Chapter 1: A Strange Encounter in the Mountains

  "Chu Zi Feng, what are you doing? Everyone is waiting for you!"

  The classmate's voice came from the middle of the mountain, but Chu Zi Feng was pale and sat at the edge of the Wanjia Waterfall in Z City, panting heavily, with one hand constantly waving to his classmates and teacher above.

  "Let's let Gao Qiao rest for a bit, he's been in poor health since childhood and the orphanage didn't have much money to get him medical treatment. It's already great that he could participate in this graduation ceremony," said one of the girls.

  "Let him rest for a while, we'll wait for him at the top of the mountain. We still need to take a group photo later."

  The classmates would not stop completely because of Chu Zifeng alone, and the collective activity could not be delayed by one person, so they said a word to Chu Zifeng and went towards the mountain top.

  Chu Zi sat by the waterfall, helplessly smiling wryly, washing his face with the water from the rapid current beside him, saying: "I'm really looking for trouble, I shouldn't have agreed to come up the mountain with this group of monkeys, it's like I haven't taken medicine for several days!"

  Turning to look at the road up the mountain, Chu Zifeng shouted a few times, calling out: "You guys aren't so heartless, are you? You really all left, not even leaving one or two people behind to accompany me! This is deep in the mountains, if a fox spirit were to appear, how could this small body of mine withstand it with illness wrapped around me!"

  Chu Zi Feng is eighteen years old this year, an orphan who was abandoned at the gate of Z City Orphanage when he was still young and had no memory of it. The director of the orphanage adopted him, gave him a name, raised him, and supported his education.

  It's probably fate playing tricks on him, Chu Zi Feng not only didn't know who his parents were, but his body was also very weak, plagued by illnesses big and small since childhood, having to take medicine every day. The orphanage didn't have enough money to send him to a large hospital for treatment, so he had been relying on medication all along.

  Fortunately, Chu Zi Feng's academic performance was excellent, and he was admitted to Yanjing University in this Gaokao, which made the director of the orphanage very pleased.

  Today was the graduation event for Chu Zifeng's class, and due to budget issues, they chose Wanlong Mountain in City Z. Originally, Chu Zifeng didn't want to come because he knew his body absolutely couldn't handle it, but he also didn't want to be looked down upon by his classmates, so he gritted his teeth and followed along.

  "Oh, heaven, I don't need you to give me any great responsibilities, I can walk my own path and grasp my own future, just trouble yourself not to bother me!"

  Chu Zi Feng shook his head and took a deep breath. Since he had come all this way, it was impossible to turn back halfway down the mountain. So, Chu Zi Feng continued on his way up the mountain.

  "Huh? How did this crystal end up in the water?"

  In the rapid and clear water, Chu Zi Wind clearly saw a piece of crystal, so he walked down into the water, wanting to pick up the crystal and bring it back to collect.

  The torrent grew larger and larger, sweeping the crystal to the edge of the waterfall. Chu Zi Feng barely managed to pick it up before it was swept away, but just as he was about to return to shore, his foot slipped and he let out a loud cry as he fell over the waterfall.

  When Chu Zifeng fell into the whirlpool under the waterfall, he only felt a suction force under the water that pulled him down. Around Chu Zifeng, a vortex quickly formed, and this vortex gradually swallowed Chu Zifeng, who blacked out in front of his eyes and fainted.

  It wasn't until much later that Chu Zifeng slowly opened his eyes, and everything in front of him was a blur. There was the sound of "gurgling" water by his ears, and some water had entered his mouth.

  Chu Zi Feng felt that his body was fine, so he rubbed his eyes with his hands.

  When Chu Zi's eyes could see clearly around him, he found himself in a cave, lying on a small pool of water, the "drip" sound was coming from above, where sword-shaped rocks were dripping down a milky white liquid, which was also what had fallen into his mouth earlier.

  "What is this place? How did I end up here? This water, it won't be poisonous, will it? Why is it milky white?"

  Chu Zi Feng slowly got up, recalling the previous situation. He had fallen off a waterfall while picking crystals, but why was he in this place? Had he died? Was this the legendary hell?

  No way, I still have body heat and this vivid feeling doesn't feel like death at all. So, where is this place exactly? And how did I get here?

  Chu Zi Feng couldn't help but think that he didn't die from falling off the waterfall, but instead died in this cave. Just as he was thinking of finding an exit, suddenly his body felt numb and he fell to the ground, unable to move at all!

  "Could it be that the water is really poisonous? This is trouble, now we're done for!"

  Chu Zi's heart was in a great panic, when he was young, his parents abandoned him at the gate of an orphanage and he didn't die, he had big illnesses and small illnesses coming to find him every day but he didn't die, even falling off a waterfall didn't kill him, so now, would he be poisoned to death by this water?!

  Hiss, hiss......

  When people fall, they can get up with mold; anything can happen in life.

  Just been paralyzed all over by the water here, Chu Zi Wind saw a fire-red small snake crawling towards himself. This fire-red small snake was half a meter long, extremely thin, thinner than any snake he had ever seen. The most incredible thing was that this little snake had a single horn on its head, with a pair of golden yellow eyes shining with golden light.

  "Don't come over, you absolutely mustn't come over, I don't want to die yet!"

  Chu Zi Feng's heart was bitter, but how could the little snake hear what Chu Zi Feng had in his heart? Even if it heard, it wouldn't understand anyway!

  Hiss, hiss......

  A little red snake crawled onto Chu Zifeng's body, moving around on his body, finally moving to the back of Chu Zifeng's neck and biting him ruthlessly.

  The little red snake that had bitten Chu Zi Feng stopped moving after crawling less than a meter, as if it had been electrocuted. Three seconds later, Chu Zi Feng clearly saw that the little red snake had withered away, leaving only its skeleton behind.

  "This can't be! What's going on... Could it be that the poison I had earlier was transmitted into the snake's body and killed it?!"

  Chu Zi Feng's heart skipped a beat as he thought to himself, unsure of why his hand had moved slightly. He suddenly jumped up and exclaimed, "What's going on? How am I able to move again... Could it be that the poison is being countered by another poison... That must be it... Wait, why does my body feel so hot... No, why does it feel so cold... Why is it alternating between hot and cold... Ah... Help! It's so cold... It's so hot..."

  The pale complexion on Chu Zi Feng's face had disappeared, and at this moment his entire body was alternating between fiery red and icy white. It seemed as if there was a surge of unknown energy inside him that was causing him to become frantic, and he ran towards the depths of the cave.

  The depth of the cave was unknown, and Chu Zifeng rushed down all the way, constantly colliding with the surrounding rocks. However, strangely enough, after Chu Zifeng's body hit the rocks, he didn't feel any pain at all. Instead, those rocks were cracked into fissures by his body.

  For a whole hour, when Chu Zi Feng felt the cold and heat in his body gradually disappearing, his feet had also stopped moving, but the place he was in had changed to a stone room, a room made of a kind of milky white rock.

  Inside the stone chamber, a faint white glow emanated, which was released from those milky white rocks. Chu Zi Feng couldn't believe his eyes, he didn't expect that nature's craftsmanship would be so wonderful. Outside was still a treacherous cave, but this place was so beautiful. Moreover, in the middle of the stone chamber, there stood a white jade stele, on which were carved countless words.

  Chu Zi Feng touched his body with his hand, feeling that the pain he had before seemed to have disappeared, and everything before was like it hadn't happened. His body didn't feel tired at all, which was much more comfortable than when he was plagued by illness in the past.

  Under such circumstances, Chu Zi Feng couldn't even control his own body, and under the influence of curiosity, he walked to the front of the white jade stele. This white jade stele was two meters high and half a meter wide, with intricate characters carved on it.

  Chu Zi Feng widened his eyes and first walked around the white jade stele, thinking to himself, what kind of place is this? What kind of person would set up a jade stele in such a place? And looking at the stele, it should be made of high-quality jade, with a flowing water-like pattern inside.

  At this moment, Chu Zi Feng has already forgotten that he is in a dangerous situation, standing in front of the white jade stele, looking at the words carved on it.

  On the white jade stele is written: This cave is the Xuantian Cave Mansion, it was the Daoist temple of the Xuantian Great Emperor before he ascended to heaven. Those who have affinity and enter this cave will receive the transmission from the Xuantian Great Emperor.

  He had just finished reading a passage, and the content of this passage made Chu Zi Feng jump in fright. A pair of eyes with unbelief said: "Xuan Tian Dong Fu, Xuan Tian Da Di, Fei Sheng... Could it be that these are the legendary Cultivators? Are there really Cultivators in this world? Is there really the existence of immortals?"

  He calmed his heart and continued reading the words on the white jade stele, which made Chu Zi Feng dare not believe.

  Next, it is written: This seat was a Jiangnan person in the early Tang Dynasty. Due to a chance encounter, he entered the ranks of cultivators and spent 500 years cultivating, finally achieving enlightenment and ascending to heaven. However, according to the divine realm's laws, every ascended deity must sever all ties with the mortal world, including their descendants, and cannot acknowledge them. Even the cultivation methods they practiced are not allowed to be passed down to future generations and must be taken into the divine realm to prevent the ascender's methods from becoming a calamity in the mortal world, causing endless strife and bloodshed. However, this seat did not want to sever its powerful cultivation method from the mortal world. Before ascending, it left behind a legacy in the Suffering Cultivation Cave and set up an array, making it impossible for the divine realm to discover the location of this seat's cave. Even if the divine realm cannot detect it, those who obtain this seat's legacy in the future are not allowed to reveal the location of the cave or inform anyone of their relationship with this seat, treating it as a completely new cultivation method.

  After finishing the preface on the White Jade Stele, Chu Zi Feng still couldn't accept that in this world there really were cultivators of the truth and a realm of gods. And yet everything here was so mysterious, if he hadn't fallen down the waterfall, it would have been impossible for him to arrive at this place. Now thinking about it, this cave should be very deep beneath the waterfall!

  "Since this Xuantian Emperor has lived here for 500 years, that means there must be a way out of here."

  As he spoke, Chu Zi Feng didn't intend to care about the white jade stele, and instead went to find a way out. However, unintentionally, Chu Zi Feng saw that on the white jade stele, there was actually a route and method to leave the Xuan Tian Cave Mansion. It wasn't easy to leave this place, though - the path out was sealed by a massive stone gate, and only by mastering the techniques inscribed on the white jade stele could one push it open.

  "You're not going to play me like this, are you?! Heaven, what have I done to offend you?!"

  Sitting in front of the white jade stele, Chu Zifeng's mind was thinking that if he didn't cultivate his skills, he would never be able to leave. But if he did cultivate them, how much time would it take?

  Chu Zi Feng looked at the white jade stele again, but on the white jade stele, it didn't explain how long it would take to cultivate the "Qingmu Emperor's Secret" technique. It only said that cultivation was divided into seven major realms: Purifying the Body, Nourishing Qi, Gathering Spirit, Refining Soul, Tempering Corpse, Transforming Spirit, and Transcending Tribulation. Each of these major realms was further divided into three smaller realms: Initial, Middle, and Late. To push open the stone gate and leave this place, one had to cultivate their skills until they reached the Nourishing Qi realm.

  "Since there is only one way out, I have no choice but to practice. If I practice, I still have a chance to live; if I don't practice, then I will surely die."

  Having made up his mind, Chu Zi Feng first familiarized himself with the cultivation method described on the White Jade Stele and the "Qingmu Emperor's Secret" technique. He learned that the primary goal of this cultivation was to strengthen the cultivator's body and change their physical constitution.

  The second boundary of nourishing Qi is to absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, transform this spiritual energy into a true Qi within the practitioner's body, and strengthen this true Qi.

  The third boundary of gathering spirits is to cultivate spiritual consciousness, which is the five senses of human beings. By practicing these five senses, a sixth sense can be developed, commonly known as the sixth sense.

  The fourth boundary of cultivation is refining the three souls of the human body. After achieving great success in refining the soul, one can become invulnerable to swords and guns, impervious to water and fire, and immune to all poisons.

  The fifth great boundary of refining the Corpse is to cultivate the seven Corpses of the human body. Once it is fully achieved, all evil spirits and demons in the world cannot approach its body.

  The sixth realm is the transformation of the divine, also known as the completion of the original spirit. After achieving great success, one can release their original spirit and roam freely in the world, with their true body not dying and their original spirit not being destroyed. This can be called the second life of a cultivator.

  The Seventh Great Realm of Tribulation Crossing is the pinnacle realm of cultivation. When one reaches the later stages of tribulation crossing, they can summon heavenly thunder and ascend in broad daylight.

  After reading the seven major realms, Chu Zi Feng did not stop and continued to read: Because cultivating the truth is an act of going against heaven, not every cultivator who reaches the peak can ascend to the divine realm. When summoning heavenly thunder, it is also a tribulation for the cultivators, this heavenly thunder can not only bring the cultivators to ascend to the divine realm but also destroy any cultivator. If one cannot avoid the heavenly thunder, they will be annihilated, body and soul destroyed, never to be reborn in ten thousand lifetimes.

  Upon seeing this, Chu Zi Feng swallowed his tongue, originally these cultivators would also face such a trial, if they couldn't pass the heavenly thunder, then it was a dead end! But even so, Chu Zi Feng still had to practice.

  "Alright, life is short and fleeting, so I should try everything at least once. Since I have this opportunity to receive the inheritance of the Great Emperor Xuanyuan, then I shouldn't waste it."

  PS: New book is here, collect and vote for it, let's work together to infinitely develop "Cheng Shen"!!!!!