Eternal Life: I Have the Favor System

Guo Wei speculated.

"Master, when we go overseas, should we join a sect?"

Chu Lingguang asked.

"Of course we have to. Without a Cultivation Technique, our Spirit Root Attributes are completely useless, no matter how good they are."

Guo Wei said without the slightest hesitation.

Chu Lingguang opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. ’I have Favor Points to help me; maybe I can keep getting Cultivation Techniques. But Cultivators are ruthless. I’ve seen for myself what the Cyan Cloud Sect and Yuanchu Mountain are capable of, and getting Favor Points from other Cultivators won’t be nearly so easy.’

Relying on Favor Points to obtain Cultivation Techniques would be far more difficult than before.

"What are your plans?"

Chu Lingguang inquired.

"We’ll figure it out once we’re overseas. In some matters, I’m happy to follow your lead."

Guo Wei said with a smile.

"Right."

Afterward, Chu Lingguang and Guo Wei returned to Baiyang County.

They explained in detail what had happened at the South City Canal to Guo Fang, Hei Hu, and the others. They also made it clear that the two of them, master and disciple, would be going overseas to cultivate in order to avoid trouble from Yuanchu Mountain.

Upon hearing this, Guo Fang and Guo Xiaotian wanted to go with them. However, Chu Lingguang and Guo Wei stopped them, using the excuse that they were unfamiliar with the lands overseas and couldn’t guarantee their safety. The master-disciple duo decided they would scout ahead first. If the situation over there was good, they would come back to get Guo Fang and the others.

Great Yuan was their homeland.

It was full of relatives and friends.

They would never forget this place.

Yuanchu Mountain had given a three-day deadline. Although it was aimed at the Cyan Cloud Sect, it might also apply to others. With this in mind, on the third day, Chu Lingguang and Guo Wei packed a few things and flew toward the sea.

The coastline of Great Yuan was tens of thousands of kilometers long.

When the members of the Cyan Cloud Sect had retreated, Chu Lingguang and Guo Wei had both paid attention, seeing them fly directly out from the South City estuary.

So, the two of them also departed from there.

Without the aid of a Qi Manipulation Technique or a Sword Control Technique, flying solely by expending Spiritual Power was incredibly draining. Even Chu Lingguang couldn’t keep it up for long. His only alternative was to use Telekinesis to control his Flying Sword, but that would be far too conspicuous.

So far, he had only sensed the existence of Telekinesis in a handful of people, such as Kou Han.

Most people had not cultivated this power, so flying with Telekinesis would draw far too much attention.

Fortunately, the once-every-three-hundred-years cycle of absorbing power from the Immortal Vine to strengthen one’s Spirit Root Attribute was a grand event in the cultivation world. Not only did people from the Cyan Cloud Sect enter Great Yuan to challenge Yuanchu Mountain, but some overseas Loose Cultivators also came to fish in troubled waters.

When leaving, a portion of these people chose to take merchant ships to depart the Great Yuan Territory.

Those merchant ships were very easy to identify. They weren’t ordinary cargo ships but were instead propelled by a group of True Martial Realm experts using Dragon Elephant Power.

Their purpose was to ferry Cultivators to and from the sea.

The price was steep.

A ticket cost tens of thousands of silver taels.

Fortunately, Guo Wei had substantial savings. Furthermore, after becoming a Qi Refining Realm expert, he had been so incensed by Chu Lingguang’s unfair treatment that he had proactively robbed the court silver, amassing millions of silver taels.

Before leaving, he even left a stack of silver notes for Guo Fang and Guo Xiaotian.

The two boarded the ship without a hitch.

"There’s Spiritual Qi."

Chu Lingguang said, sniffing the air.

"It’s coming from over there."

Guo Wei said, pointing to an old man holding a potted plant.

The old man was sitting in a corner of the deck, with several potted plants placed beside him.

"This... is this Spirit Grass?"

Chu Lingguang said in surprise.

After boarding, he had seen someone exchange branches and leaves of Spirit Grass for a ticket. That Spirit Grass also had fluctuations of Spiritual Qi, no different from the potted plants in front of the old man.

"The people on this ship are all experts from overseas. Let’s not get involved. We should find a corner and keep to ourselves."

Guo Wei instructed.

"Okay."

Chu Lingguang nodded.

The master and disciple sat in a corner and began to cultivate silently.

Chu Lingguang began circulating his Qi Condensation Technique, and Guo Wei cultivated it alongside him. Now that they were outside Yuanchu Mountain’s sphere of influence, Chu Lingguang no longer worried about their threats. He could finally pass on the Cultivation Techniques he had acquired to Guo Wei.

Although Guo Wei was surprised, he didn’t ask about the origin of the Qi Condensation Technique.

If Chu Lingguang didn’t bring it up, he wouldn’t press the matter.

The master and disciple had always shared a tacit understanding, supporting each other without interfering in each other’s private affairs.

Chu Lingguang inspected his internal Star System and found it had transformed into a boundless prairie. The power of the fifth level of his Mental Realm, the Unity of Heart and Thought, bloomed within this new landscape.

The seven hundred sixty-three response powers appeared above the prairie, arranged in the pattern of his Mental Realm map.

The position of each response was clearly marked.

’Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment.’

’When I awaken all seven hundred-plus of these responses, will I be able to successfully achieve Foundation Establishment and surpass other Qi Refining Realm cultivators?’

Chu Lingguang thought to himself.

He had cultivated a Mental Realm evolution method and read explanations about it, so he knew the purpose of the fifth level’s power. But ever since realizing the importance of Cultivation Techniques, he had also come to understand that some responses would be difficult to awaken without their assistance.

Now, his Qi Condensation Technique had reached the Perfection level.

His Mental Realm was at the fifth level.

As for these seven hundred sixty-three response powers, Chu Lingguang had tried for several days, but there was no sign of any of them being awakened.

Fortunately, the Qi Condensation Technique could increase his Spiritual Power.

In the cave, not only had his Spiritual Root been strengthened, but he had also absorbed a great deal of Spiritual Power. With the help of the Qi Condensation Technique, his cultivation had unknowingly reached the peak of the third level of Qi Refining.

Chu Lingguang had a vague feeling that he was just one final push away. With just a little more, his power could break through to the fourth level.

But with those seven hundred sixty-three responses laid out before him, and not a single one awakened, it became a weight on his mind. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his growth in Spiritual Power was just an illusion.

His current cultivation level felt somewhat illusory due to the lack of these response powers, as if his foundation wasn’t truly solid.

"A Water, Fire, and Earth Tri-Element Spiritual Root... the Profound Celestial Sect has gained another peerless genius. In the future, who in the cultivation world will be able to keep them in check?"

"The Profound Celestial Sect has a long lineage and countless experts. Legend has it that a prodigy with a Quad-Element Spiritual Root once appeared in their history. They look down on even the Spiritual Power from the Vine Demon, which just goes to show how powerful the sect’s experts really are."

"Only a minor sect like Yuanchu Mountain, and a bunch of helpless Loose Cultivators like us, would be interested in the Spiritual Power of a remnant Vine Demon."

"Sigh, the comparison is infuriating. If I could join the Profound Celestial Sect, it would be worth it even if I had to be a handyman there for my entire life."

The Loose Cultivators on the ship suddenly started discussing this among themselves.

Chu Lingguang and Guo Wei glanced at the group, listening attentively. As newbies in the cultivation world, both of them were eager to gain new knowledge, especially about the distribution of power among the various forces.

This was the first time either of them had heard of the Profound Celestial Sect.

From their conversation, they learned that the Profound Celestial Sect was a behemoth of the cultivation world. Yan Zhen had obtained a massive opportunity, only to be snatched away by the Profound Celestial Sect to become one of their disciples.

A Tri-Element Spiritual Root.

A Vine Demon.

So the vine deep beneath Great Yuan wasn’t the legendary Immortal Vine at all, but a Vine Demon. But why was this Vine Demon trapped underground? And how could people use its Spiritual Power to strengthen their Spirit Root Attributes, or even gain a Spirit Root Constitution?

There was clearly more to that Vine Demon.

Chu Lingguang and Guo Wei remained silent, sitting off to the side and carefully listening to every conversation between the cultivators on the ship.

「After several days and nights at sea.」

Chu Lingguang and Guo Wei had finally gained a basic understanding of the cultivation world.

The Great Yuan Territory, the Turkic territory, and even the overseas territories were collectively known as the cultivation world. Within this domain, the Profound Celestial Sect was a particularly prominent and powerful sect.

Yuanchu Mountain, the Cyan Cloud Sect, and even the Demon Sect, were all small fry before the Profound Celestial Sect. If a genius appeared in one of their sects and news of it reached the Profound Celestial Sect, they would be snatched away by their people that very day.

There was land overseas, and its territory was countless times vaster than Great Yuan and the Turkic lands combined.

After sailing for several more days, a mountain range protruding from the sea surface appeared in Chu Lingguang and Guo Wei’s line of sight.

When Guo Wei had left Great Yuan previously, he had not taken this route. Instead, he had gone toward Qingzhou Prefecture, passed through Pearl Island, and entered a complex, island-dense sea region. There, he met a few Loose Cultivators and had returned to Great Yuan with them.

Now, upon seeing a mountain range rising from the ocean’s surface, stretching toward the horizon like a seemingly endless coastline, the master and disciple, entering these waters for the first time, were utterly stunned.

From the mountain range before them, they could feel an incomparably dense Spiritual Qi. They also saw birds that blotted out the sky and apes the size of small hills moving through the forest.