Chapter 680: The Lifespan of Cultivators
Chen Yan was actually still at the Kongshan Sect right now, something Yun Yichen had never expected at all.
Earlier today, he had personally witnessed the Steward of Chenping Continent arrive to pay his respects at the memorial for Patriarch Kong's fall, and shortly afterward, the true helm of the Kongshan Sect, Supreme Martial Pacification Elder He Zongzhou, had personally escorted this Realman Du Cang to the sect's Supreme Martial Pacification Court.
After meeting with Supreme Martial Pacification Elder He, he still hadn't left the Kongshan Sect, but instead had come to Kongyuan Mountain.
Actually, that in itself was entirely irrelevant.
But the most critical thing was that just now, in the Kongyuan Hall, when Yun Yichen had been analyzing the situation the Kongshan Sect would face after Patriarch Kong's fall, he had mentioned Chen Yan's name.
To directly call out the birth name of an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator like that, even if only spoken behind his back, was highly disrespectful.
And even worse, the man himself had heard it with his own ears.
Yun Yichen in the Kongyuan Hall, upon seeing the handsome young man in a plain white daoist robe with a calm, carefree expression, shot up from his chair as if launched by a spring, instantly straightening his body before respectfully bowing in Chen Yan's direction with cupped hands:
"It was Yun's disrespect, I beg True Person Chen to punish me!"
This current Sect Leader of the Kongshan Sect appeared extremely alarmed.
At the same time, Yun Yichen's six disciples standing in the Kongyuan Hall all bowed toward Chen Yan in unison with cupped hands:
"We pay our respects to True Person Chen!"
Chen Yan, receiving such courtesy, showed no change in expression, as if all of this was only natural.
And indeed, it was only natural.
As the current Steward of Chenping Continent, no matter where Chen Yan went, he received this kind of treatment, and he had long since grown accustomed to it.
"Rest assured, Sect Leader Yun. Chen Yan has always been my full name. Why would I be angry at being called by my full name?"
Chen Yan spoke in a calm tone, then paused for a brief moment.
"Besides, back then I became acquainted with the Kongshan Sect when I was still at my humblest. Everyone in this hall gave me plenty of guidance back when I was still merely a cultivator of the Lower Three Realms."
As he spoke, Chen Yan's gaze settled on the only radiant female cultivator in the Du Cang Hall wearing the daoist robes of Kongyuan Mountain:
"Don't you agree, Aunt-Master Liu?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Yantang was momentarily stunned, then hurriedly bowed toward Chen Yan once more:
"True Person jokes. Yantang cannot bear such an address from you."
Liu Yantang was now nearly a hundred years old, and her cultivation had already reached the late-stage Myriad Transformations Realm. Among Yun Yichen's six disciples, apart from his chief disciple Zhong Yin, Liu Yantang was the only one with real hope of breaking through to the upper three realms.
Although her appearance looked no different from the sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl she had been when Chen Yan first met her, Liu Yantang's eyes and personality had undergone tremendous changes.
She was no longer that young girl with a maiden's heart, but had become far more composed and steady.
Especially after Liu Yantang began serving as the Dignity Elder of Kongyuan Mountain, the more responsibilities she shouldered, the faster she grew.
As for what Chen Yan had just said about their acquaintance from humble beginnings.
In truth, among the seven Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators who had emerged after the revival of the immortal path on Chenping Continent, the pasts of Realman Du Cang Chen Yan, Pure Dust True Person Qiu Siruo, and True Person Caiyun Kong Yang needed no further elaboration.
The backgrounds of the other four Immortal Ascension cultivators, before they recovered their past-life memories and cultivation, were also quite varied.
For instance, Realman Lingxuan, Gu Jing, had been an elder at an unremarkable second-rate cultivation sect in the Southern Region of Chenping Continent before recovering his Immortal Ascension cultivation.
And Realman Sun-Eroding, Liang Huan of the Mirage Palace, had served as a Grand Elder at a top-tier sect in the Eastern Domain of Chenping Continent.
But after they recovered their cultivation and returned to the Immortal Ascension Realm, these great powers of the Immortal Ascension Realm had almost zero interaction with their former cultivation sects.
They certainly had their own masters and colleagues in the sects where they had once belonged.
But did they still maintain any connection with the sects where they had lived and cultivated in their current lifetimes?
The answer was no.
Not even the slightest trace.
Moreover, neither the second-rate cultivation sect in the Southern Region where Gu Jing had been, nor the top-tier sect in the Eastern Domain where Liang Huan had been, would ever use these two True Persons' banners to do anything.
After all, for the reincarnated bodies of Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators, having once been subordinate to others and ordered around was actually a rather humiliating affair.
Returning to the present.
Chen Yan shifted his gaze to Yun Yichen:
"I have some matters I'd like to discuss with Sect Leader Yun."
Upon hearing this, Yun Yichen nodded, clearly understanding Chen Yan's implication:
"You may all withdraw for now."
Yun Yichen said this to his six disciples in the Kongyuan Hall.
"Yes!"
Everyone replied in unison.
"As for Elder Lin, please stay for a moment. I also have some things I'd like to say to Elder Lin."
Chen Yan added.
Upon hearing this, Lin Qifeng's footsteps halted, and he stopped in place.
If one were to speak truthfully, Lin Qifeng's current status was also that of a Guardian of the Dao on Du Cang Mountain.
Though he was merely one of those Guardians included just to fill the numbers.
Before he had come to cultivate on Du Cang Mountain, Lin Qifeng's cultivation had been at the mid-stage Passable God Realm.
Now eighteen years had passed, and Lin Qifeng's cultivation had only just reached the peak of the Passable God Realm. Based on his cultivation speed, it would probably take another seventeen or eighteen years or so before he broke through to the Myriad Transformations Realm.
The slowness of his cultivation speed had brought about further aging in Lin Qifeng's appearance.
Back when Chen Yan had first seen this convenient master, who had been exiled by the Sect Leader to serve as an elder in the outer court's Fate Inquiry Hall, he had looked to be only in his forties.
Now Lin Qifeng looked to be already in his early sixties, having fully become a little old man.
Another seventeen or eighteen years from now, Lin Qifeng's appearance would likely be approaching seventy.
Just like how Fu Qian had looked back then.
Everyone in the world knew that a cultivator's lifespan was closely tied to the height of their cultivation.
Body Forging Realm cultivators had lifespans nearly identical to ordinary mortals; while Qi Circulation Realm cultivators could easily live over a hundred years.
Martial Spring Realm cultivators could live up to two hundred years, Qi Sea Realm cultivators four hundred years, and Passable God Realm cultivators six hundred years.
Myriad Transformations Realm cultivators, having cultivated their innate true energy, could obtain lifespans ranging from one thousand to twelve hundred years.
A lifespan of over a thousand years could also slow the aging of a Myriad Transformations Realm cultivator's appearance to an extremely gradual pace. This was the true reason why many old-generation Myriad Transformations Realm cultivators who had lived six or seven hundred years still looked so young.