The old man glanced at the red-tailed monkey, skeptically saying, "Don't try to fool me. This old man here has no silver coins for you, let alone ten thousand acres of fertile land. If I had that much land, I'd be smiling in my fields all day, not roaming this far to ask for directions."
"Hey, you old chap!"
The red-tailed monkey was about to explain in detail, but Xu Qing stopped him abruptly.
"Old gentleman, what my nursing home said is not false. Here are some corn seeds and some potatoes. You can take them to plant, as a token for asking directions."
As he spoke, Xu Qing circled behind the horse, somehow producing two pounds of seeds and a dozen potatoes, and stuffed them into the old man's arms.
"Oh my, have I truly met a noble benefactor?"
The old man looked at the corn seeds in his hand, about to express his gratitude, only to see the Chasing Mourning horse turn into a golden ray, carrying a young girl, directly heading towards Mount Taihua.
And the skinny monkey he had earlier dismissed for being ugly also carried a stick and drifted away through the clouds.
And the female Divination Master and the young man in white vanished into thin air.
This wasn't a noble benefactor he met; clearly, he had encountered Immortals!
...
Mount Taihua.
Among the so-called Three Mountains and Five Peaks, the Western Peak refers to Mount Taihua.
Xu Qing, driving the mist, treaded upon the wind. With the body of a Flying Corpse, he performed the art of soaring, overlooking the entire mountain.
Years ago, when he performed a passage for the Jinmen Gang leader Hong Baoyan, he glimpsed in the latter's life's end a carving of tadpole characters on a cave wall.
Thinking back now, those characters should be akin to the celestial script in the White Cloud Cave.
Twelve years have now passed, and the time for using the Immortal Seeking Art has arrived once more. To avoid seeking out known immortal fates, Xu Qing decided on an elimination method, intending to rule out all evident immortal fates.
Celestial Scripture of the White Cloud Cave, inheritance of the Poplar Tomb, Yin Corpse Sect's Kui Ba Immortal Garment, the secret cave of the Temple of Two Saints on Mount Taihua, the Minor Paradise of Jiwa Mountain, the Qingqiu Kingdom ruins...
All immortal fates in the world have their set numbers, yet on his journey thus far, Xu Qing through chance and coincidence learned of not a few immortal fates.
"Found it!"
After searching all around, Xu Qing at last found the abandoned Temple of Two Saints at the location the old man had indicated.
In the steep cliffs behind the Temple of Two Saints, however, there was a gorge seemingly split open by a gigantic axe.
The secret cave of Mount Taihua was right across from that narrow gorge.
Following the map instructions, Xu Qing, guided by the Temple of Two Saints, reached the secret cave Hong Baoyan had once accidentally entered.
"Is this the second place Xu Immortal Family mentioned where the celestial scripture is located?"
Xu Qing nodded, "Inside, there's a divine technique left by a Celestial Person, though this Celestial Person is lofty and aloof. Back then, I was fortunate to catch a glimpse of a page of celestial scripture and received divine teachings in a dream. Yet this Celestial Person spoke merely two words throughout."
"What words?"
Xu Qing chuckled quietly, not responding.
"I cannot say; you may follow me in for a look. If you can obtain a divine technique from them, it will be your fortune!"
The red-tailed monkey was raring to go, and Bai Qiuyu could hardly contain her excitement. However, as they entered the secret cave, they found the celestial script on the cave wall had vanished, leaving only an ancient text on the opposite side that ordinary people couldn't decipher.
Upon seeing those ancient characters, Xu Qing was somewhat entranced and said, "Split rivers into land, search mountains to subdue demons, capture dragons and slay flood dragons..."
Bai Qiuyu, proficient in ancient texts, was equally astonished, "Is this also terrestrial divine techniques?"
Xu Qing pondered, "It's not terrestrial divine techniques, but a portion of inheritance left by the Celestial Person."
By then, Xu Qing understood that the thirty-six heavenly axes were simply a single divine technique, specifically an opening Heaven technique surpassing Celestial Grade.
When the Celestial Person transmitted to him the final form of the celestial axe in his dream, the tadpole symbols in the secret cave dissipated along with it.
And Xu Qing was chosen by the Celestial Person to inherit the heavenly axe technique.
"Is the incense of the Blood Lake, this kind of human merit, really that effective?"
Whether it's the Primordial Founder or the Celestial Person from the Temple of Two Saints' secret cave, it was clear they both could see Xu Qing was an extraordinary person who attained the way. The former, the Primordial Founder, had a far-reaching vision, pointing him to cultivate the Three Methods, saying he possessed the traits of humans, deities, and ghosts.
The latter, however, though the Celestial Person who transmitted him the heavenly axe technique didn't see as deeply as the Founder, still passed on the absolute technique to him...
"Perhaps the prejudice between different beings, and those so-called backgrounds and bloodlines, aren't that important to some people."
Xu Qing, lost in thought, considered how the owner's identity of this place might indeed be as he suspected, making such a choice understandable.
In the days that followed, Xu Qing lingered on Mount Taihua for a few more days.
The main purpose was to comprehend part of the inheritance on the cave walls.
Previously, the immortals lived frugal lives, each cultivating a single divine technique repeatedly in the past.
Much like children from poor families, a single toy could be played with thousands of times, not because they particularly liked it, but because it was the only toy they had.
But nowadays, Xuan Yu and the others discovered that the speed at which they comprehended divine techniques couldn't keep up with the speed at which they acquired them.
However, they weren't in a rush, for creatures like demons have a longevity far exceeding that of human cultivators, giving them plenty of time to digest all the divine techniques they acquired.
After all, it's only a matter of a hundred or a thousand years.
For demons with decent aptitude and perception, having divine techniques is far better than having none.
Seven days later, Xu Qing set off again with several immortals, this time to the realm of the Central Plains.
"The sect leader sure found the right monkey. I'm familiar with Central Plains!"
The red-tailed monkey, who in earlier years sought immortality and enlightenment, had roamed the Central Plains for over a decade, becoming quite familiar with the area.
Xu Qing, enjoying a rare moment of leisure, allowed the red-tailed monkey to act as their guide. Journeying along the Funiu Mountain range, after about a ten-day journey, they finally arrived at the region of Jiwa Mountain.