Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 334: Chapter 306: Meeting an Old Acquaintance

Late at night.

After Chu Mu saw him off, a drunken Xie Cangfeng staggered out of the tavern.

He paused at the tavern’s entrance, watching Xie Cangfeng leave. Only after his friend’s figure had vanished from sight did Chu Mu slowly look away.

’Perhaps... he doesn’t have much time left?’

He glanced up at the dark sky, a sudden guess forming in his mind.

They hadn’t seen each other in over a year, but Xie Cangfeng’s words and actions showed he had become a completely different person.

He used to be a man of few words, always weighing each one with extreme care.

This time, however, he was dissolute and cynical.

If he hadn’t confirmed that Xie Cangfeng’s Divine Soul Aura remained unchanged, he would have seriously suspected that his friend had fallen victim to Possession.

It was somewhat plausible that Xie Cangfeng couldn’t accept the heavy blow from the Xie Family’s recent calamity.

But that alone was unlikely to cause such a drastic change in the temperament of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

And throughout their hours of conversation, his words, actions, and expressions were all blatantly reckless, as if he had no misgivings whatsoever.

So, the possibility that his days were numbered wasn’t out of the question.

After all, what misgivings would a dying man have?

He speculated in silence for a moment before pushing the thought aside, his mind returning to the conversation he’d had with Xie Cangfeng over the past few hours.

The clamor in the tavern was all one-sided news. The limits of their Cultivation meant that many Cultivators just repeated what others said, so what he heard there could only be taken as a rough reference.

But Xie Cangfeng was clearly different.

His Cultivation was superb, and even with the Xie Family’s decline, his status couldn’t have fallen too low.

The things he said were highly credible.

The Vast Sea Chen Family...

Recalling Xie Cangfeng’s words, he felt an inexplicable shiver run through him.

It was just as Xie Cangfeng had said.

A bloodline clan that had stood for tens of thousands of years, passing down a lineage of humans cultivating with demon bloodlines.

So was this clan human, or demon?

One had to understand that the influence of a Demon Beast bloodline was impossible to avoid, given the difference in species.

Let alone a bloodline as tyrannical and domineering as a Flood Dragon’s!

Moreover, although bloodline cultivation was inevitably shackled by the bloodline itself—just like Wangcai, whose dire wolf bloodline kept him stuck at Tier One Perfection, unable to break through to Tier Two no matter what methods Chu Mu tried.

No matter how poor one’s Spirit Root Talent was, it was still possible to break through one’s limits with external help, as he himself had done.

But the shackles of a bloodline were unbreakable.

However, bloodlines also had their advantages.

Take a terrifying bloodline like the Flood Dragon’s. As long as a Flood Dragon’s blood was pure enough and it didn’t perish along the way, it was destined to reach the pinnacle of its bloodline’s limits through diligent cultivation.

Although transplanting a bloodline into a human body didn’t carry the same guarantee, a sufficiently high bloodline concentration would still greatly amplify the possibility of reaching the bloodline’s peak.

And the Flood Dragon bloodline belonged to a terrifying existence of at least Tier Four, perhaps even higher.

A clan with that kind of power...

Chu Mu pressed his lips together, unwilling to think about it any further.

In any case, such matters were still far too distant for him.

Then, as if a thought struck him, he looked down at Wangcai, who was crouching beside him, and fell into contemplation.

If he found the time, he might actually go and spend a while in the Southern Border.

Devouring blood and flesh was the best way for a Demon Beast to grow.

And when it came to food, the bodies of Demon Beasts were far more effective than those of Cultivators.

After all, a Demon Beast’s cultivation was concentrated in its physical body, whereas few Cultivators specialized in body refining.

Besides, he wanted to see for himself what a Cultivation Immortal Realm where bloodline cultivation was the dominant path would be like.

Just thinking about it briefly, the possibility that Xie Cangfeng’s description of a world completely different from the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World was false seemed very, very low.

If bloodline cultivation and humans cultivating demon bodies were the norm, then a corresponding system would inevitably form around that path of cultivation.

And that system would surely be different from the traditional Cultivation Immortal System of the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World.

As he was musing to himself and about to leave, a commotion suddenly erupted from the tavern behind him. It sounded like a Cultivator was berating a waitress.

They were all only at the Qi Cultivation Realm, so he merely glanced over before looking away and turning to head down the street.

He had just taken a step when he seemed to notice something. His expression faltered, and he stopped in his tracks.

He turned to look. Inside the tavern, the Cultivator was still yelling at the woman.

The Cultivator was a middle-aged man with a thick beard and was at the Qi Cultivation Eleventh Layer.

The woman, meanwhile, had her head bowed. She looked timid and didn’t dare to say a word. Her Cultivation was at the Qi Cultivation Second Layer.

A scene like this was quite normal.

In a place like a tavern, those with even slightly higher Cultivation would obviously be unwilling to bow and scrape while serving others.

The workers in the tavern, much like those at the Ore Materials depot where he had once worked, were poorly paid and busy. They were usually below the Qi Cultivation Third Layer, newcomers to the Immortal Path, or even ordinary mortals.

The woman’s head was lowered, so he couldn’t see her face clearly, but her timid air felt strangely familiar to Chu Mu.

"What are you good for? You can’t even serve a dish properly?"

"This pot of Spirit Wine of mine is worth a hundred Spirit Stones! Tell me, what are you going to do about it?"

The woman tried to argue, but she was clearly flustered. "I wasn’t the one who spilled the wine, it wasn’t..."

"A joke! If you didn’t spill it, are you saying I spilled it myself? You have to pay up! One hundred Spirit Stones. And if you can’t afford it... Hmph hmph..."

The bearded man sneered, and the woman’s face turned pale.

BANG!

Just then, a cloth bag suddenly slammed into the bearded man’s face. The bag burst from the surging Power, and a hundred Spirit Stones scattered across the floor.

The man was furious, but in the next second, his angry expression instantly transformed into unspeakable terror.

"Pick up the Spirit Stones and disappear from my sight."

Chu Mu glanced at the bearded man, his voice flat.

"Elder... This junior obeys! This junior understands!"

Faced with the blatant fluctuations of Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment Cultivation, the man didn’t even dare to breathe. His face was ashen, and he didn’t even dare to use his Divine Sense.

He trembled as he crouched on the ground, picking up the scattered Spirit Stones one by one. Finally, as if fleeing for his life, he ran out of the tavern without daring to look back.

This dramatic turn of events immediately drew the attention of the many Cultivators in the tavern. However, intimidated by the display of cultivation, they all acted as if they were blind, pretending to see nothing, their expressions changing in an instant.

"Elder..."

The woman, still looking timid, glanced up at Chu Mu. Seemingly sensing his cultivation, she shrank back like a quail, not even daring to raise her head.

Seeing her like this, Chu Mu chuckled, but he also felt a bit sentimental.

’This should... count as meeting an old friend in a foreign land, right...?’

"Li... Caiyi?"

Chu Mu said the name, his tone a little uncertain. It had been a long time, and they hadn’t interacted much back then, so he wasn’t entirely sure if he remembered her name correctly.

Hearing her name, the woman froze for a moment. She looked up at Chu Mu, her eyes still filled with confusion, but it didn’t take long before she seemed to recognize him.

"You... You are... Chu... Chu Patrol Officer?"

"Chu Patrol Officer..."

Hearing this long-forgotten title, Chu Mu’s expression turned a little strange, but he nodded nonetheless.

Seeing Chu Mu’s nod of confirmation, Li Caiyi looked as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Then, her eyes suddenly reddened, and tears began to well up.

Chu Mu was a little dumbfounded.

"I am just a little emotional. I never thought I would run into an old acquaintance like you, Elder... Chu, in the Cultivation Immortal Realm."

Li Caiyi wiped her tears and hurriedly explained.

Chu Mu could understand. After all, wandering through the Cultivation Immortal Realm and meeting someone from his past made even him feel sentimental, let alone a weak woman like Li Caiyi.

"Shopkeeper, prepare a private room for us."

Chu Mu said to the tavern’s Shopkeeper, who had been wanting to approach but was hesitating fearfully to the side.

"This way, Elder."

The Shopkeeper, looking relieved, bowed and scraped as he led Chu Mu upstairs. He also cast a respectful glance toward Li Caiyi.

"Shopkeeper, I..."

Li Caiyi was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

The Shopkeeper was frantic. He didn’t dare to speak, let alone use Telepathy, so he could only shoot desperate glances at Li Caiyi.

"This isn’t the place to talk. Miss Caiyi, let’s find somewhere else to speak in detail."

Chu Mu turned to the bewildered Li Caiyi. He was also a little curious as to how the young widow from all those years ago had set foot on the Immortal Path.

’Come to think of it, that little dump of a place, Nanshan Town, seems to have produced quite a few Cultivators...’

"I will do as Elder Chu says."

Li Caiyi answered obediently.

They took their seats in a private room on the second floor. Once the privacy Restriction was activated, they were in a quiet world of their own.

Li Caiyi sat obediently, still somewhat at a loss.

"We’re old acquaintances meeting again. There’s no need to be nervous, Miss Caiyi."

Chu Mu offered a word of comfort, but only received a timid nod from the woman before him, her voice barely audible.

Seeing this, Chu Mu dropped the pleasantries and got straight to the point:

"During the Nanshan disturbance, I left Nanshan Town. What happened after that?"

"And Miss Caiyi, how did you come to set foot on the Immortal Path?"

Li Caiyi was quite obedient and began to explain in a soft voice:

"I..."

After her explanation, Chu Mu finally got a clearer picture of what had happened in Nanshan Town after he fled.

According to Li Caiyi, when the Nanshan disturbance began, Nanshan Town was thrown into chaos. She was so frightened that she hid in her house and didn’t dare to go out.

Later, a Cultivator went berserk. With a few slashes of his sword, he caused many deaths and injuries in Nanshan Town. She herself was caught in the attack and was gravely injured, on the brink of death. But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, as this triggered her Divine Appearance.

In her confusion, her injuries healed under the influence of Spiritual Qi. She didn’t understand what Spiritual Qi was, much less what Cultivation was, so she simply stayed on peacefully in Nanshan Town. But a few years ago, a Female Cultivator discovered the Spiritual Qi fluctuations from her Breathing exercises, came straight to her door, gave her a Cultivation Technique, told her about the Cultivation Immortal Realm, and led her to this Ji Family Castle.

Afterward, the Female Cultivator left behind some Spirit Stone Elixirs and departed, saying she had other matters to attend to.

After finding a job at this tavern in Ji Family Castle, she had been working here peacefully ever since, until their meeting today...

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