...Chapter 221: Running Away 1
The deeper the foundation, the faster one's cultivation progress will be afterward, and there won't be any obstacles!
If you ask about why Xianyao doesn’t continue to cultivate basic skills, it’s because everything has reached its peak; his body feels that the basic skills have reached a certain limit, and it’s time for him to break through. Xianyao doesn’t want to force himself into this stage of basic training when he arrives. Since he's here, let's make a breakthrough.
Xianyao didn't know that this was the most correct approach; don’t be too demanding, as being overly demanding won’t bring significant benefits but only delay time.
Others have never felt this way; they aim to break through. After cultivating to a certain level of basic skills, they start breaking through this stage of basic training.
The foundation is a difficult choice; it’s hard to find the right balance. If it’s too short, one won’t be solid enough and will slow down future cultivation progress. However, if it lasts too long either, it can also impede further progress.
Take Xianyao for example: He laid such a solid foundation; his future prospects are limitless, and he’ll be much faster than others. But the problem is that those exceptionally talented individuals have already reached the Imperial level at this point, while he’s still at the Scholar level. The difference isn’t just minor.
If martial arts were a long-distance race where everyone runs on this road from start to finish, Xianyao now runs faster than others. However, at this moment, others are nearly reaching their endpoints while he's just starting off.
No matter how fast Xianyao can run, it will take him a long time to catch up with others; by then, they might have already passed the endpoint and moved on to another one!
Even if there are still endpoints and paths ahead, the amount of time left might be over. If you're still behind at that point, all your preparations beforehand—the advantage of running faster than others—become worthless!!
This is why few people cultivate to this level of foundational skills as Xianyao has; this explains it!
Xianyao can catch up and surpass many now but may not be able to catch up with those geniuses.
If he hadn’t taken care of Chichi, Xianyao might have caught up with the geniuses in decades. But that would be after several decades!
Now Xianyao has to take care of Chichi and can only aim to catch up with those geniuses, but it's not difficult for him to surpass ordinary people; this is already quite good for Xianyao.
Xianyao never thought about becoming the best in the world. It’s normal for others to be stronger than him. Let them be strong, which has nothing to do with himself.
Xianyao cultivates only to surpass himself, for self-protection, not to surpass others or beat other people. Naturally, he doesn’t care who is stronger than him either.
Does one need to give up just because someone can't be surpassed How many people in this world would have to abandon their paths if they couldn’t do that; it almost includes the vast majority of people.
No matter what others do, not being influenced by them is how to better cultivate and surpass oneself. Then, naturally, one will surpass others at that time.
However, in this year and a half, Xianyao hasn’t relaxed his cultivation efforts; he’s been very diligent, which allowed him to quickly break through to the Scholar level and become an expert among the lower ranks of martial artists. This is also because he has taken many high-quality medicinal pills, allowing him to maintain such rapid progress.
High-grade medicinal pills are just about finding materials and making them for Xianyao; it’s not difficult for him. Not only does he have plenty of resources in the Sky Gate, even before that, he prepared a lot of high-quality pills for himself, enough to cultivate up to the King level.
There may not be such good medicinal pill supply as Xianyao has within the Sky Gate; even Dongfang Wunian can’t achieve this by eating high-grade medicinal pills every day.
This is why now Xianyao's cultivation speed, even with Chichi, can still match the geniuses' pace. However, to catch up with those geniuses, he still needs effort and a long way to go since his starting point is far behind others’.
"Xianyao, are you free today I have something urgent and want to ask for leave; can you cover my shift"
That day, Xianyao was sitting in the herb garden looking absent-minded. To outsiders, it seemed like he was spacing out, but actually, he was cultivating. He could cultivate at any time and under any condition, a special skill he has honed over the years.
Sitting idle on a chair now is too simple for him to be considered cultivation; even in very complex situations, he can still cultivate, let alone this extremely simple act of daydreaming.
When outsiders see Xianyao spacing out, they wouldn’t say anything. Currently, Xianyao’s status is quite different from others'; generally, no one would provoke him. The few who might want to won't bother such a minor figure as Xianyao. Besides, Xianyao has already finished all his work perfectly; how can you stop someone daydreaming when they’ve done their job so well
The person now looking for Xianyao wasn’t here to provoke him but to ask for help. Those who have interacted with Xianyao know he helps others do some tasks, and generally, helping cover a shift is no problem if Xianyao has the time.
This is also one of the reasons why people like Xianyao. Usually, those whom Xianyao covers shifts for would reciprocate by doing something for him in return; of course, there are some who just take and don’t give back. However, most people still have a fair exchange.
The person who asked for Xianyao to substitute was from the Heaven Gate's kitchen. Although Xianyao had swapped shifts with him before, they never prepared meals together since Xianyao didn't need his help. However, he could assist in preparing ingredients like washing and cutting vegetables.
Xianyao readily agreed to do it as he was free for the day or perhaps because he had already completed all of his tasks.
Soon after, Xianyao arrived at the kitchen and took over from the previous person. It seemed that today's task was cooking meals for the prisoners in their cells. Each sect has its own prison to detain enemies, traitors, or those who are outcasted.
Although it was prison food, the Heaven Gate didn't treat them too poorly by giving them leftovers. Of course, they wouldn't serve luxurious dishes either; simple meals were sufficient.
Xianyao prepared ordinary ingredients in large quantities since he would be cooking in big pots for many people, which wasn’t a challenge for him.
Surprised yet unsurprised by others’ gazes, Xianyao quickly got everything ready and finished within an hour what usually took a dozen people three hours to complete. Then at a remarkable speed, he cooked the dishes with color, aroma, and taste that impressed everyone.
"Let's go!" After finishing his tasks, Xianyao made some preparations for Dongfang Wuniang, had a quick meal himself, and left before others completed their work.
"Xianyao, could you help me deliver these meals to the Heavenly Prison" Perhaps someone didn't want to see Xianyao leave so soon from his shift.
"Sure!" After some thought, Xianyao agreed. He had never been inside the Heavenly Prison and wondered who was being detained there and whether he could find powerful individuals.
Stories often mentioned that prisons held many strong people; befriending them might bring him benefits, so why not take a chance
Xianyao carried this thought as he delivered the meals to the Heavenly Prison. This wasn't the most high-ranking prison but was simply called the Heavenly Prison due to its affiliation with Heaven Gate.
The Heavenly Prison didn’t allow just anyone inside, not even inner disciples without specific duties. For Xianyao, today might be a rare opportunity to explore.
But he quickly grew disheartened as there seemed to be no exceptional individuals of interest here, especially those deep within the prison where guards watched over them and delivery people were restricted from approaching.
If he tried to get closer, it would raise suspicion and cause trouble. Thus, Xianyao readily gave up on this idea.
He merely wanted to see if there were any extraordinary figures here, but that wasn’t a pressing need; hence, it wasn't worth creating problems for himself.
"Huh The meals today are delicious! They taste better than the fancy hotels I've visited!"
"Yes. How could such simple ingredients be so tasty"
"You don’t understand, true culinary skills shine through in basic materials!"
"This is even better than what I stole from the Tang Empire's imperial kitchen!"
...
The prisoners began to chatter about the improved quality of their meals. They asked the distribution worker how this happened and if there would be more.
The worker didn’t dare say anything, especially not in front of these inmates; he kept his distance.
More importantly, Xianyao was still around to explain it himself.
"That's all for today!" The extra meals were quickly snatched up.
"Damn! How could they be gone so soon"
The prisoners were upset that the food had run out, but their complaints fell on deaf ears. No one was going to cook another meal for them.
As Xianyao prepared to leave, he suddenly stopped in his tracks due to a very interesting discovery involving someone who caught him by surprise. (To be continued)ons deepened; he seemed to understand why he asked this question—perhaps something related would happen when he went to Eastern Europe.The old man, oblivious to Xiaoyao's thoughts, continued: "As for...