Cultivation: Grinding Proficiency for Longevity

Liu Chen's fingertip brushed past a shimmering blue light in the void:

[Purple Bamboo Scripture Body Tempering Mastery +1]

Having crossed into this world, his greatest reliance was not on his innate talent, but on this quietly accumulating proficiency panel.

“The ostentatious break easily; the steady achieve longevity.”

He inscribed this eight-character mantra on the flyleaf of his cultivation journal, and from then on, he concealed his brilliance and feigned mediocrity. When his sect-mates vied for treasures, he kept his distance; when prodigies shone upon the world, he lowered his gaze and cultivated.

Time passed in silence as the numbers on the panel quietly leaped upwards.

Until one day, a powerful enemy appeared at his door, scoffing at him for being mediocre and worthless.

Liu Chen lifted his gaze, and ten thousand sword-lights erupted from his sleeve, cascading down like a river of stars.

“I do not contend, but that does not mean I cannot.”

Three thousand years later, at the pinnacle of the Immortal Sect.

The prodigies who once commanded the era had long since been reduced to dust by the passage of time. Only a corner of the historical annals recorded:

“The most mysterious of those who attained the Dao, in the most ordinary of forms, walked the longest of paths. To this day, later generations have not understood—how did this Cultivator, who always practiced in a corner, reach the pinnacle of all beings.”