Chapter 293: Magu
Geniuses were worthless to the Heavenly Dao Academy. For ages, numerous geniuses studied at the academy, including Immortal Emperors. What were the contemporary geniuses worth!?
The issue was that even Deity Jikong Wudi was not treated like Li Qiye, who was able to enter the back door. An elder or even a supreme elder did not have the power to allow such a privilege. The academy’s recruiting program had always been strictly enforced, thus no one could abuse it for personal gain; this was one of the reasons why the academy remained strong until now.
In order to join in a manner like Li Qiye, at least two ancestors must have given permission. However, the ancestors of the academy were all monstrous and they spent their time hibernating without a care for mundane matters. Ordinary matters would not be able to stir them.
This meant that the ancestors gave Li Qiye permission and it greatly confused Le Yi. Li Qiye should have chosen the Sacred Era Hall, yet he purposely chose the Grand Era Hall — really strange.
After sending Le Yi away, Chi Xiaodie arranged and cleaned Li Qiye’s room. She was now doing things that servants were meant to do, things that she never thought she would do in the past.
Li Qiye and Chi Xiaodie lived alone in a courtyard with a vast space. After serving Li Qiye with a bath, Li Qiye gave her a glance and said: “You may ask if you have any questions. You have changed recently, so there are some things you may clarify to widen your knowledge.”
Chi Xiaodie couldn’t help but ask: “Who is Magu?” This question had been held in her heart for a long time, but she didn’t dare to ask.
The mysterious Old Daoist Peng in the Everlasting Courtyard completely changed his expression every time Magu was mentioned, which was enough to illustrate Magu’s heaven-frightening origin.
Li Qiye looked at her and slowly asked: “Have you ever heard of Immortal Xu Chong?” Chi Xiaodie had changed a lot recently. She worked hard and had great results; her personality also became better, which was why Li Qiye brought her to the Heavenly Dao Academy. If she didn’t change, then Li Qiye would have brought her back to the Lion’s Roar Gate since he cared for the Chi Clan quite a bit.
Chi Xiaodie tilted her head and carefully thought about it before shaking her head and replied: “I have never heard of this name, is it a real immortal?”
“This just means that you haven’t reached the level to hear about the name — nothing too strange. Only the undyings hiding in their coffins would know of Immortal Xu Chong in the present times.” Li Qiye did not blame her and continued on: “However, surely you have heard of Wang Yuan before?”
“Second Sage Wang Yuan! The ancestor that revitalized the Heavenly Dao Academy!” Chi Xiaodie quickly answered: “Although Wang Yuan passed away a long time ago, his sacred fame in the Eastern Hundred Cities still lives on.”
Wang Yuan was not an Immortal Emperor, but he was just as renowned as one; this was enough to note his great influence.
Li Qiye slowly said: “Wang Yuan was famous, but the Heavenly Dao Academy had another giant figure — this was Immortal Xu Chong.”
“On par with the Second Sage?” Chi Xiaodie was startled for this information was too shocking. Second Sage Wang Yuan was such an illustrious existence and he even had the same status as an Immortal Emperor without becoming one.
Li Qiye looked towards the far horizon and spoke: “A long time ago, she was not comparable to Wang Yuan. Regarding cultivation, Wang Yuan was able to fly his own banner on a solitary tree. However, looking at her skill right now, it is hard to say.” [1. Idiom saying that he is great enough to start his own school or develop his own path.]
“She’s still alive until now? Impossible!” Chi Xiaodie shockingly exclaimed, but then she calmed down and felt that it may be so. Since eons ago, countless undyings buried themselves and halted their blood force inside the Blood Era Stones to offset the erosion of time; they had been hibernating deep underground until now.
Li Qiye purposely exposed Chi Xiaodie to more information: “You are mistaken. Immortal Xu Chong does not need the blood stones, the reason she has been able to live until now was because of her Eternal Physique. Do you know why the courtyard is named Everlasting? It is because they passed down the Eternal Physique, and it was only to one person each generation. Immortal Xu Chong was the first master of the Everlasting Courtyard.”
“You also saw that old daoist, right? He sleeps all day not because of sloth, but because of the Eternal Physique. This Physique does not need blood stones nor require blood force halting; one can wake up whenever they want to. It is not something that using the blood stones could compare to.”
The Eternal Physique had no positive effect on one’s cultivation nor any assistance in battles. However, the Eternal Physique allowed for one to live for a long, long time.
Eternal Physique cultivators could sleep without doing anything else, and they could wake up at their whim as well. To them, sleep was cultivation. When they were awake, their training becomes halted.
The twelve Immortal Physiques all have special techniques and unique powers. Only the Eternal Physique didn’t assist cultivation or offensive power. It didn’t have many special techniques and it was an arduous and lengthy process to cultivate it.
If one couldn’t successfully cultivate the other Immortal Physiques, then they would never reach success and would wither away with both their flesh and dao.
However, the Eternal Physique was different. One generation was a short amount of time and two generations were only the beginning. Only at three generations would they really step into the Physique’s basic realm.
The process was extremely slow, like a crawling snail. However, as long as one had enough perseverance and an unwavering dao heart without falling to the temptations of the world, then they would ultimately be able to struggle on.
Cultivating the Eternal Physique was a tedious and lonely process; very few were able to tread onward.
In fact, Li Qiye didn’t only teach one or two geniuses the Eternal Physique, but in the end, they couldn’t stand the temptation and eventually gave up.
For example, practicing the Eternal Physique was still tolerable. However, after staying in the Palace Foundation realm for one hundred years, then one thousand years... Before one knew it, one generation had already passed. Those next to you had reached a new level while you were still at the Palace Foundation realm.
This was an unacceptable matter to many cultivators. Others could cultivate for eight to ten years and could travel across this world. One hundred years to dominate one region to become worshiped by others and to enjoy numerous jewels, divine weapons, and immortal treasures!
Who could actually put up with cultivating the Eternal Physique where all they did was sleep while the speed was turtle-like? Not to mention geniuses, even the most stupid person could not withstand such a path towards the dao.
To Li Qiye, who had lived for countless years and owned the Physique Scripture, the Eternal Physique was his biggest failure. He taught many people the Eternal Physique, but it had ultimately always ended in failure.
However, as one of the twelve Immortal Physiques, the Eternal Physique was not a useless thing. Legend has it that once it was cultivated to the apex, one could reach immortality. It was hard to tell whether this legend was true or not, but a grand completion Eternal Physique could live for an extremely long time and they didn’t need to bury oneself like the group of old undyings that must pay a huge price to leave their blood stones. Eternal Physique users could wake up at any time.
Li Qiye once thought that the Eternal Physique was not the hardest Physique to cultivate in this world and that it was not the most difficult merit law in this world, but it was the technique that could not be completed!
“Eternal Physique!” Chi Xiaodie couldn’t help but dream about it after hearing Li Qiye because she remembered her own grandfather. The Chi Clan Ancestor once cultivated the Furious Immortal Tyrannical Physique and created his own physique law.
Unfortunately, their supreme physique law had been lost. Otherwise, their Lion’s Roar Gate would not have deteriorated to this sorry state in the present day.
Li Qiye felt a tinge of emotion when he thought about the Eternal Physique. He had experimented with the Physique Scripture many times throughout the years. He successfully trained many grand completion Immortal Physiques, but his biggest regret was the Eternal Physique. He had tried many times, and because of this, he went all over the Nine Worlds to pick several seeds worthy of grooming. In the end, no one was able to persevere; the only exception was Magu. But to Li Qiye, Magu was a surprise beyond his expectations. He didn’t have any optimism that year; he actually didn’t even value Magu, but she — in the end — was the one who persisted.
Seeing Li Qiye’s dazed state, Chi Xiaodie gently asked: “Do you know Immortal Xu Chong?”
“This...” Li Qiye looked at her, then he smiled and said: “I cannot tell you, and you also shouldn’t know this. There are things that you’re better off not knowing; otherwise, it will bring about a calamity to you.”
Li Qiye softly sighed when thinking about Immortal Xu Chong, or Magu. Back then, she was only an ugly little girl with an indescribable lack of talent. Even her elders said that she couldn’t be saved and they simply ignored her.
Other people could memorize an ordinary incantation after listening to it once, but Magu needed to hear it ten times before barely remembering a bit of it. Magu’s literacy speed was extremely slow. In order to understand the most ordinary merit law, a person with average talents could learn it after eight to ten days, but Magu would need ten years or an even longer period of time to obtain the same results.
She came from a cultivation clan, but her talents were too poor. Her elders thought that she was a piece of foolish, rotten wood that couldn’t be carved, so they didn’t bother to teach her any merit laws at all.
However, she had a heart that yearned for the grand dao, a will that desired to learn the mysteries of the grand dao.
One could imagine that in the past, this was an ugly little girl that couldn’t speak properly, someone without any confidence. She was even dirty and had a slow-witted appearance. No one in her clan was willing to look out for her.
That year, as the Dark Crow, Li Qiye met her for the first time when he was teaching Wang Yuan. This was a bullied little girl who was spying on the side, carefully and meticulously taking note of all the details.