Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

The wind was strong at night on the cliff edge on the east side of Medicine Valley.

Chen Yuan leaned against a rock, the blood he coughed up staining his chest a dark red. Bai Zhi squatted beside him, using a torn piece of her clothing dipped in the spiritual spring water to gently wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. The water was freshly drawn from the valley floor and was icy cold to the touch.

"Can you still walk?" she asked.

Chen Yuan shook his head, then nodded. He braced himself against the rock wall with his right hand, slowly lifting himself up. His legs were trembling, but he stood firm.

"Where are we going?" Bai Zhi held his arm.

"I don't know." Chen Yuan looked towards the eastern horizon, where the sky was beginning to lighten. "Let's leave the Flying Feather Sect's territory first."

"and then?"

"Then..." Chen Yuan paused, "find a place to recover. Once you're healed, then we'll think about what happens next."

Bai Zhi didn't ask any more questions. She took Chen Yuan's other arm, and the two staggered down the path at the bottom of the cliff. The path was narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass at a time, and below was a deep canyon, with a strong wind blowing up from the bottom, making their robes flutter loudly.

Halfway there, Chen Yuan suddenly stopped.

"etc."

He turned back and looked towards the main peak of the Flying Feather Sect. In the morning mist, the seventy-two peaks resembled a group of crouching giant beasts, with the highest peak, Heavenly Pillar Peak, piercing through the clouds, and the Ancestral Hall on its summit gleaming golden in the morning light.

Looked for a long time.

"Do you want to go back?" Bai Zhi asked softly.

Chen Yuan shook his head.

"I'm not going back." He turned around and continued walking downhill. "There's no way for me there anymore."

Footsteps echoed along the cliffside path, one after another, gradually fading into the distance.

---

At the same time, in the council hall of the Flying Feather Sect.

Seven people sat inside the hall. The three at the head of the table were the Supreme Elders, with white hair and black robes, meditating with their eyes closed. To their left were Jiang Tianzheng, the head of the Discipline Hall, and Elder Zhang, the head of the Array Court. To their right was Su Wanqing, the head of the Pill Hall, and there was an empty seat—which should have been for Mu Shoujing.

"Changchun Realm has completely collapsed." Jiang Tianzheng's voice was calm, as if he were reading a trivial case file. "The array within the realm is completely destroyed, the spiritual plants are burned to ashes, and the earth's veins are severed. Elder Mu Shoujing... his whereabouts are unknown."

"Missing?" A senior elder opened his eyes. "Is he dead or alive?"

"There are traces of a large amount of stellar energy remaining at the scene, as well as ashes from Elder Mu's burning natal spiritual root." Jiang Tianzheng paused, "The possibility of him surviving is less than 10%."

The hall was quiet for a moment.

"Who did it?" another elder asked.

"Chen Yuan," Jiang Tianzheng said, "Elder Mu's last disciple. And his other disciple, Bai Zhi. Both of them are currently missing."

"A Qi Refining stage disciple could destroy a Golden Core elder's grotto-heaven?" Elder Zhang frowned. "Chief Inspector Jiang, do you even believe that yourself?"

"The traces at the scene don't lie." Jiang Tianzheng took out a jade slip from his sleeve, activated his spiritual power, and the jade slip projected the scene of the ruins of Changchun Realm—scorched earth, rift valleys, and residual silver-white light spots. "These are remnants of stellar power. The purity... is comparable to the primordial power of a Nascent Soul cultivator."

Su Wanqing suddenly asked, "Where did Chen Yuan get the power of the stars?"

"I don't know." Jiang Tianzheng put away the jade slip. "But three months ago, when he was treating Wu Xiaoshuan in the shantytown, he used a similar power. Gu He was there at the time and called him 'Other Source'."

"Gu He," a senior elder uttered the name, his tone complex, "that old madman has gotten involved again?"

"At midnight last night, someone saw the ancient river appear near the Medicine Valley," Jiang Tianzheng said. "A quarter of an hour later, Changchun Realm collapsed."

Silence fell once again in the hall.

After a long while, the third Supreme Elder slowly said, "The sect has long known about Mu Shoujing's cultivation of the 'Yi Wood Longevity Technique'."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to him.

"Three hundred years ago, he brought back a fragment of a cultivation technique from an ancient secret realm. We warned him that the technique was too evil and might backfire," the elder continued. "He wouldn't listen. He said that cultivating immortality was inherently going against the will of Heaven, and whether it was evil or not depended on how it was used."

"So you just let him have his way?" Su Wanqing asked.

"Let him be?" The elder laughed, a bitter laugh. "Why not? He's three hundred years old, in the late Golden Core stage, and is the sect's most promising candidate to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. As long as he can reach the Nascent Soul stage, the Flying Feather Sect can dominate the Southern Wilderness for another three hundred years. As for what cultivation technique he practices, how much life force he draws... does it matter?"

He looked at Jiang Tianzheng.

"Chief Inspector Jiang, have you really not noticed anything all these years in the Discipline Hall?"

Jiang Tianzheng remained silent.

"I noticed it." He finally spoke. "Seven years ago, when Liu Muyun disappeared, I investigated. But Elder Mu said that Liu Muyun went on a journey and his soul lamp was still lit, so there was no evidence."

"Where is Zhao Hongyu?" Elder Zhang asked.

"He disappeared four years ago, also saying he was traveling around," Jiang Tianzheng said. "I went to Changchun Realm, and Elder Mu let me go in to take a look—the spiritual plants were lush, the spiritual energy was abundant, and there was nothing unusual."

"Then why are you investigating again this time?" Su Wanqing pressed.

"Because of Chen Yuan." Jiang Tianzheng looked at her. "That kid has a certain spirit. He's a rogue cultivator from the shantytown, with the aptitude of four spiritual roots, yet he was able to make the Yin Soul Flower bear fruit within three months, create something like the Golden Thread Grass Ring, and even survive under Gu He's command... He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would die in obscurity."

He paused.

"So I sent Wang Mo to test the waters and put pressure on them. I wanted to see how Elder Mu would react and what choice Chen Yuan would make."

"Then he chose the most potent one," Su Wanqing said, "destroying Changchun Realm, betraying his sect, and becoming a fugitive."

"Yes." Jiang Tianzheng nodded. "He chose the most difficult path."

Footsteps sounded outside the hall. They were very light, but each step was rhythmic, causing everyone inside to look up.

Guhe walked in.

He still wore the same gray robe, had disheveled hair, and a sickly face. He didn't bow, but went straight to the empty seat, took out a gourd from his robe, and took a swig.

"Is everyone here?" He wiped his mouth. "If everyone's here, let's get down to business."

"Gu He," a senior elder said in a deep voice, "where is Chen Yuan?"

"I don't know." Gu He placed the wine gourd on the table. "Probably in the spatial turbulence. I gave him a boundary-breaking talisman, which can tear open a void rift once. As for where it is on the other side, that depends on luck."

"Did you help him escape?" Jiang Tianzheng asked.

"Otherwise what?" Gu He glanced at him sideways. "Waiting for you to capture him, extract his soul for interrogation, dig out the secrets of the power of stars, and then lock him in the dungeon to be kept as a 'resource' for the sect?"

"The Flying Feather Sect will not—"

"You wouldn't?" Gu He interrupted Jiang Tianzheng, laughing. "Chief Jiang, we've both lived for hundreds of years, don't talk like children. A Qi Refining disciple with extraordinary abilities, capable of killing Golden Core cultivators, would you let him go? Would you let him leave without squeezing every last drop of value out of him?"

No one in the hall objected.

"What is Chen Yuan?" Gu He continued, his voice echoing in the empty hall. "He is an 'Otherworldly Source.' He is a natural variable that arises from the decline of heaven and earth. His stellar power is not something he cultivated; it is innate, a seed sown by this world in its attempt to save itself."

He stood up and walked to the center of the hall.

"Why did Mu Shoujing target him? Because his life force is extraordinary, like a torch in the dark, dazzlingly bright. Why are you all sitting here discussing him now? Because he proved that even a Qi Refining cultivator can kill a Golden Core cultivator, that rules can be broken, and that destiny can be defied."

He turned to face the three Supreme Elders.

"My three senior uncles, what has the Flying Feather Sect relied on to survive for seven hundred years? Is it by following the rules? Is it by reasoning? No. It is by generations of 'defiant individuals' who have carved out a bloody path in desperate situations and turned the impossible into the possible."

He raised his hand and pointed outside the hall.

"Chen Yuan is next. You can capture him, lock him up, study him, and use him. But if you do that, the Flying Feather Sect will be truly finished—becoming a retirement home guarding its ancestral property and waiting to die, no longer able to produce a sword that can cleave the sky."

As soon as he finished speaking, Guhe took another swig of wine.

Then he turned and walked out of the hall.

"Where are you going?" Su Wanqing asked.

"Find the next seed." Gu He didn't even turn his head. "The world is so vast, there must be other 'alternative sources.' Once we find one, tell him that this world isn't completely rotten yet, there's still hope."

The gray-robed figure disappeared outside the palace gate.

No one spoke for a long time in the council hall.

Finally, Jiang Tianzheng stood up.

"The Disciplinary Hall's advice," he said, "Elder Mu Shoujing failed in his seclusion and died. Changchun Realm collapsed due to the loss of control over its formation. His disciples Chen Yuan and Bai Zhi went out for training and encountered danger and went missing. The sect... has done its best to search for them, but their fate is in the hands of fate."

He looked at the three Supreme Elders.

"Is this arrangement acceptable?"

The three elders exchanged a glance and slowly nodded.

"Can."

---

Three days later, the Flying Feather Sect issued an obituary.

Elder Mu Shoujing, a Golden Core cultivator, failed in his attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul stage and perished. The Changchun Cave Heaven collapsed due to the backlash from its formation. His disciples Chen Yuan and Bai Zhi, while out gathering spiritual materials for his breakthrough, encountered a spatial rift and disappeared.

The sect posthumously conferred upon Mu Shoujing the title of "Guardian Elder" and erected a cenotaph at the ancestral tomb.

No one mentioned the blood pool.

No one mentioned the seven skeletons.

No one mentioned the chaotic divine crystal that shattered and shone again, shone and shattered again.

---

Seven days later, they arrived at the cliff face of Medicine Valley.

Jiang Tianzheng stood alone, holding a photographic jade in his hand. The jade recorded the final scene of the ruins of Changchun Realm—scorched earth, cracks, and those silvery-white specks of light floating in the air.

He stared at it for a long time, then clenched his fingers.

The jade slip shattered, turning into powder that scattered with the wind.

"Chief Jiang."

A voice came from behind. Su Wanqing walked over, carrying a food box containing three offerings: a ghost flower fruit, a string of golden thread grass rings, and a piece of charred vine.

She placed the offerings in front of the cliff and lit three incense sticks.

"Do you think he's still alive?" she asked.

"I don't know," Jiang Tianzheng said. "Spatial turbulence, it's a nine-out-of-ten chance of death."

"What if you survive?"

"He survived..." Jiang Tianzheng looked towards the eastern horizon, where white clouds stretched endlessly. "That's his good fortune."

Su Wanqing remained silent for a moment.

"Do you believe what Furukawa said—'alternative origins,' 'variables,' 'the decline of heaven and earth'...?"

"Whether you believe it or not is not important." Jiang Tianzheng turned around and walked out of the Medicine Valley. "What is important is that this world really needs a few people who don't believe in fate."

He took a few steps, stopped, and looked back at the cliff one last time.

In the morning light, the rock face appears dark and hard, covered with mottled moss.

It looks like a tombstone.

It's like a starting point.

"Chen Yuan." Jiang Tianzheng murmured the name, then smiled, "What a... defiant person."

The wind rises, stirring up the incense ash on the ground.

The ashes swirled in the air and drifted into the distance.

It drifted further and further away.

Until it disappeared into the depths of the sea of ​​clouds.