Among the Three Thousand Great Paths, All Are Chooseable

Hearing the other party say this, and seeing no intention of lying, Jun Anshi temporarily gave up the thought of seeing his true face.

Jun Anshi smiled, her tone light and brisk: Then, Fellow Daoist, I will go take a look at the house first, and tidy it up by the way, so I can cultivate in peace.

After speaking, she turned and walked toward the wooden cabin closest to her.

Gu Changyuan looked at her back and nodded slightly, then also walked to another wooden cabin, raising his hand to push open the wooden door and step inside.

The wooden cabin was not large, featuring a one-bedroom, one-living-room layout, with simple furnishings but fully equipped with everything needed.

Gu Changyuan walked to a chair in the hall and sat down. With a flip of his fingertips, he took out that emerald bamboo slip from his ring and placed it on the table.

Cangwu Longevity Art.

In this world, cultivators could actually practice abilities of every attribute—Five Elements, Space-Time, Reincarnation, Karma...

Three thousand Great Daos, all could be chosen, all could be cultivated.

But being able to choose did not mean being able to learn, much less being able to go far.

Most cultivators, not long after birth, would undergo talent testing or physique awakening to know the direction they excelled in.

This was determined innately, just as birds are born with wings and fish are born with fins.

One could learn anything, but talent and physique determined which one would be learned faster, smoother, and further.

Jun Anshi's Temporal Dao Body was exactly like this. The Temporal Dao Body itself was the physical incarnation of the Dao of Time. Her comprehension of the laws of time was as natural as breathing, and her manipulation of the power of time was as instinctive as stretching her limbs.

She did not need to deliberately comprehend time; time flowed in her blood, was engraved in her bones, and circulated in every one of her meridians.

Letting her cultivate the Dao of Time was like walking on a flat, broad road, completely unobstructed.

But what if she were made to practice the Dao of Space, the Dao of Azure Wood, or the Dao of Reincarnation without any foundation?

That would be like climbing a vertical cliff barehanded without any equipment.

It was not impossible to climb, but every inch forward would require a hundred times the effort, and a slight carelessness would result in a fall.

Having a better road to walk but insisting on climbing an almost vertical mountain path was nothing but adding difficulties and wasting time.

Therefore, most cultivators in the early stages of cultivation would focus on the Great Dao they were good at, investing their limited energy and time into the direction that yielded the most results.

Only when their cultivation grew high, their realm deepened, and they encountered a bottleneck in their own Dao, making it difficult to advance even an inch, would they study other Great Daos that might be suitable, using them to draw analogies and find opportunities for breakthroughs.

Of course, innate talent was not the only determining factor.

Later in life, through various heavenly materials and earthly treasures, immortal pills and miraculous medicines, or fortuitous encounters, one could also expand the types of Great Daos they could master and go far in.

Immortal Emperor Cangwu created this world and let Jun Anshi cultivate here, probably wanting her to comprehend the Cangwu Great Dao here.

And the Cangwu Great Dao required the fusion of four Great Daos: Time, Space, Azure Wood, and Reincarnation.

Jun Anshi's Temporal Dao Body gave her no threshold in the Dao of Time, but for the Dao of Space, Dao of Azure Wood, and Dao of Reincarnation, she was starting almost from zero.

The Cangwu Great Dao was based on the Dao of Time, so the Temporal Dao Body was naturally the most suitable vessel for its inheritance.

In contrast, Jun Mukong's Void Dao Body leaned toward space, and Gongsun Qingling's Azure Abyss Dao Body leaned toward Azure Wood and spirit, neither being as suitable as Jun Anshi.

As for himself, Gu Changyuan leaned against the back of his chair, his gaze falling on the parasol tree outside the window.

His understanding and mastery of these four Great Daos had long surpassed his disciples.

So the Cangwu Longevity Art was, to him, nothing more than fusing the four existing Great Daos into a new Great Dao.

This required time, but it was merely a matter of time.

He closed his eyes, and the text of the Cangwu Longevity Art slowly circulated in his sea of consciousness, mutually verifying, intertwining, and fusing with his understanding of the four Great Daos.

A few days later, Gu Changyuan stepped into the Cangwu Great Dao.

When Immortal Emperor Cangwu came to the small island for the first time, he stood under the parasol tree, looking at Gu Changyuan who was leaning against the trunk resting with his eyes closed, a trace of imperceptible strangeness flashing in his eyes.

He did not say anything, just shifted his gaze to Jun Anshi, who was cultivating cross-legged on the other end of the island, walked over to her, and began to guide her cultivation.

Over the next two and a half years, Immortal Emperor Cangwu would come to the island at regular intervals.

He guided Jun Anshi in the Dao of Time, taught her how to initially fuse the power of time with Space, Azure Wood, and Reincarnation, and led her to comprehend the true essence of the Cangwu Great Dao.

Jun Anshi learned very seriously, and also very strenuously.

Her mastery of the Dao of Time was improving rapidly, but the other three Great Daos remained at the beginner stage.

Space had just touched the threshold, Azure Wood could barely communicate with vegetation, and Reincarnation could only operate reluctantly under the Immortal Emperor's guidance.

As for Gu Changyuan, Immortal Emperor Cangwu never raised any questions about the Cangwu Great Dao with him, as if he already knew that Gu Changyuan had thoroughly understood it.

No surprise, no inquiry, no guidance, just occasionally casting a glance at him when passing by, those azure pupils carrying an indescribable profound meaning.

Jun Anshi's cultivation in this world improved from the late Soul Formation stage to the mid Void Refinement stage.

The more important change was the nature of her spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy in this world was mixed with immortal energy—a higher-level energy form from the upper realm, superior to spiritual energy.

Immortal energy would not directly increase cultivation, but it would transform a cultivator's physique from the foundation.

With every breath, with every trace of spiritual energy circulation, immortal energy was silently seeping into the meridians, blending into the flesh and blood, and nourishing the divine soul.

This was the function of immortal energy.

Cultivators nourished by immortal energy over a long period, even without deliberate cultivation, would have their physical strength and divine soul slowly improve.

In the upper realm, newborn children were not Human Immortals upon birth, but started from the Body Tempering stage.

But because they were nourished by immortal energy from childhood, even if they did not have heaven-defying talent and cultivation, their cultivation speed would be far faster than their peers in the lower realm.

This had nothing to do with talent, only environment.

Of course, this advantage only lasted until the Human Immortal realm. After breaking through to Human Immortal, the role of talent would truly manifest.

A ninth-grade talent Human Immortal who ascended from the lower realm, and a native sixth-grade talent Human Immortal from the upper realm—the latter's normal cultivation speed was destined to be left far behind by the former.

The division between upper and lower realms only caused a gap in cultivation speed before becoming an immortal.

Gu Changyuan also adjusted his displayed cultivation, changing it from peak Soul Formation to peak Void Refinement.

For two and a half years, he lived a very simple life in this world.

Most of the time, he just lay on the grass under the parasol tree, watching the clouds roll and unroll in the sky, feeling time slowly flowing through his fingertips.

Jun Anshi would occasionally come to find him, discussing some cultivation problems, or just purely chatting.

She was still curious about the face under his mask, but she no longer pressed the matter.

Two years of getting along gave her an indescribable sense of trust in this black-robed man, as if they had known each other for a long time.