Chapter 24: The Pig-Raising Plan
"In the end, Strategist Ji was left with only one thod, to personally find a mortal with spiritual roots, then raise him until he reached the peak of the first level of Qi Condensation, and at that point, he could freely extract that person’s physical and spiritual energy.
To put it bluntly, it was just like raising a pig on a farm, once the pig was fat and plump, it would be ti to slaughter it.”
At this point, Li Yan already understood his and that deceased senior disciple’s fate. He felt a chill running down his spine, a coldness seeping through his entire body.
But then, how exactly did that senior brother die? Since Strategist Ji found him and later moved on to Li Yan, did that an the senior brother’s spiritual energy wasn’t enough for Strategist Ji to absorb?
“Once Strategist Ji had a direction, the next step was to search for people with spiritual roots. The only thod he had was the most basic one, testing with silver needles.
That was sothing the Foundation Establishnt cultivator had casually taught him out of pity, a primitive and lowest-tier thod.
But this thod required direct contact with the target’s body. Who would allow a stranger to stick needles into them for no reason? And once the needle was inserted, it would either have no reaction or cause extre pain.
Even if he claid to be an immortal recruiting disciples, people had to believe him.
So, he racked his brain and finally ca up with the idea of joining the military. Military camps were filled with strong young n, and the numbers were plentiful. As long as he joined the army and gained a high rank, he’d have opportunities.
Then, by displaying his martial skills and establishing supre prestige, he could announce that he was looking for disciples, then pick and choose as he pleased. It seed like a solid plan.
For soone like Strategist Ji, entering the army was easy. With the martial arts he'd learned in the Immortal-Seeking Lineage and supplented with his spiritual power, it was more than enough.
Even basic techniques, when empowered by spiritual energy, would carry a trace of immortal might. Pretending to be a peerless martial arts master was more than doable.
After entering the military, he spent several years before finally finding soone. That man had an Earth Spiritual Root, with wood among his three elents. Although wood wasn't his strongest attribute, cultivation progress was relatively fast.
However, this ti, when re-cultivating the entry-level thod, Strategist Ji couldn’t gather the two essential balancing herbs. Last ti, he had gotten one by sheer luck.
But now, he simply didn’t have ti to go searching. He knew that if he spent ti searching, the fire poison would erupt and kill him first.
So, he had no choice but to use the incomplete formula to forcefully cultivate the man. As for the outco, you know firsthand how painful the process was.
Strategist Ji lacked one herb last ti and beca like this, what more when lacking two balancing herbs?
The result was that not only was the absorption process exponentially more painful, but on the forty-ninth day, during the breakthrough to the first level of Qi Condensation, it beca a near-death trial. That man failed to break through on the forty-ninth day and died.
Li Yan opened his mouth as if to say sothing, but in the end, remained silent.
The gray-robed elder seed to see through Li Yan’s thoughts at a glance, and his heart filled with helplessness. If Li Yan already knew the reality of cultivation, and understood the power of the Five Immortals Sect, he wouldn’t need to waste so much ti explaining.
A few words would be enough for Li Yan to eagerly beg to beco a disciple. But having encountered soone who knew nothing at all, he could only explain bit by bit. Otherwise, how could the boy willingly cultivate? And the elder's ti was already running out.
“You’re probably thinking—since I’m so powerful, why didn’t I save that first person with spiritual roots?”
Li Yan thought, 'This old monster... how did he know what I was thinking?'
After all, he was just a teenage boy. How could he accept seeing an innocent person die so easily? So, he nodded and answered honestly:
“Yes. With your abilities, saving that senior brother of mine would’ve been easy. Why let an innocent person die such a senseless death?”
The gray-robed elder sighed, this is what happens when you teach soone who knows nothing about cultivation. So much ti gets wasted. But he couldn’t force him to beco a disciple either.
“Though I am rely a strand of divine intent separated from my true body, a million years ago, killing a cultivator like that would’ve been as simple as a thought.
But now, this divine intent is nearly depleted. If I had used any power back then to kill him, I would’ve vanished within a few years. How then could I continue searching for a successor?
Besides, I was still in slumber, my main divine intent could not be awakened in just a mont’s ti.
You, with that temperant of yours, it must be changed in the future. Cultivation is a path that goes against the heavens. The dangers you’ll face are not things you can comprehend now. A single misstep, and it will all be over.
In the cultivation world, there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ people. Only yourself or those closest to you can be relied on. If you act on ‘compassion’ too much, all that awaits you is an early grave.”
Li Yan listened and only nodded, but in his heart, he thought, 'When did I ever say I wanted to beco a cultivator? If I find the chance to escape this Great Qing Outpost, I’ll go back, take my father, mother, brother, and sister sowhere safe. The world is vast, surely I can find a place for us. Living together with my family… wouldn’t that be better than being so so-called immortal?'
The gray-robed elder knew well, it was impossible for an ordinary young man to suddenly beco decisive and ruthless in such a short ti.
“After your senior brother died, Strategist Ji beca even more anxious and desperate to find soone with spiritual roots. Unexpectedly, his luck was almost too good, in just over a year, he found you.
My wandering divine sense could only scan a range of about 100 li, so it wasn’t until the day you entered that range near Great Qing Outpost that it sensed you and began to awaken my sleeping main intent.
But I was too weak, and awakening would take about two months. And you, by sheer coincidence, joined the military and were discovered by Strategist Ji.
You probably saw him holding that strange book, right? That was just him crudely binding the jade slip and the transford jade book with spiritual power, for easy carrying.
Ever since obtaining the jade book, he’d been obsessed with unlocking its secrets, but with his little bit of spiritual power, there was no way to open it. The more he failed, the more he believed the book contained profound techniques, possibly even a cure for his fire poison.
So he obsessed over it day and night.
My wandering divine sense had always been residing in the transford jade book. When I saw you enter Strategist Ji’s sect and begin cultivating that poison-based technique, I beca extrely anxious.
But at the ti, I had deliberately limited that divine sense’s power to reduce consumption, it could only detect spiritual root types and had no other abilities.
The main divine intent still hadn’t awakened, so all I could do was disrupt the spiritual energy around you whenever Strategist Ji ca near, to slow your progress and buy ti for my awakening.”
Now, Li Yan finally understood. No wonder every ti Strategist Ji was nearby, his cultivation felt obstructed and sluggish.
He had always assud it was just the oppressive aura of his master’s superior cultivation, never once thinking soone was deliberately sabotaging him.
The gray-robed elder, now ignoring Li Yan’s thoughts, continued:
“But what I didn’t expect was that despite your mixed spiritual root, even with the interference of that divine sense, you still completed the full forty-nine days of initial cultivation.
But in the end, your result was no different from your senior brother’s, lacking the two critical balancing herbs, and with today’s concoction several tis stronger than before, how could your ridians withstand it?
Even though Strategist Ji pulled you out from the pool, he had no power to revive you.
At that mont, my divine sense sensed your impending death. I imdiately transferred all its mories to the main intent and self-destructed, forcibly shocking the main intent awake from slumber.
But doing so not only woke up, it also injured my core, making my already-weak state even worse.
When I finally awakened, I found that your organs were damaged, your vital energy reversing, and death was only monts away.
So I used my last bit of power to realign and repair your ridians. But as I neared completion, you were stimulated by the remnants of Strategist Ji’s spiritual energy, briefly regaining consciousness.
At that mont, you tried to sit up and continue cultivating, so I had no choice but to shout and knock you out, allowing to finish repairing your body.
Unfortunately, by now, my power is far too weak. Though I pulled you back from the gates of death, I was unable to expel the poison from your body. All I could do was seal it within a corner of your dantian.
From now on, as long as you don’t continue cultivating that poison-based technique, the poison will remain dormant.
But if you try to cultivate that technique again, with your current condition, it won’t take long before you et certain death.”
By the ti he finished, the gray-robed elder’s figure had already beco translucent.
(Chapter End)
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