Chapter 2

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Chapter 2: Planning for the Future

As someone who loves fantasy stories, dreams of freedom, and is afraid of death, Shi Xuan eagerly pursues the opportunity to cultivate immortality through cultivation without any hesitation.

In order to cultivate, wealth, companions, techniques, and location are all necessary.

For wealth, Shi Xuan has inherited some silver coins from the old Taoist, but resources for cultivation are scarce. As Old Taoist Xu said, resources for cultivation are lacking in Middle Land.

Regarding companions, according to Old Taoist Xu, the highest level of cultivation in the capital and thirteen provinces is only Astral Projection Stage. It may be difficult for Shi Xuan to find someone at the same level to discuss and explore higher levels in the future.

As for techniques, Shi Xuan already has the fundamental technique for cultivation, but according to the Treasure Record, there are only about a dozen techniques derived naturally from his cultivation path.

The section on crafting only contains a few methods for crafting magical items recorded by Green Cloud Master. The materials for these magical items are mostly unknown to Shi Xuan, some are only found in myths and legends, and others he has never even heard of. Shi Xuan is disappointed to find there is no basic crafting knowledge provided, despite the initial excitement.

The section on alchemy is similar, seemingly not part of the Treasure Record but added by Green Cloud Master, along with some ancient formulas and diagrams. This discrepancy is due to Green Cloud Master’s ancient origins.

As for location, Old Taoist Xu mentions that the environments of several famous mountains and rivers are suitable for cultivation.

Shi Xuan sighed, realizing he would have to follow the same path as Old Taoist Xu to travel the world in search of immortals and enlightenment. After excluding the places Old Taoist Xu had visited, it seemed that there were only three places in Middle Land that needed to be explored: Tongxuan Mountain, Mang Mountain, and the imperial capital. The last place was added by Shi Xuan himself because if the world of cultivating immortals truly existed and they needed to interact with the mortal world, besides famous mountains and rivers, perhaps only the capital city could meet the conditions, whether it was for collecting spiritual herbs and resources, or recruiting talented disciples. These were all based on various novels he had read before, combined with some deductive reasoning. If he was wrong, then he would just have made a wasted trip.

After exploring Middle Land, if he still hadn’t found any connections to immortals, he planned to set sail to the East Sea fairy island frequently mentioned in myths. The subsequent destinations would be to the south of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and then to the desolate Western Wilderness.

Shi Xuan took a sip of cool water. He had already roughly planned his long-term goals and steps for the future. His immediate priority was to first heal his injuries, then restore his cultivation to its previous level. Once he had the power to protect himself, he could proceed to the next step. After following the old Taoist for ten years, he had learned the skills of medicine and healing. His body would be back to normal within half a month.

However, the main issue was that the levels of the body and soul were different. His body belonged to Du Bai, who had already passed the stage of tempering the body and reached the level of internal energy strengthening the soul. As for his soul, it belonged to Shi Xuan. He had maintained a basic level of soul cultivation during his school years, but neglected it after starting to work. His soul was still at the early stage of nurturing the soul. This was why Shi Xuan didn’t immediately start visualizing and cultivating his soul, as doing so would boost his soul’s strength through internal energy. Currently, his soul’s level might experience a deficiency that could not be easily filled. As a precaution, he decided to continue tempering his body daily until his soul reached the initial stage of strengthening the soul under the slow nourishment of the body.

It took Du Bai seven years to progress from body tempering to the period of strengthening the Qi and soul. However, his body had already reached the Qi Strengthening Period, making it more challenging to nourish the soul than before. Shi Xuan estimated that his soul’s transition to the Soul Strengthening Period would be much quicker than before, but the exact duration would be determined by the nourishment effects.

The medicinal baths and soups that Du Bai used during body tempering were part of Old Taoist Xu’s true teachings. Now Shi Xuan had better options, with the Treasure Record providing three sets of prescriptions for baths and consumption.

However, similar to the alchemy recipes and diagrams, many of the herbs and ingredients mentioned in them were unheard of or existed only in legends. Especially, the first prescription, the Dragon Emperor Blood Refining Pill, was about seventy to eighty percent unfamiliar and seemed like a myth. The second prescription, the Human Immortal Body Tempering Soup, was around forty to fifty percent unknown.

Fortunately, the third prescription, the Qianyuan Essence Exchange Soup, might have about twenty percent unknown ingredients that were not commonly heard of or mentioned in myths. However, these were all present in Old Taoist Xu’s prescriptions, along with their ancient names marked for reference after the evolution of time.

Of course, not everything is perfect. There was a herb called “Stone Top Ginseng” which was not labeled, but Shi Xuan remembered reading about it in ancient texts. It was likely one of the species among Stone Treasure, Red Ginseng, and Taiheng Lian. He could only confirm the exact type by purchasing some and conducting experiments on a few animals.

Actually, even if the names of the drugs match, Shi Xuan decided to first do experiments on animals, because with the long evolution of drug names, it is also very possible for another drug to evolve into the current name. For example, originally there were drugs A and B, after evolution, the name of A changed to C, and the name of B changed to A.

Of course, if this situation occurs, there is a high chance that the effects of drugs A and B are different. Shi Xuan is now very knowledgeable about pharmacology and should be able to distinguish them. But if by any chance drugs A and B have the same effects, with only slight differences, then it is possible that drug B could be mistaken for drug A in Old Taoist Xu’s prescription, and when combined with other drugs, it may work well due to similar properties, but could be toxic in the drugs that Shi Xuan is preparing to use. The probability of this happening is very low, but just in case, when it comes to matters concerning one’s own life, it’s better to be cautious. If a problem arises, who will he turn to?

Shi Xuan has set his future path and the things he needs to do soon, feeling very determined. Suddenly, he felt extremely hungry, so he changed into a simple robe, put some silver coins in his pocket, planning to go out to fill his stomach first before doing things like buying medicine. As for the few things left by Old Taoist Xu, he decided to look at them when it was quiet at night.

After leaving the courtyard, the sunlight almost blinded his eyes. Seeing that it was already past noon, no wonder he was so hungry. He locked the courtyard door, greeted the neighbors on the left and right, and headed towards the alley entrance.

The neighbors were quite surprised. Aunt Zhang on the left said to Mrs. Li on the right, “Hey, this boy is usually very shy, never greets us when we pass by, but today he greeted us himself when the sun came out from the west.”

“I think after his grandfather passed away, he experienced various things. He seems not bad at all. Your daughter is lively and matches him well. His family is wealthy too, they can definitely afford to give hundreds of silver coins.” Mrs. Li had a passionate interest in being a matchmaker.

Aunt Zhang sighed, “My stubborn daughter, following her uncle to study for a few days, she became so arrogant, always wanting to marry a scholar. She doesn’t even look at herself. Scholars are like celestial beings, is she worthy?”

Shi Xuan reached the bustling main street after leaving the alley, and without choosing the fancy grand restaurant, he entered a small noodle shop at the side of the street based on his memory.

“Uncle Liu, bring me three bowls of plain noodles and half a pound of braised pork intestines.” The braised pork intestines in this shop are a local delicacy. And remember, this city is Xia’an Prefectural City, not just a small town, it’s a bustling place outside of Yangzhou City, known for its traffic due to the Yangtze River and Grand Canal.

“I say, boy, you usually come early, but today it’s almost noon.” Shopkeeper Liu cut the pig intestines, with a big belly, walked over, still caring for this familiar neighbor.

“Oh, don’t mention it. Last night I couldn’t sleep thinking about what to do in the future, feeling a lot of pressure.” Shi Xuan recalled Du Bai’s tone in front of Shopkeeper Liu, unconsciously using a similar tone.

Luckily, Shopkeeper Liu focused on the topic and didn’t pay too much attention to the tone, “I see you have a good physique. Why not become a guard at the government office? The pay isn’t much, but with other benefits added up, it’s good. Although your family has some wealth, you shouldn’t rely on it completely. I have some connections in this area.”

After some thought, Shi Xuan said, “Uncle Liu, I have a relative in the capital city. I plan to leave in six months to join him. Opportunities may arise under the emperor’s feet.” This could be considered as laying the groundwork for his future departure. The neighbors mostly knew Shi Xuan was working on strengthening his body, but they were unaware of his practice in Taoism spells. Very few people had ever seen Taoism spells in this world.

As for the Daoist robe, several emperors were Daoist believers, so it was a common practice for wealthy merchants and high-ranking scholars to wear Daoist robes at home. In other words, the Daoist robe was like a modern designer leisurewear. Therefore, Shi Xuan wearing a Daoist robe without a Daoist emblem was not unusual. At most, he might be mistaken for a rich merchant’s son or a scholar.

“Though there are many opportunities in the capital city, there are also many dangers. I know you’re young and ambitious, but you must also be cautious,” Shopkeeper Liu said before patting Shi Xuan’s shoulder and attending to new customers. Meanwhile, the noodles arrived.

Shi Xuan was starving, but with ten years of experience in cultivating his body through Taoist practices, he knew not to eat hastily. He savored the noodles and stew carefully. The noodle soup was light and refreshing, full of the flavors of the stew, silky but not greasy, truly a delicious experience.

After savoring the last sip of the soup, feeling content, the former food lover Shi Xuan, now satisfied and full, finally felt grateful to be alive. He then stood up, paid the meal to Shopkeeper Liu, bid farewell, and headed south towards several large herbal medicine shops.