Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age

"Every turn is full of hardship."

Dai Chun's Spirit Root level is D-C class, lower grade.

"If someone like you with that kind of talent says it's hard, isn't it even harder for me?" Lu Chang'sheng consoled him.

Right now, he's basically at D-class upper grade; by the time he reached Foundation Establishment, his cultivation speed had gotten painfully slow.

"Cultivation... it's all about talent, really."

Dai Chun nodded in agreement. Lu Chang'sheng's words had cheered him up; after all, he himself was C-class lower grade, two whole tiers above Lu Chang'sheng.

That even included a major tier difference.

He felt like there was at least someone beneath him.

"You're not so bad either, friend—your talent in Alchemy is exceptional." Dai Chun was an old cultivator, very smooth when it came to social graces.

You praise my talent, I praise your Alchemy skills.

Everybody's happy.

······

Month's end came in no time.

Suddenly, there was an incident with the escort mission: it was said that people from the Supreme Profound Sect had intercepted the Good Beast Sect's caravan near Lishui Immortal City.

However, the messages didn't go into detail; since it was about time already, Dai Chun didn't hide anything from Lu Chang'sheng.

"That Supreme Profound Sect is getting more and more overbearing," Dai Chun griped angrily, dragging Lu Chang'sheng in to complain about their behavior.

He made no effort to hide the hatred on his face.

"If the Good Beast Sect manages to get their hands on the Crystal Pill's main ingredient, there's bound to be a showdown between us and the Supreme Profound Sect."

Lu Chang'sheng thought to himself, feeling a bit helpless. The news had finally leaked, and things were probably about to get chaotic.

Luckily, he's now got his identity as an Alchemist; he wasn't afraid of getting dragged in too easily—in fact, with all the fighting, more pills would get consumed, which was a great chance for him to advance on the Alchemy Dao.

A glint flickered in Lu Chang'sheng's eyes.

Meanwhile, while they were both badmouthing Supreme Profound Sect, the white-robed cultivator and temple priest Gong Yun, who had snuck into Good Beast Sect, were already getting restless.

"They're still not coming out?"

They were the ones who leaked the information, figuring Dai Chun and Lu Chang'sheng would leave the Array Institute, but they hadn't seen so much as a shadow.

A cold murderous aura crossed Gong Yun's face. "Let's massacre these disciples outside Good Beast Sect. Let's see if that won't bring them out."

This branch of temple priests had been enslaved for over a thousand years; the hatred had really piled up.

But the white-robed cultivator stopped him—he wasn't looking to die yet. As soon as they took action, they'd be exposed. Their whole plan was just to take out the two Foundation Establishment cultivators on guard. As long as the Mountain Guardian Spirit Array couldn't be activated, they could escape at any time.

If they went after the regular disciples first, and those two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Array Institute activated the Mountain Guardian Spirit Array…

Then there'd be no running for any of them. Once the Good Beast Sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators outside returned, they'd all be screwed.

"So what do we do? If Yan Yu and the others come back, we're done for."

"We run!"

"What?" Gong Yun stared at him, shocked.

"But we—" Gong Yun tried to argue, but the white-robed cultivator had already vanished into the distance with an Escape Technique.

He rushed to chase, but he was only a Foundation Establishment early-stage temple priest—how could he catch up to a Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivator?

"Ahh, damn it!" Gong Yun screamed in rage at the emptiness before him.

Then terror washed over him—he suddenly realized, if something blew up with those other two Immortal Sects, the Good Beast Sect would definitely start suspecting his branch of temple priests. At that point—

He looked back, face twisting with indecision.

Fight, or run for it?

God, this is hard!

······

A few days later, Dai Chun received word from Sect Leader Yan Yu and others—they'd already returned to the Mountain Gate, and told the two to prepare for their arrival.

The so-called preparation was, of course, to activate the Mountain Guardian Spirit Array.

The two of them stared at the Sound Transmission Shell for some time, until at last, Yan Yu sent his message.

"Quickly! Activate the Spirit Array!"

"Sect Leader and the others have enemies on their tail," Lu Chang'sheng said in a low voice.

Activating the Spirit Array was a little complicated: dozens of Spirit Pattern Secret Orders had to be issued in quick succession. Thankfully, Dai Chun had been prepared when the warning first came—so now, at the signal, he entered the last Secret Order immediately.

At once, the massive Spirit Array core began turning, linking the entire Good Beast Sect's mountain terrain into one, forming a huge barrier of light.

Soon after, a group of weary, dust-covered people arrived in the courtyard—Yan Yu and company, just back from the Purple Ice Lake.

Their condition, though, was pretty bad. Lu Chang'sheng noticed that Ning Zhao was missing an arm.

After asking around, Lu Chang'sheng couldn't help clicking his tongue in private.

On the road, they'd been ambushed by Supreme Profound Sect and two other outside Domain Immortal Sects. It was only through desperate teamwork that they barely made it out alive.

But two of the sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators had died at the hands of Supreme Profound Sect's Zhang Qing.

"Once we finish dealing with the Crystal Pill's ingredients," Yan Yu said coldly, "we're settling this score with Supreme Profound Sect."

Then he turned to Lu Chang'sheng, his face easing a little. "We didn't have a chance to attend your Foundation Establishment banquet at Purple Ice Lake a while back. Now that we're home, we have to make it up to you."

"Thank you, Sect Leader," Lu Chang'sheng replied.

The Foundation Establishment banquet wasn't exactly mandatory, but at times like this—after the sect had lost over half its Foundation Establishment cultivators—welcoming a new Foundation Establishment was a truly big deal.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, there were some things Lu Chang'sheng couldn't just avoid—especially right now.

So, over the next few days, he had to pitch in handling sect business too.

"The casualties in the sect this time were terrible—not to mention the Qi Cultivation cultivators. Even Foundation Establishment—we lost eight people."

At home, Gu Yuan came by to visit.

At the moment, Gu Chan and Nangua, and Lu Chang'sheng were with him, all catching up.

Lu Chang'sheng sighed with emotion.

Among those eight were Wu Feng, with whom he was familiar, and also He Qing.

There were a few other acquaintances too—but all lost in a single deadly confrontation.

"Making it to Foundation Establishment is no guarantee," he said.

······

That night, Lu Chang'sheng and Nangua held each other close.

They'd been together for years, but since they were both cultivators, they never got tired of each other.

For cultivators, unless you're at the last stage of your lifespan, your body stays as fit as a teenager's—never aging past your teens.

Their mindsets were all that really changed.

One thing led to another under the covers, and only after a long time did they finally settle down.

"Good Beast Sect and Supreme Profound Sect have completely torn things up now. For a while, you just stay here with Chan and cultivate in the sect," he said.

"I'm going to focus hard on cultivating too," Lu Chang'sheng said.

Nangua, of course, had no objections.

She just gently drew circles on Lu Chang'sheng's back with her finger, murmuring, "You do what you need to do."

These past few years, though she's had plenty of resources, her progress has been slow—slower than Lu Chang'sheng even—but she's kept up her resolve and is still advancing toward the ninth level of Qi Cultivation.

Lu Chang'sheng made up his mind—when the chaos died down, he'd head to the Greater Domain to see if he could get his hands on a High-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

After Nangua lost her Spiritual Body, her talent dropped below even his. If not for her cultivation already nearing the ninth level of Qi Cultivation, it'd probably take decades more for her to reach it.

And by that time, even a High-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill might not be enough to let her break through to Foundation Establishment Realm.