Why Aren’t You Cultivating Immortality? (GL) Chapter 1

The weather in H City changed whenever it pleased. One moment the sky was clear for miles; the next, rain poured down in sheets. Raindrops hammered against car windows, cutting visibility to less than two meters. Hazard lights blinked all along the road, turning traffic into one long line. Then thunder cracked through the sky, so loud it made people shiver in fear.
On the twenty-eighth floor of the tallest building in Yonghua Gardens, the best residential complex in the city center, a woman stood before the window with her arms folded. Her long black hair spilled loose, falling smoothly over her shoulders. In her cold eyes, the scene in the distant clouds was reflected.
A woman in a moon-white Daoist robe stood there, a misty white shield glowing around her. She spread her arms, ready to face the lightning tribulation.
If she remembered correctly, this was that cultivator’s one thousandth tribulation. If she failed this time, she would not be reduced to a mortal again. She would return to chaos, her soul scattered beyond recovery.
“This world does not allow cultivators to become immortals.” A trace of pity passed through the woman’s cold eyes. She sighed softly, and her divine sense passed through the rain curtain, rising straight into the nine heavens.
As an executor of the Heavenly Dao, bringing down tribulations was one of her duties. Looking at Bai Moqing, she summoned the tribulation clouds. Within them lay the power of eighty-one immortal ascension bolts.
The thunderclouds gathered above Bai Moqing’s head. Boom. The first bolt, Body Cleansing, struck her with perfect aim. Cracks appeared in the misty white shield. It trembled, then quickly repaired itself.
The second bolt, Fate Breaking, followed close behind. Bai Moqing took it with ease.
At the eighteenth bolt, a fierce indigo light shattered the shield. In that instant, Bai Moqing brought out the Heaven-Shattering Cauldron and used it to block the tribulation.
Bolt after bolt fell, giving her no chance to breathe. Spiritual energy in this world was thin. Bai Moqing had struggled so hard to reach the Immortal Transformation stage, yet no matter what she did, she could not survive this immortal ascension tribulation.
After she endured eighty bolts, the thunderclouds collapsed. A wheel of purple light appeared. That was the final tribulation. Bai Moqing, with only half a life left, looked up at the purple cloud with hope in her eyes. The final bolt. If she could endure this one, she could transform into an immortal, leave this world, and go to the immortal realm.
Legend said the immortal realm was vast beyond measure, rich with spiritual energy. Once someone became an immortal, she could travel through any realm.
Lightning flashed. Thunder roared. The wind screamed, and the rain grew even heavier. No pedestrians remained on the ground. Every car had stopped where it was. Inside their cars, people had the heat on but still trembled. Their phones showed no signal, and no messages would go through. Looking out the windows, they could only guess the signal would recover once the rain stopped.
Rumble, rumble. The final bolt brewed for a moment, then struck Bai Moqing with the force to smash dead wood and rotten branches.
In an instant, the Heaven-Shattering Cauldron was blasted into powder, then vanished with the scattered force of the tribulation.
It was Bai Moqing’s life-bound magic artifact. If it cracked, it could be mended. If it broke, it could be repaired. But if it vanished…
Bai Moqing smiled bitterly. In the end, she still could not survive the immortal ascension tribulation. Her body swayed. The force holding her up disappeared at once, and she fell uncontrollably toward the earth.
The wind howled beside her ears. Rain mercilessly soaked her body. Her life force slowly dispersed, and her consciousness drifted away from her body. Bai Moqing knew she would return to chaos, merging with the air, dissolving into water, or mixing into the yellow earth.
She spread her arms and accepted this ending.
Yet in the end, she was still unwilling. Her heart could not be at peace.
If I could start over, I would never cultivate immortality again. I would carry half-immortal power and live like a mortal, free and easy, until the end of my life.
Unfortunately, she had no chance left.
Suddenly, her body fell into something soft. Bai Moqing could not open her eyes, nor could she use her divine sense to look around. Only a faint feeling remained in her body. She felt someone catch her. That person raised a finger and pressed it to the bone between her brows. A warm current slowly flowed in from that spot.
Bai Moqing felt the power of life. She merged into all things, then separated from them again. Life force gathered at her spiritual platform, and her transparent, blurry soul slowly grew clear.
Before she lost consciousness again, a clean, clear voice, cool as water yet gentle, sounded by her ear. “You will be fine.” Warm breath brushed over her, carrying the faint scent of orchids.
Then all things returned to silence, and Bai Moqing fainted.
The rain gradually eased. Traffic in H City recovered. Pedestrians who had taken shelter walked out with umbrellas. Before long, the clouds scattered, the sun came out, and the sky was clear again.
Bai Moqing slowly woke. Before she opened her eyes, the sharp smell of disinfectant rushed into her chest. She moved her head and looked around blankly.
Pale blue privacy curtains. Clean white bedding. The constant beeping of machines came from every direction. Was this a hospital?
She looked down at her clothes. Her moon-white Daoist robe had turned back into an ordinary shirt and long pants.
How did I end up in a hospital?
Footsteps, so soft they were almost inaudible, came closer. Bai Moqing raised her eyes just as the curtain was pulled aside.
A woman with a gentle face walked in wearing a white coat. One look was enough to tell she was a doctor. Bai Moqing lowered her brows and studied her without speaking.
White shirt, white coat, black suit pants, white flats. Hair past the shoulders. No spiritual energy on her body.
“You’re awake? This is the hospital. I saw you lying by the roadside on my way to work, so I brought you here.” The female doctor spoke in a warm, calm voice that matched her appearance.
She walked to the bedside and said, “I’ll check your heart.” Without waiting for Bai Moqing to agree, she put on her stethoscope, bent down, and pressed the chest piece to Bai Moqing’s chest.
After carefully listening to Bai Moqing’s heartbeat and breathing, she straightened and said, “It sounds fine.”
Seeing Bai Moqing press her lips together without speaking, she put away the stethoscope and said, “Since you’re awake, go get a routine blood test. Then we’ll do a cardiac CT to check your heart.” She tucked the coiled stethoscope back into her pocket. “Have you had any past illnesses?”
Bai Moqing shook her head. Her gaze fell on the left side of the doctor’s chest, where an ID badge hung. H City Second People’s Hospital. Xue Shichu. Neurologist.
Noticing Bai Moqing looking at her badge, Xue Shichu instinctively looked down at it too, then raised her head and said, “Can you get out of bed? If you can’t, I’ll help you register and pay the fee.” She tugged at her coat.
Bai Moqing withdrew her gaze, sat up, and said, “Thank you. I’m fine now.”
From the look of it, she planned to leave the hospital. Xue Shichu stepped back. “If you suddenly fainted by the roadside, there must be something wrong with your body. If we don’t check it clearly, next time you may not be so lucky.”
Bai Moqing put on her shoes and stood. “Thank you. I’m fine. I was just too tired.”
Xue Shichu was tall. Even in flats, she was one meter seventy-six. Bai Moqing was slightly shorter, about one meter seventy-four with her shoes on.
“Overwork can easily cause sudden cardiac arrest, which can lead to sudden death.” Standing face to face, Xue Shichu looked closely into Bai Moqing’s eyes and found them black as ink. These days, very few people had eyes that were pure black.
Staring into her eyes felt like staring into a whirlpool, as if her soul were being drawn in.
Xue Shichu turned her head to avoid her gaze, then looked back and said, “Make sure you rest. If your body feels wrong, you must come to the hospital in time.”
Doctor-patient relations were tense these days, so Xue Shichu stepped aside and did not intend to force her to stay for tests.
Bai Moqing nodded. “All right. Thank you, Dr. Xue.” She turned and lifted the curtain to leave. Behind her, Xue Shichu suddenly called out, “Wait. Leave your name and phone number.”
Bai Moqing turned back. After a moment of hesitation, she said, “Bai Moqing. I don’t have a phone.”
Xue Shichu did not question her claim. She took a blue sticky-note pad from her pocket, quickly wrote down her name and number, tore off the note, and handed it over. “This is my number. You can contact me anytime.”
On the small piece of paper, the three words Xue Shichu were written with firm, powerful strokes, carrying a faint scent of ink. When Xue Shichu had been writing, Bai Moqing had noticed she was using a fountain pen.
Bai Moqing tucked the note into her pants pocket and thanked her again. “Thank you. If something happens, I’ll trouble you, Dr. Xue.” She dipped her head slightly in farewell.
The smell of disinfectant filled every corner. After leaving the ward, Bai Moqing did not immediately leave the hospital. She looked both ways down the corridor, then went to the restroom.
There were people inside. Bai Moqing slowly washed her hands at the sink. When everyone else had left, she focused and used her divine sense to inspect her body.
Her soul was whole. Her life force was strong. Only… her cultivation seemed to have lost more than half.
By her ear, that gentle voice suddenly sounded again. “You will be fine.”
Bai Moqing frowned. As far as she knew, the other cultivators in this world were far below her in cultivation. Only she had reached the stage of undergoing tribulation and transforming into an immortal. Who had the ability to save her?
When she first saw Xue Shichu, Bai Moqing had thought Xue Shichu might be the person who saved her. But the moment Xue Shichu spoke her first word, Bai Moqing knew it was not her.
Could it be some powerful cultivator who did not want to reveal her name?
Or perhaps she had not undergone the tribulation at all?
Bai Moqing closed her eyes and shifted her form with a divine thought. The air rippled faintly. Half a second later, when she opened her eyes again, she was back home.
After leaving the hospital, the air no longer held that unpleasant smell of disinfectant. Bai Moqing walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked up at the sky.
The sun was bright. White clouds drifted lazily. Except for the puddles on the ground showing that heavy rain had fallen earlier, she could not see the slightest trace of the lightning tribulation. It was almost as if she had never undergone a tribulation today.
She raised her hand. A green glow appeared in her palm. Bai Moqing looked at it. She could not summon the Heaven-Shattering Cauldron, nor could she sense it. Everything proved that she had undergone the tribulation, and she had failed.
But her body had not perished, and her soul had not fallen. She had not returned to chaos. She was still alive. Aside from losing cultivation and losing her life-bound magic artifact, she was alive and well.
At the space between her brows, the warmth of that person’s fingertip seemed to remain. Bai Moqing lifted her hand to touch it, closed her eyes, and traced that person’s movement in her mind.
Did she spend her own cultivation to save me?
Remembering what she had thought while dying, Bai Moqing smiled faintly and lowered her hand. Perhaps it had all been an illusion. Perhaps Heaven had taken pity on her, pitying her for failing to become an immortal a thousand times, and had given her a chance to be a mortal.
She sighed softly. “Since I’m still alive, I’ll be a mortal. I won’t cultivate immortality anymore.” She closed her palm, and with that motion, the green glow disappeared.
Then came a whole series of problems about being a mortal.
Bai Moqing had cultivated for too long. She had already forgotten how to be a mortal. She had no friends and no family. Across the long years, other than cultivating, she had only undergone tribulations.
And mortals…
Bai Moqing looked at the hurried figures in the distance. They rushed around for life, and for life they felt joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. Her heart could not help feeling a little lost. Do I have to become like that too?
She turned to look at the quiet room. There was not the slightest breath of ordinary life here. The kitchen stood unused. Since buying this apartment, she had never gone into it once. The television was only decoration and had never been turned on. She only used the bathroom and the bedroom, and even then, only to bathe and sit cross-legged on the bed to cultivate.
No computer. No phone. No communication tools of any kind. No transportation either. To find people, she relied on divine sense. To travel, she relied on divine thought.
If she wanted to be a mortal, she had to change everything and blend in among them.
Thinking of the immortal ascension tribulation she had failed a thousand times, being a mortal should be much easier.
After spending several days preparing everything she might need, Bai Moqing held her phone and began considering the next step: finding a job.
She closed her eyes and used divine thought to search for places that needed people. To her surprise, everywhere needed people…
Her divine sense swept across all of H City and finally landed on a tall building. Bai Moqing softly read the large gilded characters on the glass wall, written with bold, sweeping strokes: Xiao Group.
She opened her eyes. She had a target.
Just as she chose where to go, her phone suddenly vibrated. The words Dr. Xue jumped onto the screen. Bai Moqing looked at them and frowned, a trace of hesitation on her face.
When the call was about to hang up automatically, Bai Moqing tapped answer, put the phone to her ear, and said, “Dr. Xue.”
Yesterday, after she bought her phone and walked out of the store, she happened to run into Xue Shichu on the street. Beside Xue Shichu stood a tall, handsome man with styled brown hair parted in the middle. The two of them looked very well matched.
When Xue Shichu saw Bai Moqing, she actually left the man behind and quickly walked over to her. After exchanging a few polite words and seeing the phone in Bai Moqing’s hand, she took the number Bai Moqing had obtained less than five minutes earlier.
As Xue Shichu took off her coat, she said, “Moqing, let’s have dinner together tonight.”
The sudden intimate way she addressed her made Bai Moqing’s heart skip. After a moment of thought, Bai Moqing refused her. “No. I have something to do.” She hung up, put the phone on the side table, and gazed into the distance through the window.
She glanced at the phone’s dark screen. After thinking for a while, she picked it up again and called Xue Shichu back.