Xia Ruxi sprinted all the way back—don’t overthink it, purely just to get back and eat grilled fish.
When she returned to the cave dwelling, she saw Pei Yuanxiu meditating. However, he had already built a fire, prepared the fish, skewered them, and laid them out on a stone slab to the side.
Oh? This kid actually looks a bit like a cultivator now, knowing how to meditate and concentrate his mind.
Thinking to herself, Xia Ruxi walked toward the grilled fish. As she walked, she crushed the seasonings she had foraged along the way using her hand strength, rubbed them onto the fish, and placed them over the fire to start grilling.
“Miss Xia, you’re back. Did you encounter any fierce beasts outside, or any people dressed like me?” Pei Yuanxiu opened his eyes and asked.
“No fierce beasts, and no one dressed like you. I just ran into a vine that had gained spiritual awareness, and it took a little time to slay it,” Xia Ruxi replied, casually showing Pei Yuanxiu the leftover branches of the vine she had brought back.
“What is the use of this?” Pei Yuanxiu was smart; he knew that anything Xia Ruxi bothered to bring back must be useful, or she wouldn’t have wasted the effort.
“Pretty smart, hitting the nail on the head. This is called a Wanteng (Carving Vine), and in my world, it’s also a healing spiritual medicine. Its sap can be taken orally or applied externally, and its stem can be used as medicine. To sum it up, it’s a treasure from head to toe,” Xia Ruxi replied with a hint of satisfaction.
“But the Wanteng wasn’t the purpose of my trip deep into the forest. The purpose of this trip was to find a spiritual herb for you called the Poqi Cao (Qi-Breaking Grass). It can help you break through to the Qi-ization stage.
Weren’t you wondering why a mass of something extra appeared in your chest and abdomen? That is your awakened spiritual mansion—at least, that’s what the people of my world call it.
Mash up this Poqi Cao and ingest it. Meditate, guide the power contained in the spiritual herb to circulate for one full cycle along your meridians and collateral channels, and finally return it to your spiritual mansion to break through the restriction. You will then officially enter the Qi-ization stage, and thus you will be able to mobilize the spiritual power inside your spiritual mansion for your own use.”
Xia Ruxi explained a long paragraph in one breath. If she hadn’t already attained bigong (the state of total abstinence from food), she would have needed to drink a large bottle of water right after.
Pei Yuanxiu was amazed. So this was the cultivation method of their world? Turns out her wanting to take him as a disciple wasn’t just idle talk.
Was there something about him that caught her eye? Thinking this, Pei Yuanxiu asked, “Thank you, Miss Xia, for the spiritual herb and the explanation. There is still one thing I don’t understand: why are you helping me like this? I have already rejected Miss Xia’s third condition.”
Xia Ruxi rolled her eyes internally, but still explained nicely to Pei Yuanxiu, “I know you refused to become my disciple, and you don’t need to say it a second time. However, you’ve refused, but I won’t just let it go at that. I am determined to make you my disciple. As for the reason—I won’t beat around the bush—you have a once-in-a-millennium Heavenly Thunder Spiritual Mansion, which puts your talent second only to mine.”
Xia Ruxi acted a bit haughty, yet at the same time remained disgruntled over Pei Yuanxiu’s refusal to be her disciple. “If your talent weren’t extremely high, I wouldn’t be doing something so degrading to my status,” she muttered under her breath.
“What is a Heavenly Thunder Spiritual Mansion?” Pei Yuanxiu humbly asked for guidance.
Xia Ruxi bit into a piece of Wanteng, cleared her throat, and said, “We cultivators also have divisions of aptitude. The standard of measurement is the speed at which we absorb spiritual power, generally divided into four tiers: White, Mortal, Earth, and Heaven, along with the distinctions of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. The most basic are the five: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, and on top of that, there are many different mutated attributes.
For example, your Thunder attribute belongs to a very powerful kind among mutated spiritual mansions. When you awakened your spiritual mansion, it revolved around you fifteen times, which means your speed of absorbing spiritual power is fifteen times that of an ordinary White-tier practitioner. Naturally, you are a Heaven-tier genius.”
Pei Yuanxiu digested Xia Ruxi’s words. Although deeply shocked inside, he calmly said, “Thank you, Miss Xia, for clearing my doubts. I haven’t taken you as my master; aren’t you afraid that teaching me like this will lead me to turn against you in the future?”
“Pfft!” Xia Ruxi snickered. “You certainly have wild imaginations. At best, you’re just at the introductory level right now; wanting to wipe you out is as easy as crushing an ant for me.” Xia Ruxi flipped the grilled fish in her hands to ensure it heated evenly.
“Miss Xia is right, it was just me being a frog at the bottom of the well. I can make a promise to Miss Xia right here: as long as I have a single breath left, I will never turn against you, and I will help you familiarize yourself with this world as quickly as possible,” Pei Yuanxiu said solemnly.
“Good, you still have some integrity after all. Let’s not talk about this anymore. Take this Poqi Cao first, and let me see how long it takes you to break through to the Qi-ization stage. If you’re too slow, I’ll eat all the grilled fish,” Xia Ruxi joked, casually tossing a piece of Poqi Cao from her bark-made pouch over to Pei Yuanxiu.
“Thank you, I’ll be as fast as I can, otherwise there won’t be any grilled fish left to eat.” Pei Yuanxiu relaxed enough to exchange a couple of bantering remarks with Xia Ruxi.
With that, he crushed the spiritual herb in his hand and swallowed it. Pei Yuanxiu was so straightforward also because he figured Xia Ruxi didn’t have the spare time to save him just to poison him to death; otherwise, she would have just let him fend for himself from the very beginning.
Xia Ruxi watched as Pei Yuanxiu directed the power contained in the spiritual herb to travel through the various acupoints of his body, and then swiftly transfer to the location of his spiritual mansion.
“Right now! Push it open in one go!” Xia Ruxi spoke rather solemnly. Hearing Xia Ruxi’s instruction, Pei Yuanxiu decisively applied his force to charge toward the spiritual mansion.
In an instant, Pei Yuanxiu’s aura shifted—this meant he had succeeded. “Don’t stop! Learn to guide the spiritual power of the spiritual mansion to circulate through the major acupoints of your whole body, letting your entire physique undergo a baptism.”
Xia Ruxi said this while eating her grilled fish. Hearing this, Pei Yuanxiu followed suit.
After completing this entire routine, Pei Yuanxiu felt an unprecedented sense of clarity.
“Ruxi, can I call you that? ‘Miss Xia’ feels so distant. We can be considered friends now, right? I won’t say too many words of thanks—just watch my actions.” Pei Yuanxiu stood up and walked toward the campfire where Xia Ruxi was sitting.
“Yes, you are naturally my friend until you become my disciple,” Xia Ruxi replied right after finishing her fish.
She’s so persistent in having me be her disciple, it’s making me actually want to find another master instead, Pei Yuanxiu thought with a teasing inward smile. As for why he hadn’t changed his mind, probably only he knew his true thoughts.
“Alright, once you’re done eating, you can meditate and cultivate your spiritual power. Just like I told you earlier: close your eyes, sense the presence of spiritual power, pull your own strand of it into your body, run it through one macro-cosmic orbit, and finally send it into your spiritual mansion.
Cultivators generally don’t need to sleep, but you’ve just started out, and your body is still very fragile. Cultivate moderately and then get some sleep. I’m heading out first.”
Xia Ruxi stood up, took the bark pouch, and walked outside. She was going to cultivate as well. Even though it was basically useless, Xia Ruxi refused to accept defeat and was determined to contend with the heavens and the earth.
Chewing on the Wanteng while sitting in meditation, Xia Ruxi made hand gestures and wondered if she could repair just a tiny bit of her spiritual mansion. That way, she could at least store a little more spiritual power to make it easier for her to open her storage ring.
Since Xia Ruxi possessed a Chaos Spiritual Root, she could absorb any kind of spiritual power. She circulated the spiritual power absorbed from heaven and earth through her entire body and injected it into her spiritual mansion, all while heavily sucking on the sap of the Wanteng, hoping to use its medicinal efficacy to restore even a corner of her spiritual mansion. A bead of sweat slid down Xia Ruxi’s temple, flowing toward her delicate face.
After a long while, Xia Ruxi exhaled a breath of turbid air. “Finally repaired a minuscule corner. Although the road to repairing the spiritual mansion is still very long, at least it’s a start, isn’t it?
Once I gather all the materials needed to refine the Spirit-Restoring Liquid, repairing the spiritual mansion will be a piece of cake.” Xia Ruxi arched her eyebrows slightly, thinking with a hint of smugness.
Even if Xia Ruxi’s current situation appeared less than ideal, she could always carve out a path amidst desperate circumstances, hacking her way through thorns toward her own Great Dao to live the life she desired.