Noting that Jiang He was spacing out a little, the white-clothed guru could not help asking, “What are you thinking about, Jiang He?”
Coming to his senses, Jiang He had a sip of Big Red Robe and smiled, “I’m wondering which is superior: martial arts or immortal arts.”
“All roads lead to Rome—be it martial arts or immortal arts, both seek the Truth.”
The white-clothed guru tilted his head in thought for a long while before offering a frivolous answer.
Jiang He then asked, “Brother, the Tantra Sect has a long history—don’t you have manuals for cultivations beyond Zero Void?”
The white-clothed guru shook his head and said, “We don’t. According to the text we kept in our sects, the ancestral masters of the Tantra Sect had only cultivated up to mastery over Zero Void.”
Zero Void was basically equivalent to Convergence-tier.
The ancestral masters of the Tantra Sect were quite the important figure around a thousand years ago too. At the time, the immortal sects, demonic sects, and daemon cultivators had already confined themselves to their own mountains, whereas martial arts had only started developing recently—being able to cultivate to that level was already impressive.
Then, Jiang He could not help recalling the three statues with human heads and tiger bodies, which he had seen before in the grand temple of the Tantra Sect…
A weird thought crossed his mind at that very moment. “Could your ancestral masters have been daemon cultivators?
A daemon founding a Buddhist Sect?
It was a little unlikely, was it not?
“What about the Shaolin Temple? Wasn’t there a saying that all martial arts originate from Shaolin? Would they have superior martial arts too?”
The white-clothed guru shook his head again to gesture that he had no idea.
Jiang He then added, “What about Mount Wudang?”
“When it comes to age, Wudang’s ancestral master would be much younger than you and Elder Guo, would he not? Did he cultivate martial arts or immortal arts?”
The white-clothed guru’s eyes gleamed at the mention of Mount Wudang’s ancestral master and he said, “The ancestral master of Wudang was born to train in martial arts. He was once a disciple of the Shaolin Temple who did not take the vow of monkhood before he eventually founded the path of Taiji and the Holy Grounds of Mount Wudang. He was challenged by the other Holy Grounds when he did—we, the Tantra Sect, sent our elites as well, but they were defeated by that man too.”
“He was merely Void-tier at the time, but no one expected that a dozen years later, he relied on his own strength to defeat the many Sky Demon elites, hence revealing his peerless ability.”
Feeling a thought coming to him then, Jiang He asked, “What was the cultivation of Mount Wudang’s ancestral master?”
“Above Zero Void.”
The white-clothed guru answered. “I was in the middle of a reincarnation cycle and was not a part of that battle against the Sky Demons. Still, in my conversation with Elder Guo, I heard him mention that the ancestral master of Mount Wudang would have reached the strongest level in martial arts, which is why he eventually gained the power to leave by splitting space itself.”
“Of course, whether a tier beyond Zero Void exists is merely a hunch of mine. That ancestral master of Mount Wudang had only mentioned that once too.”
Question marks appeared all over Jiang He’s head.
What the heck?
The greatest martial artist?
Breaking space itself?
However, according to the Taixu Sect, the ancestral master of Mount Wudang was the last person who became an immortal.
Perhaps…
A person directly ascending above immortal after Zero Void?
The strongest level?
Breaking space itself?
It meant that he had grasped the mystery of spatiality, something which Jiang He himself could never achieve even if he overworked himself… and did that not mean becoming immortal lies beyond Zero Void?
Moreover, it did not mean that cultivating martial arts made it easier to become immortal, but that the martial arts system was simply incomplete—attempting to ascend was therefore much more difficult!
After all, when it came to immortal arts, there was a detailed division between Yuan Spirit, Convergence, Sufferance, to Mahayana: what a person should cultivate on each level and what to experience were distinctly different, but it was not so in martial arts.
As such, would it be that simple to achieve what one must accomplish over different immortal arts tiers, within a single martial arts tier?
Jiang He hence pondered.
When the puzzled white-clothed guru asked him about it, he breathed a long sigh. “Martial cultivation is very difficult, and it has not been that long since martial arts was founded. Most tiers are incomplete, which is why I want to develop a cultivation manual that fully explains the later stages so martial artists have a goal to strive for.”
The white-clothed guru became solemnly respectful and said, “Brother Jiang He, on behalf of all martial artists in this world, I salute you with tea instead of wine…it sounds easy, but isn’t accomplishing that incredibly difficult?”
Jiang He had another sip of Big Red Robe and sighed emotionally. “That is true. Creating cultivation manuals is seriously difficult and I know that very well, but for the sake of the futures of all martial artists, I would not be stopped from creating a path of martial arts no matter how hard it is!”
If push comes to shove…
I just have to use up some brain cells after my farm levels up!
Moreover, the limits and constraints his farm had would be a lot less after his farm leveled up. Creating a cultivation method then would not be that difficult now, would it?
Still, the white-clothed guru certainly had no idea what Jiang He had in mind. Even so, he admired Jiang He even more now and he finished his cup of tea with a single gulp, somberly saying, “You are truly peerless!”
After that, they chattered away idly over tea for over two hours. As dawn approached, the white-clothed guru put fist to palm and bade Jiang He farewell.
Though Jiang He tried to stop him, the white-clothed guru said, “I’ve only ascended recently, so I would be staying at Lingzhou City for a while to stabilize my cultivation. I could come to have a conversation at any time.”
Whoosh!
He disappeared in a flash.
After seeing off the white-clothed guru, Jiang He entered his farm and began planting spirit stones as well as mystic treasures.
Right now, he had innumerable spirit stones and mystic treasures, and he would disregard anything a little inferior in grade… Jiang He made a general inventory then, and it appeared that after he received the spirit stones and mystic treasures of the Buddha Sect, along with the initiation pellets of the Superpower Research Department, he would earn around a billion Farm Points and could level up his farm then.
Jiang He yawned after planting all the spirit stones.
He did not sleep well after going through several tough fights recently and he was tired in spirit since he used the Twenty-Three Swords on multiple occasion.
“I’ll collect the spirit stones later…”
“Moreover, my current irritations are resolved for now, so it’s time to plan my resting hours—it would not do to have reversed days and nights on the long term.”
With that thought in mind, Jiang He left the farm and headed to his bedroom.
Yeah.
He must plan his resting hours.
After all, as the saying goes, early to bed, early to rise, and it would not fly if he kept staying up for long nights.
“From now on, I’ll wake up at half past eight, have breakfast, and go to work at the farm at half past nine. Then, I’ll have a two-hour break at noon and continue farming in the afternoon until I get off work at six… Moreover, since I have not leveled up my farm yet, I could head outside for a trip and carry out my plan to do so.”
Still…
When he woke up, Jiang He understood profoundly what the saying ‘plans never catch up to changes’ meant.
He checked the time on his phone while rubbing his eyes, which were blurred from sleep…
Gasp!
Jiang He could not help inhaling sharply. “It’s already twenty-four minutes past one in the afternoon?”
“And here I was thinking I could go with a nine-to-five schedule… Whatever, I’ll start tomorrow.”
Jiang He headed downstairs for his lunch.
Sora was already washing the dishes while Boa Hancock cleaned up the house. As Jiang He leaned back against his sofa, he had the seven Fairy Maidens dance to entertain him.
That was when two powerful auras extended from the outside.
Soon, a bold voice spoke, “Mister Jiang. I am Heng Yuan of Mount Ling and I have come with my disciple to make amends.”
Two monks were standing outside Jiang He’s house, having stopped when he noticed the array outside Jiang He’s house.
Jiang He hence stepped out to find the stout monk from yesterday with an older monk, who was wearing a kasaya while holding a shippei and appeared rather menacing. Holding up one palm, he chanted a Buddhist mantra, “Amitabha. Mister Jiang, Heng Yuan is graced by your presence.”
“Guru Heng Yuan. Did you bring the stuff?” Jiang He smiled.
Even as he spoke, he studied the monk closely.
A full-fledged Mahayana.
His cultivation was not bad, and most importantly, his qi was exuberant despite his aged appearance. He must be accomplished even when it comes to physique, and was perhaps three or four retributions in Sufferance.
Likewise, the monk was also quietly studying Jiang He, his eyes gleaming at him just then as he grew in respect toward Jiang He.
He took out a Spatial Ring and said a bunch of stuff about how his disciple was blind and the like, but Jiang He waved him off impatiently, saying, “Guru Heng Yuan, I have accepted a token of sincerity from the Mount Ling’s Buddha Sect. However, I would not speak of this further as I have other matters to attend to.”
With that, he promptly turned and enter his farm.
Heng Yuan smiled stiffened at that, while the stout mount beside him whispered, “Master…”
“Silence!”
Heng Yuan barked, “We’ll return to Mount Ling now!”
He could not help feeling furious despite his Buddhist discipline. Even so, it was not Jiang He’s arrogance that angered him, but this disciple of his…
It was so heart-rending. Five thousand mediocre-grade spirit stones and five hundred superior-grade spirit stones…
There was also the three premium-grade sage items and one demi-immortal item.
Even with the Buddha Sect of Mount Ling’s deep pockets, it was a major blood loss.
After leaving Jiang He’s house, the stout monk growled, “Master, that Jiang He is so arrogant…”
Heng Yuan shot his disciple a look that cut him short, even adding, “Watch your tongue. Chaos has yet to descend upon this world, so the decision for our sect to reveal ourselves is a mistake in the first place. Mention not another word of this matter, and I will suggest that we seal our mountains once more when we return—anything could wait until the Buddhas come back.”
***
[Ding!]
[+100 Farm Points!]
[Ding…]
In the farm, Jiang He was absolutely busy, having to harvest batch after batch of spirit stones.
He worked hard until lunch when he received a call from Elder Mu, and he instructed Dumbo and Trumbo, “You two, head to the underground base outside Jingdu City and bring me the initiation pellets there. I have something to attend to at Lingzhou City.”
Both Dumbo and Trumbo danced chipperly and left on a daemon cloud.
As for Jiang He, he got on the sports car he had not driven for a long time and headed out to Lingzhou City.
He sought out Cheng Dongfeng first.
Once they met, Cheng Dongfeng sweetly greeted Jiang He with the honorific ‘grand-master’, which made Jiang He smile and say, “I’ve come to you today mainly to give you something.”
Cheng Dongfeng was delighted.
After all, the Jiang He of the present was absolutely impressive.
Even scraps from him was enough to make Cheng Dongfeng rich.
Be that as it may, his smile stiffened in the next instant—Jiang He had taken out over eighty mineral bottles and thrown them all over the floor, saying, “I know you like to collect bottles, so have these bottles I had recently used.”
Cheng Dongfeng was dumbstruck.
Unsure if he should laugh or cry, he asked, “I’m not gathering your used bottles, grand-master, but the Origin Fluid you were… eh?”
His eyes suddenly widened at one of the mineral bottles, which was almost full.
He lunged towards it and opened the bottle cap.
A fragrant aroma wafted to his nose right then.
An almost full bottle of Origin Fluid?
Jiang He could not hold back his laughter and showed a look of envy, before sighing emotionally, “I really envy you when I think about it sometimes… you could be happy just over half a bottle of rank-nine Origin Fluid, while I can’t feel the same way even if I had a whole hill of spirit stones piling in front of me.”
Cheng Dongfeng, who was just happily counting his bottles, promptly did a double take at that, suddenly finding the bottles of Origin Fluid not that pleasing already.
