The first thing Lu Qing took out was the "Notes of a Carefree Hermit".
Lu Qing gained a great deal from his trip around the city.
The biggest gains were this collection of essays and the Qiankun Yiqi Bag.
Based on the information gleaned by his supernatural abilities, the notes recorded some events related to the era of cultivation.
Lu Qing was still very curious about that mysterious era.
So he plans to figure out the book first.
After examining the book, Lu Qing discovered that its material was also unusual; the paper was exceptionally tough and looked like it could be preserved for a very long time without deteriorating.
【Should we download and study the materials?】
Looking at the prompt in his field of vision, Lu Qing selected "yes".
【Downloading, current progress 1%, 2%, 3%... 97%, 98%, 99%, 100%】
【Download complete. Would you like to begin learning?】
Lu Qing chose to continue studying.
The next moment, familiar information surged from the depths of his mind, and he gently closed his eyes.
After a while, once he had processed the information in his mind, he opened his eyes, a hint of emotion in them.
"This carefree hermit is truly a tragic figure."
After receiving the information from the notes, Lu Qing finally learned about some of the deeds of this carefree hermit.
The carefree hermit was actually a cultivator from over a thousand years ago.
More precisely, he was a pitiful person pursuing the path of immortality.
Xiaoyao Sanren was originally a scholar. In his youth, he accidentally obtained a cultivation technique in a strange mountain cave.
Coincidentally, his aptitude was also exceptional, making him a perfect fit for that lineage.
Thus, with the inheritance he obtained from the strange cave and some resources, he actually became self-taught without any guidance, broke through the bottleneck, entered the Qi Refining Realm, and became a true cultivator.
Later, relying on the resources in the cave, he broke through all the barriers and reached the peak of Qi Refining in just over ten years.
According to what Xiaoyao Sanren said in his essays, someone with his level of progress would be considered a true genius even in the brilliant era of cultivation, the kind of genius that would be sought after by all the major cultivation sects.
Unfortunately, he was born in the wrong era, an era lacking spiritual energy, where the path of cultivation had died out and martial arts were prevalent.
Therefore, even if one has exceptional talent for cultivating immortality, there is no immortal sect to rely on.
This led the carefree wanderer to lament in his essays more than once that he was born at the wrong time.
What made him even more desperate was that, due to the lack of spiritual energy, his cultivation level stagnated after reaching the Qi Refining Perfection stage, and he made no further progress.
No matter how hard he cultivated, he could not make any breakthroughs and reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, where one's body is flawless and pure after reaching the Qi Refining Perfection stage.
In his quest for a breakthrough, the carefree wanderer began to travel the world.
They explored various famous mountains and rivers, and strange places, hoping to find a breakthrough opportunity.
Having reached the pinnacle of Qi Refining, his cultivation level was comparable to that of a martial artist at the pinnacle of the Innate Realm, and even stronger due to the mystical nature of the path of immortality.
Therefore, traveling the world was not difficult for him.
However, it took the carefree hermit decades to search for the former immortal cultivation sects, as recorded in the inheritance he had obtained.
But they discovered that those once blessed lands and immortal abodes had long since vanished without a trace.
Occasionally, only ruins and desolation remain.
Only then did the carefree hermit truly realize that the era of cultivating immortality had indeed passed.
However, he did not come away empty-handed.
During his visit to the site of a sect called Tiandao Sect, which was documented in the historical records, he saw a jade disc.
The jade disc contained a secret story.
The general idea is that the decline of spiritual energy is the result of the self-regulation of the natural order, much like the ebb and flow of human breathing.
The rise and fall of spiritual energy takes about 60,000 years to complete.
Thirty thousand years of decline and depletion, thirty thousand years of recovery and prosperity, the cycle repeats endlessly.
Upon seeing this secret, Xiaoyao Sanren's heart sank.
According to the records on the jade disc, he calculated that he was in the final stage of spiritual energy decline at that time, and it would be at least a thousand years before the next revival of spiritual energy.
Knowing this, Xiaoyao Sanren began to despair.
Having reached the pinnacle of Qi Refining, he was equivalent to a martial artist at the peak of the Innate Realm, but his lifespan was only three hundred years.
Even if the path to immortality is wondrous and he possesses secret techniques, he can only prolong his life for a maximum of five hundred years.
It's impossible to wait for the spiritual energy to truly revive.
In other words, no matter how outstanding his talent for cultivating immortality was, he could not wait until the day when spiritual energy revived to shine with his own brilliance.
At the end of the essay, Lu Qing saw that even after learning the secrets on the jade disc, the carefree hermit had not completely given up.
Throughout his life, he struggled against the laws of nature, attempting to reach a higher realm through his talent and hard work.
In °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the centuries that followed, he made many attempts, searching for various secret places, absorbing residual spiritual energy, practicing martial arts, and even studying the sensational path of insect witchcraft.
But all attempts ultimately ended in failure.
Until his death, he was unable to break through to the Qi Refining Perfection stage and enter the higher Foundation Establishment stage.
After reading the account of the carefree life of the recluse in the essay, Lu Qing remained silent for a long time.
This was the second time he had been deeply moved by someone's life story.
The first one is Li Weitian, and the second one is this carefree hermit.
However, compared to Li Weitian, Xiaoyao Sanren's life seems more tragic.
Li Weitian's fate can be said to be partly due to his own fault.
If he hadn't wasted so much of his early life competing with others, he wouldn't have been forced to break through his limitations and ultimately pass away peacefully.
But the carefree hermit was different; he spent his entire life pursuing the path to immortality, cultivating diligently and never slacking off.
But fate played a cruel joke on him, making him born in the wrong era.
Despite possessing exceptional talent for cultivating immortality, he was trapped at the Qi Refining Perfection realm for his entire life due to a lack of spiritual energy, and eventually died of old age.
"A tragic genius abandoned by the era of cultivation."
Lu Qing felt deeply moved and saddened by the fate of the carefree hermit.
In an era of scarce spiritual energy, one could cultivate to the point of perfect Qi Refining without guidance.
If Xiaoyao Sanren had been born in that golden age of cultivation, it's hard to imagine how far he could have gone.
Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in this world.
Born in the wrong era, the tragedy of the carefree hermit was destined.
After reflecting on the life of the carefree hermit for a while, Lu Qing turned his attention to another matter.
According to what Xiaoyao Sanren recorded in his notes, his era was at least a thousand years away from the time when the spiritual energy was expected to recover, as predicted by the Heavenly Dao Sect.
Nearly a thousand years have passed since the passing of the carefree hermit.
According to this calculation, wouldn't the period of spiritual energy revival be in his current era?
But he didn't notice any major changes in the world.
wrong!
Lu Qing suddenly remembered something, and his heart jolted.
