A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Looking at the family's grief-stricken expressions, Chen Dafu hesitated, unsure whether he should tell them the truth about Zhou Ping's situation.

It turned out that after he arrived in Qingyang Town, he immediately went to find Zhou Ping's family. However, before he could explain his purpose, he learned from them that Zhou Ping had died.

After Chen Dafu learned that Zhou Ping had died before they met, the news must be false. Otherwise, wouldn't he have seen a ghost in broad daylight?

How meticulous was Chen Dafu? This immediately aroused his suspicion, and he knew that there must be some unknown secret involved.

Perhaps Zhou Ping arranged all of this on purpose, but the reason why remains unknown.

Therefore, after understanding the whole story, Chen Dafu did not take it upon himself to tell Zhou the blacksmith and others about Zhou Ping's appearance in Tianyan Town.

Even Zhou Ping, who was involved in the matter, didn't do that, so he must have had his reasons. As an outsider, I naturally shouldn't overstep my bounds.

"Uncle Zhou, I left the Green Bamboo Sect some time ago, and I really don't know what happened. I only just learned about Senior Brother Zhou's death from you."

After thinking it over, Chen Dafu decided to gloss over the matter for now and let Zhou Ping decide the outcome once he returned safely to Tianyan Town and met with him.

"Young Master Chen, you don't know? Then why did you come to take my whole family to Tianyan Town?"

At this moment, Zhou the blacksmith looked extremely thin. Since learning of Zhou Ping's tragic news, he had been so grief-stricken that he had lost his appetite and grieved in silence every day.

Chen Dafu hesitated to meet Zhou the blacksmith's gaze, silently preparing a response in his mind.

"Uncle Zhou, before I left the Green Bamboo Sect, I was entrusted by Senior Brother Zhou to bring you all to Tianyan Town."

"Looking back now, it seems that Senior Brother Zhou must have already vaguely sensed something back then, which led to his entrustment of Dafu."

Upon hearing this, Zhou the blacksmith's expression darkened, and he let out a deep sigh.

"Judging from what Young Master Chen is saying, has Ping'er encountered some kind of enemy?"

"I don't know about this nephew, but the Green Bamboo Sect has indeed undergone a major change. Many of our fellow disciples have met with misfortune. I only received the news two days ago."

Chen Dafu answered half-truthfully, but he couldn't help feeling a little guilty. Looking at Zhou the blacksmith's weathered face, he felt a pang of pity.

"Father, please take care of yourself. If Xiaoping were still here, he wouldn't want to see you like this."

After settling his family and children in, Zhou Shan looked at his father with concern and said in a low voice.

"Yes, Father, you must take care of your health. What if the news from the Green Bamboo Sect is inaccurate? You can't afford to collapse first."

Zhou Ping's second brother, Zhou He, stood next to Zhou Shan, trying to persuade Zhou the blacksmith while giving Chen Dafu a wink.

"Yes, yes, Uncle Zhou, the Green Bamboo Sect is in a mess right now, and the news coming from inside might not be true. Knowing Senior Brother Zhou as I do, he's not someone to be trifled with. How could he just disappear so easily!"

Chen Dafu said, and in his heart he couldn't help but think more highly of Zhou Ping's second brother. Compared with the honest and simple Zhou Shan, Zhou He was undoubtedly much more shrewd and capable.

Upon hearing his second son and Chen Dafu's words, a glimmer of light seemed to appear in Zhou the blacksmith's eyes, his spirits seemed to recover somewhat, and a glimmer of hope seemed to rekindle in his heart.

.......

The Azure Lotus Boat sped rapidly through the sky, its speed several times faster than a cultivator using the Wind Control Technique.

Zhou Ping, standing at the back, had slowly recovered from his shock.

Yuan Zhengze and Gong Yiyi seemed to have long been accustomed to this mode of flight, their faces showing no emotion.

Zhou Ping was the only one experiencing this for the first time, and while she was filled with excitement, she couldn't help but feel envious of this flying boat-like magical artifact.

"Young friend Zhou, according to what you said, the other party also has a similar flying artifact and set off so far ahead. Even if my flying boat is much faster than his, it may not be able to reach Qingyang Town before him. You should be mentally prepared."

Yuan Zhengze turned around and glanced at Zhou Ping, who was standing quietly at the back, and said calmly.

What the other party said was exactly what Zhou Ping was worried about at that moment.

Tongxin Daoist's junior brother had already taken flight on his flying artifact and headed towards Qingyang Town. Even if his speed wasn't as fast as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he had probably already flown quite a distance, which made him really unsure of himself.

"Regardless of the outcome, I still want to thank my seniors for their help."

Zhou Ping raised his hand in a salute.

"Why are you so dull-witted? How many times have you bowed along the way? I'm getting annoyed for Uncle Yuan!"

Gong Yiyi pouted and said with a look of disgust.

"Haha, it's alright, it's alright. If what Young Friend Zhou said is true, then he will be your Uncle Yuan's nephew from now on. These formalities are not superfluous."

Yuan Zhengze looked at Gong Yiyi with a smile and said casually.

"Uncle Yuan, is the Azure Lotus Mystic Sect fun? Yiyi has never been there before!"

Seeing that Yuan Zhengze was in a good mood, Gong Yiyi tentatively asked him a question.

"Fun? You're so innocent! How many people in this cultivation world dare to say whether the Azure Lotus Mystic Sect is fun or not?"

"With your talent, if you could put more effort into cultivation, you would probably break through to the late stage of Qi Refining in no time. You are truly an enviable cultivation prospect."

With nothing else to do, Yuan Zhengze started talking about Gong Yiyi's cultivation.

It turns out that Gong Yiyi is a cultivator with dual spiritual roots. Such talent is extremely rare, even in a cultivation sect like the Qinglian Xuanzong.

That's why Yuan Zhengze made such a remark, after all, his spiritual root aptitude was only three spiritual roots.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the further one progresses in cultivation, the clearer one's understanding becomes of the importance of aptitude to a cultivator's path to immortality.

Leaving aside distant examples, just comparing him with Xia Qianchuan and Gong Yunting is enough to glean some insight.

Of the three, he was the oldest, but he had the highest cultivation level, having reached the late Foundation Establishment stage.

Gong Yunting was much younger than the other two, so his cultivation level was slightly lower, but he was only one step away from the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

Despite having cultivated for the longest time, Yuan Zhengze's cultivation level was only at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, which was inferior to that of the younger Xia Qianchuan.

The main reason for this result is the spiritual root aptitude of cultivators.

Xia Qianchuan possesses a dual spiritual root, just like Gong Yiyi.

As a result, Xia Qianchuan, who possesses two spiritual roots, cultivates much faster than Yuan Zhengze, who has three spiritual roots, and encounters fewer bottlenecks on his cultivation path, or finds it easier to break through them.

This is the most direct impact that spiritual roots have on cultivators, directly determining the speed of a cultivator's cultivation and the ease with which they can advance their realm.

Even without external opportunities, one can roughly determine the cultivation level a cultivator can ultimately reach simply by looking at their spiritual root attributes.