"In the past, haven't we also investigated similar rumors of immortals?"
Fu Zhizhou frowned slightly.
For nearly twenty years, the four of them had searched tirelessly for traces of immortal cultivation, never once slacking.
Why was Wei Tu suddenly trying to stop him now?
"This time is different. The traces of immortals in Danqiu Mountain are highly credible. That's precisely why I need to stop you."
Wei Tu carefully chose his words and explained.
Most of the immortal traces they had investigated in the past had been nothing more than hearsay.
They had always known, even before setting off, that those rumors were unreliable.
But the situation with Danqiu Mountain was different.
The credibility of this lead was far higher than anything they had encountered before.
Otherwise, Fu Zhizhou wouldn't have insisted on traveling thousands of miles to Luonan Dao to investigate.
A single journey would take one to two months, not including the time spent gathering information.
Hearing this, Fu Zhizhou first looked surprised, then carefully reconsidered Wei Tu's reasoning before nodding in agreement.
"What you say makes sense. The closer we are to success, the more cautious we must be. We cannot afford to be reckless."
He had been too eager in his pursuit of immortality, and it had clouded his judgment.
Now that he had calmed down, he realized his own impatience.
"However…"
"Standing here, knowing that the immortal land is within reach yet choosing not to explore it… It's difficult to accept."
Fu Zhizhou sighed.
By now, they had been seeking immortality for nearly twenty years, and still, they had not even met a single immortal.
Yet, how many twenty years could a person afford to wait in a lifetime?
At that moment, Wei Tu fully understood.
Fu Zhizhou was running out of patience.
It wasn't that he was unaware of the dangers, but rather, he had chosen to ignore them.
"Fourth Brother is still only thirty-seven years old. With his talent and youth, he already feels this anxious."
"If that's the case, then what about Big Brother Kou Liang and Second Brother Wei Fei?"
Wei Tu thought to himself.
Twenty years might not seem like much in a person's lifetime.
But these past twenty years had been their prime years—a time when they could have accomplished so much more.
Letting these golden years slip away without results, how could anyone remain at peace?
Fu Zhizhou's impatience…
He might be able to suppress it for now, but not forever.
If they still found no progress in immortal cultivation in a few years, Fu Zhizhou would inevitably set off for Danqiu Mountain on his own.
This kind of reckless action was no different from Wei Fei taking the Blood Food Pellet.
—They were both unwilling to see their years of effort go to waste.
At this thought, Wei Tu decided to reveal his current martial progress to reassure everyone.
After five years of training, with the assistance of Earth Yuan True Qi, Wei Tu had finally completed the stage of Bone Marrow Refinement—the final step before a martial artist could break through to the Xiantian Realm.
Now, he only needed to nurture a single strand of Xiantian Qi in his dantian, and he would be able to step into the Xiantian Realm, becoming a legendary Xiantian Martial Artist.
"If things go smoothly, I have a sixty percent chance of breaking through in five years."
"In seven years, my chances will increase to eighty percent."
Wei Tu spoke solemnly.
He was not exaggerating.
When he first began cultivating the Marrow Refining Sutra, his Golden-Purple Destiny had estimated that he would need thirty years to master it and reach the Xiantian Realm.
However, after obtaining an immortal cultivation technique, his internal energy transformed into Earth Yuan True Qi, which greatly accelerated his progress.
"As soon as I break through to Xiantian, we will go together to investigate Danqiu Mountain."
Wei Tu continued.
"Xiantian…?"
Fu Zhizhou was stunned.
Cultivating Xiantian Qi was as difficult as finding Qi Sensation—it required both immense effort and a great stroke of luck.
Fu Zhizhou was silent.
Like Wei Tu, he was also at the True Qi Realm, but unlike Wei Tu, he did not have the same confidence that he could break through to Xiantian within a set number of years.
Realizing this, Fu Zhizhou quickly asked if Wei Tu had discovered some new cultivation insights, which gave him such certainty about reaching Xiantian within five years.
Wei Tu shook his head.
He explained that he had no special insights, but rather a sudden instinct, an unshakable belief that he would break through within five years.
—He had said all he needed to say.
If Fu Zhizhou still insisted on going to Danqiu Mountain before Wei Tu reached Xiantian, then there was nothing more he could do.
They were all adults.
Each had their own reasoning and judgment.
One warning was enough.
"An instinct…"
Fu Zhizhou fell into deep thought.
There were many recorded cases of martial artists having sudden epiphanies, leading them to breakthroughs or even creating new martial arts techniques.
Perhaps, Wei Tu was one of the lucky few.
"I will wait five more years."
Fu Zhizhou finally nodded firmly.
By then, he would be forty-two years old, the same age Kou Liang was now.
It was far from the age where Qi and blood decline.
He could afford to wait.
Time passed swiftly.
That day, Wei Tu had just finished teaching Wei Erlang the stance training for Tiger and Crane Twin Form Fist when suddenly, he felt a warm surge of energy in his dantian, spreading throughout his entire body.
He closed his eyes.
The external "spiritual energy" that had always been undetectable when cultivating immortal arts suddenly became tangible.
This spiritual energy came in five colors, drifting within the Qi of the world.
However, it was extremely sparse.
Throughout his entire household, Wei Tu only saw a dozen wisps of spiritual energy floating around.
At that moment, he understood—
He had finally stepped into the Xiantian Realm.
"So, only martial artists who reach Xiantian can truly cultivate immortal techniques…"
"No wonder we four have spent twenty years cultivating immortal techniques without making any progress."
Inside his secluded chamber, Wei Tu sat cross-legged and resumed his cultivation of immortal arts.
This time, the Earth Yuan True Qi in his dantian began to draw in the five-colored spiritual energy from the outside world, merging it into his body.
However, to Wei Tu's regret, once the spiritual energy entered his dantian, only the earth-yellow spiritual energy, identical to his Earth Yuan True Qi, remained.
The other elemental energies dissipated entirely during his breathing cycle.
At the same time—
Wei Tu sensed that his Golden-Purple Destiny had gained a new line of text.
"Five Yuan Spirit Body · Earth Yuan Body (1/100): Eight cycles per day, forty years to completion."
"Forty years?"
"Only ten years longer than mastering the Marrow Refining Sutra?"
"This means that completing the Earth Yuan Body must not be a particularly high-level realm in the immortal path."
Wei Tu shook his head.
Having carried the Late Bloomer Destiny for so long, he had developed a clear understanding of its patterns—
The higher the realm, the longer the cultivation time required.
"Breaking through to Xiantian extends my lifespan to two hundred years…"
"Danqiu Mountain… can wait."
Wei Tu pondered for a moment and then retrieved the damaged copy of "Fundamentals of Talisman Dao" that he had acquired seven years ago.
Now that he had Xiantian True Qi, he could finally draw spiritual energy into his body.
He should be able to create the immortal talismans recorded in the book.
Before setting out to explore Danqiu Mountain, he needed to prepare some trump cards for survival.
Ordinary martial techniques were unlikely to pose a threat to true immortals.
He needed something more.