Chapter Five: The Departed

  Outside the Xiulon Mountain, deep in the mountains, a waterfall flows straight down, and below it is a deep pool that cannot be seen.

  A young man stood by the pond, holding a canvas and scribbling on it, seemingly recording the surrounding terrain. Next to him was a small notebook. A gentle breeze blew by, flipping through several pages, revealing dense lines of text. The cover of the notebook had a few large characters: "Record of the Outer Mountains of Sleeping Dragon".

  This young man is Yuan Futong. Two years ago, he got the records left by his father from his grandmother. The "Yuan Bing's Experience" has his father's life experience, and anything that Yuan Bing thought would be useful to Yuan Futong was recorded in it. This book is a father's most selfless love for his son.

  From the book left by his father, Yuan Futong practiced a martial art called "Dragon Hand" and a light skill called "Lingyun Step". These two skills were gained by Yuan Bing when he went out to practice, not from the inner hall, so they could be passed on to later generations. Yuan Bing said in the book that these martial arts are not inferior to those taught in the inner hall of the Yuan family, which greatly improved Yuan Futong's actual combat ability. He had just learned to use his internal strength and needed this kind of internal martial art to exert himself. Yuan Bing also left behind his experience and insights from practicing "Three Yang Fist" throughout his life, which gave Yuan Futong a direction for his practice. After all, Yuan Bing's "Three Yang Fist" had reached a high level of mastery, and he had many experiences with the subtleties of cultivation. However, Yuan Futong vaguely felt that the internal strength described in the book was a bit small compared to the internal strength he had cultivated. He couldn't figure out why, even though he had practiced according to the method without any problems. So he didn't think about it again, and anyway, having greater power was better. "Maybe it's because I have good innate talent," Yuan Futong thought to himself.

  Half a year after the tiger hunt, Yuan Fugong had mastered most of the two martial arts that Yuan Bing had passed down. He also carefully studied another book, which was actually a note written by a cultivator. From this note, Yuan Fugong learned many things he wanted to know about cultivation. The cultivator who wrote this note was a loose cultivator. Loose cultivators were different from sect disciples and family disciples. Cultivators could be divided into three categories: those with a sect, generally with more power; secondly, various large and small cultivation families; most cultivation families relied on the major sects for survival. The Yuan family should have been a cultivation family. Finally, there were loose cultivators who had no sect or a very small one, without a fixed location, wandering everywhere. Loose cultivators came from complex sources, including inheritors of small sects, ordinary people who obtained cultivation methods, and cultivators who left their sects or families. The person who wrote this note was an ordinary person who accidentally obtained a qigong method and had a spiritual root, so he rashly entered the ranks of cultivators. The notes were all his experiences after becoming a cultivator. Among them, it mentioned the formula for a low-level elixir called Gathering Qi Powder, which was the same as the medicine that Yuan Liren gave to Yuan Bing. At that time, Yuan Liren found a main herb, fire ginseng, and used ordinary herbs to make up for the rest. The resulting elixir had a great effect. Yuan Bing also went out to travel because of this, hoping to embark on the path of cultivation.

  In the notes, there is a method for dividing cultivators. Ordinary people without spiritual roots cannot cultivate immortality and can only practice martial arts. The highest level of practicing martial arts is to open up the meridians and acupoints throughout the body. Yuan Bing had reached this stage before. At this stage, it is already the limit of ordinary people. Spiritual roots are divided into five elements, with the worst being miscellaneous spiritual roots that can break through limits and reach the pre-heavenly realm, allowing for limited mobilization of heaven and earth's primordial energy, greatly increasing martial arts power. However, such people have almost no hope of cultivating immortality and find it extremely difficult to progress. Four types of spiritual roots are slightly better, but advancing is still very challenging. Only those with three types of spiritual roots can walk far on the path of cultivation. Double spiritual roots are considered mid-to-upper-tier talent. If one has a single spiritual root, regardless of type, they are called heavenly spiritual roots and are key targets for cultivation by various families and sects. There are also three types of spiritual roots outside the five elements: wind spiritual roots, thunder spiritual roots, and ice spiritual roots. These three are known as heterodox spiritual roots. Generally, these spiritual roots coexist with corresponding spiritual roots - wood with wind, fire with thunder, water with ice. Although these heterodox spiritual roots have slower cultivation speeds than heavenly spiritual roots, the power of their corresponding spells is greater, giving them a significant advantage in combat.

  The Xian boundary is divided into Qi practice, foundation building, golden elixir, yuan infant, and divine transformation. Entering the Qi practice period means entering the pre-heavenly realm of martial arts, with a lifespan extended to 150 years. Breaking through the foundation building stage extends one's life to 300 years. A high-ranking Golden Elixir practitioner can live for 800 years, while a high-ranking Yuan Infant practitioner has a lifespan of three thousand years. The Divine Transformation cultivator is a legendary figure, and there are no records in the notes.

  Top-notch sects have Yuan Ying masters holding down the fort, while second-rate sects need to have several Golden Dan figures. Large cultivation families have multiple foundation-building experts, and smaller ones also need one or two foundation-building experts. Families without foundation-building experts are just small families, not much better off than rogue cultivators.

  The book introduces the inner mountain of Suolong Mountain, where the Liuyang Sect is located. The Liuyang Sect is one of the three major sects in the Song Dynasty. The Yuan family is an affiliated family of the Liuyang Sect. It is said that there are masters at the Yuanying level within the sect. The Liuyang Sect's residence is over a thousand miles away from Suolong Mountain. The outer mountain, which is close to human settlements, is about 200 miles away. Further in, about 500-600 miles, is the inner mountain, where many scattered cultivators gather herbs, mine, and capture spiritual beasts. Within a radius of 500 miles around the sect's residence is the Liuyang Sect's territory, where outsiders are not allowed to enter casually, and Liuyang Sect disciples patrol the mountains. After Yuan Futong completed his martial arts training, he set his sights on the inner mountain. The inner mountain has many spiritual herbs that can help him with his cultivation, and another important point is to find some longevity spiritual herbs for his grandmother.

  After telling Yuan Futong about her past, Mrs. Li seemed to have completed a task and suddenly lost her vitality, her body aging day by day. In just half a year, she became old beyond recognition. Li Ke came to see her several times and said that the old lady's lifespan was almost up, and she had been holding on before. Now that Futong's skills were accomplished, she was at peace, so she let go all at once.

  Yuan Futong thought of many ways to deal with this, and even invited doctors from Nanhuacheng to come and take a look. They all said that the old lady's lifespan was almost up. There was no good solution, only the legendary elixir of immortals might be able to extend the old lady's life. Li Nainai herself took it very calmly and advised Yuan Futong not to waste so much money on her anymore, but Yuan Futong didn't listen at all. He used all the money from selling tiger skins with Li Ri last time and the silver he received when he left the Yuan family to pay for his grandmother's medical treatment and buy medicine. Even going back to the Yuan family to find friends who had a relationship with his father, but still no effect. The grandmother was getting older day by day. Yuan Futong could only pin his hopes on the elixir mentioned in the notes.

  He didn't dare to tell his grandmother about this, and after entrusting her to the Li family's care, Yuan Futong began to venture into the inner mountains. At first, he encountered some strange insects and beasts several times without going deep. Some of them he couldn't resist at all, and he escaped with his life thanks to the Lingyun Step. Without experience, and not finding many good medicines, but the harvest was still much richer than in the outer mountains. Such days passed for several more months, and nearly a year after Yuan Futong became a hunter, Li Nainai did not survive the cold winter and bid farewell to the world. Yuan Futong sat at his grandmother's grave for seven days, neither eating nor drinking, staring blankly as he kept vigil for her. In the end, it was Li Li who found someone to carry him back.

  The departure of Grandma Li was a huge blow to Yuan Futong. This matter deeply shocked his soul. If he had been stronger, able to venture deeper into the mountains and gather spiritual medicine, perhaps Grandma wouldn't have died. Furthermore, if he were a cultivator, he would be able to let Grandma live longer. Now that Grandma has left, one day he will also be buried in the yellow earth. Not becoming a cultivator means ultimately dying. At this moment, Yuan Futong finally determined his life goal - cultivation. Only cultivators can break free from the shackles of short-lived life, only cultivators can fulfill their wishes, and only cultivators can live freely and joyfully. This path may be difficult to walk, but he must strive to get on it.

  After Yuan Futong set his goal, he began to plan for the future. The villagers had been kind to him, especially Li Ri and Li Ke, who had high hopes for him. Once he embarked on the path of cultivation, it was unlikely that he would return to the village again. So, while his martial arts were not yet fully developed, he wanted to stay in the village for a while longer and do some practical things for the villagers. He wanted to help his fellow villagers. After thinking about it, Yuan Futong decided to draw a map of the terrain and resource distribution within a hundred miles of Li's Village. This way, the hunters in the village would have a rough estimate when they went into the mountains. He also planned to build several treehouses in suitable locations, so that there would be a place to rest after entering the mountains, and it would also be safe to spend the night in the mountains, allowing them to travel further. Yuan Futong discussed these ideas with Li Ri, who listened and gave his full support, encouraging Yuan Futong to go ahead with his plans.

  In this way, Yuan Futong spent more than a year traveling around the surrounding mountains of Lijia Village for over 100 miles, and also made detailed records of the production of various places, the growth environment of some good medicinal materials, and the harvesting methods.

  This day, Yuan Futong was resting by the pond, recording his notes. This was already the final stage of this task. The mountainous terrain around Lijia Village had all been recorded. These materials should be enough for the village's hunters to use. In fact, many places ordinary hunters can't even reach, but in the future, if there are outstanding people in the village, these materials will be very useful. Yuan Futong's own cultivation had also reached a bottleneck. He was now at the Later Heaven Great Perfection stage as described in books, but without any kung fu, he hadn't been able to break through. Now that his work was over, he needed to consider how to embark on the path of immortality.

  Yuan Futong had thought about this problem long ago. There were two paths to take. One was to return to the Yuan family, and as someone who came from the Yuan family, with his current post-heavenly cultivation, he should be able to enter the inner hall, and might even be selected again in four years' time. If he could enter the main house, he would be taught the immortal cultivation method. As for the spiritual root issue, Yuan Futong didn't worry at all - intuitively, with Huo Yu's help, he was certain that he could cultivate immortality, because his speed of cultivating the Three Yang Manual was faster than anyone recorded in the Yuan family before. Those who were slower than him had a spiritual root, so he shouldn't have any problems. The drawback of taking this path was that it would be too much of a waste of time, and he would have to wait for four years for the selection. Moreover, the family wouldn't teach him very profound techniques, and he would still be ordered around by others. This was after all a society with strict hierarchy, and Yuan Futong, who was used to equality, didn't want to go through that unless absolutely necessary.

  There is another way to go to the inner mountain of Sulong Mountain to collect spiritual medicine. With the help of that notebook, Yuan Futong has confidence in collecting some good spiritual medicine in these years, which can be exchanged for spiritual stones in the immortal market. Spiritual stones are the currency among immortals, and many things can be purchased with them, including immortal skills. According to the notebook, a basic immortal skill costs about 100 spiritual stones. A hundred-year-old fire-ripe spiritual medicine can sell for around 50 spiritual stones. If you're lucky, collecting several spiritual medicines in the inner mountain will allow you to buy skills from the immortal market. Moreover, spiritual medicine can also help with your own cultivation, and you can temper yourself in the inner mountain. So Yuan Futong chose this path. If he's really unlucky, it's not too late to go back to the Yuan family.

  After making up his mind, Yuan Futong put away the finished painting, packed up his things and ran towards the village.