When Li Qiye first saw her, he—a man who had seen countless people, who had even trained Immortal Emperors—could only shake his head at Ma Gu’s aptitude. Although he often believed aptitude was secondary, Ma Gu’s was hopelessly poor. In fact, if you were to pick the least talented disciple from any sect, Ma Gu’s aptitude would still be far, far worse.
One could even say her aptitude was nearly on par with a born simpleton. However, she wasn’t an idiot; her ability to grasp concepts was just extremely poor, and her innate qualities were crude beyond measure.
But when he first saw Ma Gu, Li Qiye was moved by her eyes—eyes that thirsted for knowledge. She was a plain-looking little girl, filthy and even appearing foolish, yet she possessed eyes that thirsted for knowledge. These were the eyes that moved Li Qiye, the Yin Ya, the mentor of Immortal Emperors.
At that moment, an idea struck him, and he imparted the Longevity Body’s Entry Mantra to her. It was merely the simplest of entry mantras, yet it took Li Qiye several days of teaching before she could even memorize those few lines. She was, without a doubt, the dullest person Li Qiye had ever met. Nevertheless, he patiently taught her, word by word, for no other reason than that he had been moved by her eyes that thirsted for knowledge.
After teaching her those few lines of the Entry Mantra, Li Qiye didn’t impart anything else to Ma Gu. He knew that even if he did, she wouldn’t be able to remember it. Soon enough, Li Qiye had all but forgotten the incident.
It wasn’t until many, many years later that Li Qiye returned to that place. By then, Wang Yuan, who had been just a child, had become a supreme being whose might awed the Nine Realms and reigned over the Eight Desolations. Moreover, Wang Yuan had aged from a child into an invincible powerhouse in his twilight years.
On that occasion, Li Qiye met Ma Gu again. Incredibly, she was still practicing those same few lines of the mantra he had taught her, and she was only at the Palace Knocking Realm!
One must understand that the Palace Knocking Realm was merely the lowest realm for a Cultivator; by all rights, it was impossible to live for so long. Upon meeting Ma Gu again, Li Qiye knew she had crossed the threshold of the Longevity Body.
Logically speaking, at such a shallow and basic realm, it should be impossible to live for so long, even for someone who had entered the Grand Hall of the Longevity Body—let alone someone who had only just crossed the threshold.
Li Qiye knew that for countless years, Ma Gu had remained in that one place with only a single purpose in her heart: to continuously cultivate the few lines of the Heart Technique he had taught her. Throughout the endless ages, she had repeatedly practiced only these few lines of the True Technique, never once stopping. This allowed her to cultivate them to a state of absolute perfection, pushing them to their zenith. Through this, she had managed to touch upon the fundamental principles of the Longevity Body’s Supreme Immortal Body Technique!
For ages, Li Qiye had tried to cultivate a Great Longevity Body, wanting to see if it could grant true, unending life when pushed to its absolute limit. But he had never succeeded.
Seeing Ma Gu again and witnessing such an incredible miracle rekindled the hope in Li Qiye’s heart. He instructed Wang Yuan to look after Ma Gu and began to impart the Longevity Body’s Supreme Immortal Body Technique to her.
It must be known that Li Qiye was extremely strict and selective about who he taught the Supreme Immortal Body Techniques he possessed. No matter who it was, anyone who received a Supreme Body Technique from him had to swear the most stringent oath with their own True Destiny. It was precisely for this reason that the Immortal Body Techniques in his possession had never been leaked. Moreover, the people he trained were all dependable; otherwise, they would never have been chosen by him in the first place.
Ma Gu was the only person for whom Li Qiye made an exception. He taught her the Longevity Body. Under Wang Yuan’s patronage, she became a disciple of the Celestial Dao Academy, and from that day forward, the Celestial Dao Academy had a new division: the Longevity Academy!
From then on, Li Qiye would return once every era to teach Ma Gu another segment of the Longevity Body’s Supreme Body Technique, continuing until she had learned the complete Supreme Immortal Body Technique.
Ma Gu’s Cultivation was incredibly slow. However, through her unyielding persistence and her unwavering, pious Dao Heart, her Dao Practice gradually deepened. As it did, her wisdom grew, and the Longevity Body slowly transformed her physique, her bones, and even her natural talent!
Ma Gu had created a miracle, and Li Qiye granted her an unprecedented privilege, allowing her to pass down the Longevity Body—but only to a single disciple each generation. As a result, the Longevity Academy has always maintained a single-heir lineage.
Ma Gu remained in seclusion within the Longevity Academy. With her unwavering Cultivation—practicing for millennia as if it were a single day—she journeyed further and further down the path of the Longevity Body. The Longevity Academy passed through several generations, but while her disciples and their descendants eventually perished, she walked further than any of them.
Eventually, Ma Gu began to ascend to the very pinnacle. Her wisdom fully blossomed, her Immortal Body achieved completion, and after persevering for countless ages, she finally stood at the summit. From that day on, she became the Celestial Dao Academy’s most powerful and mysterious Elder Ancestor!
Even if people in the world knew of Xu Chong Immortal, they had no idea how she had cultivated. Even her own disciples and their descendants would never know that their Primordial Ancestor had gone from being a hopeless fool—rotten wood that could not be carved—to eventually ascending to the peak, possessing astonishing wisdom and becoming the most powerful and mysterious of Elder Ancestors!
Even if someone could recount this past, it’s unlikely anyone would believe it to be true. Who would believe that a dunce could become the Celestial Dao Academy’s most powerful and mysterious matriarch? Within the Celestial Dao Academy, after Sub-Saint Wang Yuan, there is Xu Chong Immortal!
Inside the Celestial Dao Academy, Xu Chong Immortal represented the most powerful of matriarchs—mysterious and peerless. No one could ever connect the little girl who was like rotten wood that could not be carved with this matriarch of unparalleled wisdom and a Dao as deep as an abyss.
Thinking of the past, Li Qiye sighed with emotion. ’After so many years, this just reinforces my belief,’ he thought. ’For a Cultivator, the Dao Heart is far more important than aptitude. As long as one has an unshakeable Dao Heart, then no matter how poor their aptitude or how bad their luck, they will eventually achieve something. "The heavens reward the diligent" is no empty saying.’
Seeing Li Qiye lost in thought, Chi Xiaodie didn’t press him further. She found she could no longer understand him at all. He was unfathomably mysterious, with far too many secrets hidden behind him.
"Go get some rest and acclimate yourself," Li Qiye finally said. "Although your Cultivation is coming along nicely, and the Celestial Dao Academy doesn’t directly teach Cultivation Techniques, you can still listen to their lectures. They are of a very high standard and will be beneficial for your foundational Daoist Techniques."
"How do they compare to Mei Fairy?" Chi Xiaodie couldn’t help but ask after hearing Li Qiye’s suggestion.
Li Qiye smiled and said, "Mei Suyao is a genius-type Cultivator. The Mysteries of the Great Dao she speaks of are indeed good, but they aren’t suitable for everyone. In truth, your own talent is also very high. However, listening to the lectures at the Great World Academy will be good for you. Geniuses, after all, tend to have a bit of arrogance and need the simple, unadorned Mysteries of the Great Dao taught there to temper themselves. Take Mei Suyao, for example. There isn’t much to criticize about the Mysteries of the Great Dao she teaches, but it still lacks a certain depth and maturity. Remember, the path of the Great Dao is a solitary one. As long as you build a solid foundation, the future benefits will be beyond anything you can imagine."
Chi Xiaodie silently committed Li Qiye’s words to memory. In fact, she treated everything he said and did as gospel, engraving it upon her heart.
The Great World Academy was arguably the largest academy for recruiting students at the Celestial Dao Academy. This didn’t include the academy’s internal halls, which only accepted disciples, not students. The Celestial Dao Academy had five main academies for recruiting students: the Great World Academy, the Leisure World Academy, the Dingshi Academy, the Saint World Academy, and the Emperor World Academy.
The Great World Academy was the main academy with the lowest entry requirements. It could be said that many disciples from Minor Sects, or even Loose Cultivators, had a good chance of entering the Great World Academy as long as they were persistent. As a result, the Great World Academy was home to a large number of disciples from Minor Sects and Loose Cultivators with low Dao Practice.
Although the Great World Academy had the lowest standards, the Celestial Dao Academy’s very own Sub-Saint Wang Yuan had come from this academy. Sub-Saint Wang Yuan had always been the pride of the Great World Academy and served as its greatest role model.
The Leisure World Academy was the most complex one, a true mix of high and low. At the Leisure World Academy, one could conceal their background and hide their identity. As long as you could pass the assessment or afford the exorbitant tuition fees, you could get in.
The Leisure World Academy was, as mentioned, a chaotic mix. You could find any kind of young Cultivator there. One might be the hidden heir of an Ancient Country, while another could be a common bandit! Of course, there were also young Cultivators with known origins...
However, the most monstrous of All Emperors throughout the eons, the one who was most loved and yet most hated, most praised and yet most cursed—Immortal Emperor Feiyang—had come from none other than the Leisure World Academy.
The Dingshi Academy was the main academy out of the five that produced the most talent. Naturally, its entry requirements were also very high. If one could get into the Leisure World and Great World Academies with just money, the same was not true for Dingshi and above. If you didn’t meet the basic standards, not even money could get you in.
To enter the Dingshi Academy, one had to not only pay a sky-high tuition fee but also pass a basic assessment. Those who could pass all stages of the assessment would have their tuition fee waived.
Those who entered the Dingshi Academy were all the most outstanding disciples from Great Teaching Territories or various Inheritance Sects. It could be said that the Dingshi Academy was brimming with talent, encompassing disciples from all sects and nations under the heavens. For this reason, many astoundingly brilliant individuals emerged from the Dingshi Academy. A great number of the invincible generation who came from the Celestial Dao Academy hailed from Dingshi.
Figures like the Overlord Immortal Lion King, the Martial God, and the Sword Ancestor... one after another, these powerhouses who swept through the Eight Desolations and roamed the Nine Realms all came from the Dingshi Academy.
The name Dingshi Academy implied the ambition of vying for supremacy in the world, and its students indeed went on to become the defining figures of their respective eras.
As for the Saint World Academy, it was even more extraordinary. Its requirements were exceptionally harsh. If the students of the Dingshi Academy could be called geniuses, then the students of the Saint World Academy were the geniuses among geniuses. Those who could enter the Saint World Academy were primarily the successors of Emperor Immortal Gates or the heirs of Great Teachings and Strong Countries; only they possessed the strength to qualify.
The Saint World Academy produced many incredible powerhouses, the most prominent of whom was Ta Kong Immortal Emperor, who was also the last Immortal Emperor of the Age of Emperors!
I’d like to recommend a friend’s book. Title: Unfettered Little Evil Immortal, Book ID: 3313209.
A white-collar worker arrives in a strange new world, becoming a long-suffering Attendant. After surviving a great disaster while gathering herbs in the deep mountains, he stumbles upon a world-altering fortuitous encounter and receives a heaven-shattering inheritance. From that point on, he comprehends the heavens and earth, grasps Creation, cultivates a Divine Body, and trains in profound arts, breaking all shackles and overcoming every obstacle to ascend to the peak of the Martial Dao!
A fanatic for Cultivation, a berserker in battle, tempered by a thousand trials to finally achieve Great Success!
Carefree and unrestrained, taking pleasure in repaying kindness and enacting vengeance—who can possibly contend with him on his path to the Dao!
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