Chapter 294: Eternal Physique
When he saw her for the first time, with his experience after meeting countless people and training many Immortal Emperors, he shook his head at her talents. Although most of the time he considered a person’s talents to be secondary, Magu's talents were beyond curing to the point where any sects' worst disciple would still be far better than Magu.
One could even say that there was not much difference between Magu's intelligence and a mentally disabled person, except she was not mentally disabled. It was just that her learning ability was quite indescribably awful.
The first time he saw her, Li Qiye was moved by her eyes; a pair of eyes that craved for learning. This ugly and dirty little girl resembled a fool yet her yearning eyes were capable of moving Li Qiye, the Dark Crow and teacher of Immortal Emperors.
At that time, he suddenly had an impulse to teach the Eternal Physique's starting incantation to her. This was only the simplest and most basic incantation, but it took several days of repeating before she could memorize it. She was the stupidest person Li Qiye had ever met, but he kept on teaching her for no other reason other than being touched by her eyes.
After teaching her the basic incantations, he didn't impart anything else upon her because even if he tried, she wouldn't have been able to memorize it. Li Qiye very quickly forgot about this matter.
Many years later, Li Qiye went back to the same place. Wang Yuan, who was once a kid, had become someone whose might trampled the Nine Worlds and loomed above all beings; he transformed from a child into an invincible old expert.
At that time, Li Qiye met Magu again. The unfathomable thing was that Magu was still learning the same incantations that Li Qiye had taught her before, but she was still only at the Palace Foundation realm!
Palace Foundation was the lowest realm for all cultivators. Logically speaking, Magu shouldn’t have been able to live for this long. After meeting her again, Li Qiye knew that she had stepped into the door of the Eternal Physique.
But even then, one shouldn’t have been able to live so long with these qualifications, not to mention Magu who had only just entered the path.
Li Qiye knew that Magu had always stayed at this place for countless years with only one thing on her mind — practicing the few incantations that he taught her. After countless springs and falls throughout the years, Magu repeated these incantations till perfection and reached the peak, allowing her to sense the supreme universal laws of the Eternal Physique.
Even after numerous years of experimentation to train a grand completion Eternal Saint Physique to see if one could achieve eternal life after cultivating this technique to its maximum potential, Li Qiye had always failed.
After he saw Magu again and witnessed the incredible miracle, Li Qiye found some hope in his heart again. Li Qiye told Wang Yuan to take care of Magu as he taught her the supreme Eternal Physique Law.
One should know that Li Qiye had always been extremely demanding and had a rigorous selection before giving anyone a supreme Immortal Physique Law. No matter who it was, they were required to pledge the most stringent vow before being granted the physique laws. This was the reason why his physique laws had never been passed down to outsiders; the ones that were chosen were always reliable, or they wouldn’t have been picked in the first place.
Magu was the only exception, thus he imparted the Eternal Physique to her while Wang Yuan made her a disciple of the Heavenly Dao Academy. Since then on, the academy had one more location, the Everlasting Courtyard.
From that point on, Li Qiye always came back every generation and taught Magu another section of the supreme physique law all the way until she learned the entire and complete law.
Magu cultivated very slowly, but she always persevered on with her sincere and unchanging heart that yearned for the dao. Her cultivation gradually became stronger and her intelligence also rose. The Eternal Physique changed her body, bones and muscles, and her talents.
Due to her miracle, Li Qiye had done something without precedent; he allowed her to pass down the Eternal Physique Law to one disciple per generation. This was the reason why the Everlasting Courtyard only had one disciple. [1. My speculation here is that Li Qiye allowed her to do this because he knew that cultivating this physique law would be a lonely road, so he wanted her to have someone to walk with her on this path.]
Magu had always lived in seclusion at the Everlasting Courtyard, and her steadfast training had never changed; ten thousand years were the same as one day to her. She went even further on the path of the Eternal Physique. After the Everlasting Courtyard went through several generations, her disciples and grand disciples all fell down while Magu walked on further than anyone else.
Finally, she climbed to the peak with her expanded wisdom and completed Immortal Physique. After struggling for so many years, she had reached the apex and became the most powerful and mysterious ancestor of the Heavenly Dao Academy. Even if the people of this world knew about Immortal Xu Chong, they wouldn’t know her cultivation method. Her disciples also wouldn’t know that their high elder was once a foolish, rotten wood that eventually reached the apex and obtained amazing wisdom.
No one would believe such a tale if told. Who would believe that a fool became the strongest and most mysterious ancestor of the Heavenly Dao Academy? At the academy, after Second Sage Wang Yuan, Immortal Xu Chong was next.
Within the academy, Immortal Xu Chong represented peerless wisdom and strength; no disciple could connect a rotten little girl with her indescribable lack of wisdom to their unfathomable ancestor.
Li Qiye emotionally lamented about the past. After many years, he now firmly believed that a dao heart was more important than talents. As long as one had an unwavering dao heart, then no matter how poor one’s talents or fortune may be, there will eventually be a day of success. The heavenly dao rewards diligence — this phrase was not just empty words.
Chi Xiaodie stopped asking questions after seeing Li Qiye in a daze; she was not able to understand him. He was too mysterious with too many hidden secrets.
“Get a good rest and adjust to the situation.” Li Qiye said: “Even though your cultivation right now is quite good, the Heavenly Dao Academy will not teach you any merit laws. However, you can still go and listen to the lectures. Their lectures about the dao foundation are quite good and will be very beneficial for you.”
Li Qiye’s suggestion piqued her curiosity: “How do they compare to Goddess Mei’s preaching of the dao?”
Li Qiye smilingly responded: “Mei Suyao belongs to the group of genius cultivators; she spoke correctly regarding the profundity of the grand dao, but it is not fitting for everyone. The truth is that your talents are quite good, but the teachings of the Grand Era Hall fits you more. Any genius would be a bit arrogant, thus you need some time to sharpen away this edge by using the simple grand dao teachings from the hall.”
“Like Mei Suyao, her dao lectures are without flaws, but they also lack a certain sense of depth. Remember the solitary path of the dao; only with a firm foundation will you be able to achieve great benefits beyond your imagination.”
Chi Xiaodie took note of each and every one of Li Qiye’s words and engraved them into her heart as if they were made of gold and jade.
The Grand Era Hall was the hall that accepted the most students in the Heavenly Dao Academy. This was not taking into account the disciples of the academy because the inner hall only took in disciples and not students. The main halls that accepted students in the academy consisted of five great halls: Grand Era Hall, Idle Era Hall, Zenith Era Hall, Sacred Era Hall, and Emperor Era Hall.
The Grand Era Hall had the lowest requirements. For the many disciples from small sects or even vagrant cultivators, as long as they worked hard, the chance of them joining the Grand Era Hall was quite large. This was why many disciples from this hall had a low cultivation and would be from small sects or no sect at all.
Even though it boasted the lowest standard requirements, Second Sage Wang Yuan came from this place and he was the pride and epitomized the academy.
The Idle Era Hall was the most complex with dragons mixing with the serpents. There was no need to announce one’s identity and background in this hall; as long as one could pass the test or pay the high tuition, they could enter this illustrious hall.
It consisted of young cultivators from everywhere. There were descendants of Ancient Kingdoms that hid their identities, bandits and thieves, and cultivators from unknown backgrounds…
Amongst all the Immortal Emperors, the most devilish one — Immortal Emperor Fei Yang who was loved and hated, praised and denounced by all, came from the Idle Era Hall. [2. Reminder, I’m pretty sure Immortal Emperor Fei Yang is the emperor that stole/won over someone’s wife/fiancee.]
The Zenith Era Hall was the one that had the most talents out of the five halls. Of course, its requirements were very high. If the Idle Era Hall and the Grand Era Hall only required a paid tuition, then from the Zenith Era Hall onwards, one couldn’t get in without passing the basic requirements.
By passing the tests, anyone could join the Zenith Era Hall and would enjoy zero tuition fees.
Only the most exceptional disciples from the sects and nations entered the Zenith Era Hall. It could be said that this hall consisted of all the brilliant talents from the nations and sects in this world, so it cultivated many heaven-defying talents and invincible characters.
For instance, the Lion Monarch, Martial God, and Saber Ancestor were all from the Zenith Era Hall.
The name “Zenith” indicated its creed to reach the peak of a generation, thus its students really did become the bosses of their own generations.
The Sacred Era Hall was even more exceptional. The requirement was beyond stringent. If the students from the Zenith Era Hall were prodigies, then the ones from the Sacred Era Hall were prodigies amongst prodigies. The majority of its students were descendants from Immortal Emperor lineages or great sects and Ancient Kingdoms.
Many wonderful experts came from this hall. The strongest was Immortal Emperor Ta Kong, the last Immortal Emperor of the Emperors Era!