After the shock, Su Ming slowly exhaled a turbid breath.

He forcibly suppressed the turbulent emotions surging within him, burying that sense of inferiority stemming from the mortal world deep in his heart.

The past was already past.

From the moment he jumped off the cliff, Su Ming, the Hanlin Academy compiler, was already dead.

What lived now was Su Ming, who only sought a path to survival in this immortal world.

“Stop standing there foolishly, the External Affairs Hall won’t wait for anyone.”

Qingfeng’s voice interrupted his thoughts, carrying a hint of impatient urging.

“If you miss the appointed time and the elder responsible for reception goes into meditation, you’ll have to wait another three days.”

“Coming.”

Su Ming responded and followed in the footsteps of Qingfeng and Mingyue.

The three of them stepped onto the nearest Rainbow Bridge.

It wasn’t solid underfoot but formed by condensed, flowing, radiant rosy light. Yet stepping on it gave a steady feeling, as if treading on warm, smooth jade.

The Rainbow Bridge was like a living, flowing river of stars, carrying the three of them steadily flying across towards a distant peak shrouded in mist and clouds.

Standing on the bridge, watching the slowly flowing sea of clouds beneath his feet and the immortal cranes and spiritual birds faintly visible within the cloud layers, the last shred of mortal constraint in Su Ming’s heart also dissipated like smoke.

He turned his head to look at Qingfeng beside him, who had his small hands clasped behind his back and wore an arrogant expression, and humbly sought guidance.

“Immortal Master, this humble one has a matter he does not understand and hopes the Immortal Master can enlighten him.”

“Ask.” Qingfeng was concise, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being consulted.

“Does cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao have clear distinctions of realms?”

Lin Yu had mentioned this to him once before, but to conceal Lin Yu’s existence, Su Ming had no choice but to pretend he didn’t know.

“You don’t even know this?” Qingfeng glanced at him as if looking at a country bumpkin who knew nothing.

He cleared his throat and began explaining like a little adult: “Listen carefully. The first step in cultivating immortality is drawing energy into the body, which is Qi Refining.”

“After Qi Refining, opening the Dantian’s Purple Mansion, transforming spiritual energy into liquid, that is Foundation Establishment.”

“Above Foundation Establishment, the liquid condenses into a pill. ‘A single Golden Core swallowed into the belly, my fate is up to me, not up to Heaven.’ That is the Golden Core True Person.”

He counted on his little fingers, looking quite proper.

“As for the Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation realms after Golden Core, they are too far from you. Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand.”

Su Ming firmly memorized these realms in his heart and asked again: “Then… what exactly is the Spiritual Root the Immortal Master mentioned?”

“Spiritual Root?”

This time, Qingfeng’s expression became somewhat more serious.

“Spiritual Root is the bridge between us and Heaven and Earth, it’s the bowl you eat from.”

He gave a very vivid analogy.

“Without a bowl, even if dragon liver and phoenix marrow rain from the sky, you can’t eat a single bite. The better the Spiritual Root, the bigger the bowl, the more food it can hold, and naturally, the faster the cultivation speed.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Su Ming had a sudden realization, but his heart sank.

He didn’t know if he had a Spiritual Root, and if he did, what grade it was.

“Then…”

He was about to ask more, but Qingfeng, walking at the very front, stopped abruptly without any warning.

The Rainbow Bridge continued to flow slowly forward, the radiant, colorful light illuminating Qingfeng’s childish yet exceptionally serious face.

He turned around. Those eyes that should have been clear and innocent were now sharp as an eagle’s, staring fixedly at Su Ming.

The surrounding air seemed to solidify in that instant.

Even Mingyue beside them sensed the change in atmosphere, her smile fading as she looked somewhat uneasily at her senior brother.

“Su Ming, I ask you.”

Qingfeng’s voice was no longer the clear, crisp tone of a child but carried an interrogative and oppressive quality that was extremely incongruous with his age.

“Where did that meager trace of spiritual energy of yours come from?”

“You, who is your master?”

Each word was like a heavy hammer, pounding fiercely on Su Ming’s heart.

Su Ming’s heartbeat skipped a beat.

He knew the real test had arrived.

This question was far more deadly than the earlier inquiry at the Hall of Meritorious Deeds.

The Hall of Meritorious Deeds only cared if he was an evil cultivator, if he was harmful to the sect.

But what Qingfeng asked was his origins, his background, the most core secret of a cultivator.

If he didn’t answer this question well, all his previous efforts would vanish like bubbles.

Master Lin Yu’s warning echoed clearly in his mind—never reveal the secret of the ring, always have a flawless story ready.

Not a trace of panic appeared on Su Ming’s face.

Meeting Qingfeng’s sharp gaze, a flicker of bewilderment first crossed his face, then transformed into a touch of bitterness and embarrassment.

This change of expression was utterly natural.

“In reply to the Immortal Master.”

He bowed slightly towards Qingfeng, his posture extremely humble.

“This humble one has no master.”

“Oh?” Qingfeng raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing it.

An expression of slight embarrassment appeared on Su Ming’s face, as if he was revealing the scar he least wanted others to know about.

“To be frank, this meager trace of spiritual energy of mine was not obtained through proper cultivation.”

“It came from a damaged, ancient text I stumbled upon in my youth when I was frail, which contained an incomplete health-preserving cultivation method.”

He slowly recounted the story he had already prepared.

“That method only talked about how to breathe and regulate energy, to strengthen the body and improve health. This humble one is dull-witted. After practicing it haphazardly for a few years, I only felt somewhat healthier, with sharper hearing and vision, and within my body… this faint sense of qi appeared.”

“With no one to guide me, progress was extremely slow. Compared to a true immortal method like the one you possess, Immortal Master, it is truly… not worth mentioning.”

His words were half-truth, half-lie.

The “Greenwood Longevity Art” was indeed something he cultivated himself, and progress was indeed slow.

He had simply replaced the existence of Master Lin Yu with an “incomplete health-preserving cultivation method.”

This story explained the source of his spiritual energy while, due to its “meagerness” and “unorthodox nature,” seemed perfectly reasonable, greatly lowering others’ guard.

What threat could a wild fox Zen practitioner who hadn’t even touched the threshold of cultivation pose?

After listening, the seriousness and sharpness on Qingfeng’s face slowly faded.

Replacing it was an understanding expression of “just as I thought.”

His tense little face relaxed, and he even let out a disdainful snort.

“I knew it.”

He folded his arms and walked a circle around Su Ming as if inspecting a piece of goods.

“I guessed long ago you came from an unorthodox background.”

“Think about it. If you truly had a master, with a senior from a sect backing you, after suffering such severe injuries, wouldn’t you have cried for your daddy and mommy, running back to find your master for revenge? Would you have been reduced to fighting a Foundation Establishment cultivator to the death and jumping off a cliff?”

“You’d probably have called for reinforcements long ago, grinding that Zhao Qianshan to dust and scattering his ashes.”

This reasoning was clear and logical, perfectly reasonable.

Unintentionally, it provided the most powerful corroboration for Su Ming’s story.

The massive boulder hanging in Su Ming’s heart finally slowly lowered.

He knew he had passed this hurdle.

Following Qingfeng’s words, an even more bitter smile appeared on his face.

“The Immortal Master sees clearly. If I had a sect to rely on, how could this humble one have ended up in such a state?”

The crisis was temporarily resolved, but Su Ming did not completely relax.

He seized the opportunity and asked about another doubt in his heart.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep