Inside a mountain cave dwelling, the old man's cloudy eyes were somewhat unfocused. He reached out a hand weakly. "I'm afraid I won't make it much longer. The road ahead… you'll have to walk it on your own."
Gu Yuan quickly stepped over to his elderly father's side and took his hand. "Father, is there anything left undone? Any unfulfilled wish?"
Gu Shan shook his head. "What wishes could your old father still have? All I hope is that, in the future, you can do as I did—pass on the Gu family's lineage while your vital energy and blood are still strong."
Gu Yuan nodded. "Don't worry, Father. When that day comes, I will be just like you."
Satisfied, Gu Shan gave a faint nod. A trace of nostalgia flickered in his clouded eyes. "I truly wish I could see your brothers and sisters one last time before I go… but alas…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Gu Shan exhaled his last breath.
Gu Yuan let out a sigh and gently laid his father's body flat on the bed.
Gu Shan had placed extreme importance on cultivation talent, treating any offspring without spiritual roots as though they were strangers. Yet, in his final moments, he found himself reminiscing about those children he had sent away to live in the mortal world.
Thirty years ago, Gu Yuan had been reborn into this world while still in the womb. At that time, the family still had two elder brothers and one elder sister. As he grew up, his father had sent his siblings one by one to live in the secular world, while he himself remained behind—solely because he possessed a ninth-grade spiritual root.
This world is a cultivation realm, where a great divide exists between cultivators and mortals. For those who have already been sent to the mortal world, it is utterly impossible to return here. That means Gu Shan will never see the children he sent away to live among ordinary people again.
The place where Gu Yuan resides is called Qinglin Mountain. Beneath the mountain lie tens of thousands of acres of spiritual farmland. In his early years, Gu Shan joined the Cangxuan Sect. Later, after cultivating to the third level of Qi Refining, he entered the sect's outer sect. Having witnessed many fellow disciples perish while venturing out to explore and seek opportunities, he applied to the sect to become a spiritual farmer, tasked with cultivating the spiritual fields for the Cangxuan Sect.
Gu Yuan understood what his father meant in those final words: he hoped his son would come to terms with their circumstances sooner, and not end up like him—waiting until his vitality and blood were nearly depleted before starting a family and passing on the family line. By then, the children born would have limited talent, likely inferior even to his own.
But Gu Yuan was different. Ever since he was reborn into this world in the womb, a cultivation method had existed within his mind—it was called the "Nirvana Technique."
By cultivating this technique, one could form a Fetal Imprint within their body. When the time came—when their vitality and blood were failing and death was near—they could rely on this Fetal Imprint to be reborn through Nirvana. Moreover, the stronger one's strength was before each nirvana, the greater the improvement in their physical talent and potential would be after rebirth.
Thanks to this technique, Gu Yuan was destined not to follow the path of ordinary people—marrying and having children to continue the family line before his vitality and blood declined.
"No woman in my heart, my blade strikes like divine." Gu Shan's hopes for his son had completely missed the mark with Gu Yuan.
Finding an auspicious burial spot on Qinglin Mountain, Gu Yuan laid his father, Gu Shan, to rest.
Several spiritual farmers who also lived on Qinglin Mountain and were on relatively good terms with the family came to pay their respects and bid farewell to Gu Shan.
Gazing at the newly erected tombstone, two elderly men's eyes were filled with wistfulness. It wouldn't be long before they, too, might find themselves lying at eternal rest in these mountains, just like Gu Shan.
Not long after burying his father, Gu Yuan settled down in his cave abode to focus on cultivation.
Outside the cave, Yan Ling—dressed in a cyan-gray robe—came looking for him.
Her expression was somewhat bashful. After entering the cave, she looked at Gu Yuan, her face flushed red, and said, "Senior Brother Gu, my father wants to betroth me to an outer sect disciple named Li Ya. I don't want to marry him… Can you marry me instead?"
Gu Yuan looked at her in surprise. "Out of the blue—why would your father want to betroth you to someone?"
Yan Lingyi's expression was complicated. "My father saw your father pass away, and knowing that he himself doesn't have much longer to live, he wanted to secure a future for me before he goes. Unlike you, I haven't reached the third level of Qi Refining or learned the Minor Spirit Rain Technique, so I don't qualify to continue cultivating the spiritual fields. I'm still far from reaching the third level of Qi Refining… My father is afraid he won't live to see that day."
Gu Yuan fell silent. He and Yan Lingyi had practically grown up together—they were childhood sweethearts, both raised on Qinglin Mountain. The two shared the same lowly cultivation aptitude: both had ninth-grade spiritual roots.
Gu Shan had spent the first half of his life as a spiritual farmer. After realizing that his chances of making progress in cultivation were slim, he began saving up resources for the sake of his descendants. In contrast, Yan Lingyi's father had been forced into the role of a spiritual farmer after suffering an injury that prevented him from going out to explore and seek opportunities. Every year, a large portion of their resources had to be spent suppressing his injury, leaving them without enough to properly cultivate Yan Lingyi. As a result, her cultivation had only reached the second level of Qi Refining.
To rent and cultivate spiritual fields under the Cangxuan Sect, the first requirement was to have at least the third level of Qi Refining and to know the Minor Spirit Rain Technique. Otherwise, the yield of the spiritual fields simply couldn't be guaranteed.
That was also the reason why Yan Lingyi's father, feeling that his days were numbered, had become so anxious to find a suitable match for his daughter.
Gu Yuan didn't have much spirit stone savings to begin with—all of it had been used to exchange for Spirit-Gathering Pills to aid his cultivation. If he were to form a dao companion relationship with Yan Lingyi, relying solely on the ten acres of spiritual fields they could rent would barely be enough to sustain both of their cultivation needs.
Moreover, it would also expose his own secret. Once he had a family and eventually children, how could he justify leaving them behind in his later years to pursue nirvana and rebirth?
Thinking of this, Gu Yuan shook his head. "Junior Sister Yan, I'm sorry. I still want to push forward with my cultivation for now—I have no plans to get married."
Yan Lingyi's face turned pale. She hadn't expected Gu Yuan to reject her.
Clenching her teeth, she asked accusingly, "Why? We both have ninth-grade spiritual roots. For people like us, advancing to the later stages of Qi Refining is already an incredibly difficult feat. If we become dao companions, we'd only need to endure a few tough years. Once I reach the third level of Qi Refining, we could both sustain our own cultivation. Why are you refusing me?"
"Junior Sister Yan, I've always treated you like a younger sister. I'm sorry."
Gu Yuan didn't say much more. At this point, any explanation would have been pointless.
Yan Lingyi's eyes were slightly red. Summoning the courage to question him like this had already been the greatest effort she could muster.
"Don't regret it later," she said coldly.
With that, Yan Lingyi turned around and stormed off, her face flushed with a mix of humiliation and anger.
A month later, Gu Yuan received a wedding invitation from Yan Lingyi's father.
He calmly prepared a gift and attended the wedding of Li Ya and Yan Lingyi.
During the banquet, Gu Yuan overheard from others that Li Ya intended to leave the Cangxuan Sect and venture out into the secular world to establish a cultivation family. That was why he sought to marry a dao companion with spiritual roots to accompany him in this endeavor—a common practice among ordinary cultivators.
Li Ya had reached the sixth level of Qi Refining and was known for being practical and down-to-earth. These were precisely the qualities that Yan Lingyi's father admired in him.
Feeling Yan Lingyi's occasional glances directed toward him, Gu Yuan found the meal extremely uncomfortable. After the dishes were served, he ate a few bites hastily and then excused himself.
It was summer, and the spiritual rice fields required the Minor Spirit Rain Technique to be cast daily to ensure the crops had enough moisture.
Gu Yuan spent most of the day watering three acres of spiritual fields. Once the spiritual energy within his body was exhausted, he returned to his cave abode to meditate and recover his mana.
Time passed in this simple, uneventful manner—until, before he knew it, the season for harvesting the spiritual rice had arrived.
"Gu Yuan, the total harvest from your ten acres of spiritual fields is 8,500 jin. After deducting the land rent and seed costs for those ten acres, you're left with 500 jin of spiritual rice. Would you like to keep the rice, or exchange it directly for spirit stones?"
The Cangxuan Sect steward calculated Gu Yuan's yield with an air of impatience.
"Exchange it for spirit stones," Gu Yuan replied.
Over the past few years, ever since Gu Shan's vitality and blood had begun to decline, Gu Yuan had been the one taking care of the spiritual fields. His spiritual power was only just enough to cast the Minor Spirit Rain Technique to irrigate three acres. To water all ten acres, it took him three full days—one-third the efficiency of other cultivators—so the yield from his fields had always been quite low.
"Five hundred jin of spiritual rice equates to 50 spirit stones," the steward calculated, then handed Gu Yuan a voucher. With this slip, he could go to the outer sect to claim his spirit stones.
Gu Yuan thanked him and took the voucher to the Cangxuan Sect's outer sect office to collect the spirit stones.
After receiving them, he exchanged every single one of the fifty spirit stones for five bottles of Spirit-Gathering Pills.
His innate talent was extremely poor. Without the aid of pills, it was very difficult for him to retain the spiritual energy he cultivated.