Chapter 507 - 274: You Think I’m a Cultivator?

’Wasn’t the whole point of showing off all these tricks to get him on the hook?’

But Cheng Zongyang shook his head. He looked out at the sea, gave a slight wave of his hand, and the Dragon Bone Ship instantly shot forward at full speed, cutting through the waves as it headed west.

This simple display of power made Li Cungang’s eyes widen again, his breathing growing ragged.

’This is an Immortal’s power!!’

’It has to be!’

But at that moment, he heard Cheng Zongyang speak.

"The Innate Realm is strong, but it still belongs to the realm of mortals. Therefore, above Innate is the Extraordinary Realm."

When Li Cungang heard Cheng Zongyang say this, he immediately held his breath and listened with rapt attention, afraid of missing a single word.

’Extraordinary!’

’He had never heard of any of this!’

"Extraordinary is just a general term. The realms above it include major ones like Refining Essence and Transforming Qi. Of course, it’s useless to tell you about them. And the Cultivation Immortality Method is extremely rare. How could it be passed on lightly?"

’Extraordinary!’

’Refining Essence and Transforming Qi!’

A sharp glint flashed in Li Cungang’s eyes, and the qi and blood in his body surged with emotion.

He finally knew what kind of Realm lay beyond Innate!

But the last sentence was like a bucket of cold water on the fireworks that had just ignited in his heart. Li Cungang respectfully shifted from one knee to both, kneeling fully on the deck. He asked loudly, "The Cultivation Immortality Method is naturally priceless, but how can one receive it? I beg for your guidance, Immortal Master!"

However, Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "There is a Cultivation Immortality Realm in this world. You can go there, and you’ll naturally be free to choose whatever you wish to learn."

At this moment, Cheng Zongyang felt a bit like Bodhi Ancestor from Journey to the West, and this Li Cungang wasn’t much different from the monkey seeking the Dao.

This gave him a strange sense of perverse satisfaction.

But he knew that once he sealed off and unified Jade Peak County, turning it into an Immortal City Marketplace, he could monopolize the channel between the Martial Arts Realm and the Cultivation Immortality Realm. Then, he would have complete control over the only path to the Ice and Fire Cultivation Immortality Realm.

In the future, there would only be more and more people like Li Cungang!

"Where is it?" Li Cungang asked excitedly.

Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "If you are fated to, you will naturally be able to enter. If you are not, you won’t get in even if you go there."

As soon as the bullshit line left his mouth, Cheng Zongyang wanted to slap himself.

But it was indeed great for stringing people along.

Before Li Cungang could ask another question, Cheng Zongyang said, "I have things to attend to. You can do as you please, but don’t disturb me."

With that, Cheng Zongyang paid him no more mind and turned to enter the study on the Third Level.

At this, Li Cungang opened his mouth but didn’t dare say another word. He remained kneeling on the deck, filled with a mix of immense excitement and utter desolation.

He kept replaying Cheng Zongyang’s words in his mind, from beginning to end. Slowly, his dejected mood began to lift.

’The Immortal Master never said he *wouldn’t* pass on the method, which means there’s still a chance! I have to prove myself! Anyway, I’m only in the late stage. It could be several years, or even more than ten, before I break through. The worst-case scenario is I just stick by the Immortal Master’s side and serve him. Eventually, I’ll get an opportunity to receive the method!’

At this thought, he stopped caring about his grudge with the Tuoba Family.

’What grudge could possibly compare to the chance of a breakthrough from the only Cultivator I’ve ever met in my life?’

’If it were those old fossils from the Tuoba Family at the Great Perfection Realm, they’d be more than willing to serve him hand and foot too!’

’A grudge? Ptooey! To hell with it!’

But this ship was cleaner than his own clothes. It needed no rowing, no steering, no raising of sails—he didn’t even have to cook.

’So what was there left to do?’

For a moment, he even found himself wishing he were a woman, so he could offer himself to the Immortal Master.

But then he thought about his own appearance, coupled with his age of forty or fifty, telling the Immortal Master he wanted to offer himself... ’Putting myself in the other’s shoes, if a woman like that said the same to me... I’d probably slap her dead in one hit!’

’In that case, I wouldn’t be on the ship right now; I’d be in the sea.’

Shaking his head, he realized the only thing he could do now was sit on the deck and continue his Breath Regulation to recover his True Qi.

He made up his mind: he would just shamelessly stick with him!

Of course, the main reason was that the Immortal Master had seemed good-tempered and easy to talk to the entire time. If it had been him, and someone had tried to steal his ship, he would have slapped them to death long ago.

Time passed to the next day. Li Cungang, who was sitting cross-legged in Cultivation on the deck, suddenly sensed the ship come to a halt.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Cheng Zongyang, who had not emerged from his room until now, standing on the deck of the Third Level.

He followed Cheng Zongyang’s gaze, but on the vast, boundless sea, there was nothing but water. He had no idea what Cheng Zongyang was looking at.

"No island," Cheng Zongyang said, a little disappointed, after scanning the surroundings with a telescope.

’This means I’ll have to use a Magical Artifact as the base.’

Then, before Li Cungang’s confused, shocked, and horrified eyes, Cheng Zongyang materialized a giant lotus leaf out of thin air.

From his position on the deck, he watched Cheng Zongyang toss the lotus leaf onto the sea’s surface and then begin fiddling with something on top of it.

But the next moment, he was dumbfounded to find that both Cheng Zongyang and the giant lotus leaf had suddenly vanished.

"Wh-what kind of technique is this?" Li Cungang gulped.

This was completely outside his scope of knowledge; he had never seen anything like it.

The ship didn’t drift away; it remained waiting in the same spot. Li Cungang’s heart grew more and more curious, like a cat’s. But all around him was nothing but seawater. There was nothing else.

He couldn’t understand how the person and the object had disappeared.

After waiting like this for another two hours, he finally saw Cheng Zongyang abruptly emerge from the sea and leap onto the ship.

And the spot where he had appeared was still completely empty.

At that, he suddenly understood what Cheng Zongyang had meant yesterday when he said that if one was not fated, they couldn’t get in even if they arrived at the place.

’Does this mean the Cultivation Immortality Realm is hidden in the same way?’

"Immortal Master, is there anything I can help with?" Li Cungang quickly asked, cupping his hands.

Cheng Zongyang glanced at him and said with a smile, "No need, you wouldn’t understand this kind of thing anyway. However, if you want to help, you can let me know if we pass any exposed Reef Islands or solitary islets every seven to eight hours. For the rest of the time, do not disturb my Cultivation."

Hearing there was something he could do, Li Cungang became very excited and enthusiastic. "Rest assured, Immortal Master, I will keep a close watch for you. But, may I ask what time it is now?"

Cheng Zongyang glanced at his watch and told him the time. Li Cungang looked at the color of the sky and mentally noted the time he needed to give his reminders.

And so, as the ship continued its voyage at full speed, silence fell over it once more.

Cheng Zongyang went into his room. His consciousness had already entered the marketplace cabin to continue his training with Qi Gathering Pills.

Out at sea, the Qi Gathering Pills had very little effect. They only worked properly in the Ice and Fire Cultivation Immortality Realm and the Wilderness World.

He understood that this was because there was almost no Spiritual Qi to be utilized in the Martial Arts Realm. The source of the Spiritual Qi that the Dragon Bone Ship absorbed came from the sea.

The scarcity of Spiritual Qi in the Martial Arts Realm was precisely why the original Cultivation Immortality Realm had moved underground.

Over the following days, Li Cungang would periodically remind Cheng Zongyang, who would then set up an Array based on the situation within a radius of dozens of li over the sea.

The Lotus Leaf Magical Artifact was sustained much like the Dragon Bone Ship, by drawing Spiritual Qi from the sea to operate. The Teleportation Array, however, could only use Spiritual Qi.

In the blink of an eye, October arrived.

The Dragon Bone Ship stopped at a deserted stretch of coast in Xiangyang Prefecture. A figure leaped from the ship, landed on the shore, and then looked back at the vessel.

Li Cungang watched nervously, afraid that Cheng Zongyang would take control of the ship and leave.

But the next moment, he saw Cheng Zongyang land on the surface of the sea and, with a wave of his hand, make the entire Dragon Bone Ship disappear.

This scene, once again, made Li Cungang’s heart pound with excitement!

Although he had spent the last two months watching Cheng Zongyang repeatedly stop the ship to do his work—sometimes making the lotus leaf vanish, other times making small Reef Islands disappear—and although he had seen so much that he was almost used to it, seeing an entire ship vanish like that still filled him with an intense longing for this Immortal Power.

Cheng Zongyang leaped from the sea’s surface and landed on the sandy beach.

He circulated his True Qi, and his shoes and pants were instantly steamed dry.

The return journey had taken so long because he was setting up the Array.

But at least they had arrived. The next location he needed to set up was in Jade Peak County.

From here to Jade Peak County was only about 1,200 kilometers, well within the range of the Teleportation Array.