My bathroom leads to the celestial realm.

25. Sincerity is the ultimate weapon.

He Tiannan couldn't help but say, "Then let's get to the point!"

He considered his Dao heart to be relatively stable, but at this moment he couldn't help but feel a little turbulent, and his eyes revealed an undisguised fervor.

Spiritual practice is like rowing against the current; if you don't move forward, you fall behind.

With an opportunity to advance further right in front of him, how could he remain indifferent?

Ultimately, cultivators are merely more powerful individuals, not gods devoid of desires.

Xu Yan keenly sensed that the other party's mood was off, and felt that keeping him in suspense might get him beaten, but he still braced himself and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect: "Senior's cultivation is unfathomable, why would you want to know this?"

"Naturally, it's for enlightenment!" He Tiannan didn't hide anything.

With his cultivation level, crushing Xu Yan would be no more difficult than crushing an ant. Even if this kid was deliberately deceiving him, he couldn't hide it from his calculations.

Xu Yan was both surprised and delighted upon hearing this. Wasn't this a fat sheep delivered right to his doorstep?

He quickly composed himself to avoid laughing out loud: "Forgive my impertinence, but what benefits can you offer me, senior?"

"Benefits? I rescued you, and you want benefits from me?" He Tiannan was taken aback and stopped talking.

Xu Yan maintained a humble attitude: "With your cultivation level, rescuing me would have been a simple matter. However, your question concerns the path of cultivation. Such a significant karmic connection—you wouldn't want to take advantage of a junior like me, would you?"

He's a novelist, so he's very familiar with the concept of cause and effect!

He Tiannan chuckled, "You're quite an interesting kid. Alright, tell me, what do you want?"

"Just give me whatever you think is appropriate, senior," Xu Yan said. "Miraculous martial arts manuals, Heavenly Treasury treasures, Nine-Turn Golden Elixir... just give me a few of these!"

With just a few words, Master He was completely dumbfounded. He retorted angrily, "You make it sound so simple. If I had these things, I would have used them myself long ago. Why would it be your turn?"

Xu Yan lowered his head meekly: "This junior is just giving an example. You can give me whatever you think is appropriate."

He knows how to set a price!

The great writer Xu knows too little about the cultivation world. No matter what price he offers, he can easily be dismissed by Old Man He – "This is what you asked for yourself, it's not that I'm not giving it to you, so we're even, no one owes anyone anything!"

The reverse is different. First, list a few good things that Old Man He definitely can't produce, and then let him decide for himself. As a senior expert, how can you be so shameless as to try to fool people with worthless junk?

He Tiannan hesitated for a moment, then sighed, "Never mind, let me examine your physical constitution first!"

After saying that, he reached out and grabbed Xu Yan's wrist. A thin strand of true essence entered the latter's body and slithered through his body like a snake.

The greatest favor is to attain enlightenment. If we can help this kid embark on the path of cultivation, it will naturally be equivalent to severing karmic ties.

Xu Yan suddenly felt like he had been seen naked.

He Tiannan was first surprised, then astonished, and finally incredulous: "What the hell? Your physique is terrible!"

Xu Yan... you old geezer, what the hell do you mean? If you can't speak properly, then shut up, thank you!

He inwardly grumbled, but outwardly remained calm and collected: "Senior, just tell me, is it possible for me to cultivate or not?"

He Tiannan shook his head: "It's very difficult!"

Xu Yan understood immediately: "It's difficult, but not impossible, right?"

"You're quick-witted, but it's useless." He Tiannan stroked his long beard. "You could, but it's too difficult."

Xu Yan couldn't help but ask curiously, "What makes it difficult?"

He Tiannan considered for a moment: "Everyone is born with innate talent. As long as there are enough elixirs and spiritual materials, even someone with extremely poor aptitude can become a powerful figure!"

Xu Yan understood.

Those with poor aptitude are not incapable of cultivation, but rather their consumption is too high, making it unaffordable, or the input and output are disproportionate, or the expected return is too low to justify the investment.

But he already possessed true essence; what he urgently needed to resolve was the issue of cultivation techniques: "Senior, could we perhaps put this matter aside for now? Could you perhaps offer some guidance to this junior and help me craft a few suitable magical artifacts? That would settle the karmic debt, how about that?"

"Alright, I agree. Now you can tell me, right?"

"Don't worry, don't worry." Xu Yan switched to his deceptive mode. "Does Senior know about energy?"

He Tiannan frowned: "What is energy?"

Xu Yan pressed on, "Then do you know about the quality?"

"And what is quality?"

"Do you know how mass is converted into energy?"

He Tiannan glared, his imposing manner radiating authority: "How dare this junior bully me!"

I already said I don't know what energy and mass are, and you're still asking how mass is converted into energy? Isn't that just bullying an old man?

After some deliberation, he discovered that the two things were indeed related to the answer he wanted to know, but it was all vague and unclear, leaving him somewhat bewildered.

Xu Yan chuckled: "Oh, why are you in such a hurry? Let me put it this way: if you know, then it's simple; if you don't know..."

"So what if I don't know?"

Xu Yan looked troubled: "Then that'll be a different price!"

He Tiannan was so angry he almost fainted. Good heavens, no wonder he was so easy to talk to, so he was waiting for me here.

If there were a living person present, they would be so angry they would burst out laughing. Isn't this a fallacy of equivocation?

It seemed like there was a question and an answer, and it even touched on something, but Master He only wanted to know why the flour exploded; at most, he just wanted to play with a big firecracker.

Xu Yan, using the tiger's skin as a banner, actually started talking about quality and energy. Is he planning to explain how to make mushroom bombs by hand?

He Tiannan was displeased, puffing out his beard and glaring: "You dare to bargain with this old man?"

"No, no!" Xu Yan shook his head vigorously. "Knowledge is priceless, how can the secret manuals of our sect be passed on so easily? If I said I discovered it by accident, could you tell if I was telling the truth or not?"

I went through elementary school, middle school, high school, and university diligently; tell me, which one of them wasn't under my tutelage?

However, his understanding of the sect was slightly different from that of the person in front of him.

He Tiannan nodded thoughtfully and said, "That makes some sense... Don't worry, although I'm not a moral gentleman, I'm not a hypocrite either. I definitely won't let you suffer any losses."

Making amends to one's Dao heart is a matter of the Dao path. How can one leave such a great karmic debt unpaid?

Otherwise, if one's conscience is clouded, one will inevitably suffer a backlash in the future. At best, one will be plagued by inner demons; at worst, one's cultivation will regress, and even death and the dissipation of one's Dao are not impossible.

Xu Yan remained silent, instead concentrating on his thoughts and carefully choosing his words: "First of all, everything has energy, only the amount varies..."

Although he wanted to swindle some benefits, he didn't intend to fabricate anything. It wasn't that he lacked the ability, but rather that he had to be wary when dealing with cultivators.

Who knows what kind of weird lie detection methods they have?

That's why they say "better safe than sorry." He Tiannan didn't understand, but he continued to calculate in secret. He wasn't lying!

This only made him more confused and puzzled: What exactly is this energy?