Mortal Cultivation

Chapter 3: A Body Of Ours?

“What are you doing inside my body?” Asked the clear voice of an old man.

Hearing the voice of the old man, Wang Wei was curiously shocked. He wondered where the voice was coming from. But thinking about what the voice of what appeared to be an old man said about the body being his, Wang Wei was apprehensive.

“Could he be dreaming?” Secretly, he mumbled in his heart. “Obviously, he had to be. Otherwise, how could the voice of a delusional old man be saying that? How could my body be his? This is my body, not an old man’s.”

“Yours? Since I’ve reserved this body for myself, long time ago, that makes it mine.”

Slowly, his apprehension dissipated. Wang Wei couldn’t help himself from laughing. “Long time ago? Well, old man, where ever you are, as you can see, I’m not old like you. So, I’m the rightful owner of this body. Moreso, where are you talking from?”

Oh, this child doesn’t know anything yet. Since there’s nothing to do for now, this old man will just listen to you. The old man suddenly sighed, “I’m right here with you, inside this body.”

“Why are you here in my body, old man? This is invasion of privacy. Who even are you?”

.....

“Who am I? I’ll tell you, child. This old man’s name has long been forgotten, long before the universe even thought of creating you. It had been far too long since it was last mentioned, but others call me the Great Taoist, or Divine Taoist.”

“Great Taoist, Divine Taoist” Wei couldn’t help but secretly laughed in his heart. He was now hearing the voice of a delusional old man. Maybe, he was the delusional one.

All this had to be hallucinations. Then on the other hand, he thought about the fact if he could find himself in this world, in his current situation, what about the possibility of the old truly existing? Slowly, he said. “How is this even possible? Anyway, just admit it, old man. This body is not yours. Still, don’t you think it sounds strange that you forgot your own name? What does that make you, old man?”

Great Taoist, couldn’t help but scolded. “Huh, this old man is talking to you about something serious. How can you make fun of me?”

Wei suddenly stuck out his tongue using his own imagination. He just needed to think about it, since this old man could see his thoughts. “How many years must have passed for you to forget even your own name?”

“I said ‘since it was last mentioned’. I know my own name, but I’m not telling you.”

“Oh, okay.” There was a long silence, then Wei voiced. “I wonder how old you are, Great Taoist?”

Great Taoist pondered for a moment, and suddenly said. “Are you asking for my age? Hmm, well, I can tell you that one. I can’t remember the specific time, maybe it’s thirty to forty thousand years old?”

“What?.” Wei, suddenly, felt dizzy. Thirty to forty thousand years old? This was too ridiculous to be true. What kind of world was he dreaming of? If someone popped out, casually, after ten thousand years, wouldn’t that make the person immortal?

But Wei knew that this type of immortality was only possible in fantasy world of cultivation. Immortals and the like mentioned in fantasy novels could live for hundreds of thousands of years. If the person became a god, then the person could have endless years of existence. Could it be that this old man was also a character of the immortal Tao stage?

That could only mean that he was now in a fantasy world. 𝗳𝔯𝙚e𝒘e𝚋𝘯𝚘ν𝙚l.𝑐o𝙢

Great Taoist couldn’t stop himself from laughing and said. “Don’t be surprised, little one. I’m afraid there is no second person on this Sacred Spirit continent who can live for 20,000 years. A spiritual master who can be compared to this old man may not be born yet.”

Wei couldn’t help thinking about the black line in his mind. Secretly, he thought. “This old man could know what I was thinking about at anytime, I will no longer have any privacy. After a long time, it would certainly render me mentally deranged.”

Great Taoist suddenly laughed and said. “Hahaha. Child, you don’t have to worry too much about that. This old man can sneak into your sea of ??consciousness, and of course will know what you do and think, but you don’t need to worry. My presence in your sea of ??consciousness will not harm you at all.”

Wei’s mind calmed a bit, and he sighed. “If I may ask the Great Taoist, since your supernatural powers are so vast, why is it that there was no real body for you, except this one? Why is it that only your consciousness that you sent into my mind exists? What is the spiritual inheritance you are talking about?”

Great Taoist suddenly fell into silence after listening. After a long time, he sighed softly and said, “Oh, this is heavens will. I practiced my martial arts and meditation techniques for thousands of years, and eventually became a top level cultivator. I could contend with the heavens and the earth. I could have become a god, but I needed the immortal inheritance. It is a pity, this old man lasted for mere thousands of years. I have traveled all over the world, but I couldn’t find the inheritance of the gods.” He sighed before continuing. “Thinking about it now, I believe the matter of me becoming a god is illusory. People who have become gods in ancient times seemed to be archaic legends.”

After Great Taoist’s narration, Wang Wei finally understood. It turned out that all the cultivators on the Wuzhen Spirits Continent were called spiritual masters. And the highest level of the spiritual master was the cultivation base of the ninth-level spiritual immortal. If a cultivator could find the inheritance of the gods, the cultivator could break through to the tenth level and become a god.

When Great Taoist cultivated to the late Ascendant Stage, he began to search for the inheritance of the gods. It was a pity that he had been unsuccessful for thousands of years. During this period, Great Taoist cultivation base made a breakthrough, unexpectedly. He condensed his spiritual consciousness.

This was a sign of becoming a god.

Great Taoist was surprised and happy by this development, but he didn’t want to attract the heavely tribulations. How could it be so easy to condense the consciousness and become a god independently? He had asked himself. A cultivator must go through ten evils and nine hardships before the cultivator could go through the tribulations and become a god.

He knew It was hard to live, but it was harder to escape. Although Great Taoist cultivation base was unprecedentedly strong, he couldn’t face what was coming. If he was to experience the ten evils and nine trials, he knew that he would inevitably die when the first nine tribulations come.

So he looked into the insight of heaven, and discovered the secrets of a sacred spirit body for him to beat death. Immediately, he began searching for a sacred spirit body as his reincarnation body, in order to continue life after his rebirth.

The Litany Of Heavens was worthy of the hardworking people. Just when he was about to undergo the ninth tribulation, he found a sacred spirit’s body. This body was the same occupied by Wang Wei.

In fact, before the baby had landed, before Wei was reincarnated inside the baby, the Great Taoist already found the same spiritual body. But at that time, his tribulation hadn’t formed yet. Great Taoist could have given up his physical body and send his divine consciousness into the spirit’s body before it was even formed.

However, Great Taoist was really unwilling to lose his ten thousand years of cultivation in this manner. 𝑓𝗿𝐞𝘦𝘄ｅ𝘣n𝘰𝘷eƖ.c𝘰𝗺

Therefore, Great Taoist decided to try his luck, and face the power of these nine divine trials. If he could get through it, then he wouldn’t need the baby’s body anymore. He would also be able to keep his years of cultivation. He thought, perhaps, becoming a god wouldn’t be impossible without the inheritance.

Unfortunately, Great Taoist underestimated the power of the Nine Divine Trials. Just when he resisted the layers of impact of the Nine Divines, he became complacent. He did not expect that the last strike of the Nine Divine Tribulations would almost dissipated his soul.

Fortunately for him, Great Taoist made a quick retreat in advance. Just as his body was shattered by the lightning strikes of the Nine Divine Heavens, his condensed consciousness rushed out, and attached itself to the consciousness of the baby found.

That was when Wei suddenly felt his mind bumped after being reincarnated. In fact, that was the result of the impact of Great Taoist divine consciousness into his own mind.