The Path of Survivor begins with obtaining titles

The Pill Immortal Master has declared them as people of ill intent, and thus, they are considered evil.

“He is from the Xuan Qing Sect,” Zhang Dao Xuan said without any attempt to conceal the truth.

A look of confusion spread across Lin Yi’s face. “Master, the right to enter the Dan God Secret Realm has always been controlled by the Ten Major Sects. In the past thousand years, while there have been some changes in the Ten Major Sects, I don’t recall seeing the Xuan Qing Sect, among them.”

The Ten Major Sects are not immutable. Sometimes when a sect’s strength declines, or when the Nascent Soul Ancestor of a sect encounters cultivation problems, loses control of his cultivation, or even perishes, other sects would launch attacks.

In such times, whether the other sect belongs to the same or opposed alignment does not matter; as long as there are benefits to reap, even sects considered as brethren would not hesitate to make a move.

However, the last change took place five or six hundred years ago. At that time, the seventh-ranked sect had lost two Golden Core Real Individuals and a number of Foundation Building cultivators in a conflict with an opposing sect. Their Nascent Soul Ancestor also suffered considerable injuries from the fighting.

The sect then fell prey to a combined attack from several other sects, who partitioned the defeated sect’s resources. Consequently, the Canghua Sect, then holding the last rank, was elevated, thus joining the ranks of the Ten Major Sects.

This cruel cycle is a reflection of the Cultivation World. No matter the apparent cordiality between sects, they would not hesitate to betray each other for a chance to increase their resources. Every other concern is secondary.

The Xuan Qing Sect he referred to has always been absent from the books Lin Yi had read, nor had he ever heard of it. The Ten Major Sects kept a strict control over key resources in the Cultivation World, and none of them were allowed to go to other sects.

Any sect not listed among the Ten Major Sects that tried to enter resource-rich secret realms would invariably face attacks from the alliance formed by the Ten Major Sects. This was the only consensus on which they could cooperate.

Upon hearing this, a smile broke out on Zhang Dao Xuan’s face. “Boy, the Heng Yuan World is not as small as you think. What you know now is just the information given to you by the people in this Cultivation World.”

The color drained from Lin Yi’s face. When he previously checked the map of the Heng Yuan World, he felt that it was indeed small. Moreover, at the end of the Monster Forest laid a void with no information at all.

“Master, could there be other places for cultivation beyond the end of the Monster Forest?” He couldn’t help but ask.

Zhang Dao Xuan nodded gently. “Indeed, the Dan God Secret Realm corresponds to the complete Cultivation World. Therefore, it opens to other worlds from time to time. This is the Heng Yuan Realm, and the other world is known as the Xuan Tian Realm.”

“Thank you, Master, for helping me understand the vastness of the Cultivation World. I never thought that the Ten Major Sects not only controlled the resources for cultivation but also some critical information,” Lin Yi replied, bowing down in a salute.

The reason why information about the Xuan Tian Realm was not widely spread might be the inherent dangers associated with reaching this realm. You would likely have to traverse the entire Monster Forest.

Even for a Nascent Soul True Monarch, crossing the depths of the Monster Forest would pose a risk, let alone cultivators of other realms.

Most Nascent Soul True Monarchs from the major sects weren’t certain about the specifics of the Xuan Tian Realm, so marking it on a map was probably worthless.

“You don’t need to thank me; you should thank this Secret Realm. If not for its ability, my physical body might not have been able to reach the Xuan Tian Realm,” Zhang Dao Xuan waved away the gratitude, smiling gently.

At this, Lin Yi immediately seized a crucial point, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “Master, are you saying that you can be transported to the Xuan Tian Realm through this Secret Realm?”

If he could teleport to a new world, he wouldn’t have to worry about his identity being exposed.

Zhang Dao Xuan nodded. “Of course, you can teleport anywhere within the Cultivation World. However, if you want to go to the Xuan Tian Realm, you will have to wait until you have succeeded in Alchemy Dao.”

“I shall heed the command of the Master. Just one final question, how often does the Dan God Secret Realm open in the Xuan Tian Realm?” Lin Yi asked the last question on his mind.

Zhang Dao Xuan replied matter-of-factly, “It is said that this Secret Realm was discovered by cultivators in the Heng Yuan Realm. They then set a rule stating that the opening of the Secret Realm should follow the Heng Yuan realm’s timeline.”

“Therefore, under my control, the Heng Yuan Realm opens every ten to twenty years, while the Xuan Tian Realm opens every thirty to forty years.”

Lin Yi could not help but feel moved. Cultivators indeed cared about their hometown. It was equivalent to two openings in the Heng Yuan Realm before the Xuan Tian Realm could open once.

He thanked him once more, “Thank you, Master, for clearing up my confusion. Please kindly share with me the Dao of Alchemy.”

“Follow me.” Zhang Dao Xuan responded with a faint smile, leading Lin Yi into the pill room located on top of the mountain.

The interior of the pill room was quite simple, containing only an alchemy furnace that looked like a magical weapon.

Lin Yi carefully looked around and found that the alchemy furnace seemed rarely used. The entire pill room was not filled with a strong scent of pill.

In theory, if alchemy is frequently performed here, the room should be filled with the fragrant scent of pills.

The fact that his Master is hailed as a Pill Immortal suggested that he must consider alchemy as his life, if he does not alchemize daily, would he actually study recipes instead?

The only possibility was that the Master standing before him was merely an avatar of a Primordial Spirit, not a separate entity.

Because a Primordial Spirit division possesses no spiritual power, only Divine Consciousness Power. It’s not impossible for it to perform alchemy, but it would be extremely troublesome.

This is why when a cultivator falls, the Primordial Spirit would first try to possess someone else’s body. Otherwise, if a Primordial Spirit could perform alchemy normally, there would be no difference between it and a cultivator with a body.

Zhang Dao Xuan seemed to perceive Lin Yi’s thoughts and chuckled, “Exactly as you have concluded, I am just an avatar of my original Primordial Spirit, waiting here for the suitable successor.”

“That being said, you can only be considered a candidate for succession, not a real disciple. When you meet him and he affirms your ability, then can you become his personal disciple.”

“From now on, you can call me ‘teacher’, not ‘Master’.”

Lin Yi shook his head, gave a salute and said, “Since I acknowledge you, even though you are but a divided spirit, you are my master.”

It appears that the situation he had hoped for had come true. However, he wondered whether through the teachings of this divided spirit, could he absorb the cultivation level of a true Pill Immortal.

The amount of cultivation level absorbed by learning a title not only depends on the approximate range of the title itself but also on the cultivation level of the teacher.

The higher the teacher’s cultivation level, the more effective the learning of the title could be. Otherwise, as a cultivator at the Foundation Building Fifth Layer, if he were to listen to the Early Foundation Building Stage lectures, the gain over the same period of time would naturally be less than that from the Late Foundation Building Stage.

It’s like him, a university student, attending a middle school lecture where he would learn little.

Zhang Dao Xuan gently nodded and smiled, “Alright, let’s start learning. I possess almost all the memories of my original self related to the Dao of Alchemy and the Path of Array. The first thing I will teach you is the Art of Piano Alchemy.”

“This is a technique created by me. It is as if one is playing a piano. Through the fingers, the alchemy materials are played and each material has its own key points.”

“This technique aims to stimulate these key points and fully utilize their medicinal properties and achieve their perfect combination.”

Lin Yi’s eyes gleamed with excitement when he realized the brilliance of this method. Typical alchemy techniques would only require the materials to be melted down by pill fire and integrated.

However, this technique uses the spiritual power to ‘pluck’ the materials, bringing forth their medicinal properties rapidly. This not only saves time but also improves the quality of the pills.

“Piano Alchemy… using plucking rather than refining… Master is indeed a refined man.” He couldn’t help but praise.

Zhang Dao Xuan nodded lightly, “Correct, I didn’t expect that you have already grasped the way of alchemizing with this technique.”

“This method of alchemy was created because a beloved lady, fond of playing the piano, tragically perished. I was heartbroken and, as a result, created this technique.”

A look of surprise appeared on Lin Yi’s face as he could not believe that this Piano Alchemy was created in such a way. The Elder Dan God was indeed a man of deep affection.