"This flying sword isn't expensive. A standard one costs only two hundred Contribution Points, but the moment I asked them to custom-build a Flying Boat, those blacksmiths at Heavenly Craft Peak demanded five thousand!"
Chen Xian carried a long, deep-blue sword in his hand as he ambled along the mountain path back to his courtyard, still clicking his tongue at the price those weapon smiths had just quoted.
He had more than ten thousand Contribution Points to his name now, but he'd been poor his whole life. Spending half his savings in one go still stung.
Just as he reached the courtyard gate, Chen Xian stopped short, frowning.
Leaning against the gate was a disheveled "beggar."
When he got closer, the smell of alcohol hit him like a wave.
"Lin Xiaoyan?"
Chen Xian rubbed his eyes hard.
The young man before him was unshaven and dressed in rags, looking every bit like a refugee beggar. He was actually Lin Xiaoyan, the Heavy Sword Hall's chief disciple.
"Granduncle-Master... I feel awful..."
As if sensing someone approach, Lin Xiaoyan mumbled in his drunken sleep, clutching a half-empty wine gourd to his chest.
Seeing Lin Xiaoyan like this, Chen Xian had already guessed most of what had happened.
It seemed Lin Xiaoyan's Betrothal Annulled had finally taken effect!
Chen Xian let out a helpless sigh. "The lovelorn men and women of this world are even more tormenting than the poisonous insects of the Blood Demon Sect."
He shook his head, bent his old back, and with some effort hauled the hundred-pound grown man into the courtyard, then dumped him on the bed.
The kid was sleeping like the dead, and there was nothing Chen Xian could do about it. So he simply found a meditation cushion and sat down cross-legged.
"You've got heartbreak to heal, and I've got my life to cultivate. Let's each get on with our own business."
Muttering to himself, Chen Xian slowly closed his eyes.
He had now reached the pinnacle of the Sixth Layer Dao Disciple. One more step would bring him to the final threshold before the Dao Master Realm—the Three Heavens of the Dao Disciple Realm.
The First Heaven was to draw in the Dao and establish the foundation, refining qi into the body.
The Second Heaven was Seven Orifice Qi Refining, allowing Dao Power to be released outward.
The Third Heaven involved looking inward and probing outward, until Dao Consciousness broke free of its shell.
The words "Dao Consciousness" sounded vague and elusive, but to Chen Xian, they meant what people called spiritual power or soul power.
According to the Dao Guiding Technique, the Third Heaven had three steps.
The first step was to make Dao Consciousness resonate with the physical body.
One had to reach a state of utter stillness before movement could arise, allowing Dao Consciousness to travel through the body like Dao Power, probing the finest details. Once mastered, one could close one's eyes and see blood flow like mercury, inspect the meridians and bones—nothing about one's body would remain a secret.
The second step was to release it through the seven orifices.
It was basically an upgraded version of hearing the wind and discerning direction. Even with one's eyes closed, not a rustle within ten yards could escape one's perception.
If one mastered the most difficult third step, releasing Dao Consciousness all around the body, then one could truly "sense the cicada before the autumn wind stirs." Any malice or killing intent would set off an alarm before it could touch the body.
Chen Xian steadied his breathing and focused, attempting to sink his thoughts into his spine.
In an instant, the darkness before his eyes was replaced by a strange light.
He "saw" a spinal bone carved as if from white jade, faintly tinted a deep blue-green.
Within the bone, wisps of razor-sharp natal Sword Qi lay hidden, radiating a chill that made his heart quail.
This was his Mystic Jade Sword Bone!
But it lasted less than ten breaths. Chen Xian felt as if a red-hot steel needle had stabbed deep into his brain.
"Hiss—!"
He snapped his eyes open, his face deathly pale and drenched in sweat.
The pain pierced his very soul, leaving him unable even to breathe. He could only open his mouth and draw in air in thin, ragged threads.
"No wonder Elder Wu said the Third Heaven of the Dao Disciple Realm was the true dividing line."
"The pain of condensing Dao Consciousness is ten times worse than Seven Orifice Qi Refining."
Only then did Chen Xian remember Elder Wu mentioning in class that one could take a Consciousness Returning Pill to aid cultivation in the Third Heaven.
The pill could nourish the sea of consciousness and ease the pain.
"I'll have to go to Pill Peak tomorrow and buy a couple bottles of Origin Returning Pills. Otherwise, progress will be far too slow."
It took a full quarter of an hour for the throbbing pain in his head to gradually fade. Refusing to admit defeat to old age, Chen Xian closed his eyes again.
That night, he cycled between piercing pain and looking inward.
His Dao Consciousness gradually grew more resilient, and his sea of consciousness grew better able to withstand the strain.
By the time the eastern sky turned the pale color of a fish's belly, he could finally hold the inward-looking state for a hundred breaths.
According to the Mystic Cloud Dao-Guiding Art, one would truly step into the Seventh Layer Dao Disciple only when one could look inward for nine hundred and ninety-nine breaths without losing focus.
Chen Xian did the math. At this rate, it would take at least another ten days to half a month.
"Too slow. Still too slow."
He stroked his beard and muttered, dissatisfied with his cultivation speed.
He had no idea that ordinary disciples could get stuck at the Seventh Layer Dao Disciple for as long as half a year!
Most disciples could break through the first six layers within a year of joining the sect, but then they would get stuck at the Three Heavens or the Dao Master breakthrough.
Those who failed to reach the Dao Master Realm and enter the Inner Sect within three years could only leave the sect with regrets.
Chen Xian's pace was already so fast it defied heaven! If he still wasn't satisfied, the entire sect's disciples would drown him in spit, one mouthful at a time.
Dawn broke in full.
Lin Xiaoyan came out of the room, clutching his head, his face twisted with pain.
His eye circles were as dark as charcoal, and he looked like a wilted salted vegetable.
Chen Xian was leisurely steeping a pot of Hundred Spirit Flower Fruit Tea in the courtyard. When he saw Lin Xiaoyan emerge, he pointed at the stone stool opposite him. "Awake? Come have some tea and clear your head. Drinking too much doesn't just harm your body; it lowers your IQ."
Like a wandering ghost, Lin Xiaoyan sat down, his voice hoarse. "Granduncle-Master... Wanru annulled our engagement."
"In front of all those people, she smashed the Love Token Jade Pendant I gave her to pieces. In her eyes, am I really that much worse than Tang Yu, that alchemist?"
At the mention of Tang Yu, Chen Xian paused. The image of that sickly, beautiful man surfaced in his mind.
So Lin Xiaoyan and Tang Yu still hadn't cleared up their misunderstanding.
But it was too late to explain now.
Zhou Wanru liked Tang Yu, not Lin Xiaoyan, and in his current state, Lin Xiaoyan certainly wouldn't be able to take in any explanation.
He took a sip of tea, picked up a candied hawthorn from the fruit plate, and spoke in a distant, contemplative tone:
"Xiaoyan, you just don't understand."
"Matters between men and women are like this candied hawthorn in my hand. If you think it's sour, it's because the sugar coating is too thin. If you think it's bitter, it's because the hawthorn's gone rotten inside."
Lin Xiaoyan blinked. "Huh?"
Chen Xian didn't explain. He simply stood up and patted Lin Xiaoyan's shoulder, speaking earnestly. "As the old saying goes, a man doesn't shed tears lightly—unless his heart is breaking. But you're shedding tears far too cheaply."
"Zhou Wanru thought Tang Yu was better than you, so she ended your engagement. Whatever you think of her character, she was reaching for something higher."
"And you? You're drowning your sorrows in liquor and neglecting your cultivation. Aren't you just proving she had good judgment, that she left a good-for-nothing who was content to ruin himself?"
Lin Xiaoyan held his teacup and stared at the bright-red candied hawthorn in Chen Xian's hand, looking thoughtful.
When Chen Xian saw he wasn't reacting, he took the teacup from Lin Xiaoyan and pressed the candied hawthorn into his hand.
"If you have any backbone, then turn your grief and anger into motivation and cultivate until you become a Venerable or a Saint."
"Once you're decked out in brocade robes and she comes crawling back, regretting everything and begging to get back together, you piss on her Zhou Mansion's gate and walk away without looking back. That's what it means to be a man. Understand?"
Lin Xiaoyan listened in a daze. Although he thought his granduncle-master sounded a little vulgar, the gloom in his heart had somehow lifted just a little.
Seeing that his expression had eased somewhat, Chen Xian didn't keep trying to persuade him.
With something like this, no matter how much others talked or urged him, it was no use. Lin Xiaoyan had to work through it himself.
Chen Xian turned to fetch a pot and other tools, then began making another batch of candied hawthorns.
The latest version had been selling extremely well and couldn't keep up with demand.
Lin Xiaoyan sat there in a daze, watching his granduncle-master expertly cook the syrup, skewer the fruit, and coat it. One by one, bright-red candied hawthorns took shape in his hands.
He looked at the skewer in his own hand, hesitated, then took a bite.
The hawthorn was sweet and tart, delicious. As he ate, his expression suddenly changed. "This... is a Blood Vitality Pill?"
By noon, two hundred skewers of candied hawthorns were ready.
Jian Shan and Duan Cui appeared at the courtyard gate right on time.
But when Chen Xian opened the gate, his expression darkened.