Capítulo 1052: Chapter 80: Immortal’s Guidance
Xiao Jie did not refuse the sudden kiss. With his current speed of reaction and perception as an Immortal, he could have easily avoided An Ran’s approach with even a slight shift of his body. But he didn’t do that.
He quietly felt the softness, carrying a hint of the mortal world’s warmth and determination. The sensation… wasn’t bad, offering a rare, lively air of “human” nature. But that’s all it was, like tasting a cup of clear tea, recognizing its flavor without causing much ripple in his heart, nor any thrilling heartbeat. To him, it was more like a special symbol with warmth, an overly enthusiastic gesture expressing extreme excitement and gratitude between friends.
When the two separated, looking at An Ran’s flushed face, flickering eyes, seemingly embarrassed by her bold action, Xiao Jie couldn’t help but smile lightly.
“What are you laughing at?” An Ran asked, somewhat annoyed, mingling with regret over her impulsive act, and perhaps more at Xiao Jie’s overly calm, even somewhat… kindly? reaction.
“Nothing,” Xiao Jie restrained his smile, calmly shifting the topic, “let’s focus on what’s important and talk about how to embark on this Immortal road.” He didn’t explain why he laughed; in fact, he wasn’t quite sure how to face this potential emotion. After becoming an Immortal, many things became different.
Everything has two sides. When he shed his mortal body, forming an Immortal Spirit Body, gaining near-eternal life and immense strength, he also lost many needs and desires based on biological instincts.
Human loves and hates, passionate emotions largely derive from the secretion of hormones and the feedback of the nervous system. Now his Immortal Spirit Body, constructed from pure spiritual energy, doesn’t have all those strange biochemical signals and hormonal impulses. Hunger, sexual desire, intense physical pain, ecstasy, grief… and all characteristics that cause strong physiological fluctuations and emotional chaos have distanced from him.
This is, in some sense, a nearly “perfect”, calm and rational body, but from another perspective, it undoubtedly misses some lively experiences and impulses of being “human”. Certainly, if Xiao Jie wanted, he could completely expend Immortal power to recreate or simulate a flesh and blood body with all mortal traits. But at this moment, he had no such thought or impulse.
Rather than indulging in the possible entanglements of male-female affection, it aligns more with his current mindset and needs to explore the endless quest for immortality and enhance strength to cope with future crises.
Hearing Xiao Jie’s calm, even “anticlimactic” approach to diving straight into the topic, An Ran was speechless, even a small flame inexplicably rose in her heart. But she herself was also unsure of what happened earlier, that moment of impulse seemed out of control. She took a deep breath, suppressed her chaotic thoughts, and tried to make her tone sound normal: “Oh, go ahead. I’m listening.”
“Okay.” Xiao Jie nodded, beginning to elaborate: “This path to Ascension that I have verified can be divided into five distinct steps.”
“Step one, you need to head to the Hidden Cultivation Cave Mansion at Konglao Mountain, and there, learn the core `Ancient Qi Refining Skill`. This is the foundation of everything; without it, there’s nothing to talk about.”
“Step two, collect a large number of monster inner cores. Then use this—” Xiao Jie explained while removing a gourd from the storage bag.
This gourd stood a foot high, half a foot thick, with a big round belly, and the gourd’s texture was like a lake, glowing orange oil, with many runes and spell imprints carved on all sides, clearly an extraordinary item.
“—’Demon Refining Gourd’ to refine demon cores, drawing pure spiritual energy to assist cultivation and greatly accelerating the Qi Refinement process.” He handed the Demon Refining Gourd to An Ran. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs NoveI-Fire.ɴet
An Ran took the Demon Refining Gourd, examined the attribute introduction that appeared, especially focusing on the special effect of “refining demon cores, purifying spiritual energy”, suddenly enlightened: “No wonder! Since a long time ago, you have always emphasized collecting various monster inner cores, turns out this is the key!”
“That’s right,” Xiao Jie affirmed and continued, “Step three, head to Canglin State, locate and study the `Three Heavenly Books`. This is crucial and cannot be omitted! Rapid refinement of demon cores can quickly elevate the Qi Refining Skill level, but the residual thoughts of demon spirits within the demon cores will continually erode and influence your mind. This influence is akin to the impact on your mind when you demon masters exert high-level transformation techniques, only much stronger and more lasting!
Without the methods for calming and stabilizing the Primordial Spirit recorded in the `Three Heavenly Books`, you are bound to lose yourself in the power, devoured by beast nature and chaos.”
“Step four, once you rely on refining demon cores and personal cultivation to advance the `Qi Refining Secret Skill` to the Tenth Layer Great Perfection Realm, you can prepare to head to Gu Yun State. This step… I can help you, guiding you on how to traverse the Taixu Realm.”
“Step five, the final step, after reaching Gu Yun State, you need to enter the ‘Taixu Illusion Realm’ to complete the final trial within. If you succeed, you will transform and ascend to immortality. If you fail…”