Chapter 11

The booklet depicted the fundamentals of cultivation.

Starting from the acupoints and meridians throughout the human body, to the methods of circulating spiritual energy, everything was explained in detail.

Jianchou was fortunate.

Last night, she had stumbled into cultivation by accident and had already gained an intuitive understanding of the process.

With that successful experience, she quickly grasped the cultivation methods described in the booklet as she read through it.

However, unlike last night, when she had easily attracted spiritual energy as if it naturally favored her, today was different.

She closed her eyes, and a faint light appeared between her eyebrows—this was the “spiritual’s eye” that Fudao shanren had opened for her, allowing her to sense the presence of spiritual energy.

She then tried to meditate as she had done the previous night, but this time, the spiritual energy remained in its original trajectory, barely moving at all.

She had thought that cultivation would be as simple as moving her own arm, but it seemed she had overestimated herself.

In that moment, Jianchou felt a sense of disappointment.

She sat cross-legged on the ground and let out a soft, self-deprecating laugh.

Perhaps Fudao shanren was right—she wasn’t a genius after all.

Since she wasn’t a genius, she would just follow the path of an ordinary person.

Jianchou knew she had many things to do and a long road ahead.

No matter how difficult the beginning was, she couldn’t afford to give up now.

She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath.

Jianchou cleared her mind of distractions and tried to communicate with the spiritual energy around her once more.

This time, it seemed to go a little better.

If the previous attempt was like waving at the spiritual energy only for it to glance at her and ignore her, this time, Jianchou shouted at it, and it finally turned its head and began to approach her.

Effort would surely yield results.

Jianchou failed repeatedly but kept trying…

The red sun rose higher in the sky and then gradually began to set.

The shadow Jianchou cast on the ground grew shorter and then longer.

The only constant was the light emitted by the Wujian sword, which continued to expand and contract, maintaining a steady radius of thirty feet.

(T/N: The raw put it as 3 zhang, but 1 zhang is roughly estimated as 10/11 feet, so I just convert it directly into feet.)

Jianchou sat within this thirty radius, atop the cliff.

A stream of spiritual energy entered through the crown of her head and, under her guidance, flowed through her meridians, nourishing her body and becoming increasingly refined.

Finally, this stream of spiritual energy transformed into specks of starlight, which then spread out from between her eyebrows and scattered onto the battle disk, where the Kun lines transported it to the Tianyuan…

Only then was a single cycle of cultivation complete.

A thin layer of sweat formed on Jianchou’s forehead.

With a soft “drip,” her long eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.

The world around her had turned dark.

Only the bright moon hung high above the cliff.

The wind from the base of the cliff blew, causing the trees on the mountain behind her to rustle.

She exhaled a turbid breath and stood up, feeling much lighter.

Following the method described in the booklet, Jianchou curled her ring fingers inward, pressed her palms together, and formed a hand seal.

Whoosh!

Her vision brightened.

On the uneven ground, a battle disk emerged like a relief sculpture, measuring ten feet and three inchi in diameter.

Inside was a Tianyuan the size of a baby’s fist, along with one and a half Kun lines glowing brightly amidst the chaos!

This was Jianchou’s own battle disk!

Beginners needed hand seals to summon their, but more experienced cultivators could summon it with a mere thought.

As for Jianchou, she could only summon it through hand seals for now.

Even so, she felt an unprecedented sense of fulfillment.

It had only been ten days.

Ten days ago, she had been a weak, ordinary woman, a wife and a homemaker.

Now, she had shed her mortal ties and was gradually mastering extraordinary skills, even stepping onto the path of cultivation that ordinary people could only dream of, seeking immortality and the Dao.

Ten days felt like a dream.

Was it joy?

Or sorrow?

Perhaps after great sorrow, there was joy.

Jianchou’s hand seal gradually loosened, and the battle disk beneath her feet slowly faded away.

She looked around.

The wind on the cliff was strong, and the moon was large.

Down the mountain, the Qingfeng Temple was already devoid of people and lights.

As for her master, who had left without a word, there was no sign of him either.

After cultivating for an entire day, perhaps due to the nourishment of spiritual energy, Jianchou didn’t feel hungry, but her mouth was dry.

She bent down and retrieved a water pouch from her bag, then looked around for a place to fetch water.

However, at that moment, Jianchou suddenly heard a strange sound.

“Hum!”

She looked up sharply in the direction of the sound.

It was the wooden sword!

The Wujian sword, embedded in the hard rock of the cliff, seemed to let out a mournful cry.

Its broad blade trembled violently, and the steady blue light that had maintained a thirty feet radius suddenly contracted and flickered unsteadily.

In an instant, the thirty blue light shrank and clung to the sword’s body, as if forced back by something!

Whoosh!

A fierce wind swept through!

The cliff was instantly engulfed in a storm of sand and stones.

The trees on the mountain swayed violently, and leaves scattered everywhere.

Jianchou stood on the cliff, her plain clothes flapping in the wind, nearly blown away.

She raised her sleeve to shield herself, afraid that the sand and stones would get in her eyes.

But she only shielded herself for a moment before lowering her arm.

Her pupils dilated, and after a moment of shock, her eyes filled with awe!

In the vast darkness, countless golden rays of light shot out from the mountainside, piercing through the layers of clouds in the night sky!

The clouds were torn apart like fabric by the golden light!

Even the bright white moon paled in comparison to the intense golden radiance.

If not for the surrounding darkness, Jianchou might have thought it was still daytime.

The source of the golden light was none other than the Qingfeng Temple, where Fudao shanren had gone earlier!

At this moment, the temple’s gates were tightly shut, with no one entering or leaving.

The entire temple seemed devoid of people.

But Jianchou could see that beneath the Qingfeng Temple, it was as if something was being suppressed.

Golden light spilled out from around the temple, shooting into the sky.

The golden light flickered on and off in different locations, eventually forming a massive symbol—an ancient, crude sigil.

This symbol rose higher and higher, eventually piercing the clouds!

Jianchou’s eyes were filled with golden light, and she could see nothing but this ancient symbol.

In that moment, she had a strange premonition: this symbol was anything but ordinary!

The silent night was illuminated by this symbol, and it seemed to come alive because of it.

Nineteen Continents.

On a tall building by the sea, a wild scholar who had been drinking and composing poetry suddenly set down his cup and stood up, his eyes filled with shock as he gazed at the sea fog in the distance.

His sharp gaze seemed to pierce through the barriers of time and space, seeing everything on the other shore.

“Something’s happened…”

Also in the Nineteen Continents.

In a crystal-clear lake, a pair of eyes slowly opened, their deep blue hair floating in the water, swaying with the waves.

The woman’s eyes were also blue, with a faint flame flickering in their depths.

The strange symbol from the human world’s isolated island appeared in the flame within her eyes.

She frowned in confusion, then slowly closed her eyes and sank back into the pure waters of the lake.

Still in the Nineteen Continents.

In an underground cavern, a massive altar stood, its surface a smooth, giant bronze mirror.

On the mirror sat a withered old man, his hair and beard white, covered in dust.

The symbol slowly appeared on the bronze mirror, its golden light instantly illuminating the cavern…

The old man’s dry, wrinkled eyelids twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes, looking down with an inscrutable expression.

…

Across the Nineteen Continents, all the powerful cultivators who were attuned to the heavens and earth looked up.

That symbol was etched into their senses!

Without exception!

However, Jian Chou had no idea how significant this event was.

She stared intently at the symbol until it gradually dissipated into the clouds.

The light beneath the Qingfeng Temple also dimmed and faded.

The light that had contracted and clung to the Wujian sword’s body seemed to regain some courage and slowly expanded again, enveloping Jianchou.

The mysterious symbol vanished, the fierce wind died down, and the blinding golden light disappeared…

Everything returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

For a moment, Jianchou thought she had been dreaming.

She stood there in a daze, with only the broken branches and scattered leaves on the ground reminding her that what she had seen was not an illusion.

Had something happened at the Qingfeng Temple? The Wujian sword had also acted strangely. Could something have happened to her master?

Once this thought entered her mind, she couldn’t shake it.

Jianchou was still considering whether she should go down to find Fudao shanren when a flash of deep blue light caught her eye.

The light was moving rapidly, ascending from the mountainside along the ridge.

Jianchou could almost hear its whistling sound.

The light reached her in an instant, accompanied by a cry of distress: “So unlucky, so unlucky! Disciple, disciple!”

With a thud, something landed on the ground.

By the light of the Wujian sword’s energy, Jianchou finally saw who it was.

It was none other than Fudao shanren, the very person she had been thinking about!

“Master!”

Jianchou couldn’t help but cry out in relief and hurried over. However, as she got closer, she noticed that Fudao shanren was leaning on his bamboo staff, panting heavily, his face covered in soot and his body stained with large patches of blood!

Jianchou was horrified.

“Master, you’re injured!”

“I…”

Fudao shanren looked down, wondering how he could have been injured despite his valiant performance earlier.

But sure enough, he saw blood all over his body and was instantly infuriated!

“This is all someone else’s blood!”

“Oh…”

Jianchou awkwardly retracted her look of surprise.

Her mind was buzzing with questions, but she didn’t know which to ask first.

“Master, just now…”

“I know you have a lot of questions, but hold them in. The situation is critical, and we don’t have time to waste. Come with me, quickly!”

With that, Fudao shanren waved his hand, and the Wujian sword flew up from the ground, landing beside him.

He stepped onto the sword and pulled Jianchou up with him before she could react.

With a hand seal, the sword shot forward!

The night wind was cold, making them shiver.

The Wujian sword emitted a deep blue light as it sped toward the Qingfeng Temple on the mountainside.

Unlike the last time they had flown on the sword, the view wasn’t clear.

Jianchou looked around, but all she could see were shadows, like ghosts and demons.

“Master… what are we going to do?”

The gates of the Qingfeng Temple were already in sight, but Fudao shanren didn’t stop.

Instead, he flew past the temple, heading toward the back.

“A few reckless disciples from the Central Region came here for training and got trapped in the hidden realm of the Qingfeng Temple. Damn it, now I have to save them! The portal is about to open, but there’s a problem—we need five people below the Golden Core stage to activate it.”

Fudao shanren briefly explained the situation, then spat in frustration.

“Damn it, you’re only at the Qi Refining stage, but you’ll have to make up the numbers!”

Ah…

So that was it?

A teleportation array?

A hidden realm?

What were these things?

Jianchou could only vaguely understand. Before she could ask more, Fudao shanren added, “When you meet those reckless kids later, just say you’re from Yashan—”

“Yashan?”

Jianchou was puzzled.

The Wujian sword continued to speed forward, already passing half of the temple.

Fudao shanren rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“I’m from Yashan, so of course you’re a Yashan disciple! Do I really have to explain everything? What a waste of time taking you as my disciple!”

How was she supposed to know that?

Jianchou felt like fainting.

She looked around, but the temple was completely empty, and the scenery rushed past her.

“Then what’s my ranking? How many disciples have you taken, Master?”

“Seven.”

The Wujian sword suddenly rose, clearing a small slope on the back of the mountain, then descended again.

Ahead, a small mountain stream came into view.

Fudao shanren answered Jianchou absentmindedly, but his body was tense—they were almost there.

Jian Chou, oblivious, nodded in understanding.

“Then I’m the eighth, the youngest junior sister.”

“Nonsense!”

Fudao shanren nearly fell off the sword.

He was too exhausted to argue.

The smell of blood wafted from his body, and his voice was unusually loud in the quiet night.

“You’re in your twenties, and you’ve already been married. Those idiots from the 36th generation were all younger than you when they joined. Of course you’re the senior sister!”

Se-senior sister?

Jianchou felt her vision darken.

Was she…

old?

She was still in a daze, the words “senior sister” echoing in her mind.

By the time she regained her senses, a ten feet wide cave entrance appeared before her, growing larger and larger!

Jianchou’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to scream, but before she could, Fudao shanren steered the sword straight into the narrow cave—

Without hesitation!

“We’re here!”