speeding into the distance.

”Five Spirits Rainbow Light… That car is headed for Deserted Mountain.”

The roar of the engine drew Jiang Li’s attention.

”Ignore it,” Fang Changying paid it no mind and turned away.

Deserted Mountain is no good place; those daring to venture there in the dead of night must be either ignorant fools or anything but upright folk.

...

At that moment, on the lonely, secluded plain, Zhang Fan put away his mystical arts. Within three thousand meters, not even the shadow of a ghost remained; only the whistling night wind at his ears, and the trembling, stunned gazes fixed on him.

Qi Ji stared blankly at Zhang Fan, as if meeting him for the first time.

He remembered, when the Shen Family was refining talismans, Zhang Fan was merely at the Technique Apprentice rank. Barely half a year had passed, and just now, that display left even his Primordial Spirit frozen in awe.

Let alone himself— even Jiang Hu had yet to recover; a simple errand to Dongshan Province, and how had this man undergone such a drastic transformation?

The commotion just now wasn’t all that great, yet without invoking any magic, the wailing of a hundred ghosts erupted—such methods were far beyond what the former Zhang Fan could manage.

”Just where on earth did this man come from?”

At this moment, the most shocked and most perplexed were naturally Jifeng Pavilion and Mo Yun, these two new talents from Maoshan.

Maoshan—a major Daoist Sect, one of the Ten Great Mountain Gates under heaven, and with such backgrounds naturally came an uncommon pride. Not to mention, Jifeng Pavilion had been highly regarded by the elders of his sect, or else Qi Ji wouldn’t have brought him down the mountain to train.