Longevity Starts With Dual Cultivation - Chapter 1

Yuzhou.

Located in a relatively remote area of the vast continent, Yuzhou lies at the southernmost edge, bordering the boundless and endless ocean.

Across the dark blue sea, islands of various sizes are scattered like stars.

Some of the larger islands, blessed with abundant spiritual energy and beautiful environments, have developed over long years into densely populated areas. They now boast cities, towns, villages, ports, Markets, trading companies, taverns, and brothels, all fully equipped.

Due to the abundant resources in the ocean and the occasional emergence of ancient cave dwellings and relics, numerous cultivators and merchant guilds have flocked here, establishing long-term stays.

Over years of development, the region has become a melting pot, with various sects and families standing side by side.

Zen Heart Island spans a thousand miles.

The island is home to over a dozen towns of varying sizes, numerous villages, and millions of mortal inhabitants. Along with the spiritual veins blessed lands, mineral deposits, local specialties, and the surrounding subsidiary islands, it all belongs to the territory of the Ling family, a cultivation clan.

At noon, the scorching sun beat down on the dark reefs along the shore. Several massive sea vessels, each over a hundred zhang long, were moored together. The sea breeze stirred fiercely, causing the bulky hulls to sway gently with the surging tides.

On the spacious foredeck, Ling Zifeng, the Ling family’s external affairs steward, stood with his hands behind his back, his face dark as he stared silently at the undulating sea for a long time.

The surrounding servants, aware that the steward was in a foul mood, wisely kept their distance, none daring to approach and invite trouble.

Ling Zifeng’s gaze pierced through the cold seawater, faintly discerning human-shaped figures moving among the countless reefs at the bottom. These were the family’s pearl divers, equipped with talismans for underwater breathing.

The task of collecting two thousand Jade Crystal Winterglow Pearls was no easy feat. Ling Zifeng had mobilized all the pearl divers from the family’s territory, and after more than ten days of arduous work, they had gathered less than half. In the process, over twenty pearl divers had lost their lives.

However, this was a task personally assigned by the Ling family head. No matter how difficult or dangerous, Ling Zifeng dared not neglect it. He could only fiercely pressure these unfortunate pearl divers to continue risking their lives underwater.

In the steward’s eyes, the deaths were trivial; if the family head’s plans were delayed, his own troubles would be far greater.

In the eyes of the entire Ling family, the new head was notoriously difficult to serve.

In the dim depths of the water, Ling Changqing struggled to emerge from a narrow crevice between several large reefs. He cautiously scanned his surroundings, ensuring no other pearl divers were nearby, before slowly swimming out.

The young man in a blue robe, with delicate features and eyes as dark as lacquer, clenched a short knife between his teeth. The talisman for underwater breathing pressed against his chest emitted a faint golden glow. In his hands, he tightly gripped a silver-meshed net containing a sea clam the size of a human head, faintly shimmering with a golden-red hue.

The sea clam exuded a faint aura of malevolence. Its shell was sealed with a glowing talisman, and the silver-meshed net, a low-grade artifact, worked together to firmly restrain it, rendering it immobile. With a calm expression, Ling Changqing surveyed his surroundings once more, ensuring no envious pearl divers would come to snatch his harvest. Only then did he push off completely from the reef and accelerate toward the sea surface.

As Ling Changqing broke through the water, a patrol boat nearby immediately noticed the disturbance. Two servant oarsmen promptly rowed over to retrieve him.

“…Young Master Ling, quite fortunate today, aren’t you?” an elderly servant remarked with undisguised envy.

“Just luck,” Ling Changqing replied with a light smile, offering no further explanation. He sat cross-legged and began meditating silently, still clutching the silver-wire net tightly against his chest.

Though the sea surface for dozens of miles fell under the supervising elder’s watchful gaze after surfacing, making open theft impossible, caution never hurt. Whether from corporate intrigue in his past life or familial scheming in this one, Ling Changqing had learned never to place faith in human nature. Thus, he remained perpetually vigilant to avoid being outmaneuvered.

Among those who had permanently remained on the seabed these past days were several unfortunates secretly eliminated by their own companions. Because the supervising elder never intervened in underwater disputes, only harvests successfully brought to the surface were considered legitimately claimed.

Seeing the composed young man showed no intention to continue conversing, the two servants fell silent, rowing the boat toward the large ship anchored a hundred zhang away.

Approaching the vessel, seasoned sailors deftly lowered a rope ladder. Ling Changqing grasped it and nimbly climbed onto the foredeck.

Six or seven pearl divers had already returned to the deck, each holding a silver-wire net containing one to three sea clams. They waited with anxious expressions as Ling Changqing scanned them. Having been immersed in frigid waters for extended periods, his companions appeared drained and disheveled.

After all, deep-sea pearl diving demanded tremendous physical exertion. Combined with the clams’ innate wariness and elusiveness, even cultivators found prolonged searches unbearable despite their enhanced endurance.

Under Ling Zifeng’s watchful eyes, a burly man in blue robes, possessing fourth-level Qi refining cultivation, stepped forward. Wielding a gleaming slender battle blade, he extracted a clam from a silver-wire net, expertly pried open the sturdy shell, and plunged his blade deep.

Amid shrill screeches, Ling Changqing felt a faint stinging sensation in his mind, the clam’s death throes, capable of seriously threatening ordinary souls but ineffective against cultivators.

The surrounding pearl divers instinctively held their breath, watching unblinkingly as the Ling clansman sliced through the soft flesh inside the shell and extracted a smooth, thumb-sized pearl.

Under sunlight, the pearl revealed a serene sapphire-blue hue interlaced with delicate dark-gold patterns, emitting an enchanting, dreamlike radiance.

This was the Jade Crystal Winterglow Pearl, a crucial ingredient for refining certain elixir pills. With consistently high market demand, its trading price had been steadily climbing in recent years.

“Excellent…” The pearl diver who harvested that sea clam was a lean, wiry man in his thirties. When he saw the pearl extracted from the shell, he breathed a sigh of relief, today’s ordeal was finally over.

Not every sea clam nurtured a Jade Crystal Winterglow Pearl, nor did every pearl meet the required quality. Whether a diver could obtain a satisfactory harvest depended entirely on his luck and fortune.

“Steward…”

The burly man in blue respectfully presented the pearl to Ling Zifeng.

Ling Zifeng nodded, taking the Jade Crystal Winterglow Pearl. His gaze shifted to the lean man, and a hint of warmth crept into his haughty tone: “Not bad. You may rest today and dive again tomorrow.”

“Y-yes! Thank you, Steward!”

The lean man beamed with joy, bowing repeatedly in gratitude, while the surrounding divers cast envious and resentful glances his way.

According to custom, he would not only receive a lavish meal tonight but also a reward of twenty spirit sand grains, a rather generous compensation.

If such pleasant surprises repeated a few more times, accumulating a hundred spirit sand grains would allow him to exchange for one standard low-grade spirit stone, the universal hard currency of this world, an indispensable cultivation resource for all practitioners.

After the man departed, the burly man in blue resumed his work. This time, however, luck was not on the diver’s side, the opened clam shell was empty, with no trace of a Jade Crystal Winterglow Pearl.

“H-how… how could this be…”

The elderly diver with graying hair and a deeply wrinkled face looked ashen, his eyes betraying unmistakable panic.

“Hmph! Useless old fool! This is the third time!”

The burly man’s expression turned icy as he stood and delivered a heavy slap.

Smack! The diver’s cheek swelled visibly, and a trickle of crimson blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

“Sir, I… I truly…”

Clutching his face, the diver trembled as he pleaded.

The surrounding divers remained silent. This was the rule set by the Steward: failing once or twice was tolerable, but returning empty-handed three times in a row inevitably invited harsh scolding and a brutal beating.

In the Steward’s eyes, these lowly divers raised by the family were mere tools and slaves, not worthy of being treated as human beings. They could be disposed of as he saw fit.

“Get out! Go back and keep searching! If you don’t bring back a pearl today, you worthless old man, don’t bother returning!”

The burly man snarled. Two attendants wordlessly stepped forward and dragged away the pleading diver without another thought.

Ling Changqing sighed inwardly, tightening his grip on the net in his hand. He was certain his sea clam contained a Jade Crystal Winterglow Pearl, so the same fate would not befall him.

As the burly man worked diligently, one sea clam after another was opened. Divers who found pearls naturally beamed with joy, while those who didn’t inevitably faced scowls or even being dragged away for a whipping.

Soon, it was Ling Changqing’s turn. When the artifact blade sliced through the clam’s soft flesh, a glistening, perfectly round Jade Crystal Winterglow Pearl appeared before everyone’s eyes, just as expected.

“Another pearl of fine quality…”

“What luck…”

“That kid… he’s been like this for several days in a row. His luck is really good!”

“Ah, why don’t I have such luck?”

“That’s his genuine skill, alright…”

…

The murmurs of the surrounding pearl divers naturally didn’t affect Ling Changqing in the slightest.

With a composed expression, he bowed respectfully to Ling Zifeng, then untied a small leather pouch from his waist and presented it, saying softly:

“These are a few stalks of Cloud Pearl Grass I happened to find in that underwater cave. They’re just trivial little things, but I hope you won’t disdain them, Steward!”

Ling Zifeng raised an eyebrow slightly, taking the pouch with some surprise. When he opened it and saw four palm-length, intact dark red Cloud Pearl Grass stalks inside, a smile immediately appeared on his face.

Cloud Pearl Grass comes from the seabed and can be used to refine Qi-replenishing and Blood-nourishing Pills as spiritual medicine. Though it’s only a low-grade spiritual herb and not particularly rare, nobody would complain about having more resources.

Given Ling Zifeng’s status, he certainly didn’t lack such minor benefits, but Ling Changqing’s thoughtful attitude made him feel quite pleased.

Cultivation isn’t just about fighting and killing, it’s also about human relationships and worldly affairs.

Weighing the pearls in his hand, the steward looked at Ling Changqing with much softer eyes and said with a smile: “You’ve been performing quite well these past few days. Well then, this time you can have thirty spirit sands. Keep up the good work!”

“Thank you, Steward!”

Ling Changqing’s face appropriately showed an expression of profound gratitude. After bowing once more, he took his leave.

At this, the expressions of the pearl divers present grew even more envious. Several individuals stared gloomily at the departing figure of the blue-robed youth, remaining silent.

Ling Changqing was well aware of this, but he didn’t mind, this was exactly what he had intended.

Returning to the temporary cabin that belonged to him inside the ship, Ling Changqing quietly checked the hidden mark he’d left on the door. Confirming it hadn’t been disturbed, he opened the door and entered.

After locking the door from inside, Ling Changqing tidied up briefly. He removed the Water-repelling Talisman from his chest and stored it safely, then changed into dry clothes.

Seeing that there was still some time before the meal, Ling Changqing thought for a moment and decided to meditate to recover his half-depleted stamina. He turned and sat down on the bed.

As his spiritual sense turned inward, a sphere of watery, luminous radiance appeared within his body, enveloping an exquisitely crafted palace. An aura of majestic depth, profound solitude, and lofty grandeur washed over him.

This indescribable exotic treasure was the key reason why Ling Changqing had crossed time and space half a year ago to arrive in this vast world.