Entering a Fork in the Road

It was comfortable being alone in silence, but having someone else there felt a bit awkward.

Ji You raised his blood-stained hand and scratched his cheek.

"You... what exactly happened to you?"

"I was in seclusion for two days without eating anything. At noon, I fought with the guard captain from Fengxian Mountain Villa, which drained a lot of my energy. So, in my hunger, I comprehended this Coughing Blood Divine Skill..."

He's really putting on a brave face.

Kuang Cheng's mouth twitched as he said, "There are so many people in this world who can barely get enough to eat, some faint from hunger, others starve to death, but I've never heard of anyone starving to the point of spitting blood."

Ji You thought for a moment, "Perhaps only cultivators like us can achieve this?"

Kuang Cheng fell silent, staring intently at the bloodstains blooming on his collar.

Ji You remembered the scene where he held a book and asked Ji You to find Fang Ruoyao. He suppressed his smile and said, "Alright, two days wasn't enough. I rushed too much and went down the wrong path, and now I'm suffering the backlash of the immortal path."

Humans are born with a True Spirit hidden within their bodies. The first step of cultivation is to sense this True Spirit and allow it to communicate with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, a process called Spirit Awakening.

After that, one must continuously refine the True Spirit, strengthen the physical body, and nourish all the limbs and bones until a faint inner light shines within the body.

These two realms are essentially about arduous training; everyone's path is roughly the same.

Then comes the Condensation Realm, which requires drawing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body for refinement, channeling it into the Spiritual Spring, and causing it to grow stronger.

Finally, the Spiritual Spring, which has gathered the True Spirit, will be condensed into a Spirit Core, which is the so-called Perfection of the Lower Three Realms.

Legend has it that before the Primordial Era, it had another name: Core Formation.

But for some reason, that cultivation path was suddenly abandoned by humanity. Then, from somewhere, someone began to practice the cultivation methods of these three to five realms.

When orthodox cultivators go through this stage, they usually have an immortal elder from their family guarding them, ready to stop them immediately if there's any danger.

But Ji You didn't.

Not only did he have no immortal elder to guide him, but he also had no access to any scriptures on cultivation.

The Great Xia's prohibition on commoners cultivating immortality was no mere idle talk. The control over related immortal books and Taoist scriptures was extremely strict. Even if a few fragmented texts circulated among the people, no one dared to read them.

And his immortal book happened to not contain this section.

It wasn't a dramatic coincidence like missing pages, but rather it simply wasn't there – there was no Perfection of the Lower Three Realms.

Therefore, Ji You had to teach himself.

Initially, he was smooth when drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but when refining the Spirit Core, he felt a strong sense of disharmony.

This disharmony almost caused him to become lost in the profound mysteries of the Great Dao, unable to awaken. When his divine sense returned, he discovered that his Spiritual Spring had not condensed into a Spirit Core but had instead breached its banks...

Both the True Spirit within his body and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, at the moment of the breach, scattered throughout his body, mixing everywhere, making them impossible to separate.

But then he discovered that he possessed all the techniques available to those who had achieved the Perfection of the Lower Three Realms, such as sensing heaven and man and projecting spiritual energy outwards.

Ji You thought he had benefited from misfortune, achieving a unique kind of perfection. However, it wasn't until he fought with Commander Bao of Fengxian Mountain Villa that he realized he was wrong.

The backlash was merely delayed, but it would never be absent.

Achieving perfection overnight was truly an arrogant, wishful fantasy.

Seeing his solemn expression, Kuang Cheng couldn't help but ask, "Are you going to die?"

"No, it's just a burning pain in my heart. I'll be fine after a few days of rest. However, I don't know if I'll still have a chance to reach the upper five realms."

"Why didn't you just ask Fang Ruoyao for help instead of going through all this?"

Ji You coughed out a few more mouthfuls of blood foam before replying, "If I'm going to do something, I'll do it thoroughly. Fang Ruoyao isn't influential enough. Even if she were willing to help, it might not be useful after I leave. My Perfection of the Lower Three Realms is meant to let people know that I am destined to enter the upper five realms, and that I will fight my way back."

Kuang Cheng heard the coldness in his words and couldn't help but shake his head, "This is too risky."

"The spiritual energy within Qiu Ru's body was transferred by me."

"I had already guessed..."

Ji You took a deep breath, "And the little shepherd boy, Liu Qiao the woodcutter's daughter Niuniu, the disabled child adopted by the Da Zui family..."

Kuang Cheng was stunned by his words and looked up at him in disbelief.

He remembered that these children were either sick or on the verge of death, but they had inexplicably recovered later. Now, he finally understood that it was his doing.

"I'm not really a good person. Some of it was just casual help. See, this is what an Immortal is like."

As Ji You said the word "Immortal," his brow furrowed, "But the people from Celestial Academy can't stay in Yuyang forever. Those people from Fengxian Mountain Villa will come back a second time, then a third, a fourth..."

Kuang Cheng pursed his lips after hearing this, "Indeed, ever since the news of your Perfection of the Lower Three Realms spread, Fengxian Mountain Villa has been much more disciplined. Lord Fang even confiscated the Qiu Family's tribute."

"It's that effective?"

Ji You bared his red-and-white teeth, "Then if I acknowledge some wealthy families in the county as god-relatives, with just a small gift, wouldn't I become successful overnight?"

Kuang Cheng: "?"

The fact that Ji You could still entertain such fanciful thoughts proved that his life was not in danger.

However, he didn't know what impact the breach of his Spiritual Spring would have on his future cultivation. After all, without condensing a Spirit Core, how would he cultivate next?

Although Kuang Cheng had read many books, he knew nothing about cultivation. He could only help Ji You up and bring him water to rinse his mouth.

After resting for a while, Ji You's spirits improved considerably. He couldn't help but instruct, "I'll be fine after running through a few more cycles. Don't tell anyone about this. The fact that Qiu Ru can live is already the best outcome."

"Didn't you end up in the Celestial Academy, which is the best outcome?"

"I never thought about going to the Celestial Academy; this was truly unexpected."

Kuang Cheng was astonished to hear this, "Do you just want to hide among the common folk and cultivate in secret? What's the point of that?"

Ji You shook his head, "You've insulted a man's ambition. While I don't want to be a conventional cultivator, I do have plans for my life. If the Qiu Family matter hadn't happened, I would have gone up the mountain next year to become a fierce bandit."

"?"

"West of Yuyang County, there's a bandit den filled with rogue cultivators. They say if a cultivator who has reached Perfection of the Lower Three Realms is willing to join them, they can at least be hired as a Hall Master. Then I could bring Old Qiu's family up the mountain, and we'd live like kings."

Kuang Cheng had never imagined he'd genuinely planned this. Hearing it, he couldn't help but frown, "You could be a conventional cultivator, but you'd prefer to be a rogue cultivator on the mountain. Why?"

Ji You coughed twice, unsure where to begin. After pondering for a long time, he finally said, "At first, I didn't know I could cultivate. Another reason is that I don't want to partake in blood tribute."

"What is blood tribute?"

"Cultivators never do any work, yet they consume most of the world's resources and spirit veins, leaving the common people starving and the world in misery. Although I don't have much ability, I can at least choose not to be one of the straws that break the camel's back."

After speaking, Ji You looked up, "However, I heard that the Celestial Academy consumes the least tribute among the Seven Great Immortal Sects and doesn't use living people for alchemy. So, it's the least unfortunate option."

Kuang Cheng was taken aback. He raised the scroll in his hand, "But the book says that only disciples who enter the upper five realms and are selected for the Inner Court are qualified to receive tribute from the masses."

"?"

Ji You blinked in surprise, his eyes widening, "You mean to say, even though I'm in the Celestial Academy, I'll have to work for my keep?"

At the time, he had only been concerned about becoming a bandit and hadn't paid close attention to the details of being a conventional cultivator. Now, he was completely stunned.

"Didn't you say you didn't want to partake in blood tribute? Isn't this a good thing for you?" Kuang Cheng looked at him with confusion.

"If I were a bandit, I'd rob the rich to help the poor, and I'd still get a cut!"

Great Xia pays tribute to the various immortal sects every year, but how it's distributed is an internal matter for each sect.

Take the Celestial Academy, for example. The tribute they receive is mainly allocated to Inner Court disciples and teaching affairs. Whether one is in the Initial Condensation Realm or has reached Perfection of the Lower Three Realms, they are ultimately Outer Court disciples and thus cannot claim a share of the tribute.

Just as Ji You was questioning his life choices, Kuang Cheng spoke again, "Actually, I'm also going to Shengjing in a couple of days."

Ji You snapped back to attention, "What are you going to Shengjing for?"

"The Imperial Examination."