Anniversary

That day, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered that it had been a full year since he arrived at Taichu Palace. If he hadn't had classes every day, he might have started to lose track of whether he was a person or a jade toad. To be honest, he spent more time breathing in and out moonlight.

By now, night had fallen. The full moon had just risen, and the evening breeze carried a hint of chill. Tall trees cast mottled shadows across the lonely courtyard. It should have been a night of haunting beauty, but whenever Wei Yuan looked at the moon, he felt like throwing up.

Still, surely he couldn't celebrate the first anniversary of setting foot on the path of immortality the same way he always did?

Wei Yuan set out cups and plates on the stone table in the courtyard. He poured clear water into a teacup and placed a Qi Nourishing Pill in the middle of a plate. That was the anniversary feast he'd prepared for himself. Come to think of it, the last time he'd tasted mortal food was at Bao Yun's banquet. Since then, Wei Yuan had lived on plain rice, and he'd been eating it for a whole year.

It had been a grueling year.

The pocket money True Person Fen Hai had given him was long gone, and Wei Yuan was now more than two thousand taels in debt to Qisi Hall. On top of that, some school expenses couldn't be put on credit, so Wei Yuan had no choice but to borrow from the public account Bao Yun had set up. Over the course of a year, he'd borrowed several thousand taels more. All told, Wei Yuan owed more than ten thousand taels. That was quite an achievement in its own way.

It had been a particularly lonely year.

Since meeting True Person Fen Hai, Wei Yuan had seen Zhang Sheng only about a dozen times, for less than half a day altogether. Aside from classes, he spent nearly all his time sitting on a boulder and staring blankly at the full moon. Oh, right—for a jade toad, sitting and lying down were really the same pose.

Breathing in and out moonlight? Wei Yuan could do it in his sleep by now.

It had been a year of crushing pressure.

At this point, it hardly mattered whether he worked hard or not. There were only twelve shichen in a day; no extra one could appear out of thin air.

Looking back over the past year, he'd somehow thought through everything in a single moment.

Wei Yuan let out a soft sigh and sat down beside the table. He raised his cup, first to Wei Youcai, far away in Yongzhou, then to Zhang Sheng. He drained it in one gulp, picked up the Qi Nourishing Pill, struck a grand and gallant pose, and swallowed it.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Sheng's voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

Wei Yuan was so startled that the Qi Nourishing Pill caught in his throat, neither going down nor coming back up.

When Wei Yuan turned around, he saw Zhang Sheng's utterly expressionless face. His own face instantly burned. He felt a rush of hot blood surge to his head and wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and bury himself in it.

Zhang Sheng simply watched Wei Yuan until his face turned from red to purple, and he looked ready to spit up a mouthful of blood. Then Zhang Sheng suddenly smiled.

In an instant, Wei Yuan felt the towering mountain weighing on his heart vanish without a trace. Joy surged through him. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he'd last seen his teacher smile.

Zhang Sheng glanced at the teacup and the neatly arranged empty bowls and plates on the table. Wei Yuan's face turned red all over again.

There were two pairs of chopsticks on the table.

Zhang Sheng couldn't hold back any longer. He burst into laughter, and Wei Yuan wanted to bash his head against the wall.

Zhang Sheng laughed until his stomach hurt and he could barely straighten up. Only then did he manage to compose himself and say seriously, "Our Grand Ancestor divined the heavenly secrets and determined that your cultivation would be complete today. He specifically sent me to take you to Azure Hall."

"My cultivation is complete?!" Wei Yuan was overjoyed.

A whole year had passed. Wei Yuan had breathed in and out moonlight so long that he'd almost forgotten he was still a person. Although the shadows in the full moon looked just as they had at the beginning, if the Grand Ancestor said his cultivation was complete, then it had to be true.

Zhang Sheng had said Grand Ancestor, not Martial Ancestor. In Azure Hall, Grand Ancestor could only mean True Monarch Xuan Yue.

There was no delaying a summons from the Grand Ancestor. Zhang Sheng released his flying sword and carried Wei Yuan into the sky. Yet every so often, he broke into laughter, making the sword wobble and lurch up and down.

Every time Zhang Sheng laughed, Wei Yuan wanted to jump off the sword.

During the flight, Zhang Sheng suddenly said, "Today marks one year since you entered the palace. It's worth remembering."

Wei Yuan froze. His nose suddenly stung. He hadn't expected Zhang Sheng to remember. Over the past year, he'd only seen Zhang Sheng once a month. He'd nearly thought his master had abandoned him.

Wei Yuan had grown considerably taller over the past year and now stood higher than Zhang Sheng's nose. Ruffling his hair was no longer easy, so Zhang Sheng patted him on the shoulder instead and said warmly, "Silly child, the immortal path is long. You and I have plenty of time ahead of us as master and disciple."

Wei Yuan's nose stung again, and his eyes grew a little dry.

The flying sword wobbled as if drunk, but at least it remembered the way. In the end, it reached the main hall of Azure Hall.

The main hall of Azure Hall stood eighty-eight zhang tall, far more imposing than the side hall where True Person Fen Hai lived. Wei Yuan and Zhang Sheng stood inside the great hall when a warm, resonant voice rang down from high above. "You must be Wei Yuan. Show me your visualization diagram."

Wei Yuan sat cross-legged. This cultivation method had been carved into his bones. Before he could even enter meditation, the visualization diagram appeared, and the jade toad eagerly gulped down a mouthful of moonlight!

Now the visualization diagram appeared not only in Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness, but also in the center of Azure Hall, at the same scale.

A massive boulder appeared in the middle of Azure Hall. Perched atop it was a terrifying jade toad nearly a hundred zhang tall, its head touching the ceiling. The full moon was simply beyond the ceiling!

The enormous main hall of Azure Hall couldn't even contain a single visualization diagram?!

The great hall fell silent.

At last, True Monarch Xuan Yue spoke again. "Wei Yuan, you have practiced the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram for three hundred and sixty-five days. You must not expand it any further. I will teach you a method that can let you enter Body Forging at once. Go cultivate in the side hall first."

Wei Yuan followed the instruction and went to cultivate in the side hall. He wasn't at all surprised by the visualization diagram in the great hall. After all, he had to contemplate the life of a toad every day. There really wasn't anything new to see.

After Wei Yuan left, six figures appeared in the great hall. True Person Fen Hai was among them. The True Persons gazed at the jade toad that towered between heaven and earth, all falling silent.

Only when the great hall suddenly vanished did the complete visualization diagram come into view. It was as if everyone were standing in the void. True Monarch Xuan Yue had used a divine ability to make the hall disappear, allowing them to see the entire diagram.

True Monarch Xuan Yue asked, "Zhang Sheng, you're his master. Did you know he had cultivated to this extent?"

"Your disciple is busy every day and only went to instruct him once a month," Zhang Sheng replied. "At first, I thought the visualization diagram was a little big, but I got used to it after seeing it often. Besides, Wei Yuan's cultivation had no mistakes or omissions, so I didn't interfere."

"Then what have you been busy with?" A hint of reproach crept into True Monarch Xuan Yue's voice.

Zhang Sheng seemed to glance casually at True Person Fen Hai, but said, "Nothing much."

True Monarch Xuan Yue didn't pursue the matter. Instead, he said, "Although the fortune from beyond the heavens remains, Wei Yuan has drawn upon it for three hundred and sixty-five days. Too much of a good thing becomes harmful. He mustn't take any more."

Within the enormous full moon, that patch of shadow stood out with unusual clarity. Those with shallow cultivation couldn't sense anything, but the True Persons present all felt vaguely uneasy.

One True Person said, "The fortune from beyond the heavens is, after all, different from the fortune of our world. If Wei Yuan has converted it into his own foundation, isn't that tantamount to theft?"

"That is precisely what worries me," True Monarch Xuan Yue said. "So I will personally seal the channel of fortune."

Another True Person suddenly said, "It's been drawn upon for three hundred and sixty-five days without any change. Could this fortune from beyond the heavens... be almost the same as the great fortune of heaven and earth?"

The other True Persons finally understood the implication. They all drew in sharp breaths.

A slender stream of moonlight descended from the sky. It was True Monarch Xuan Yue's signature art. The moonlight fell upon the full moon in the visualization diagram, and the shadow within it blurred, then gradually faded away.

As the shadow faded, the True Persons all inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief, as if they'd escaped mortal danger. But just then, the shadow suddenly expanded at terrifying speed, spilling straight out of the full moon. Then, from within the shadow, a bird's head with three eyes emerged!

The moment it appeared, it surveyed the great hall, then fixed its gaze on Zhang Sheng.