Chapter 280 - 275: An Immortal-Mortal Decision, Close But Far Away

Song Ciwan stood on her side of the long street. She watched as the fisherman beside her suddenly turned his head and let out a long sigh.

Three hundred years ago, the fisherman had used a Fire Tree Level Foundation Establishment Pill to achieve his Foundation Establishment.

That was the lowest grade of Foundation Establishment Pill. Now, he had told Song Ciwan he would help her obtain a Red Gold Level Foundation Establishment Pill, which, in his eyes, was already a remarkable feat.

Yet now, at the far end of the long street, the young man standing at the foot of the high tower had just effortlessly obtained a White Jade Level Foundation Establishment Pill!

Compared to a White Jade Level Foundation Establishment Pill, the Red Gold Level one now seemed like nothing special.

On the long Cloud Street, Old Jin the street sweeper lowered the broom in his hands and stared blankly toward the end of the street.

As the saying goes, the thing you chase your entire life is worth less than dust to some. How could one even begin to describe such a feeling?

Along the sides of Cloud Street, an Immortal Seeker riding a crane lamented, "A White Jade Level Foundation Establishment Pill... If I’d had such an opportunity back in the day and gotten a White Jade Level Foundation Establishment Pill, why would it have taken me a hundred years to achieve Core Formation? With a pill like that, I wouldn’t be in a situation where breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage is still a distant, hopeless dream. AI!"

It turned out this Immortal Seeker on the crane was also at the Golden Core Stage!

The Golden Core Stage, when compared to the Great Zhou Cultivators, was equivalent to the Divinity Transformation Stage.

It was just that in the Great Zhou, Divinity Transformation was exceedingly rare, whereas here... Song Ciwan suddenly had the strange feeling that Golden Core masters were a dime a dozen.

’Is this real? Or am I just imagining things?’

’Are Golden Core masters really that common? Are they so worthless?’

Song Ciwan’s thoughts raced, and she fought the sudden impulse to use her Qimen Taoist Skill’s Measurement System to gauge every single person on the street—

But the impulse lasted only a moment before she suppressed it.

Without her Measurement System, it was indeed difficult to accurately determine everyone’s cultivation level. But Song Ciwan still had her Spiritual Sense. With it, she could more or less draw a few conclusions: Golden Core masters probably weren’t a dime a dozen, but there was certainly no shortage of them.

This was no Peach Blossom Spring, nor was it some Celestial Immortal Palace. This was a place that demanded Song Ciwan’s caution and vigilance!

At the end of the long street, the person holding the Jade Box was still smiling. Suddenly, from some corner of the street, two people came rushing out.

It was a woman in gray robes, her head wrapped in a scarf, and she was pulling a little girl less than three feet tall by the hand.

Despite pulling the child, the woman ran at a frantic pace, so fast that the little girl behind her was dragged along, wailing, "Mama! WAHHH, Xin’Er hurts! Xin’Er can’t run anymore! I don’t wanna run! WAHHH..."

But the woman paid her no mind, simply dragging her daughter until they reached the side of Old Jin, the street sweeper.

Then she turned, scooped up her daughter, and shoved her straight into Old Jin’s arms.

As she shoved the girl at him, she screamed hoarsely, "Jin the Second, your daughter is crying! Can’t you see your own daughter is crying? Seeking Immortality? What Immortality are you even seeking? You’ve sought it for thirty years and gotten nothing, while others here can casually obtain a White Jade Level Pill!"

Tears streamed down her face as she roared, "You’re not fated for it! You just don’t have that destiny, don’t you understand? This whole Immortal business isn’t for people like us! Old Jin, just listen to me, please, just listen to me!"

Her roar faded into a tearful plea. "Even if you manage to get a Fire Tree Level Pill, what’s the use? After Foundation Establishment, it could be three hundred, even five hundred years before you achieve Core Formation, if you ever do. By then, you won’t have become an Immortal, but our daughter and I will have long since turned to dust and bone.

What will you have then? What could you possibly have left? Come home, Old Jin. Come home with me..."

She tugged and pulled at him relentlessly. Old Jin clutched his daughter haphazardly in his arms. Though his upper body swayed back and forth with his wife’s frantic pulling, his feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, unmoving.

Old Jin’s face was pale and numb. His eyes, set deep in their sunken, gaunt sockets, were unnervingly bright.

He said, "Lady Man, think carefully about what you just said. If we don’t pursue the path of Seeking Immortality, in three hundred or five hundred years... no, it won’t even take that long. In just thirty or fifty years, you and I will both be nothing but dust and bone! To live as mortals means to die within a century. Are you willing to accept that?

But if we pursue the path of Seeking Immortality, even if we never achieve Core Formation, we can at least live for another five hundred years! Lady Man, how could I ever bear to be separated from you? And yet, I cannot give up on Seeking Immortality! So... why don’t you seek it as well? Let’s pursue the path of Seeking Immortality together!"

As he spoke, an astonishing radiance bloomed on Old Jin’s numb face.

His back, bent by the ravages of time, suddenly straightened. The cloud of despair around him vanished completely. In that moment of mental clarity, it was as if some new power had suddenly infused his unremarkable body.

He set his daughter down, took his wife’s hand, and said, "Lady Man, come with me and let’s pursue the path of Seeking Immortality together. Today, we sever our worldly attachments. We will no longer be husband and wife. But in the future, as we walk the Immortal Dao together, we can become Daoist companions. The world will be short one mortal couple, but it will gain a pair of Daoist partners on the path of Seeking Immortality. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful tale?"

As he spoke, a smile touched Old Jin’s lips. Now, when the crowd looked at him, they saw a man with refined features, his posture as straight and resilient as pine and bamboo.

His weathered face could no longer conceal his radiant bearing. The youthful vigor that time had stolen seemed to flood back into him.

Where was the mediocre Old Jin who had swept the streets for thirty years? This was clearly a high-spirited Immortal Seeker, brimming with ambition!

Even though he had yet to achieve Foundation Establishment.

Lady Man, her hand held in his, listened to his soft, persuasive words. She couldn’t help but tilt her head up, gaze at him with a dazed look, and say joyfully, "You’re absolutely right. But if we both go Seeking Immortality, what will happen to our daughter?"

Old Jin looked down at the little girl on the ground.

The child was three years old and had been well-raised by Lady Man. Though her cherubic, doll-like face still wore an aggrieved expression, her large eyes were as if washed by water—dark, bright, innocent, and clear.

A flicker of reluctance crossed Old Jin’s face, but it was quickly replaced by firm resolve.

He said, "Xin’Er may be young, but when she grows up, she too must walk the path of Seeking Immortality. By us going to seek it today, we are severing her parental bonds, lessening her worldly attachments so that her own Immortal Dao will be smoother in the future."

Lady Man was stunned. "But... but she’s only three..."

Old Jin said, "Don’t be afraid. Our Yanling Town has the Ciyu Institute. Xin’Er will actually be better cared for there. We will go on ahead and pave the way for her. In the future, we can meet and address each other as ’fellow Daoist.’ Isn’t that better than becoming a pile of dirt after a hundred years?"

Lady Man found his reasoning sound, and the tense expression on her face began to soften.

Just then, the little girl standing between them, as if understanding something, suddenly burst into tears. "WAHHH! Xin’Er doesn’t want this! Xin’Er wants Mommy and Daddy!"

She lunged forward and hugged Lady Man’s leg.

A jolt went through Lady Man’s entire body, as if she’d been struck by lightning.

"Mama! Mama!" the little girl shrieked, her cries heart-wrenching.

Lady Man could no longer bear it. She bent down and scooped her wailing daughter into her arms.

She held the child tightly in her arms, her tear-filled eyes gazing at the man before her—so Close But Far Away.