I have Immortality In The Cultivation World

Chapter 107: 107 of the Lower Volume of the Collected Stories

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed, and the cliff for reflection imprisonment held no disciples.

Little Spring Mountain, Black Wind Cave.

Zhou Yi led a life that was as straight as a line, very regular.

In half a year, Zhou Yi had begun to integrate into the sect, and he had a vague plan for obtaining merits.

Within the Dan-ding Sect, it could be said there were two types of trading currencies, merits and spirit stones; the former was for transactions with the sect, and the latter was for private trading among disciples.

To exchange merits for sect cultivation techniques, one must swear a grand oath to the inner demons never to divulge them.

Before dying, one could pass on some unimportant ones to the next generation, who would also cultivate them secretly, never daring to take them out for trade, so the target technique Zhou Yi aimed for could only be exchanged for with merits.

Zhou Yi had visited the External Affairs Hall several times and, amidst calls of "Junior Uncle" from Qi Refinement disciples, he found a suitable mission for accumulating merits.

The Dan-ding Sect was known for alchemy, and the External Affairs Hall often issued alchemy tasks. The more difficult the pills were to concoct, the more merits one could ultimately receive.

For low-level pills like Nurturing Yuan Pill and Yellow Dragon Pill, even concocting several batches would only yield one or two merit points. Failure to complete the task due to too many failures meant having to compensate by providing one's own spiritual medicine for the concoction.

Among these, there was one type of pill that offered a lot of merits and had a long-standing task duration.

"Boundary-breaking pill, Foundation Establishment Pill!"

Zhou Yi inquired with the disciples of the External Affairs Hall and learned the details.

With other types of cultivation pills, given the disciples' aptitudes and the environment of the Spirit Vein, it was possible to achieve Qi Refinement completion without taking any, merely requiring ten to twenty more years of hard work.

However, the Foundation Establishment Pill was an essential must-take!

The Dan-ding Sect grew many millennium Spirit Ginseng plants, yet there were even more disciples, and the consumption of resources far exceeded the production. Moreover, many high-level pills also required millennium Spirit Ginseng to concoct, so there was always a high demand for Foundation Establishment Pills.

"Concoct with one's own spiritual medicine. Handing in one Foundation Establishment Pill fetches a thousand merits."

Zhou Yi noted this task down, seeking an opportunity to cultivate millennium Spirit Ginseng. A single plant could make more than a dozen.

The Ginseng Child could temporarily be spared from exploitation; with such high spiritual intelligence, it was an anomaly among Spirit Ginseng, and in the future, it might even grow into a ten-thousand-year spiritual medicine. Who knows if the taste would get any better.

Early that day.

Zhou Yi arrived at the cliff for reflection and entered the Black Wind Cave to find someone inside.

A teenager, chubby and meditating within the formation and prohibition, was striving to operate his mana to resist the Black Wind Poisonous Fire.

"An unexpected guest!"

Zhou Yi saw a jade slip left on the stone table, and after scanning it with his divine sense, he learned that the chubby one was called Lin Yushu.

"This surname isn't ordinary, but the name doesn't quite match the appearance. Short and chubby, he's almost round."

Lin Yushu was suspected of attacking a fellow sect brother, but fortunately, the victim had a protective magic artifact and only sustained minor injuries. After the investigation by the Law Enforcement Hall, considering the extenuating circumstances and the minor consequences, they sentenced him to one month of imprisonment at the cliff for reflection.

"Extenuating circumstances?"

Zhou Yi shook his head slightly, ignoring the chubby one, and sat at the stone table to read a book of stories.

Inside the Black Wind Cave, unlike the entrance, there was a formation and prohibition blocking the way, but the spiritual energy was too turbid for cultivation.

The position where imprisoned disciples were held was occasionally eroded by black winds and poisonous fire, requiring constant operation of mana to defend against it.

The formation and prohibition adjusted the power of the black wind and poisonous fire according to the cultivator's power of the one being imprisoned, so that it wouldn't damage the foundation of those being punished, yet kept them in agonizing pain.

The elders of the Dan-ding Sect truly took great pains for their disciples.

It was midday.

Lin Yushu shouted loudly, "Junior Uncle, I can't take it anymore, save me!"

Zhou Yi glanced over, knowing that the chubby one was faking it, but he still activated the identity token.

A flash of spiritual light passed, the formation and prohibition strengthened once more, thoroughly isolating the Black Wind Poisonous Fire. Lin Yushu lay on the ground, panting.

"You have only one hour."

Zhou Yi reminded him; this was also considered as exercising his only authority, being able to turn off the punishment for one hour each day.

"Thank you, Junior Uncle!"

Lin Yushu got up from the ground and, glancing at the content of the book, his face suddenly turned a bit red. He hesitantly said, "Junior Uncle, where did you get this book? I've never seen it before."

"The collector's illustrated edition!"

Zhou Yi's expression remained unchanged as he closed the "Spring and Autumn" and took out the "Five Spirits Scripture" to ponder over.

After all, as an elder, one must keep up appearances to avoid any unsavory rumors from spreading.

Losing reputation is a minor issue, but if the female elders knew and started talking about moral corruption, it would be difficult to move an inch within the sect thereafter.

Zhou Yi suddenly thought that perhaps being restricted in movement wasn't such a bad thing.

Once he changed his identity, he could easily adopt a new persona; who would suspect they were the same person?

"Uncle Master, I also like storybooks; can we exchange and read them?"

Lin Yushu took out a blue-covered booklet from his storage bag: "I don't have the collector's illustrated edition, but this second volume of 'Legend of the Three Heroes' is rumored to have been written by a true immortal. It took me a lot of effort to find the complete version."

"Legend of the Three Heroes?"

Zhou Yi activated the Formation and Prohibition to draw the storybook over and flipped through it, confirming it was indeed the second volume.

"Not bad, let's exchange."

"Thank you, Uncle Master."

Lin Yushu's eyes danced with excitement as he eagerly took the collector's illustrated edition and began reading it right away, turning away from Zhou Yi after a short while to immerse himself in the storybook.

Zhou Yi flipped through the "Legend of the Three Heroes," which indeed picked up where the last volume left off.

A Foundation Establishment real person reads very quickly; in just a moment, he had gone through most of the book. The latter half of the story was entirely different from the first half, exactly the same as Zhou Yi had previously told Jing Xu.

"A Nascent Soul Daoist disguises as a commoner and becomes a son-in-law; with a shout of 'Sword come,' a hundred thousand Qi Refinement disciples plead for the ancestor's return..."

Authors of storybooks in the Cultivation World are mostly cultivators, with plots and magical battles tending towards realism, rarely concocted purely for the sake of showing off.

Zhou Yi suddenly asked, "Nephew Lin, is this storybook popular among readers?"

Lin Yushu shuddered at the question and let out a sigh of relief before answering with his back still turned.

"Uncle Master, as soon as this storybook came out, it immediately swept through the sect. There's even a rumor that the old wine ancestor from Divine Fire Peak wants to personally go to the Mortal World to become a live-in son-in-law; the Sect Leader had to kneel with the sect rules for three days straight to dissuade him!"

"Interesting."

Zhou Yi continued reading until he reached the conclusion of "Legend of the Three Heroes," where two of the heroes ascended to the heavens, leaving the other to choose to stay in the lower realm.

The reason this hero did not ascend was: Back then, I met an interesting young friend fond of fine wine, beautiful women, and good storybooks—truly a bosom friend. Alas, he perished at the hands of a demonic cultist. I stay in the Mortal World to cleanse it of all evil demons!

The book concluded with a postscript at the end.

—The first half of this storybook was solely composed by me as a consolation. The latter half was co-authored with a young friend named Zhu Gang, who fell at the hands of a Demon Lord. Through this book's circulation in the world, those who recite it should remember his name.

"So it turns out 'Legend of the Three Heroes' was authored by Jing Xu, no wonder he likes collecting storybooks and records."

Zhou Yi shook his head slightly and closed the storybook.

Life is but a dream, and the affairs of the world are as fluid as water; even Golden Elixir True Monarchs who once dominated an era are merely dust in history.

"Uncle Master..."

Lin Yushu's voice interrupted Zhou Yi's reminiscing, as he said, "Do you have any other collector's edition storybooks?"

"Reading too much isn't good for your health."

Zhou Yi gave the fellow a sidelong glance and asked curiously, "You're not exactly characterized by bravery and combativeness, so why would you attack your sectmate?"

Lin Yushu replied indignantly, "Hmph! Sister Apprentice Zi Qiong is my betrothed, but she's been bewitched by someone surnamed Zhang and now wants to annul our engagement..."

Zhou Yi's gaze became sharp, "There are rules within the sect against enticing a fellow disciple's wife. Reporting this to the Law Enforcement Hall would mean at least a year of reflection here!"

Lin Yushu's face collapsed instantly, as he slumped to the ground and said.

"Sister Apprentice Zi Qiong is my betrothed for the future. I give her Spirit Stones and Spiritual Medicine for her cultivation every day; once she realizes my true heart, I'll then discuss with her the timing to become Daoist partners."

Zhou Yi's tension eased as he said with disdain.

"So you're just a loyal dog; no wonder you deserve to suffer!"