chsdbacks Chapter 8: Bodhi Ashes Brew Tea, Make Friends
Chapter 8: Bodhi Ashes Brew Tea, Make Friends
On the edge of the desolate and forbidden land.
The quarrel among the six great grotto heavens.
It all came to an abrupt end because of Weiwei's words.
Elder Han Feng followed Weiwei's gaze, his eyes lingering on Li Xian and the other two, and he secretly praised them.
Of course, they wouldn't choose the bad option among the other grottoes, but after some "friendly" communication, they were forced to agree.
The remaining people were quickly divided up among the five grottoes.
These elders were all ruthless. After shoveling the items into the bowl, they each raised their hands and snatched away the broken Buddhist artifacts belonging to Ye Fan, Lin Jia, and the others.
"Such artifacts are not something you mortals can protect; the grotto-heaven will safeguard them for you."
The six elders of the Great Grotto Heaven spoke in a calm tone.
Li Xian remained expressionless.
His broken monk's knife had long since sunk to the bottom of the sea of suffering, and outsiders had no way of knowing it.
The divine spring water he had found outside was used up while traveling. If he hadn't known about the outside world's plundering and extortion, he would have dug up a backpack full of immortal medicine and divine mud to leave the mountain.
If it benefits others, I naturally won't do it.
……
Lingxu Cave Heaven.
It was built on a rare spiritual vein.
According to ancient legend, a blue lotus, ten thousand miles in size, once fell to the ground.
The group descended through the clouds aboard a jade boat. The cave was shrouded in mist, with cranes soaring among the strange peaks and mythical beasts running through the forest. Ancient herbs of unknown age were rooted on the cliff face, emitting a fragrant aroma.
After landing, Han Feng led the three directly to the Spirit Testing Hall.
"Put your hand on it."
Han Feng pointed to a spirit-testing stele in the center of the hall.
Pang Bo was the first to step forward.
The moment their palms touched, the stone tablet burst into a blinding red light, and the faint roar of a savage beast could be heard.
"His qi and blood are as vast as the sea, his foundation in Dao is profound!" Han Feng exclaimed, moved. "Such a physique is extremely rare; he is definitely a potential immortal seedling!"
Pang Bo grinned and stepped aside.
Ye Fan stepped forward and pressed down on the stone tablet.
A dead silence.
The stone tablet did not react.
Han Feng stepped forward, grabbed Ye Fan's wrist, and probed his body.
After a moment, he sighed deeply, his expression complex.
"The golden sea of suffering, as solid as divine iron... This is the Ancient Sacred Body."
Upon hearing this, the disciples accompanying him in the hall all gasped in shock.
"Before the ancient times, this physique was invincible. At its peak, it could even challenge the Great Emperor." Han Feng shook his head. "But in the current post-ancient era, the laws of heaven and earth have changed drastically, and the Sacred Body is simply unable to open the Sea of Bitterness. Even if it were forcibly opened, the resources required for each advancement to the next realm would be enormous, and the six great grotto-heavens combined could not provide for it."
"Just a useless body."
He released his grip, his tone returning to its coldness:
"Having cleared the sea of suffering for you, I will now make you an ordinary outer disciple."
Ye Fan withdrew his hand.
He remained calm and offered no rebuttal.
Finally, it was Li Xian's turn.
He stepped forward and pressed his hand on the monument.
The stone tablet glowed with a layer of pure white light, so pure that it was completely free of any other color.
"Mortal body?"
Han Feng was stunned for a moment, then carefully sensed it, and his eyes lit up:
"His foundation is pure and flawless, drawing in only the finest spiritual energy. Although this physique is ordinary, his cultivation speed is quite fast, and he is not prone to qi deviation. He is definitely a potential immortal seed!"
The qualification assessment is complete.
As immortal seedlings, Li Xian and Pang Bo each received four bottles of herbal elixir and a thin booklet—the beginning of the Wheel Sea Chapter of the Daoist Scripture.
As an ordinary disciple, Ye Fan only had one bottle of herbal elixir, but he still received the scriptures.
Back in the assigned stone house, Li Xian locked the door and opened the booklet.
"The Daoist Scripture, the strongest foundation-building method in the Sea of Wheels Secret Realm." Li Xian's eyes were focused.
His previous "Primordial Wheel Sea Technique" was more watered down than medicated, and the incomplete "Heaven-Mending Immortal Scripture" only had the ability to repair things and lacked a systematic cultivation path. Now that he has the "Dao Scripture", a piece of the cultivation puzzle has been filled.
"If there were a game panel, I could load the Daoist scriptures and start cultivating right now... This ship-shaped version is really complicated. It requires people to figure out how to cultivate on their own. It's too realistic, too inconvenient..."
Helpless, Li Xian uncorked the herbal elixir, swallowed it in one gulp, and simultaneously circulated the Daoist scripture.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Inside the blue stone house, Li Xian sat cross-legged.
The sea of suffering within my body has expanded from the size of a grain of rice to the size of a bowl.
Above the Sea of Bitterness, life essence churned like clouds and mist, and divine patterns intertwined on the seabed, showing a faint tendency to transform into the Spring of Life.
"One pound of divine spring water, one red sacred fruit, plus a year's supply of herbal elixir, combined with a pure and flawless Dao foundation and the refining of the Dao Scripture, the efficiency is astonishingly high."
"In the Secret Realm of the Sea of Wheels, I am about to find the source of the spring and step into the realm of the Life Spring. I sense the wheel, open the sea, expand the sea, and find the spring.
"This combat power has increased at least fiftyfold!"
Li Xian opened his eyes and clenched his fist.
The disadvantages of mortals were largely offset by the vast resources available in the early stages.
In the neighboring courtyard, Ye Fan and Pang Bo were also diligently cultivating.
With the help of the divine spring water and sacred fruit given to him by Li Xian, Ye Fan managed to carve out the sea of suffering in his sacred body that was as hard as divine iron, creating a golden ocean the size of a thumb.
Pang Bo's progress was equally rapid; the potential of his demon god bloodline was being revived.
The sun was shining brightly that day.
Li Xian sat at the stone table in the courtyard, with a rough red clay tea set in front of him.
He took a tiny bit of Bodhi Kalpa ash from the sea of suffering, put it into a teapot, poured in spring water, and used his own divine power to heat it up.
The courtyard gate was pushed open, and Weiwei, dressed in a blue dress, walked in.
She came three times in this month.
They always chatted casually, but her pair of bright blue, ethereal eyes always lingered on Li Xian.
"Junior Brother Li, you're in high spirits."
Weiwei walked to the stone table and sat down, her gaze falling on the pot of boiling tea.
A strange, refreshing fragrance wafted out, and after just one sniff, Weiwei felt her mind become clear and her internal energy flowed more smoothly.
"What kind of tea is this?"
A hint of shock flashed in her azure eyes.
"A little local specialty from my hometown, ash from Mars." Li Xian poured a glass and pushed it in front of her. "Try it."
Weiwei picked up her teacup and took a small sip.
boom!
A Daoist voice seemed to echo in her sea of consciousness, and the cultivation bottleneck that had not loosened for many days showed a slight sign of breaking through. You must know that this is a great secret realm pass between the Sea of Wheels Secret Realm and the Dao Palace Secret Realm.
She suppressed her shock, put down her teacup, and her gaze toward Li Xian completely changed.
"Junior Brother's hometown seems to be an extraordinary place," Weiwei probed.
"It's alright, just that a few ruthless people have fallen victim to it, and a few Venerables have emerged from it." Li Xian said casually, pouring himself a glass as well. "Senior Sister Weiwei, do you usually see things very clearly with those eyes?"
Weiwei's eyes narrowed slightly: "What do you mean, Junior Brother?"
"The Celestial Eyes can see through illusions and gaze directly at the origin." Li Xian swirled his teacup. "In the Celestial Realm, this kind of physique is considered that of a descendant of Celestial Spirits, born to stand on the clouds."
Weiwei's hand suddenly tightened.
Even the elders of Lingxu Cave Heaven didn't know the name of the Immortal Eye; they only knew that she was born with divine eyes.
How could this mortal who has only been practicing for a month know this?
"Junior brother is joking. What immortal realm? That's just a legend."
Vivi quickly regained her composure.
"Legends also come from people." Li Xian took a sip of tea, his gaze fixed straight ahead. "Going up, there's the Dao Palace, the Four Extremes, the Dragon Transformation, and the Immortal Platform. Above the Immortal Platform, there are also those who sever the Dao, become saints, quasi-emperors, and great emperors. There are too many physiques in this world: the Ancient Sacred Body, the Heavenly Tyrant Body, the Innate Dao Embryo, the Taiyin and Taiyang... The Immortal Spirit Eye is among them, ranking high, but it's not the only one."
Vivi held her breath.
Every word Li Xian uttered resounded in her ears like thunder.
Some of these words she had seen snippets of in the oldest fragments of the sect, while others she had never heard of before.
"Junior brother...who exactly is he?" Weiwei stared at Li Xian. "These things are definitely not something an ordinary mortal could know."
"Me?" Li Xian smiled. "A traveler in a hurry."
He put down his teacup and looked directly into Weiwei's eyes.
"Senior Sister, this Lingxu Cave Heaven is too small, even the entire Yan Kingdom is small. You will go to the Yao Guang Holy Land sooner or later, and I will leave sooner or later as well. Consider this cup of tea as a token of friendship."
Weiwei remained silent for a long time.
They did not press the matter further.
She was an extremely intelligent woman who knew what to ask and what not to ask.
"I will remember this favor, junior brother."
She stood up and gave a slight bow.
Just as the two were talking, a series of noisy footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard.
"Ye Fan! Pang Bo! Hand over the spiritual liquid on your bodies!"
A sharp, dry voice rang out from the neighboring yard.
Li Xian raised an eyebrow.
In the original story, there seems to be an elder who coveted Ye Fan's Ancient Sacred Body and wanted to use him to refine pills. He finally couldn't resist and came to Ye Fan's door.
Li Xian stood up and patted the hem of her clothes.
"Excuse me, senior sister. I need to take care of some trash."
On the road to becoming a speedrunning emperor, there are always some clueless monsters who come to give you experience points.