“An auspicious sign in the mortal world? That’s strange.”
Qi Ping had to think about it. He had traversed nearly half of the Misty Mountain Range without finding anything that could trigger an auspicious sign for him.
Yet now, one had appeared in the mortal world!
Furthermore, the sensation just now was quite intense, consuming a considerable amount of his mental energy. This also proved that whatever caused this auspicious sign was no ordinary thing.
A bit puzzled, Qi Ping tried to trigger it again and found the result was exactly the same as before.
“There really is an auspicious sign!”
Qi Ping was astonished inside, and at the same time, a strong curiosity arose. What exactly could it be in the mortal world that would produce an auspicious sign for him?
“However, the auspicious sign seems faintly tinged with a trace of ill omen. It seems this trip will also carry some danger…”
“Fortune and misfortune intertwining? Probably my strength is sufficient to handle the danger within, which is why the ill omen isn’t pronounced.”
“But since there is an ill omen, it proves there’s still some threat to me. So I can’t be careless. It’s always best to be cautious!”
Qi Ping wasn’t swept away by the sudden auspicious sign. Instead, he became even more cautious than when he sensed nothing at all.
Because there was another possibility for the ill omen not being apparent: the danger could be so great that it exceeded the limits of [Nature’s Perception]’s ability.
Although this possibility was low, given Qi Ping’s cautious nature, he still prepared an escape plan, just in case.
Then, according to the situation simulated in his mind, he continued forward.
His speed and route were consistent with the simulation.
Because as Qi Ping’s research into the [Nature’s Perception] skill deepened, he increasingly understood the intertwining of fortune and misfortune, and how difficult it was to predict.
In extreme cases, it might be great fortune one moment and great calamity the next.
Different routes, times, actions… any change could potentially alter the balance of fortune and misfortune.
Thinking this, Qi Ping simulated triggering [Nature’s Perception] a few more times with different variables. Only after confirming the result was still the same did he feel at ease.
If the sensation had turned to great calamity a few times, Qi Ping would have unhesitatingly changed his time and route.
Because when he couldn’t be certain of fortune or misfortune, Qi Ping felt it was better to have no sign at all. Since he could slowly cultivate by peacefully farming and raising bees, why take unnecessary risks?
But if there wasn’t much danger, that was a different story.
“The spiritual energy in this mortal world really is too thin…”
Maintaining the state from his simulation, Qi Ping began observing the mortal world around him.
As his time in the mortal world increased, Qi Ping also started to feel a bit uncomfortable.
“No wonder cultivators are unwilling to stay in the mortal world. After adapting to the environment of the immortal cultivation realm, the comfort level here is far inferior.”
“There is also a trace of turbid qi in the air. A short stay probably won’t have much effect, but if a low-level cultivator stays here long-term, it could affect their future cultivation.”
This was because this turbid qi takes a very long time to expel naturally. It’s not something Qi Refining cultivators can actively deal with; only Foundation Establishment methods can actively cleanse this turbid qi.
As Qi Ping advanced, he gradually began to see the various facets of mortal life.
The living conditions of people in the mortal world weren’t particularly special. It was similar to the normal life of humans in a non-technological era.
The kind where they worked at sunrise and rested at sunset, along with the small-scale trade in streets and alleys.
If there was anything special to mention, it was that the state of the mortal common folk wasn’t actually bad.
Qi Ping had learned from several books that the immortal cultivation world regularly sends out cultivators to observe the living conditions of the mortal human race.
If they encountered large-scale natural disasters, the mortal world could also request cultivators to intervene and assist. For this reason, the mortal world held cultivators in extremely high regard, because cultivators truly would help them.
Now that Qi Ping had seen the state of the mortal common folk, he found this should indeed be the case. Otherwise, the mortal world wouldn’t be so prosperous.
The explanation in the books for why the immortal cultivation world did this was that this rule had been passed down since ancient times. The sect forces in the immortal cultivation world had a responsibility to ensure the prosperity of the mortal world.
There had been instances where some sects ignored the lives of mortals, slaughtering wantonly, allowing the mortal common folk to starve, with corpses littering the fields. The very next day, powerful cultivators would come through the air and annihilate the sect masters and other leaders, ordering them to immediately handle the mortal world’s affairs and restore it to a state of prosperity.
When Qi Ping read these things, he felt the immortal cultivation world was pretty good.
Including his time with Old Man Zhou under the rule of the Qingyuan Sect, their overall quality of life hadn’t been bad either.
But now, with a deeper understanding of the immortal cultivation world, when Qi Ping considered the matter of the mortal world, he suddenly felt an inexplicable terror.
The mortal world had only been in trouble for half a day when those powerful cultivators from the top sects came to kill. If you subtracted travel time, it meant those top sect cultivators had set off the moment the mortal world got into trouble.
And this happened almost every time, with almost no exceptions. This was somewhat frightening. It meant those top-tier powerful cultivators were constantly monitoring the mortal world!
“What exactly is there in the mortal world that those top cultivators covet? Could it really be that they’re diligently working for the prosperity of the human race?”
But these powerful cultivators had never shown any mercy when killing those sect leaders.
Anyway, the more Qi Ping thought about it, the more it felt off.
“But this is a good thing for ordinary people and rogue cultivators. Without these iron rules, the lives of mortals and rogue cultivators would probably be much more difficult…”
…
After observing along the way and gaining a basic understanding of this mortal world, Qi Ping gradually lost interest in looking further.
Life in the mortal world was acceptable, but it wasn’t what he sought.
This seemingly bustling world was, after all, just full of trivialities, family affairs, and struggles for profit. Qi Ping couldn’t muster any interest in it at all.
This further strengthened his belief in pursuing the path of immortality and longevity.
Unknowingly, Qi Ping also sensed that through this experience, his Dao heart’s intent had become a bit more solidified.
“My Dao heart has improved. This trip to the mortal world wasn’t a waste!”
Afterward, Qi Ping composed himself and continued searching for the address Old Man Zhou had given him.
As he walked, the closer he got, the stronger his sensation became.
It wasn’t until he stepped into a large mountain in the mortal world that Qi Ping gradually sensed something unusual.
“Abnormal spiritual energy fluctuations?”
In a battle within the mortal world, the dissipated spiritual energy was far too conspicuous to miss.
Upon detecting this anomaly, Qi Ping immediately dispatched second-tier Scout Bees to scout ahead.
The mountains in the mortal world weren’t much smaller than the Misty Mountain Range, just far poorer in spiritual energy.
With his Foundation Establishment strength, he still had to travel for quite a while before detecting those faint battle fluctuations.
So Qi Ping halted, planning to have the Scout Bees investigate the situation first.
Before long, a Scout Bee quickly returned:
“Buzz buzz… (Boss, there’s a creature wrapped in strange rock fighting with some people. It’s pretty brutal…)”
