Stepping out from behind the curtain, Lee Hyun found himself facing a broad clearing.
The applicants who had passed the spiritual root test had gathered in small groups.
Hundreds of applicants had originally assembled below the Mountain Gate, but by Lee Hyun's rough estimate, fewer than fifty had made it this far.
"Everyone, quiet."
A voice came from the front of the clearing.
A middle-aged man in a gray robe stood on a raised platform. Blue waves and medicinal herb patterns were embroidered together on his chest.
The noisy applicants fell silent.
The middle-aged man slowly swept his gaze over the newcomers.
"I am Wang Jin, an Outer Gate steward. Those whose names I call, come forward."
Soon, the four applicants with the best spiritual roots were called out. There was one boy dressed in silk, two young-looking girls, and one barefoot, scrawny child.
"You four are inner disciple candidates. Follow him."
While the four children rejoiced, low sighs of disappointment spread among those who remained in the clearing.
Lee Hyun, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief.
Since the sect poured so many resources into its inner disciples, it would naturally scrutinize their cultivation progress just as strictly. There was also a good chance their bodies would be examined in detail during the process.
For Lee Hyun, who needed to conceal his ageless body, there could hardly have been a worse position.
After the inner disciple candidates followed one of Qinghe Valley's disciples away, Steward Wang Jin spoke again.
"I'll make this clear first, in case any of you are under the wrong impression. You are not yet official disciples of Qinghe Valley."
One boy cautiously raised his hand.
"Didn't we pass the spiritual root test?"
"Having a spiritual root is not the same as being able to become a cultivator."
Wang Jin answered indifferently.
"From this moment on, your status is that of an outer disciple candidate. Within the next one hundred days, you must accomplish Drawing Qi into the Body and reach Qi Refining Stage 1. During that time, you must also learn the sect's rules and how to carry out the work assigned to you."
"What happens if we fail to succeed within one hundred days?"
"You will either be sent down to the Menial Labor Compound and given another chance, or you will have to leave through the Mountain Gate."
The atmosphere in the clearing grew heavy.
"Even after reaching Qi Refining Stage 1, you will not immediately become an outer disciple."
Wang Jin continued.
"We will also judge your conduct and performance over those one hundred days. Anyone who bullies fellow disciples just because their cultivation is a little faster, or helps themselves to sect property, will not be accepted."
Wang Jin pointed to a stack of wooden tokens beside him.
"Come forward and receive your identity tokens."
The applicants stepped forward one by one.
When Lee Hyun's turn came, Wang Jin looked down at the register.
"Lee Hyun. Triple spiritual root of Wood, Fire, and Earth. Bone age, nineteen."
"Yes."
Wang Jin handed him a wooden token about the size of his palm.
The words Qinghe Valley were engraved on the front, while Lee Hyun's name was carved into the back.
"Don't lose it. You'll need it for entering and leaving, meals, and collecting supplies."
"Understood."
Lee Hyun examined the identity token carefully.
He had yet to develop qi sense, but after spending decades as a woodcutter and handling every kind of timber imaginable, he could tell that this identity token was no ordinary piece of wood.
Its grain was clearly visible, yet it was as heavy as stone, and even pressing a fingernail into its surface left no mark.
Even an identity token handed out to outer disciple candidates was unlike anything made by mortals. As expected of a cultivator sect.
...
Qinghe Valley was, just as its name suggested, a sect nestled within a valley.
Several peaks rose along the valley, which was wreathed in blue mist.
There was Qinghe Peak, the main peak where the Elders and inner disciples resided; Medicinal Field Peak, covered in tier upon tier of spirit fields; and Alchemy Furnace Peak, where smoke rose day and night. Off to one side stood the Scripture Pavilion, where the sect's books were said to be kept.
The outer disciple candidates' quarters were at the foot of Medicinal Field Peak.
Simple houses with earthen walls and tiled roofs lined the slope. Two people were assigned to each room.
Lee Hyun set down his belongings in front of the room he had been assigned. His roommate was a sixteen-year-old boy named Wang Shao.
"Brother, how old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"You're older than I thought."
'Nineteen is old?'
Lee Hyun was momentarily at a loss for words. If he included his previous life, he had lived for nearly eighty years.
"Brother, what spiritual root do you have? I have a triple spiritual root of Earth, Metal, and Water. The Steward said that if mine were just a little better, I might've had a shot at becoming an inner disciple..."
"Mine is Wood, Fire, and Earth."
Wang Shao started chattering before he had even finished unpacking.
"I'm definitely going to become an inner disciple. I heard that if an outer disciple performs exceptionally well, they can be promoted to an inner disciple. What's your goal, Brother?"
"Well... I was thinking I might learn how to grow spirit herbs and make pills."
"Come on, a man should dream bigger than that."
As they talked, Lee Hyun sorted through the items he had been issued. There were two gray robes, a pair of shoes, a thin blanket, wooden tableware, a brush and ink, and one blank booklet.
...
That evening, the outer disciple candidates were each given three thin books.
《Qinghe Valley Outer Gate Code》, 《Introductory Guide on Cultivation》, and 《Qinghe Qi-Drawing Art》.
Of the three, the most important was the Qinghe Qi-Drawing Art.
It was Qinghe Valley's most basic qi-drawing art. Since it was attributeless, anyone could practice it regardless of what spiritual root they possessed.
After reaching Qi Refining Stage 1, they would be allowed to choose a proper cultivation art suited to their spiritual root and assigned work.
Lee Hyun carefully turned the pages.
The locations of the meridians were marked alongside illustrations, and the book explained how to breathe and guide spiritual qi into the dantian.
...
Basic instruction began the next day.
Before sunrise, the newcomers gathered in a broad lecture hall and sat in the lotus position.
Wang Jin and two other outer disciples sat at the front.
"The first step of cultivation is sensing the spiritual qi scattered throughout heaven and earth."
Wang Jin spoke.
"Do not try to see it with your eyes, and do not try to seize it by force. Steady your breathing, clear your mind of stray thoughts, and wait for the moment when the energy outside your body comes into contact with your spiritual root."
The candidates closed their eyes.
Lee Hyun also breathed according to the instructions written in the Qinghe Qi-Drawing Art.
He slowly drew in a long breath, paused for a moment, then exhaled.
At first, he felt nothing.
All he could focus on was the hardness of the floor and the breathing of the person beside him.
Before long, his legs went numb.
His back hurt too.
'I have to do this for several shichen (each shichen is about two hours) every day?'
Cultivation was harder than he had expected.
In the novels he had read in his previous life, the protagonist would sit in the lotus position, close his eyes, and somehow several days would pass before he knew it. Now that Lee Hyun was trying it himself, enduring even half a shichen was no easy task.
Still, thanks to the stamina he had built up through years of logging, Lee Hyun straightened his back every time his posture began to sag.
He felt nothing on the first day.
The second day was the same.
On the third day, one of the children sitting in the front row suddenly opened his eyes, his face lighting up.
"I felt it!"
An outer disciple examined the child and nodded.
"You haven't succeeded in Drawing Qi into the Body yet. Don't get excited. Concentrate again."
By the fifth day, three people had sensed spiritual qi.
After ten days, more than twenty had sensed it.
Wang Shao, who shared Lee Hyun's room, was delighted after sensing spiritual qi as well.
"It was like tiny specks of light floating around. I couldn't grab them with my hands, but they were definitely all around me."
"I see."
"Brother, you still haven't felt it?"
"Not yet."
"Don't worry. There are still ninety days left."
"Right."
Lee Hyun was not particularly worried.
Still, it would be somewhat troublesome if he failed to succeed within those ninety days.
If he was sent to the Menial Labor Compound, there was no telling what kind of work he might be assigned. If he ended up in a mine or a spirit beast enclosure, it seemed unlikely that he would be able to learn the spirit herb cultivation techniques he wanted.
Even after instruction ended, Lee Hyun sat on his bed and continued practicing the Qinghe Qi-Drawing Art.
While the other candidates asked about one another's backgrounds or wandered around exploring the sect, he remained in his room.
...
It was the night of his twentieth day in the sect.
As usual, Lee Hyun sat on his bed, regulating his breathing.
A cool breeze blew in through the open window.
At that moment, Lee Hyun sensed something extremely faint mixed into the wind.
At first, he thought it was his imagination.
His eyes were closed, yet he could vaguely picture tiny dust-like motes drifting around him.
There was a warm energy like an ember, another that felt heavy like earth, and a faint vitality that reminded him of a newly sprouted shoot.
Recalling the mnemonic formula of the Qinghe Qi-Drawing Art, Lee Hyun focused his mind on the energy that felt closest to him.
It was the faint energy that reminded him of a sprout.
The hazy energy drifted into his body and reached his chest.
At that moment, his concentration faltered, and the energy scattered without a trace.
Lee Hyun tried again.
The second strand disappeared near his shoulder.
The third reached below his navel but dispersed before touching his dantian.
He lost track of how many times he failed as the sky beyond the window gradually began to brighten.
At last, a thread-thin strand of energy reached his dantian.
A faint warmth appeared in his lower abdomen.
Lee Hyun did not try to seize the energy. Following the mnemonic formula, he slowly circulated it within his dantian.
After three circuits, the energy became slightly more distinct than before.
He had not reached Qi Refining Stage 1. He had merely succeeded for the first time in sensing spiritual qi and drawing it into his body.
'It really works!'
Lee Hyun felt a rush of accomplishment and joy. Cultivation might suit him better than he had expected.
...
From that day onward, Lee Hyun gradually gathered spiritual qi in his dantian.
It had taken him a long time to sense spiritual qi in the first place, but once he had learned the feeling, finding it again was not difficult.
His progress, however, was slow.
Drawing in a single strand of spiritual qi left him mentally drained. If he forced himself to continue, his head began to ache and nausea churned in his stomach.
Wang Jin warned newcomers who experienced such symptoms not to overdo it.
"If you get greedy while your meridians are still unopened, you will only injure yourself. The one who starts earliest is not necessarily the one who reaches Qi Refining first."
In fact, the child who had sensed spiritual qi after only three days became too eager, coughed up blood, and was carried to the Infirmary.
After seeing that, Lee Hyun decided to proceed carefully.
...
At dawn, one month after he entered the sect.
The moment the spiritual qi accumulated in his dantian passed a critical point, the previously calm flow suddenly began to rotate, forming a vortex.
A thin current started in his lower abdomen and rose through the meridians inside his body.
It felt as though scalding water were coursing through his blood vessels.
Wherever the energy passed, his blocked meridians were forcibly pried open. Pain swept through his entire body, as though needles were scraping along beneath his skin.
"Ugh...!"
Lee Hyun gritted his teeth.
The energy passed through his chest and shoulders, spread all the way to his fingertips, then returned to his dantian.
His fingertips felt as though they were swelling, and then, in an instant, all his senses sharpened.
He could even hear Wang Shao grinding his teeth in his sleep. In the faint dawn light, he felt as though he could make out every single mote of dust drifting through the room.
His body trembled lightly as something that had been blocked inside him finally seemed to break open.
Following the final passage of the Qinghe Qi-Drawing Art, Lee Hyun circulated the energy through another circuit.
During the second circulation, a surge of searing heat rose through the pain.
The moment he completed the third circulation, an invisible shell shattered into pieces.
Boom!
Inside Lee Hyun's head, a thunderous roar rang out as if a massive dam had collapsed. The spiritual qi gathered in his dantian spread throughout his entire body, then rushed back like a violent wave. The energy that had previously been as thin as a strand of thread had now become a clear, distinct current.
Lee Hyun's eyes snapped open.
Even with nothing but the faint light of dawn, everything in the room appeared sharply defined. He could see the grain of the wooden chest, the tiny cracks in the wall, even a single strand of hair that had fallen onto Wang Shao's blanket.
Inside his body, an energy incomparably stronger than before pulsed with life.
Lee Hyun clenched his fist.
Even with the simple motion of curling his fingers, the muscles in his arm and shoulder felt as though they moved as one. Every part of his body responded instantly to his will.
'So this... is what it feels like to be a cultivator!'