Breaking Through Until I Passed Out

In the county office's main hall, a graceful woman held a teapot and respectfully brewed two cups of fragrant pre-Qingming tea.

So-called pre-Qingming tea was not a brand name, but the tender tea buds picked before the Qingming Festival. Its color was emerald, its fragrance secluded, its flavor rich, and its form beautiful.

Yet Yuyang County produced no tea, so a cup like this was often worth a small fortune.

It was clear that a county magistrate who served one year could earn a hundred thousand snowflake silvers, especially under this Tax System.

"Instructor Cao, Senior Sister Pei, please have some tea."

Celestial Academy instructor Cao Jinsong lifted his teacup. After savoring it, he narrowed his eyes slightly and felt utterly refreshed.

Beside him, Pei Ruyi, the foremost disciple of the outer academy, clearly had no interest in tea. She turned her cup before speaking. "You will be leaving for Shengjing with us tomorrow. Have you packed everything?"

Fang Ruoyao immediately nodded. "Reporting to Senior Sister, everything has been packed."

Cao Jinsong stroked his long beard and added, "Once you enter the academy, remember to cultivate diligently and never squander your time. You must know that even after entering the Celestial Academy, you cannot be considered to have entered the Immortal Dao. The true Immortal Dao..."

"The true Immortal Dao?"

"No, it is nothing."

Cao Jinsong chuckled softly and swallowed the rest of his words.

Qingyun World had seven great Dao lineages, but nearly all of them followed the Three-Five Realms Qi Cultivation Method passed down by the Heavenly Dao during the Primordial Era.

It consisted of the Lower Three Realms, the Upper Five Realms, and the Immortal Approaching Realm, until one finally threw back one's head in laughter and ascended.

For cultivators, the first three realms were merely internal realms that tempered the body, serving as the foundation of cultivation. Only after condensing spiritual essence within the body could one be said to have first stepped onto the Immortal Dao, also known as Perfection of the Lower Three Realms.

Fang Ruoyao's aptitude was not exceptional, however. Instructor Cao did not wish to place pressure on her too early and plant demonic seeds in her Dao heart.

In truth, the students admitted by the Celestial Academy in recent years had possessed increasingly poorer aptitude. Even though they selected descendants of immortal sects and children of Aristocratic Clans, only two had reached Perfection of the Lower Three Realms before coming of age this year.

When the Seven Great Sects had jointly established the Qingyun Immortal Regulations, they had set down a rule: anyone who reached Perfection of the Lower Three Realms before coming of age could enter the Immortal Registry regardless of origin.

Yet now, those capable of achieving it were few and far between.

Fang Ruoyao gave him a half-understanding glance, when she suddenly saw a servant from the residence run into the courtyard.

"Miss, Young Master Kuang is outside requesting an audience. He wishes to see you off."

After pondering for a long while, Fang Ruoyao said, "I am brewing tea for the immortals. Please ask Young Master Kuang to come see me off tomorrow instead."

Pei Ruyi could not help but laugh softly upon hearing that. "The mountains are high and the roads long on this journey. Since he came specially to bid you farewell, you should still go see him."

"Then... Ruoyao will take her leave first."

Fang Ruoyao hesitated only for a moment before agreeing, then headed toward the side hall.

Kuang Cheng was also led in by the yamen runners at the entrance. He got straight to the point and asked Fang Ruoyao to help the Qiu family.

In truth, Fang Ruoyao had long guessed that he would do this.

Kuang Cheng's reputation as a gentleman was known throughout the county. That was why she had not wished to see him, and now that she heard him say it himself, she refused outright.

"The Celestial Academy is indeed part of the Great Xia Sacred Sect, but Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion is also a great sect of this age. Though the two immortal sects have contended in secret for many years, they have always maintained harmony on the surface, each drawing water from its own well and leaving the other untouched."

"What you read in the books is correct. The Celestial Academy indeed has a duty to protect its disciples and their families. But I have no connection to the Qiu family. If I forcibly involve myself, would that not invite accusations that the Celestial Academy is meddling in another sect's affairs?"

"Besides, I have yet to enter the academy. My words carry little weight. How could I dare trouble the immortals?"

"Young Master Kuang, I leave tomorrow. Ruoyao is grateful that you came to bid me farewell, and that is precisely why I agreed to see you. But I do not wish to stir up further trouble. I truly cannot help with this matter."

Fang Ruoyao was now a Celestial Academy disciple. Though she had yet to learn immortal arts, she already carried a trace of transcendent bearing. She was no longer the delicate daughter of a humble household she had once been, but more like a proud swan.

After all, becoming a cultivator had already destined one for honor in this life.

Kuang Cheng fell silent for a moment. "Not even the life of a five-year-old girl is worth Miss Fang making an attempt?"

"In this world, who can save whom?"

"It is precisely because of this world that we should save people!"

"Young Master Kuang, do you know that we cultivators must keep our hearts free of stray thoughts before the Dao may follow its natural course?"

Kuang Cheng froze slightly, only then realizing that the person before him was already an immortal. His expression became much more respectful. "Please forgive Kuang for disturbing you. Farewell."

Seeing him turn to leave, Fang Ruoyao pondered for a while before speaking again. "You went to see Ji You, but he did not dare come, so you came personally?"

"That is correct."

"The Qiu family showed him great kindness, yet he can still pretend not to know?"

"What does Miss Fang wish to say?"

"When the Ji Family was utterly destroyed, I took the opportunity to break off my engagement with him and endured endless criticism. Some said Fang Ruoyao kicked a man when he was down, while others said I lacked a woman's virtue. Now it has proven just how innocent I was. How could that ungrateful wretch ever have been a worthy match for me?"

Kuang Cheng said nothing after hearing this. With a sweep of his sleeve, he left the Fang Residence.

He could not agree with Fang Ruoyao's words. An engagement was an engagement, and character was character. Just as merits and faults could not cancel one another out, they could not be lumped together.

If Fang Ruoyao truly disliked that Ji You, she could have chosen a suitable way to break off the engagement and left both sides some dignity.

Yet she had chosen to take advantage of his misfortune, forcibly dissolving the engagement while Ji You could not even get out of bed. Her character was not necessarily any better.

But at this moment, though Kuang Cheng was full of reasons, he truly had nothing to say, because Young Master Ji had not dared leave his door even now.

Kuang Cheng disliked Fang Ruoyao's conduct and looked down on Ji You's cowardice, so he could only refuse to help either side.

She was about to become someone of the Immortal Dao and did not wish to have any further connection with old acquaintances or old affairs.

If she truly asked her instructor and senior sister for help, then once others learned that she had once been engaged to a rustic villager, she feared she would not even be able to hold her head up before her fellow cultivators.

Fang Ruoyao poured the tea in her hand into the flowerbed and rose to return to the main hall. Just then, a rumbling sound suddenly came from the northwest beyond the window.

Then, a ray of rosy light shot into the clouds and merged with the evening glow.

Before she could see it clearly, the rosy light swiftly drew in again and vanished behind the clouds, as though it had never appeared. It left her with an inexplicable feeling.

But Fang Ruoyao did not know that the two immortals who had been drinking tea in the front hall had already drawn their swords and left the residence, arriving at Archway Street in Yuyang County with grave expressions.

The fire-red clouds stretching across the sky had originally extended for a thousand li, yet they were now cleanly severed in the direction of Archway Street. The scar of the cut stretched for ten li, as though an immortal had swung a sword.

The rosy light from before had already withdrawn and disappeared behind the clouds, as though it had never appeared.

This place was remote and barren, with no immortal training ground nearby. The only Fengxian Mountain Villa lay beyond Thirty Mile Shop to the west, far from here. Dao resonance and heavenly light could not possibly have pierced through the clouds from so far away.

A rogue cultivator!

There was a rogue cultivator in Yuyang County who had just broken through into the Initial Profound Upper Realm!

But that aura had withdrawn far too quickly. Even they could no longer follow shadows and chase traces.

"Instructor, I cannot find them."

"Mm. They have vanished."

Cao Jinsong murmured softly. His gaze swept over the plaque of the Ji residence without leaving a trace. Shock surfaced in his eyes, then swiftly disappeared.

Yuyang County was not large. Whenever an interesting tale arose, it could spread throughout the county within an hour. Immortals had keen ears and far-reaching eyes; some things naturally could not be hidden from them.

He knew of the Qiu family girl, whose spiritual radiance reached the heavens, and the young master of the Ji Family, who had not yet come of age...

Pei Ruyi noticed her instructor's gaze and furrowed her brow as she looked toward the Ji residence. "Could that rogue cultivator have hidden within this courtyard?"

"No. Even without looking, I know for certain that could not be the case."

"?"

Cao Jinsong turned and left, but his hand could not help trembling within his sleeve.

Fang Ruoyao had a fiancé, reviled throughout the county. It was said that he had not yet come of age and was timid as a mouse...

Not yet come of age, not yet come of age, not yet come of age, not yet come of age!

Pei Ruyi followed behind him, thinking that her instructor's leg strength was truly unrivaled. Even his walking made him tremble as though he were practicing cultivation.

At that moment, separated only by a gate and two courtyards, Ji You had his eyes tightly shut. Fine beads of sweat covered his forehead and fell to the ground, shattering into countless pieces.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and looked up at the dusk outside the window. Only then did he realize that thirteen hours had passed outside.

I nearly cultivated myself unconscious...

Sure enough, youth was easily spent while learning was hard to complete; not an inch of time could be taken lightly.

He looked inward at the Spiritual Spring within his body and saw that it was already full. All that remained was refinement—a brush with death nine times out of ten.

In the blink of an eye, evening arrived, and the sky gradually darkened.

Fang Ruoyao was in her room preparing the things she would need when she noticed Instructor Cao looking at something in the courtyard. She then called her father over.

"Father, your daughter leaves tomorrow. Has the carriage for Shengjing been prepared?"

"It has already been prepared, but..."

Fang Zhongzheng reached out and took out a calling card. "Fengxian Mountain Villa will come calling tomorrow. The immortals have agreed."

Fang Ruoyao froze slightly. "Had they not always refused before? Why have they suddenly agreed? Your daughter also invited some old friends to come see me off tomorrow."

"Delaying for an hour or two will not matter. It will also let them see the immortals of the Celestial Academy and broaden their horizons."

(It has been revised. The chapter comments may be a mess...)