At the top of a cliff halfway up Green Wood Peak, Sun Yi sat on a huge rock, looking despondently at the sea of clouds rolling in the distance.
Three days earlier, Sun Yi’s soul had accidentally transmigrated from Earth into the body of a cultivator of the same name who had suffered Qi Deviation. He had taken over the body and merged with all of its memories.
At first, Sun Yi was delighted to find himself in a cultivation world. He had expected to awaken an extraordinary Spirit Root, cultivate an overpowered technique, and rise above his peers like the transmigrators in the novels.
Reality, however, dealt him a harsh blow. After three days of careful examination, Sun Yi felt he had embarrassed all transmigrators.
He had no heaven-defying cultivation system, no top-grade Spirit Root, no invincible artifact that could ripen spiritual herbs, and no powerful background. This body was as ordinary as it could be.
From the memories he had absorbed, he learned that cultivator talent in this world depended only on the quality of one’s Spirit Roots, not their number.
The worst were Low-Grade Spirit Roots: cultivation was slow and the chance of breaking through to Foundation Establishment was tiny. Because the breakthrough was so difficult, ordinary sects generally would not recruit such disciples. Above them were Mid-Grade, High-Grade, and Top-Grade Spirit Roots.
The Qingyun Sect had suffered a disaster and was short of manpower, which was why it had accepted a batch of Low-Grade Spirit Root cultivators.
Sun Yi possessed Metal, Wood, and Fire Spirit Roots, but all three were the lowest grade. Lacking resources and powerful techniques, and forced to work every day, he had little time to cultivate. At twenty-one, he was only at the third level of Qi Refining.
Even among the Qingyun Sect’s servant disciples, Sun Yi was one of the worst: unnoticed and unimportant, valued only as someone to be exploited. His life was much like that of a nine-to-nine-six worker on Earth.
If nothing changed, he would ultimately fade into the crowd; merely living to old age would count as a good ending.
But after learning how cruel the cultivation world was—where the strong preyed on the weak and low-level cultivators were worth less than dogs—he knew that living peacefully to old age was nearly impossible. Normally, someone as useless as him could only accept his fate.
Still, Sun Yi was an educated man from Earth. To avoid disgracing his fellow Chinese, he decided to rescue this bleak cultivation life and pursue the so-called path to immortality.
He had endured decades of mortgage, car, and consumer loans on Earth. What was a little hardship compared with that?
But how could he change this miserable cultivation life?
Should he leave the Qingyun Sect and seek opportunities outside?
He immediately dismissed the thought with a laugh.
From his memories, he knew that Chaos Demon Commandery was full of rampaging demon beasts and evil cultivators. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would be in great danger outside, let alone a weak third-level Qi Refining servant disciple.
Sun Yi did not believe he was the kind of protagonist who could pick up a heaven-defying treasure just by walking around. He had only one life and could not recklessly throw it away.
That path would not work, so he could only find a way inside the sect. But as a servant disciple, he had no talent, skills, background, treasures, or strength. Getting ahead would be extremely difficult.
Was there really no way at all?
Of course there was. As a modern man, he possessed knowledge and methods beyond what cultivators could imagine—financial methods, technology, business skills, and more. The problem was that a lowly servant disciple had no way to put them into action.
Searching through his memories, he suddenly had an idea. The Myriad Demon Forest in western Chaos Demon Commandery had a special environment that completely concealed demon-beast auras.
Even the Divine Sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator could not investigate demon beasts there. It was a forbidden zone for cultivators: rich in resources, yet rarely entered.
Sun Yi knew Divine Sense searched by sensing auras, so it was useless in the Myriad Demon Forest. But a detection radar could replace that function and reveal hidden demon beasts in advance. Then he could collect resources from the forest.
Building a detection radar was not difficult for Sun Yi, who had once been a scientist and was highly skilled at hands-on work.
He lacked the tools and materials for now, but artifact refiners in the cultivation world gave him a major advantage. With time, suitable materials, and a refiner’s help, he could combine cultivation knowledge with his own and develop a simple detection radar.
Yet he was only a third-level Qi Refining servant disciple. Even if he built the radar, he lacked the ability to gather resources in the Myriad Demon Forest, and he still lacked suitable materials and a refiner’s help.
The method for changing his fate existed, but carrying it out would be extremely difficult. How could he break through this predicament? Sun Yi fell into thought.
At that moment, three loud bell tolls rang out from the main peak and echoed throughout the Qingyun Sect. Sun Yi knew they signaled a major event, but it seemed unrelated to a servant disciple like him.
He continued thinking until a shout suddenly pulled him back to reality.
“Old Sun, you’re hiding here slacking off again! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Come on!” A skinny young man in a worn servant robe ran over.
“Why are you looking for me, Gouzi? Haven’t I finished today’s work?” Sun Yi asked, puzzled.
Er Gouzi was another servant disciple of the Qingyun Sect. His aptitude and cultivation were about the same as Sun Yi’s, and he managed the medicinal garden on Green Wood Peak with him. They were close because they shared the same misfortune.
“Stop talking and come with me! If we’re late, Manager Wang will lose his temper!” Er Gouzi pulled Sun Yi along.
“What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?” Sun Yi asked, bewildered.
“You heard the bells from the main peak, right?” Er Gouzi asked as he dragged him along.
“I’m not deaf. Of course I heard them. What do they have to do with servant disciples like us?”
“Manager Wang said the Patriarch will emerge from seclusion the day after tomorrow and choose a new Sect Master, so we servant disciples have to clean the sect.”
“Choose a new Sect Master?” Sun Yi was startled. He remembered that in the twenty years since the Qingyun Sect moved to Chaos Demon Commandery, it had had no Sect Master. Its only early Nascent Soul Patriarch had been in seclusion healing, while five Golden Core Elders handled sect affairs.
If Er Gouzi had not mentioned it, Sun Yi would almost have forgotten.
“Yeah. I wonder whom the Patriarch will choose. I hear all five Golden Core Elders want the position. Whoever becomes Sect Master will rise to the heavens in a single step. I’m so jealous!” Er Gouzi sighed as they walked.
The words exploded in Sun Yi’s mind like thunder. He stopped and slapped his forehead. “That’s right! If I became the Sect Master, wouldn’t I rise to the heavens in a single step? Then I wouldn’t have to worry about materials for the radar, or use it myself. I could choose the best technique and use the best resources. And beautiful women would…”
“What did you just say? You want to become the Sect Master?” Er Gouzi stared at him as if he were crazy.
Sun Yi nodded seriously. “Yes. If I became the new Sect Master, I could cultivate the sect’s top technique and use its resources. And the saying goes that when one person attains the Dao, his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. If I become Sect Master, you could rise with me.”
Er Gouzi stepped forward and slapped Sun Yi.
“Damn you! Why did you hit me?” Sun Yi cursed.
“I’m trying to wake you up. What kind of daydream is this? You want to become Sect Master? And I’m no chicken or dog! If anyone ascends, it will be you alone!”
“You’re only a third-level Qi Refining ant. How can you compete with Golden Core Elders? You’re asking to die! There has never been a third-level Qi Refining Sect Master, let alone a servant disciple.”
“I heard the Nascent Soul Patriarch is an upright person. He shouldn’t kill people at the drop of a hat, right? Whoever becomes Sect Master is decided by one sentence from him.”
“And who says a Qi Refining cultivator cannot become Sect Master? I’m not stupid enough to try without a plan. If I get a chance, why shouldn’t I try?”
“You really want to seek death?” Er Gouzi nearly slapped him again, but decided against it. He urged him on instead and warned him not to speak carelessly about becoming Sect Master.
Sun Yi caught up and grinned. “A person should have dreams. Otherwise, what is the difference between him and a salted fish? Since the Patriarch is upright, I only need to understand his greatest needs and satisfy them. Perhaps I really can recommend myself. Even if I fail, he probably won’t kill me.”
“But I still need to investigate and make a plan first.”
Er Gouzi sneered without turning around. “First learn the difference between a dream and a fantasy. Don’t make everyone think you’re crazy. You won’t even get to meet the Nascent Soul Patriarch.”
A fool?
Sun Yi smiled. His cultivation life had seemed beyond rescue, but now he had decided to attempt something big.
First he would investigate the Patriarch and the five Golden Core Elders. If there was a chance, he would compete for the position of Sect Master the day after tomorrow. Wealth and honor came through danger; he would gamble once and see whether a bicycle could become a motorcycle.
He would avoid the ordinary path. How could the people of the cultivation world understand the Earthling wisdom of using four ounces to move a thousand pounds?