"When sensing the Celestial Tome, a faint glimmer would first appear, fleeting like a shooting star."
"Those fated for it could easily follow that light and be led before the Heavenly Dao. At that time, all the myriad paths of the world would unfold above your head, but the time would be brief. Whatever you could comprehend, you comprehended."
"However, if you had no affinity with the Celestial Tome, then even if you exhausted yourself chasing it, you would not catch up. Several of my fellow brothers and sisters from the same cohort were like that."
"Six years ago, some of them saw that beam of light several times, yet in the end could not enter."
Early the next morning, at the Dao Comprehension Ground.
Chu He and Lu Qingqiu had tried for two days and still could not sense the Celestial Tome, so they sought help from Ban Yangshu, the Inner Court disciple recommended by Prince Chong.
This Senior Brother Ban had successfully sensed the Celestial Tome while in the Outer Court and had ultimately entered the Inner Court as well. He had now reached the Profound Heaven Upper Realm.
Following in the footsteps of one's predecessors was the quickest way to cultivate the Dao.
Ban Yangshu was quite upright, and Prince Chong also paid close attention to the matter of sensing the Celestial Tome, so he held nothing back and told them everything he knew.
Lu Qingqiu and Chu He fell into thought after hearing him, as though they had gained some insight.
"By the way, where is that Perfection of the Lower Three Realms fellow named Ji You? Why have I not seen him?"
"He... he went to Sword Testing Forest again today."
Ban Yangshu froze slightly. "Cultivating both martial arts and the Dao?"
Lu Qingqiu nodded, equally puzzled.
She believed Ji You had already felt the difficulty of comprehending the Dao at the Dao Comprehension Ground last night. She had thought he would abandon the minor path of martial techniques and, like them, comprehend the Dao from morning until night.
Yet the truth was that he had still gone to Sword Testing Forest today. It was truly beyond comprehension.
Lu Qingqiu was not the only one who found this unexpected. Instructor Wang in Sword Testing Forest was equally curious about what this unconventional contender for an Inner Court spot was thinking.
"I heard Lu Qingqiu and Chu He have already gathered a strand of Mystic Light. How do you still have the mind to come here and study martial arts?"
"Didn't they say that if I could never break through, Celestial Academy might expel me? I have to have a skill to fall back on. Maybe I can even head up the mountain and become a fierce bandit."
"?"
Ji You gripped a wooden sword, charging, cleaving, pointing, and thrusting through the forest without pause. "Instructor Wang, have you ever seen a fierce bandit?"
Instructor Wang laughed when he heard that. "Shengjing is the capital of Great Xia, and Celestial Academy stands guard here. What bandits would dare run wild in a place like this?"
"Interested in seeing one? I heard fierce bandits cultivate both martial arts and the Dao, and their swordsmanship is rather exquisite too."
"Could it be that Meng Xinghun you mentioned is actually a fierce bandit?"
After sheathing his sword, Ji You wiped the sweat from his brow. "For just one or two taels of silver, I can introduce Instructor Wang to one."
Instructor Wang watched him for a long while, then pulled out a tael of silver from his sleeve. "When will we meet him?"
"Now."
"?"
Ji You tossed aside the wooden sword and ran off. From the distance, he turned back and said, "Instructor, I have no money for food. Consider this borrowed from you. I will return it with both hands someday."
Wang Xinan stood there in a daze for a moment, then suddenly widened his eyes. Fuck, this really was a goddamn fierce bandit!
In the blink of an eye, Ji You had reached Immortal Cuisine House and used the silver to fill his stomach.
Still, this could not go on forever. He had to find a way out.
He was an oddity who had slipped into an orthodox great sect as an independent rural cultivator. He had no Lineage behind him; even making a living was a problem.
Failing to enter the Dao was not that embarrassing. Starving to death, though, would be a little embarrassing...
After eating, Ji You saw that it was still early, so he got up and headed down the mountain, deciding to check on Old Kuang, who was preparing for the examinations.
He was unfamiliar with Shengjing and only knew that Kuang Cheng lived somewhere called Chunhua Post Station. After asking for directions all the way, he finally arrived at a place that felt very familiar.
It was an alley that was exceedingly quiet by day, but Ji You had seen its nights.
At night, this place was full of wastrel young masters, and full of hearts turned yellow with desire...
?
Ji You had not been sure at first. Only after he found that post station and saw Kuang Cheng did he confirm it. At the time, Kuang Cheng was in a cramped little room, hanging his head from a beam and pricking his thigh with an awl as he pored over the classics. An oil lamp burned out on the table, its wick lying listlessly against the rim.
Hearing footsteps, Kuang Cheng turned around.
"Brother Ji, why are you here?"
"Didn't you say you found somewhere quiet and full of literary charm?"
Kuang Cheng could not help sighing as he closed his book. "There used to be a bookshop across the street. Who knew it would become a brothel five years ago? And my map of Shengjing City is from eight years ago."
Ji You pulled over a stool and sat down. "Was that on purpose, or deliberately accidental? You could always switch places, right?"
"But only this place has such fair prices, a desk, and lamp oil included."
"How are your preparations?"
After pondering for a while, Kuang Cheng said, "I previously had only a sixty percent chance. Now, I should be at eighty percent."
Ji You raised an eyebrow slightly. "That confident?"
"His Majesty plans to widely open special imperial examinations this year. The number recruited will far exceed previous years."
"Why would such a change happen?"
"There are rumors that His Majesty feels the current court has become too stagnant and lifeless. He wants to select a group of new officials to straighten out the administration."
Ji You showed no reaction after hearing this and merely nodded faintly. Now that immortals had descended upon the world, imperial power had weakened. No matter how they reformed things, it would only amount to this.
It was nothing more than replacing the people around him with those more pleasing to his eye.
But administrative reform also involved many matters concerning the immortal sects.
For instance, the collection and oversight of tax offerings, the harvesting and transportation of spirit herbs and mineral veins, and the circulation and turnover of medicinal pills.
Should anything go wrong, a single tug could move the whole body. It might cause even greater turmoil. Perhaps before long, Shengjing would be engulfed in wind and rain.
"Brother Ji? Brother Ji?"
"Hm?"
Seeing him come back to himself, Kuang Cheng could not help saying, "Enough about me. How are things for you at Celestial Academy? Has cultivation been going smoothly?"
Ji You rested his hands on his knees. "Right now, everyone is competing for Inner Court spots, running off every day to sense the Celestial Tome. They say that if you successfully sense it, you are basically in."
"Has anyone succeeded?"
"A difference of a hair could mean a miss of a thousand miles."
Kuang Cheng nodded after hearing that. "It seems cultivation is like studying after all—not easy. But in the end, Brother Ji will always win. There will be no surprise in that."
Ji You laughed. "Do you know what sort of people they are? Young masters from immortal Aristocratic Clans, young ladies whose families have mines. They can swallow medicinal pills worth thousands of taels without blinking!"
"But Brother Ji is still full of confidence, isn't he? You simply have the habit of never telling others anything before it is accomplished."
Kuang Cheng was even more confident than he was. "Perhaps you are already considering becoming the headmaster."
Ji You was silent for a while. "Actually, I have no money for food. I was considering robbing you of five taels of silver."
"?"
"Hurry up!"
Kuang Cheng's mouth twitched. In the end, he took out an already-deflated purse from his bundle and pulled roughly eight taels of loose silver from it.
The instant Ji You saw this, his brows furrowed and his eyes widened. Seeing that the once-bulging purse was no longer bulging hurt as much as if someone had stolen and spent his own money.
He pointed at the flower streets and willow lanes outside the window and could not help saying, "You scholar, can't you go a day without getting yellow?"
"Can't calm down all day? That is true. Before entering the examination hall, my heart has never been able to settle."
"No, I mean, do you think the day does not count as over unless you get yellow?"
Kuang Cheng was stunned for a long time. Finally, following Ji You's pointing finger, he looked outside. His face immediately turned scarlet as he understood the hidden meaning. "Nonsense! Kuang is an upright gentleman!"
"Then where did my money... no, your money go?"
Ji You found the words a little hot in his mouth and immediately spun three hundred and sixty degrees, nearly saying the right thing.
Kuang Cheng glanced at his purse in disbelief. "This is my money!"
"Never mind whose money it is. You have been in the capital for less than three days. How did such a huge bag of silver get spent so quickly?"
"I donated it."
As Kuang Cheng tied up the purse, he muttered, "There are only a few months before winter. There is an orphanage for the disabled in the western district that does not even have cotton quilts. I saw it while buying books at the bookshop, and in a moment of impulse, I donated it."
Ji You was silent for a while, still feeling a little sorry for his money.
Uh, no. His money.
Two outstanding young men from Yuyang County, and now they only had a few taels of loose silver left. And they had fucking talked about seeing the wind of fate? What a joke.
Ji You pushed back the little bit Kuang Cheng offered him. "Forget it, Brother Zhuangyuan. Don't starve to death before taking the exam. I'm leaving."
"Brother Ji, do not focus only on becoming an Inner Court disciple. Remember to aim higher. Become the headmaster!"
"Got it."
Before you continue