"What's wrong with Mingmei?" The old Taoist priest Xianyun reached out and beckoned, and Mingmei's body flew into the old Taoist's arms as if pulled by an invisible thread. He scanned with his divine sense, and his thick eyebrows furrowed tightly.
Lu Jun and Mingmei had always had an excellent relationship, so Lu Jun immediately asked with concern, "Master, what's wrong with Third Junior Brother?"
"He was agitated and seemed to have been excessively frightened, so he fainted."
"Excessive fright?"
All eyes turned to Xiao Wenbing; his thunderous roar had left a deep impression on everyone.
Xiao Wenbing gave an awkward, bitter look and said, "My third senior brother was sleepwalking just now. I wanted to wake him up, but I think I was a little too loud. Well... but Master and all the senior brothers are cultivators, so they probably won't mind this little noise."
His last words were, unwittingly, a defense of himself.
"Sleepwalking? How is that possible? Third Junior Brother is already at the Core Formation stage, how could that be... wait?"
Lu Jun suddenly pointed at Xiao Wenbing, his voice no longer as calm as before: "You...you...you..."
Xiao Wenbing was secretly puzzled. Why had he suddenly become a stutterer?
The gazes of the old Taoist priest and the others were fixed on Xiao Wenbing, and suddenly, their expressions changed drastically.
Xiao Wenbing looked at himself in surprise, stood up, dusted himself off, straightened his clothes, and looked up.
They still had the expressions of the living dead, staring intently at him.
A faint black mark reappeared on Xiao Wenbing's forehead, but he was well aware that any one of the people here could easily take him down.
So even though he was furious inside, he still managed to maintain a forced smile on his face.
After a long while, there was still no response. Xiao Wenbing sighed sadly. Since they wouldn't speak, he might as well ask them himself. What's meant to be will be. If they stared at him like he was a monster, even he wouldn't be able to stand it.
"Master, fellow disciples, what's wrong with you?"
"Core Formation?" Old Daoist Xianyun asked slowly. This was the first time he had shown such uncertainty about something since he had cultivated his Nascent Soul.
"Yes, Master, your disciple has already completed the elixir." Xiao Wenbing replied respectfully.
"The elixir is complete..." the old Taoist priest murmured.
“Dancheng, forty-three years…” Lu Jun uttered these words slowly, his face blank.
"Fifty-one years..."
"Forty-nine years..."
"Fifty-eight years..."
As if by unspoken agreement, everyone revealed the time it took them to achieve their elixir.
Inside the mountain gate, the air was thick with the stench of vinegar, a strong, almost tear-inducing sour smell.
※※※※
Deep in the mountains and forests, a platform the size of a football field suddenly appears before your eyes. Scattered on the platform are stones of all sizes, some as tall as two stories, standing majestically, and others as small as pigs or dogs, lying peacefully. A gurgling spring flows quietly beside it. What a fairyland!
On this platform, a young woman in the prime of her life was kneeling.
An elderly woman slowly stepped onto the platform, glanced at the woman who still refused to get up, and sighed helplessly, "You still won't give up?"
"Yes, please take me in, senior." The weak voice contained an unwavering determination.
“Your aptitude is not good. I’m afraid you’ll never be able to comprehend the Qi, cultivate spiritual power, let alone hope to form a core or a nascent soul.” The old woman sighed sadly and said, “The path to immortality is not so easy to succeed on. My aptitude is ten times better than yours. I have cultivated diligently for more than forty years, and I am still only hovering outside the gate.”
The old man sighed deeply, reflecting on the hardships he had endured over the decades, and a wave of emotion washed over him.
"I understand."
"Now that you understand, do you still want to embark on this path?"
"yes."
"Alas... Even I am only an outer disciple, and cannot allow you to enter the inner sect."
"yes."
"Very well." The old man sighed and said loudly, "In the past decades, you are the first person with such a firm will. I will make an exception and accept you as my disciple. However, you must remember that once you have embarked on this path, you must not regret it."
"Thank you, Master." The woman bowed deeply. Although her face was pale from days of kneeling, her voice still carried a hint of relief.
"Get up and rest well. Once you've recovered your strength, I will naturally teach you the way of circulating qi. As for what you achieve in the future, that depends on your own destiny," the old woman said with a wave of her sleeve.
After kowtowing three more times, the young woman struggled to her feet. However, due to poor blood circulation in her legs, she was unsteady on her feet and swayed precariously.
The old woman waved her hand helplessly, and immediately her disciples helped her up and took her to her room.
After lying in bed and eating some thin porridge, her energy recovered somewhat.
She looked up, her clear gaze passing through the window to the azure sky.
A beautiful curve appeared at the corner of her mouth, seemingly joyful, yet also containing a hint of worry.
"See? I've gotten a little closer to you..."
Volume Two: The Fairy in White, Chapter Forty: The Grace of the Celestial Realm
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Inside the mountain gate, a solemn and dignified atmosphere prevailed.
In the Ancestral Hall, the six inner disciples, led by the old Taoist priest Xianyun, were gathered. The old Taoist priest sat upright in the center, while the six disciples sat in two rows, their minds focused, as they devoutly prayed to their ancestors who had long since ascended to the celestial realm.
For this prayer, the Taoist priest Xianyun and the others were well-prepared and their sincerity was unprecedented.
It lasted for seven days and seven nights before it finally ended.
However, among these people, Xiao Wenbing was undoubtedly the least sincere. He had already grown weary of it several days ago. Now, seeing that the incense sticks in front of the hall had all gone out, but the old Taoist priest and the others remained motionless, seemingly unaware of the situation, he was quite pleased.
He couldn't help but wonder to himself, and quietly tugged at Mingmei beside him, asking in a low voice, "Senior brother, will this work?"
"Shh..." Mingmei's expression changed, and he quickly said, "Keep quiet."
Xiao Wenbing looked utterly bewildered. Wasn't it said that after ascending to the Immortal Realm, one could no longer concern oneself with the affairs of the cultivation world? Then why were they still acting so seriously?
Sigh... It's the 21st century already, how come this superstitious practice is getting more and more rampant, even the cultivation world can't escape it.
"Ahem, Wenbing, do you see those things on the incense table?" Xiao Wenbing's voice was soft, but how could it escape the notice of the old Taoist priest Xianyun, who was standing nearby? He stroked his long beard and said with a gentle expression.
The fellow disciples exchanged glances. If it were anyone else asking such a blasphemous question in the ancestral hall, the old Taoist priest would have punished them severely on the spot.
However, the old man clearly showed special favor to Xiao Wenbing. Similar situations had occurred many times before, and these people were already used to it.
However, Xiao Wenbing, this freak who defies conventional wisdom, certainly deserves such treatment.
The mere thought of him forming his inner core within a year dispelled any remaining complaints from his fellow disciples. If they were to encounter such a disciple in the future, they feared they would be even more demanding than the old Daoist Xianyun.
"I see it, Master."
"Those items are magical artifacts left behind by our sect's predecessors before they ascended to immortality. Although they are not very powerful, because we have followed them for a long time, we have a connection with those predecessors. Even though they are in the immortal realm, they can sense them."
"What? Master, are you saying that the Immortal Realm can know about and intervene in things here?" Xiao Wenbing asked in great surprise.
“Every realm has its own rules. Immortals in the Immortal Realm cannot directly interfere in the affairs of the cultivation world. At least, I have never seen any patriarch descend from the Immortal Realm to the mortal world, but…” The old Taoist smiled slightly and said, “However, it is permissible for a certain patriarch to occasionally bestow some things.”
"Ah." Xiao Wenbing listened with longing and asked, "Master, have you seen it before?"
The old Taoist priest's smile suddenly froze. He coughed twice and said solemnly, "If our ancestors bestowed anything upon us, it was their grace. Even if they didn't, it was only natural."
Xiao Wenbing felt a pang of disappointment. Just by looking at the old Taoist's expression and his avoidance of answering his questions, he knew that even he hadn't seen it.
"Master...Master!" Lu Jun suddenly shouted, the chief disciple of the Secret Talisman Sect rarely cried out like this.
The gazes of the Taoist priest and the others followed his finger, and the incense table was suddenly enveloped in a beam of light.
This light was peaceful and serene, yet it gave people a sense of sacredness that was both majestic and inviolable.
The old Taoist priest, Xianyun, gaped, his usual composure gone. From his mouth, he slowly and uttered two words in a completely undignified manner: "A miracle...a miracle..."
"Thump." Lu Jun was the first to recover from the shock, immediately got up from the prayer mat, and knelt down heavily.
As if waking from a dream, the old Taoist priest and the others hurriedly turned over and knelt down on the ground.
Watching their actions, Xiao Wenbing felt a surge of utter absurdity. His eyes darted around, and he knelt down behind them. However, unlike the others, who bowed respectfully to the ground, Xiao Wenbing slightly raised his head, one eye fixed on the ball of light on the stage, wanting to see what it was all about.
As the light faded, an ancient ring and a rune appeared on the incense table.
"Thank you, Master..."
Inside the mountain gate, birds flew and beasts were startled, creating chaos.
Inside the Ancestral Hall, the old Taoist priest with his flowing white beard roared loudly along with his disciples.
※※※※
Three days later, in the residence of the old Taoist priest, Xiao Wenbing stood respectfully beside him.
"Wenbing, I have spent the last few days searching through all the stories and chapters of our sect, and I have finally found the two patriarchs who bestowed the treasures upon us," the old Taoist said proudly.
"Which two patriarchs are they?" Xiao Wenbing cleverly feigned a curious look, his eyes sparkling with interest.
"They are indeed our sect's first founder, Master Baihe, and our third founder, Master Tianxuzi," said the old Taoist Xianyun solemnly.
Xiao Wenbing had no idea who the White Crane Immortal and the Heavenly Void Immortal were, and his respect for them was extremely limited.
He suddenly remembered something and asked with great interest, "Master, when every cultivator ascends to immortality, do they leave behind their own token to communicate with the cultivation world?"
"Otherwise, only a very small number of people will leave their own tokens to their descendants."
"Ah, I see." Xiao Wenbing nodded repeatedly, thinking to himself that it was no wonder there were so few items on the altar when he offered sacrifices to his ancestors that day. It turned out that not all ancestral masters left behind their own tokens when they ascended to heaven.
"However, our ancestors were all very sentimental people. Every patriarch who ascended to the Immortal Realm after passing the Tribulation Transcending stage left behind their tokens. Although this is not unique in the entire cultivation world, it is extremely rare." The old Taoist's face showed undisguised pride.
However, when Xiao Wenbing heard these words, he felt completely different.
"Master, are you sure you're not mistaken? All the patriarchs left behind their own tokens?"
"That's right," the old Taoist priest said affirmatively, his face solemn, his answer resolute and without hesitation.
“But, Master…” Xiao Wenbing stammered, his face showing hesitation.