The rising sun cast golden light across the sea of clouds, dyeing the peaks like red jade. From the mountainside downward, drifting mists lightly veiled the scene, as if separating the immortal realm from the mortal world. Amidst it all, one could faintly hear the wind whistling through the pines and see cranes carrying the morning glow.
These were the Qingyuan Mountains, so named because the Qingyuan Sect stood among them.
Twelve hundred years had passed since Daoist Qingyuan came here on his travels, founded the sect, built its halls, and gathered disciples from far and wide. Its long history had given it deep roots.
Its territory spanned three thousand li and encompassed the kingdoms of Yun, Chen, and Zhao, with more than ten million mortals under its rule.
The sect had nearly a thousand disciples, with high-level cultivators emerging frequently, and the Golden Core lineage passed down generation after generation.
Within a courtyard on Little Thousand Peak.
Gu An sat cross-legged on his bed, facing the purple qi of dawn, his expression serene. Blue spiritual light flickered around him as he reached the crucial moment of his breakthrough.
The spiritual power of the Water Origin Art circulated through his meridians, crashing against the barrier of the Qi Condensation mid-stage, creating another crack. At this point, seven or eight cracks crisscrossed the barrier.
Gu An circulated his spiritual power again. This time, instead of directly striking the barrier, he stopped before it. The blue spiritual power accumulated and boiled there until his meridians could no longer bear it.
His spiritual power took the form of a raging blue dragon and crashed into the barrier.
Crack
The barrier shattered. The pent-up spiritual power surged forth like a river bursting through a dam, rushing forward.
Qi Condensation mid-stage! Breakthrough!
After breaking through, Gu An did not hastily cease his cultivation. Instead, while the purple energy had not yet dissipated, he seized the opportunity to consolidate his realm.
Over the years, he had made a habit of never wasting a moment he could spend cultivating.
Eight years had passed since he entered the Qingyuan Sect at the age of six.
In those eight years, Gu An had faced the morning’s purple energy, drawn in the moonlight at night, sat in meditation to comprehend the mysteries, and refined spiritual Qi, never slacking off.
Today, he had finally broken through to the fourth layer of Qi Condensation.
Huff
After a short while, Gu An slowly ceased his cultivation and let out a long breath of turbid air. In the morning light, the turbid air actually took on a blue-green hue, like smoke and mist, drifting away.
“So this is what it means to project spiritual power beyond the body at the middle stage of Qi Condensation. Amazing.”
The clearest sign of reaching the middle stage of Qi Condensation was the ability to project spiritual power beyond the body. At this level, cultivators were difficult for mortals to harm, and their newfound command of water and fire made their attacks far more powerful.
“Now that I’ve reached the middle stage of Qi Condensation, I need to learn some new spells. The Light Body Spell and Cleaning Spell are convenient, but they’re not much use in a fight.”
“I have Three Spirit Roots: water, wood, and earth. My water affinity is the best, wood is second, and earth is the worst.”
“I practice the Water Origin Art, so the Water Spear Spell and Water Shield Spell I looked at earlier would suit me: one for attack, one for defense. With the Entangling Spell as well, they should serve me throughout the middle stage of Qi Condensation.”
“Unfortunately, the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion doesn’t have any techniques that combine water and wood attributes. My wood attribute isn’t bad either. The Water Origin Art’s efficiency is still too low, and its spiritual power capacity and quality are mediocre. Sigh, if only I had a Heavenly Spirit Root.”
“Forget it. Being able to cultivate immortality is already a blessing from heaven. I shouldn’t demand more.”
Thinking this, Gu An’s eyes flickered with an indescribable expression.
He was not originally from this world. In his previous life, he had been a university student on Earth. Out for a walk one day, he came across a group releasing animals into the wild and stopped to watch. When he saw a middle-aged woman about to put a tortoise into the sea, he stepped in to stop her. He had only meant to save the animal’s life.
But the woman refused to listen to reason. Young as he was, Gu An was no match for her in a shouting match where reason counted for nothing. The more she twisted his words and argued, the angrier he grew.
In the end, his anger triggered a heart attack. He was rushed to the hospital but died despite rescue efforts.
When he woke again, he was already a fetus in the womb. Not long after, he was born into this world.
As luck would have it, in this life he was also named Gu An. His parents ran a tavern in Blackstone City of the Yun Kingdom. The family was fairly well-off. He thought he would live out an ordinary life in this other world, but unexpectedly, immortal fate descended from heaven.
At the age of six, the Qingyuan Sect’s Ascension Envoy descended upon Blackstone City in the Yun Kingdom, convening the Ascension Assembly. Gu An personally saw a Spirit Boat parting the clouds as it arrived, and an immortal descended. The immortal wore a plain white robe, his sleeves moving without wind, bathed in rosy light, surrounded by immortal aura, inspiring admiration.
Gu An had read stories about cultivation in his previous life, and now seeing the splendor of immortals in this life, a strong desire arose in his heart.
Having seen the light, how could he be content with darkness? Having witnessed celestial beings, how could he remain ordinary!
He, Gu An, did not wish to become a handful of yellow earth after a hundred years, cast into unknown darkness, never to see the light of day again.
He wanted to become an immortal. He wanted eternal life.
Fortunately, the test revealed that Gu An had spirit roots of three attributes: water, wood, and earth. He had the aptitude to cultivate.
Thereafter, Gu An entered the Qingyuan Sect, embarking on the immortal path of learning the Dao and seeking eternal life.
Yet longevity remained a distant hope, and the immortal path was hard to follow. His Three Spirit Roots gave him middling aptitude, but cultivation resources were difficult to obtain.
Relying only on the sect’s annual subsidy of three spirit stones and the monthly Mission Pay of two spirit stones, his cultivation speed was not fast. Only today had he broken through to the fourth layer of Qi Condensation, advancing to Qi Condensation mid-stage.
“Gu An, time for duty. If you delay, Steward Liu will scold us again.”
Just then, a call came from outside the small courtyard.
Gu An got up from his bed, put on his shoes, and pushed open the courtyard gate!
The visitor stood eight chi tall, broad-backed and powerfully built. His Qingyuan Sect outer disciple’s robe stretched tight over his frame, outlining the muscles beneath.
Gu An smiled and greeted him, his tone relaxed: “Brother Song, no need to rush today. Take a look and see what’s different about me today.”
The visitor was named Zhang Song, Gu An’s neighbor. Gu An had entered the sect at six, unfamiliar with the place and afraid to wander around. Aside from the monthly lectures, the only people he could interact with were his nearby neighbors. Zhang Song had taken care of him often, and the two had a good relationship.
The Qingyuan Sect had a rule: those who had been in the sect for five years would no longer receive subsidies, but disciples could go to the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall to accept missions to fund their cultivation.
Three years ago, Zhang Song and Gu An had both taken the mission of raising chickens at the Spirit Chicken Farm, going to work together every day.
This mission was actually found by Zhang Song through his grandfather, who worked at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall. It was a cushy job.
“Why not rush? If you delay and Steward Liu scolds you, don’t expect me to cover for you. Eh… wait, you’ve reached the fourth layer of Qi Condensation? Good for you, kid. You’ve caught up to me.”
Zhang Song looked Gu An up and down, clicking his tongue in amazement.
After all, he was twenty years old and only at the fourth layer of Qi Condensation. Although he only had Four Spirit Roots, he had a grandfather who was a steward in the sect’s Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, making him considerably wealthier than Gu An. And yet he was already being caught up to?
Damn it, these spirit roots really were frustrating!
“Brother Song, don’t make fun of me. Your Body Refinement cultivation has already reached the mid-stage. Besides, in another two or three years, you’ll probably reach the fifth layer of Qi Condensation.”
“Heh, that’s true. Alright, we really need to go. The distance from Little Thousand Peak to Green Bamboo Peak is quite far.”
With that, the two activated the Light Body Spell, leaping and landing as they rushed into the distance.
Green Bamboo Peak was where the Qingyuan Sect raised various types of spirit beasts. Little Thousand Peak was the residence of outer disciples.
The distance between the two was over twenty li. At their usual pace, it took about the time it takes to burn an incense stick to get there.
Of course, this was mainly because Zhang Song was accommodating Gu An’s speed.
But today, Gu An had already reached the fourth layer of Qi Condensation. Naturally, things were different. As his spiritual power circulated, the Light Body Spell felt smooth.
In a little over a quarter of an hour, the two arrived at Green Bamboo Peak.