Chapter 20: First Steps

Yonglu Mountain was a relatively free cultivation sect. In other words, they raised their disciples on free range. A disciple’s cultivation depended ten percent on their master’s guidance, forty percent on talent, and fifty percent on self-discipline. After all, even if they practiced the exact same method, they would not end up on the same path in the end.

From what Wen Xu had seen and heard during his few days in the cultivation world, cultivation was a highly personal matter. From Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Integration, and even the Tribulation Transcendence stage that was half a step to ascension, there were very clear and distinct boundaries. It was unlike studying, where it was difficult to tell at a glance what level someone had reached.

Therefore, cultivation was much fairer. As long as one’s state of mind and cultivation reached the required level, breaking through to the next realm would happen naturally.

Of course, this was just a bit of theoretical insight Wen Xu had summarized over the past few days. As for what actual cultivation would be like in the future, it was hard for a frail scholar like him to imagine out of thin air. After all, he still did not know when he had opened his Qi sea.

Wen Xu composed himself. He had already received his inner disciple nameplate. Perhaps due to his seniority, the back of his nameplate was carved with much more complex formation patterns. When he went to Kaiyuan Peak to collect it, the stares from the surrounding disciples were so direct that he could not ignore them.

Wen Xu decided on the spot that until he reached the Golden Core stage, he would rarely go out.

Guochun Peak was actually quite remote, but the density of spiritual energy on the peak was not inferior to the other main peaks at all. Since Wen Xu’s cultivation was limited, he could not withstand the bitter cold of the peak’s summit for long, so he set up his cave dwelling halfway up Guochun Peak.

This part of the mountainside happened to have a concave recess, blocking out the wind and snow. Although his master, being a dragon, seemed rather unreliable, the welcoming gift he gave was highly practical – a portable cave dwelling. With just a bit of spiritual Qi, it could transform into a large house on the spot.

Over the past few days, Wen Xu had seen plenty of immortal methods, so he was not particularly surprised. Well, he was actually very surprised, but he was a reserved person and did not show it outwardly.

Fortunately, he was the only one present when he released the portable cave dwelling.

Wen Xu was a person with a strong sense of territory. He first used his newly learned cleaning spell to tidy up the place inside and out, and then took stock of his few belongings. The benefit of having a storage ring was that he could carry his entire home with him, unlike in the Mortal Realm, where he could only travel with a few favorite books, brushes, and ink.

Wen Xu spread out the contents of his storage ring on the ground. There were 103,056 spirit stones in total. One hundred thousand were given by his master, two thousand were his split share from the Mountain Exam, and the remaining thousand or so was his stipend as an inner disciple. Probably due to his high seniority, his stipend was doubled compared to standard inner disciples.

Of course, compared to one hundred thousand, one thousand was truly not much. However, Wen Xu did not plan to touch those one hundred thousand spirit stones unless he was pushed to the brink.

Aside from the spirit stones, there were also some talismans. Not many, all stuffed into his hands by Bian Chunzhou. There was also a Wind-Folding Fan. He had not known when he received it, but he now knew that the person who gifted him the folding fan was True Monarch Zheng Jin of the Refining Peak.

Wen Xu put everything away safely before reaching for the last two jade slips on the ground.

Wen Xu was already very proficient in reading jade slips. He had read the introductory cultivation jade slip gifted to him by Elder Zhan of the Alchemy Peak hundreds of times. As the saying goes, “read a book a hundred times and its meaning will reveal itself.” This principle still held true in the cultivation world.

At the very least, Wen Xu could now answer any basic questions about the cultivation world without hesitation.

He infused both jade slips with spiritual energy. Soon, Wen Xu discovered that one of them contained a single strike of his master’s power, capable of defending against anything below the Tribulation Transcendence stage. In other words, this was a life-saving talisman, showing that his master was well aware of the fact that he had “old friends” all over the cultivation world.

The other one was a cultivation method.

Generally speaking, a cultivator could not cultivate out of thin air. Just like martial artists, they needed a cultivation method to guide their practice, and methods were naturally categorized by quality.

Classified into Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow, Heaven grade was naturally the best, while Yellow grade was the lowest. Yet even with a Yellow-grade method, as long as one cultivated and comprehended it to the absolute limit, they could still undergo tribulation and ascend. The so-called quality ultimately depended on a cultivator’s personal fortune, talent, and comprehension.

Furthermore, cultivation methods usually aligned with one’s spiritual roots. For instance, Bian Chunzhou had a Water-Fire Spiritual Root, so he could only practice water and fire methods. Fortunately, while Water-Fire Spiritual Roots were rare, they were not unheard of. Yonglu Mountain had vast resources, and with a careful search, one or two water-fire methods could still be found.

Since Wen Xu had a Mutated Wind Spiritual Root, his cultivation method should naturally have something to do with “wind.” Yet, strangely enough, the method Venerable Chengwei had personally handed to him had absolutely nothing to do with wind.

《Art of Myriad Things Co-Creation》.

Wen Xu had naturally read the Tao Te Ching, including the line: “Attain utmost emptiness, maintain steadfast tranquility. All things arise together, and I observe their return.” Simply put, this meant that by doing one’s best to maintain inner emptiness and firmly holding onto this state of tranquility, one could repeatedly observe the cycle of life and death of all things in the world.

The phrase “all things arise together” referred to the vigorous growth of everything under heaven. On a superficial level, it seemed more like a method prepared for a pure Wood Spiritual Root. Compared to wind… it seemed to fall short.

But the master knows best. Wen Xu was merely a novice who had just caught a glimpse of the threshold, while his master was not only a divine dragon but also possessed an Integration stage cultivation. He would not just casually pull out a method for him to practice.

Wen Xu calmed his mind and continued to read the method in the jade slip using his spiritual energy.

Honestly, the content of the Art of Myriad Things Co-Creation was highly obscure and difficult to understand. Even though Wen Xu held the rank of a provincial graduate and had read many ancient texts and classics, he had read very little regarding Daoist teachings. As a result, it was rather difficult for him to comprehend it now.

He could not help but fetch brush and ink, wanting to transcribe it. Yet every time he set pen to paper, he felt it was unnecessary, that there was no need to write it down. It was as if the moment these words touched paper, they became vulgar and lost their spirit, no longer possessing the quality of all things bursting forth together. Wen Xu suddenly froze in place. Did “all things arising together” only refer to the physical things of this world? Could words not also have a moment of “arising and flourishing together”?

He looked down at the ink slowly spreading across the paper. His mind suddenly went blank, and then a question – a very simple question – popped up:

In the mortal realm, and even in the cultivation world, when does the co-creation of myriad things begin?

An answer slowly surfaced in his mind:

It is the first wisp of spring breeze at the Beginning of Spring.

“The spring breeze first coaxes the garden plums to bloom,

Cherries, apricots, peaches, and pears blossom in turn.

Even in the deep village, shepherd’s purse and elm pods

Say the spring breeze has come for them too.”

Only the arrival of the spring breeze marks the coming of spring. In spring, all things awaken. Only when the first wisp of spring breeze sweeps across the land does the growth of all things begin.

It was the spring breeze, a warm and gentle spring breeze.

Wen Xu had already put down his brush. There was no longer any need to write. Just now, he had finally grasped the key to entering the 《Art of Myriad Things Co-Creation》.

Wind can affect all things.

Before Wen Xu could even adopt the five-points-facing-up^[1] meditation posture, he entered his very first epiphany regarding the wind.

“My, my, this little disciple of mine has excellent comprehension. Someone is finally taking over my 《Art of Myriad Things Co-Creation》.” Venerable Chengwei happily took a sip of wine. It was just a shame the wine lacked flavor. Ah, it was all because he had stayed on this mountain for too long; the wine in his spatial ring was almost gone.

*

Bian Chunzhou had hit the first hurdle on his path of cultivation, and this obstacle… was incredibly formidable!

He never expected that he would suffer from a lack of education! Did this make any sense? Was this reasonable? He, a student at an elite 985 university^[2], could easily master math, physics, and chemistry. But this-

What on earth was all this?! Was there any logical connection between these words? Just look at it, look closely. The way the words in this cultivation method were put together was about as incompatible as his Water-Fire Spiritual Root!

“What’s wrong with you? You look so listless.”

Yonglu Mountain had a massive Scripture Library located at the highest point of Disciples’ Peak. It housed over a hundred thousand cultivation methods of all sizes. Even for a Water-Fire Spiritual Root, Bian Chunzhou had managed to dig out four manuals.

Then, following his own preferences, he chose the book in his hands: 《Harmonization of Water and Fire》.

The so-called Harmonization of Water and Fire was actually a hexagram derived from the Eight Trigrams. In the Jiji hexagram^[3], the Kan trigram above and the Li trigram below aided each other. Kan represented water, and Li represented fire. Harmonization meant the intersection and mutual utility of water and fire.

With Bian Chunzhou’s literary background, once he read past this point, he couldn’t understand a single thing about the subsequent concepts of water and fire. The descriptions were far too abstract and wild, somehow portraying water and fire as entities alternating between reality and illusion.

How was he, a science student, supposed to understand this? Was he supposed to run an experiment to figure it out?

“Don’t get me started. Cultivation methods are way too hard.”

Hearing this, Chen Zui showed a look of deep empathy. “I feel you.”

“You can’t understand them either?”

Chen Zui admitted honestly, “Just this morning, I was scolded by Master.”

Bian Chunzhou wanted nothing more than to hug him and cry. It was too hard, really too hard. Was there a remedial literature class in the cultivation world? He would sign up! He would absolutely sign up! Why would anyone write a cultivation method in a way that nobody could understand?

“I was scolded by my master too. Waaah, Master is so fierce!” Yet, he still couldn’t bring himself to dislike his master.

Chen Zui took three steps back in disgust. “Don’t wipe that on me. It’s dirty.”

“You’re calling me dirty! I wonder who it was back then, with a massive beard, looking like-“

“Looking like what?”

Bian Chunzhou wiped away his non-existent tears. “Nothing. I’ve decided to go to Liujiang Peak to listen to a lecture later. Maybe if I listen to enough of them, I’ll gain some insight into the cultivation method.”

“Makes sense. I’ll go with you.”

“Should we ask Wen Xuxu to come along?” Bian Chunzhou thought about it and drew a basic transmission talisman to send over. This was the only simple, low-grade talisman he had managed to learn so far.

“Ah, he didn’t reply. He must be busy.” Bian Chunzhou pulled Chen Zui out the door. “Let’s go grab seats first. That way, if Wen Xuxu sees the transmission talisman and wants to come, he won’t be left without a place to sit.”

Saving seats was a college student’s specialty, he was the-

“So many people!”

Bian Chunzhou looked up at the dense crowd of people. He found a senior brother to ask around and finally learned that today’s lecture was being given by Daoist Master Suiyuan of Alchemy Peak. Daoist Master Suiyuan was the one who had harvested the King Danxiang Grass fifty years ago. Now that he had advanced to the Golden Core stage, his lectures would more or less benefit those in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages.

“Especially the disciples with Wood and Water Spiritual Roots, they’re all sitting at the front. Since you didn’t come earlier, you can only sit at the very back with us now.”

Bian Chunzhou: …