A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Zhou Ping squatted down beside a few bamboo trees, his brows furrowed slightly. The scene before him was somewhat different from what he had expected.

The bamboo, which he had expected to grow wildly, showed absolutely no change in his eyes.

Zhou Ping checked his location again, wondering if he had come to the wrong place.

"This is it! Is it because we didn't have enough time?"

He plopped down on the ground, his mind racing as he analyzed all the possible reasons.

Time passed slowly, bit by bit, in this quiet atmosphere.

A quarter of an hour, a quarter of an hour... a full hour.

As time went by, Zhou Ping's heart sank. So much time had passed, yet the three bamboo trees remained unchanged.

We can't wait until dawn...

Zhou Ping got up, grabbed one of the bamboo stalks, shook it, and muttered something to himself, somewhat unwillingly.

He raised his hand to rub his slightly sore eyes, forced himself to stay awake, and glanced at the sky, which was beginning to lighten.

Although practicing the Qingyuan Technique has made him much more energetic than before, staring at one thing for a long time still takes its toll.

"Where did we go wrong? Those bamboo plants are definitely affected by that basin of water, and the only special thing about that water is that it was soaked in black agarwood..."

It was still more than an hour before dawn, and the humidity in the mountains was at its highest.

A light mist slowly appeared in the mountains, and wisps of fog began to spread through the bamboo forest. Zhou Ping stood there quietly without moving, but felt a little annoyed.

"What exactly is wrong...?"

Zhou Ping stared blankly at the increasingly thick fog in the forest, then suddenly opened his eyes wide.

Fog!

That wisp of smoke!

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and he instantly became alert.

"That's it! It must be! That peculiar wisp of smoke wasn't extinguished by the water, but rather it dissolved into the water!"

Zhou Ping whispered excitedly, clapping his fist repeatedly.

He decided not to wait any longer, turned around and tiptoed back into the house. He knew in his heart that the three bamboo trees could not possibly change.

The key is not soaking the agarwood, but the wisp of smoke that appears on the agarwood!

Zhou Ping figured out the key point, his expression brightened, and he reached out to pick up the porcelain bottle on the table, examining the agarwood on it once more.

It seems that the only way to prove my theory is to wait for this piece of agarwood to produce smoke again...

.......

The next morning, before going to Jin Jingtian's place for his roll call, Zhou Ping made a special trip to check on the three bamboo trees. Just as he had expected, the bamboo trees were still the same as before, without any strange changes.

After leaving Cuifeng Villa, Zhou Ping met Jin Yan, who was talking to Jin Jingtian.

The two men looked extremely unpleasant, as if they had been arguing. Seeing this, Zhou Ping quickly finished reporting his cultivation progress and then tactfully took his leave.

During this time, he took a break to visit the inner sect, exchanged some information with Duan Yu, and successfully obtained the original manual of the Floating Shadow Step from him.

He learned from Duan Yu that the conflict between the two sects was becoming increasingly fierce, with deacons getting involved and some even being seriously injured as a result.

As for the other special cultivation techniques that Zhou Ping asked him to help find, there has been no progress so far.

Duan Yu told him not to rush. As the conflict between the two sides continued to escalate, the higher-ups of the Green Bamboo Sect had begun to accelerate the training of their disciples.

Many martial arts manuals that were previously strictly guarded have begun to gradually have their restrictions lifted for inner disciples.

Duan Yu believed that these martial arts techniques must contain the kind of secret manuals that Zhou Ping was interested in.

The two agreed on a time for their next meeting. Zhou Ping secretly gave Duan Yu the medicine bottle he had brought out and told him to work hard to improve his martial arts skills in order to prepare for any possible crises.

After parting ways with Duan Yu, Zhou Ping made a special trip to the Pharmacist's Hall. Under the pretext of studying and observing the growth and changes of herbs, he brought out several herb seedlings from the Pharmacist's Hall.

Although these seedlings are all precious varieties, they will only exert their medicinal effects after growing for a certain number of years.

The minimum age required is ten years before it has any commercial value, and some special varieties must be decades old before they can be used as medicine.

Therefore, these seedlings are not of high value. After the Pharmacist Hall buys them from outside, it will transplant them into the herb garden inside the gate.

After decades of nurturing and care, they can eventually become a strategic resource for the sect.

This practice is not suitable for ordinary families, as they do not have enough time and energy to cultivate a herb that takes decades to mature.

Only large sects and families have the ability to nurture these seedlings to maturity and pass them down from generation to generation.

As the saying goes, "One generation plants the trees, another enjoys the shade," and this is exactly the case.

Therefore, Zhou Ping's taking these seedlings out of the Pharmacist's Hall did not attract the attention of others.

Even if some people with ulterior motives happen to see it, they will only think it's just youthful impetuosity and a penchant for causing trouble.

Zhou Ping had his own reasons for doing this.

Ever since discovering the peculiar changes in bamboo, he had been pondering this strange ability of agarwood, wanting to know what its purpose was.

At this moment, he already had a bold guess in his mind. If it could work, it would undoubtedly completely change his future cultivation career.

Zhou Ping put the bags and packages into the house, and he was the first to transplant several herb seedlings into the flowerpots he had prepared in advance.

After finishing all this, he saw that it was still early, so he hurriedly took out the Floating Shadow Step he had hidden in his bosom and carefully examined it.

As he had previously learned, the cultivation of the Floating Shadow Step places great emphasis on the practitioner's talent; those who are dull-witted and slow to react will find it difficult to even begin, no matter how hard they try.

In the following days, apart from reporting to Jin Jingtian and traveling between the canteen and Cuifeng Villa, Zhou Ping devoted all his time to cultivation.

After mastering the Qingyuan Gong every day, he would secretly slip into the small bamboo grove behind the house and practice the Floating Shadow Step according to the methods guided in the manual.

Zhou Ping cut down all the bamboo in the central area of ​​the forest, creating a clearing for himself to practice the Floating Shadow Step. Moreover, the surrounding bamboo leaves provided cover, greatly reducing the chances of being discovered.

He was extremely satisfied with his actions, and to ensure everything went perfectly, he even scheduled his Shadow Step training for the evening or late at night.

During these two time periods, when it is dark and there are few people around, he can freely use the various techniques and movements of the Floating Shadow Step in the forest.

At this moment, even if someone were standing at the entrance of Cuifeng Villa, if Zhou Ping didn't deliberately make a sound, the other party would definitely not be able to find a trace of him.

Besides practicing the two techniques, he would set aside some time each day to observe the black sandalwood on the table, secretly hoping for changes to occur.

Zhou Ping was quite certain that when he brought the agarwood out of Hsinchu Temple, there was no smoke swirling around its surface. After returning to Cuifeng Villa, he intended to use his knowledge and understanding, which far surpassed his previous knowledge, to unravel the secret of this object.

Unfortunately, after racking his brains and trying everything, he still had no choice but to pin it under the bed.

Therefore, it is certain that the strange changes in agarwood began after it arrived at Jinyuan.

Several days passed in this way. On the ninth day after Zhou Ping first discovered the smoke, the black agarwood in the porcelain vase finally changed.

A wisp of faint, yet persistent smoke appeared at the dark, rounded tip of the agarwood.

The clouds and mist drifted by...