A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Zhou Ping piloted the flying boat, flying all the way to the foot of the outer edge of Jingxin Peak, and arrived at Xiao Huaichuan's future residence based on Xiao Huaichuan's description.

Having already received his disciple token from Senior Brother Wang, Zhou Ping only needed to choose a private courtyard from the senior brother on duty here.

After landing, Zhou Ping reluctantly put away his flying boat artifact. After all, it was his first time flying in a boat, and this novel experience undoubtedly made him extremely excited.

Dangdang Dangdang!

Zhou Ping raised his hand and knocked on the door of the disciple on duty, then stood quietly outside the door and waited.

"Which senior brother has come to visit? Please come in and have a word."

A moment later, a young man's voice came from inside. Zhou Ping, who was outside the door, did not hesitate and pushed the door open to go in.

"Senior brother, I am Zhou Ping, a newly initiated disciple. I would like to trouble you to arrange a place for me to stay."

Zhou Ping stepped forward and bowed, speaking in a calm tone, before handing over the disciple token he had obtained from Senior Brother Wang.

"So it's Junior Brother Zhou... No, no, come forward quickly."

Inside the house, a man dressed in a green robe, a disciple's uniform, stood up and took the token handed to him. After carefully examining it for a moment with his shrewd eyes, he greeted him with a smile.

Led by the disciple on duty, Zhou Ping arrived at a huge square stone table. He glanced at it and knew that it was a simplified sand table of the land beneath his feet.

"I am the disciple on duty here. Junior Brother Zhou, please feel free to make any requests. As long as they are within the rules, we will satisfy you."

The man in the green robe said with a broad smile, then pointed to the square sand table on the side and continued to explain.

"Junior brother, please look. This sand table includes the residences of all our Qi Refining stage disciples in the Azure Lotus Profound Sect. The yellow areas indicate that disciples have already moved in, while the green areas represent those that are still vacant. Disciples are free to choose."

"Thank you for your trouble, Senior Brother Shan. Please allow me to take a look."

On the surface, Zhou Ping appeared calm, but inwardly he was starting to feel uneasy. This senior brother Shan's attitude towards him was a bit too enthusiastic, which made the usually meticulous Zhou Ping feel somewhat at a loss.

"Yes, yes, Junior Brother Zhou, please choose whatever you like."

Senior Brother Shan spoke gently, showing no impatience with Zhou Ping's request.

He has been stationed here for several years, and few people visit this place on weekdays; this task is just a leisurely job.

Since the official time for Qinglian Xuanzong to recruit disciples has long passed, no new disciples will come to check in.

Zhou Ping's sudden visit today made Senior Brother Shan, who was used to having a leisurely life, quite nervous.

Despite the fact that the other party's cultivation level was only at the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage, the impact he received was no less than that of his senior brothers who were at the later stages of the Qi Refining stage.

The reason is simple: to be exceptionally admitted to the Azure Lotus Profound Sect at this time, it's obvious that the person must have an unknown background or reliance, which is incomparable to the disciples who joined the sect through layers of selection.

Feeling the attentiveness of Senior Brother Shan, Zhou Ping could only pretend not to notice and kept his eyes glued to the sand table as he made his selections.

Considering the future growth of spiritual plants, Zhou Ping's gaze mostly lingered on the edge of the sand table.

He discovered that the more central the residence, the more fellow disciples lived there. On the contrary, the edges of the model not only had more space but also large green areas. It seemed that these remote places were not favored by his fellow disciples.

"Senior Brother Shan, I have a question. Why are there so many empty houses in these remote areas? Is there some special reason behind it?"

Since the other party was so polite, Zhou Ping was happy to oblige and directly voiced his questions. Having an elder from the sect willingly answer his questions was exactly what he was looking for.

"Junior brother, you may not know this, but the reason why these remote areas have large uninhabited areas is because they are surrounded by deep mountains and forests, where wild beasts often roam. To avoid being bothered by them, all of you have avoided these areas."

"A ferocious beast has appeared? How could there be a ferocious beast within the sect's borders?"

Upon hearing Senior Brother Shan's explanation, Zhou Ping's expression became even more puzzled.

He found it very puzzling that such a powerful sect would have so many ferocious birds and beasts within its territory.

"Although Junior Brother Zhou has just joined the sect, he must have already discovered the vast territory of my Qinglian Xuan Sect in the Middle Ancient Mountains. It is no exaggeration to say that even the largest city in the entire Liang Kingdom is far smaller than my sect."

"Such a vast territory, located deep in the mountains, naturally attracts a huge number of ferocious birds and demonic beasts. In the early days of the Qinglian Xuanzong sect, the sect's patriarch had the well-being of all living beings in mind and did not exterminate the demons here. If a high-level demonic beast appears, it must either leave on its own or join our sect and become our sect's guardian beast. Otherwise, it will be regarded as a demon causing trouble and become a training object for the sect's disciples, who can decide its life or death."

Zhou Ping nodded thoughtfully, quickly analyzing the other person's words in his mind.

Has the well-being of all living beings in mind?

It's probably not that simple. Although Zhou Ping hasn't been in the cultivation world for very long, he has already figured out the nature of these people from the cultivators he has met.

Cultivating immortality is a path that defies the heavens, and the difficulties and dangers along the way are far more numerous and perilous than people imagine. Not to mention anything else, the competition for cultivation resources alone can drive people crazy.

People like Tong Xin and his disciples, the rogue cultivator Bond, and the missing Daoist Mingxin—these cultivators would stop at nothing to improve their cultivation level. The principles of propriety, righteousness, and shame that are valued by mortals are utterly worthless in their eyes.

The law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak and one must contend with the heavens, is the most basic yet cruel rule of cultivation in the world of immortals.

The fact that the patriarch of the Qinglian Xuanzong sect did not exterminate all the demonic beasts in this area suggests that his true intentions were likely more complex.

You should know that these low-level demonic beasts are considered treasures by cultivators. Almost all of the four arts of cultivation require the use of special parts produced from the bodies of demonic beasts.

For example, the talisman brush and talisman paper used in the art of talisman making require the feathers of some spirit birds and the blood of some demon beasts. These spiritual objects, which come from the bodies of demon beasts, have a certain spirituality. Their effects are undoubtedly worlds apart from ordinary paper and brush.

"It seems that the ancestor of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect has indirectly kept these demonic beasts in captivity, so that he can obtain a continuous supply of cultivation resources from these massive groups of demonic beasts."

Zhou Ping secretly wondered, and his admiration for the patriarch of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect grew even stronger.