The stone road stretched from one side to the other of the village, ending with a training ground paved with granite. It looked coarse but was made with care. Each piece was large and durable.
Weeds could be seen to the sides along with farm tools. Thus, this place was most likely used as a drying field.
Thirty to fifty children were sitting randomly there. Nonetheless, each looked quite attentive.
The youngest was around five or six with the oldest being ten or so. They were earnestly breathing in and out. One would be surprised to see this at a regular village.
Their instructor was Liu Fuyou who had a stern gaze on right now. He walked around and would fix any child who was cultivating incorrectly.
He was the only cultivator who could teach the children. This added to his prestige.
“Keep working hard, the sect examination is coming soon. Being eliminated then meant no more chances, you’ll have to stay here and work on the farm then. If you want to fly like immortals and see how vast the world is, don’t stop!” Fuyou loudly encouraged after seeing some of them slacking off.
His commanding voice earned him the title of Thunder Dragon Liu.
The distracted ones immediately focused; their eyes turned bright after thinking about the examination and being able to fly like immortals. They breathed in and out as instructed.
After all, this was their chance to leave the village. Bad results would lead to being removed by the sect, meaning that they would need to become farmers like their parents.
Li Qiye watched without entering, judging each child before ending with Liu Fuyou.
He only smiled and shook his head, deciding to leave instead of participating.
It didn’t take long for him to finish touring the small village. Nevertheless, he enjoyed this moment – listening to the birds from the forest, watching the farmers at work and their animals.
Make no mistake, this lifestyle wasn’t easy. However, they still had relative peace and didn’t have to shoulder a heavy burden for millions of years.
These mortals didn’t actively care about the survival of the world, the dark existences, or the final battle… These things were too distant and removed from their ordinary lives.
Thus, as a mortal, Li Qiye decided to enjoy this short moment of leisure and threw the rest to the back of his mind.
He sauntered during what might be the most leisure moment of his life. He occasionally stopped to look at the flowing spring, completely immersed in the act.
Remember, he has seen plenty of magnificent and beautiful scenes before. Alas, he still found an ordinary spring interesting enough.
He eventually made it to the entrance of the village. There existed a tablet originating from an unknown period. Moss grew on it, nearly covering the words.
He came closer and saw that it was a mental incantation consisting of a few hundred characters. Next to each line was an explanation.
He shook his head after reading for a bit. A sense of familiarity started to rise.
“You know the All-things Mantra?” Someone asked as he was about to leave.
It was Liu Fuyou whose voice could be heard from so far away.
He turned around and smiled: “All-things?”
Fuyou stared at him and nodded then glanced at the tablet: “Yes, it is one of the seven most common mantras, also known as Seven Laws of the Golden Age or Laws of the Blessed.” [1]
Of course, this tablet wasn’t special because these seven laws have spread all over Eight Desolaces. One could find them in any bookstall on the street. They weren’t considered cultivation secrets at all.
The first cultivators in the village carved one of the seven laws here hoping that the descendants could embark on the path of cultivation. Later on, they could read this and learn even without a teacher.
In current days, the disciples from the big sects didn’t choose these seven laws. Their sects had their own introductory mantras or powerful methods left behind by Dao Lords.
“The Blessed?” Li Qiye asked.
“Because they are passed down by Blessed Dao Lord, some even say that the great dao lord is their creator.” Fuyou explained while looking at the tablet.
Li Qiye smiled and didn’t say anything else.
Fuyou himself was surprised. He didn’t know why he spoke so much with this mortal today.
Li Qiye didn’t say anything else and returned to the street. Fuyou followed behind him, still confused by his current actions. However, following Li Qiye seemed to be the natural course of action.
The two of them kept this up for a while.
“Do you really want to stay here in the village?” Li Qiye eventually asked along the way.
Fuyou halted since these words struck him deep. He calmed down and caught up with Li Qiye’s pace and asked: “You’re a cultivator?”
“Yes, a very long time ago, I’ve forgotten most by now.” Li Qiye smiled.
“A long time ago?” Fuyou remained skeptical. Li Qiye looked twenty years of age at best. How long ago could he be talking about?
“How does one forget about cultivation?” Fuyou raised his brows. This was understandable.
Cultivators wouldn’t forget about their hard training. Plus, Li Qiye was young, not a senile old man.
“Remember or forget? Are they different when it comes to the grand dao?” Li Qiye casually said.
Fuyou became stunned. Something inside him became jolted as if struck by a lightning bolt. He stopped once again to think about the seemingly profound comment.
It would make sense if Li Qiye was repeating this line from an ancient scroll. However, this didn’t seem to be the case.
Fuyou regained his wits and followed Li Qiye again. The latter stood next to a spring, watching the schools of fish playing around.
Fuyou didn’t find this entertaining at all but Li Qiye acted as if this was the most beautiful scenery in the world, fully immersing himself.
1. Immortal Observer is a bit hard since the word 摩 can be used as a prefix with other words. It can mean rubbing, observing, or training. Picking observer for now. Note #2, changing Immortal Observer to Blessed after more context. I'm guessing it's a reference to a famous poem depicting an immortal braiding the hair of a young man and teaching him the art of immortality. So rub should be the right word, rubbed or touched or interaction with an immortal. So in other words, "blessed". It's hard to include the word immortal in this without making it too wordy since he has the Dao Lord Title afterward too. I tried to find a cooler word for Blessed but didn't see anything with a close enough definition
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