Chapter Five: The Elixir Opens the Path of Spirit, Seclusion for Pursuit and Inquiry

Chapter Five: The Pill Opens the Path of Spirit, Seeking Answers in Seclusion

That warm current traveled through my body for a full cycle, finally settling in my dantian as a faint, lingering heat. I could distinctly sense that something within me had fundamentally changed. Old, hidden wounds from years of battle seemed to be soothed, and my senses sharpened beyond anything I had known before. I could even hear the subtle crunching of tender leaves by a spirit deer far in the forest.

More importantly, the tightly shut gate of cultivation had finally cracked open for me.

“Father, your eyes... they’re so bright.” Yi Yi looked up at me, her little face full of curiosity.

It was only then I realized how unrestrained my excitement had been. I took a deep breath, calming my racing thoughts, and turned my gaze to the remaining Longevity Pill in the jade box.

Without hesitation.

“Yi Yi, come, take this as well.” I held the pill to her lips, my tone leaving no room for refusal.

“But, Father…” she hesitated, “didn’t you say you’d try it first?”

“I have tried it. This is the best thing in the world,” I explained gently. “It will make us stronger, help you cultivate better, and soon you’ll be able to make friends with even more animals.”

Hearing that she could befriend more animals, her eyes curved into crescents. Obediently, she opened her mouth and swallowed the pill.

The pill melted instantly, and a healthy blush bloomed on her cheeks as a faint scent of fresh grass wafted from her. She smacked her lips, savoring the taste as though it were candy, but then a heavy drowsiness overtook her. Her eyelids drooped, and finding a comfortable spot in my arms, she drifted into a deep sleep.

The little white creature in her embrace seemed to sense something amiss, anxiously brushing Yi Yi’s cheek with its three tails, letting out soft, worried chirps, but nothing could rouse her.

At first, I thought nothing of it, assuming it was a normal reaction to the pill. I gently carried her, intending to let her rest in the side chamber. But when I checked her breathing, my heart suddenly sank. Her breaths were long and steady, her heartbeat strong and powerful; her body was more vital than ever, brimming with life. Yet no matter how softly I called to her, she did not respond, as though trapped in the deepest dream, unwilling to awaken.

A nameless fear seized my heart. I forced myself to focus, delving once more into the inherited knowledge within my mind, frantically searching for answers.

Thanks to the power of the Longevity Pill, I finally understood the core of the legacy left by the predecessor of the Void. It turned out that leaving this immortal island was not about breaking through some invisible barrier, but about becoming its true master. To command this island, one had to channel spiritual energy into the sect leader’s token and resonate with the island’s protective array. The minimum requirement for activating the token was reaching the “Golden Elixir” stage.

The path of cultivation is long and arduous. According to the legacy, the realms of this world are divided roughly into: Qi Refining, Foundation Building, Golden Elixir, Nascent Soul, and Divine Transformation. At this moment, with the help of the Longevity Pill, I had barely stepped into the first layer of Qi Refining.

The legacy’s description of the Longevity Pill also surfaced. This pill had been acquired by the founder of Penglai by chance; it was not native to this world, but hailed from the legendary Immortal Realm. Its true effect was to cleanse the muscles and marrow, reshape one’s foundation, and allow the user to resonate with the Dao of Heaven and Earth, vastly accelerating cultivation. This was the true secret behind its name, “Longevity.”

Yet nowhere in the legacy was it mentioned that consuming it would induce sleep!

I had no one to ask, no one who could answer me. Staring at my daughter, sleeping peacefully yet bursting with vitality in my arms, a thought grew ever clearer in my mind: perhaps only when I became strong enough, when I reached a higher realm, could I uncover all the secrets of this pill and find the way to awaken Yi Yi!

Leaving was for her. Cultivating, even more so, was for her!

I carefully settled Yi Yi onto the stone bed in the side chamber, covering her with clothes. The little white creature curled up beside her, warming its master with its own body.

I gazed at her deeply, my eyes filled with the resolve of a father.

“Yi Yi, wait for me. I will wake you, and bring you home.”

I made my decision. On this isolated island, where spiritual energy was dwindling and the age of law was ending, time was our greatest enemy. I must seize the momentum granted by the Longevity Pill and, at any cost, cultivate to the Golden Elixir stage!

I walked to the other side of the chamber, sat cross-legged, placed the sect leader’s token before me, and slowly closed my eyes.

I cleared my mind, focusing on my dantian.

This time, I was no longer a mortal unable to find the path. Guided by the pill’s power, I could clearly “see” wisps of spiritual energy—so thin as to be invisible—gathering from all directions, entering my body, circulating along the route described in the Physical Refinement Manual, and finally merging with the true energy in my dantian.

Though the spiritual energy was pitifully thin, and each cycle brought only the slightest increase, it had begun at last.

Immersed in this wondrous sensation, I forgot time, hunger, thirst, and even where I was. In my world, there remained only the flow of cultivation and my unwavering goal—

The Golden Elixir!

For my daughter, for our only path to survival.