A flying sword shot out of Azure Hall and flew toward the New Disciple Valley.
On the flying sword, Wei Yuan clutched a large bundle to his chest, not daring to look up at Zhang Sheng. Zhang Sheng wore an expressionless face and focused solely on urging the sword onward. They were traveling more than twice as fast as they had on the way to Azure Hall.
In the blink of an eye, the sword reached the air above the small courtyard. Zhang Sheng didn't even descend. He grabbed Wei Yuan and tossed him straight down from several dozen feet up, then turned and left, vanishing into the horizon as a streak of rainbow light without the slightest pause.
Wei Yuan plunged headfirst toward the ground. He could only grit his teeth and brace himself for a nasty fall. But just as he was about to hit, a gentle force suddenly surged through him, as if a pair of hands had caught him. He still landed flat on his back with a thump, but though it hurt, he hadn't injured any bones or sinews.
Grimacing, Wei Yuan climbed to his feet. Fortunately, he was tough by nature. Though he'd panicked as he fell, he hadn't cried out or embarrassed himself in front of the other disciples.
Back in his room, Wei Yuan set the pack he'd been holding on the table. First, he took out three jade bottles. They were made of excellent jade, with the characters Xuanming engraved on them and a vivid image of an Immortal Mountain on each bottle. The bottles alone were worth a fortune; the pills inside were naturally priceless. These three bottles contained Chonglou Dinghai Pills, meant specifically to make up for the deficiencies in Wei Yuan's foundation.
True Person Fen Hai was no good at keeping things to himself. In just a few words, he had revealed the pills' value: each one was worth more than ten thousand taels of Immortal Silver. Just these three Dinghai Pills would cost Wei Yuan over two hundred years' worth of a new disciple's monthly stipend. He'd have to spend all that time without eating or drinking to afford them.
Besides that, there was a heavy pouch of Immortal Silver in the pack—five hundred taels in all. It was pocket money from True Person Fen Hai.
Last was a jade token in Wei Yuan's arms. It was True Person Fen Hai's token of authority, and with it, Wei Yuan could come and go from Azure Hall freely. In other words, he could visit True Person Fen Hai whenever he wanted, so long as the True Person wasn't in seclusion. But for all that talk of freedom, Azure Hall hung high in the sky, and Wei Yuan couldn't fly before he formed his Dao Foundation. Even if he wanted to go, he had no way of getting there except by having Zhang Sheng carry him. Needless to say, Zhang Sheng's expression had been as ugly as could be when this came up.
Only then did Wei Yuan finally come back to himself a little. He couldn't help marveling at his grandmaster's generosity. Even a casual reward amounted to several hundred years' worth of his monthly stipend.
But fortune and misfortune went hand in hand. His grandmaster had taken a liking to him, but his master was clearly very unhappy. After what had happened, who knew when he'd cool down?
Wei Yuan sighed. He didn't understand why Zhang Sheng had gotten so angry. Was looking good really that important?
Wei Yuan found a mirror and studied his reflection. He honestly couldn't see what was supposed to be so good-looking about him.
Still, Zhang Sheng was a magnanimous man. He probably wouldn't stay angry over such a small thing. Once the heat of the moment passed, he'd get over it. That was what Wei Yuan thought.
Wei Yuan took out one Chonglou Dinghai Pill and went to the meditation room. After quieting his mind and steadying his breath, he swallowed the pill and began cultivating, soon forgetting both himself and the world around him. He only needed to take one pill at a time, and had to wait seven days before taking the next. Aside from that, there was nothing special he needed to keep in mind.
This time, the scenery in his sea of consciousness had changed. A vivid red line now stretched across the Jade Toad's back, and fine threads of rain kept falling from the void. As the rain drifted down, the ground slowly expanded.
Wei Yuan was still transformed into the Jade Toad. He knew the rain was the medicinal power of the Chonglou Dinghai Pill. It wasn't spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nor was it fortune from beyond the heavens. So it didn't come from the full moon; it appeared directly as threads of rain. He continued focusing on breathing in the moonlight.
The Chonglou Dinghai Pill was indeed wondrous. By dawn, when he finished his cultivation, the visualization diagram had expanded by more than three feet in a single night. It was now nearly twenty feet across. The boulder and the Jade Toad had grown accordingly, and even the full moon in the sky had nearly doubled in size.
Zhang Sheng had already explained the process of cultivating the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram in detail. The first step was to manifest the visualization diagram. At this stage, it would gradually expand, and its final size would indicate the depth of one's foundation: the larger it was, the deeper the foundation. As for its quality, the finer its details and the more pronounced its supernatural signs, the higher it was.
The visualization diagram was like a framework for Body Forging. Only after manifesting it in the sea of consciousness could one begin the actual forging. The earth corresponded to the muscles and flesh, the boulder to the blood, the Jade Toad itself to the bones, and finally, the full moon to the spiritual sense. Whenever one stage of Body Forging was complete, the corresponding part of the diagram would brim with life and take on a spirit of its own. Once all the stages were complete, the visualization diagram would develop a spiritual nature of its own. At that point, one could condense a Dao Foundation.
The six standard cultivation methods had been created several hundred years ago, and Taichu Palace had long since accumulated enough examples of people practicing them. The fastest record for the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram was manifesting the visualization diagram in three days and forging an Earth Tier Dao Foundation in half a year. The strongest foundation and greatest achievement belonged to someone who manifested a twelve-zhang visualization diagram in thirty-six days and forged an Immortal Foundation in five years.
Only after finishing his cultivation did Wei Yuan realize how potent the Chonglou Dinghai Pill was. One pill had expanded the visualization diagram by more than three feet. With all three, it would grow by at least ten feet. Wei Yuan's Root Bone had originally measured eight chi, which was considered excellent and corresponded to an eighty-foot visualization diagram. Taking the three Chonglou Dinghai Pills would forcibly raise his foundation to nine chi. From then on, it would depend on how much fortune he could transform into foundation.
The next day's lesson was Dao Foundation Theory.
Wei Yuan had already read the descriptions of all the courses, so he knew Dao Foundation Theory was actually a cultivation class. It taught disciples how to forge their Dao Foundations, make up for any deficiencies, and leave no regrets, so they could travel farther along the path of immortality.
When Wei Yuan arrived at Qisi Hall, he saw that a sheet of jade paper and a pill had already been placed on his desk. A blue cushion had also been laid on his seat. The jade paper recorded a cultivation method called the Guiyuan Dingqi Method. Wei Yuan picked it up and read it carefully. The method for stabilizing one's qi was simple: it precisely measured a person's Root Bone. If the result of the Dao Assessment was like an ink-wash landscape, then the result of the method was like a finely painted bird-and-flower composition, depicting the foundation in far greater detail.
The jade paper also listed the name of that day's instructor. As soon as the students saw it, a small commotion broke out.
"Wow, it's Xu Henshui!"
"Which Xu Henshui?"
A girl said, "You don't know? He's the direct disciple of True Monarch Wuqi of Zaohua Temple, two generations removed. His master is called a True Person, but in reality, he was taught by a True Monarch! And I heard Xu Henshui has an exceptionally graceful bearing and peerless cultivation. What's more, his Dao Foundation is an orchid!"
At that, many people immediately lost interest. "An orchid? Isn't that a bottom-tier Dao Foundation? None of us taking classes here will end up with a Human Tier Dao Foundation, will we?"
The girl scoffed. "You fools know nothing! Let me tell you, Xu laoshi's orchid is the only one of its kind in all the world. It's an Immortal Foundation through and through!"
Another girl came over and asked, "Then what does Xu laoshi look like?"
"Do you even need to ask? Just wait and see for yourself!"
The children chattered noisily. Suddenly, the side door of Qisi Hall creaked open. All the students fell silent at once and stared at the doorway. Even Wei Yuan, detached by nature as he was, couldn't help growing curious. He wanted to see what kind of immortal Xu Henshui, whose reputation preceded him, really was.
As the side door opened, the first thing to swish inside was the hem of a water-blue robe. Then a dashing young gentleman stepped in. But he hid his face behind a fan, so no one could see it!
Even without seeing his face, one could tell from his bearing alone that he was breathtakingly beautiful. His watery-blue sleeves swayed without a breeze, and the robe seemed to flow like water around a man just as fluid. Even that single step through the door carried the natural rhythm of the Dao, light and graceful, perfectly measured. It was as though a subtle fragrance had wafted past, leaving everyone refreshed and clear-headed.
That one step was enough to make even Wei Yuan curious to see the teacher's face. Just as everyone watched in eager anticipation, a slender jade-like hand reached in from outside. Its five fingers were shaped like orchids. It grabbed the teacher by the back of his collar and hauled him out.
"Move aside. I'm teaching this class!" a bold, commanding voice rang out from outside.
"But..."
"No buts! It's settled!" The voice brooked no argument.
"What are you doing? Don't—" the teacher cried out. Then his voice quickly faded into the distance, until it was barely audible.
A woman walked into Qisi Hall, slammed the main doors shut behind her, and smiled at the students staring at her in stunned silence.
With that smile, Wei Yuan suddenly felt as if the whole world before him had lit up.
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