Ding Yan was once a cultivator undergoing tribulation. During the opening of an ancient relic, he was struck and killed by an artifact.
After his death, Ding Yan's soul did not enter the cycle of reincarnation but instead inexplicably traversed to this world. Unfortunately, after the traversal, Ding Yan did not reincarnate but remained in a state of soul, barely clinging to life in this world.
The unfamiliar world was full of danger, and Ding Yan nearly perished several times. After more than half a year of wandering, Ding Yan's soul suffered severe damage. At a critical moment, he accidentally discovered this ancient well, naturally condensed with the power of Yin Spirits, which allowed him to avoid the fate of perishing.
Injured, Ding Yan recuperated by using the ancient well, which went on for ten years.
It wasn't until today that he was able to resurrect using another body and defy the natural order.
Ding Yan slowly stood up, stretched his neck, moved his limbs, and began to adapt to this newly acquired body. He was truly grateful to the original owner of this body. In the lonely ten years, this person was the only one who often came here to chat with him and alleviate his boredom, making them his only friend in this world.
As Ding Yan gradually adapted to the new body, he sat down and began to use the technique of seizing and reincarnation from his memories of his previous life.
For a time, countless fragments of memories appeared in Ding Yan's mind.
It was unclear how long it had passed, but Ding Yan had finally 'seen' all the memories of the body's original owner.
Translating the given text, it reads:
"Wandering immortal? Shedding the mortal tribulation?
Strange terms appeared in Ding Yan's memory. After some time had passed, a hint of fish-belly white appeared on the horizon, and only then did Ding Yan slowly open his eyes and look towards the distant sky, slowly getting up.
"My spiritual body of over ten years; I was almost forgetting the feeling of having a physical body." Ding Yan patted the accumulated snow on his body and walked slowly towards the outskirts of the village.
"However, within this body, there still remains a hint of obsession. Now, I will continue to be influenced by these obsessions, unable to distinguish myself. Only after completing those three things, will the obsession lingering in this body disappear, and only then will it be considered a true rebirth..."
At this moment, the wind grew stronger, and snowflakes filled the sky!
In a different world, lonely and accompanied only by the wind and snow.
The cold wind howled, lifting the accumulated snow on the ground, forming a white canopy that concealed Ding Yan's departing footsteps...
...
The world of wandering immortals is a cultivation world based on the concept of the wandering immortal body, and no one knows how vast this world is. All that is known is that this world has existed since the birth of humanity.
The cultivators in this world are different from those in Ding Yan's original world. In this world, any cultivator, upon breaking through to the realm of Qi Refinement Grand Completion, will trigger the Heavenly Tribulation. This Heavenly Tribulation is known as the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal, which, as the name implies, means shedding the mortal body.
After successfully passing the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal, cultivators transform into the body of a wandering immortal, and then pursue the great Dao through one wandering immortal tribulation after another.
Recalling the scattered memories in his mind, Ding Yan once again returned to the sect of the body's former owner.
It's not that Ding Yan couldn't cultivate techniques. As a cultivator who had crossed tribulations in his previous life, he had extraordinary talent in terms of experience and cultivation level, which was difficult for ordinary people to match. If not for the calamitous ten years of drifting, Ding Yan was confident that within a hundred years, he would be able to restore his cultivation level to that of his previous life.
Of course, all this assumes that there are no heavenly tribulations in this world.
In his ten years of drifting, Ding Yan had gained some understanding of this world. Compared to the world he originally lived in, the biggest difference was the Heavenly Tribulation!
Endless Heavenly Tribulations.
Any cultivator, upon advancing in their cultivation, would attract the attacks of Heavenly Tribulations.
Therefore, to avoid being struck dead by the Heavenly Tribulation, Ding Yan's top priority was to understand the cultivation techniques in this world, especially in the realm of passing tribulations. After all, the former owner of the physical body had a very low cultivation level, and his knowledge of passing tribulations was almost nonexistent.
Passing through the layers of mist, Ding Yan soon arrived at the mountain gate.
"The formation here is quite peculiar." Ding Yan turned back and then walked towards the gate inside.
The Lotus Flower Valley was where the former owner of the body had lived before. Although it was not considered a prestigious sect, it was still a middle-tier sect with its own mountain gate, much stronger than the rootless wanderers.
"Fifth Senior Brother, it's Fifth Senior Brother who's back."
Ding Yan's figure was quickly noticed by the people in the valley, and several young disciples wearing the insignia of the Lotus Flower Valley ran over.
"Fifth Senior Brother, have you returned from your training?" A disciple exclaimed excitedly upon seeing Ding Yan.
As new disciples, they did not have the qualifications to leave the mountain, and only the top ten strongest individuals of each generation had the opportunity to go out for training. The former owner of the body, who was the fifth senior brother in the Lotus Flower Valley, was among the top ten in the new generation of disciples.
In the Lotus Flower Valley, the position within the sect was directly related to the individual's strength, unlike in the world Ding Yan came from. Each generation's eldest senior brother was the strongest among peers and also the heir to the next sect leader. After receiving the memories of the former owner of the body, Ding Yan was already aware of these details.
"So it's you, Seventeen Junior Brother. Are these all junior disciples?" Ding Yan casually asked while continuing to walk towards the gate.
"Yes, these are all newly recruited junior disciples Master Uncle Xue took in after Fifth Senior Brother left the mountain." Hearing this, the young man, who was now calling Ding Yan Seventeen Senior Brother, scolded the fellows beside him, "Have you not greeted Fifth Senior Brother yet?"
"Greeting Fifth Senior Brother." The disciples quickly bowed.
Ding Yan was slightly taken aback and asked, "Master Uncle Xue has returned?"
In Ding Yan's memory, there were three wandering immortals in the Lotus Flower Valley! This Master Uncle Xue was one of them.
Wandering immortals were those who had passed the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal, shedding their mortal bodies and cultivating the body of a wandering immortal. In the Lotus Flower Valley, apart from the valley master, there was only this Master Uncle Xue and another elder who stayed in seclusion throughout the year. It was said that this elder had become a wandering immortal over four hundred years ago and had successfully passed a wandering immortal tribulation about ten years ago, making him the mainstay of the Lotus Flower Valley.
Looking around, Ding Yan found that these disciples were indeed not the ones he remembered, most likely recruited by the sect after 'his' departure.
"Master Uncle Xue returned a month ago and has now gone to the inner valley. By the way, Senior Brother, as you return from training this time, you must be close to triggering the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal, right..." After driving away those junior disciples, the young man, now calling Ding Yan Seventeen Senior Brother, quickly caught up and asked.
The Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal is a necessary step in the cultivation of wandering immortals, and also the most difficult one.
One could say that in the current realm of cultivation, passing the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal meant reaching the peak. Not only would there be an increase in strength, but there would also be a significant change in status. In the Lotus Flower Valley, any disciple who successfully passed the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal would become a valley elder.
It was said that Master Uncle Xue, fifty years ago, was just like them, an ordinary disciple of the Lotus Flower Valley. It was only after passing the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal and becoming a wandering immortal that he became a figure on par with the valley master.
Moreover, after the rise in status, one could obtain a jade tablet from the sect's elder. Through this jade tablet, one could have a chance to return to the mortal world. The former owner of the body, before dying, mentioned there were still nine years left, hoping that Ding Yan would successfully pass the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal before the elder emerged from seclusion, thus obtaining a chance to return to the mortal world from the elder.
Returning to the mundane world to see one's own family was the dream of many young cultivators.
Every practitioner had their own family, and those with good aptitude might be able to successfully pass the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal during their family member's lifetime, thus having the qualification to return to the mundane world to take care of their family members. However, most practitioners could not return to see their family members until after they had passed away.
It's not that these disciples were particularly determined, but in this world, there was a natural restriction between the mundane world and the world of cultivators. Those who had not passed the Tribulation of Shedding the Mortal and become wandering immortals couldn't break through this barrier.
No one knew how this barrier came to exist, and some had attempted to break it, but all had failed. It was because of this natural barrier that the worlds of cultivators appeared more ruthless and indifferent.
In Ding Yan's memory, there was a saying in this world.
"The path of wandering immortals walks the cliffs of suffering!"
Simple words perfectly interpreting the path of cultivation.
"Shedding the mortal?" Ding Yan frowned.
The cultivation level of the former owner of the body was ranked fifth among the new generation disciples of the Lotus Flower Valley, at the initial stage of the ninth layer of Qi Refinement.
However, when Ding Yan took over, the spiritual energy within this body had almost dissipated, and it had suffered severe injuries. Ding Yan was only able to mend some of the injuries by forcibly gathering some spiritual energy using his soul's power. However, his cultivation level had only recovered to about the third layer of Qi Refinement, not even as good as the current Seventeen Junior Brother.
"More or less. Well, I still have something to do, so I'll return to my residence. If you need anything, you can come find me." After saying this, Ding Yan didn't pay any more attention to Seventeen Junior Brother and flashed away into the distance...
Watching Ding Yan's disappearing figure, the 17th junior brother stopped and squinted his eyes.
"Almost? I think it's very different…I can sense your concealed aura, you might not even be at the third level of Qi refining. Third junior brother asked me to be aware of the movements of the other senior brothers, this good news, I can inform him first," the 17th junior brother said. With that, he casually flipped a bird-shaped mechanism, which flapped its wings and disappeared into the distant horizon…
Ding Yan naturally didn't know about the 17th junior brother's actions, and even if he did, he didn't care.
Because for Ding Yan, who had once cultivated to the level of Crossing Tribulations, there was basically no difference between the third and ninth levels of Qi refining. If it weren't for the Heavenly Tribulation, Ding Yan would have found a secluded place, set up a gathering spirit array, and quietly cultivated to reach the Foundation Building stage.
The Foundation Building stage, also known as the world of scattered immortals!
Returning to his residence, Ding Yan took his own jade slip and then headed straight to the scripture building of the Lotus Flower Valley without stopping. As one of the top ten disciples, he had full access to borrow the books from the scripture building at any time. However, these books were not allowed to be taken out of the building. The disciples who came to borrow them could only use the jade slip to copy them.
After copying dozens of books related to Crossing Tribulations, Ding Yan left without any hesitation and returned to his residence, closing the door behind him. Sitting down cross-legged, he took out a white jade slip from his sleeve, placed it on his forehead, and began reading it…
Days passed, and time flew by. Soon, three months had passed.
During these three months, Ding Yan had read countless books about Crossing Tribulations, especially the tribulations of scattered immortals. Compared to Ding Yan's original world, there were more detailed records here. But thinking about it, this world was based on the cultivation of Heavenly Tribulation, over countless ages, naturally having advantages in Crossing Tribulations that couldn't be compared with other worlds.
While Ding Yan was studying these books on Crossing Tribulations, within the Lotus Flower Valley, news spread about the fifth junior brother being seriously injured and his cultivation plummeting to the third level of Qi refining. Many disciples were eagerly waiting to see Ding Yan's misfortune.
The top ten disciples were all exceptional among their peers and were usually held in high regard. Even two years ago, the sect had given each of them a chance for external training. For those who couldn't go out, they naturally felt very unfair. Now that Ding Yan's cultivation had plummeted, many people were gleeful, waiting to see his misfortune. Some even frequently went to Ding Yan's residence, threatening to challenge this 'undeserving' fifth junior brother.
This was the world of cultivators. When you were at the top, people respected and feared you. But once you fell, they would not hesitate to trample on you.
"Is the fifth junior brother here? Yun Feng heard that the senior brother has returned, so I came to visit..." a young man in a white robe stood outside Ding Yan's door, speaking loudly.
The disciples of the Lotus Flower Valley knew that this young man named Yun Feng was ranked eleventh among the current generation of disciples of the Lotus Flower Valley. His cultivation had already reached the peak of the seventh level of Qi refining, just one step away from breaking through to the eighth level.
Looking up from the world's cultivation techniques he had been studying, Ding Yan frowned slightly upon hearing the voice. He put down the jade slip in his hand and opened the door.
"Please come in," Yun Feng's eyes lit up at the sight. He had previously sent someone to test the fifth junior brother and found that he was indeed seriously injured, with the aura of at most the third level of Qi refining.
Thinking about this, Yun Feng's heart burned with excitement. As long as he replaced the current person, he would immediately become one of the top ten disciples. The rewards given by the sect at that time would definitely not be comparable to the current situation.
After Yun Feng sat down in the room, he quickly noticed the dozens of jade slips on the table, and sneered, "Sure enough, he is seriously injured. He is in such a hurry to read these books, he must be looking for a quick way to restore his strength."
Thinking of this, Yun Feng became even more certain of his speculation.
"I heard that senior brother was ambushed by some small fry during his recent trip," he said. "So, senior brother, I have brought some healing elixirs here for you." Saying that, he took out a white jade bottle from his sleeve and placed it on the table.
Seeing this, a cold smile appeared at the corner of Ding Yan's mouth. He was not the previous owner of the body. From Ding Yan's perspective, Yun Feng's methods were quite naïve for someone with over a thousand years of cultivation experience.
He casually waved his sleeve and took the jade bottle from the table. "In that case, thank you, eleventh junior brother," Ding Yan said.
Yun Feng squinted his eyes at this. Originally, he believed that Ding Yan wouldn't have accepted the elixirs in person if he were truly injured. But now, Ding Yan had accepted them outright, which made him feel a bit wary.
"I still have something to attend to, eleventh junior brother?" Ding Yan asked.
Yun Feng's eyebrows furrowed upon hearing this, but he quickly relaxed and said with a smile, "I almost forgot the purpose of my visit. Senior brother, other than checking on your injuries, I also wanted to tell you that the ninth senior sister has just returned yesterday…"