A Little Hard on the Teacher

Seeing how quick to catch on Cui Yu was, Ji Liuli was very satisfied. "If you get any precious medicines, show them to me before you take them. Try to find as many different kinds as you can. Each precious medicine affects your Dao Foundation differently, and the right combinations vary greatly. This also concerns the choice of your future Dao Path, so it's extremely important."

Cui Yu nodded solemnly.

After checking Cui Yu, Ji Liuli went to examine Bao Yun.

They both cultivated the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram. Bao Yun's visualization diagram was currently five zhang across, a little smaller than Cui Yu's. But her Root Bone was extraordinary and her fortune immense; her diagram was still expanding, nowhere near the limits of her potential. Strange sights filled it, like a world of Gods and Devils.

Compared with Cui Yu and Bao Yun, Wei Yuan's progress seemed terribly slow. Ji Liuli was quite dissatisfied and decided to try something drastic.

After class, Wei Yuan followed Ji Liuli to the Administration Hall as usual. Ji Liuli found the necessary ingredients in Xu Henshui's medicine cabinet and casually refined them into a medicinal powder. She poured it into a wooden tub, then said, "Take your clothes off. What are you waiting for?"

Wei Yuan gritted his teeth, stripped, and stepped into the tub, which looked as though it were filled with blood. The moment he got in, he shivered. The blood-red medicinal broth was colder than the frozen sea.

An hour later, Wei Yuan's little face had turned blue with cold, and the medicinal broth in the tub had become clear water.

When Ji Liuli examined Wei Yuan again, she gave a surprised "Huh?" and looked puzzled. She circled him, inspecting him very carefully.

Afterward, Ji Liuli frowned in thought. At last, she shook her head and said, "That's strange. How did your Root Bone become unstable again? I should have cleared out quite a lot of impurities last time."

Ji Liuli pondered for a moment but couldn't figure it out. "Go back for now. I need to look through some books before I can say more."

"Is it a serious problem?" Wei Yuan asked.

Ji Liuli looked up at Wei Yuan's earnest, anxious little face. "It's not that serious. It's just a little hard on your teacher."

"Huh?" Wei Yuan didn't understand.

Ji Liuli lowered her head to consider the formula and waved Wei Yuan out of the Administration Hall. "That's not something you need to worry about. Go back and cultivate properly. Don't slack off!"

After leaving the Administration Hall, Wei Yuan didn't head home right away. Instead, he went to the nearby Hall of Erudition. The Hall of Erudition was where Taichu Palace kept its books, a sprawling complex of connected halls. When Wei Yuan entered the main hall, he saw several service desks set up inside, each with a disciple on duty behind it.

Wei Yuan went to the desk for introductory texts, handed over his identity jade token, and said, "I'd like to borrow cultivation insights on the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram."

The disciple looked a little surprised. "That's a standard technique. Hasn't your teacher taught it to you?"

But he'd only asked in passing and had no intention of interfering with Wei Yuan's cultivation. He took the identity jade token and hurried into the back hall. A moment later, he returned with two sheets of jade paper. "This one contains the insights written by Moon Swallowing True Monarch, who created the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram. The other has the cultivation insights of several disciples who achieved the most with it. They should be helpful."

"You may borrow them for seven days and make copies, but you mustn't share them with anyone else. The rental fee is seven taels of Immortal Silver. I've charged it to your account."

Wei Yuan took the two sheets of jade paper, once again feeling keenly that he didn't have enough Immortal Silver. At least he didn't need to worry about food during the first month. But once his Qi Nourishing Pills ran out in the second month, he'd have to buy more. The pocket money True Person Fen Hai had given him had seemed like a lot at first glance, but with prices at Taichu Palace, it probably wouldn't last long.

Wei Yuan remembered something else and asked, "Senior Brother, do you have any information on the Heart Cleansing Pill?"

The senior brother's expression immediately changed. "The Heart Cleansing Pill? Why are you asking about that? It's not something someone like you should even think about!"

Wei Yuan said, "I just heard some elders talking about it. They mentioned that the Heart Cleansing Pill is extremely precious, and I got curious. How much Immortal Silver does one cost?"

"Immortal Silver? You've got some nerve asking! Do you think you can buy a Heart Cleansing Pill with Immortal Silver?"

After making a few sarcastic remarks, the senior brother saw how serious Wei Yuan looked and said, "The Heart Cleansing Pill can clear obstructions in the Primordial Spirit. It not only raises your foundation but also improves your comprehension. It's a sacred medicine for young disciples seeking to improve their foundation. A single Heart Cleansing Pill might raise a Human Tier Dao Foundation to Earth Tier. They say three Heart Cleansing Pills can help someone with a high-grade Earth Tier foundation reach Heaven Tier. The higher the grade of a Dao Foundation, the harder it is to improve, and the fewer precious medicines can help. The Heart Cleansing Pill can even improve a Heaven Tier Dao Foundation. Do you really think you can buy one with Immortal Silver?"

The senior brother had rattled on for a while. He glared at Wei Yuan, then continued, "Zaohua Temple only refines a few batches of Heart Cleansing Pills every three years, barely over a hundred pills in total. The palace rules say they can only be exchanged for merit; there are no other ways to get them. If you tried to measure one in Immortal Silver, even hundreds of thousands would be too little! Besides, if Heart Cleansing Pills could be traded for Immortal Silver or treasures, do you think ordinary disciples like us would ever get our hands on one? This road to heaven is one the palace deliberately left open to everyone!"

Wei Yuan had known the Heart Cleansing Pill must be precious, but he'd never imagined it was this precious. When Zhang Sheng had taken out three Heart Cleansing Pills, he'd merely mentioned their name in passing, then given them to Wei Yuan to use. Thinking about it now, Wei Yuan felt a heavy weight in his heart. He truly didn't know how he could ever repay him.

When he returned to his lodgings, Wei Yuan immediately began studying the two sets of insights closely.

After spending three years with Zhang Sheng, Wei Yuan knew exactly what his teacher wanted: to come first in everything, at all times. Coming second was a disgrace. Aside from being vain, fond of bragging, and short on money, Zhang Sheng didn't have any other flaws. Perhaps he did, but Wei Yuan hadn't found them yet.

Wei Yuan had entered Taichu Palace as the top scorer in the unified examination and had received a gift from the Patriarch, so he'd originally been rather proud of himself. Who could have guessed that his cultivation would start with a hard blow to the head? His visualization diagram stubbornly refused to expand fully, and he couldn't even begin to produce any strange sights. Half a month had passed. Not only had Bao Yun and Cui Yu, who were cultivating the same Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram, pulled ahead of him, but quite a few other classmates had surpassed him too.

As the foremost immortal sect, Taichu Palace gathered geniuses from everywhere. Even the most ordinary techniques could be cultivated into something dazzling. Almost everyone had strange sights, so having them wasn't anything special. The sights themselves were ranked, too. Among the six standard techniques, anyone who produced only the most primitive template was sure to come last and earn a reputation for poor comprehension and lack of talent.

Take Wei Yuan's Jade Toad, for example. Even if it had a lotus blooming on its head, it wouldn't make the top half of the class. Cui Yu's toad was a deep, ghostly green from head to toe; not only had its entire color changed, but a sword-shaped epiphyllum grew before it, and it held an immortal sword in its mouth. Bao Yun was something else entirely. Her visualization diagram was a riot of demons, extravagantly over the top.

By now, Wei Yuan had figured out what Taichu Palace's disciples competed over: strange sights!

Under that immense pressure, Wei Yuan didn't dare skimp on Immortal Silver. He went to the Hall of Erudition and borrowed books for reference. The Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram was a standard technique, and both Zhang Sheng and Liuli could guide him. But Wei Yuan had realized that the problems he encountered while cultivating seemed different from everyone else's, so he figured it was better to read more.

Zhang Sheng had told him, "Stones from other mountains can polish jade." Others were certainly no match for him, but there was always value in looking at their shortcomings.

And ever since he'd seen True Person Fen Hai last time, Zhang Sheng hadn't appeared again. It seemed he didn't want to see Wei Yuan.

After staying up all night, Wei Yuan finished reading both sets of insights closely and really did discover a few problems.