Early morning, Cloud Mist Mountain Range.
Being one of Great Xia's most ancient primal forests, the Cloud Mist Mountain Range has always been a daunting place for mountaineers.
It is not only because of the countless snakes, bugs, and ants, but more importantly, the mist that lingers for half of the year. Within a hundred-mile radius, the swirling fog can easily cause even the best of mountain climbing teams to lose their way in the towering forest.
Yet today, this ancient mountain range welcomes a unique visitor.
Shen Yuan, wearing a thin coat and carrying a large travel bag, walked through the woods. With a military shovel in his right hand, he casually pushed away a branch to throw the snake hidden beneath to the far distance. His actions were swift and practiced.
This was Shen Yuan's third day venturing deep into the Cloud Mist Mountain Range. As one of Great Xia's few original forests, the foot of the Cloud Mist Mountains had been developed into a scenic spot, with tourists only permitted to tour with guides, to prevent them from venturing too deeply into the Mountain Range.
Even Shen Yuan had to join a tour group and disguise himself as a regular tourist to gain access to the Cloud Mist Mountain Range.
Soon after entering the scenic area, Shen Yuan chose to voluntarily leave the group and set off into the depths of the Cloud Mist Mountain Range on his own.
The reason Shen Yuan dared to take such a risk was that he was no ordinary person.
Stopping momentarily, feeling the dense mist around him, Shen Yuan stood still, his breath becoming rhythmic. A warm current circulated inside his body, driving away the chill of the early morning.
After a while, with a long exhale, white mist emerged from his lips. It was like a dragon breaking through the heavy clouds, leaving a deep mark on an ancient tree a few feet away.
"As suspected, the turmoil in the mortal world is not conducive to cultivation. One should keep close to nature when practicing the Cloud Mist Breathing Method. After venturing deep into the Cloud Mist Mountains for just three days, I feel my cultivation has achieved greater progress, equivalent to half a month of previous hard practice."
A smile edged the corners of Shen Yuan's lips. He's not a mortal or more precisely, not from this world.
Half a year ago, Shen Yuan somehow arrived in this Primal Chaos World. The world's technological level was similar to the Earth he once knew before his transmigration.
The only difference was that in this new world, there had always been legends of gods and demons. The Great Xia, which Shen Yuan was now in, had a long history, with traditions dating back over three thousand years.
Even though there's no solid proof on the internet confirming the existence of these celestial beings, Shen Yuan was certain that real immortals did exist in this world.
Because along with him a system called Immortality Ascension came into this world.
According to the Immortality Ascension System, it would provide a series of missions to help Shen Yuan ascend to the immortal world and achieve immortality.
With the help of this system, Shen Yuan learned the Cloud Mist Breathing Method in the past six months which was given as a beginner guide, and successfully stepped into the Essence Refining Stage.
Essence Refining to Qi Transformation, Refining Qi to Spirit Transmutation, Refining Spirit to Return to Void, and Refining Void to Tao Harmony are the Four Steps of Immortality Ascension inherited from ancient Qi cultivators.
In the Essence Refining Stage, cycling spiritual force around your body amplifies the Essence Element, making the physical body several times stronger than an ordinary person, in preparation for the next step: Refining Essence to Qi Transformation.
Upon reaching this stage, Shen Yuan could withstand extreme cold and heat, and the variation of inner breath could drive away coldness and keep pests at bay.
To have obtained such an achievement in less than half a year in this new world, aside from the help brought by the Immortality Ascension System, it was also inseparable from Shen Yuan's painstaking cultivation.
However, the Cloud Mist Breathing Method is just the most basic method. Shen Yuan needs to learn follow-up methods if he wants to break through the Essence Refining Stage, and this leads to the beginner's guide of the Immortality Ascension System.
With this in mind, Shen Yuan glanced at the system interface's display.
Beginner's Guide: Hold the Immortality Ascension Token and go to the Cloud Mist Mountain Range to join the Falling Clouds Sect, to obtain the "Purple Clouds Elemental Qi Refinement Method".
It seemed like a simple task given the label 'beginner's guide', Shen Yuan thought he could easily complete the task and went to the Cloud Mist Mountain Range shortly after entering the Essence Refining Stage.
However, after wandering in the mountain range for three full days, Shen Yuan hadn't even caught sight of the so-called Falling Clouds Sect.
If it wasn't for the Immortality Ascension Token in his possession giving a faint indication, confirming the Falling Clouds Sect's direction, Shen Yuan would have lost his way in these mountains and given up long ago.
Even so, finding the Falling Clouds Sect within the Cloud Mist Mountain Range was not an easy task.
"Logically speaking, the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, which covers a thousand miles, should be the territory of the Falling Clouds Sect. I came here with the Immortality Ascension Token, the Falling Clouds Sect should have sensed its presence.
But I haven't encountered anyone from the Falling Clouds Sect so far, could this be the old cliche of secretly observing and testing one's mettle?"
Shen Yuan couldn't help but grumble to himself.
But regardless, he had come all this way, and the faintly glowing Immortality Ascension Token in his arms seemed to be reminding Shen Yuan that the Falling Clouds Sect was just before him, it would be impossible for him to give up halfway.
He traveled through hills and rivers and from morning until the sun was leaning towards the west, did Shen Yuan reach a mountain stream.
The clear spring water flowed down from the cliff, ascending mist in conjunction with the afterglow of the sunset illuminated the place like a fairyland. Occasionally a few roe deer drank from the spring, curiously inspecting Shen Yuan, this unexpected visitor.
"This is the place."
Shen Yuan took out the already warm Immortality Ascension Token from his arms, continually scanning the surrounding environment.
As a cultivator, he could feel this area seemed to be covered by a layer of spiritual energy as if it was obscuring something.
"Sect formation? Invisible barrier? Or is it some sort of entrance to Grotto Heavens?"
Shen Yuan's eyes sparkled slightly, holding the Immortality Ascension Token and curiously observing the surrounding environment.
But soon Shen Yuan noticed something was not quite right.
Shen Yuan had traveled through mountains and rivers to reach the Falling Clouds Sect, whether they would accept or reject him, someone should have shown up by now.
The current situation, it didn't look like there was a hidden sect at all.
As he continued to transfer essence into the Immortality Ascension Token using his breathing method, a misty fog rose from the mountain stream in front of him, with flowing purplish gases within it.
Then, as if layers of folded space opened up, a whole new world appeared before Shen Yuan.
It was a world filled with pavilions and eaves. The delicate architectures were constructed on the peaks, and the winding stairs stood around the hills, extending above the sea of clouds and giving off numerous glorious radiances.
Anyone who saw this scene would praise its celestial ambiance.
However, this view merely lasted an instant, and the next moment the illusion in front of his eyes shattered, ultimately what appeared before Shen Yuan was nothing but a collapsed peak.
The remaining edifices were already occupied by a large number of plants, the mottled cracks in the sky tore the sea of clouds presenting a scene of desolation, what used to be a grotto heavens' sacred land had now transformed into ruins.
At the entrance to the grotto heavens' sacred land, a huge stone stele stood erect, on it was an ancient inscription, leaving behind an enduring sense of indignation and resentment.
"In the ninth year of the Great Yin, the Mortal Emperor terminated the Immortal Path with divine might, hence there was no more Immortal Path in the world.
Unwilling to accept this, the old man, having proved himself an Earth Immortal with the Grotto Heavens Sacred Ground, took the sect to ascend into the clouds but was met with a great catastrophe, the legacy of the Falling Clouds, which had lasted for tens of thousands of years, was destroyed in an instant.
The ancestral master once divined the future. The Taoist who can save the Falling Clouds Sect from its peril, where on earth is he?"
Looking at the ancient writing on the stone stele, Shen Yuan paused, his mind in a daze.
"The history of this world is long-standing, In addition to the current Great Xia, there were also the long eras of Great Qin, Great Yu, and the Hundred Warring States. It's been over ten thousand years since the ninth year of the Great Yin."
"The Falling Clouds Sect was destroyed thousands of years ago."
"Did I arrive here... ten thousand years too late?"