https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-154-Royal-Bloodline-the-Cloth-Clothed-Youth-s-Warning/13688322/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-156-Refining-the-Qiankun-Yiqi-Dai/13688324/
Chapter 155: The Cultivation Genius Abandoned by His Era
Lu Qing was the first to pull out The Essays of the Carefree Hermit.
After wandering through the city, he had gathered far more than he’d expected. The greatest treasures among them were this manuscript and the Qiankun Yiqi Dai.
According to the information revealed by the Abilities Probe, the book contained records about the lost era of cultivation. Lu Qing had always been deeply curious about that mysterious age, so he decided to study it first.
He flipped through the pages and immediately noticed the book’s unusual quality—its paper was remarkably sturdy, clearly designed to endure for centuries without decay.
【Do you wish to Download the knowledge?】
Seeing the prompt in his vision, Lu Qing selected “Yes.”
【Downloading… 1%, 2%, 3%… 97%, 98%, 99%, 100%】
【Download complete. Would you like to begin studying?】
Lu Qing confirmed once more.
In an instant, a flood of familiar information surged from the depths of his mind. He gently closed his eyes.
After a moment, as he absorbed the knowledge, he opened his eyes again—his expression tinged with quiet awe.
“This Carefree Hermit… truly was a tragic figure.”
Now that he had fully received the contents of the manuscript, Lu Qing finally understood the life story of this legendary figure.
The Carefree Hermit had once been a scholar over a thousand years ago—more precisely, a lonely soul who had devoted his life to the pursuit of cultivation.
In his youth, he had stumbled upon a mysterious cave during a chance encounter, where he discovered an ancient cultivation inheritance. To his astonishment, his innate talent was perfectly aligned with the path.
With nothing but that inheritance and a few scattered resources, and without any mentorship, he taught himself. Through sheer determination, he broke through the initial stages and ascended into the Qi Condensation Realm—truly becoming a cultivator in every sense.
Then, fueled by the remnants of the cave’s resources, he advanced rapidly. Within just a few decades, he reached the peak of Qi Condensation.
As he wrote in his essays, even in the golden age of cultivation, his progress would have been hailed as extraordinary—so exceptional that major sects would have fought to claim him as a disciple.
But fate had dealt him a cruel hand. He was born into an era of dwindling spiritual energy, where cultivation had long since vanished and martial arts reigned supreme.
Even with unparalleled talent, there was no cultivation sect to join, no master to guide him. Time and again, he lamented in his writings: “Born at the wrong time.”
Worse still, because of the scarcity of spiritual energy, his cultivation plateaued the moment he reached the peak of Qi Condensation. He could not advance further, nor could he break through into the Zhu Ji Realm—the state of complete purity and perfection beyond the Qi Condensation stage.
No matter how hard he practiced, no matter how many techniques he tried, he remained stuck.
Driven by desperation, he embarked on a decades-long journey across the land—seeking out sacred mountains, hidden valleys, and legendary sites in hopes of finding a way to break the stagnation.
At the peak of Qi Condensation, his power was comparable to that of a martial artist at the Xian Tian Jing peak, and even stronger due to the supernatural nature of cultivation. Traveling the world was not a burden for him.
Yet, after decades of searching, following the clues left in his inheritance, he found only ruins. The once-great celestial sanctuaries, the legendary immortal abodes—vanished without a trace. What remained were shattered walls and endless desolation.
Only then did the Carefree Hermit fully grasp the truth: the age of cultivation had truly ended.
Still, he wasn’t entirely without reward. While exploring the ruins of a sect known as the Heavenly Dao Sect, he discovered a jade tablet.
The tablet bore a secret revelation: the decline of spiritual energy was not a tragedy, but a natural cycle of Heaven’s laws—just as human breathing alternates between inhaling and exhaling. One cycle lasted roughly sixty thousand years: thirty thousand years of decline, thirty thousand of revival. And so, the cycle continued.
Upon reading this, the Carefree Hermit’s heart froze.
Calculating from the tablet’s data, he realized he lived at the very end of the current decline phase. The next revival of spiritual energy would not come for at least another thousand years.
Knowing this, despair consumed him.
At peak Qi Condensation, his lifespan was only three hundred years—like that of a Xian Tian Jing martial artist. Even with his secret techniques allowing him to prolong life, he could survive at most five hundred years.
To wait for the revival of spiritual energy? Impossible.
Thus, despite his extraordinary talent, the genius could never witness the return of the age of cultivation. He would never be able to shine.
Yet, even in despair, he did not give up.
For the rest of his life, he fought against Heaven’s laws, determined to break through by sheer will and innate brilliance.
He searched for hidden realms, sought out pockets of residual spiritual energy, studied martial arts, even delved into the terrifying path of Insect Witchcraft. But every attempt ended in failure.
In the end, as he sat in meditation, his body finally ceased to breathe—still trapped at the peak of Qi Condensation, never having breached the Zhu Ji Realm.
After finishing the manuscript, Lu Qing sat in silence for a long time.
This was the second time in his life that a person’s life story had left him deeply shaken.
The first was Li Weitian.
The second was this Carefree Hermit.
But compared to Li Weitian, whose fate had, to some extent, been self-inflicted—his wasted years spent chasing pride and rivalry, his rushed breakthroughs due to insufficient foundation—this man’s tragedy was far more profound.
The Carefree Hermit had never faltered. He had pursued the Dao with unwavering dedication, never once relenting.
And yet, fate had mocked him—born into the wrong era, gifted with genius, yet denied the very world that could have nurtured it.
He had reached the peak of Qi Condensation in an age where no one could guide him. He died, old and forgotten, still bound by the same realm he had conquered.
“A genius abandoned by the age of cultivation,” Lu Qing murmured, his heart heavy with sorrow.
In an era of dwindling spiritual energy, with no mentors and no sects, he had still managed to reach the peak of Qi Condensation through sheer will.
Had he been born in the golden age of cultivation… who could say what heights he might have reached?
But the world has no “what ifs.”
Born at the wrong time—this was his fate.
After a long moment of silence, Lu Qing turned his attention to another thought.
According to the Carefree Hermit’s records, his era had been centuries away from the predicted revival of spiritual energy. Now, nearly a thousand years had passed since his passing.
That meant… the time of revival should be happening now.
Yet Lu Qing felt no change in the world. No surge of spiritual energy. No signs of awakening.
No… that can’t be right.
Suddenly, a realization struck him—like a lightning bolt in his mind.
His breath caught.
(End of Chapter)
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