February, Year 31 of the Immortal Calendar.
At the center of Yinlian Village.
The ground here was flat on all sides, with an obelisk standing in the middle, about as tall as a person.
Its surface was covered in densely packed writing.
One day.
Wang An was brought here by his elder brother, Wang Ping. "This stone stele was bestowed upon Yinlian Village by Tianlin Immortal Master. The front has the Dragon Mountain Scripture, and the back has the Thunder Illumination Scripture. Everyone in the village, male or female, can come here and touch the stele after turning sixteen. Then they'll receive one of the cultivation methods inscribed on it."
It wasn't just Yinlian Village.
Tianlin Cave ruled over the Three Hundred Cave Villages, and every village had a stone stele like this, allowing all three hundred thousand cave-dwellers to come into contact with cultivation and set foot on the path.
But in the end, very few persevered.
Either they lacked talent.
Or they lacked patience.
For instance, Yinlian Village had two or three thousand people, young and old, but fewer than two hundred had reached the Inner Qi Stage. There were even fewer in the True Qi Stage.
"If you can reach the Inner Qi Stage early, you'll make a pretty penny later on, whether you go hunting outside the village or work as a guard for one of the village's merchant caravans. You'll live the good life!"
Wang Ping patted Wang An on the shoulder.
Their household wasn't well-off. Wang Ping was only seventeen himself and had been cultivating for just a year. But his progress was poor; he was still at the Stillness stage. He'd long accepted that he'd cultivate for at most one more year, then get married and have children at eighteen. After that, he wouldn't bother with cultivation. Saving the money to improve their living conditions would be good enough.
Wang Ping's path was all but set.
Wang An's was still uncertain.
Full of anticipation, he placed his hand on the stele. Before long, a cool sensation ran from his hand straight to his mind, then burst open with a roar, turning into a cultivation method that was firmly imprinted in his memory.
When he let go,
Wang Ping hurriedly asked, "Which one was it?"
"The Thunder Illumination Scripture."
Wang An found it fascinating, excitement showing on his face.
"The Thunder Illumination Scripture."
"Perfect. Dad and I cultivate the Thunder Illumination Scripture too, so you don't have to go looking for a master elsewhere. We can teach you."
The cultivation tradition in Yinlian Village was very casual.
Usually, fathers taught sons, and older brothers taught younger brothers.
If the father and brothers in a household practiced different cultivation methods, they could ask their neighbors for advice and guidance.
It leaned toward self-sufficiency and had no strict system of master-disciple lineages.
They could also seek out people in the Inner Qi Stage or True Qi Stage to be their masters. But households like Wang Ping and Wang An's couldn't spare the money for tuition.
And if you had no money, who would be willing to waste their time on you?
So neither brother had given it any thought.
But less than two days later—
"Take care, Master Meng (Uncle Nan) (Master)."
The entire Wang family saw Meng Nan off for quite a distance. When they returned, every face was alight with delight.
"Second brother!"
"You lucky dog!"
Wang Ping gave his younger brother Wang An a hearty slap, grinning from ear to ear, though with a touch of envy.
Nearby,
the brothers' father was grinning just as broadly. He said to Wang An, "Master Meng is a master craftsman. More than half the tables, chairs, stools, and beds in our village were made by him. And he and his wife both reached the Inner Qi Stage early, so they've got plenty of cultivation experience! They're strong and well-off, and he took you as his apprentice. You brat, you've struck it rich!"
"Hehe!"
"I know, Dad."
Wang An was excited too. Being taken as an apprentice by someone in the Inner Qi Stage without having to pay a penny was like a pie falling from the sky.
A stroke of luck you couldn't even beg for!
For the rest of the day, the Wang family basked in their good fortune.
That night.
At home.
Zhao Xiaoshuang was puzzled too. "What made you decide to take an apprentice?"
Taking an apprentice wasn't exactly a worthwhile deal.
Yinlian Village had two or three thousand people. After decades of cultivation, only a little over a hundred had reached the Inner Qi Stage—not even one in ten.
If you took on apprentices willy-nilly, spending time, effort, and affection to train them, there was a very high chance that all you'd end up with was a few disciples in the Qi Sensing Realm or Visualization Realm.
The Qi Sensing Realm.
The Visualization Realm.
They were both still in the Fetal Breath Stage, with cultivation only just beginning.
What good was that?
It was just a waste of affection!
The only way to produce someone in the Inner Qi Stage or even the True Qi Stage was to rely on luck.
Ordinary people couldn't be bothered to take apprentices.
"I've seen Wang An a few times. He's got a spark to him. He might even surpass us one day."
Meng Nan smiled and pretended to make a prediction.
In his memories, of the five people from Yinlian Village who would advance to the True Qi Stage over the next eight years, Wang An was one of them. He also came from an ordinary family and was the fastest cultivator among them.
Two years to the Inner Qi Stage.
Five years to the True Qi Stage.
He eventually reached the True Qi Stage at twenty-three and was sent to cultivate at Tianlin Cave.
Reaching the True Qi Stage before the age of twenty-four was the standard for being accepted by Tianlin Cave.
Over the course of four or five decades, only five people from Yinlian Village had reached the True Qi Stage before turning twenty-four—an average of just one every ten years.
Two of those five reached the True Essence Stage. They were the only two people in Yinlian Village to do so in the past decade or so.
One was the Fort Lord.
The other was the deputy Fort Lord.
Qian Yu had originally been the third, and she had reached the True Essence Stage on her own without ever cultivating at Tianlin Cave.
But sadly, there would be no Qian Yu in this life.
Wang An was the sixth to go to Tianlin Cave. As for what he accomplished afterward, Meng Nan hadn't yet had a chance to see before he returned to reality.
This time,
in this life,
with Meng Nan training Wang An ahead of time, he would probably reach the True Qi Stage even sooner. Then he could go there a year or two early. When he came back, Meng Nan could learn something about Tianlin Cave from his disciple.
If Meng Nan cultivated a little faster in reality, he might even get the chance to go to Tianlin Cave himself.
It never hurt to learn more beforehand.
Bit by bit.
Drop by drop.
Once Meng Nan had used the future across one lifetime after another to walk every nook and cranny of Tianlin Cave flat, his advance to the Qi Refining Stage would be completely unobstructed!
Two years passed in a flash.
One day.
As usual, Zhao Xiaoshuang was cultivating, but the restlessness in her heart refused to fade.
At last, she opened her eyes.
She picked up the treasured sword beside her. It was called Cold Light, forged from a mineral with a touch of ice attribute. It was the exact opposite of Meng Nan's Yangjiu: Yangjiu was scorching, while Cold Light was icy.
The two swords had cost the couple most of their savings over more than a decade.
But neither Cold Light nor Yangjiu had faced an enemy or tasted blood in two years.
"What's wrong with me?"
"I used to stay in the village all the time and never thought anything of it. But after going out and roaming for two years, I can't quiet my mind anymore!"
Zhao Xiaoshuang wiped down her sword, then turned her gaze to Meng Nan beside her. "He should be able to break through in the next few days."
She looked forward to it.
Once Meng Nan broke through again and returned to the Inner Qi Stage, perhaps they could roam the world together once more, avenging wrongs and righting injustices.
Though it had been only two years, it felt like they'd been apart for ages.
"I still haven't finished exploring Great Goose Valley."
"And beyond the Three Hundred Cave Villages, they say it's teeming with demonic beasts and thick with poisonous miasma. I wonder what it's really like out there, and what kind of world lies beyond."
Perhaps it was the decades of confinement within the villages.
Perhaps it was the subtle influence of being around Meng Nan day in and day out.
All the while, it had been building.
All the while, it had been accumulating.
Then, four years ago, Zhao Xiaoshuang left Yinlian Village with Meng Nan and learned that outside the village lay a vast, wondrous world.
A long sword in hand, free to avenge wrongs and right injustices.
She saw different sights and met different people, no longer surrounded by the same old faces and things in Yinlian Village. It opened up an entirely new world to her.
She couldn't bear to leave it behind.
The nature she had buried for so long had been completely unleashed, and she could no longer rein it in.
Zhao Xiaoshuang looked at Meng Nan.
Suddenly,
her face lit up. She saw Meng Nan's aura change, and not long afterward, he opened his eyes, delight shining in them too.
Two years of effort!
He had finally reached the Inner Qi Stage!
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