novelraw Chapter 65: To Seek Longevity, First Plant a Tree
Chapter 65: To Seek Longevity, First Plant a Tree
Although humans prided themselves as the most spiritual of all living things, their innate lifespan was short. Without cultivation, they had at most only a hundred years but a hundred years was just the blink of an eye for trees.
As long as there was no external interference, trees could continue growing, living as long as heaven and earth themselves.
This was the form of life that best aligned with the Medicine Master's philosophy.
As for people, people were nothing more than monkeys on the tree.
For humans who wanted to cultivate into immortals and live forever, they first had to abandon their frail flesh and regard themselves as a great tree that lived as long as heaven and earth.
The sixteen volumes of techniques in the Senluojing looked different on the surface. Among them was the complete version of the Huanghui Scroll that Li Qiuchen had once seen before but from the underlying structure, they were completely consistent.
In Li Qiuchen's view, rather than calling this a complete immortal cultivation technique, it was more like sixteen great cultivators' personal understandings based on the general outline.
It was like eating raw fish sashimi. The restaurant brings you a sashimi platter with salmon, tuna, arctic clam, sweet shrimp... no matter how many varieties there were, what you tasted in the end all had the flavor of soy sauce and wasabi.
So after forcing himself to finish listening to the first volume, Li Qiuchen had only heard the beginning of the second volume before decisively choosing to give up.
First, being greedy for more meant you couldn't digest it all.Second, he had already realized that the weight of this knowledge itself was sufficient to wear down his Mental State.
Of the Senluojing's sixteen volumes, he only memorized the opening Huyang Scroll. This was a technique focused on body tempering, its content simple and direct, balanced and harmonious. Just from the surface, you absolutely couldn't tell it was a cultivation technique of the Medicine Master's school.
In other words, it was foundational.
Foundation was precisely what Li Qiuchen needed most.
For example, the Thirty-Three Heavens cultivated by the Medicine Master's school were introduced in particularly detailed terms in the Huyang Scroll, resolving many of Li Qiuchen's doubts in his cultivation.
And besides the Huyang Scroll, successfully clearing the trial earned him part of another scroll, the Langui Scroll. Similar to the Huanghui Scroll obtained by old Daoist Fang Hong, it was also a partial fragment.
After briefly scanning through the information inside, Li Qiuchen felt somewhat disappointed in his heart.
This technique's compatibility with him wasn't very suitable.
How to put it... if the Huyang Scroll's focus was body tempering, the Langui Scroll looked a bit like it was about romance and indulgence.
Setting other things aside, just look at the pill formulas it provided.
The very first one was the Complexion-Preserving Pill.
This was also the only thing that looked somewhat proper.
The things that followed: Golden Jade Soft Fragrance Paste, Six Desires Seven Emotions Incense, Hundred Fruits Immortal Brew, Dragon Tiger Golden Steel Pill...
Just from the names, they were very improper.
Li Qiuchen had every reason to suspect that the senior who compiled this technique back then, besides daily cultivation, was definitely also running some indescribable side business in secret.
As a proper person like myself, could I learn such improper things?
But there was no choice. Nothing to pick from.
Having something was better than having nothing.
The Senluojing's content was extremely complex. Just this one volume of technique plus one chapter of partial fragments had close to a hundred thousand characters of content, bringing Li Qiuchen enormous mental pressure. He couldn't even carefully analyze those intelligence clues he had collected in the illusory realm, and could only temporarily set them aside.
Swaying all the way home, under the worried gaze of sister-in-law Xiulan, Li Qiuchen simply said don't disturb me, closed the door, crawled onto the kang, closed his eyes, and began sleeping soundly.
He slept for three full days and nights.
Li Qiuchen slept until he was completely disoriented. In his dreams he became a great tree, taking root in the earth, the trunk growing upward through the clouds, traveling alongside the sun, moon, and stars...
He almost didn't wake up.
In the end, he was still woken by the clamor in the courtyard.
Liu Po's eldest son had returned.
This was an honest and simple man, broad-shouldered. Dressed in a thick padded cotton coat, he looked like a stone block and showed not the slightest trace of a merchant's precision and shrewdness axnd in fact, he really wasn't any kind of boss. He just partnered with others in business, leading his two donkeys to transport goods from the south and sell them in the north.
Every spring and summer, countless small merchants like him would converge from various places, forming large-scale merchant caravans heading north. Then they would return to their hometowns before the truly deep winter arrived.
Liu Da was a straightforward good man. After hearing Li Qiuchen's background from his mother, not only did he have not the slightest suspicion, but he responded with twelve parts enthusiasm. The moment he saw Li Qiuchen had woken up, he called him over to drink and eat meat.
Li Qiuchen declined, saying he was too young to drink. Liu Da laughed heartily and didn't mind, only saying that people drifting through the jianghu would sooner or later have to knock back a couple cups of strong liquor.
This whole journey had been stifling for him.
In the north, there was a very counterintuitive common knowledge: although everyone liked to drink and everyone could drink, you absolutely couldn't indulge in alcohol on the road.
One careless moment and you would freeze to death.
Speaking of this, Liu Da was very melancholy. He used to have a very close brother who ran merchant routes with him a few years back. One time, having made a lot of money and feeling happy, he couldn't resist the craving for alcohol and drank a round with people at the cart inn.
Dizzy and confused from drinking, he went out to relieve himself, and this departure meant he never returned.
Liu Da woke up in the middle of the night and reached to the side to find no one there. He put on his clothes and went out looking for him, searching everywhere with no sign of the man.
Only when daylight came did he see the person lying in a snow pit, already frozen stiff as a stick.
This kind of thing was very common in the north. Not just to say on merchant routes, it also happened even in towns.
Although Liu Da was also a straightforward person, he had an old mother and wife at home. With them in his heart, he didn't dare gamble with his own life. He didn't touch a drop of alcohol outside, only daring to let himself go freely when he returned home.
After two or three cups of strong liquor, he couldn't stop talking.
Li Qiuchen was also a bit curious. What exactly was the situation like up north?
He had only heard that Yun County was located in a relatively northern position throughout the entire northern frontier. Past the Blackwater River, going further forward was the primordial wilds.
What did the primordial wilds actually look like?
Seeing that he didn't understand, Liu Da explained.
The Blackwater Garrison's location was the northernmost point of the northern frontier. Past the Blackwater, it was no longer under the court's jurisdiction, but it also wasn't truly primordial wilds.
Three thousand li north of the Blackwater, locals called it the "Border Wilds."
In the Border Wilds, humans and demon clans lived mixed together. There were also Rakshasa tribes and nomadic groups. The composition was complex and order was chaotic.
And north of the Border Wilds was the true "Primordial Wilds," also called the Northern Sea by locals.
That was a forbidden zone for life where even demon clans didn't dare tread lightly.
Chu people traveling north to do business would at most go as far as Mirror Sea.
Mirror Sea was where the Rakshasa Royal Court was located. Rakshasa ghosts were skilled at digging the earth to mine. Chu merchant caravans traveled tens of thousands of li to exchange southern goods for rare ores and furs, with extremely generous profits.
Of course, the risks were also extremely high.
Liu Da didn't have such impressive abilities, and simply partnered with others, trading in small items back and forth inside and outside the Blackwater.
Even so, this was enough to ensure the whole family had food and clothing without worry.
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