After reaching the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, Andy had met the minimum threshold for learning mid-grade Qi Refinement spells. He began using whatever time he could spare from talisman making to practice a few of them.
His original plan had been to master the Golden Shield Technique and then start attempting Golden Shield Talismans. Defensive talismans generally sold better and fetched slightly higher prices than offensive ones—a mid-grade Golden Shield Talisman could go for six or seven spirit stones, while a mid-grade Flame Serpent Talisman would only bring in about five.
But once he actually began studying mid-grade spells, he discovered that the spiritual power requirements compared to low-grade spells were not just higher—they were qualitatively different. At the fourth layer, learning low-grade spells had seemed effortless. Now, at the fifth layer, attempting the Golden Shield Technique revealed that his spiritual power was simply not enough. Progress was agonizingly slow, and success seemed virtually impossible.
He tried several other mid-grade spells and found that only the Arrow Rain Technique—which had the lowest spiritual power requirements of the lot—showed any hope at all. Everything else was completely beyond his current reach. By his estimate, he would need to reach the sixth layer at minimum, possibly the seventh, before he could use any of those spells with any proficiency.
But studying the Arrow Rain Technique felt like a waste of effort. Though technically a mid-grade offensive spell, the Arrow Rain Technique was noticeably weaker than its peers like the Flame Serpent Technique or the Earth Spike Technique. The corresponding Arrow Rain Talisman, while also classified as a mid-grade talisman, would be difficult to sell, and its price was lower than the alternatives. Mid-grade talisman paper was also entirely different from the low-grade variety, requiring spirit herbs of a certain age as raw material, making it considerably more expensive—about ten low-grade spirit stones per dozen sheets. Combined with the lower success rate of mid-grade talisman crafting, producing Arrow Rain Talismans would almost certainly end in either unsold stock or a small loss.
And so Andy's plan to produce mid-grade talismans was put on hold.
……
One day, during the bustling monthly market gathering, Andy was manning his stall alongside Liu Yingying as usual—but he could tell that something was weighing on her. She seemed distracted, her mood heavy.
By all rights, she should have been in high spirits. This past month her luck had been excellent—she'd successfully produced two batches of pills in a row. Normally she would have been positively glowing. Andy guessed it had something to do with her recent trip home.
After some careful prodding, Liu Yingying finally let out what was troubling her.
During her last visit home, she had found a visitor at the family residence—a cultivator in his forties at the Foundation Establishment stage, surnamed Lü, named Qiao. This powerful senior was one of the administrators at the Leaving Fire Sect, on which the Liu family depended. He had come, ostensibly, on alchemy business—bringing a large supply of spirit herbs and raw materials for Liu Yingying's father to refine into Spirit Clarity Pills. Her father had been overjoyed and agreed immediately. For an Alchemist, there was nothing more valuable than a large supply of materials to work with—accumulating experience through practice was the only way to raise one's success rate and eventually reach the level of a true master.
Liu Yingying had helped her father with the refining, and over several dozen days they successfully produced several batches of Spirit Clarity Pills. After turning them over to the Leaving Fire Sect, they received a generous payment. It should have been wonderful news—the entire family had been celebrating for days, believing their fortunes had finally turned. But Liu Yingying had noticed that Lü Qiao kept watching her, his gaze carrying an unmistakable lecherous gleam. It had frightened her enough to leave home early on the flimsiest of pretexts and hurry back to Liuyun Market.
But just yesterday, she had received a message from her father. The Foundation Establishment cultivator had formally proposed—he wanted to take Liu Yingying as a concubine. Her father was unwilling at heart but didn't dare refuse outright, saying only that he needed to consult his daughter first. He had also done some investigating and confirmed what he feared: Lü Qiao was notorious within the Leaving Fire Sect as an insatiable womanizer. He used his high cultivation to prey on attractive lower-level female cultivators, and had not even spared mortal women. He was rumored to have taken five or six concubines already. Worse, the man was petty and vindictive—every woman who had ever rejected or insulted him to his face had met a terrible end, either killed outright or vanishing from the cultivation world without a trace.
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He was cunning enough to never target women with powerful backers, which was why he had never provoked anyone beyond his ability to handle and continued to live quite comfortably. The female cultivators of the Leaving Fire Sect who lacked prestigious backgrounds and happened to be even slightly attractive gave this Foundation Establishment uncle the widest berth they could manage.
Now that Liu Yingying had caught his eye, it was nothing short of a disaster for the Liu family.
Andy was furious when he heard all of this. "Is there no justice in the cultivation world? How can someone like that be allowed to do as he pleases?"
Liu Yingying gave a bitter smile, her voice turning cold: "Justice? The cultivation world has always been a place where the strong prey on the weak and power is the only voice that matters. Only when your cultivation is high enough and your strength great enough do your words carry any weight—your words become the law. Cultivation was always an act of defiance against the natural order, and since ancient times, how many have actually ascended to immortality? All these cultivators risking everything to push their cultivation higher—isn't that so they can one day stand at the summit and trample everyone else beneath their feet? To those high-stage cultivators, low-stage cultivators like us are no different from mortals—just ants in their eyes. Why would they care whether we live or die?"
Andy understood every word of it. Facing a reality even crueler than the mortal world, cultivators as weak as they were had absolutely no means of resistance. He said: "What are you going to do, then? Is agreeing really the only option? Why not take your family and flee? If you can't fight him, at least you can run."
"I don't know what to do. The fury of a Foundation Establishment cultivator isn't something a tiny cultivation household like ours can withstand. Unless I married someone immediately—I doubt even he would force himself on another man's wife." The young woman said this softly, then suddenly turned her head and fixed Andy with her large, unblinking eyes, staring at him for a long moment. At last she let out a long sigh, turned back to gaze ahead, and continued as if talking to herself: "Actually, it might not be so terrible. For cultivators at our level, getting connected to a Foundation Establishment senior might even open doors—a chance to advance further. And this man is in charge of basic pill production for the Leaving Fire Sect, so my father would probably benefit a great deal from the marriage too, advancing his own alchemy skills. My brother and sister might even get the chance to join the Leaving Fire Sect for their cultivation…"
Andy was lost for words, not knowing what to say.
The two sat in silence for a long time, until the sky had darkened and they returned to their respective lodgings.
Andy didn't go to rest right away. His mind was too agitated. He needed to calm down. He had a habit of turning to talisman making when his emotions ran high—the meticulous concentration usually helped settle his nerves.
This time it didn't work. He attempted Diamond Talisman after Diamond Talisman—more than a dozen in a row—and every single one failed, leaving his state of mind even more chaotic than before.
In his past life, Andy had been a young man who understood matters of the heart well enough. After his rebirth as Wugen—whether because his body had reverted to that of a child, or because cultivation demanded a calm, focused, desire-free mind—he had always kept such feelings buried deep, paying them little attention.
In the three years he had spent alongside a beauty like Liu Yingying, Andy had come to see her as someone both lovable and admirably strong-willed—exactly the type of woman he admired most. Her devotion to her family, her selflessness in caring for her younger siblings, was especially rare among cultivators. To say he felt nothing for her beyond friendship would have been a lie. But in pursuit of the cultivation path, he had always consciously or unconsciously suppressed that quiet ripple in his heart. Now, hearing that a Foundation Establishment cultivator had come to claim her, that ripple refused to be stilled, spreading wider and wider, leaving him restless and unsettled.
At the same time, the feeling of powerlessness—of being utterly at the mercy of someone stronger—drove home the cruelty and helplessness of the cultivation world with a sharpness he had never felt before.
He attempted one more Diamond Talisman. The instant his brush touched paper, the spiritual light on the talisman surface flickered erratically—bright, dim, bright again—and moments later the paper ignited and crumbled to ash. Another failure.
Andy hurled his talisman brush down and swept his arm across the table, sending talisman paper and cinnabar scattering across the floor.