When it came to cultivation, one couldn't help but mention the cultivation system.
As an outstanding talent cultivated by the Daoist sect's prestigious institution, the Myriad Phenomena Dao Palace, and a former insider, Li Qingxiao was naturally very familiar with this system. It was common knowledge that didn't require anyone to explain to him.
At the Dao Palace, the instructor once explained that during the most prosperous period of the Daoist sect, there were six immortal lineages: Celestial Immortal, Earthly Immortal, Human Immortal, Divine Immortal, Ghost Immortal, and Corpse-Release Immortal.
Now, with the lawless era upon them and the Heavenly Path nearly severed, the lineages of Celestial Immortal and Earthly Immortal had been cut off. The Corpse-Release Immortal lineage had also nearly gone extinct due to resource issues. Now only the Human Immortal lineage, Divine Immortal lineage, and Ghost Immortal lineage remained.
Li Qingxiao was of the Human Immortal lineage, but not purely so.
This wasn't a problem with Li Qingxiao's personal aptitude but rather an environmental issue. Looking across the entire Daoist sect, it was hard to find a few purely Human Immortal lineage practitioners.
According to records, purely Human Immortal lineage practitioners only cultivated their physical bodies, not their spirit souls, and not even true qi. They didn't practice the method of inner and outer communication and unity with heaven and man. They focused solely on themselves: training their flesh, tendons, skin, bones, internal organs, and bone marrow and blood, until they reached the state of indestructibility by divine beings.
Therefore, purely Human Immortal practitioners had extremely strong vitality. They could regenerate severed limbs, and their blood qi was incredibly real, like the sun, having a strong restraining effect on ghostly Divine Immortals.
But with the arrival of the lawless era, this path was no longer viable. Now so-called Human Immortals began to cultivate both inner and outer aspects, referring to the purely Human Immortal's physical cultivation method as "external arts" and the Earthly Immortal lineage's qi cultivation method as "internal arts," thus practicing both internal and external cultivation.
In other words, Li Qingxiao and other new-era Human Immortal lineage practitioners cultivated true qi. They tried to do both, resulting in neither being strong. Whether it was external arts cultivating the body or internal arts cultivating true qi, neither could reach a very high level. Naturally, they couldn't compare to past purely Human Immortal practitioners. They could only make do, after all, the big environment wasn't good.
The high-level classics of the past were still there, and the Daoist sect had already made them all available for anyone to read. However, with the changes in Heavenly Dao, they couldn't achieve much, just doing useless work. Only a small portion was still usable, patched up and reorganized for makeshift use. Except for a few special cases, there was no hope of becoming a Daoist or Immortal.
Speaking of Immortals, Li Qingxiao felt that Great Master Qi might be an Immortal. After all, the time-reversing magic couldn't be faked, so she was probably one of the few Immortals in this world. It was said that during the most prosperous period of the Daoist sect, there were twenty Immortals. Now, counting Great Master Qi, having two Immortals would be good.
However, this was just Li Qingxiao's speculation. The exact number of Immortals was hard to say.
Because all the various cultivation systems of the past were no longer valid, the realms and cultivation levels were also very chaotic. The Daoist sect reorganized them, eliminating various fancy titles and greatly simplifying them. Below Immortals, there were nine realms, all renamed using numbers: from First Realm to Ninth Realm. First Realm was the lowest, Ninth Realm was the highest, which was the opposite of the Daoist sect's Daoist rankings.
Below First Realm was unranked, Ninth Realm was also called False Immortal, corresponding to True Immortal, and the True Immortal realm was called Tenth Realm.
As for the realms after Immortals, they had significance in the past, but in this lawless era, they had become distant legends.
Li Qingxiao was currently at Third Realm cultivation, slightly stronger than a Peaceful Society D-grade member. In the Daoist sect's prosperous era, it wasn't much, but in today's world, he was already considered a skilled practitioner.
Li Qingxiao returned to his room and took out the scroll Great Master Qi had given him, muttering to himself, "Using scrolls these days? Too retro, isn't it?"
Then Li Qingxiao unrolled the scroll and realized he was completely wrong. This was actually a painting, just with a shorter scroll axis.
Writing was from top to bottom, right to left, so naturally, paintings were also viewed from right to left. Except for the starting position at the far right, the rest of the painting was covered by a layer of mist.
Someone might ask, since everything was covered by mist, how could Li Qingxiao determine it was a painting?
Because the starting position had three large characters: Heavenly Change Map.
Next to these three large characters were several columns of small annotated text.
The general meaning was that the painter had gathered many materials from ancient and modern times, both domestic and foreign, as well as their personal experiences, and finally completed this painting, recording a total of nine extraterrestrial visitors.
When Li Qingxiao saw the words "extraterrestrial visitors," his heart couldn't help but skip a beat, because he had been tainted by the so-called "Great Wasteland Sky," and even his parents' deaths were related to this "Great Wasteland Sky." According to Great Master Qi, "Great Wasteland Sky" was an extraterrestrial visitor.
Fortunately, the images of these nine extraterrestrial visitors were currently covered by mist, showing only a blurry silhouette, so there shouldn't be serious consequences.
Then Li Qingxiao discovered that there was a second handwriting on the "Heavenly Change Map." The first handwriting was, of course, the author of the "Heavenly Change Map," while the second handwriting was more like annotations. The two people's views were completely different, which wasn't unusual - I annotate the classics, and the classics annotate me.
The author of the "Heavenly Change Map" referred to these nine beings as "extraterrestrial visitors," while the annotator called them "Outer Realm Demons." Regardless of which term, it showed that these special beings didn't come from the human world but from the heavens.
Li Qingxiao suspected that the annotator was Great Master Qi, but then thought it wasn't likely. From the handwriting, although it wasn't particularly beautiful, it was powerful and had a completely different aura from Great Master Qi's frivolous nature, seeming to be a man.
Thinking of this, Li Qingxiao suddenly realized a problem. Wasn't he here to learn the "Supreme Induction Technique"? How did it become the "Heavenly Change Map"?
Could Great Master Qi have given him the wrong thing? A Supreme Grand Master shouldn't make such a low-level mistake, right?
Li Qingxiao, still not giving up, checked all the text on the "Heavenly Change Map" again, finally giving up completely. There wasn't even a mention of "Supreme" or "Induction," only at the far left end was there a signature that looked like the author's: Alpha Centauri.
Li Qingxiao naturally knew that "Alpha Centauri" was a star's name - in the southwest of the Imperial Guard, there is a large red star, shaped like a large horn, the gate of the heavenly army, named Alpha Centauri, also known as Simumen.
It couldn't be that a star in the sky painted the "Heavenly Change Map." Probably the author didn't want to reveal their real name, so they used a star's name as a pseudonym.
As for who the annotator was, the "Heavenly Change Map" didn't say. According to common sense, it should be the second owner of the "Heavenly Change Map," with Great Master Qi being the third owner, and Li Qingxiao being the fourth owner?
Li Qingxiao shook his head. Perhaps the "Heavenly Change Map" was a remarkable treasure, but the problem was that he couldn't use it and might even invite disaster. After all, a three-year-old holding gold through the market was a way to invite disaster. He had only secretly read a confidential file from the Bichen Hall and was already haunted by the Peaceful Society. If others knew he had the "Heavenly Change Map," wouldn't they tear him apart?
This thing in Great Master Qi's hands, no one dared to have evil thoughts, but in Li Qingxiao's hands, anyone dared to have evil thoughts.
Speaking of which, why did Great Master Qi give him the "Heavenly Change Map"? Without the "Supreme Induction Technique," how would he survive these three years?
Li Qingxiao sighed, planning to put away the "Heavenly Change Map," but then something unexpected happened. The "Heavenly Change Map" suddenly fused into his body without warning, leaving only four small characters on the palm of his right hand: Alpha Centauri.