Heaven and earth are vast and enduring; travelers pass by in a fleeting blur.

After lunch, Chen Jue went to the riverside once again to discuss the Dao with Linglong. The two finally exchanged contact information before saying goodbye.

Linglong’s WeChat profile picture was an ivory-carved nested ball, covered entirely with intricate patterns of roaming dragons and auspicious clouds. This item was also known as a " concentric ball," with its full name being the openwork ivory carved cloud-and-dragon nested ball. Its craftsmanship could truly be described as supernatural, featuring seven apertures on the exterior and nine layers within—much like Linglong’s martial arts golden elixir, unfathomable in its shifting thoughts, introverted yet deeply mysterious.

Leaving the navel orange orchard, Chen Jue walked twenty kilometers of mountain roads before hailing a passing taxi in Dashishi Town to return to Hezhou County. Having been out of touch for nearly a whole day, his roommates' WeChat group chat was frantically tagging him with @ mentions. Fortunately, Chen Jue replied in time, preventing any major misunderstandings.

...

Zhou Anping's wedding came to an end, and two days of lively celebrations gradually settled back into tranquility. After resting for another half-month, Zhou Anping would once again set up a stall outside the university gates with his newlywed wife to sell chicken bones. As for going on a honeymoon, that was something for the wealthy and leisurely; ordinary people living down-to-earth lives did not bother with such formalities.

The roommates bid each other farewell with mutual cherishing, then parted ways to return to their respective lives. Life was just like this—day after day, plain and simple, calm without tumultuous ripples.

Chen Jue caught a ride with Jiang Fan, and the two took turns driving all the way down the highway, spending two days and one night driving from Hezhou straight to Hangzhou. From there, he transferred to a high-speed train and returned to An County in Wenzhou.

Stepping out of the An County high-speed rail station, Chen Jue took a taxi back to his ancestral home in Chen Village. Having been away from his hometown for nearly two months, Chen Jue was completely reborn upon his return, transformed from a mere mortal into a carefree true immortal wandering the mundane world.

Unlocking the door to the old residence, he found the house covered in dust. Chen Jue spent about an hour cleaning the upstairs and downstairs, feeling that no matter how long one spent outside, nothing compared to the inner peace and relaxation of returning to one's ancestral home. This was likely what people often meant by the saying: "A golden nest or a silver nest is never as good as one's own humble home."

After tidying up the house, Chen Jue went to the small grocery store at the entrance of the village to collect a few long-awaited express packages, among which were the remaining nine bottles of Golden Dew sent by Yun Xiaomei. If Chen Jue had not previously spent his time measuring the earth with his feet and refining his mind in the mortal world, he probably would have hurried home long ago to absorb these nine bottles of Golden Dew.

He placed the human nutritional supplement, the Golden Dew, and the metal tube gifted by John into the bedside table on the second floor for safekeeping. Then he tossed his dirty clothes into the washing machine to spin, while he himself went out to the town to buy some vegetables.

Having attained the Dao and achieved immortality, life still had to move forward. Living life was, after all, nothing more than eating, drinking, sleeping, putting on more clothes when it was cold, changing into short sleeves when it was hot, and weaving in some human sentiments and worldly grudges to knead together what we commonly call human existence. It was just that Chen Jue's life had been somewhat extraordinary ever since he awakened his attribute panel.

After finishing dinner and allowing his stomach and intestines to rest, Chen Jue put on his seventy-kilogram weighted suit and began jogging toward the reservoir.

It was still the same reservoir, just as quiet and pleasant as before, though autumn was setting in and the water level had begun to drop. Many muddy mounds were exposed, breaking the previously smooth surface of the water and making it look somewhat like a marshland.

Standing on the reservoir dam, Chen Jue gazed out at the night scenery. The temple in the distant corner of the reservoir was still brightly lit, and in the nearby Huangjia Village, some family's elder had apparently passed away. Tonight, they had set up a theatrical stage, beating drums and gongs, the commotion audible from afar.

Chen Jue jogged past, and even from a distance, he noticed a truck parked at the entrance of that household, continuously playing a scrolling video of the deceased elder's portrait. Such funeral trucks were quite common in the rural areas around Wenzhou; basically, whenever an elder passed away in a family, one would be hired. Both sides of the vehicle featured powered LED screens displaying the elder's portrait, while loudspeakers on the roof played mournful music.

Originally, in the surrounding villages, such funeral events occurred every so often, given that the countryside nowadays was mostly inhabited by elderly people. However, when Chen Jue caught a clear glimpse of the elder's portrait on the screen, his jogging pace gradually slowed to a halt.

"Elder Huang... has he passed on?" Chen Jue looked at the familiar elder on the LED screen, and a few ripples stirred within his originally calm heart.

This Elder Huang could be considered the guide who led Chen Jue onto the path of cultivation. Although they lacked the destiny of master and disciple, he had left a very deep impression on Chen Jue.

Curiously walking over to the mourning hall set up in the village house, he truly saw Elder Huang—whom he had met a few times—now lying inside the coffin enshrined within the room.

A group of family members keeping vigil for Elder Huang noticed the appearance of this young stranger and specifically asked him which family's relative he was. Chen Jue replied that he was from the Chen Family Village down the road, and that his grandfather had once been friends with Elder Huang, so he had stopped by specifically to pay his respects to the elder.

Upon hearing this, the expressions of Elder Huang's family members softened considerably. Chen Jue stepped forward to bow before the elder's portrait and remains, experiencing a myriad of complex emotions in his heart. While feeling a deep sense of lament for how merciless time was, he sat down and chatted for a while with Elder Huang's family.

He learned that Elder Huang had not passed away from illness, but rather knew that his fated time had arrived. On a warm, breezy autumn afternoon a few days prior, holding a small alarm clock, he had been sitting in a rocking chair in the courtyard of the village house, basking in the sun while taking a nap, and simply never woke up. Moreover, he had passed away with a smile on his lips, making it a joyous funeral for someone who had lived out their full natural lifespan.

This news had already spread throughout the neighboring villages, but Chen Jue had been traveling far away and remained unaware.

Seeing that Elder Huang's family members were all chatting and laughing without the sorrow typically associated with the sudden loss of a loved one, Chen Jue could not help but sigh inwardly in admiration. Naturally, he also spotted the granddaughter mentioned by Elder Huang among the vigil-keepers. He did not go over to greet her, but after paying his respects to the elder, he drank a cup of tea and took his leave.

"The universe is vast and enduring, mortals are mere passing guests. Elder Huang, may you have a safe journey!" Chen Jue figured that having experienced the successive passing of his own family members, coupled with his transformation into a true immortal of the mortal world, seeing such a scene of an elderly person passing away caused his inner self to become exceptionally peaceful.

Moreover, since Elder Huang had departed with a smile and left behind no regrets, Chen Jue could only send along his heartfelt blessings for the journey.

...

Suddenly encountering the passing of a mortal acquaintance, Chen Jue lost his mood to continue exercising that night. He returned home, removed the weighted suit, wiped away the light sweat on his body, and brewed a pot of ginseng tea.

Prompted by his emotions and recalling the words John had spoken back then, Chen Jue retrieved the metal tube from upstairs.

"The secret of eternal life?"

Chen Jue stared at the lead tube in his hand, murmuring to himself. He sat cross-legged on the living room sofa, reached out to tear open the outer packaging of the tube, and revealed the meteorite fragment soaked inside the clear yellow liquid.

He had been traveling on the road the entire way back and had to chat idly with his roommates, leaving him no time to study the fragment inside. Now that he had returned home, enjoyed some free time with no one to disturb him, and witnessed Elder Huang's peaceful departure, Chen Jue intended to see what purpose this meteorite fragment—which contained primordial genuine qi—actually served.

Gently unscrewing the outer metal shell of the tube, he found a cup to pour out the oily liquid cleanly, and then casually tipped the meteorite fragment into the palm of his hand.

A familiar sensation of positive radiation began to diffuse outward from the meteorite fragment, like a gentle breeze caressing Chen Jue's entire body. Staring at the fragment in his palm, Chen Jue felt every pore on his body relax. The qi and blood within his body began to undulate, his inner mind grew tranquil, and it seemed as though every single cell throughout his body was jumping and cheering with joy upon encountering this meteorite fragment.

"Amazing!"

"The primordial genuine qi contained within this is a hundred times stronger than that radiating from a pregnant woman's fetus!"

A thought stirred in Chen Jue's mind. Holding the fragment in his hands, he began to meditate and regulate his breath, closing his eyes to guide the circulation of his qi and blood.

The cultivation technique for circulating the major and minor heavenly cycles began to run within his body. The previously hazy sensation of internal vision, stimulated by the primordial genuine qi radiating from the fragment, unexpectedly began to grow clearer and clearer.

The flow of qi and blood reached every corner of his body—from internal organs to tissues, bones, the brain, and cells. The once-blurred imagery in Chen Jue's mind began to crystalize and sharpen.

How should that feeling be described? It was akin to switching from a magnifying glass to a high-powered microscope, with the lens continuously zooming in. In the process of practicing the technique, Chen Jue also saw clearly the various large and small acupoints within his body.

Those acupoints seemed to house points of starlight, scattered like stars all over his body. The closer they were to the temples on both sides of his brain, the denser these points of light became.

In addition, the Shangqu acupoint at the blood gate, located on the northern side of the Dantian, similarly emitted a dazzling radiance, looking like a sun suspended within.

The cells throughout Chen Jue's body were also continuously absorbing the primordial genuine qi that penetrated through his skin during the exercise process, growing larger, healthier, and stronger.

After an unknown passage of time, Chen Jue heard a "ding" sound. The skill of circulating the major and minor heavenly cycles, which had long remained stuck at [Lv0 (101/100)], suddenly popped up with this notification:

"Prerequisites met, beginning upgrade!"

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The guaranteed first chapter is delivered! Apologies for keeping you all waiting~ Yesterday I published four chapters totaling ten thousand words, let's see if I can keep up the momentum today~ The Red Horse mentioned in earlier chapters has been changed to Red Mou for more intuitive reading (funny face).