Mount Caixia, Sunset Peak.
This was the main peak of the mountain range and a vital strategic location of the Qixuan Sect, where both the main hall and Qijue Hall were situated.
Outside the entrance of Qijue Hall, a large black banner with silver characters and red borders fluttered in the wind, and the dazzling character "Xuan" carried an extraordinary aura.
Li Feiyu, having just retrieved the antidote and two bottles of divine medicine, happened to run into Xu Dong.
"Feiyu, what are you doing? Let's go!"
"Oh! Master!"
Xu Dong was Li Feiyu's master; his internal cultivation and martial arts had all been taught by Xu Dong.
Li Feiyu was formidable—stronger than the disciples of most sect leaders, elders, and hall masters.
With his own desperate drive, coupled with the effects of the Marrow-Extracting Pill, there was actually someone else who occasionally gave him secret guidance as well.
The person he was going to see with Xu Dong was none other than that individual.
That person had given Li Feiyu his name, brought him into the Qixuan Sect, and also provided him with the Marrow-Extracting Pill.
Qixuan Sect Elder, Zhang Wentian.
Li Feiyu did not hate Zhang Wentian in the slightest; he believed that Elder Zhang had given him a chance to fight for his life.
If not for the Marrow-Extracting Pill, how could Li Feiyu ever compare to those wealthy scions who never lacked resources since childhood?
If that were the case, he would only be forever trampled underfoot by people he looked down upon!
As for his lifespan, Li Feiyu had made his choice long ago, and he had no regrets about the past.
Compared to living a mediocre and ordinary life for a lifetime, he would rather be a hero for ten years!
The Li Feiyu in the game was the same, having overdrawn his life for the sake of dreams and wealth.
However, he had no regrets!
Xu Dong never participated in the conversations between Li Feiyu and Zhang Wentian; he had always been a loyal subordinate.
"Li Feiyu... Wind and Thunder Blade Technique... reached perfection... Good, good..."
Zhang Wentian before them looked as though he had only one breath left, speaking in intermittent gasps, unable even to sit up.
"My giving you... that pill... may have harmed you.
Yet... I have no regrets... and even less remorse."
As usual, Li Feiyu skillfully pulled a Marrow-Extracting Pill from his person.
Then, taking the painkiller from Han Li, he helped Zhang Wentian swallow it.
Han Li did not know of Zhang Wentian's existence, and this was also Li Feiyu's secret.
This was a withered, emaciated old man whose skin was practically clinging to his bones, with hair and a beard as white as snow.
For the duration of a meal, the old man endured the excruciating torture of the marrow-extracting agony.
Even though his bones felt as though they were about to fall apart, and a single cough could fracture a rib, Zhang Wentian did not utter a single sound.
The Marrow-Extracting Pill, once taken, could never be stopped; stopping meant death.
After the intense pain subsided, Zhang Wentian spoke a bit more fluidly and produced a volume titled *Xuanwu Summary*.
Li Feiyu flipped through it; it contained illustrations, text, and annotations.
"Cough, cough... cough!"
Just as he wanted to speak, Zhang Wentian nearly choked to death on his own phlegm.
"Elder Zhang, given your current state, do you regret it?"
Zhang Wentian struggled to sit up, a vibrant, high-spirited smile breaking across his bloodless face.
"With my aptitude and background, even if I practiced bitterly for a lifetime, at best I would only have been a martial arts expert.
As for becoming a Martial Arts Grandmaster or a Realm-Crossing Grandmaster, that was something I never even dared to imagine.
Yet now I am... among the strongest of the Martial Arts Grandmasters! An elder of a faction four thousand strong!"
Before he could finish, another fit of violent coughing wracked his body.
Li Feiyu never interrupted him, even though over the past two years, Elder Zhang had repeated these same words over and over again.
"I came from a background of poverty as an orphan, eating food from a hundred families, with utterly wretched constitution and bones.
Since childhood, I suffered every form of contempt and scorn, so I vowed never to be trampled underfoot... just like you!
I was over forty when I learned of the Marrow-Extracting Pill, and back then I didn't hesitate for even a moment.
I could never return home, and by fifty-three, I already looked like a centenarian.
Yet, my wife and children were all proud of me!
Because of me, my sons and daughters were able to make good marriages!
The dilapidated shack where the wind couldn't even be kept out during my childhood has now been replaced by several large, fine courtyards!
Those neighbors who sneered and mocked me back then now look as though they want to kneel when they see me!
Among the four thousand members of the Qixuan Sect, whoever sees me must respectfully greet me as Elder Zhang.
In this lifetime, relying on the Marrow-Extracting Pill... I have lived like a true human being!"
A brilliant light flashed in Zhang Wentian's eyes as he spoke once more of the book.
"This is the culmination of my lifelong martial arts insights and the painstaking effort of my entire life.
It is not a martial art in itself, but it can grant you a deeper understanding of martial arts.
Once you truly comprehend it, you can push martial arts to their maximum lethality, right up to the point of cleaving through the air with a razor-sharp edge—reaching the might of a Realm-Crossing Grandmaster.
However, in my final year, my heart truly lacked the strength, and I could no longer practice it.
Now I hand it over to you, to fulfill... my lifelong aspiration of becoming a Realm-Crossing Grandmaster..."
An expert who had perfected a high-level internal cultivation technique had already learned a great deal of martial arts and was hailed as a Martial Arts Grandmaster.
Meanwhile, those who perfected a peerless internal cultivation technique or a peerless martial art were Realm-Crossing Grandmasters, who were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Li Feiyu tucked the *Xuanwu Summary* securely against his chest, wanting to bring up the matter of the medicine.
"Elder Zhang, the medicine I mentioned last time..."
Seeing that Zhang Wentian did not directly interrupt him as he had the previous few times, Li Feiyu continued.
"After taking the medicine, you will no longer need to consume the Marrow-Extracting Pill, though your cultivation will dissipate, you should be able to live a few more months.
Otherwise, I fear your limit is truly at hand."
If Zhang Wentian decided to use Han Li's medicine, he would simply have Xiao Li concoct another batch.
In any case, when Xiao Li provided the medicine this morning, he had been exceptionally cooperative.
"Cough, cough, wheel me out!"
Li Feiyu and Xu Dong together wheeled Zhang Wentian out to the platform on the mountain summit where he often watched the sunset.
"With my cultivation dissipated, I am nothing more than a useless person.
I would rather die early... than live as a useless person."
With these words, Zhang Wentian gave Li Feiyu his final answer: he would rather die than detoxify and lose his cultivation.
This old man, whose temperament was as extreme as Li Feiyu's, spoke his final words on the brink of death.
"Li Feiyu, in this world, it is not that the Dao of longevity and eternal vision does not exist; there must surely be those who can roam freely alongside heaven and earth.
With minds and methods such as yours and mine...
It is the heavens that owe us... a chance!"
Zhang Wentian, the man who had both made and destroyed Li Feiyu, departed this world with his final stubbornness and pride.
[He made you, yet he utterly destroyed you as well.
There is neither hatred nor gratitude between you; he only wished for you to become stronger.
Gained 100 Fortune points (total 339 points), acquired new fortune: Surpassing the Master (gaining +1 daily).]
The original Li Feiyu was the posthumous child of the owner of a medicine shop in Panlong Town under the Qixuan Sect; his father, Li Deyi, had gone out one day and never returned.
His mother died shortly after giving birth to Li Feiyu, leaving him an orphan since childhood.
Even the name Li Feiyu had been given to him by Zhang Wentian when they first met.
In this world, the karmic ties he shared most deeply were with Han Li and Zhang Wentian.
Zhang Wentian's mention of longevity and eternal vision on his deathbed indicated that he knew something about immortal cultivation.
Yue Kingdom had seven great immortal cultivation sects, and over a hundred years ago, the Qixuan Sect had been a hegemon in Jingzhou, extending its influence across neighboring prefectures.
With such a powerful sect, the leadership of that era must have intentionally or accidentally come into contact with matters of immortal cultivation.
The Qixuan Sect had since fallen on hard times, reduced to a local tyrant on the fringes of Jingzhou.
Yet it was entirely possible that these sect masters and elders had accidentally learned of immortal cultivation.
Moreover, at his peak, Zhang Wentian was stronger than Sect Master Wang Juechu.
Li Feiyu and Xu Dong collected Elder Zhang's remains, waiting for his family members to come and take him away.
"Master, on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, what kind of good things are actually in there?"
Now that Elder Zhang was dead, Xu Dong did not appear particularly sorrowful.
"For over a hundred years, the Qixuan Sect has confiscated books belonging to various faction leaders and bandit chiefs.
If they were martial arts manuals, the elders would appraise them and place them on the first floor for disciples to consult.
Those that remain on the second floor are books that people couldn't quite make out, yet the original owners attached great importance to them at the time.
Our predecessors feared that secret manuals or treasure maps might be hidden within them, so no one dared to discard them casually.
Anyone in the sect of middle rank and above is allowed to view them, but they cannot be taken out..."
Li Feiyu's heart stirred greatly; he had to find a way to take a look!