"..."

Eat everything?

Chen Daoyan's body involuntarily trembled at these words, not knowing what he recalled.

Chen Zhixing continued to maintain his clear, silly gaze, waiting expectantly for True Monarch Yimiao to continue.

True Monarch Yimiao did not leave him waiting for long. After eating a few slices of rabbit meat from the silver plate, he nonchalantly said, "It's literal. Cultivators, right? They start accumulating their foundation from the True Self Realm. By the time they reach the Nirvana Realm, they've already invested a part of themselves into the Spirit Realm. So, after their physical body dies in the Mortal World, they can restore it by borrowing parts from the Spirit Realm.

You've all reached the Peak Realm, so you should be aware that this restoration consumes your foundation.

Not only that, but the normal lifespan of a cultivator is only a thousand years; that's the limit of the physical body. Each additional day you live in the Peak Realm actually consumes that foundation.

Of course, this consumption isn't that significant. Generally speaking, a cultivator in the Peak Realm can live for around eighteen hundred or nineteen hundred years by consuming their foundation. If they can break through to the Longevity Realm during this time, they can continue to extend their life."

At this point, True Monarch Yimiao seemed to recall something and, instead of citing others, continued using Chen Clan's ancestor Chen Changfeng as an example: "And your ancestor, Chen Changfeng, that little drunkard, he was unlucky. He somehow picked up a Five Elements Qi Collection Method and practiced it on his own. He was quite talented, and it even brought him some achievements in cultivation.

As a result, he caught someone's attention.

From the True Self Realm, he cultivated to the Longevity Realm in less than five hundred years. This was partly due to his talent, but more so because he was a piece of food that someone took a fancy to.

After proving his Tao and achieving Longevity, having used someone else's method, naturally, he had to pay it back.

If I'm not mistaken, he lived to be 2,880 years old, right?"

"Yes, the family indeed notes that he passed at 2,880 years old." Chen Daoyan replied with a stiff expression, only to be hit with another phrase that left him in despair.

True Monarch Yimiao nodded with a hint of pity: "Then he really had it tough, being gnawed on for 2,300 years before he finally perished. In those last moments, he was probably just an empty shell."

Chen Daoyan fell silent.

He began to recall some hidden records within the clan as well as things his ancestor Ancestor Tianyuan had once told him.

'My father, your ancestor, became irritable and depressive in his later years. Although the Three Great Sacred Lands passed down secret techniques to suppress the Golden Nature, in my eyes, he would have been better off dead..... During those last days, his mental state was almost mad.

While he mostly appeared normal and occasionally helped us with cultivation issues, on those rare occasions of madness, he frightened us terribly.

He destroyed the clan's cultivation techniques several times, claiming there was something wrong with them, forbidding us from continuing our practice, and even personally abolished the cultivation of my eldest brother, who had already reached the Peak Fifth Layer..... But there are only so many cultivation techniques under the heavens—if we don't cultivate the Five Elements Qi Collection Method, what else can we practice?'

Chen Daoyan remembered the incident vividly because he remembered Ancestor Tianyuan's expression at the time—the first time he had ever seen such a mix of pain, fear, and conflict on his ancestor's face.

Now, after hearing True Monarch Yimiao's words, Chen Daoyan finally understood the meaning behind Ancestor Tianyuan's words back then.

Indeed, there are only so many cultivation techniques that can lead to the Longevity Realm. If they don't practice the Five Elements Qi Absorption Method, what else can the Chen Family do?

If they practiced a different technique, what would be different about the outcome?

"Senior....." Thinking of this, Chen Daoyan felt parched, with countless words in his heart wanting to spill forth, but ultimately only managed to utter those two words.

"Hahaha, look, look! I knew he'd have that expression; it's hilarious!"

Seeing the deathly lost face of Chen Daoyan, as if he had lost his whole family, True Monarch Yimiao pointed and laughed heartily, even asking Chen Zhixing to look, not understanding why it was so funny.

Um, alright.

Chen Zhixing also found it quite amusing. In some way, True Monarch Yimiao wasn't wrong; he and this Daluo Taoist Lord really were similar kinds of people.

Subsequently.

Seemingly satisfied with the smile on Chen Zhixing's face, True Monarch Yimiao looked with admiration, then turned back to Chen Daoyan and said:

"Cultivation, right? It's all about fighting for one's fate against the heavens. Sometimes, even if you know there's a pit ahead, you still have to jump. You think only your Chen Family guessed there's a catch here? Any Noble Family with a direct descendent who achieved Longevity True Monarch status roughly knows, but what can be done? The Tao still has to be cultivated. If you're going to be eaten, you'll be eaten. If one cannot cultivate to the Longevity Realm, these things simply have no meaning.

Once reaching the Longevity Realm, one has to rely on their own means to fight for their life. For you Longevity Families, it's somewhat better. With the first-generation ancestor having already filled part of the belly, along with other family cultivators to share the burden, as long as you don't die too many times when your cultivation is low and can barely pass the Peak of Peak threshold, even if swallowed by Golden Nature after reaching Longevity, at least some part might still fall into the Spirit Realm. Maybe there's a chance to make up for it.

But for those Loose Cultivators...."

At this point, True Monarch Yimiao glanced at Chen Zhixing's waist where the Cyan Pheasant hung: "Even if one enters the Spirit Realm immediately after realizing the Dao, the outcome might just be a shell left."

This statement from True Monarch Yimiao was notably pointed, referring to that one Cyan Pheasant Sword Immortal who, though having realized the Dao and achieved Longevity, only lived a thousand years before dying.

Yes, the Cyan Pheasant Sword Immortal had been a Loose Cultivator.

But, having sacrificed close to two thousand years of lifespan, bringing all their foundation to charge into the Spirit Realm, only to still end up as a mere shell—how tragic?

Seems like the appetite of things in the Spirit Realm is rather big.

Oh, something like that.

Recalling how during his time in the Nirvana Realm, he could repel the Golden Nature left by this very Sword Immortal, Chen Zhixing cheerfully accepted this answer.

But thinking of this, he became a bit curious.

"Senior, you've spoken about Loose Cultivators and Noble Families. For someone like you, from a Sacred Land, is it any different?"

"Different, of course, there is."

True Monarch Yimiao said matter-of-factly: "Unlike your Noble Families, Holy Land disciples start being nibbled upon from the Nirvana Realm. Of course, the ancestors hold back a bit because there are so many disciples, it spreads the consumption. It gives some a chance to turn things around.

Moreover, with the reputation of a Sacred Land in play, disciples rarely get hit to the point of blood rebirth, even in battles. If one can verify the Dao and reach Longevity, there's still at least some chance to enter the Spirit Realm. As for the strength of Golden Nature, and how long one can survive in the Spirit Realm, it depends on individual capability."

"..."

Because ancestors restrain themselves, can Sacred Lands' Longevity True Monarchs live longer?

After a long silence, Chen Daoyan suddenly asked:

"May I ask, senior, if Zhixing were to forge a new path, could he avoid being nibbled by others?"

"Yes," True Monarch Yimiao nodded with a smile: "Those who blaze a new path become the Master of One Tao, and being the Taoist Lord means they're at the top; naturally, there's no one above them."

"Then if my Chen Family were to switch to this path...."

"It's best not to."

True Monarch Yimiao continued smiling, but for some reason, at this moment, the smile appeared somewhat eerie to Chen Daoyan.

Next, True Monarch Yimiao's voice turned cold:

"But being the Master of One Tao inherently means being the one who feeds the tiger, responsible for distributing the food to others. If everyone in your Ziwei Chen Family were to cultivate the Tao of the Star Monarch, wouldn't that mean you're asking him, Chen Zhixing, to hand you over willingly to others?'

"""

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