In the green forested mountains, Belle walked step by step, wiping sweat from her brow.
She had flown all night, yet she hadn't even left the bounds of Enlightenment Peak. At this pace, when would she ever reach Eastrealm?
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but shake her head vigorously, as if trying to throw the thought away.
Using the elixirs provided by Master Sage Subhuti to shorten her breakthrough time had left her like a premature child—her spiritual power was quickly depleted, bearing only the name of Spirit-Refinement Stage without the substance.
As for the techniques that a Spirit-Refinement cultivator ought to know, those were simply out of reach.
In the end, cultivation must proceed step by step; forcing growth is truly a misguided shortcut.
When she truly couldn't walk any farther, she leaned against a large tree, unfastened the bundle from her shoulder, and let it drop, raising a faint cloud of dust.
To her now, that bundle felt as heavy as a thousand catties, making her wonder if she had brought too much.
Yet after thinking it over, she felt that everything she brought was necessary.
Sitting cross-legged beneath the tree, she began to rest and slowly recover her spiritual power.
The Sage's Path is not the same as the Traveler's Path; repeatedly exhausting and then replenishing spiritual power is far from ideal. This process leaves behind a great deal of resentment, and for cultivators on the Sage's Path, where temperament is crucial, it can be fatal.
But what other choice did she have?
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she widened her eyes and looked around warily, her heart uneasy.
In all her years, this was her first time leaving Crescent Star Cave. She knew nothing of the outside world, but the howls she heard flying over the woods last night had already warned her—this world was far more dangerous than she'd imagined.
This made her feel a vague sense of fear.
Her legs felt numb. She held onto the tree trunk, trying to stand, but suddenly realized her whole body was limp and powerless.
Her spiritual power still hadn't recovered much; in this state, continuing onward was impossible.
With a faint sigh, she decided to rest here for a while. If she could nap, she'd recover faster.
But as soon as she sat down, she heard the roar of a wild beast in the distance. Startled, she jumped to her feet, frantically looking around.
Her emerald eyes blinked as she clutched her chest, swallowing nervously, trembling, her hand already reaching for the dagger hidden in her boot.
After a while, seeing no further movement, she carefully sat down again, but no matter what, she didn't dare close her eyes.
"It's been less than a day, and I'm already like this... How is that possible?" Clutching her chest, she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself and encourage herself: "I can do this. I must! If Monkey could walk from Blossom Mountain to Enlightenment Peak, then I can walk from Enlightenment Peak to Blossom Mountain. I can do it! Even if it takes ten years, I..."
Her eyes grew moist despite herself.
Curled up in the shade beneath the tree, the girl gazed around pitifully, like a stray kitten left behind.
She took another deep breath.
After sitting quietly for a long while, she finally felt less sore and weak. She stood up again and turned to look at the treetop.
"Sleeping in a tree should be safer, right? He's a monkey—he probably slept in trees all the time when he came here."
She tried channeling her spiritual power, but her body only floated up slightly before dropping back down. She tried climbing by hand, but the bark was too slippery—no matter what, she couldn't find the right way.
"I'd better gather a bit more spiritual power and fly up instead."
Bright sunlight filtered through the leaves, scattering spots of light across her tear-stained face. She stared blankly, a sense of dread lingering in her heart.
The long road ahead stretched eighty thousand miles, and who knew how many dangers awaited her.
"It's nothing. Compared to what he went through, this is nothing at all." She smiled as brightly as the sunlight, nodding vigorously as if to cheer herself on.
"Young lady, do you need this old man’s help?"
A voice came from behind.
Startled, she spun around, covering her mouth and nearly screaming.
An old man in an orange Daoist robe stood silently just two zhang away, stroking his long beard, a peaceful smile on his face.
Belle looked the old man up and down.
He had the bearing of an immortal, his orange Daoist robe fluttering without wind, clearly no ordinary garment. His expression and brows gave an impression of unfathomable depth.
Belle's cultivation was average, so she couldn't sense his true level, but for some reason, she suddenly thought of Master Sage Subhuti.
She stared at him for a long time before softly asking, "Sir, what are you doing here?"
The old man smiled, "I'm just passing through. Young lady, are you traveling alone? Where are you headed?"
"I want to go to Eastrealm."
"And what will you do in Eastrealm?"
"I'm looking for someone... no, for a monkey." Belle clutched her chest, finally calming down after her fright, and sat down weakly. "Sir, where are you headed?"
"I'm also going to Eastrealm to meet an old friend." The old man lifted his head and stroked his white beard, smiling kindly. "You're looking for a monkey, are you? Well then, how about we travel together for a while?"
"Travel together?" Belle blinked in confusion at him.
"What, are you worried I'll slow you down?"
"No, no," Belle said quickly. "Sir, I'm afraid I'll slow you down. You must be an immortal, right? I haven't mastered my Daoist arts yet. If you travel with me, you'll have to go very slowly."
"Slow is fine, it doesn't matter. Hahaha. After all, I'm immortal. If I go too fast, time is just harder to pass."
Belle nodded vigorously, smiling, "Then that's settled."
With someone by her side, Belle immediately felt safer. Her anxious heart finally settled.
Once the old man was seated, Belle suddenly remembered something and asked, "Sir, have you eaten?"
The old man glanced at her and smiled faintly, "No."
"Did you bring any rations?"
"No."
"I brought some." Belle rummaged through her bag and took out two flatbreads, handing them over. "Here, this is for you."
The old man just looked at the flatbread, but didn't reach out to take it.
"Oh, and here's some water too." Belle handed over her own canteen as well.
The old man shook his head helplessly, then took them. After hesitating for a while, he took a small bite of the flatbread and sipped the water, his brows furrowing slightly.
"Does it taste bad?" Belle asked.
"No, it's just... it's been ages since I've had flatbread. I'm not used to it anymore."
Yes, ages—must be ten thousand years, he thought.
Staring at the flatbread in his hand, the old man carefully took another bite and slowly asked, "Young lady, aren't you curious who I am? You gave me your rations so easily, but if you go eight hundred miles east from here, you won't find a single house. What will you do then?"
"If there are no houses, I'll just hunt." Belle drew her dagger from her boot and gave it a little wave.
"And if you can't hunt anything?"
"If I can't hunt, I can gather wild vegetables... I even brought a field guide to edible plants. Anyway, I have to learn this sooner or later. Besides, even if there were houses, I wouldn't have money to buy anything."
"You set out without money?"
"It's not that I didn't bring any, I just don't have any. The monastery doesn't give us money, and even if they did, there's nowhere to spend it."
"Did you bring any Gold Essence?"
"No." Belle shook her head. "I've heard of it—it’s the Heavenly Court’s currency, I think. But at Crescent Star Cave, we never use it."
The old man smiled faintly. Holding the canteen and biting into the flatbread, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a bulging little pouch, tossing it in front of Belle. Only then did he take the flatbread from his mouth and say, "This is for you—consider it payment for the flatbread."
The drawstring on the pouch was loose, and a few pieces of Gold Essence spilled out.
Belle blinked and stared for a while. "Sir, this... this isn't silver."
"It's Gold Essence. Ordinary folk probably wouldn't recognize it, but you can just treat it as regular gold. Even as beads, they're pretty enough that anyone would trade for them."
"So much Gold Essence!" Belle was stunned. "I heard Gold Essence is very precious—it's the salary given to the Heavenly Court's troops and gods. Sir, you must be a Heavenly Court immortal?"
"You could say that."
"With so much Gold Essence, which immortal are you?" Belle asked cautiously.
"Hmm, I am Boyang Li."
He couldn't remember how long it had been since anyone called him by that name.
"Boyang Li... Boyang Li..." Belle repeated the name several times, but no matter how she thought, she couldn't recall any great immortal by that name.
The old man chuckled. "It's normal if you haven't heard of me. It's just a name—I don't handle much. I'm just one of those idle folks without real power, mostly spending my time refining elixirs and such."
Belle gathered up the spilled Gold Essence and put them back into the pouch, then pushed it back toward the old man.
"What’s wrong? You don’t want it?"
Belle shook her head. "I can't accept it—it's too valuable. Two flatbreads aren’t worth that much. And you must have saved it for a long time, right? I heard a minor general in the Heavenly Court only gets a few hundred Gold Essence a year."
Crescent Star Cave teaches Daoist arts, including the Dao De Jing. But because of Master Sage Subhuti, much of the unnecessary material was skipped.
Belle, who had never left Crescent Star Cave, naturally didn’t know that Boyang Li was actually Lord Lao’s real name.
Chewing on his flatbread, Lord Lao glanced at the pouch full of Gold Essence, then at Belle’s earnest face, then back at the pouch, then at Belle—repeating this several times. Finally, he untied the pouch’s drawstring, took out a single piece of Gold Essence, and said, "At least accept this one."
"Sir, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to treat you to flatbread—you don't have to pay."
Sensing that further argument was pointless, Lord Lao stopped persuading her, pocketed the Gold Essence, and quietly ate his flatbread. He said softly, "Young lady, you trust people too easily, and you never take advantage. You’ll suffer for it."
'The five colors blind the eye; the five sounds deafen the ear; the five flavors dull the palate. Racing and hunting drive the heart mad; rare goods hinder right action.' Belle recited aloud, then looked at Lord Lao with suspicion. "Sir, are you really an immortal?"
"That's Chapter Twelve of the Dao De Jing." Lord Lao stuffed the flatbread into his mouth, chewed, and glanced up at the sky, feigning ignorance.
He had said those words himself, and now someone was using them to lecture him—how awkward.
After a long moment under Belle’s gaze, he finally managed to say, "Your master taught you well. Really, better than I ever did."