The Curtain Must Fall

Suddenly.

A Spirit Talisman descended from the sky and stopped in front of Li Mo, floating quietly in midair.

Ma Ling was startled.

"A message talisman?"

High-level cultivators could make a message talisman search for a friend's spiritual energy within a small area. Li Mo paused, then reached out and took the talisman, sending a little magical power into it.

A moment later, Chen Rong's voice came from within the talisman.

"I've recommended you to the sect for an alchemy assessment."

It was only one sentence, but Li Mo's eyes immediately lit up.

Every year, aside from the regular combat assessment, there were also several relatively secret professional assessments. However, anyone hoping to take part had to be recommended by a relevant high-level cultivator.

Li Mo was merely a rogue disciple, while Chen Rong was a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Chen Family, one of the four great Aristocratic Clans.

He had only held a faint hope that she might recommend him. He never expected she actually would!

That meant he was about to enter the sight of the sect's upper and middle ranks, where he could be cultivated as a promising talent. Even if he had no so-called talent for alchemy, he could still tend spirit herbs in the Alchemy Hall and secure an inner-sect job.

As far as Li Mo knew, anyone who took part in this kind of specialized assessment would generally receive some basic supplies afterward, even if they didn't place.

For instance, the talisman-making assessment provided talisman paper and spirit brushes; the artifact-refining assessment provided artifact furnaces and spirit ore; and the alchemy assessment provided alchemy furnaces and Elixir Recipes.

Over the past few months, Li Mo had attended Chen Rong's lectures with the others. He had learned to control Spirit Fire and recognize changes in the medicinal properties of spirit herbs, as well as all the precautions involved in alchemy. He had even watched Chen Rong up close as she refined the so-called Plague-Avoiding Pills, Blood Replenishing Pills, and Sleeping Pills. But he had never tried refining pills himself.

Those pills were entry-level products for alchemists.

Judging by all this, the so-called alchemy assessment was merely a formality: the sect was picking out disciples with a serious attitude toward the profession and showing them some attention.

Afterward, the sect would further divide the selected disciples into different positions based on how they developed.

Ma Ling, Niu Li, and Yang Guang looked at Li Mo with envy.

"That Aunt Chen Rong is such a good person!"

"Ah, if I'd known, I would've studied alchemy back then too. I wouldn't have minded cultivating herbs—even a farmer in the mountains would've been fine. At least after graduation, I might've landed an inner-sect position."

Li Mo chuckled and put the message talisman away.

A few days later.

As the year entered Evening Moon, the cultivators of the Lingmu Sect began their holiday. Many discussed how to spend the dozen or so days off, and most chose to return home to visit their families.

To Li Mo's surprise, Wang Feng came to visit him with Ye Xuan and Zhu Yidan.

"Li Mo, want to go to Yuan City?"

Wang Feng's invitation took Li Mo by surprise.

"Yuan City is in Jingzhou. Even by Flying Ship, it'd probably take over half a month. No, maybe more than a month. Would we have time?"

At that, Wang Feng chuckled.

"You didn't know? Every year during Evening Moon, there's a teleportation service between the Lingmu Sect and Yuan City. In fact, every sect offers a teleportation service to Yuan City during Evening Moon, so cultivators on duty there can take up their posts quickly. It only costs ten Spirit Stones. It's a strategic infrastructure project supported by the imperial military. If you come visit, I'll cover the teleportation fee."

From what Wang Feng said, this kind of teleportation service only opened during Evening Moon and seemed to be very costly to maintain. It was like a national public service, similar to the Flying Ship routes the Lingmu Sect maintained between the Prefecture Cities in its territory, which cost only one Spirit Stone per trip.

Li Mo was tempted at first.

But then he thought of the dangers he'd face during Evening Moon, as well as his earlier plans. In the end, he shook his head and sighed. It was safer to stay hidden within the sect.

"I think I'll pass. Aunt Chen Rong recommended me for this year's alchemy assessment, so I need to prepare properly."

"Oh?"

Ye Xuan, standing behind Wang Feng, looked at Li Mo with surprise.

Because of Wang Feng, she knew Li Mo, but they weren't close. Now that she'd heard he was going to take the alchemist assessment, she couldn't help looking at him in a new light.

"Aunt Chen Rong's skill in alchemy is extraordinary. If she thinks highly of you, you should treasure this hard-won opportunity."

Ye Xuan had finished her three-year course at the Advanced Study Hall two years earlier. She was nineteen this year, at the seventh level of Qi Refining, and worked in the Supervision Hall. In the Ye Family, she was a marginal disciple who received little attention.

Li Mo smiled faintly.

"Of course."

Zhu Yidan sighed.

"Zhao Xiaonan's planning to stay here and cultivate too. She wants to take the chance to break through to the third level of Qi Refining. She works so hard. It's a shame that as one's cultivation deepens, what matters in the end is the whole package: family resources, talent, comprehension, opportunity, and so on. Personal determination is only one part of it."

Then she seemed to think of something. Her eyes lit up as she turned to Li Mo.

"You two should have a good talk sometime."

As far as Li Mo knew, only about half of the first-year disciples had broken through the first level of Qi Refining and reached the second.

Someone like Zhao Xiaonan, who had reached the peak of the second level and was preparing to break through, was already quite outstanding.

Ma Ling, Niu Li, and Yang Guang were all still stuck around the middle of the second level.

Seeing that, Wang Feng didn't press Li Mo to come along. After offering him a few words of encouragement, he left with his cousin Zhu Yidan and Ye Xuan.

Soon afterward, Ma Ling came over with a smile.

"I'm planning to go home. My family has a horse ranch fifty li outside Anle City, not far from the Zhang River Sect. Want to come? If we ride hard, we can get there in two days."

The Zhang River Sect was a secular martial arts school in Muzhou, on a par with Chanyu Temple.

Li Mo's eyelid twitched.

Ma Ling was very forthright, and after nearly a year together, the two could certainly be good brothers. But he could tell that she wanted more than brotherhood. He simply couldn't develop romantic feelings for her; she wasn't his type.

"I'm really sorry. I'm planning to prepare for the alchemy assessment. You know, Aunt Chen Rong recommended me."

Ma Ling looked disappointed.

She wasn't good at hiding her feelings. She took a couple of steps away, then came back.

"Do you like Lü Cuicui?"

Li Mo was dumbstruck. Only Ma Ling would ask something like that.

After a moment's silence, Li Mo decided to put an end to Ma Ling's romantic feelings. Since she and Lü Cuicui didn't talk, he simply nodded without saying anything more.

Ma Ling pouted, looking a little aggrieved.

But seeing this burly Tiger Girl make such a face did little to stir anyone's sympathy. Li Mo suspected she was just looking for an excuse to give him a good thrashing.

"Oh."

Ma Ling wiped away a tear with her plump hand.

"There are still two years. I'll wait for you to change your mind. I'm off."

Li Mo watched her walk away and sighed softly.

Over the next few days, Li Mo repeatedly tried to break through the bottleneck at the third level of Qi Refining and advance to the fourth. After failing several times in a row, he grew restless. It seemed this major bottleneck was real.

One day.

Zhang Guoyin arrived at Li Mo's dormitory carrying a jug of wine.

The old man opened two lotus-leaf parcels with a cheerful grin, revealing fried beans, dried sour plums, pig's head meat, and roasted pumpkin.

"Li Mo, have a few drinks with this old man?"

Because of their earlier kitchen duty, Li Mo and Zhang Guoyin had gotten to know each other. They occasionally chatted when they had free time, but they had never sat down for a long drinking session like this.

Between the major bottleneck and having to stay inside the mountain gate during Evening Moon, Li Mo was in low spirits. Watching everyone happily head home to visit their families reminded him that he had no family to visit.

So when Zhang Guoyin asked, he didn't refuse. The two drank together.

"You went down the mountain?"

"Mm. I took a walk around during the day."

Seeing how relaxed Zhang Guoyin seemed, Li Mo lowered his voice.

"If the Law Enforcement Hall sees us indulging our appetites up here, we'll be punished. Aren't you being a little too brazen?"

Zhang Guoyin chuckled and shook his head.

"I have my own way. Don't worry."

Li Mo didn't press him further.

Ever since Zhao Siman's death, Li Mo had taken to drinking as well. As they drank, the two talked about their pasts.

When Li Mo learned that Zhang Guoyin's old wife, two sons, grandson, and granddaughter had all died in the Zhang River flood, leaving him with no ties to the world, he finally understood why the old man had come to Anle City to make up for a childhood regret—only to discover that he really did possess a spirit root. Li Mo fell silent.

Then Li Mo told Zhang Guoyin some of his own past.

The old man listened and let out a wistful sigh.

Before they knew it, it was Hai Time.

Zhang Guoyin, already seven-tenths drunk, slowly rose to his feet. He waved away Li Mo, who tried to help him.

"There's one good thing about being a cultivator: you can always see yourself clearly. I'm glad we talked so much tonight. To tell you the truth, when you volunteered to take over my shift duties those days, looking at you was like looking at my eldest grandson. But, alas..."

As he spoke, he took the Storage Pouch from his robes and handed it to Li Mo.

Li Mo looked up, three-tenths drunk, confusion on his face.

"Take it. I won't need it anymore. After thinking it over, I decided these things should go to you."

At that, Li Mo sensed what was coming, and the wine cleared from his head in an instant.

"How much time do you have left?"

"Heh. Probably just a couple of days."

With his hands behind his back, Zhang Guoyin walked toward the door and looked up at the protective formation covering Qingming Mountain.

"I was sixty-four before I learned I had a spirit root. But fate cannot be defied. Back then, my family was poor. To honor my father and spare him the expense, I urged him not to waste his money. I regret it now, but it's too late."

With that, Zhang Guoyin shook his head and left Li Mo's room.

"Life is a play, and the curtain must fall in the end. I hope you'll do everything you can to seize the opportunities before you. Don't spend your life full of regrets, like this old man."

Li Mo stared blankly at Zhang Guoyin's retreating figure for a long time.

Only after Zhang Guoyin had vanished completely did Li Mo return to his room and sit back down.

He slowly opened the Storage Pouch. Inside were five Spirit Stones, along with some silver scraps and copper coins.

The next day.

News that Zhang Guoyin had died of old age spread throughout the Advanced Study Hall. Quite a few senior disciples even came to see the commotion, and the two hall masters of the Advanced Study Hall were drawn out as well.

After all, something like this might not happen even once in several centuries at the Advanced Study Hall.

"One of the Advanced Study Hall's disciples actually died of old age here?"

It was truly unbelievable.

Because such an event was so rare, the two hall masters discussed it before finally burying Zhang Guoyin in the cemetery behind the mountain. He must have been the cultivator with the lowest cultivation level to be buried there while alive.

Li Mo stayed with the funeral from beginning to end. He placed the flowers he had picked at the foot of the mountain in front of Zhang Guoyin's tombstone.

Zhao Xiaonan noticed how downcast he looked.

"I didn't realize you were so close."

Li Mo said in a low voice, "He came to have a drink with me last night. Before leaving, he told me his time was nearly up. I can't imagine what it must feel like to know the end is so close."

Zhao Xiaonan was startled by his words.

Li Mo returned to his dormitory in a daze and sat alone for a long time.

Before he knew it, Hai Time had come again. He looked at the table and chairs in the living room, and it was as if time had turned back to the night before, when he had sat drinking with Zhang Guoyin.

"Life is a play, and the curtain must fall in the end."

Li Mo slowly closed his eyes.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth converged on him from every direction.

Gradually.

Crackling sounds of electricity seemed to rise from the air in the room. Li Mo had begun circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit, and there were faint signs that he might break through. Fortunately, although circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit in a room was dangerous for Advanced Study Hall disciples, they all had private rooms with locks on the doors, and they had learned the sect's rules. It was much safer than back when they were in the Enlightenment Hall.

Time passed.

When Li Mo opened his eyes again, the sky outside was already bright.

Once he came to, he examined his Dantian and found faint traces of lightning had appeared in his vortex of magical power. Sparks flickered nonstop.

"The fourth level of Qi Refining."

After what had happened to Zhang Guoyin, Li Mo had gained a great deal of insight.

He wasn't satisfied just because he had advanced to the fourth level of Qi Refining. He knew it was an insignificant matter in the grand scheme of life. It wouldn't increase his lifespan or change his fate.

Only after reaching Foundation Establishment would his lifespan increase substantially, to one hundred and twenty or even one hundred and fifty years. If he were skilled in the art of health cultivation, he might live even longer and temporarily escape the threat of dying when his time ran out.

Li Mo then went to the practice field halfway up the mountain and cast two spells in succession: the Lightning Ball Technique and Palm Lightning.

"My magical power really has increased a lot, and the spells are much more destructive now."

There was no need to say much about Palm Lightning.

After mastering Palm Lightning, Li Mo had spent another four Spirit Stones to learn an elementary, low-grade lightning spell from Shen Yun: the Lightning Ball Technique. It had a long range, traveled quickly, and could numb and burn its target, but its destructive power was far inferior to Palm Lightning.

It was only useful for ambushes or against ordinary people.

"Now that I'm at the fourth level of Qi Refining, and with my martial arts foundation, my chances of making the top hundred aren't great, but I can fight for a place in the top two hundred. I have twelve Spirit Stones on me now, so I can try to learn another elementary, mid-grade spell from her."

Li Mo had entered the Advanced Study Hall in August and earned five Spirit Stones from routine duty assignments in September. Along with the ten Spirit Stones he'd received earlier from Qin Yue, deputy hall master of the Gathering Treasure Hall, and the five Spirit Stones Zhang Guoyin had left him, he should have had twenty Spirit Stones in total.

But learning Palm Lightning and the Lightning Ball Technique from Shen Yun had cost him eight Spirit Stones, leaving him with twelve.

Li Mo followed the address and found Shen Yun again.

"You really know how to pick your moment."

After hearing why Li Mo had come, Shen Yun looked helpless.

"The year-end assessment is only a few days away. How could I have time to teach you another spell?"

Li Mo sighed in a low voice.

Fortunately, Shen Yun suddenly thought of something. Her eyes flashed as she considered it.

"But I can introduce you to a more powerful disciple with a Lightning Spirit Root. His name is Tian Fen, and he's already at the ninth level of Qi Refining. He's one of the strongest disciples in this cohort!"

The ninth level of Qi Refining had been the limit for disciples after three years of cultivation in many cohorts of the Advanced Study Hall.

According to Shen Yun, only about one-fifth of the disciples in her cohort had reached the seventh level of Qi Refining or higher, and only a handful had reached the ninth.

One of them was a rogue cultivator named Tian Fen.