In my twilight years of cultivating, I became a Supreme Daoist of the Longevity Path

He hid in a concealed spot and observed the battle between the two cultivators for a while.

Chen Dengming's expression gradually turned peculiar.

From his standpoint as a martial arts grandmaster who had fought in the jianghu for decades, the duel between the two cultivators seemed more like a turn-based game where they held their ground and relied on their talismans and magic artifacts.

Although they frequently dodged and moved swiftly, they didn't incorporate many sophisticated fighting techniques. It was simply a long-distance bombardment where they saw whose shield broke first, or who got hit first.

"Perhaps they are hiding their true abilities... Moreover, the distance involved in this Daoism and use of magic artifacts is dangerous. Even my Diamond Vajra Zen Dharma wouldn't be able to endure it. The usual Gu poison would be ineffective at such a distance. Using the Blood Centipede Gu might be a bit risky..."

Chen Dengming contemplated, thinking if he could compete with them at a mid-long distance by deploying his Qingqiu Mad Dragon technique and unleashing a thirteen feet long broadsword qi. This way, he wouldn't be unduly endangered.

But he could only use the Qingqiu Mad Dragon martial arts ultimate move three or four times at most, and whether he could break open the seemingly powerful spiritual shield was yet an unknown.

If he fails to break the spiritual shield in three or four attempts, the danger would be on him.

Of course, this situation is considering the absence of the Blood Centipede Gu.

Upon such contemplation, he realized that the cultivation world was indeed too dangerous. Running into any low-level cultivators could be a deadly threat to him. In the Nanxun Kingdom, very few could threaten his life.

"Escape!"

Noticing that the battle was nearly over, Chen Dengming quickly displayed his Qinggong movement technique and left the place.

...

The rest of the journey was calm, and Chen Dengming quickly neared the bustling loose cultivator area.

But he didn't directly enter.

Instead, he cautiously hovered around the uninhabited mountain forests, observing the situation in the loose cultivator area and the people coming and going.

As an experienced jianghu veteran, Chen Dengming wouldn't be as rash as greenhorns, entering an unfamiliar territory without caution. Maintaining a safe distance to observe, at the very least, was indispensable.

Unfortunately, now that he has arrived in the cultivation world, unlike when he was in the mundane jianghu, he didn't have his subordinates to command. He had to start from scratch, so he needed to be more careful, moving step by step cautiously.

A day quickly passed by.

Chen Dengming had purposely taken off his fancy robe and packed it away. He then slightly ruffled up his well-combed hair, making himself look a bit less sophisticated, more weather-beaten.

By now, he had gathered a basic understanding of the conditions within the loose cultivator area.

This so-called loose cultivator turf didn't even have a doorplate or fence. It was completely like a random amalgamation of thousands of different kinds of houses.

Some houses were made of wood, while others were stone or mud huts. There were also some ostentatious lofts and pavilions. The roads crisscrossed with varying widths, appearing utterly unplanned.

Frankly speaking, this cultivation environment left him dumbfounded.

He even glimpsed some houses surrounded by vegetable gardens from afar.

However, the vegetables seemed a bit unusual, verdantly lush, looking nutrition-rich like spirit grass.

Some cultivators with strong qi, whose clothes were less luxurious than his, were working the land with hoes while directing ordinary people to fertilize, which was unexpected.

Seeing this scene, he immediately took off his luxurious clothes to avoid trouble over this minor matter of clothing.

Of course, there were a few houses within the loose cultivator area that seemed exceptionally clean, and they stood out from the surroundings. The strength of the emanating qi from within those houses gave Chen Dengming a similar feeling to that of the yellow-robed cultivator he encountered on the road.

Anyway, this place was utterly different from the cultivation land he had imagined.

If you disregard the strong qi cultivators and the few battles that broke out throughout the day, this place seemed more like a mundane marketplace.

"What kind of cultivation is this? The lofty immortal aura from Fairy Luo and others seems non-existent here..."

Chen Dengming sat on a hillside in a forest, frowning as he stroked his chin. Then he suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.

Fairy Luo's disdain for the loose cultivator area was evident from her tone, saying they were subpar.

Comparing that to the scene he was observing, it seemed like the loose cultivators were more closely aligned with ordinary folks. There was less of the immortal aura and more of the human and grounded air about them.

However, seeing that it was getting dark, Chen Dengming could hardly afford to keep observing from outside the settlement. He decided to enter and settle down for the night.

Anyone with a bit of common sense knows that staying out in the wilderness is unsafe. Fairy Luo also mentioned that there were demonic beasts in this world.

...

As half the day passed, the sky turned dark.

The night sky was like blue silk adorned with stars.

The chaotic loose cultivator area was bustling at night. The night market was packed with people coming and going.

In some dimly lit and ambiguous low-rise houses, rhythmic sounds even rang out.

Among them, several brothels that were decorated quite luxuriously stood in stark contrast to the surrounding low and dark wooden houses. They were all brightly lit. They also sent some highly appealing women that had dressed up flamboyantly to solicit customers at the doorways, wriggling seductively and bewitching with a single glance.

A gaze of indifference cast down from the opposite high-rise building, looking down condescendingly at the women below who had been manipulated into tools for play and money-making. It then swept at the cultivators of the lower class, who were queuing not far away to receive temporary accommodation rights for their sheds, and a trace of disdain flashed through the gaze.

At this moment, Chen Dengming was in the queue, dressed in tattered clothes with disheveled hair, carrying a broken blade on his back, falling in line with the crowd, preparing to pick up a job, to at least solve the problems of housing and food.

Upon arriving in the Cultivation World, starting from scratch, all the resources for food, clothing, housing, and transportation in this chaotic and rundown gathering of Loose Cultivators were clearly priced.

If he wanted a place to settle and something to eat, he had to figure out a way to work for it.

"These women, probably have resorted to this for survival..."

He subtly glanced at the bustling women under Zanhua Building not far away, and shook his head secretly in his heart.

Judging from the aura of these women, they should all be at the Innate level, which would make them big shots in the mundane world, but here...

But now he had come to understand that the Innates of this world had strength but were not skilled in martial arts.

Most Innates were born with all eight channels open, and in an environment filled with Spiritual Energy, they naturally reached the Innate Eightfold.

Because they were real Innates and not those who worked hard to cultivate into Innates, as long as they had Spiritual Roots, they would be born with spirituality and could directly cultivate some Daoism. When enough Spiritual Energy was amassed, they could then break through to become Cultivators.

This starting point was undoubtedly much stronger than Chen Dengming, a country bumpkin from Nanxun Kingdom.

Chen Dengming had to cultivate to the Innate Eightfold first, then slowly polish and purify the Innate inner strength in his body, transforming it into Spiritual Energy before he could break through to become a Cultivator.

The only obstacle for the local Innates to become Cultivators was the Spiritual Root.

This also meant that these local Cultivators rarely researched martial arts.

Although they had learned the laws of immortality, the stationary output and the erratic crouch walk they demonstrated in combat were quite an eyesore, indirectly proving the inadequacy of their combat experience.

However, it was hard to imagine that such businesses existed in the Cultivation World, looking quite like the Platinum Galaxy and Heaven and Earth scenarios.

This reminded him of some internet novels he had read in his previous existence, which depicted the environment after ascending to Immortality as very bleak, and even the whole world was a twisted evil world, with ascension being a conspiracy.

What he had seen and heard since coming to the Cultivation World was not as ridiculous as in the novels, but it was indeed quite different from what he had imagined.

However, he was now gradually getting used to it, and even adapting quickly.

It felt as if he had initially traversed the world of rivers and lakes in Nanxun Kingdom.

At that time, he also started from the bottom of the rivers and lakes, fighting his way through the ranks

Now that he had come to the Cultivation World, it felt like he was going through the dog-eat-dog lifestyle all over again.

Who said that cultivators had to be high and mighty, that they must all be kind-hearted, reeking of Immortal Qi everywhere, and even their farts smelled good?

The reality proves that cultivators are still human beings, at least not true immortals yet.

Just like the heroes of the rivers and lakes, they also have passions and desires. Even at the Qi Cultivation Stage, they cannot abstain from food and drink, they also need to eat, drink, excrete like every other being, and their urine stinks just the same.

...

"It's your turn... Not a familiar face, just arrived here? What were you doing before?"

Soon, it was Chen Dengming's turn in the queue.

A cultivator at the first level of Qi Cultivation held a pen in his hand, inspected Chen Dengming and asked indifferently.

Chen Dengming responded politely with a fist salutation and a smile, "Immortal Master, I am new here. I used to be a fishmonger, and I wish to pick up a job to get by."

The cultivator frowned upon hearing Chen Dengming's odd dialect, quickly made a mark on the paper, and snorted.

"Since you used to sell fish, then go catch fish. There are Spiritual Fish in the Spirit Moon Lake ten miles away from the gathering place, which is my Gold Word Workshop's territory. Catch one and hand over more than half, catch two and turn over a half. Go!"

The cultivator casually threw out a card with a slight fluctuation of Spiritual Energy.

Chen Dengming immediately caught it, was slightly stunned, but indeed, they really arranged for him to go fishing. And to fish one and hand over more than half, leaving the fish head for him? This commission was too rough. However, he thanked them with a smile on his face.

Turning around to leave, he glanced at some ordinary people picking food from the garbage dumps left by Cultivators in street corners to fill their stomachs, and couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Others are riding horses, while I alone am on a donkey. Looking back at the firewood carrier, I feel a little relieved..."

Compared to the many ordinary people who weren't even Innate, at least he still had a way to survive.

And he was also carrying Elixir Pills, Cultivation Techniques, and the rare art of Gu Dao, having Spiritual Roots which allowed him to cultivate. His cheat panel was a defiance of the heavens, his cultivation lengthened his life, each of his lifetimes was better than the last, unlimited longevity was in sight, with immortality and The Great Dao to look forward to...