Asking About Longevity

Chapter 1 Ink Painting

Tao calendar year 20,22, the tenth day of the ninth month.

 Tongxian City, the mountain outside Tongxian Gate.

Ten-year-old Mo Hua was wearing a simple Taoist robe as an outer disciple, squatting boredly behind a boulder at the foot of the mountain, holding a grass root in his hand and immersed himself in drawing complicated patterns on the ground.

At Mao hour, the disciples of the sect went up the mountain one after another, hanging out in pairs, talking and laughing.

A little fat man with a chubby face and small eyes, dressed in the outer sect's standard robes and expensive jade ornaments, accompanied by two or three followers, found an ink painting that was drawing something contentedly behind a stone.

The little fat man looked left and right and found that there was no trace of the sect's teacher, so he shrank his head and shouted:

 “Ink painting!”

Mo Hua raised his head, revealing his handsome and picturesque face, his eyes as clear as if he were holding a pool of clear water.

The little fat man whispered: "Is it done?"

The ten-year-old ink-painting little adult patted his chest and said, "Don't worry while I do the work." After saying that, he took out a few formations from the storage bag behind him, with white paper and red ink, and handed them to the little fat man.

 “Look and see if there’s anything wrong.”

The little fat man took it solemnly, opened the copy, took a serious look at it, and then said with a grimace:

 “I can’t understand…”

Mo Hua patiently explained:

“The homework assigned by the teacher is the basic pattern of the Five Elements Formation. I drew it for you, and I made six mistakes on purpose to prevent the teacher from seeing that you did not draw these patterns yourself..."

“Sixth place...were there too many mistakes..."

Mo Hua looked at him silently.

The little fat man immediately realized his mistake and reflected:

“You can’t be too greedy. It’s good if I can hand in the homework assigned by the teacher. If you do too well, it will arouse people’s suspicion. Once the teacher finds out and let my dad know, he will definitely beat me hard. The gain is not worth the loss, and the gain is not worth the loss..."

Mo Hua nodded and said, "As expected of Master An, he figured it out so quickly!"

The little fat man put two spiritual stones into Mo Hua's hand, "Brother Mo, you still have a good eye and know that I am smart! I'll give you the spiritual stones. I'll come back to you next time to teach you how to arrange formations!"

After saying that, he put the formation in his arms and ran up the mountain.

Mo Hua carefully put away the two spiritual stones, picked up a piece of grass root, and continued to draw on the ground.

 After a while, a thin young man with a mean face and more jade pendants appeared, shaking a gold paper fan.

Mo Hua also gave him a formation diagram. The thin young man glanced at the formation diagram and gave his servant a look. The servant stepped forward to take it and handed Mo Hua two spiritual stones.

The thin young master took the formation map, but he still didn’t leave. He suddenly gathered the paper fan and said arrogantly: "I am also very good at formations, but I don’t have time to make these basic formations, so I asked you to write them for me."

Mo Hua was too lazy to pay attention to him, so he picked up a grass root and put it on the ground to continue painting.

The thin young man was a little annoyed, and sneered: "It is said that among the monks in the early stage of Qi refining in Tongxian Sect, you are the best at drawing formations. I wonder how you compare with this young master. Let's try it out when we have time?"

Mo Hua thought to himself that you asked me to help you with your formation homework. What would you say is your own level?

However, adhering to the principle of harmony and wealth, Mo Hua still raised his head, picked out nice words and praised:

“Of course Young Master’s formation attainments are much higher. The Qian family is the largest family in Tongxian City, and the inheritance of formations cannot be matched by other monks.”

The thin young man's expression was slightly bright, and he asked again: "Tell me, among the monks in the early stages of Qi refining in the Tongxian Sect, is there anyone whose formation level can match mine?"

 “Yes, there is…”

The thin young man was displeased and asked, "Who is there?"

"For example, I..." Of course Mo Hua would not say this stupidly.

“There are so many that I can’t even count them all at once.”

 The thin young man was obviously angry.

"This is a good thing!" Mo Hua opened his eyes and said nonsense.

The thin young man sneered: "My family background is not better than mine, I don't have many spiritual stones, but my formation skills are higher than mine. There are many such people. Do you want to say that my talent is stupid and I can't compare with others? What's so good about this?" "

Mo Hua said: "No matter how talented the monks in Tongxian City are and how well they learn, in the end they will still have to enter the Wanbao Tower of the Qian family to refine weapons, alchemy and draw formations for your Qian family..."

"Think about it, you are just cultivating qi, and you have foundation-building monks working for you. You are just a first-level formation master, and you have a second-level formation master at your command. How majestic it is! The stronger the ability of the monks under you, the more powerful you will be. The more capable you are!"

The thin young man was stunned, and then suddenly realized, "It seems to make sense!"

"I understand." The thin young man nodded and looked at the monk Yunyun at the foot of the mountain, raising his neck even higher:

"That's right! That's right! No matter how talented you are and how hard you practice, won't you still have to work hard for my Qian family in the end?"

Mr. Qian, who had a mean look on his face, walked away with his head held high after speaking.

 After fooling Mr. Qian away, Mo Hua continued to practice formations with grass roots on the ground.

After a while, several wealthy monks came over, paid with one hand and delivered the goods with the other hand, and bought several formations from Mo Hua with spirit stones. By the time Mo Hua's handwritten formations were traded, he already had twelve spirit stones in his hand.

 Twelve spiritual stones are quite a lot for casual cultivators, but they are still far from enough for cultivators.

Mo Hua sighed, with a hint of helplessness on his young face.



In the first year of Daoli, that is, more than 20,000 years ago, the largest force in the monastic world, Daoting, unified the nine states of monasticism, canonized aristocratic families and sects, established a unified grade system, and standardized the levels of monasticism.

The Taoist court also promulgated the "Dao Law" to restrict the monks, so that the monks were not allowed to kill indiscriminately, plunder, or harvest.

With this development, the cultivating world has been peaceful for more than 20,000 years. It is extremely prosperous and has a vast territory with hundreds of millions of cultivators.

However, the Taoist court was prosperous, the aristocratic families had their bells ringing, and the sects were dominant.

 Only the casual cultivators at the bottom have nothing to rely on, live in poverty, and have no hope of cultivating the Tao.

 The world of cultivation has flourished for more than 20,000 years. Mortals without spiritual roots have gradually been eliminated naturally, and the remaining ones are all monks with spiritual roots who can practice Taoism. But the more monks there are, the more spiritual energy is consumed, and the spiritual energy between heaven and earth is exhausted.

Today, if monks want to practice Taoism, they need not only inheritance, but also spiritual stones.

However, the big families occupy the spiritual mines, the lower-level casual cultivators are short of spiritual stones, and the large sects have a monopoly on inheritance, leaving ordinary casual cultivators with no way to practice.

 In Tongxian City, the vast majority of casual cultivators have neither inheritance nor spiritual stones, and will only be monks in the Qi Refining Realm throughout their lives.

 In the Qi Refining Realm, you are just a humble ant under the vast sky.

And ink painting is one of these billions of ants.

 And most likely, for life!

 The young face painted in ink is slightly bitter.

The way of heaven may be equal, but cultivating the Tao is definitely not equal...

 Mo Hua is a second-level Qi Refining casual cultivator. He comes from a Qi Refining Realm Qi Refining Realm Qi Cultivator family. His parents are both Qi Refining Realm.

 Father Mo Shan makes a living by hunting monsters. He has to fight with monsters all day long, and his body is scarred. My mother was working as a cook in the dining room. She was affected by the gas from the stove and often had lung pain and dry cough.

And my parents lived frugally and saved all the spiritual stones just to allow Mo Hua to enter the outer gate of Tongxian Sect to practice.

However, no matter how much you practice in ink painting, your middle-to-low-grade spiritual roots may be slightly better than ordinary people, but in the world of cultivation where there are many geniuses, you are destined to be just one with mediocre qualifications.

No matter how much you practice, you may only be a monk in the Qi Refining Realm.

 The family conditions are difficult and there is no spirit stone, so Mo Hua can only be like ordinary disciples, quit the sect after reaching the sixth level of Qi refining, and then find a way to learn the craft to make a living.

 But ink painting is naturally weak!

The weapon refining that monks depended on for a living during the Qi Refining Stage, as well as hunting monsters and other tasks, generally only require strong physical training. Mo Hua, who was born with a frail body, might not even be able to find a job to earn a living.

 In the event that you marry another wife and have children in the future, and the burden increases, all the spiritual stones will be used to support the family.

Without spiritual stone cultivation in Mo Hua, his cultivation would be stagnant forever, and he would be just a Qi-refining monk for the rest of his life.

 Like all the poor casual cultivators in Tongxian City.

 Same as the hundreds of millions of low-level monks in this world of cultivation.

 Just a Qi refiner for the rest of my life!

Ten-year-old Mo Hua sighed, gathered his thoughts, and entered the sect to attend class. After practicing for a day, Mo Hua returned to his disciple's residence, read some Buddhist scriptures, and then lay on the bed when he was asleep.

 When Mo Hua closed his eyes, a broken monument appeared in the sea of ​​consciousness.

There are no words on the ruined stele, but it seems that the name of the stele was known from the first glance of the ink painting:

 Tao monument!

    A new traditional fairy tale book for newcomers, the outline and world view have been set.

Set a small goal and write one million words first~

　　　Please help to raise it~

Thanks.

 (End of this chapter)