Monsters also need to cultivate immortality scientifically (11): Si Qi’s Amway Lecture Hall

The senior brother nodded at Si Qi, about to sit and meditate as suggested, when he suddenly remembered his junior siblings and the pursuing demon horde. “I must find my juniors—they’re in grave danger—”

He couldn’t bring himself to ask for further help, though he suspected the generous youth would agree immediately.

“Like this?” Si Qi gestured at his injuries. “What exactly could you do for them now?”

The senior brother flushed. “Even so—”

“I saw them earlier,” Si Qi cut in. “They were outpacing the beasts. Said something about fetching reinforcements to rescue you.”

Touched, the senior brother produced a messaging talisman. He recorded: “Qinglian, Qingliu—are you unharmed? Senior Brother is safe. Will regroup shortly.” The talisman split in two, one half streaking toward his juniors like a living thing.

Within minutes, the remaining half trembled with Qinglian’s reply: “Senior Brother! We’re coming to you! How did you escape? Are you injured?”

“A kind fellow cultivator saved me,” he answered, finally settling to meditate after swallowing Si Qi’s pills.

When his battered juniors arrived later, the senior brother jolted awake—only to freeze at the sight of little Qingping’s limp form. “Qingping?!”

“Merely exhausted,” the senior sister assured, then stared at Si Qi in shock. Her fellow disciples mirrored her expression.

This was the lone cultivator they’d encountered during their flight—

The same one their junior brother had nearly sacrificed!

As awkward silence fell, the senior sister carefully laid Qingping down and bowed. “We… thank you for your mercy. About earlier…”

Si Qi’s amused retort was preempted by the impulsive junior brother, who stepped forward and swore a three-fingered oath: “My actions were despicable! Yet you still aided us—this debt shall be repaid with my life’s service!”

Seeing how readily the other party made the Heart Demon Oath, Si Qi found himself at a loss for words. He nodded and said, “Alright then, I forgive you.”

The junior brother looked at Si Qi with gratitude, then turned his gaze to the senior brother who had risked his life to save them. The group gathered together, chatting. Noticing that everyone was covered in injuries, the senior brother recalled the numerous pills Si Qi had given him earlier—he had only taken one. Emboldened, he said to Si Qi, “I wonder if I could share the pills you gifted me with my junior brothers and sisters…”

Si Qi replied indifferently, “What I gave you is yours to do with as you please.”

At first, the group didn’t know what pills the senior brother was referring to and didn’t want him to owe too much to the other party. They were about to say, “We have our own healing medicine,” when suddenly, the senior brother pulled out several top-grade pills. The sight left them utterly breathless.

After what felt like an eternity, the senior sister finally stammered, “Senior brother, these are…”

Seeing his fellow disciples react the same way he had, the senior brother felt an odd sense of relief—apparently, he wasn’t the only one lacking in worldly experience.

“These were given to me by Brother Si for healing,” he explained.

The group collectively swallowed hard, gaining a crystal-clear understanding of just how wealthy Si Qi was.

This was a big shot!

Though his cultivation level might be low, he was filthy rich!!

Their palms grew sweaty, and they nervously rubbed them against their clothes, torn between wanting the pills and not daring to accept them.

Seeing this, the senior brother followed Si Qi’s example and forcibly grabbed the hands of the most severely injured junior disciples, pressing the pills into their palms.

“Alright, take them. I’ll keep watch for you.”

The pills Si Qi had provided were astonishingly effective. After consuming them, even lifelong hidden injuries and ailments were completely cured. Now, aside from exhaustion, they felt no lingering pain whatsoever.

Standing beside Si Qi, the senior brother kept an eye on their surroundings while striking up a quiet conversation with him.

It was then that he learned Si Qi was actually a direct disciple of Lingxiao Sect, one of the top sects in the cultivation world—and his master was none other than the legendary Immortal Venerable Chu, the most powerful cultivator in existence!

This wasn’t just being born into wealth; this was being the most elite immortal second generation in the entire cultivation world!!

Even the son of Lingxiao Sect’s sect master probably couldn’t compare to the sheer prestige of the person standing before him!!

For a moment, the senior brother couldn’t help but look at Si Qi with newfound reverence. But then, noticing Si Qi’s utterly indifferent expression and recalling his temperament, any subconscious hesitation or distance immediately vanished.

Si Qi wasn’t the type to care about status or hierarchy. If he were to start keeping his distance out of fear or deference, Si Qi would likely be hurt.

Relaxing, the senior brother smiled and said, “Immortal Chu has been renowned for over a thousand years and never took a disciple. You must possess extraordinary talent, one in ten thousand, to have been accepted by him.”

Hearing this, Si Qi gave him a look that said, “You’ve got good taste,” and proudly declared, “Of course! I’m a genius—everyone says so!”

The senior brother didn’t find Si Qi’s confidence the least bit arrogant. Instead, he found the young man even more endearing than his youngest junior brother, his eyes brimming with amusement.

He and Si Qi waited together as the junior disciples meditated to recover. The pills were remarkably effective—even those with the most severe injuries woke up after just half an incense stick’s worth of time.

Everyone was awestruck by the potency of the top-grade pills.

Si Qi smugly remarked, “These healing pills can pull even an Integration Stage cultivator back from the brink of death. Mere wounds from some beasts are nothing in comparison!”

The Integration Stage—in their sect, only the founding ancestor might have reached such a level of cultivation.

The group exchanged uneasy glances. They wanted to thank Si Qi for the priceless pills, which had essentially saved their lives in this deadly secret realm. Yet, they were also terrified of being saddled with a debt they could never repay. Their expressions were like those of penniless tenants facing their landlord—utterly sheepish.

The senior brother, however, was more forthright. “Brother Si, I will definitely find a way to repay you for these pills in the future.”

Si Qi waved a hand dismissively. “No need for repayment. I casually refined these pills myself—I have plenty, and they’re nothing special.”

The group was stunned. This revelation shocked them even more than Si Qi’s earlier generosity. Unable to hold back, they exclaimed, “You refined all of these yourself?!”

This person before them was a disciple of the Immortal Venerable Chu Feng—shouldn’t he be exceptionally skilled in combat and swordsmanship? Why would he dabble in such “unorthodox arts”?  

And judging by Si Qi’s tone, it seemed he wasn’t just knowledgeable but highly proficient, capable of effortlessly refining top-grade pills?  

Si Qi nodded. “Alchemy, artifact forging, formations… I excel at everything!”  

Hearing this, the group was half-convinced, half-skeptical. They couldn’t quite comprehend how someone so young could be so versatile—it completely defied common sense. But seeing Si Qi’s confidence, they didn’t challenge him. Instead, they quietly adjusted their perception of him from “Immortal Venerable Chu’s disciple, incredibly strong in combat” to “a non-combat specialist covered in treasures and highly skilled in support roles.”  

Someone asked, puzzled, “Since you’re Immortal Chu’s disciple, why come to a secret realm like this?”  

A mere Nascent Soul-level secret realm—even if they gathered all its treasures, their combined worth likely wouldn’t match the value of the items Si Qi had casually handed out.  

For Si Qi, entering this realm was purely a loss.  

Of course, Si Qi wouldn’t admit that even walking around normally might cost him several priceless treasures, making no difference whether he was in a secret realm or back at his sect. He simply said, “Just here to broaden my horizons.”  

The group suddenly understood.  

A wealthy person bored at home, spending money (treasures/spirit stones) to go on a trip—perfectly normal.  

They naturally wouldn’t care whether this “trip” yielded any gains or if the expenses outweighed the rewards. As long as the journey was enjoyable, that was enough.  

Their gazes toward Si Qi grew even friendlier—who wouldn’t love a teammate with no competitive drive and maxed-out support skills?  

They were eager to team up with Si Qi for further exploration, but Si Qi didn’t want followers—what if they noticed something odd when he encountered beasts or demonic cultivators?  

He said, “Alright, now that your injuries are healed, I’ll take my leave.”  

The group was startled. “You’re exploring alone?”  

Si Qi nodded. “It’s more interesting that way.”  

Considering Si Qi’s capabilities (wealth), they figured he wouldn’t face any real danger even alone, so they didn’t press further.  

With a smile, they said, “Having us around might just hold you back, so we won’t keep you.”  

“If you’re willing, Brother Si, you’re welcome to visit our Shengliu Sect someday. We’d love to host you properly.”  

“Thank you for your help. Until we meet again.”  

Si Qi nodded, flashed them a bright grin, and waved casually before striding off.  

Watching his retreating figure, they couldn’t help but marvel at this extraordinary youth. To encounter him in such a desperate situation, be saved by him, and even receive such precious pills—it was a stroke of luck they might never experience again in their lifetimes.  

Now alone with his fellow disciples again, the senior brother finally had the chance to ask his junior sister what had happened after they fled earlier.  

The junior sister summarized briefly, “We sought help from other cultivators. Luckily, they agreed to assist us in killing those beasts. But when we asked them to help rescue you, they refused. So we had to turn back on our own. Along the way, we received your messenger talisman…”

The senior brother said in surprise, “Seems we’ve had incredible luck this time, running into two groups of kind-hearted people in a row.”  

The senior sister smiled sincerely. “Absolutely.”  

Little did the two of them know—had the Son of the World not interfered—these two groups would have actually been the same band of like-minded companions.  

Encountering similar situations in different places and making the same choices was only natural.  

……  

Si Qi had no idea he’d coincidentally saved the very group that had just been with the Son of the World moments earlier.  

After parting ways with them, he considered intercepting the Son of the World’s future golden finger—but he had no idea where the protagonist was at the moment.  

Since this secret realm had conveniently transported everyone into demonic beast territory, it aligned perfectly with Si Qi’s original plan. So he temporarily set aside the Son of the World and focused first on finding the demonic cultivators in this region.  

To complete this world’s mission—preventing conflict between human cultivators, demonic beasts, and spirit plants—efforts on the human side alone wouldn’t be enough.  

Whether by coincidence or not, Si Qi felt his luck had been unusually good today. Aside from nearly getting caught in a spatial rift upon entering the secret realm, he hadn’t encountered any life-threatening dangers. He’d even walked quite a distance without tripping once.  

Absentmindedly touching the cloak Chu Feng had given him, Si Qi wondered if it really was, as that little troublemaker Xiu Xiu claimed, the power of love at work.  

The next moment, his spiritual sense detected demonic energy fluctuations ahead. Si Qi quickly dashed toward the source.  

Soon after, the two parties met in a grassy clearing. The demonic cultivator on the other side, sensing the youthful aura around Si Qi, greeted him: “Little one, did you come here after receiving the distress signal too?”  

Si Qi shook his head. “Distress signal?”  

The demonic cultivator explained, “Some foolish wolves in this area had the bad luck of running into a group of invading human cultivators. They’ve been howling for their sons and daughters to come rescue them, so I brought my subordinates over.”  

Si Qi glanced around. “I don’t see your subordinates?”  

The demonic cultivator grinned carefreely. “Why would they stick with me? Of course they’ve scattered to hunt down the humans. Us mighty tigers aren’t like those dumb wolves—we don’t need to move in packs.”

Si Qi let out an “Oh,” pondering how to stick with these demonic cultivators to meet more of their kind, when the demonic cultivator across from him said, “You’re just a tiny little thing—you shouldn’t stay here. What if you get hurt?”  

Si Qi: “I’m already three hundred years old.”  

“Three hundred? That’s practically a baby!” The demonic cultivator widened his eyes like an adult scolding a child. “Alright, listen up. Come with me—I smell Old Tortoise nearby. That guy loves looking after kids. You stick with him!”  

Si Qi vaguely recalled the name “Old Tortoise” from the original owner’s memories—an ancient demonic beast with an exceptionally long lifespan. Aside from the most powerful demonic beast overlords, practically no one in the demonic beast realm had lived longer than him.  

A figure like that surely had extensive connections—no, demon connections—throughout the realm, right?  

Si Qi didn’t refuse the enthusiastic help of this tiger-demon big brother. Like a lost child being handed over to a tourist center’s caretaker, he was entrusted to the “elder” here.  

The elder had actually come to help as well and hadn’t even had time to locate the wolf pack leader who’d sent out the distress signal before being saddled with a “baby.” He was equal parts amused and exasperated.  

Habitually, he tried to hoist Si Qi onto his back for a playful piggyback ride, only for Si Qi to twitch his lips and refuse.  

Yeah, no. The mental image of a fresh-faced youth riding on the shoulders of a white-haired old man was just too bizarre.  

The elder seemed almost disappointed by Si Qi’s rejection.  

Si Qi studied the old man closely and noticed his energy fluctuations were highly unstable—almost as bad as the senior brother who’d been severely injured earlier. “Are you hurt?” he asked.  

The elder chuckled, his tone oddly nonchalant. “Ran into a group of human cultivators two hundred years ago. They roughed me up a bit.”  

Back then, he hadn’t looked nearly as old as he did now—more like a human in their thirties or forties, not much different from the brawny tiger demon earlier.  

But those cultivators had suddenly shown up, babbling about needing “defensive artifacts,” and set their sights on his tortoise shell. They wanted to strip it off and forge it into a shield, so they’d ganged up on him without warning, trying to kill him on the spot. 

After the battle, the old tortoise had barely survived thanks to his natural defenses, but his cultivation had plummeted from the Void Refinement Stage to the early Integration Stage. What should’ve been tens of thousands of years of lifespan had dwindled to mere centuries.  

Si Qi asked, “Do you hate humans? Do you think they’re despicable, that they should all be wiped out?”  

The elder chuckled. “Hate? Of course. But mostly, I hate the ones who hurt me back then. Wiping them all out is a bit much—there are just too many of them.”  

He wasn’t the type to project his deep-seated grudges onto an entire race. Holding a grudge against the cultivators who kept targeting demonic beasts was enough.  

Most other demonic beasts felt the same. While they didn’t like humans, they weren’t exactly fond of other demonic beast clans either—mice hated snakes, cats looked down on everyone with cold disdain, and the original owner had been so fascinated by the human world that he’d dashed off to live among cultivators the moment he took human form.  

Si Qi: “I see. You’re actually pretty kind.”  

The elder grinned. “Am I? The moment I heard something was happening here, I rushed over to join the fight.”  

He loved participating in these kinds of activities.  

Si Qi smiled faintly. “Would you mind if I checked your pulse?”  

Old Tortoise blinked. “Checked my what?”  

Si Qi: “Examined your body. See where exactly you’re injured and whether it can be treated.”  

The elder looked surprised. “You know those human cultivator tricks?”  

Si Qi: “I do. Humans are actually pretty clever—no harm in learning from them.”  

The elder nodded. “True. Ten demonic beasts combined might not match a single human’s cunning. They’ve got all sorts of strange ideas, and some are downright useful.”  

Case in point: Despite his thick skin and natural defenses, he’d been beaten half to death by a group of seemingly ordinary cultivators. Their endless tricks had left him helpless.  

Though he didn’t understand “checking pulses,” he had seen human cultivators examine each other’s injuries before. Intrigued, he extended his hand toward Si Qi.

Si Qi chuckled faintly and placed his fingers on the elder’s wrist, closing his eyes to concentrate for a moment before saying, “It’s nothing serious. Just take a few pills, and you’ll be fine.”  

The old man’s eyes widened. “A few pills?? That’s all it takes?!”  

Well, it wasn’t that simple—but to someone as experienced as Si Qi, any injury or illness was just child’s play.  

Si Qi grinned. “More or less. The main thing is that those pills are really effective. Once you target the problem, fixing it becomes easy.”  

It was like how cowpox had defeated smallpox—once the right solution was found, even the most terrifying disease became trivial.  

He retrieved some healing pills from his storage ring—similar to the ones he’d given the senior brother earlier, but with a more complex formula and stronger effects, tailored for high-level cultivators.  

Old Tortoise didn’t really believe Si Qi’s claims, but he found the boy charming and wanted to humor him. His guard was practically nonexistent around a youngling like this, so when Si Qi handed him a few dark little “candy beads,” he poked at them curiously before popping them into his mouth.  

Which was why he was completely unprepared for the sheer intensity of their effects.  

After just a few steps, he froze in place, grunting as his face flushed and paled in turns. He struggled to circulate his demonic energy to absorb the medicine, and at Si Qi’s prompting, he guided that indescribably cool energy toward the wounds that had tormented him day and night.  

For what felt like an eternity—though in reality, it was only about the time it took to drink a cup of tea—the elder finally opened his eyes and exhaled deeply, his gaze shimmering with disbelief.  

He tentatively channeled his demonic energy and was stunned to find his once-shattered core, previously like a cracked bowl barely holding anything, now completely intact—overflowing with power.  

Raising his hand, he stared at the back of it. The rough, wrinkled skin that had resembled tree bark was now smooth and unblemished, even younger than before his injury.  

He had just been chatting with the little one to amuse him, never expecting any real change. Now, after a long, dazed silence, he finally managed to say, “Little one… what in the world did you just give me? How is this possible?”  

Si Qi: “Like I said—pills made by human cultivators. They’re really good for healing.”  

Old Tortoise still looked bewildered, but after a while, he murmured, “Right… Human cultivators know to take our body parts and the spirit plants from our lands to craft all sorts of things. So why shouldn’t we take their pills and heal ourselves like they do?”  

It had simply never occurred to most demonic beasts to use human ingenuity for their own benefit. The idea that they, too, could recover from injuries by swallowing pills had never crossed their minds…  

Beaming at Si Qi, the elder couldn’t help but praise him: “Little one, you’re brilliant! No wonder you took human form so young—you’re going to grow into an incredible demonic beast one day!”

“Hah! No need for ‘one day’—I’m already amazing now!” Si Qi shamelessly boasted, then added, “Actually, I’ve been thinking—why should humans be the only ones taking things from us? Shouldn’t we also get things from them? Right, Grandpa Tortoise?”  

The old man nodded, his face full of longing. “Those pills are good stuff. We should go raid the humans for more!”  

Si Qi shook his head. “Raiding is too dangerous. What if we get hurt?”  

The elder pondered for a moment. Unlike the hot-blooded young demonic beasts who would’ve proudly declared, “We demons don’t fear human cultivators! Fight or die—we’ll just come back stronger in the next life!”, he seriously considered the consequences. If demonic beasts started looting human territory, the humans would surely retaliate just as fiercely as demons did against invaders.  

It would be dangerous.  

“Then, little one, do you have a better idea?” The elder looked at the clever youngster with anticipation. After all, Si Qi already had the pills—if he was refuting the idea of raiding, he must have a plan.  

Si Qi said matter-of-factly, “Trade! We can exchange the spirit plants that grow everywhere here, or things we don’t need—discarded tortoise shells, snake molts, honey—with the humans!”  

Though demonic beasts’ civilization developed slowly, they still understood the concept of bartering. The elder let out an enlightened “Ohhh!” and exclaimed, “So that’s how it works! You’re so smart, little one!”  

“Heh, of course I am!” Si Qi practically wagged an invisible tail in pride. “And it’s not just pills—human formations, artifacts, talismans… anything humans can make, we demonic cultivators can learn too! If we don’t want to trade or can’t get good deals, we can just make them ourselves!”  

The old tortoise was completely out of his depth here but asked curiously, “Can we really learn those things?”  

Human cultivators always called them “beasts” and “stupid creatures,” treating them as mindless savages. Over time, many demons had internalized the idea that they were simply dumber than humans, only capable of clumsy imitation—never dreaming they could learn on equal footing.  

Si Qi explained, “We don’t get education from birth like humans, nor do we live in their complex, bustling world. Spending all our time around unenlightened beasts, of course we lag behind.”  

It was like comparing the nomadic tribes of ancient steppes to the sophisticated civilizations of the Central Plains—both were human, yet one was deemed “uncivilized” simply because of their environment.  

The elder nodded vaguely, seeming to grasp the idea but not entirely.  

Si Qi decided to demonstrate. “Just now, when I checked your pulse—that’s a skill I learned from humans. And those pills? I refined them myself. Didn’t buy a single one.”  

The old man jolted in surprise. “Really?! Then we can learn human things!”  

“Of course,” Si Qi said. “And humans have huge populations—they have to compete for resources, which means they desperately need materials from our realm. If we want to learn or trade for something, we can use what we have. No need to worry about humans ignoring us.”  

The elder nodded repeatedly, his face alight with joy and newfound hope for the future.  

Si Qi continued, “Right now, I’m living incognito in the cultivation world. From what I’ve seen, unless they’re fighting over resources in places like secret realms, cultivators mostly trade or buy what they need in daily life.”  

Grandpa Tortoise was stunned. “Really?!”  

Every time demons encountered humans, the humans attacked on sight—never offering spirit stones or food in exchange. They’d assumed human society was just as violent, where people grabbed weapons first and talked never.  

Si Qi nearly laughed at the elder’s expression. “Yes, really,” he confirmed. “Right now, I’m researching ways to cultivate spirit plants on a large scale and improve material efficiency. If we solve the resource shortage at its root, even if demons and humans share resources, there won’t be conflict over scarcity…”  

Luckily, his current wood-attribute Heavenly Spiritual Root gave him an innate advantage in botany. Propagating low-yield spirit plants through grafting, cultivating new specimens from fragments, refining plant essences for maximum efficiency—these were all projects Si Qi planned to tackle. Any breakthrough could alleviate the cultivation world’s resource crisis.  

He had many ideas, but his explanation quickly grew too complex for the elder, whose face scrunched in confusion.  

“Little one, what are you talking about? Grandpa doesn’t understand…”  

Si Qi realized that even simplified explanations would fly over the old tortoise’s head. So he summarized: “It means I’ll work hard in the cultivation world to ensure humans never lack resources. Once they have everything they need, they won’t risk invading our lands. We can trade peacefully, cooperate, and grow together.”  

“Oooh!” Finally comprehending, the elder sighed in admiration. “Little one, you’re incredible! You can do so many amazing things!”  

Had Si Qi said this upon first meeting, the elder would’ve dismissed it as a child’s naive fantasy—praising the idea but not taking it seriously.  

But after witnessing the miraculous “candy beads” and hearing Si Qi’s brilliant strategies, the old tortoise now held him in extraordinarily high regard. If Si Qi said it, he believed it.