As he said this, the old man paused, and then continued with a meaningful tone, "Thus, there was only one method left that Strategist Ji could think of. That was for him to find a mortal with a spirit root himself, and then cultivate them to the peak of the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage. At that time, he could freely absorb their physical and spiritual power. To put it bluntly, it's like a pig raised in a pen by a farmer. When the pig is fat and plump, it can be slaughtered and enjoyed."
Li Yan looked at the old man with a wry smile on his face. The old man had said so much. He now, of course, understood his own and his deceased senior brother's situation. The gray-robed old man's words were not false. Weren't he and that senior brother just two pigs being raised in a pen? Thinking further, he only felt a chill run down his spine, a coldness that spread throughout his body. He had probably just walked through the gates of hell. But how did that senior brother die?
In a flash of thought, he had a guess. The time of over a month, it should have been on the forty-ninth day when he was refining the medicinal power in his body to break through to the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage that something went wrong. At that time, it was absolutely impossible for that senior brother to have cultivated to the peak of the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage. So, it was impossible for his spiritual power to have been absorbed. Then why did he die from his body exploding when he was breaking through to the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage? Thinking about his own current situation, he didn't know if he had successfully broken through to the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage, or if he was still in the qi-guiding stage.
The gray-robed old man looked at Li Yan's expression and knew that he had guessed a part of it. He smiled and said, "You don't need to think about it anymore. I will explain it to you. You should have guessed that the death of the person he found before you was related to cultivation. But the reason is a little different.
Since Strategist Ji had decided on a plan, the next step was how to find a person with a spirit root. The fire poison in his own body could not be suppressed for more than a few years, so he had to find a suitable candidate as soon as possible. But where to find a mortal with a spirit root? He did not have the magical power of the Foundation Establishment stage or above and could not use a powerful divine sense to scan a large area of mortals for spirit roots. At the same time, he also did not have an immortal's 'Spirit-Testing Stone' or 'Spirit-Testing Pillar,' which could sense or test for a spirit root by slightly touching a person's body within a certain range. He only had the lowest-level method of testing for a spirit root with a silver needle. This was a lowest-level, most primitive method that the Foundation Establishment stage cultivator had given him out of pity for his pleading. It was just that this method required real physical contact with another person's body. The test for the existence of a spirit root was conducted by inserting a silver needle into an acupoint, then injecting magical power, using the silver needle as a guide.
This situation was difficult. Who would let a stranger test them with a silver needle? And after being pricked, one would either have no reaction or be in great pain. Even if you said you were an immortal recruiting a disciple, others would have to believe you. It would be strange if you weren't beaten up by a crowd. Although with his current magical power, he was not afraid of mortals, this was not a good method.
So, he put some thought into it and finally thought of the military camp. The young men in the army were all physically strong and numerous. As long as he could enter the army and hold a high position, and then display his martial arts and establish his supreme prestige, and finally say that he was recruiting disciples, wouldn't he be able to choose freely? This should be a feasible plan.
So, he disguised himself as a member of the martial world and came to the Marshal's Residence. The martial arts he had learned in the 'Immortal-Seeking Lineage,' when combined with magical power, were not something that secular martial arts could compare to. Even if ordinary moves were used with magical power, they would still have some immortal might. It was more than enough to impersonate a peerless martial arts master. Except for other cultivators who could see the mystery in it, how could ordinary mortals see through the profoundness of it?
Then he would use his movement technique at night to go to the enemy camp to scout for information and then return to inform Hong Linying. With his magical power, these were just a matter of lifting a finger. After two or three times, the truth of the information would be clear, and he could logically enter the military camp and get a position. Finally, he would find an opportunity when the enemy was launching a large-scale invasion. He would deliberately not inform Hong Linying and the others of this news, and would find an excuse to leave himself. Then, at the most critical moment, he would arrive just in time, display his divine might, and rescue Hong Linying and his subordinates, thereby establishing his supreme prestige in this border region. After that, it would be even easier to recruit disciples. He wouldn't even have to look for them himself. As long as he went somewhere, there would be countless people eager to be tested by him, hoping to be accepted into his tutelage. And so, after a few years, he finally found the first unlucky person among the hundreds of thousands of soldiers."
Hearing this, Li Yan also understood the origin of Strategist Ji's official position and why he had suffered so much during his test. He thought to himself, 'This teacher of mine is truly deep and scheming. He managed to find a sliver of life in a dead end in just a few years. But the pain I suffered during the spirit root test was an undeserved disaster. I just happened to meet such a cultivator with low magical power and divine sense, which made me suffer a great deal. But this gray-robed old man in front of me is just a wisp of divine sense, yet he can detect a range of a hundred li. His main divine will can even detect a range of several thousand li. He is terrifyingly powerful.' Thinking this, he opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he didn't.
Although the gray-robed old man was just a wisp of divine will, he had existed for more than two million years. Seeing his expression, he immediately understood Li Yan's thoughts and said, "Are you trying to say that since I am so powerful, why didn't I save that first person with a spirit root?"
Li Yan thought to himself, 'This is truly an old monster. How did he know my thoughts?' But he did indeed think so. He was, after all, just a teenager. How could he see an innocent person die so easily? He nodded and replied, "Yes, with your great divine ability, saving my senior brother would have been just a matter of lifting a finger. Why did you let an innocent person become a ghost who died unjustly?"
The gray-robed old man sighed and said, "Although I am just a wisp of divine will separated from my main body, if it were a million years ago, I might have killed this teacher of yours with a single thought if I didn't like the look of him. It would only take a single thought to kill such a low-level, trashy cultivator. But after two million years of consumption, this wisp of divine will is almost exhausted. If I had used my magical power to kill him at that time, I would have dissipated in a few years, let alone talk about finding a disciple.
Moreover, for the past few hundred thousand years, I have only been a wisp of divine sense outside. The main divine will has long since fallen into a deep sleep. Now, it is becoming more and more difficult for that wisp of divine sense to wake me up each time. Each awakening takes about two months. And each time I wake up, the speed at which I consume magical power increases again. I can only quickly receive the experiences of that wisp of divine sense over the years, then separate another wisp of divine sense, and immediately continue to slumber.
In addition, you need to change your personality in the future. Cultivating immortality is to go against the heavens. The dangers involved are not something you can know now. A single mistake, and you will die. There are no good people in the cultivation world, nor are there any bad people. Only you or your closest relatives can help you. If you abuse your so-called kindness, you will only fall early in the end. How can you even talk about cultivating immortality, let alone find the great dao of longevity?"
Li Yan just nodded at this, but in his heart, he thought, 'When did I agree to cultivate immortality? If I can find a chance to leave this city of Green Mountain Pass, I'll find an opportunity to secretly go back and take my parents, brother, and sister to find a place to settle down. The world is so big, is there no place for me? Being with my family then would be better than being an immortal.'
The gray-robed old man knew that it was impossible for an ordinary teenager to suddenly become decisive and ruthless in a short period of time. Although Li Yan nodded to show that he knew, he did not necessarily agree with these words in his heart. But for now, this was the only way. But how could he know the heart of this young man? A young man always feels that his youth is infinite and does not understand the sorrow of birth, old age, sickness, and death. He only feels that protecting his parents and family is his happiness and has not thought about the path of longevity at all.
"The aptitude of this senior brother of yours is actually not bad. He is an Earth Spirit Root, a three-attribute spirit root. He also has a wood attribute among the three attributes in his body, but it is not his strongest attribute. But his cultivation is still quite fast. Logically, he should be able to cultivate to the peak of the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage in a little over a year. But this time, Strategist Ji searched for a while for the two very important harmonizing herbs but found nothing. Although these two herbs are just low-level herbs for a cultivation sect, they are still very difficult to find in this secular world. For him to have been able to get one of them last time was also a stroke of luck. The key is that he doesn't have much more time to go around looking for these two harmonizing herbs. He would probably die from the fire poison erupting before he could find them. The only path left was to take a gamble, which was to use this even more incomplete medicinal liquid to forcibly cultivate. As for the result, you can imagine. Your teacher became like this with just one missing ingredient, let alone two this time. The result was, first, the pain during absorption was several times more intense. Second, on the forty-ninth day, when breaking through to the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage, it was basically a nine-in-ten chance of death..." As he said this, the gray-robed old man stopped and looked at Li Yan again.
Li Yan was so smart. He only felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He figured that he and that senior brother had both, on the forty-ninth day, when breaking through to the first layer of Qi Condensation, died a miserable death because their bodies could not resist the medicinal power that was even more lacking in harmonizing ingredients. So, what was his situation now?
The gray-robed old man looked at Li Yan and continued, "After your senior brother died, this Strategist Ji was even more anxious and frantically searched for someone with a spirit root. Who would have thought that his luck was a bit too good? He found you in just over a year.
The wisp of my divine sense that was roaming outside can only sense a range of a hundred li. So, it was only after you entered within a hundred li of Green Mountain Pass that day that he sensed you and came to wake me from my slumber. But I am too weak now, and it takes about two months to wake up. And you just so happened to come to the military camp to enlist and were discovered by Strategist Ji.
You should have seen the strange book he was holding, right? Actually, he just used his magical power to simply glue the jade slip and the transformed jade book together for easy carrying. And since he got this transformed jade book, he has been trying to figure out the secret here. But with his meager magical power, he could never open it. But the more he couldn't open it, the more he felt that this book was extraordinary, fantasizing that there might be a more profound immortal art inside, which might be able to solve the fire poison on his body. So, he pondered it day and night, hehe." As he said this, the old man gave a disdainful smile, obviously finding Strategist Ji's overestimation of his own abilities laughable.
"The wisp of my divine sense was originally roaming in the transformed jade book. Seeing that you had started to cultivate that method of entering the dao with poison not long after you entered Strategist Ji's tutelage, it was naturally very anxious. But at that time, to reduce consumption, the only ability I gave it was to scan for a spirit root constitution, and no other divine abilities. And my main divine will had not yet woken up. So, every time Strategist Ji was with you, this wisp of divine sense would disrupt the surrounding spiritual qi to increase the difficulty of your cultivation, so that your progress would not be smooth, to delay until I woke up."
Li Yan's heart also woke up. He remembered that every time Strategist Ji came near him, he would feel his qi being sluggish. He had always thought it was because his master's cultivation was too profound, and his body naturally exuded a suppressive aura. But he would never have thought that someone was preventing him from cultivating.
At this time, the old man's figure had already begun to become ethereal and illusory, so he did not give Li Yan time to ask questions and continued, "But I did not expect that with your Miscellaneous Spirit Root constitution, even with the interference of that wisp of divine sense, you still completed the forty-nine-day cultivation task. But the final result was no different from your senior brother's. Without the neutralization of those two harmonizing herbs, and with the doubled medicinal power today, how could your meridians withstand it? Even if that Strategist Ji had pulled you out of the pool later, he would have had no ability to revive you. At that time, the wisp of my divine sense had already sensed your impending death. It immediately poured all its memories into the main divine will and then forcibly self-destructed, directly shocking me awake from my slumber. But the result of doing so was that although it woke me up immediately, it also injured the main divine will, making me, who was already weak, even weaker.
When I woke up, I found that your five internal organs and six viscera were all damaged, and your qi and blood had begun to flow in reverse. You were only a few breaths away from death. So, I could only use my last magical power to sort out and repair all the meridians in your body. But when the repair was almost complete, you were stimulated by Strategist Ji's magical power entering your body and temporarily woke up. But at that time, you still wanted to sit up and continue cultivating. So, I had to shout at you to make you faint, so that I could continue to complete the repair of your body. But unfortunately, the magical power I have left today is too weak. Although I pulled you back from the gates of hell, I can no longer force the poison out of your body. I can only cast a spell to suppress it in a corner of your dantian. As long as you don't continue to cultivate this immortal art, it will temporarily not be triggered to erupt. But if you cultivate this immortal art again, given your current situation, without a special opportunity, you will surely die." As he said this, the gray-robed old man's figure had already begun to become transparent.