Chapter 136: Lifetime_l |
[Resources in this world are extremely scarce, even spirit stones are nonexistent.]
[When I traveled through time, I had a few dozen spirit stones on me. Unfortunately, they were all exhausted in the wilderness as I tried to restore my cultivation level.]
[However, even if I had kept them, I wouldn’t dare to use them to exchange for Good Deed Points.]
Upon reading this, Chen Mobai could sense Liu Yanpei’s helplessness between the lines.
Being a stranger in a strange land, especially in a highly modernised society like the Xian Sect, where one couldn’t even move a step without an ID card nor buy the spiritual energy needed for cultivation.
[I pretended to be an amnesiac mountain man, I faked my age, fainted at the temple’s doorway, was kindly taken in by the Master, and started to do odd jobs in the temple.]
[Although the spiritual energy in this temple is meager, at least I can continue my cultivation. I meditated covertly under the statue every night. But even after a year, when I opened my eyes, I was still within the Xian Sect’s territory. I searched all over the statue and the entire temple, found nothing mysterious. How can I return home?]
[With my rank of Qi Cultivation 9th level, I am the strongest one in the temple. Simultaneously, I learned even more about the Xian Sect, this superpower, through this magical artifact, the internet.]
[The Xian Sect has many teachings here, and one can even exchange for Divinity Transformation Art. Sadly, I don’t have an ID card, so I cannot register for a national library account. However, even if all the Divinity Transformation techniques were presented before me, none would be as important as a single Foundation Building Pill.]
Chen Mobai finished reading the second diary, full of snippets about Liu Yanpei’s exploration of the Xian Sect, his life in the temple, and longing for his Sect and hometown, recorded in a patchwork way.
As the diary progressed the handwriting became more and more rushed, with the final page dominated by a single conviction, reading:
[I must establish the Foundation!]
Liu Yanpei had been lurking around in Taixu Temple for ten years and had a thorough understanding of the Xian Sect.
He clearly understood that there were no Foundation Building Pills here, and the three herbs that substituted for the Foundation Building Pill were luxuries he, a rogue cultivator, could not afford or purchase.
Seeing himself grow older by the day, and soon surpassing the age of 60, the peak of his prime, he could hold back no longer.
He decided to risk everything in a desperate fight, and break through the Qi Cultivation Realm without the Foundation Building Pill.
[I confided this to the Master, and he was very supportive, allowing me to go into seclusion in the great hall of the temple where the spiritual energy was most concentrated.]
[I looked at a dozen accounts of successful Foundation Establishment in the Xian Sect, got to the step of Spiritual Power Liquification, but failed at the final step due to my inadequate Divine Sense; my spiritual power raged out of control, my meridians ruptured, and my attempt at Foundation Establishment failed. But in a sense, I also succeeded.]
[My cultivation level fell to the 8th level of Qi Cultivation, but when I woke up,
I suddenly found myself back in the Tianhe Realm.]
Chen Mobai flipped open the third diary. The first line made his eyes widen in anticipation, and he plunged into the text.
[This rich spiritual energy, this run-down little temple, undoubtedly, it’s the place I was in before I traveled to the Elemental Star.]
[I couldn’t wait to return to the sect, but discovered that I had been expelled from the Five Elements Sect. The charge was fear of warfare and desertion, failing to respond to the sect’s call to arms ten years ago. Even my junior brothers and sisters thought I did not want to share the sect’s difficulties and considered me a disgrace. They even tried to kill me to purge me from the sect.]
[Originally, I had fallen from the failure of Foundation Establishment and was still injured. Luckily, I had a Rank-2 Spirit Talisman to save my life. Besides, the sect was having a face-off with Divine Wood Sect’s Golden Cliff and had no energy to care about an insignificant character like me. I narrowly escaped.]
[I returned to Azure Waves Lake and felt my entire life was in darkness. I wanted to end it all but couldn’t muster up the courage.]
[Under the Rank-2 Spirit Vein of Azure Waves Lake, I spent a year recuperating from my injuries and once again broke through to the 9th level of Qi Cultivation.]
[However, after my breakthrough, I found myself back in the Taixu Temple on the Elemental Star.]
[What on earth is going on!?]
The third diary described Liu Yanpei’s sorrow after his failure in Foundation Establishment, his surprise at returning to the Tianhe Realm, his despair upon being expelled from the sect and shunned by friends and family, and his disappointment at once again returning to the Elemental Star.
[I think I understand. Perhaps every time I break through a cultivation level, I’ll travel between the two realms. But what is the cause of this behavior?]
[Nevermind, why think about this? After all, I won’t be able to make any more breakthroughs. It’s ideal that everybody turned their back on me in the Tianhe Realm; I might as well spend the rest of my life in this small temple.]
[At least, the Master and the fellow disciples here never considered me a disgrace.]
What followed was an account of Liu Yanpei’s simple yet fulfilling life in the Taixu Temple on the Elemental Star.
He wrote about the aging of the Master, the arrival of the younger disciple, the departure of his brothers and sisters, the expansion and renovation of the temple, and the admission of the next generation.
Just like that, another decade passed.
[The Master has passed away. My brothers and sisters have all returned. After the funeral, the four of us started discussing who would take his place.]
[The eldest brother despised the mesriness here and didn’t want to stay. The second sister always followed the eldest brother. In the end, only the younger disciple and I remained in the temple. The younger disciple wanted to leave, and I didn’t want to be the Master.]
[After much persuasion from me, the younger disciple reluctantly accepted the role of Master of this decrepit temple. Once approved by an official, he received his certificate of appointment.]
Time flew in the diary, and before he knew it, thirty years had passed. Liu Yanpei eventually wrote about something familiar to Chen Mobai.
[Today, a mother and son from Green Mountain Village came. They arrived early in the morning, wishing to offer incense and pray for success in the college entrance exams.]
[When the kid was offering incense, I happened to be sweeping the main hall. I don’t know what happened, maybe because I am old, I accidentally bumped into him.]
[He stumbled. The incense in his hand was flung away. His hands flailed aimlessly in his loss of control. He touched the turtle shell held by the right hand of the Taixu statue, slicing open his palm and bleeding profusely.]
[When the junior Master learned the truth from me, he sent me up the mountain to pick herbs for a while as he dealt with the angry woman.]
[When I returned, I learned that the junior Master had compensated the mother and son with the turtle shell. It’s odd, even though I’m old, I still have good control over my body. How did I accidentally bump into the kid?]
[Since then, I suddenly felt my condition deteriorating day by day. After calculation, I realized that I’d been living on the Elemental Star for fifty years. As a Qi Practitioner, I should be able to live to 120 under normal circumstances. But considering my countless battles, multiple near-death experiences, and failure in Foundation Establishment in the Tianhe Realm, I’m afraid I won’t live past 100.]
[On my deathbed, I suddenly became unwilling to accept my fate. I decided to try Foundation Establishment again during my life’s final moments.]
[Even if the success rate is less than 1%, I want to die trying.]
The diary abruptly ends there.
However, Chen Mobai already understood the tumultuous yet vacant life of Liu Yanpei..
