Chapter 132, Heavenly Machinations Art and Spirit Marrow

Translator: StarReader

 

“This estate is no longer a place I can stay.

 

“The journey to Immortal City Zhaoge will likely cost me my life. I won’t be returning. If I cannot find a way to improve my standing, I will simply die out here.

 

“That woman is still in her forties and fifties, vibrant and flourishing compared to this decrepit old man. Enough, I will not burden her!”

 

Master Lu grabbed the drinks on the table, gulped down several mouthfuls, and resolutely wrote a letter, handing it to the shopkeeper. “This is a letter of resignation for your young miss. I, Master Lu, am divorcing that woman! From now on, let us go our separate ways; may we both find peace and never see each other again.”

 

Su Chen, Woodcutter Wu, Ah Nu, and the others remained silent.

 

They were not in a position to interfere with the affairs of another family.

 

Normally, one should attempt reconciliation before separation.

 

But they had personally witnessed how the estate and even the mortal shopkeeper at the wine shop dared to show disdain towards Master Lu, demonstrating just how low his standing was within the estate and how impossible it was for him to remain.

 

“I will go to Zhaoge City with the two younger brothers. Let’s go.”

 

Master Lu tossed the money for two bowls of spirit marrow noodles and, with his small attendant in tow, greeted Su Chen, Woodcutter Wu, and Ah Nu.

 

The five of them left the manor and headed towards Immortal City Zhaoge.

 

Ahead lay a vast plain. After traveling another twenty miles, they would reach the magnificent Zhaoge Spirit Mountain, three thousand meters high. This Spirit Mountain occupied the core of a spirit vein, its spiritual energy unusually concentrated.

 

And the immortal cultivation city, Immortal City Zhaoge, was located on the summit of Zhaoge Spirit Mountain, amidst a vast expanse of spiritual mist.

 

“Brother Wu, Last time I invited you to Zhaoge City, you didn’t agree. How is it that you’re here now?”

 

Master Lu asked.

 

“My mother’s hundred years have ended, and she recently passed on! I just happened to be acquainted with this new cultivator, little brother Su Chen, and found him quite agreeable, so we came to Zhaoge together. Passing by this estate, I made a detour to see Brother Lu.”

 

Woodcutter Wu’s expression was bleak.

 

“Rest assured, I will guide you both on the path of immortal cultivation.”

 

Master Lu consoled with a few words and said.

 

He was an experienced immortal cultivation practitioner in Immortal City Zhaoge and could be called a seasoned veteran. His familiarity with Immortal City Zhaoge and his immortal cultivation experience were far more profound than those of Woodcutter Wu and newcomer Su Chen, both hailing from a mountain village.

 

With his guidance, one could avoid many pitfalls.

 

“Little brother Su, do you think I’m a worthless man, that I wouldn’t possess the ability to guide you on the path of immortal cultivation?”

 

Master Lu looked at Su Chen and laughed meaningfully.

 

“This…”

 

Su Chen felt a touch of awkwardness.

 

There was a sense that Master Lu hadn’t made much of a name for himself in Immortal City Zhaoge. But how could he possibly voice that thought?

 

“In fact, you’re mistaken! My current predicament, this poor and dejected state, isn’t because I’m lacking in ability!

 

“I was born into the Ji Clan, one of the ten great clans of Immortal City Zhaoge. There are eight hundred large and small clans in Immortal City Zhaoge, and the Ji Clan is one of the most prominent clans.

 

“I began cultivating the Ji Clan’s Heavenly Machinations Art from a young age—the most ancient of the immortal paths. It allows one to divine a cultivator’s destiny and predict the fortune and misfortune of actions.

 

“I accurately calculate the destinies of others, but the truth is, calculating too many destinies drains one’s own destiny, making them incredibly unfortunate, rendering every endeavor futile. And this art, it can only calculate the fates of others; one cannot accurately foresee their own.”

 

Master Lu shook his head with a sigh.

 

Su Chen, Ah Nu, and others listened with curiosity as Master Lu recounted his tale. They now understood that Master Lu was no ordinary cultivator. He was a scion of a prominent clan within Immortal City Zhaoge—his background was quite distinguished. Lu was a branch of the Ji Clan.

 

The Ji Clan possessed many immortal arts. And this Heavenly Machinations Art was the most difficult of the immortal arts to cultivate. Few within the Ji Clan cultivated it, and the most skilled practitioner of this art was Master Lu.

 

When young, he cultivated the Heavenly Machinations Art to great effect, becoming a standout among the younger generation of the Ji Clan, quite pleased with himself. To quickly amass spirit stones for cultivation, he opened a divination shop in Immortal City Zhaoge, specializing in calculating the destinies of cultivators and predicting the fortune and misfortune of their actions.

 

His predictions were invariably accurate.

 

He enjoyed considerable renown at the time.

 

Even a simple divination costs at least a hundred spirit stones. He used the spirit stones to aid his cultivation.

 

However, he underestimated the negative effects of the Heavenly Machinations Art. After less than a year, he could no longer continue. It wasn’t so much that his predictions were inaccurate, but precisely because they were so accurate that his luck drained away, bringing misfortune to everything he did, squandering all the spirit stones he had earned.

 

For dozens of years, Master Lu barely managed to reach mid Qi Refining, changing careers to pursue various other businesses and trades to earn spirit stones. But misfortune clung to him, unable to shake off the lingering ill fortune from his past, squandering all the spirit stones he had previously accumulated.

 

The cultivators of Immortal City Zhaoge largely knew Master Lu. If one were to name the cultivator in Zhaoge City with the strongest ill fortune, it would undoubtedly be Lu, the scholar.

 

“Little Brother Su, our meeting is fated. I will use this Heavenly Machinations Art to calculate your immortal destiny.”

 

Master Lu said.

 

“Isn’t this going to deplete your luck?”

 

Su Chen was surprised.

 

“It matters not, merely helping you to examine your spirit marrow. My Heavenly Machinations Art depletes my luck when I alter your destiny.”

 

Master Lu smiled.

 

For those who cultivate the immortal path, the spirit marrow was of the utmost importance regarding destiny. He mainly wanted to see the growth potential of Su Chen’s spirit marrow.

 

It was then that Su Chen agreed.

 

Master Lu performed the Heavenly Machinations Art eye technique. A third eye seemed to float above his forehead, a faint glimmer of spiritual energy flashing as he swept it across Su Chen’s spine.

 

He discovered faint blue energy lingering upon Su Chen’s spine.

 

“Your wood spirit marrow is rather ordinary… Among the numerous rogue cultivators, it should be average. I cannot say for sure what your future prospects for immortal cultivation will be. Within the hundreds or thousands of mediocre rogue cultivators, there are always a few who stand out. Brother Su, you must diligently cultivate, and there will still be hope for you to rise to prominence in Immortal City Zhaoge.”

 

Master Lu smiled faintly.

 

“Brother Lu, what is this spirit marrow? What does it do?”

 

Su Chen asked in surprise.

 

“This spirit marrow is a small section of the most spiritually responsive bone marrow within the cultivator’s body; it is also the foundation of cultivation. Regardless of what cultivation method you practice or what spirit pills you ingest, it is by drawing spiritual energy from the outside and bringing it into your body.

 

“This spiritual energy must first pass through your spirit marrow to be converted into essence before the spirit can absorb it, strengthen your spirit, and elevate your cultivation.

 

“And the quality of this spirit marrow directly determines the efficiency of spiritual energy being converted into essence. Even if you ingest a large-dose spirit pill every day, if your spirit marrow is of a very low grade, those abundant spiritual energies will be wasted, unable to be absorbed.

 

“Ordinary immortal cultivators cannot see their own spirit marrow. A special technique for calculating fate must be used to see and to determine how high their growth potential is. Cultivators with a high-grade spirit marrow are very popular in Immortal City Zhaoge!”

 

Master Lu knew Su Chen was a new rogue cultivator and lacked common sense, so he provided a detailed explanation.

 

Su Chen was stunned. He had an average wood-type spirit marrow, cultivating generally.

 

This was acceptable.

 

After all, he was just an ordinary cultivator from the Jiangnan water region. He was supposed to have died early from his illness.

 

If not for being swallowed by a big fish monster and happening to close his six senses and enter the Spirit Mountain, he likely wouldn’t have stepped onto the immortal cultivation path.

 

He entered the martial world by accident as well. A slight mistake would mean losing the opportunity for immortal cultivation and a greater chance of never returning. Being able to cultivate, for him, was already a very lucky thing.

 

Compared to his tumultuous and perilous martial experience. Master Lu was a descendant of an immortal cultivation clan of Immortal City Zhaoge. Woodcutter Wu also lived a very ordinary life for most of his life, accidentally stepping onto the path of immortal cultivation.

 

“Brother Lu, how is your own spirit marrow?”

 

“Diviners cannot measure their own spirit marrow! However, when I was young, before my luck decreased, the speed of cultivating was very fast. Not just that, my spiritual arts were also cultivating very fast. My spirit marrow, I estimate, should at least be considered superior. It’s just that later I lost too much luck, cultivating became very slow, and in the past ten years or so it has stagnated.”

 

Master Lu shook his head.

 

“What grade is big brother Wu’s spirit marrow?”

 

Su Chen couldn’t help but ask.

 

“No, no! Don’t measure it for me; I don’t believe in this.”

 

Woodcutter Wu quickly waved his hand to decline.

 

“Haha, Brother Wu is the most wondrous immortal cultivator I’ve discovered in my entire life! There’s just no one like him in the entire Immortal City of Zhaoge.

 

“In the entire Immortal City, every cultivator must follow the cultivation method left behind by previous generations. Only he doesn’t need any cultivation method, doesn’t need to take spirit pills, and doesn’t need to eat spirit grain. Every day he fells trees, and that’s his way of cultivating his immortal path.

 

“This likely has something to do with his innate bloodline and constitution. Whenever he swings his axe, his bloodline is triggered, and his whole person becomes like an automatic furnace.

 

“Brother Wu’s immortal path can only be envied.” Master Lu continued, “I dare not divine him; his fate is too powerful. It will not only make me suffer but take my life as well.”

 

“Brother Lu, you’re too kind. I’ve only reached this point after forty years. There are plenty of others like me in Zhaoge.” Woodcutter Wu was praised by Master Lu and could only smile sheepishly.

 

“No! It’s not that you’re ordinary; you haven’t cultivated any kind of cultivation method, and you haven’t eaten any spirit pill, spirit grain, or anything like that. Reaching mid Qi Refining at forty years old—that’s absolutely not an ordinary strength. Your spirit marrow potential is too strong. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t be able to reach mid Qi Refining in a lifetime.”

 

Master Lu shook his head repeatedly.

 

Su Chen glanced at Ah Nu and asked, “Brother Lu, can you help Ah Nu test her spirit marrow too? Let’s see what her potential is like.”

 

Master Lu glanced at Ah Nu and shook his head. “I can’t see it. She’s mortal; her spirit from the Qi Refining Stage hasn’t even condensed yet, and spirit marrow hasn’t even been born in her body. She must first become an immortal cultivator; only then will spirit and spirit marrow appear simultaneously in her body… However, many mortals are without spirit marrow and can never cultivate. Whether she can or not can only be judged after trying.”

 

“Can’t see? Then, is there any way to let a mortal step onto the path of cultivation?”

 

Su Chen paused.

 

He and Ah Nu had traveled through a thousand mountains and rivers over the past year, seeking the Dao, and finally found this Immortal City Zhaoge. One was to solve the problem he encountered with his own cultivation, and the other was to see if Ah Nu could find an immortal destiny and change her fate.

 

Ah Nu also became tense, concerned about whether she could stay in Immortal City Zhaoge to cultivate.