Exiting Seclusion

Prologue.

In the beginning, the Great God Pangu had split the Gods Realm into three known realms; the 3000 Great Mortal Worlds, the Celestial Realm and the Immortal Realm of the Ninth Heavens.

Henceforth, mortal cultivators from the Mortal Realm will now be able to ascend to the Celestial Realm as celestial cultivators and celestial cultivators will be able to ascend to the Immortal Realm as immortal cultivators.

The story begins in the Desolate Celestial Fraternity, one of the many celestial fraternities of the Celestial Realm. In the Desolate Celestial Fraternity, the men prided their beards as dearly as their faces and the women idolized men with beautiful beards. To insult the beards of the men in this fraternity is the same as slapping on their faces.

The Celestial Realm is unlike the lower Mortal Realm where there are vast oceans and plain lands. The entire Celestial Realm is consisted of endless lofty mountains and it is thousands of times as vast as the lower Mortal Realm.

The many celestial clans and populations are situated high above the mountains. Usually the powerful celestial clans will be situated on mountains that are rich in spiritual veins that are refined by rich deposits of jadeites. That will be the most ideal place for cultivation. Other than spiritual veins and jadeites, mountains that are rich in silver and golden celestiums are also ideal, since silver and golden celestiums are needed in great demand to make precious weapons.

Below the mountains, are thick desolate mists and endless bottomless valleys that are filled with many powerful desolate monsters. The spiritual aura below the desolate mists is poor and unsuitable for cultivation.

Moreover the presence of the desolate aura is too overwhelming and can easily corrupt a cultivator inner core. However because of this very same reason, it is the ideal place for the desolate monsters that feed upon it.

In a way, the desolate mists act as a natural barrier between the desolate profound beasts below and the divine profound beasts that dwell high in the mountains.

The desolate aura below the mountains actually come from the same mountain veins as the spiritual veins that the cultivators depend upon. The only difference is that this desolate aura is actually refined into spiritual aura by the rich deposits of jadeites in the mountains and by the purifying aura above the mountains that are continuously cleansed by the divine lightning.

From time to time, there is always a possibility that a powerful desolate monster will emerge from the valley below the mountains.

The richer the spiritual auras in the mountains, the weaker the desolate auras that will be at the bottom. Therefore it is not wrong to say that mountains that are rich in spiritual auras usually do not have powerful desolate beasts below the desolate mists.

Ji Yuan wrote: This is the biography the Sword Saint Ji Yuan and how he has become one of the most powerful immortal gods of the Celestial Immortal Realm and even the Six Immortal Divine Realms! 

Xiang Li giggled softly, "Big Brother, this is your fake biography? Because it should be called your autobiography?"

Ji Yuan frowned, "This is my memoirs then. Are you feeling satisfied now?"

Xiang Li giggled playfully, "Alright then. Hehe... please continue. So at which point are you going to start your story?"

Ji Yuan grinned, "Let's start on the day that after I had been cultivating for the past 10 000 years and I had finally become a lofty 7th realm saint."

Xiang Li reminded him, "The average saint can only live around 3000 to 15000 years. Are you sure that you had been cultivating for the 10 000 years? Are you sure that you are in the right cultivation story?"

Ji Yuan said sheepishly, "That was a slip of my tongue. I mean, I had been cultivating for the past 100 years." 

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The Desolate Celestial Fraternity, somewhere deep in the mountain recess of the Five Heavens Peaks. 

Ji Yuan had finally opened his eyes.

Today he had finally reached enlightenment and had become a Golden Saint, a 7th realm cultivation expert.

Although he had successfully cultivated to be a golden saint, he had not stablized his cultivation yet and he was still unable to exercise his profound strength to beyond the 5th cultivation realm. 

He lifted his fingers to count the number of years that he had hidden in the mountains for his seclusion.

"One hundred years…"

He was startled, "That is really a long time. Hmm…"

Just as he was about to stroke his beard, he was once again startled to find that his beautiful beard was gone.

He quickly took out a mirror and was startled to see that he was now clean shaven, "I must have lost my beard during my golden body transformation from the sixth to the seventh realm level..."

He began to mutter, "I've heard of stories that for those that have lost their beards during their golden body transformation, it will be a permanent loss. In the Desolate Celestial Fraternity where beards are prided, this is a most disgraceful thing…"

But he was soon grinning to himself, "Very well then. Then I shall change the culture of the Desolate Celestial Fraternity and make sure that everyone has no beard as well."

Ji Yuan then exercised his profound strength to kick his way out of the cave, loosening the boulders out of his way and almost causing the cave to collapse, ending his adventure in the very first chapter of his new life.

He quickly rushed out of the cave with a heavy relief, "Lucky me! I've almost killed myself."

But of course, he was only making a small joke as it was impossible for a golden saint like him to be killed in this manner. 

As he began to make his way down the mountain peak, he started to admire the mountain sceneries that were around him and was muttering at the familiar sight. "It is so good to be alive."

When a cultivator had reached the 5th cultivation realm, he would be known as a Golden Celestial and cultivated the golden body. At this point, they would be the true cultivators of the Celestial Realm and have a lofty status. 

For the 6th cultivation realm, they would be known as a Golden Supremacy and this cultivation realm is known as the Spirit Cultivation. 

As for the 7th cultivation realm, they would be known as a Saint. Of course, those at the initial saint tier are known as the common saints, those in the middle tier are known as the Holy Saint while those in the upper tier are known as the Great Saint. 

But regardless, everything under a saint is merely an ant! 

Ji Yuan laughed aloud to the heavens, "From this day onward, I shall conquar the celestial maidens left and right. After all, beard or no beard, I am the most beautiful man in the Desolate Celestial Fraternity. Hahaha..." 

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Author Note:

1. This story is a rendition of The Romantic Cultivator. There will be extra chapters and extra scenes but it will be based on Ji Yuan perspective on things more. Existing readers of The Romantic Cultivator needed not read this as there will be footnotes from time to time to indicate the edits.

2. Although the cultivation story is in a bearded culture setting but the MC is never going to get his beard back:X 

The start of the story is a mystery with many plot twists that will keep twisting until Chapter 150 where things got more serious as the real evil cultivators began to emerge one by one and they got only one aim and that is to dominate over the entire Celestial Realm.

4. There are 3 powerful forbidden holy grounds in the form of 3 powerful divine palaces of the Desolate Celestial Fraternity, the Hundred Flowers Divine Palace, the Evil Cultivation Palace and the Water Melody Palace.

Unknown to the MC, the powerful three divine palaces are now on the move with their own schemes. 

5. Story is also a comedy cultivation story and the MC is also an arrogant young master type, as typically of most of the golden celestials in the Desolate Celestial Fraternity. Things will get more serious after the maidens/ harem are introduced after the background introduction of the story.