Chapter 6: The Elusive Path of Immortality

  "You're even more cunning than a monkey, I don't believe a word you say."

  The Nian beast shook its head, apparently having gained some understanding of Li Xiao in such a short period of time.

  "Cough, Master Ye, take a look. Because of being chased by that old cow from your mouth, you must have some inconvenience in traveling, but I don't have any problems. Didn't you see that there is a kind of power inside me? As long as I can cultivate well, I can also become stronger and then capture prey to roast for Master Ye to eat. Who knows, maybe after I cultivate strongly, I can even help you deal with that old cow, right?"

  Li Xiao, as a traverser, naturally knew the importance of strength.

  The weak are preyed upon by the strong, and once you let your guard down, even for a moment, you may be stuck in this village forever, never having a chance to escape.

  What's more important is to become an immortal, which is the desire of every modern person. After becoming an immortal, Li Xiao may be able to return to his previous life and go back to his parents' side to fulfill his countless wishes.

  "Hmm, sounds okay. Old Man Nian reluctantly agreed. I'll take you to Old Man Nian's place first, so you won't get lost later."

  The Nian beast nodded its head, a sly smile spreading from the corner of its mouth.

  Li Xiao's heart skipped a beat, unsure of what the Year Beast was planning, but to put his cultivation on schedule, Li Xiao gritted his teeth: Bring it on!

  Treated with favor by the Nian beast, Li Xiao tightly grasped the green fur on the back of the Nian beast, and was startled by its terrifying speed, almost to the point of forgetting the way.

  Finally, under a high mountain, Li Xiao stopped and rolled down from the back of the year beast, dry vomiting several times before pulling his thoughts back to reality.

  "Look, down there is your village, not far away. Running a few more rounds every day is good for the body."

  Taking advantage of the dawn's early light, Li Xiao barely saw that tiny village, at least a dozen miles away from here. He runs back and forth several times every day; isn't that exhausting him to death!?

  Following the Nian beast, Li Xiao walked into a cave. Although it wasn't too bright here, it was still quite clean and didn't have any strange smells, indicating that the Nian beast was relatively "self-cleansing".

  "From today on, you'd better cultivate well for my food."

  The deceitful smile reappeared, making Li Xiao feel a chill run down his spine, but he still forced himself to respond.

  "Great, based on my observation, the power within you should be more severely impacted by external blows, and the potential release will be stronger. Hehe, this kung fu can make old man like me feel comfortable and relaxed!"

  "What?!"

  The words of Nian beast suddenly shocked Li Xiao's heart, and he remembered the "Self-mutilation True Scripture" from his previous life:

  "If you want to practice this skill, you must first harm yourself!"

  This is indeed the first sentence of the whole text, and it seems a bit strange.

  Thinking back, it was indeed the poisonous beating from Wang Jia's dog leg that caused some changes in his body, and only then did he have the opportunity to recognize the Year Beast. All of this might be a good opportunity for Li Xiao, but... could he really withstand it?

  Just as I thought of this, a loud crashing sound came from the mountain cave, along with Li Xiao's miserable howl, as if the inhuman days had officially begun.

  Half a year has passed, and everything is new.

  Li Xiao and Old Yuan's wooden house was rebuilt, at the time of spring and summer, it was a busy farming day. Old Yuan was busy in the fields every day, while Li Xiao went out hunting, and when he came back, he could also get enough to eat and warm clothes.

  "Old age, I'm back again."

  Li Xiao carried a snow deer on his back, seemingly without exerting much effort, and arrived at the mountain cave of the Year Beast.

  "So it's you, Li Xiao, you little scamp! What delicious food have you brought for me today? I've already lit the fire."

  For half a year, the relationship between the two has been surprisingly good. One is a human from his past life, and in this world, apart from the father of this body, he doesn't have any relatives or friends. The other is a lone beast since birth, with extraordinary talent, but rarely communicates with other living beings. The two guys spent a long time together and naturally became friends.

  After roasting the Snow Deer, Li Xiao left a portion for his father and started eating with Nian Beast.

  They stopped at the same time after eating their fill, and without saying a word, they started fighting.

  "Hmm——"

  Li Xiao let out a loud roar, and his fist collided with the beast's palm, but he was violently repelled several steps back. He then rushed forward again, trying to turn the tide, but was once more repelled by the beast's brute force, clearly at a disadvantage.

  "It won't do, Li Xiao. For half a month now, your strength has been stuck at this level and hasn't made any further progress, as if you've hit a bottleneck. A punch with 700 kilograms of force may seem impressive to ordinary people, but for cultivators, it's still not even enough to pass the entrance exam."

  The Nian beast shook its head and stopped attacking, thus ending the fight.

  Li Xiao also felt that something was off, he clearly remembered that half a year ago, his cultivation speed was extremely fast, and every time he was attacked, his body would recover at an astonishing speed, and his strength and speed would greatly improve.

  But for this half month, no matter how hard he tried to cultivate, his power did not increase by a single thread. The forty-nine Self-Mutilation True Scriptures, except for the first sentence with eight characters, the remaining forty-one were like unrelated texts put together, and they couldn't be understood at all.

  "It seems that relying solely on your own efforts to cultivate, there is no other way. You can only think of a way to obtain the orthodox cultivation method in the human world, and then you will be able to make a breakthrough and soar to new heights."

  The Nian beast thought for a moment and felt it should be so too.

  Li Xiao also knew that the half-baked self-mutilation true scripture of his past life was probably far inferior to a real cultivation method. After all, in his past life, it was extremely rare for a martial arts master to emerge, and the true scripture sounded like a secret manual for martial arts, which could be practiced to the point where one punch could exert a force of 700 catties, which was already quite good.

  However, wanting to obtain the method of cultivation is by no means easy.

  Someone born as a grassroot, having no status whatsoever in this world, is destined to be a laborer, wanting to become an orthodox cultivator is like daydreaming.

  "Old man, what method do you have? Let me become a true immortal cultivator."

  This impossible thing, Li Xiao had no choice but to entrust it to the Year Beast.

  "What a joke, although Grandpa Ye is incredibly powerful and charming, after all, he's still a low-ranking demon beast. If those cultivators saw Grandpa Ye, they might just capture him, how dare I let them get close to him!"

  The Nian monster shook its head, apparently having no way out.

  Li Xiao sighed and bid farewell to the Year Beast early in the morning, returning home. The tens of miles were not difficult for Li Xiao at all.

  To know, the strong martial artist Li Xiaolong from his past life, a punch with his right fist was 800 pounds, equivalent to more than 360 kilograms, which is more than 700 jin. Now, Li Xiao's full-strength punch is already comparable to that of Li Xiaolong, the top-notch martial artist from his past life. Running tens of miles is completely effortless for him.

  Back home, his father had yet to return, Li Xiao rested for a while and thought carefully.

  To obtain a cultivation method, one must join a sect and receive the sect's transmitted great dao of cultivation; otherwise, it is difficult to achieve anything.

  For someone from a poor peasant family like Li Xiao's, entering a sect was almost impossible.

  Because Li Xiao heard that in his own country, there were no sects at all, and all the cultivation methods were passed down by special departments of the entire country. With Li Xiao's poor background, he was completely unqualified to cultivate.

  Of course, there are also those who have been favored by the country and have risen rapidly.

  But those people were all true cultivation geniuses, and Li Xiao, although he thought he was not inferior to others, would never believe that he was a genius in terms of cultivation, even if you killed him.

  "What should I do? How can I cultivate and become a Xian?"

  Li whispered to himself, just at this moment, Old Yuan walked in.

  "Second Dog, you want to cultivate and become like those immortal masters?"

  Lao Yuan's expression was somewhat strange, his only child had actually produced such an idea, completely different from their generation after generation of farming life.

  "Yes, I don't want to be confined here for a lifetime. I want to spread my wings and fly high, looking at the vast sky and sea! But is this world just a cage that I can break free from and become an eagle soaring above the earth?"

  Li Xiao was as if asking Old Yuan, and also as if asking himself.

  In his past life, he had the talent of a human being, but in the cruel society, he was depressed and unable to achieve his goals. Even after rebirth, this situation did not change. However, in Li Xiao's heart, he was proud because he had the capital to be proud of, with talents that ordinary people could hardly match!

  Since the previous life failed due to his own impatience and shortsightedness, in this life, he wants to take one step at a time, walk out of his own path, absolutely unwilling to be mediocre, even if his wings are broken and bloodied, he must fly under the vast sky, that is his life!

  "Alright, everyone will choose their own path. Er Gou has grown up and has his own choices. The country has already sent people to the city to select qualified individuals to go cultivate, Er Gou, this matter will be taken care of by your father."

  Old Yuan let out a soft sigh, as if it contained countless languages, but in the end, there was only this one sentence.

  "But our home..."

  Li Xiao knew that, with his poor identity, wanting to enter the national academy for cultivation was simply an impossible thing. Those people from the country would only go to big families like the Wang family and be recommended by them to enter the academy. For ordinary families like Li Xiao's, there wasn't even a tiny bit of opportunity.

  Lao Yuan seemed to know what Li Xiao wanted to say and shook his head.

  "It's okay, Dad has a way, wait for Dad to make something for you to eat, after eating go to sleep, tomorrow morning Dad will go to the city to think of a solution, you don't have to worry about these things."

  For the only son, Er Gou, Old Yuan can be said to be extremely concerned. When he was young, because he had just arrived in this place, opening up the wasteland was very troublesome, and every year's harvest was very poor. Moreover, as soon as the New Year came, those dog legs from the Wang family would come to collect taxes, leaving not even enough food for Old Yuan to eat, let alone Li Xiao.

  But Li Xiao clearly remembered that Er Gou could eat his fill at every meal, while Old Yuan would only lick the rice bowl clean after he had finished eating. The mischievous Er Gou even teased his father about this, until he grew a bit older and understood why his father did it.

  A warmth spread through his heart as Li Xiao looked at Old Yuan, and he gradually felt that the old man's image was overlapping with that of his own father - they both had the same kind and gentle demeanor.