Cultivating Immortality: Starting from Ferrying Passengers

Chapter 128 Recent Status of the Two Pets
In the middle of the Qinghe River, a giant black tortoise is drifting downstream. On the back of this spirit tortoise, there are many things, including two pots of lush and green spiritual plants that attract the attention of others.

Fang Jingxuan sat cross-legged in front, with the Enlightenment Vine and the Longevity Cypress, which he shared with, neatly arranged on Tuoyuan's back, receiving the sunlight.

Hongyefang has been left far behind and is no longer in sight. He is now about to cross the Chu family's sphere of influence and arrive at the He family's territory in Qinghe.

Further ahead lies the border between the Dan Ding Sect and the Lian Shui Alliance.

As a buffer zone between the two forces, there were no powerful forces stationed here. Fang Jingxuan originally wanted to settle down here, but after thinking about it, he decided to continue to go further downstream.

He recalled Lao He's warning: the Dan Ding Sect's patriarch hadn't shown his face for many years, and the Dan Ding Sect was now like sitting on a volcano, ready to erupt at any moment.

Whether it's external forces trying to take advantage of the Dan Ding Ancestor's absence to plunder or cause trouble.

Even within the Dan Ding Sect, the power struggles among the major factions are still ongoing. Fang Jingxuan predicts that within two to three years at most, the Dan Ding Sect will definitely descend into chaos.

After all, ten years is not a short time for a Golden Core cultivator. If the Pill Cauldron Ancestor were still alive, he would not have been able to remain in seclusion for so long.

It is widely speculated that the Old Ancestor of Alchemy may have attracted a celestial demon during his cultivation, which led to his demise.

Regardless of whether the Pill Cauldron Ancestor is alive or dead, Fang Jingxuan no longer wants to stay in the Pill Cauldron Sect. As a buffer zone between the two sides, if he were to settle here, he would definitely be the first to be impacted by external forces.

Therefore, Fang Jingxuan wanted to go further downstream, crossing most of Lianshui Alliance, and enter the mouth of the bay, where he planned to settle down on a narrow peninsula.

This area is located between the Lian Shui Alliance and the Chaotic Star Sea. Although it is chaotic, it is not as bloody and cruel as the outer sea, and there is still a slight sense of order.

However, even the Water Alliance didn't invest too much power here, since there were no third-tier spiritual veins here, the largest being only second-tier, which could only support some Foundation Establishment cultivators, not enough for Golden Core cultivators to reside here long-term.

Without a Golden Core cultivator to oversee the area, the rule here is not very stable. In addition, cultivators from the Chaotic Star Sea come here from time to time to settle accounts and plunder, resulting in a small number of cultivators here, far fewer than those inside White Mountain.

In the cultivation world, the quality of a place is judged solely by the distribution of spiritual veins. If it is a high-level spiritual vein, even if the surrounding area is barren mountains and treacherous waters, and is full of poisonous miasma, it is still a celestial land.

Conversely, without high-level spiritual lands, no matter how good the environment is, few cultivators are willing to stay there for long, which is undoubtedly considered a wasteland in everyone's eyes.

However, the South China Sea Islands region, which is only at the second-tier spiritual land, is just right for Fang Jingxuan's development. There are not many strong cultivators here, and even the Water Alliance looks down on this place. High-level cultivators from the Chaotic Star Sea would not come to such a remote and impoverished place to freeload.

With the seawater everywhere, Tuoyuan can always maintain his strongest combat power. With Tuoyuan and Liugu, Fang Jingxuan has now cultivated to the eighth level of Qi Refining. He feels that below the Foundation Establishment stage, he has no rivals.

As you travel downstream, the Qinghe River's drainage area expands further downstream until it enters the territory of Lianshui League, where it merges into the Nujiang River, its width reaching over ten miles.

This was Fang Jingxuan's first time sailing on the Nu River. Every now and then, many different kinds of boats passed by, and Fang Jingxuan was seeing many of them for the first time.

The largest of these were the merchant ships that carried goods, some as long as eighty zhang and as wide as fifteen or sixteen zhang. They sailed on the Nu River, constantly taking in and spitting out cargo at various docks along the river.

Along the way, Fang Jingxuan felt that Lian Shui Alliance was more prosperous than Dan Ding Sect. However, even at the most superficial level of commercial comparison, the combined strength of the five Dan Ding Sects was not as great as that of Lian Shui Alliance.

Inside the Dan Ding Sect, goods are still transported by pack animals pulling carts, while the Lian Shui Alliance has already used large cargo ships with a capacity of several thousand tons. A pack animal can only pull 10,000 jin at a time, while a cargo ship can transport hundreds of millions of jin of goods.

The economic base determines the superstructure, and this principle should also apply to the spiritual practice world.

Fang Jingxuan drifted downstream, successfully traversing the 8,000-mile Nujiang River basin in just two or three days. During his journey, some cultivators conducted checks, but these were relatively simple; once they confirmed Fang Jingxuan was neither a demonic nor a ghost cultivator, and didn't inquire about his origins, they simply let him pass.

Moreover, the further along the river, the larger the Nujiang River basin became, almost turning into a sea. With its wide expanse of water, spanning dozens of miles, Fang Jingxuan didn't encounter anyone for a long time.

Tuoyuan was quite content along the way, becoming more energetic the closer it got to places where the river was full of spiritual energy.

Over the past two years, Tuoyuan's physical appearance has not changed much, after all, it has reached adulthood, but its true cultivation level has been constantly increasing. It is now at the seventh level of Qi Refining, and is almost at the eighth level.

The later the cultivation level, the more difficult it becomes to increase, and Tuoyuan is no exception. However, with the accumulation of Moon Dew, its strength is still growing rapidly.

Not only Tuoyuan, but also Liugu, after nearly three years of being nourished by the moonlight and jade dew, its second bone orifice is showing signs of opening.

If the six bones open another aperture, then all five meridians of heaven and earth will unfold simultaneously. At that time, anyone below the Foundation Establishment stage will die.

The five lines of heaven and earth allow for the arrangement of more black and white chess pieces, forming even more powerful magical abilities.

Under these circumstances, Fang Jingxuan did not believe that any Qi Refining cultivator could withstand it.

Even if a Foundation Establishment cultivator were to arrive in person, Fang Jingxuan would still have the confidence to escape at will.

It was precisely because of this confidence that Fang Jingxuan dared to leave Red Leaf Workshop and choose to venture out to the near sea.

Ten days later, Tuoyuan finally followed the warm currents of the near sea and arrived at the area east of Lianshui Alliance, west of Luanxing Sea, and south of the border of Baishan: the South China Sea Islands.

"We need to find a place to stay first, gather some intelligence, and then make a more careful plan. To be on the safe side, I'll disguise myself as a rogue cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refining. I can't bring Tuoyuan with me; it's too conspicuous."

In the sea, Fang Jingxuan lay on Tuoyuan's back, holding a geomantic map in his hand, studying it carefully.

However, this geomantic map was bought in Hongyefang, and it clearly shows the distribution of power around Dan Ding Sect.

However, the South China Sea islands, which are more than 20,000 miles away, are very blurry on this map. There are just some small dots randomly drawn to indicate that there are islands, but no other information.

Left with no other choice, Fang Jingxuan had to go and find out the information himself. He hoped that he could find an inhabited island and go ashore to rest for a few days. After all, he was not used to drifting on the Qinghe River, the Nujiang River, and the sea.

At that moment, a blurry black dot appeared in the distance ahead, and Fang Jingxuan immediately strained his eyes to look over it.

Upon closer inspection, Fang Jingxuan was somewhat disappointed; it turned out to be just a cargo ship, not the island he had hoped for.

After entering the sea, I felt like I had lost my way. I blame myself for staying at home and cultivating, focusing only on meditation, and not even learning the art of flying. Otherwise, I could have flown high in the sky and gazed into the distance.

However, this cargo ship also brought hope to Fang Jingxuan. Since he had encountered it, he might as well go and ask about it.

Fang Jingxuan then gestured for Tuoyuan to move forward. As they approached, Fang Jingxuan frowned. He sensed the residual spiritual energy fluctuations from the battle, which had not yet subsided.

This ship has a lot of problems.

(End of this chapter)