Chapter 4: The First Step to Cultivating Again

Ding Ling was born in the countryside, where the entire village had barely produced a handful of people with spiritual roots.

The Sanqing Sect^[1] came to the village once every century to select candidates. They chose her, trading a sack of rice to take her from her parents.

The woman who was supposed to be her “mother” flattered the “immortal,” saying, “Don’t mind that she’s short. She can do any kind of work, and no matter how hard you beat her, she won’t cry or throw a fit.”

The Sanqing Sect steward took her away, leaving behind a sack of rice for her “mother.”

She had thought leaving the mountain village would set her upon the immortal path and change her destiny.

Only after entering the Sanqing Sect did she learn the truth: someone of impoverished birth and mediocre spiritual roots like her had only been chosen because the major sects had fought a massive war with countless casualties, leaving the sect short on manual laborers.

From then on, she had to wake before dawn each day to sweep the long stone steps, water spiritual plants, feed spiritual beasts, and do laundry, cook meals, and clean rooms for the initiated disciples.

After three years of menial labor, the initiation selection finally arrived.

When she went to register with the steward, he looked her up and down. Seeing her sallow, gaunt frame, not even as tall as a broom, he sneered, “You? You want to cultivate?”

Ding Ling stood her ground and said nothing.

Testing from a laborer into the outer sect, and then advancing from the outer sect to the inner sect, took her over a decade.

The fog in her mind dispersed only to gather again; what happened after that, she could not recall.

Ding Ling herself did not know how she had seized this body, but it was still young, and its spiritual root and spiritual energy were mostly ruined.

If she did not repair the spiritual root and simply shed this shell: first, her current strength made it impossible; second, the moment she abandoned the vessel, the flesh would collapse and die instantly.

Neither of them would survive.

She could not leave this body for now, and this body could not survive without her.

Over the past few days since waking, she had learned from the female medical cultivator and that silly little schoolmate that this world differed from her original one in every way, yet the laws of survival remained universal.

After finishing his piece, Chen Dahai waited for Ding Ling to nod. Seeing her remain silent for so long, he worried that in her youth she failed to see the advantages of this path and might dismiss it out of hand.

He urged her earnestly, “You’re still young, and there’s no one at home you can consult…” The elders were too old, and the rest were a family of leeches.

For a matter this significant, the school had contacted her family that very day, but no one from the Ding family was willing to come.

With the Central Continent at the center, the Four Polar Continents were scattered across the four corners of the map; one had to cross the Four Extremes Sea to reach the Central Continent’s mainland.

“A single boat ticket costs a hundred spirit stones! How could our family ever afford that?”

When Chen Dahai stated that the school would cover the expense, Ding Ling’s uncle immediately pressed to ask if the school would offer compensation, and how much. He then added that the school could just send her back, because the Ding family wouldn’t pay for her schooling anymore anyway, nor did they have spare cash for medical treatment.

“She’s a cripple now, why bother treating her? Besides, she’s already turned sixteen.”

The implication was clear: a girl of that age had other uses.

But when he heard that one of Ding Ling’s arms was charred and all her hair and eyebrows had fallen out, her uncle grew agitated instead!

After all, even if Ding Ling had a terrible temper and personality, she was at least pretty.

Those born with spiritual roots were always good-looking.

The moment Ding Ling was born, Grandpa Ding knew his granddaughter had to possess a spiritual root. The Ding family had never produced such a beautiful child, which was why he gave her that name.

Now her spiritual root was gone, and she had become ugly, which meant they couldn’t demand a high bride price.

Listening on the side, Ding Ling’s aunt grew anxious at first, but then pointed to her belly.

Ding Ling’s uncle asked over the phone, “A spiritual root damaged after birth wouldn’t affect, you know… heredity, right?”

Those with spiritual roots were likely to bear children with spiritual roots. Even if she was useless now, her womb was still valuable!

Chen Dahai didn’t catch on at first, but the moment he understood the implication, he was furious enough to hang up the phone on the spot.

“All right.”

Just as Chen Dahai opened his mouth to persuade her further, Ding Ling nodded.

He breathed a sigh of relief. “We’re talking about the worst-case scenario here. If you manage to recover, the school will find a way to help you transfer.” In truth, a spiritual root could never be restored.

Yao Beibei had mentioned that this was a summer camp, and when it ended, there would be a placement exam.

“With your original grades, you definitely could’ve made it into A Class. I’m doomed, though; I’ll probably be stuck in D Class.”

That was much like the disciple selection in the Sanqing Sect, separating people into the outer and inner sects based on aptitude.

Those with good aptitude received better nurturing. Those with poor aptitude became the first wave of meat shields thrown out when the sects clashed.

“I want to cultivate.” Even if she stayed, she would never do the work of a servant again.

The moment those words left her mouth, the surge of indignant resentment stirred within her chest once more.

Chen Dahai froze. Cultivate with a ruined spiritual root? How was that any different from a mute trying to learn to speak? He sighed inwardly; having suffered such a devastating blow, she still refused to give up.

If this girl’s spiritual root hadn’t been ruined, with sheer drive like that, she might well have become the strongest student he had ever taught.

Ah, what a pity.

Chen Dahai managed a strained smile and consoled her, “All right. Just learn as much as you can.”

It wasn’t as if there were no cultivators with meager spiritual energy who excelled academically, but… but she was illiterate now. How could she achieve anything in academia?

Chen Dahai called Principal Li to report: “She agreed, and her family agreed as well.”

Once Ding Ling’s uncle and aunt learned the school was willing to take care of her, they didn’t even bother calling back, only saying, “We have to walk more than a dozen Li just to take a phone call. If she isn’t coming back, don’t bother calling again.”

Principal Li sighed upon learning of the situation. “Then let her stay at school with peace of mind. Focus on nursing her body back to health first. As for reading and studying, take it one step at a time.”

And so, Ding Ling settled into the school infirmary.

She was quite skilled in medicine herself. During her years as a laborer, she had grown spiritual plants and raised spiritual beasts; back then, she would secretly cultivate a few potent medicinal herbs to trade for spirit stones down the mountain.

Then, she used those spirit stones to trade for elixir pills and cultivation methods to advance her cultivation.

With no master to initiate her, she had relied entirely on self-taught, unorthodox methods to stand out among the crowd of outer sect disciples.

Ding Ling closed her eyes, contemplating the matters before her.

She could not let anyone discover that she had seized this girl’s body, and she had to survive in this world. She wanted to see that cave with her own eyes; she wanted to know what had happened inside it.

She had a faint feeling that whatever she sought was inside that cave.

With every dose of medicine Ding Ling took daily, she directed the spiritual power straight to her spiritual manor first, nourishing her scorched, withered spiritual root.

Her arm showed no improvement at all, worrying Professor Song so much that she increased the dosage.

Even with the higher dosage, there was still no effect. Professor Song examined her and asked, “Do you feel anything?”

Ding Ling pondered for a moment before answering, “Every night, my sea of qi grows warm.”

Seeing her point toward her dantian and spiritual manor, Professor Song reached out to inspect it.

Ding Ling was prepared. Seeing the palm reach over, she suppressed the urge to strike back, allowing Professor Song to probe inside her spiritual manor.

Professor Song couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary.

She offered reassuring words as before: “How about this: let’s try increasing the dosage a bit more. In a few days, I’ll be attending a medical conference, and we can discuss your case there.”

Ding Ling naturally welcomed as much as she could get. Her current spiritual root was like a parched sprout; the more it was watered, the more vitality it showed.

Yet the spiritual energy in this world was exceedingly thin, and the spirit plants were of far too low a grade. Gulping down dozens of bottles still didn’t equal the spiritual power of a single low-grade medicine from her past.

Sounds of training occasionally drifted over from the sports grounds. Every time Nurse Xu saw Ding Ling’s expressionless face, she assumed she was merely holding back her distress, and gently consoled her, “Don’t rush it. Let’s focus on nursing your body back to health first.”

Professor Song had said she must not exhaust her mental energy.

How could Ding Ling not be anxious? If she couldn’t even read the local writing, how was she supposed to cultivate?

Unexpectedly, it all ended up relying on Yao Beibei’s Little Prodigy toddler learning machine.

This learning machine was made for toddlers. Aside from Monster Match, it also had built-in educational minigames for young children, including “Baby’s Complete Character Learner.”

Whenever no one was in the ward, Ding Ling would open “Baby’s Complete Character Learner (Toddler Edition)” and relearn the listening, reading, and writing taught to children aged six to eight.

“You chose right! Great job, baby!”

“You chose right! Baby is amazing!”

“You chose right again! What a clever baby!”

A sweet female voice kept chiming from the artifact. Ding Ling leaned back in bed with one knee propped up and the other leg resting over it. The more she studied, the more satisfied she felt. Although this artifact was a bit flashy, it was quite practical.

As for the remaining “Toddler Bubble English (?)” and “Little Prodigy Fun Math (?)”, she would deal with them once she learned how to read.

The first step to resuming her immortal cultivation: logging in to “Baby’s Complete Character Learner (Toddler Edition).”