Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: Luring the Snake Out of Its Hole
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The lifespan limit mentioned here refers to the Golden Core's limit.
It means that four hundred and eighty-seven years later, the cultivator's Golden Core will begin to disintegrate.
After the Golden Core disintegrates, the cultivator's physical body will decay and die.
Lady Shiji said,
"If the Golden Core does not disintegrate, then one can continue living.
However, the Golden Core's limit is only five hundred years. If one cannot form a Nascent Soul, the maximum lifespan is five hundred years.
You can foresee your death four hundred and eighty-seven years from now, which shows your Golden Core is refined quite well."
She was full of praise. Most cultivators who form a Golden Core have lifespans under five hundred years—some perish at two hundred, others at three hundred. Reaching over four hundred already marks one as an expert among Golden Core cultivators.
Chen Shi was twelve this year, plus four hundred and eighty-seven years, for a total lifespan of four hundred and ninety-nine years.
A fifth-turn Golden Core was nearly at its limit, proving Chen Shi's Golden Core cultivation was extremely solid. Continuing onward, he would surely reach the five-hundred-year mark.
Chen Shi remained lost in thought for a long while before suddenly saying,
"My grandpa faked his death to fool the underworld messengers, just to live a few more years and watch me grow up.
Master Kuzhu's golden body sealed his vitality and soul, keeping the messengers at bay.
These mighty figures all just wanted a few extra years.
But even Master Kuzhu only lived past one hundred and thirty, and in the end, he brought about that demonic transformation that enraged heaven and man."
He pondered further: once word got out that he had forged a Golden Core granting nearly five hundred years of life, those people's Dao hearts might shatter.
A five-hundred-year lifespan for a Golden Core was perfectly normal.
Lady Shiji said,
"The purpose of cultivation is longevity and freedom. Without longevity and freedom, why pursue immortality? The goal of Buddhism is escape from life and death, transcendence of reincarnation.
Otherwise, why pursue the Buddha?"
Chen Shi fell into a daze.
But ever since the True King era ended, this was how everyone cultivated.
Even Great Vehicle Realm existences only lived about a hundred years.
From the end of the True King era to now, exactly where had things gone wrong? Cultivators' realms advanced, yet lifespans failed to grow.
Was it the techniques?
"Tianqing! Tianqing!"
Chen Shi shot to his feet, found Li Tianqing, and rapidly said,
"I'll pass you a technique. Cultivate it first. Once you achieve some success, see how many years of lifespan you have left!"
Li Tianqing, worn out from alchemy, was washing clothes by the well. He replied,
"I already have a cultivation technique.
The Li family's Six Bright Jade Wheels builds the foundation. At Golden Core, we cultivate techniques from the Nancheng Zong Yiji.
The clan leader said my talent is extraordinary, so he passed me the Nancheng Zong Yiji."
The Nancheng Zong Yiji was the technique left by Li family's ancestor Li Zongyi—profound and unfathomable, reserved for the sect master's lineage. Entrusting it to Li Tianqing showed how highly the Li family valued him.
Chen Shi handed him the transcribed Eight Extremes Golden Threshold Divine Chapter.
"Take a look first."
Li Tianqing dried his hands, took the book, and flipped through a few pages with a soft "Eh."
The Eight Extremes Golden Threshold Divine Chapter began directly with Golden Core cultivation methods, supremely concise without prior stages.
Yet its ninth-turn Golden Core method produced a core far more profound than anything in the Nancheng Zong Yiji!
Li Tianqing had reaped rich insights from the casual cultivator gathering, deepening his Golden Core comprehension and spotting flaws in the Li family technique, which he planned to tweak.
But this Eight Extremes Golden Threshold Divine Chapter made him realize he could never raise the Nancheng Zong Yiji to rival it, no matter what!
"Where did you get this?"
Li Tianqing kept flipping pages, asking without looking up.
"Don't ask—just try cultivating it!"
Chen Shi said.
Li Tianqing read on until it reached Nascent Soul perfection and cut off abruptly. He sighed in disappointment,
"Too bad it's incomplete."
Even incomplete, it outshone the Li family's hereditary supreme art by miles.
Cultivating it would forge an utterly stable foundation for his Golden Core and Nascent Soul!
Only a firm foundation lets one go farther!
He mulled over the technique while washing clothes. By the time they were clean and hung to dry, Li Tianqing had fully grasped it.
He began cultivating at once.
Chen Shi waited several days until Li Tianqing achieved minor success in the Eight Extremes Golden Threshold Divine Chapter. He exclaimed in surprise,
"I really can see my lifespan now!"
Chen Shi quickly asked,
"How many years?"
"Eighty-four years from now, my Golden Core disintegrates, and I die a natural death."
Li Tianqing said.
Chen Shi's eyes bulged as he stood there stunned.
Eighty-four years—meaning Li Tianqing could live just over ninety after forming his Golden Core!
Chen Shi had four hundred and eighty-seven.
A difference of over four centuries!
Something had to be wrong somewhere.
Chen Shi's thoughts raced. Was it Li Tianqing's foundation building technique?
Li Tianqing had cultivated either the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art or the Li family's foundation method—much like other cultivators.
Chen Shi had used the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art for his foundation.
Was that the issue?
Entirely possible!
But Chen Shi had studied the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art. Grandpa had created it for foundation building—flawless!
Grandpa wouldn't sabotage it to cap lifespans; his own life hadn't been long anyway.
Moreover, the thirteen great families and ancient powers like Dabaoguo Temple—their experts lived only about a century too!
"Where is the problem?"
Chen Shi was deep in thought when Li Tianqing curiously asked,
"Little Ten, how many years do you have?"
Chen Shi offhandedly replied,
"Four hundred and eighty-seven years."
Li Tianqing froze, as if he hadn't heard right.
"How many?"
"Four hundred and eighty-seven years left."
Chen Shi said.
Li Tianqing gaped, then snapped to.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! You must have misread it!"
Only after ages did he dazedly accept the truth.
"By the time you're old, I'll have been dead four hundred years."
He said, a touch downcast.
Chen Shi's gaze flickered.
"Where do you think the problem lies? Why five hundred for me, but only a hundred for you?"
Li Tianqing pondered.
"Let's list what you have that I lack.
Your technique is the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, which I don't have."
He zeroed in on the technique first.
"What are the three lights?"
"Sun, moon, and stars."
Chen Shi explained, then shuddered and cried out,
"I understand now! At the start, cultivating Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, I absorbed starlight!"
Li Tianqing puzzled,
"Starlight? But there are no stars in the sky."
"Right—naked eyes can't see them, but the stars are there!"
Chen Shi rushed on,
"When I circulated the technique, starlight poured down from beyond the heavens, merging into my body.
Later, in that underground-emerging temple, I sensed sunlight and moonlight from the ancestral land of Shenzhou, completing the three lights and forging my sacred embryo dharma body.
I've never cultivated using Xiniu Xinzhou's sunlight or moonlight!"
Li Tianqing paced about.
Erudite as he was, he'd skimmed every Li family technique, master of every method.
Some gathered solar essence, others lunar essence, ambient natural qi, or nurtured inner righteous qi—every approach imaginable.
The riskiest was lunar essence: even mortals risked corruption by moonlight's evil qi, turning into spirits.
Solar essence posed no such threat.
"Could the sun and moon really be tainted here?"
Li Tianqing looked skyward at the sun and moon—daytime, yet the moon hung visible.
Exposed to moonlight, dead things could spawn evil essences: common knowledge.
Few knew prolonged lunar qi cultivation turned one into a spirit.
Even sunlight was problematic!
The thought struck Li Tianqing as profoundly irreverent.
True gods were selfless, eyes as sun and moon, granting Xiniu Xinzhou day-night cycles for crops to thrive, humanity to endure and multiply. How dare he claim sunlight toxic?
"Little Ten, can you give me your Three Lights Righteous Qi Art?"
Li Tianqing hesitated, then said,
"I want to test it."
Chen Shi met his eyes.
"You plan to shatter your Golden Core?"
Li Tianqing wavered, then nodded.
Shattering his Golden Core meant torching years of toil—courage beyond measure. Yet he resolved to do it, to verify!
"I can pass you the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art."
Chen Shi mulled it over, then said,
"But no such temples nearby anymore.
Without one linking to the ancestral land, you'd only gather starlight—far slower than an ancient temple's three heavenly lights."
He had his little temple with sun, moon, and stars, but it admitted only spirits. Li Tianqing's flesh body barred entry.
Li Tianqing grinned.
"Xiniu Xinzhou spans fifty provinces—plenty of such temples. I'll find one and endure the hardship.
Come next April, I'll catch you!"
Chen Shi said gravely,
"Such resolve—I admire you deeply.
Tianqing, this is where you surpass me. You're a true casual cultivator now. Very well, I'll pass it on."
He copied out the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art and handed it over.
Li Tianqing didn't depart right away. He spent two more days finishing the remaining Soul Revival Pills, fulfilling his promise of a hundred furnaces of spirit pills, before setting off in search of lost ancient temples.
Chen Shi saw him off. At parting, he pulled out banknotes worth over two thousand taels and pressed them into Li Tianqing's hand.
"You can't starve these days. Take these for expenses."
Li Tianqing paused, then accepted.
Finding the temple meant shattering his spirit pill and secluding for recovery—vitality wrecked, he'd need spirit pills and tonics.
The Li family's stipend wouldn't suffice, nor reach him.
He truly needed the funds.
Chen Shi offered a jar, grinning.
"A little snack for you. Don't peek—open it on the road."
Li Tianqing took it. Light, contents unknown.
"Little Ten, West Capital reunion."
Li Tianqing hugged him, clapped his back, and laughed.
"Next April, West Capital exam—don't get left behind!"
Chen Shi thumped his back, laughing.
"Hurry then. My progress lately is divine—Nascent Soul soon!"
They waved farewell. Chen Shi watched until he vanished, then returned to the village.
Li Tianqing activated his foot's Divine Travel Talisman, soon dozens of li from Qianyang Mountain.
Long road ahead—he'd scour for longevity's truth.
When fatigue hit, he paused, pried open Chen Shi's jar: brimming with Soul Revival Pills, eighty if not a hundred.
"This guy..."
Li Tianqing's heart warmed.
Back home, Chen Shi cultivated days more. His Golden Core shifted from yellow to purple: Tight Golden Core!
Sixth-turn Golden Core!
This pace—a month to ninth turn and Nascent Soul!
"Eight Extremes Golden Threshold Divine Chapter, with Lady Shiji as my Divine Embryo—cultivation's insanely fast!"
Chen Shi marveled inwardly.
He packed Li Tianqing's recent Soul Revival Pills, hitched the cart, and headed for Juxian Tower in Xinduo County.
Shao Jing beamed at his arrival.
"Brother Chen, perfect timing. That provincial capital guest bought your last consigned Soul Revival Pills.
He asked the alchemist's name—I kept it from him.
Said he'd take every future batch."
He slid over a stack of banknotes.
Chen Shi's heart twitched. He pocketed them.
"Any idea who the guest was?"
Shao Jing shook his head.
"Provincial powers purged twice in a year, three governors swapped.
Normal times, I'd know—but now? Count the notes: one hundred twenty thousand taels."
Chen Shi gauged the stack's heft, smiled.
"No need. Can't I trust you?"
He'd consigned four hundred Soul Revival Pills slightly under market—three hundred taels each.
He never pried Shao Jing's selling price.
No hope of quick sellout—yet some magnate swept them up!
Chen Shi slid the remaining three hundred-plus pills to Shao Jing.
"Last batch. None after."
Shao Jing sighed, wistful. He'd profited huge from Chen Shi's supply. No more steady pills meant one less goldmine.
"I still have a house in the provincial capital. Care to check it?"
Chen Shi stowed the notes, recalled Governor Xu's gift. Early yet—he headed for the capital.
Out of Juxian Tower, cart toward Xinduo Province.
Soon beyond county limits, onto the provincial post road.
"Woof!"
Blackie Pot barked.
"Got it."
Chen Shi said coolly.
Behind the cart, figures trailed, purposeful or feigning casual.
"Shao Jing's been selling Soul Revival Pills days now—that Yudu young master finally tracked it here."
Chen Shi ignored them, thought,
"His reach is long indeed!"
Overhead, birds circled, eyeing the tails.
Consigning at Juxian Tower was to draw that Yudu young master!
End of chapter.