The Path of Cultivation

The Path of Cultivation is a classical xianxia novel by the web author He Zhou, serialized on Qidian Chinese Network starting June 18, 2013. The main text runs 301 chapters (including an epilogue and afterword), about 930,000 characters, and is complete. The book's thematic couplet reads: "For ten thousand years I have lain high in the nine heavens, watching the vast sea turn to mortal dust time and again. A true walker on the road of pure cultivation, a seeker of longevity before the gate of the Way." It tells the cultivation journey of a lone youth in the world of Dafuli. In the world of Dafuli, immortals and Buddhas dwell in the world, true gods walk among mortals, and lofty sages and heavenly demons and heretics hide in the red dust. The protagonist is originally a nameless youth who calls himself "without father or mother"; at the opening he is saved by a red-robed female demon, then guided by an immortal boy into the blessed immortal land of Qingwei Cavern-Heaven, where before the altar of the Pointing-Moon Mystic Light Cave he takes a master and is given the name "Shi Zixuan"; in the Treasure Scripture Pavilion he chooses The Three Caverns' Penetrating the Mystic True Scripture as his main cultivation text and The Lingbao Mahayana Scripture as auxiliary, and his practice triggers strange phenomena. The story then advances through volumes such as "Seeking the Way at Qingwei Cavern-Heaven," "Entering the World to Seek the Gods," "The Heir Takes a Wife," "Ascending to Godhood and Returning to Office," and "The Calamity of the Buddhist Treasure": in the mountain years he discusses the mysteries and debates the Way and learns the Dharma from his master; after descending the mountain he walks the red dust, seeks the God of Pure Fortune and the protective gods of the four directions, becomes entangled in the disputes of the mortal government and the games of the divine way, and because a supreme Buddhist treasure is left in the world, a calamity arises, ultimately returning to questions about the true Dharma and the heavenly and dharma realms. The work downplays traditional combat and emphasizes quiet cultivation in the mountains, spells and rituals, worldly trials, and the polishing of character, taking "cultivating true nature, awakening to the Way, crossing the sea of suffering, and treading the path of cultivation" as its thread, and using the master's phrase "only the utmost person" to puncture the obsession with longevity; it belongs to the old-school enlightenment-type xianxia. The bonds of the sect, the tragic choices of senior brothers, and the myriad states of mortal beings are interwoven, and these are the parts readers praise most.