Entry: I Secretly Cultivate Immortality in the Martial Arts World

214: Chapter 214 The Path of Cultivation: The Hardest Thing to Overcome is the Barrier of Love!With the minor interlude concluded, Gu Yan returned to the Hall of Longevity and sat down upon the taixu guiyuan prayer mat.

He calculated in his heart that he had spent the last ten or so years solely focused on watching his ’shows,’ neglecting his Cultivation quite a bit.

Above the Immortal King, there was the Immortal Emperor; such indulgence was truly not a long-term plan.

He secretly admonished himself that from this day forward, he had to focus his mind.

...

Ten days later.

Gu Yan sat cross-legged in the hall, his left hand holding a teacup, the lingering fragrance of the Absolute Beginning Sweet Dew curling up from the cup.

To his right, the haotian mirror suspended in mid-air, its images shifting and flowing.

The Spiritual Qi and Laws around him were like threads and strands, automatically breathing and circulating.

Drinking tea, watching shows, and Cultivating all at once.

Doing all three without neglecting any.

He took a sip of tea and thought to himself, ’I finally reached the Immortal King Realm with great difficulty, can’t I enjoy myself a little?’

’With my current cultivation, even if I were in the Immortal Realm, I might not be invincible under heaven, but I would definitely be among the very top handful of people.’

’In that case, why push myself so hard?’

The path of cultivation is long; one should relax when it’s time to relax, and tighten up when it’s time to be serious.

Thinking this way, he continued watching his show with a clear conscience.

The image currently in the haotian mirror showed Lin Fan traveling alone.

Gu Yan used the haotian mirror to trace back the past and investigate the cause.

A moment later, he learned that while Chu Feng and Lin Fan were adventuring in the Myriad Beast Heaven Domain, they had accidentally entered an ancient Secret Realm.

The structure of that Secret Realm was peculiar; as soon as they entered, they were thrown to different locations by a teleportation array.

Fortunately, the two had a means of communication. After reporting their safety to each other, they realized they were extremely far apart with several dangerous lands between them, making it impossible to reunite for the time being.

So, they agreed to gain experience separately, and if one side was in trouble, they would then seek help.

Gu Yan continued watching.

On this day, Lin Fan reached the banks of a great river.

The river was wide and the current was swift.

He was just about to take a detour when his peripheral vision caught something thrashing in the shallow water by the shore.

Walking closer to look, it was a fish.

The fish was about a foot long, its scales a pale gold that shimmered brilliantly under the sunlight.

At the moment, it was flipped on its side in the shallows, its tail weakly slapping the muddy bank, clearly washed onto the shallows by the river and unable to struggle free.

Lin Fan was not normally a meddler, but seeing the fish struggle so pitifully and seeing how beautiful it was, he bent down to scoop it up and placed it back into the river.

After the fish entered the water, it didn’t immediately swim away. Instead, it swirled in the water and poked half its head out to stare at Lin Fan for a moment before diving to the bottom.

Lin Fan didn’t think much of it and turned to continue his journey.

However, after walking less than half a mile, he noticed something strange behind him.

Looking back, that fish had somehow followed him and was splashing in a small puddle by the shore.

Lin Fan laughed, scooped it up again, and put it back into the great river.

This repeated three times.

The fish seemed to have set its sights on him and refused to leave no matter what.

Every time he let it go, it would reappear in the waters near him after a short while.

Lin Fan was amazed, feeling that this fish was quite spiritual.

He simply found a bamboo basket, placed the fish inside, hung it from his waist, and brought it along on his journey.

After traveling for a few days, he noticed the fish in the basket was listless and its scales had dimmed.

Checking carefully, he found a wound on one side of the fish’s body deep enough to see bone, seemingly caused by some Sharp Weapon.

Traces of black Qi remained at the wound, clearly some kind of evil poison.

Although Lin Fan was not a practitioner of the medical Dao, after many years of Cultivation, using spiritual power to heal wounds was a basic skill.

He slowly infused his own spiritual power into the fish’s body, dispersing the black Qi and repairing the wound.

After treating it for several days, the fish’s injuries gradually improved, and its scales brightened once more.

A few more days passed. Lin Fan was meditating by the campfire when he suddenly heard a rustling sound from the bamboo basket.

He opened his eyes and saw a cloud of water mist rising from the basket, with a figure vaguely taking shape within the mist.

As the mist dissipated, a woman sat by the edge of the basket.

Her upper body was human, her skin as white as snow, her features delicate, and her eyes held a hint of the charm unique to exotic races.

Her eyes were deep blue like the sea, her long hair hung wetly over her shoulders, and a few pale gold scales were interspersed in her hair.

From the waist down, however, there were no legs, but a long fish tail covered in pale gold scales, with fins that were thin and transparent.

Lin Fan was stunned.

The woman bowed slightly, her voice as clear as pearls falling on a jade plate: ”This little one is Lan Xi. I thank my benefactor for saving my life.”

”My father is the Merman King of the East Sea Domain. Because I was pursued by enemies, I fled to the inland while heavily injured and could only transform into a fish to linger on the brink of death.”

”If not for my benefactor’s rescue, I’m afraid I would have already died on the shore.”

Lin Fan snapped out of it and quickly said it was just a small matter.

His gaze involuntarily fell upon that fish tail, and he quickly looked away, the tips of his ears turning slightly red.

He had cultivated for many years and had never entertained thoughts about women.

But looking at this half-human, half-fish woman now, an indescribable flutter surged in his heart.

That fish tail looked pleasing to the eye no matter how he looked at it.

After Lan Xi transformed, it was no longer convenient for her to stay in the bamboo basket.

Lin Fan let her use her tail to support herself as she followed by his side, and the two continued their journey together.

Although Lan Xi was the daughter of a Merman, her cultivation was not very high, and she was even more weakened after just recovering from her heavy injuries.

Along the way, Lin Fan looked after her in every way, protecting her behind him whenever they encountered danger.

As the days passed, the look in Lin Fan’s eyes when he watched Lan Xi became more and more unusual.

He discovered that he seemed to have... particularly no resistance against girls with fish tails.

Every time Lan Xi flicked her tail fin across the water’s surface, or when the scales in her hair reflected light as she lowered her head, his heart would tremble along with it.

This kid’s heart had been moved.

And it was for a merman girl.

Gu Yan watched the scene through the haotian mirror, picked up his teacup for a small sip, and said with a half-smile, ”Lin Fan, oh Lin Fan, I didn’t expect you were actually a Furry-con.”

He had no prejudice against such hobbies; it was just a personal preference, a common human feeling.

Shaking his head, he focused his mind and continued watching.

Lin Fan and Lan Xi spent every day together, and feelings gradually blossomed.

Lan Xi was gentle and intelligent; though she was the daughter of a Merman King, she didn’t have the slightest hint of arrogance.

Lin Fan’s character was steadfast and his actions were decisive, exactly the image of the hero Lan Xi admired in her heart.

After traveling together for several months, Lin Fan finally spoke to Lan Xi by the riverbank one evening at dusk, expressing his wish to marry her.

Lan Xi’s face reddened, and she lowered her head without speaking, only nodding gently.

Lin Fan was overjoyed and immediately used Heaven and Earth as witnesses to pledge their lives to each other.

Gu Yan looked at this scene in the mirror and sighed softly.

For Lin Fan, this was a necessary tribulation.

On the path of cultivation, the hardest obstacle to overcome is the trial of love.

If one cannot see through the Mortal World and understand the true nature of love, how can one see the true face of the Great Dao?

It is easy to move the heart, but hard to restrain it.

It is easy to restrain the heart, but hard to forget it.

Lin Fan would have to pass this trial sooner or later.

But for now, let him be happy for a while.

With Lin Fan’s fate being entangled with calamity, it certainly wouldn’t let him pursue love so smoothly.

The enemies pursuing Lan Xi would surely come knocking sooner or later.

At that time, with Lin Fan’s eagerness to protect his wife, a bloody battle would be inevitable.

As for the result, he would just have to keep watching.

Gu Yan shifted into a more comfortable position and enlarged the haotian mirror’s image slightly...