Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 337: Chapter 309: Parting and the Long Journey

「One month later.」

Amidst the mountains of the Ancient Ridge, a Flying Boat slowly advanced.

Atop the Flying Boat, Chu Mu stood at the bow. Beside him, Li Caiyi stood, looking slightly uneasy. She occasionally stole a glance at Chu Mu, but most of her anxiety seemed to stem from the Metallic Demon Beast lying nearby.

Wangcai was clad in Silver-White Battle Armor that completely encased its Demon Body, its crimson eyes standing out against the silver-white metal. Although it was lying down quietly, its aura as a Tier Two Demon Beast was undoubtedly terrifying for a Cultivator at the Early Stage of Qi Cultivation.

Chu Mu glanced over and, with a wave of his hand, sent an invisible ripple over Li Caiyi, blocking the aura.

"This journey will pass through the Nanshan Mountain Range and tens of thousands of miles of the mortal world. Miss Caiyi, the choice is yours."

Chu Mu said slowly, then turned and entered the cabin. He sat down by the window, a book in hand, and began to slowly flip through it.

Li Caiyi quietly entered the cabin and sat in a corner, hugging her knees, looking somewhat lost and helpless.

The page he was turning paused for a moment before slowly falling. Chu Mu’s eyes were profound, suffused with the intent of Spiritual Radiance, and he was already focused, free of all distracting thoughts.

The Elixir resources that could aid his Cultivation had already been completely depleted back in Jingmen when he broke through to the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment.

Although he still had quite a few Pill Recipes, his focus regarding Elixirs had long since shifted to the book in his hands.

Just as he had once pondered and modified the formulas for the Body Refining Technique in the mortal world, he had been studying the Pill Recipe for the Bell Stone Spiritual Milk, a Body Refining Holy Medicine, for many years.

The general Pill Recipe had been updated and iterated through dozens of versions, all recorded in the book he held.

He had already prepared the necessary Spirit Medicines for the Bell Stone Spiritual Milk recipe back in Jingmen.

What he needed to do now was finalize the Pill Recipe.

Although he had worked through dozens of versions of the Pill Recipe, finalizing it was not easy for him.

Though he had been exposed to the Alchemy Skill for a long time, he had only used it initially to make money. Afterward, his focus had shifted entirely to the Artifact Refining Skill.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, he had tried to make up for lost time, but compared to the effort he had poured into the Artifact Refining Skill, his foundation in the Alchemy Skill was clearly still severely lacking.

And a Pill Recipe constructed around Bell Stone Spiritual Milk as its core would be at least a Tier Two Middle Grade, or even a Tier Two Upper Grade, recipe.

With his current Alchemy Skill, it was a stretch.

And this difficulty stemmed mostly from his lack of knowledge regarding Spirit Medicines.

After all, his Alchemy Skill wasn’t as extensively practiced as his Artifact Refining Skill, which was also backed by countless experiences from the Illusory World.

Under the Spiritual Radiance Blessing, countless thoughts centered on the Bell Stone Spiritual Milk flowed and were analyzed, before finally being integrated, bit by bit, into the unfinalized Pill Recipes before him.

Chu Mu was extremely focused, his mind completely devoted to the task.

Time flew, and on the sixth day, the Flying Boat that had been slowly advancing through the clouds began to descend from the sky.

Finally, the Flying Boat hovered over a mountaintop. A graceful figure stepped off and slowly disappeared into the forest below.

Chu Mu stood at the bow of the Flying Boat, watching in silence until her figure vanished from sight.

He took a deep, long breath and then slowly exhaled.

His expression was uncharacteristically complex.

After a long while, he finally looked up at the sky.

The sky was dim, and a hazy drizzle fell, creating a strange sense of oppression.

He waved his hand, and the hovering Flying Boat slowly ascended, soon disappearing back into the clouds.

Above the clouds, it was another world entirely.

The dimness was gone, with no trace of the hazy drizzle.

The sky was a vast, cloudless expanse.

Looking down, he saw a roiling sea of clouds that covered countless mountains and ravines.

He gave a self-deprecating smile and shook his head before entering the cabin again. The Flying Boat continued its slow advance above the sea of clouds.

This journey would be a long one.

Starting from the Ancient Ridge, the journey would take him across the Nanshan Mountain Range, which spanned tens of thousands of miles, through twelve prefectures and one hundred and sixty-two counties. After traversing this region of several hundred thousand miles, he would reach the front lines in the Northwest, where the Righteous Alliance and the Longevity Sect were in a standoff.

Once he crossed the front lines, he would fully enter the Northern Border region, known in the mortal world as the Central Plains.

Legend had it that before the Longevity Sect was founded, the Northern Border was a desolate wasteland. The reason was that the Xingluo Grassland had repeatedly invaded the Northern Border, and the prolonged wars had utterly ravaged the land.

But with the establishment of the Longevity Sect in the Northern Border, the quieting of the Xingluo Grassland, and long years of development, the region’s desolation became a thing of the past.

In both the Cultivation Immortal Realm and the mortal world, it became the indisputable heartland of Great Chu, its most vital region.

However, with the sudden rise of the Righteous Alliance, this superficial harmony was completely shattered.

The Northern Border of today, compared to the past, was clearly somewhat bleak.

But now that the Longevity Sect had suppressed the four clans and one alliance and was flourishing, the order in the Northern Border Land was undoubtedly far more stable than during the previous widespread panic over its impending collapse.

After more than a year, the slowly advancing Flying Boat finally drifted across the border between the Southwest and Northwest, leaving the territory of the Righteous Alliance and entering the region under the Longevity Sect’s rule.

The Flying Boat’s speed remained slow. The Concealing Array Prohibition had long been activated, keeping it hidden within the clouds as it moved forward.

Chu Mu was still sitting cross-legged in the cabin, looking somewhat possessed. His hair was disheveled, and his gaze was fixed intently on the Pill Formula Book.

Inside the cabin, the remnants of various Spirit Medicines were scattered all over the floor.

A thick medicinal smell, tinged with a hint of decay, lingered in the cabin, but Chu Mu paid it no mind. He remained engrossed in pondering the Pill Recipe he had modified countless times.

’Forget it...’

Finally, Chu Mu seemed to have figured something out. He exhaled a turbid breath and abruptly slumped back in his seat. Two Pill Recipes floated down in front of him.

He lifted a finger, and a gentle breeze swept up the two Pill Recipes, placing them steadily on the table.

With another wave of his sleeve, the mess in the cabin was swept clean.

He sat up, his gaze fixing on the two Pill Recipes before him.

Both were Tier Two Upper Grade Pill Recipes, formulated with Bell Stone Spiritual Milk as the core ingredient. Each had been modified countless times.

However, the medicinal effects of the two recipes differed.

One Pill Recipe was designed to perfectly unleash the effects of the Bell Stone Spiritual Milk, making it a Body Refining medicine of the utmost purity.

The other Pill Recipe balanced Body Refining and Magical Power. But obviously, this balance meant its effects were also balanced; it couldn’t possibly have the first recipe’s terrifying Body Refining efficacy.

He pondered for a moment, then with a sweep of his hand, put the two Pill Recipes and the Pill Formula Book away into his Storage Talisman.

He looked out the window. The previous view of mountains and ravines was gone, replaced by a desolate landscape of yellow sand and Gobi desert, with dust filling the sky.

Clearly, he had now entered the Northwest Territory. After crossing this desert Gobi known as Wu Valley and passing through the Three Commanderies, he would reach his destination: Changzhou!

This was the hometown where the man from before had said Elder Li was living in seclusion.

He couldn’t be sure if the information was true or false.

Nor could he be sure if what Elder Li had told that man was true or false.

But for both emotional and logical reasons, this trip was a must.

A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring.

Without a doubt, this was a very long journey.

Back when the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World was still at peace, such a long journey wouldn’t have been a difficult task.

He could have taken a few trips via the Longevity Sect’s Flying Boat transportation network, or, even more conveniently, spent some Spirit Stones to use the sect’s Teleportation Arrays.

But with the war dragging on, he could only travel by himself, forcing him to take numerous tedious detours to avoid certain areas.

Moreover, to keep the Flying Boat’s trail hidden, he couldn’t travel too quickly. Otherwise, the Spiritual Qi fluctuations would be impossible to conceal, making him extremely conspicuous.

In times like these, traveling such long distances was truly inconvenient.

He watched for a moment, then, after a brief thought, raised his hand. The Top Grade Spiritual Artifact Pill Furnace appeared in the cabin.

A True Flame emerged, followed by several bottles of Bell Stone Spiritual Milk and the many corresponding Spirit Medicines.

Chu Mu closed his eyes and regulated his breathing for several hours. When he opened them again, the Spiritual Radiance Blessing descended once more.

Two types of Spirit Milk Pills.

He would split the ingredients in half and refine both types.

As the True Flame blazed, the faint fragrance of Elixirs began to waft through the cabin.

A large Spirit Stone Bag sat in front of Wangcai. Every so often, Wangcai would pick it up in its mouth and place Spirit Stones into the Flying Boat’s Spiritual Power drive cores, replacing those that had run out of Spiritual Qi.

The Flying Boat continued its slow, methodical advance, crossing the Wu Valley desert and then slowly traversing several prefectures in the Northwest.

By deliberately taking detours, he only encountered the hustle and bustle of the mortal world, with no sign of the Northern Border Cultivation Immortal Realm.

The journey was unexpectedly peaceful, without a single incident.

Six months later, the Flying Boat finally began to slowly descend.

Inside the cabin, the True Flame went out at that exact moment.

The several bottles of Bell Stone Spiritual Milk and dozens of corresponding Spirit Medicines had ultimately yielded twenty-one batches of Spirit Milk Pills.

Each batch of Spirit Milk Pills yielded an average of nine pills, for a total of two hundred and one Spirit Milk Pills.

Among them were eighteen One-Patterned Spirit Milk Pills and three Two-Patterned Spirit Milk Pills.

With a flick of his sleeve, he put away the dozens of bottles of Elixirs and the Pill Furnace, then looked outside the Flying Boat’s cabin.

The Flying Boat hovered at the peak of a mountain, offering an easy view of the landscape for dozens of miles below.

A mortal city below was none other than the Commandery City of Changzhou.

From what he understood, Changzhou was adjacent to the Chu Capital, making it a veritable gateway to the Great Chu Capital City.

The Chu Capital itself lay about a thousand miles away in the direction he was currently looking.

He rubbed his forehead, a headache clearly setting in.

The region of Changzhou was not small at all.

Furthermore, its proximity to the Chu Capital guaranteed that there would be a significant number of Cultivators in the area.

Trying to find one person in such a large place was no different than looking for a needle in a haystack.

’Ah, well.’

He let out a long breath. As he leaped off the Flying Boat, he waved his hand, storing it in his Storage Ring.

"Let’s go."

He patted Wangcai. With a flicker of his thought, a Concealing Array Prohibition activated on Wangcai’s Battle Armor.

The Array Prohibition was simple and wouldn’t fool a Cultivator, but it was more than enough to deceive the naked eye of an ordinary mortal.

Regardless of whether Elder Li had truly returned to the mortal world, his focus for now was clearly on the mortal side of Changzhou...

...

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!