The Oldest Disciple: Farming Intimacy to Become Immortal

Li Meng shook his head, a wry smile touching his lips.

“I have no idea.”

He had cultivated for over sixty years, yet for most of that time, he had rarely stepped foot outside his own Sect. Apart from knowing that they resided on the Tianlan Continent, his knowledge of the wider world was a blank slate.

Lu Zimo gazed up at the azure sky, her eyes reflecting the endless expanse.

“After the Ancient Heavenly Court collapsed, the Primordial World shattered into countless fragments,” she explained, her voice carrying the weight of ancient history. “Among them, the four great continent realms are the most vast: the East Victory Divine Continent, the West Oxen Continent, the South Jambu Continent, and the North Kuru Continent.”

She gestured vaguely at the horizon. “The remaining smaller fragments became various blessed lands and paradises. Our Tianlan Continent is merely a sub-continent within the domain of the East Victory Divine Continent—specifically, a subordinate territory of the Liuxia Continent.”

She turned her gaze back to Li Meng. “There are five other sub-continents like ours under Liuxia’s jurisdiction. And Liuxia itself? It is but one of seven major continents that make up the East Victory Divine Continent.”

Li Meng listened in silence, absorbing the scale of it.

“The Luck of a sub-continent is too thin to easily nurture a Soul Formation cultivator,” Lu Zimo continued, her tone turning grave. “That is why the major Sects from the main continents establish lower branches here. They compete to harvest the Luck of these sub-continents. Your Joyous Union Sect… its upper sect is the Yin Yang Dao Extremity Sect of the Liuxia Continent. One day, the Joyous Union Sect will likely return to the fold.”

The Yin Yang Dao Extremity Sect?

A thoughtful expression crossed Li Meng’s face.

The world was truly vast. Terrifyingly so.

Did he yearn for those boundless horizons?

Not in the slightest.

If he could stay at home and cultivate in peace, Li Meng would never leave his doorstep. The infinite majesty of the outside world had nothing to do with him.

“Senior Brother,” Lu Zimo said, turning to face him fully. She bowed deeply, her hands cupped in a formal salute. “If fate allows, we shall meet again.”

Li Meng returned the salute with equal solemnity. “Junior Sister. We shall meet again.”

Meetings were brief; partings were inevitable.

Lu Zimo harnessed the wind. She soared upward, her silhouette graceful against the sun. With her robes fluttering around her curvaceous form, she looked like a celestial maiden ascending to the heavens—a breathtaking sight.

As she became a speck in the distance, a thought struck Li Meng.

“Junior Sister! Is that your real name?” he shouted, his voice amplified by spiritual power.

Lu Zimo paused, looking back over her shoulder. A faint, genuine smile graced her lips, melting the ice of her usual demeanor.

“It is real! I am Lu Zimo!”

Her voice—clear, cold, yet vibrant—echoed between heaven and earth, ringing in Li Meng’s ears long after she turned away.

He stood at the cliff’s edge, watching until she vanished completely into the horizon. Only then did he withdraw his gaze.

“Will we meet again?”

Li Meng narrowed his eyes, idly stroking his beard.

Even if fate did have plans for a reunion, it would likely be centuries from now. Lu Zimo was clearly not a cultivator of the Tianlan Continent; her knowledge of the outside world was too detailed, too personal.

He shook his head, dismissing the melancholy. It was time for business.

Li Meng flicked his sleeve.

Thump.

A massive body hit the dirt. The Yellow Sand King, the giant scorpion demon, lay before him.

“Why did you release me?”

The creature shook itself off. Compared to its previous miserable state, it had made a full recovery. Its golden pupils darted around before settling on Li Meng with a glare.

Li Meng looked at the beast with a pleasant, merchant-like smile.

“Let’s discuss a transaction.”

The Yellow Sand King instinctively skittered back two steps.

This human was a monster. The Sword Nurturing Gourd at his waist held terrifying secrets. Was he planning to silence a witness?

“No! This Lord likes your gourd very much,” the scorpion hissed, clicking its pincers. “This Lord isn’t going anywhere!”

The smile vanished from Li Meng’s face instantly.

The Sword Nurturing Gourd was filled with spiritual plants, Talismans, and medicinal liquids. The Dao Rhyme leaking from the Divine Firmament Talismans and the dense spiritual power were like refined ambrosia to a demon beast. It was the ultimate cultivation environment.

Li Meng looked the creature up and down, his gaze turning cold and calculating.

“Since you don’t know what’s good for you, you can serve as materials for my artifact refining instead.”

The Yellow Sand King’s pupils contracted to pinpoints. Its massive carapace rattled as it retreated again, its pincers waving frantically.

“Don’t! Don’t! You haven’t even said what the deal is! You… you say it first, and this Lord will consider it!”

Li Meng’s expression softened slightly, though his eyes remained sharp. “You still can’t take human form?”

“Not yet. I’m lacking a critical step.”

“Go become the local Land God of the Qi Kingdom.”

“No!” The scorpion stomped a leg. “This Lord vows never to be a slave!”

“A deity sustained by incense and worship is not a slave.”

“Anyway, no! This Lord would rather die than stare at meat I can’t eat.”

Li Meng raised a single finger.

“One second-grade Divine Firmament Talisman Treasure: the ‘Wind Riding Talisman’.”

The Yellow Sand King’s massive frame shuddered. It froze, its golden eyes locking onto Li Meng.

“Re… really?”

“Naturally.”

Hesitation flickered in the beast’s eyes. It began to pace in circles, anxious like an ant on a hot pan.

A Divine Firmament Talisman Treasure. If it could study the Heaven and Earth Dao Rhyme contained within, it might finally comprehend the laws needed to attain enlightenment and take human form.

“If you can protect a region and fulfill the duties of a god,” Li Meng added casually, “when I break through to the Golden Core stage in the future, I will bestow upon you a third-grade Divine Firmament Talisman Treasure.”

Third-grade?

The Yellow Sand King stopped spinning. It scurried right up to Li Meng’s face.

“Seriously?”

Li Meng chuckled, smoothing his beard. “Seriously.”

“You… you’re lying! Divine Firmament Talismans are impossibly hard to refine, let alone Talisman Treasures.”

“You’ve lived inside the Sword Nurturing Gourd. You’ve seen my inventory. Why doubt me now?”

“That’s true… but how does this Lord know you aren’t tricking me? You human cultivators are deceitful by nature.”

“I don’t deceive people.”

“This Lord doesn’t believe you!”

“Fine.” Li Meng’s face went stone cold. “Then you shall be my artifact refining material.”

He raised his sleeve, spiritual power surging to suck the scorpion back into the gourd.

“Stop! Stop!”

The Yellow Sand King shrieked, glaring angrily. “Why is your killing intent so heavy? You’re more demonic than a devil cultivator! More ferocious than a beast! Fine… This Lord believes you, alright? But don’t you dare trick me. If you do, this Lord will eat every human in my territory. Even if I’m destroyed, I won’t let you off easy!”

A flicker of surprise passed through Li Meng’s eyes.

Not stupid.

Although the beast hadn’t taken human form, its intellect was fully awakened. It even understood how to use karma as a threat.

If the Yellow Sand King became a Land God because of Li Meng, a karmic link would be forged. If the scorpion slaughtered mortals, Li Meng would suffer the backlash of that karma.

“You have some brains after all,” Li Meng said, extending a hand. “Hand it over.”

The Yellow Sand King blinked. “What?”

Li Meng smiled, the expression that of a landlord collecting rent.

“You’ve been the Sand King of the desert for a long time. You must have slaughtered quite a few high-level Demon Beasts. Since their parts are useless to you, give them to me. Oh, and your shed shells. I’ll use them to refine a Talisman Treasure specifically for you—a life-bound item. Suitable, no?”

The Yellow Sand King’s eyes lit up.

This human had skills. Using its own shed shell to make a treasure? That would be incredibly compatible. It was getting a huge bargain.

“Here… take it!”

The scorpion opened its maw and hacked up a Storage Bag coated in thick, viscous slime.

Li Meng grimaced. He flicked his sleeve, and a burst of water-blue spiritual power erupted. A pressurized stream blasted the Storage Bag, scrubbing it for a good while until it was sparkling clean.

Only then did he reach out with his Divine Sense to probe the contents.

A satisfied smile curled his lips.

“So, the greatest harvest from this trip to the Western Region lies here.”

The Storage Bag was stuffed to the brim with Demon Beast hides and skeletons.

And not trash, either. They were uniformly fourth and fifth-grade materials.

Demon Beasts in the wild hunted each other constantly. Anything below the third grade would be eaten bone and all. Only the tough, indigestible hides and bones of fourth and fifth-grade beasts would be left behind—discarded by the gluttonous, but carefully hoarded by the Yellow Sand King.

Now, they all belonged to Li Meng.