***
"Are you the last one?
This is the place where you will be staying for the next three years. It is the shabbiest spot, one that is perfectly suited for a person from a beggar background and a lowest-grade miscellaneous spirit root holder like you.
Hehe... you will probably have to clean for quite a long time to clear that place out. Here, take them! These are the training robes and items issued to you. For the training methods, refer to that book!"
After guiding dozens of new miscellaneous disciples to their respective cultivation caves one by one, the fourth-generation disciple turned back to look at Lee An-jeong in front of the final cave and spoke while wearing a mocking sneer.
He then pulled several items out of his storage bag, thudded them onto the floor of the cultivation cave, and after delivering only a few necessary instructions, he turned away and walked off with quick, hurried steps.
"Every single word out of their mouths is 'lowest-grade miscellaneous spirit root!'
'Miscellaneous spirit root!'
As if I wanted to come here! Just how great do they think they are? Those petty bastards!"
Lee An-jeong spent a moment pouring curses at the back of the receding fourth-generation disciple before turning his gaze toward the cave in front of him.
"What is this? Are they seriously telling me to live in a place like this...?"
The shabby, small cave emitted a foul, pungent odor so strong that he was hesitant to even step inside, and the entire interior was completely covered in thick layers of dust and spiderwebs.
"What should I do? Should I make a run for it?"
Now that he was left alone, Lee An-jeong began to rack his brain to grasp the reality of the situation he was facing.
When he looked around, all he could see were towering rocky mountains and the deep, dense forest that surrounded them.
According to the memories of this ten-year-old boy, An-jeong, into whom he had been possessed:
This place where the Buyeon Sect was located was called Socheong Mountain, situated at the westernmost edge of a country called the Kingdom of Byeok on the Dongcheon Continent.
It was several thousand li away from the small village where the boy had lived, and even the nearest town was a rugged thousand li away.
Even if he tried to run away, with the body of such a young child, he likely wouldn't even be able to escape the deep forest in between before getting lost and dying.
This was because that deep forest in the middle was the Cheon-eum Great Forest, a place inhabited by Yosu.
A boy like himself would likely become food for a monster beast the moment he stepped into that terrifying forest.
Furthermore, when looking back at the past memories of this boy who had been a beggar, coming to this place was actually no different from a miraculous stroke of luck for him.
'Ha... then that means staying here and enduring it is the best option for now.
I died in Hell Joseon only to open my eyes and find myself dropped into a cruel place like this... fuck!'
The image of that fellow named Hwang Cheon, who had beaten him with a despicable expression, and the contemptuous faces of the cultivators flashed through his mind.
A chill ran through his body, and he felt a somewhat shivering sensation.
But there was no other way.
Rather than running away and becoming food for a monster beast, it seemed better to just grit his teeth and endure it here.
"It can't be helped. For now, the only way is to survive in this place!"
He then moved his feet toward the cultivation cave.
"Ugh... what is this smell? How can a stench be this... ugh! It's foul!"
Inside the small cave, the rotting carcasses of all sorts of animals and the smell of filth were vibrating with a disgusting intensity.
They had said this was the shabbiest of all the cultivation caves here...
But it wasn't just shabby; it looked as though it wasn't a place where a human being could live at all.
"Aw, damn it! Let's just clean the whole thing up first! There's no other choice, is there?"
Using a broom that had been placed in a corner, he swept away everything on the floor as well as every spot his hands could reach.
After sweeping for a long time, a massive amount of musty dust entered his nose, and spiderwebs and filth were smeared all over his body.
In exchange, the inside of the cave was finally cleaned enough for a single person to at least inhabit it.
"Cough, cough—phew, this is exhausting! Fuck! What kind of mess is this! How can a Xianxia possession be this pathetic!"
In an instant, he felt a surge of irritation at the bleak reality once again.
If anyone heard him, they might criticize a young kid for having such a foul mouth.
But honestly, this level of frustration was quite mild for a high school senior from Hell Joseon.
Wasn't there a certain survey that showed the first and second most difficult moments in life were the military and the senior year of high school?
To a Hell Joseon high school senior, cursing was practically a default setting.
"Excuse me, System-ssi?
It's about time for you to show up, don't you think?
Yes?
Stop playing around! Hello?"
If it was a Xianxia possession, wasn't it a national rule that at least a System should appear?
But no matter how many times he called out, there was no such thing as a System.
"Then how about a peerless spirit pill, a spiritual treasure, or even a secret cultivation manual?
Is there really nothing?"
Calling out resulted in nothing but a hollow echo that offered no response.
"No, if you weren't going to give me any of those things, you should have at least put me in a usable body.
Isn't a lowest-grade miscellaneous spirit root a bit too much? Huh?"
His thoughts eventually reached the spirit root of the boy he had possessed.
The young cultivator named Beom Gon and that fourth-generation disciple from earlier had clearly called him a "lowest-grade miscellaneous spirit root holder."
A miscellaneous spirit root referred to someone who possessed all five elemental spirit roots of the Five Elements.
Some might think that having all the spirit roots of the Five Elements was actually a good thing.
In reality, it was the exact opposite.
The fewer spirit roots one possessed, the better; those who possessed only a single type were called Heavenly Spirit Roots and were considered geniuses.
This was because the process of spirit qi cultivation involved filling the entire body with the spirit root one possessed.
In short, a single spirit root holder only needed to fill one type of root.
However, a miscellaneous spirit root holder like himself had to fill all five types, so it took that much longer and was that much more difficult.
Because of this, those with five spirit roots were treated with extreme contempt in the world of cultivation.
Among small and medium-sized sects, there were almost no sects other than the Buyeon Sect that would even accept a lowest-grade miscellaneous spirit root.
Of all the bodies to possess, he had to end up in one like this.
It was truly like being dropped into a Xianxia world with nothing but his bare skin.
It would have been stranger if he weren't angry.
"Fuck! Does someone who is destined to fail still fail even when they possess a new body? Phew..."
After raging for a while, he had no choice but to let out a sigh and enter the cultivation cave.
Since there was no other way, he had to adapt to this situation.
Fortunately, one of the few strengths Lee An-jeong possessed was his ability to quickly conform to reality.
On the ceiling of that small cultivation cave, a faded luminous stone was hanging.
Lee An-jeong examined the items that the fourth-generation disciple had tossed in front of the cave.
There was bedding, two sets of gray training robes, a worn-out book, a bundle of talismans, and a storage bag to hold them all.
Lee An-jeong picked them up and headed inside.
Then, he shifted his gaze to the worn-out book.
On the cover of the book, the words Qi Refining Method were written.
It was the most basic training manual for ascending to the stage of Qi Refining, which was the entry-level realm of cultivation.
"Phew... anyway, since things have turned out like this, I guess I should try this thing called cultivation, right?
Who knows?
Even if my spirit root is like this, maybe they gave me a genius brain as a special perk?"
Lee An-jeong first took off his shabby rags and changed into the gray training robes before opening the book.
Tracing through the memories of the original owner, he began to read the characters one by one.
The Qi Refining Method consisted of a total of fifteen chapters.
The first chapter contained the primary cultivation techniques and the entry methods for each type of spirit root.
From the following pages, the training methods corresponding to the fourteen stages from the 1st Star to the 14th Star were written.
"I wonder what techniques are in here?"
There were a total of three techniques.
Spirit Qi Technique, Rune Technique, and Flying Sword Technique.
The Spirit Qi and Rune techniques could be used once one reached the 1st Star of the Qi Refining stage, while the Flying Sword Technique could only be used upon reaching the 3rd Star.
It was written that once one reached the 3rd Star and could use the Flying Sword Technique, they could escape the status of a miscellaneous disciple and become a formal disciple.
"Oho! If I reach the 1st Star, I can use Spirit Qi and Rune techniques? I wonder if I can only learn Alchemy much later? Alright! Shall we start training right away?"
At the thought of practicing the cultivation he had only ever seen in novels, Lee An-jeong’s heart suddenly began to flutter with excitement.
He pulled out one low-grade spirit stone from the storage bag he had received upon entry.
Miscellaneous disciples of the Buyeon Sect were supposed to be provided with a month's worth of Inedia Pills, three low-grade spirit stones, and twenty talismans once every dal-po (month).
When he opened the entry method in the first chapter, the basic cultivation formulas corresponding to the Five Elements were written.
Wood Qi Formula (木氣訣).
Fire Qi Formula (火氣訣).
Earth Qi Formula (土氣訣).
Metal Qi Formula (金氣訣).
Water Qi Formula (水氣訣).
Following that, the most basic points for training the Five Element spirit roots were also written.
"Fuck! It says it's almost impossible for a five-element root holder to reach the Foundation Establishment stage within a natural lifespan?
They've practically nailed it shut right there! Fuck!"
Seeing the disadvantages of the five-element root he possessed written even in the early parts of the book made him feel as though the wind had been taken out of his sails from the very start.
However, Lee An-jeong made an effort to erase those thoughts before deciding to focus on his training.
This bullheaded personality of his—going his own way without caring much about what others said—was one of Lee An-jeong’s few strengths.
"Which attribute should I start training first?"
Because he had a lowest-grade miscellaneous spirit root, Lee An-jeong was capable of training in all five of them.
"Well, since it's like this, I might as well try them all one by one!"
Since Lee An-jeong was in no hurry, he decided to open and try every single one of them in order.
First, he slowly recited the mantra of the Wood Qi Formula in his mind.
Detailed annotations were attached below the mantra.
After reading the mantra and annotations meticulously, Lee An-jeong sat in a cross-legged position while focusing his mind on the low-grade spirit stone.
He then concentrated by inhaling as deeply as possible and exhaling in short breaths.
While reciting the mantra, he tried to feel the Wood Qi in his surroundings.
As a high school senior from Hell Joseon, Lee An-jeong had confidence in his ability to memorize things.
To someone like Lee An-jeong, who had memorized countless mathematical formulas, English words, and history facts—thousands and tens of thousands of things—memorizing those sixteen characters was nothing.
"Cheon-pung-ip-gol... Nok-gi-tong-baek... Mok-won-saeng-sim... Yeon-geun-ji-gi..."
While visualizing those characters in his head, he recited them with his mouth to try and feel the Wood attribute.
But it was at that moment.
Swoooosh—
The moment he visualized them, didn't the characters that had appeared in his mind vanish in an instant?
It felt as if they were being wiped away by an eraser the very second they were brought to mind.
"What? Why is it doing this?"
Lee An-jeong did not give up and stubbornly continued to recite the mantra he had memorized.
How much time passed after that?
However, even though he concentrated for a long time, the sixteen-character mantra was erased as soon as he brought it to mind.
Naturally, he couldn't feel any Wood Spirit Qi at all.
"What is this? Is my talent for the Wood Qi Formula particularly low? Then I'll just try the Fire Qi Formula."
He gave up on the Wood Qi Formula and immediately moved on to the Fire Qi Formula.