Chapter 43: 43: Can it be Considered Cultivation Without Skipping Grades?

Penglai Yuqing View, Daozang Pavilion.

Luo Yan lifted his head from the pile of books, his expression slightly dazed.

After flipping through hundreds of scriptures, he still hadn’t found any information related to the “Pavilion.”

The only mention was in the “Comprehensive History of the Ancient Clarify Cult,” which stated, “The Heavenly Lord grew worried and thus established the Pavilion.”

So who is this Heavenly Lord?

What are you worrying about?

And why build a Pavilion just because you’re worried? What exactly is this Pavilion?

Looking at the author’s name of this scripture again, well, no surprise there! It’s indeed from predecessors of ancient Kunlun.

It seemed that any scripture from the Kunlun Taiqing Sect always adopted this exasperatingly minimalist style. They’d use one word when necessary, never two—as if adding an extra word would somehow lower their chicness.

You want to save on words and show off your chicness, why the hell don’t you make a PowerPoint? How about some clear graphs and charts?

Luo Yan showed this text to Shi Liuli, who also scratched her head in confusion.

“The Heavenly Lord probably refers to the leader of the Clarify Cult, the Primordial Heavenly Lord,” Shi Liuli speculated, “As for this worry…”

“Hold on a second!” Luo Yan said, laughing and crying at the same time, “Senior Sister, if it really was established by the Primordial Heavenly Lord, then the Pavilion’s rank would be terrifyingly high, and it shouldn’t have anything to do with us at the Qi Refining Rank.”

“You have a point,” Shi Liuli said with frustration, “So who exactly is this Heavenly Lord?”

“Let’s not worry about who this Heavenly Lord is for now,” Luo Yan tried to persuade Miss Shi, “But the scriptures in the Daozang Pavilion are vast like the sea of smoke; searching for a special term within is like looking for a needle in the ocean. I think it might be better to get our Chief Senior Brother drunk and then coax some information out of him…”

“You think I haven’t tried that?” Shi Liuli glanced at him sideways, “He’s been on his guard against me lately, carrying hangover pills with him.”

“That’s strange,” Luo Yan mused, “What is it that’s so secretive that everyone keeps tight-lipped?”

“It might not necessarily be a secret,” Shi Liuli replied, “It’s just that the Senior Brothers and Sisters really listen to father.”

“Father probably just casually mentioned not to tell me directly, and they all refused to say anything to me.”

“I see,” Luo Yan thought for a moment and then made up his mind.

Time to ask the audience for help!

“I need to use the bathroom,” he said as he stood up.

“No, you don’t!” Shi Liuli exclaimed angrily.

“Senior Sister! Not even allowing a trip to the bathroom, isn’t that too overbearing?” Luo Yan protested with a pained expression.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Shi Liuli said, hands on her hips, “As a cultivator at the Qi Refining Rank, you’ve long since practiced fasting, so why would you need to go to the bathroom?”

Luo Yan: ……

The Miss had suddenly become sharp again!

“See, you clearly just want to run away!” Shi Liuli accused angrily.

“Senior Sister,” Luo Yan said helplessly, “I actually had an inspiration, and I was just planning to go to the bathroom to organize my thoughts.”

“What kind of inspiration needs to be sorted out in the bathroom?” Shi Liuli laughed coldly.

“Art Calculation,” Luo Yan lied.

“Can’t you do the Art Calculation here?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Senior Sister is too beautiful; it distracts me and I can’t focus on the calculations.”

Shi Liuli: ?

“Oh dear, I really can’t with you.” She waved her hand dismissively, still smiling, “Why go to any bathroom? There’s no such filthy place in our Heavenly Craft Workshop. Inside the Daozang Pavilion there is a quiet room where you can do your calculations, but don’t you dare run off!”

“Alright, alright,” Luo Yan quickly agreed as he stood up.

Once in the quiet room, making sure there was nobody around, he called for the Kunlun Mirror in his mind:

“Yao Yao, I want to load the save!”

The Kunlun Mirror ignored him.

“Ah Jing?” Luo Yan quickly changed his address.

“Which profile?” asked the Kunlun Mirror.

“Kunlun.”

[Point one: Kunlun Taiqing Sect, Golden Ridge Cave Abode.]

[Identity: Qiu Changtian.]

[Mirror Flower Water Moon template overlaying, currently time-space traveling.]

His body reappeared in Kunlun, simultaneously cast with the invincible setting of the illusion technique Mirror Flower Water Moon. He swiftly switched to Qiu Changtian’s mindset and left the cave abode calmly, soaring up on his sword.

He was preparing to visit Xu Changqing, the Chief Disciple of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Xu Changqing, born to the Xu Family of Southern Heaven, was the two hundred and seventy-sixth generation Chief Disciple of Kunlun. Now the Chief Disciple of the Foundation Establishment Stage, he’s known as “the number one person below Golden Core” within the Kunlun Taiqing Sect.

By the way, the “number one person below Golden Core” of the Shushan Shangqing Faction is Senior Sister An, An Zhisu.

There’s no need to elaborate on the relationship between Ling Yunpo and An Zhisu, while the relationship between Qiu Changtian and Xu Changqing is actually not far behind.

The reason is quite simple: in the genealogy of the Xu Family of Southern Heaven, Xu Changqing is the great-great-uncle of Xu Yinglian, meaning the uncle of her grandfather.

That is to say, according to the Daoist companion marriage agreement already set, Qiu Changtian is the prospective great-great-nephew-in-law of Xu Changqing.

Although this title is a bit of a mouthful, Xu Changqing truly regarded Qiu Changtian as a member of his own family because of this relationship.

“Changtian?” Upon seeing Qiu Changtian coming to visit, Xu Changqing, who was meditating, stood up to greet him.

He appeared to be around thirty years old, lacking both the immaturity of the young and the weathered feeling of middle-aged men; his appearance could be said to be quite unremarkable.

His usual conduct was very low-key, which made Qiu Changtian envious: wouldn’t he himself wish for the same? It was simply that his character setting did not allow for it.

“Senior Brother Changqing,” Qiu Changtian greeted respectfully, then got straight to the point and asked, “Changtian has come to inquire about a location from Senior Brother.”

“What location?” Xu Changqing asked, somewhat surprised.

“The Pavilion,” Qiu Changtian replied with a heavy voice.

Xu Changqing blinked and then said with a smile:

“I see. You’ve actually heard about it ahead of time.”

Qiu Changtian: ?

How so, the Pavilion has something to do with me, Qiu Changtian?

Seeing his unchanged expression, Xu Changqing pondered for a moment and then elaborated on the matter:

“Changtian, as you know, the practice of the Qi Refining Rank is mainly about drawing Qi into the body to fill the Qi Sea.”

“The Marrow Cleansing Stage involves refining bones and cleansing marrow, expanding the meridians, which requires a substantial amount of True Qi. Hence, one needs a full Qi Sea.”

“In general, depending on the individual cultivator’s aptitude and the quality of their Qi Refining Technique, it would take about thirty to sixty years to fill the Qi Sea.”

“During this period, if there’s no assistance from treasures like the Flying Sword, the combat ability of a Qi Refining Rank cultivator is very fragile.”

“During Ancient Times, the Clarify Cult faced a problem: they had far fewer low rank disciples compared to the Intercepting Cult.”

“Although the average aptitude was higher, because of the lower cultivation realms, they couldn’t create much of a gap from the disciples of the Intercepting Cult.”

“Therefore, a great being of the Ancient Clarify Cult used Supreme Divine Power to construct a ‘Pavilion Secret Realm’ under the East Sea, borrowing the immense spiritual power of an Earth Vein Volcano.”

“This Pavilion Secret Realm was designed specifically for the Foundation Establishment Rank disciples of the Clarify Cult to undergo trials.”

“As long as you can pass the trials, not only do you have the chance to obtain Flying Swords, magical treasures, spiritual medicines, and Daoist Magic, but you can also steadily increase your Cultivation Realm by one rank.”

“From Qi Refining to Marrow Cleansing, Marrow Cleansing to Refining Mansion, or from the beginning of Refining Mansion directly to Great Perfection of Refining Mansion, and even to the half-step Golden Core realm, all can be achieved through the Pavilion Secret Realm.”

Qiu Changtian suddenly understood:

“I see, then this Pavilion…”

“The opening and closing times of the Pavilion are not within our foresight,” Xu Changqing said with a smile, “but according to the Master, the next opening should be soon.”

“The reason the Sect doesn’t inform you is simply to prevent you from knowing that the Pavilion Secret Realm can guarantee advancement and thus developing the mindset of becoming lax in your practices.”

“Since you’ve already caught wind of it, I no longer keep you in the dark.”

Qiu Changtian certainly understood his meaning and nodded seriously:

“Senior Brother, rest assured, I won’t reveal a word of this matter to any disciple, including Junior Sister Xu.”

However, how should I approach Miss Shi regarding this?