A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

"Senior Brother Fang, I'd like to exchange for some informational books about the Five Elements Realm, but I don't know where to obtain them?"

Inside the Asking Pavilion, Zhou Ping approached his senior brother Fang Miao, who was passing on his skills, to inquire about some secrets concerning the Five Elements Realm governed by the Five Sects.

After the two met, Fang Miao noticed Zhou Ping's aged appearance and, after learning more about it, naturally sighed with regret.

"Junior Brother Zhou, to make it easier for the disciples of the sect to understand, all the records about the Five Elements Realm have been copied onto some jade slips by several senior uncles. You can simply go inside and exchange them for merit points."

Fang Miao pointed to a secret room in the Asking Pavilion and explained to Zhou Ping.

Zhou Ping looked up and his face lit up with joy. He hadn't expected that the sect had already compiled it into jade slips, which made things much easier and saved him the trouble of collecting and searching for it.

"Junior Brother Zhou!"

Seeing Zhou Ping bid him farewell and was about to head towards the secret chamber, Fang Miao hurriedly called out to stop him.

"Does Junior Brother intend to participate in the Five Elements Realm Trial four years from now?"

Zhou Ping came here to inquire about matters related to the Five Elements Realm, and his intentions were obvious. Fang Miao, as his senior brother who had passed on his skills, felt it necessary to ask him, since Zhou Ping's cultivation and realm were somewhat lacking, and he was afraid that Zhou Ping might make a fool of himself in a moment of impulsiveness.

"Senior Brother Fang is joking. With Zhou Ping's cultivation level, how could he be qualified to participate? He just wanted to learn a little about it in advance."

Zhou Ping naturally guessed the hidden meaning in the other party's words and shook his head in reply.

"That's good, that's good. It's good that you know the key points. This Five Elements Realm Trial is no ordinary trial. Even I, your senior brother, wasn't confident at all after I went in."

Seeing that Zhou Ping understood the gravity of the situation, Fang Miao's expression softened slightly, and he said helplessly.

"Senior brother, with your Qi Refining Level 9 cultivation and impressive magical abilities, you're actually not confident about the Five Elements Realm Trial?"

This time it was Zhou Ping's turn to be surprised. Fang Miao, as the senior disciple of the Dao Asking Pavilion, possessed cultivation and knowledge that made him one of the best among the Qi Refining disciples of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect.

Zhou Ping was shocked to learn that even a ninth-level cultivator like him was terrified of the Five Elements Realm Trial.

"Junior brother, you have only been practicing for a short time. After you have learned about the secrets of the Five Elements Realm in the jade slip, you will naturally understand my concerns."

Seeing the disbelief on Zhou Ping's face, Fang Miao sighed and continued,

"Regardless of when Junior Brother plans to embark on his journey to the Five Elements Realm, let's not even mention the dangers there—you'll learn about them later. But as your senior brother who imparts his skills to you, I have an obligation to tell you about the situation of the Five Great Mystic Sects, so that you can understand in advance the dangers you might encounter in the Five Elements Realm. These things are not mentioned in the jade slip."

"Thank you very much, Senior Brother. Zhou Ping is all ears."

Upon hearing Fang Miao's words, Zhou Ping's expression changed. He was deeply moved by Fang Miao's kindness and quickly thanked him again.

Fang Miao didn't stand on ceremony. As Zhou Ping's senior brother who had passed on his skills, he was fully entitled to Zhou Ping's bow.

The teacher-student and friend-like relationship between the two is very common in the Qinglian Xuanzong sect, and it is also one of the closer groups of fellow disciples in the Qinglian Xuanzong sect.

These senior disciples, who are the backbone of mentoring newcomers, naturally do not hesitate to show their goodwill while earning merit within the sect.

This is also a clever way of dealing with people. If any of the new disciples he mentors can make great strides on the path of cultivation and become a pillar or senior figure in the sect, then the good deeds he did in the past will benefit them immensely.

As the saying goes, "his students are all over the world," and this is exactly the case.

This seemingly insignificant bond between master and disciple will eventually blossom and bear fruit, as the number of disciples increases.

Fang Miao paused for a moment, then gestured for Zhou Ping to sit down and talk before slowly introducing the general situation of the five major sects to the latter.

Although the five major sects hold an absolute leading position in the cultivation world of Liang Kingdom, they do not have a harmonious relationship with each other.

The patriarchs of the five sects may have a tacit understanding of being of one mind with each other, but the disciples of the sects are quite the opposite.

Resources in the cultivation world are limited, and no one is willing to give them away easily. This leads to extremely fierce competition among the disciples of the five sects. The leaders and patriarchs of each sect do not object, treating it all as a training exercise for their disciples.

Therefore, the younger disciples of the five sects have implicitly formed two opposing forces.

Among the five sects, the Crimson Refining Profound Sect is the strongest, and it has the potential to become the leader of the five great sects. It has always been on good terms with the Yellow Court Profound Sect, so they naturally joined forces and became even more powerful together.

The remaining three sects naturally wouldn't sit idly by and wait for their doom. The Tai Su Xuan Sect, whose strength was comparable to that of the Chi Lian Xuan Sect, took the lead and joined forces with the Qing Lian and Bi Hua Sects. The three sects formed another force, standing up to the Chi Lian and Huang Ting Sects.

Therefore, the struggle for opportunities in the cultivation world of the Great Liang Dynasty is mostly influenced by these two forces.

The Five Elements Realm Trial is the most important trial opportunity for all Qi Refining stage disciples of the five major sects. Each time it is opened, it attracts almost all the elite disciples of the five sects who have achieved success in cultivation and have a little reputation to participate.

Many disciples who had already advanced to the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage had been stuck in this realm for over a decade due to the lack of an opportunity to establish their foundation. They still regarded this trial as their ultimate goal, determined to break through the shackles and achieve the foundation-building achievement.

Therefore, among the five sects, in addition to the younger generation of disciples participating in the Five Elements Realm Trial, many elderly cultivators in their forties and fifties will also reappear before the public to compete for the rare treasures and foundation-building opportunities.

This type of person has stayed in the Qi Refining stage for too long. Needless to say, their cultivation level is exceptional. Moreover, after more than ten years of collecting and accumulating, they have a wide variety of sharp magical artifacts and methods. None of them are easy to get along with.

Besides these older generation cultivators, each of the five sects has a leading figure among the younger generation. These young prodigies are outstanding in talent and are the seeds of cultivation from various sects and families. Their strength surpasses that of their peers, and few can rival them. It is not an exaggeration to compare them to the strongest group of cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage.

Among them, the most feared are the Qi Refining stage Daoists of each generation of the Crimson Refining Profound Sect. Their strength is so great that even in the Crimson Refining Profound Sect, which is full of experts, they are heaven-defying beings who can overshadow a generation. Among the five major sects, only the outstanding disciples of the remaining four sects have the possibility of competing with them. The rest of them have almost no desire to even get them to take action.

These people are the true protagonists in the Five Elements Realm Trial, and also the strong contenders for various secret treasures and opportunities.

"With Senior Brother Fang's cultivation and abilities, is it possible that he is unable to compete with these people?"

After listening to Fang Miao's introduction, Zhou Ping asked with a conflicted expression.

After all, in his eyes, Fang Miao was already an extremely outstanding person in the Azure Lotus Profound Sect. Such a lucrative position as the Asking the Way Pavilion was not something that ordinary people could easily obtain, which in itself said something.

If even Fang Miao lacked confidence in the Five Elements Realm Trial, he couldn't imagine what he could achieve with his mediocre cultivation level.

"Junior brother is joking. With my cultivation level, it is already a stroke of luck to be ranked among the top twenty Qi Refining disciples of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect, let alone in the Five Elements Realm where all five sects are gathered."

Fang Miao gave a self-deprecating laugh, his face looking somewhat gloomy.

Top 20?

Zhou Ping stared wide-eyed in surprise, pursing his slightly dry lips in disbelief.

He remembered that Senior Brother Qin Changqing was among the top five Qi Refining disciples in the sect, while Qin Changqing was only at the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage at that time.

Now that he has successfully advanced to the ninth level, wouldn't his strength be even more unfathomable in four years?

It seems he underestimated Qin Changqing; the opponent's strength may not even be the tip of the iceberg yet.

"May I ask, senior brother, who are the leading figures in the Qi Refining stage among the five major sects today?"

After secretly considering how terrifying Qin Changqing was, Zhou Ping asked this question out of curiosity.

After a slight hesitation, Fang Miao told him what information he knew.

"Among the five great sects today, only four can be called Qi Refining stage cultivators who can withstand the pressure of the cauldron."

"Four?! Why is that?"

Zhou Ping asked with a puzzled look, "The five great sects only have four leaders at the Qi Refining stage. This seems rather strange."

"Junior brother, don't be impatient. Let me explain slowly."

Fang Miao's expression held a hint of mystery, which piqued Zhou Ping's interest.

"These four are almost universally recognized as Qi Refining stage prodigies, coming from the four sects of Chi Lian, Huang Ting, Bi Hua, and Tai Su respectively."

"Junior brother, you heard me right. There is indeed no one from my Azure Lotus Profound Sect."

"Let's talk about the other four sects first. These Qi Refining stage prodigies gained recognition and trust from everyone in their respective sects through overwhelming strength, which is why they became famous."

"The four are Fairy Qingyi of Bihua Xuanzong, Daoist Xuanfeng of Huangting Xuanzong, Fairy Yuening of Taisu Xuanzong, and Chilingzi of Chilian Xuanzong."

Zhou Ping touched his chin, his eyes filled with confusion.

No wonder, he had never heard of any of these four people before and naturally had no impression of them.

After all, he had only been in the Azure Lotus Profound Sect for a short time, and even though he was a leading figure in his own sect, he knew very little about it, let alone the other four sects.

Fang Miao was not surprised to see Zhou Ping's blank expression. Ordinary Qinglian disciples could not access information about the experts from other sects, and very few people would spend special effort to find out about things that were temporarily irrelevant to them.

Even he only started paying attention to these rumors and secrets after breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

"Among the five sects, only my Azure Lotus Profound Sect doesn't care much about the sparring and competition between Qi Refining stage disciples. The patriarchs also seem to let it go, unlike the other four sects, which occasionally take out some strange magical artifacts as rewards and hold sect competitions between low-level disciples."

"In contrast, the cultivation atmosphere is completely different. The disciples of the other four sects are mostly competitive, and they follow the cultivation philosophy of seizing all resources and opportunities by force. On the other hand, the disciples of Qinglian are more focused on their own cultivation, rarely competing with others, and devote more energy to the accumulation and refinement of their own Dao fruit. This indifferent and detached attitude towards cultivation has been despised and rejected by the disciples of the other four sects more than once. They believe that among the five sects, only the disciples of Qinglian are hypocritical and two-faced. They seem to be non-competitive, but in reality, they are a group of people who will not act until they see a benefit. Once an opportunity is presented, they will become like venomous snakes in the shadows, and they may bite someone at any time."

As Zhou Ping listened to Fang Miao's description, a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face. Who would describe their sect like that?

Fang Miao scoffed at this, and continued,

"Junior brother, don't disbelieve me. You'll see once you've been in the sect for a while. Many of my fellow disciples really are just like that."

"That's why the most outstanding disciples among us Qinglian have never fought each other. Opinions vary on who is stronger and who is weaker, and no one knows for sure."

"This result directly led to the fact that our Qinglian Xuanzong has not had a clear leader in the Five Elements Realm Trials in previous years, and naturally we have not been able to elect a senior brother who can rival the geniuses of the other four sects."

"Fortunately, the disciples of Qinglian do not care much about these empty titles. In each Five Elements Realm Trial, their performance is not much worse than that of the other four sects. In fact, there are always those who can turn the tide and rise up in times of crisis, making a name for themselves in the Five Elements Realm."

After Fang Miao finished speaking, he glanced at Zhou Ping with lingering interest, seemingly showing great admiration for these senior figures from various sects.

On the contrary, Zhou Ping nodded calmly and then carefully considered every word Fang Miao said, revealing a thoughtful expression.

Zhou Ping quite admired the Qinglian Xuanzong's style of secretly developing its strength and not showing its talents in front of others, and even had the urge to follow suit.

"Senior Brother Fang, you've said so much. Who are the most outstanding talents in our Azure Lotus Profound Sect? I'm really curious now."

Zhou Ping steered the conversation back to the topic of the sect's prodigies, wanting to see which senior brothers possessed the strength to be admired and recognized by so many fellow disciples.

Upon hearing this question, Fang Miao seemed to regain his interest, a fiery glint appearing in his eyes.

"Among our current generation of Qi Refining stage disciples in the Azure Lotus Profound Sect, there are as many as four or five outstanding talents who are highly regarded by the sect. Among them, the three most talked about are Senior Brother Yu Tianji, the last closed-door disciple of Ancestor Qingxu; Senior Brother Fu Lingzi, who came from a rogue cultivator background; and Senior Brother Jiang Yebai, who has been famous for a long time."

"Didn't you say there were four or five? Why were only three names mentioned?"

Seeing that Fang Miao had suddenly stopped, Zhou Ping couldn't help but ask.

After hesitating for a moment, seeing Zhou Ping's curious expression, Fang Miao could only continue hesitantly.

"The remaining two prodigies are actually the two junior brothers who are more controversial. Although they are exceptionally talented and have an extraordinary background, they are still only at the eighth level of Qi Refining. Although they have unlimited potential, in the eyes of everyone, they are still somewhat behind the three senior brothers in front of them."

"One of these two is Nan Yuesong, the biological son of the sect leader's senior uncle, and the other is Qin Changqing, a direct descendant of the Qin family of Dianyun and a proud descendant of the Heavenly Punishment Ancestor."

When the last name came out of Fang Miao's mouth, Zhou Ping's expression changed visibly, and he thought to himself, "Just as I thought."