Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts

After Xu Ming flew out of the mountain peak, he glanced back once before randomly choosing a direction and soaring away.

Shi Xin watched Xu Ming’s departing figure for a moment before following after him.

During the flight, Xu Ming swung his sword a few times, cutting down the cultivators who were still tailing him. He had expected that some of them wouldn’t give up and would continue coveting the Blood Bodhi’s main fruit.

Picking up his speed again, Xu Ming attempted to shake off the remaining pursuers, leaving Shi Xin struggling to keep up.

An hour later, Xu Ming slowly descended into a dense forest.

Shi Xin landed as well.

“Come out, I know you’re there.” With his back to Shi Xin, Xu Ming spoke coldly. “I’ve killed enough people today. If you come out now, I can spare your lives. But if you insist on hiding, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

The wind rustled through the trees, filling the silence with the soft sound of leaves brushing against each other. But no one emerged.

Xu Ming glanced back, then let out a breath of relief. “Seems like no one else is following.”

Shi Xin was startled and hurried to his side.

Xu Ming waved a hand, signaling that he was fine.

But Shi Xin wasn’t fooled. She wasn’t an idiot—Xu Ming’s pale, bloodless face told a different story.

The battle atop Blood Bodhi Mountain had clearly left him heavily injured.

Then, instead of resting, Xu Ming had flown at full speed for a long time, only worsening his condition.

Now, his body had finally reached its limit.

Shi Xin knelt beside him, raising a hand to hover just an inch above Xu Ming’s forehead.

A golden Buddhist light radiated from Shi Xin’s palm.

Xu Ming felt a warmth spread through his body, and his tense features gradually eased.

This was the most Shi Xin could do—temporarily alleviate Xu Ming’s injuries.

After all, Shi Xin wasn’t a healer. Even achieving this much was already difficult for her.

“Thanks,” Xu Ming murmured.

Shi Xin shook her head. “Your body is still weak. You need rest.”

“I know.” Xu Ming placed a hand on the ground and slowly pushed himself up. “Shi Xin, you should leave. It won’t be long before more cultivators come searching for me, hoping to kill me and take what I have. If you stay with me, you’ll just be dragged into it.”

Leaning against a tree, Xu Ming took one slow step after another. “If I survive, we’ll meet again at the Blood Bodhi Mountain peak when the passage to the outside world opens.”

Shi Xin watched Xu Ming’s retreating figure, hesitated for a moment, then ultimately decided to follow, walking beside him.

Xu Ming glanced at the monk who had chosen to stay by his side and said calmly, “Is Master Shi Xin simply showing compassion, unable to bear seeing someone die?”

Shi Xin nodded. “Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda.”

Xu Ming chuckled again. “Shi Xin, let me ask you a question.”

“What question?” Shi Xin asked, feeling a bit uneasy.

Every time Xu Ming spoke, he seemed to shake Shi Xin’s Buddhist beliefs. At this point, Shi Xin was almost afraid to hear what he had to say.

And yet, deep down, she also wanted to know.

To Shi Xin, if she was too afraid to even listen and consider Xu Ming’s words—if she chose to blindly shut her ears and avoid thinking—then her so-called Buddhist heart had already shattered.

“If, one day, two cultivators are fighting, and one of them hurls a flying sword. The sword is heading toward a village with a population of one thousand.

You have the ability to alter its course slightly. But if you do, it will veer toward another village—one with ten thousand people.

If it were up to you, would you let the sword continue on its path, dooming the village of a thousand?

Or would you redirect it, sacrificing the ten thousand instead?”

Xu Ming’s question was a modified version of the classic Trolley Problem from his past life, phrased in a way that Shi Xin could understand more clearly.

“…”

Hearing Xu Ming’s question, Shi Xin frowned. “Benefactor Xu, this scenario is too hypothetical.”

“Too hypothetical?” Xu Ming chuckled. “But in my eyes, the situation I just described is happening right now.”

“If you continue following me, you’ll have to fight against the cultivators chasing us. If you don’t kill them, they won’t let me go. Are you really willing to take lives just to save me, Master Shi Xin?”

Shi Xin: “…”

After a long silence, Shi Xin let out a quiet sigh. “I will do my best to protect Benefactor Xu, but I will not take lives.”

Seeing Shi Xin’s expression, Xu Ming smiled faintly. “I hope so.”

He didn’t try to persuade her further.

He had said everything he needed to. From this moment on, it was her own choice.

Xu Ming found a cave and sat inside to meditate, focusing on healing his wounds.

Even with his remarkable recovery abilities, it would take him three full days to recuperate.

Shi Xin sat at the entrance of the cave, gazing calmly at the world beyond. She contemplated the words Xu Ming had spoken over the past few days while also standing guard for him.

On the second day, trouble finally arrived.

When Xu Ming opened his eyes, several pitch-black venomous snakes lunged at him.

Clang!

Shi Xin pressed her palms together and stepped in front of Xu Ming. A golden barrier of light shielded them, and the snakes disintegrated into pools of black liquid upon contact.

In the next instant, cold steel flashed—blades hurtled toward Shi Xin.

She raised a hand, conjuring a golden lotus in front of her.

The attackers’ blades struck the lotus and sent them flying backward.

“Why do you seek violence, benefactors?” Shi Xin asked.

The cultivators sneered. “Why? Don’t tell us you don’t know. If this man hands over the Blood Bodhi, we’ll leave immediately.”

Shi Xin turned to Xu Ming.

Xu Ming simply smiled.

Shi Xin looked back at the attackers and said, “He will not hand over the Blood Bodhi’s main fruit.”

The cultivators scoffed. “Then you’ll both die here! We’ll take it ourselves!”

They charged forward again.

They had noticed that this nun was exceptionally strong—if she wanted to kill them, she could have done so easily. But she refused to take lives.

That realization made them even more reckless.

“Please, stop this.” Shi Xin urged once more.

But, of course, they wouldn’t stop.

Shi Xin sighed helplessly and extended her hand, pointing forward.

A Buddhist swastika symbol shot out.

The cultivators spat out blood and collapsed unconscious on the ground.

“Amitabha.” Shi Xin pressed her palms together, gazing at the unconscious men.

“What will you do when they wake up?” Xu Ming asked.

“…”

Shi Xin fell silent.

She had no answer. She truly didn’t know what to do once they regained consciousness.

Xu Ming merely asked the question and said nothing more. He closed his eyes and resumed healing his injuries.

Since Shi Xin had been the one to incapacitate them, he wouldn’t interfere. Their fate was hers to decide.

As expected, only a few hours passed before the unconscious men began to wake up.

Shi Xin promptly struck them again, knocking them out once more.

Before long, another group of cultivators arrived, also seeking the Blood Bodhi’s main fruit.

And just like before, Shi Xin subdued them and left them unconscious in the cave.

By the end of the second day, more than thirty people were lying unconscious inside the cave.

All of them had been knocked out by Shi Xin.

At this point, although Xu Ming hadn’t fully recovered, he had regained enough strength to fight.

Now, killing him wouldn’t be so easy.

Xu Ming chuckled and shook his head. “More and more people know my whereabouts. I have to leave this place. But what about these people? When they wake up, I’d say there’s an eighty or ninety percent chance that the first ones to regain consciousness will kill the others.”

“If that happens, would you feel responsible for their deaths?”

Shi Xin replied, “Then I’ll just move them elsewhere.”

Xu Ming laughed. “Fine, do as you wish.”

There was something he didn’t say aloud—moving them elsewhere wouldn’t necessarily save them.

Even if she scattered them outside, what was to stop wild beasts from devouring them? Or other cultivators from discovering and killing them?

But he held his tongue. He was worried that saying it outright might completely shatter Shi Xin’s beliefs.

Shi Xin used her spiritual power to lift the unconscious cultivators one by one, carefully placing them in different locations around the cave.

While she was occupied with that, Xu Ming took up his sword and quietly left.

He had decided—Shi Xin couldn’t keep following him.

If this went on, she should stop calling herself Shi Xin (Released Heart) and rename herself Kun Xin (Trapped Heart) instead.

She was too much to handle.

Better to slip away now.

Yet, not even half a stick of incense later, Xu Ming sensed a familiar presence trailing behind him.

With a sigh, he turned around—only to see Shi Xin standing right in front of him.

Exasperated, Xu Ming asked, “You’re still following me?”

“Mm.” Shi Xin nodded.

“There’s no benefit in following me. Head toward Bodhi Mountain. By tomorrow, word will have spread across the Rootless Secret Realm that the Blood Bodhi fruit has already been picked. That place will be the safest spot in the entire realm.

“When the passage to the outside world opens, I’ll come find you.”

It was the most reasonable suggestion.

Before, he had allowed her to follow him out of concern for her safety—after all, the Rootless Secret Realm was full of dangers.

But now, things were different.

Without the Blood Bodhi, Bodhi Mountain was just another spiritual mountain. It had become the safest place around.

Besides, Shi Xin was strong enough to handle herself.

There was no reason for her to keep following him into uncertainty. Who knew what other dangers awaited?

But Shi Xin simply shook her head. “I will follow Benefactor Xu.”

Xu Ming sighed and, for the first time, firmly refused.

“I don’t want you following me. Leave.”

With that, he turned and continued walking forward.

After traveling for half a stick of incense, he turned back once more and looked at Shi Xin.

Frustrated, he asked, “Are you really not leaving?”

Shi Xin replied, “Benefactor Xu is still injured. In Buddhism, saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. I cannot stand by and watch you come to harm.”

Xu Ming was speechless.

“There are countless people in this world,” he said. “Do you think you can save them all?”

Shi Xin lowered her head, thinking for a moment.

Then she looked up. “This humble monk… will do her best.”

Xu Ming exhaled sharply.

“I’ll say this one last time—do not follow me!”

His expression turned serious as he unsheathed his sword, sending a sharp arc of sword energy slicing through the ground in front of Shi Xin.

The mark it left was clear.

A boundary, an unspoken warning—do not cross this line.

Without another word, Xu Ming turned and flew away.

Shi Xin lifted her gaze, watching as he disappeared into the distance.

She wanted to take a step forward.

But when she looked down and saw that sword mark—she hesitated.

In the end, she pulled her foot back.

Quietly, the young nun crouched beside the sword mark, reaching out with a pale, delicate hand to gently trace its edge.

But after flying for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the farther Xu Ming went, the more uneasy he felt.

What if Shi Xin didn’t go to the summit of Bodhi Mountain?

What if she did, but still ran into trouble?

That nun was too kindhearted.

Kindness was one thing—but when paired with that rare, unparalleled beauty of hers, it became something else entirely.

Beauty, no matter what it was combined with, was always a deadly weapon.

But when combined with kindness, it became a fatal poison.

“…Sigh.”

Xu Ming let out a long breath.

Then he turned around and flew back.

When he arrived at the same spot, he found Shi Xin still there.

She was crouched down, arms wrapped around her knees, staring at the sword mark he had left on the ground.

The monk’s robe draped over her form, yet still traced out a flawless silhouette.

“…Why are you still here?” Xu Ming descended from the sky, asking as he landed.

Hearing his voice, Shi Xin immediately straightened up.

She blinked at him. “I was just about to leave.”

“…Forget it.”

Xu Ming sighed. “I thought it over. If you insist on following me, it’s not impossible.

“Out in the outside world, people might still hesitate because of the temple backing you.

“But here, in the Rootless Secret Realm, if someone kills you, no one will ever be able to trace it.

“Human nature will reveal itself in its rawest form.

“And you… are not safe on your own.”

His voice was slow and deliberate.

“So… do you want to come with me?”

Shi Xin was momentarily stunned—then she nodded.

Xu Ming chuckled. “You sure? Don’t blame me when your Buddhist heart shatters.”

Shi Xin nodded again.

“Then let’s go.”

Xu Ming turned and started walking forward.

Shi Xin watched his back for a moment.

Then she took a step, crossing over the line in the dirt—

And ran to catch up.