Slay the Immortals, Attain the Dao - Chapter 1

I was born in a year of great famine. My eyes could see through solid matter, and with them I helped the villagers find an underground spring.

They thought I could divine the future and called me the Child of the Gods.

Word of that name spread until it reached the immortals of Mount Penglai. Venerable Xuanji descended the mountain that very night, carried me back to Penglai’s immortal caverns, and announced that he would take me as his disciple.

The old man even produced an immortal elixir.

“Eat it. It will replenish your spiritual energy and help you reach Foundation Establishment sooner. Once your foundation is established, you can cultivate immortality and become a god!”

“Thank you, Master.”

I clenched my teeth, forced down my fear, and pretended to swallow the pill.

The moment I returned to my room, I spat it out from beneath my tongue. Its sugary shell had already dissolved, revealing the golden-brown egg inside.

An unformed larva squirmed beneath a transparent membrane, struggling with all eight compound eyes squeezed shut.

All it needed was a vessel to feed it.

Then it would grow. Fast.

I drew the dagger I always carried and drove it through the creature’s thorax. Fluid sprayed everywhere. I threw its shriveled husk into the stove and burned it to ash.

The immortals of Mount Penglai possessed inhuman strength. I dared not provoke them.

And so began my life of “pretending I had taken the immortal elixir.”

Several months passed without me reaching Foundation Establishment. My senior brothers grew anxious.

“What’s going on? Back in our day, our meridians were cleansed in three or four days!”

“Exactly. Why is Junior Brother’s pulse still so muddled?”

I silently studied the slime-worms crawling through their dantians, then gathered my courage.

“What does a person’s pulse feel like after Foundation Establishment?”

My eldest senior brother, Wei Min, was the steady sort. He raised two fingers and explained, “The human meridian system is intricate and ever-changing. Its qi is chaotic, so spiritual power cannot circulate through a mortal body.

“But after the meridians are cleansed, a pulse reveals only two lines: the spirit meridian and the natural meridian. The spirit meridian proves that you are no longer mortal.”

He paused and turned his palm upward. A tongue of flame sprang to life above it.

“This fire was born from my spirit meridian.”

Wei Min beckoned me closer. “Here, Junior Brother. Feel it.”

I brushed the flame. Heat seared my fingertips.

“I can see it…” I murmured.

I could see that the lower end of his so-called spirit meridian connected directly to the slime-worm in his dantian. The creature must have possessed an innate command of fire. That was why Wei Min had awakened a fire spiritual root.

My second senior brother, Qi Mo, grinned. “Look! Mine’s water.”

Droplets gathered out of the air into his palm, then froze in an instant.