Chapter Three: The Foundation of the Three Primordial Arts

Ge Qian’s spiritual sense stirred, and he retrieved from his storage pouch a thumb-sized pill that radiated a faint spiritual aura. This was the legendary Marrow Cleansing Pill, a sacred medicine for cultivators in the Qi Absorption stage. Consuming it could clear the meridians, expand the spiritual channels, and transform spiritual energy.

The Celestial Star Sect was a small cultivation sect; each member received two Marrow Cleansing Pills per month, and even those were of the lowest grade. Ge Qian had already reached the peak of the first layer of Qi Absorption a year ago, but had hit a bottleneck. This wasn’t something that could be solved by taking more pills—it required either a stroke of fortune or sudden enlightenment, or perhaps a middle-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill might help. This left Ge Qian, who had neither background nor strength, in a difficult position.

With no other choice, he began to save his pills, collecting twelve over the course of a year—already half of what he should have received. In truth, at the Jade Cold Pool, he hadn’t deceived Wang Meng—the pills he claimed to have given to Senior Brother Zhang Huaiju were indeed gifts, not taken by extortion, but offered by Ge Qian himself.

He traded half his pills for Senior Brother Zhang’s protection, which allowed him to survive in the Celestial Star Sect. He knew one could not be too greedy, or else, when encountering scoundrels like Wang Meng, he’d end up with nothing at all. By offering the pills voluntarily, Senior Brother Zhang would be embarrassed to take the other pill by force. This was the true picture of the lowest rungs of the cultivation world.

This time, after surviving the ordeal in the water, his life was spared, but the spiritual energy he had painstakingly accumulated was mostly depleted. This was not a good omen. For Ge Qian, enduring hardship to accumulate spiritual energy was one thing, but time was the key—decades would pass in the blink of an eye, and if he made no progress, how would he differ from mortal folk?

Without hesitation, Ge Qian swallowed the pill and began to circulate the “Water Wave Technique” to refine it. Suddenly, his expression changed, and his spiritual sense involuntarily probed into his dantian.

The Marrow Cleansing Pill dissolved into pure spiritual energy within just a few breaths, which all poured into an oval, thumb-sized seed in his dantian. The seed absorbed the energy and actually sprouted a pale yellow, translucent shoot, vibrant with life.

Ge Qian leapt up in shock—this was simply unbelievable, truly testing the limits of his composure. When had an unknown seed appeared in his dantian? It was absorbing his pills and even sprouting a shoot! If it kept growing, wouldn’t it burst his belly wide open?

He had to find a way to remove it. His spiritual sense wrapped around the seed, attempting to pull it out, but a wave of excruciating pain struck, stabbing through his head as well.

Ge Qian was utterly speechless. His spiritual sense, at the first layer of Qi Absorption, was feeble and couldn’t be sustained for long, and that mysterious thing had taken root in his dantian. Forcing it out would destroy his dantian entirely. Reporting it to the elders was out of the question—those old monsters had lived for centuries and cared nothing for his life or death; they’d only use him as a test subject, offering himself up for their experiments.

“No way,” he muttered. “Absolutely not.”

Worried, Ge Qian paced back and forth in his room. Suddenly he stopped, his face a complex blend of concern and delight.

In his dantian, the tender shoot condensed a droplet of rich Wood spiritual energy. With a soft plop, it fell into his dantian, nourishing it with concentrated Wood energy.

Heaven-defying! In just one hour, the Marrow Cleansing Pill, which would have taken Ge Qian an entire day of meditation to refine, had been completely converted into pure spiritual energy. If he had done it himself, he would have only managed to purify about a fifth of the pill.

Ge Qian’s expression flickered between doubt and hope. The only pity was that his cultivation technique was the “Water Wave Technique,” and he couldn’t use Wood energy. Otherwise, this single drop of Wood essence was worth at least a high-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill, made even easier to absorb after purification.

The more he thought about it, the more he smiled, muttering to himself, “Ge Qian, you really are a fool. You can switch to cultivating a Wood attribute technique, raise your strength first, and as for this ghostly thing, since it hasn’t hurt you yet and you can’t do anything about it, just leave it be. Take life one day at a time—at least you can still see the sunrise each morning!”

When had this thing decided his dantian was fertile soil and started to take root and sprout? It must have happened when he swallowed water at the Jade Cold Pool. No—he needed to go back and see if there were more seeds like it.

After considering it over and over, Ge Qian decided to resolve the cultivation technique issue first. He went out and knocked on the door of the neighboring room.

“Come in!” came the voice of a middle-aged man.

Ge Qian pushed the door open. Seated cross-legged on a mat was a short, middle-aged man with thick brows and large eyes.

Ge Qian quickly and earnestly said, “Greetings, Senior Brother Du. I have something to ask.”

The man was Du Tao, who possessed a mixed-five-element spiritual root—a bit stronger than Ge Qian, currently at the third Qi Absorption layer. He had cultivated for over ten years and was still only at the third layer, another “useless” one. Whether by chance or design, the sect had arranged for the two to be neighbors.

Du Tao gestured to the mat beside him. “Sit, Junior Brother Ge. Speak your mind.”

Ge Qian sat cross-legged and said, “Senior Brother, I feel the Water Wave Technique doesn’t suit me. I’d like to learn your Wood attribute technique. Please accept this Marrow Cleansing Pill as a token of thanks.” Though Ge Qian felt the pain of parting with the pill, for the sake of his future, he forced himself to act with utmost sincerity.

Du Tao didn’t even glance at the pill. He said, “In truth, neither your aptitude nor mine is suited for cultivation. Junior Brother, why don’t you come with me and make a life in the mortal world? With our abilities, we could command respect and enjoy endless wealth and honor—far better than living at the lowest level of the cultivation world, trembling in fear with a life worse than a dog’s. Life is only a hundred years—why torture yourself so?”

Ge Qian looked at Du Tao in astonishment. “Senior Brother, if your Dao heart is broken, you may never advance to the Foundation Establishment stage. What makes you so attached to the mundane, sinful world?”

“We never truly began on the path of the Dao, so what Dao heart is there to break? I have seen through the illusion and know where I belong. When you reach my age, you’ll understand. I can’t give you the technique—I don’t want to ruin your life.”

Ge Qian sneered coldly. “Is Senior Brother afraid I’ll surpass you if I reach the Foundation Establishment stage, making you lose face? Even if you’ve abandoned the Dao, why not let me have a chance?”

Du Tao sighed. “Very well, let me explain. If you still insist, you can have it.”

He tossed an old jade slip in front of Ge Qian. Ge Qian’s eyes lit up—so the provocation had worked! Hope was within reach. Still, he waited, unmoving, until Du Tao finished speaking.

Du Tao glanced at the jade slip on the floor. “The technique is the Wood attribute ‘Fundamental Three Essences Art’—all of its Qi Absorption stage content. It focuses on firming the foundation, dividing each layer into three steps: first, expanding the meridians to make them thicker and more resilient; second, stabilizing the dantian and expanding it to its maximum; third, condensing energy to fill the dantian with spiritual energy, allowing advancement to the next layer. This results in spiritual power three times that of ordinary cultivators, but the time and resources required are also tripled. Even a genius with a Celestial spiritual root would struggle to advance beyond the Core Formation stage with this method. By then, the time and resources required become astronomical. With our aptitude and spiritual energy refining speed, we’d be lucky to reach the fifth Qi Absorption layer in a hundred years, and only if we have enough pills for support. Once you start cultivating this art, you cannot switch to another. I realized after all my hard work that I’d climbed the wrong wall! Do you still want to cultivate it?”

Du Tao smiled. Ge Qian stood up, snatched the jade slip, thanked him, and quickly left—afraid Du Tao might change his mind.

Watching Ge Qian’s eagerness to return and study the technique, Du Tao shook his head and muttered, “How pitiful. I too was once full of ambition, but now I long for the mortal world. I wonder how long he’ll endure.”

Just as Ge Qian reached the door, he turned back and said, “Since I’ve chosen this path, I’ll see it through—even if I die along the way, I’ll have no regrets. I just want to prove, to others and to myself, that what you could do, I can do as well. Even if I only reach the fifth layer in my life, I’ll proudly tell those at the fourth layer, ‘You couldn’t do it!’”

With that, he vanished through the doorway. Du Tao abruptly stood up and muttered, “Since I’ve chosen to enjoy life in the mortal world, why linger here? There’s nothing left for me here—I should never have come in the first place.”

He shouldered his pack, picked up the Marrow Cleansing Pill from the floor, and smiled bitterly. In over ten years at the Celestial Star Sect, he had never used a single Marrow Cleansing Pill—they had all been extorted by Wang Yudong. Clutching the pill, he thought, if he’d always had Marrow Cleansing Pills, perhaps he really could have advanced to Foundation Establishment within a century!

As he passed Ge Qian’s room, he opened the door a crack, tossed the pill inside, and whispered, “Farewell, Junior Brother. The pill is useless to me now—you keep it. If you ever reach Foundation Establishment, help me kill Wang Yudong!”

When Ge Qian removed the jade slip from his forehead, the door was already closed and footsteps were fading away. The Marrow Cleansing Pill glowed quietly on the floor.

Mortal Path to Immortality, Chapter 3: Fundamental Three Essences Art—End of Chapter.