Alive

Within the inner hall of the Daoist temple, Yang Huai received a cloud-patterned wooden plaque symbolizing his status as a Dao citizen. This meant he could officially enter the inner hall and listen to the True Masters dispatched by the Dao Kingdom explain the foundational methods.

Once entered into the Dao Registry, he was no longer an object the Dao Kingdom's Daoist masters could kill or enslave at will. Even if he worked in the kitchen, he would receive a share of the wages, however meager they remained.

Just those two differences marked the divide between heaven and earth from this day onward.

"So this is becoming a Dao citizen..."

Deep within his sea of consciousness, Qingli was still somewhat dazed.

Though he had long known that, with his own speed of comprehending the Twenty-Two Primordial Glyphs, learning the first eight primordial glyphs would be as natural as water flowing into a channel, when the day truly came, he still found it hard to believe.

After all, in his former memories, this day had seemed impossibly distant.

Every glyph had been like an unsolvable puzzle. No matter what he did, he could not learn them.

Cultivating the foundational method, returning home in glory to serve his parents, and marrying the woman he loved had been nothing more than a daydream.

"You were born with innate talent. Is it so strange that you entered the gate quickly?"

Yang Huai's voice rang out within the sea of consciousness, instantly leaving Qingli choking on his words.

For a moment, he was speechless.

Yang Huai then returned his attention to the diagram of the Twenty-Two Primordial Glyphs.

Receiving Dao citizen status did not mean he should stop comprehending them. On the contrary, he felt that the remaining primordial glyph diagrams held extraordinary significance for him. If he learned them, they would surely benefit his formal cultivation of the foundational method.

Still, after gaining Dao citizen status, he made some adjustments.

Previously, he had poured more effort into the Twenty-Two Primordial Glyphs, with the Heavenly Circuit Heart Method coming second. Now, he reversed those priorities.

After all, his first-stage goal had already been achieved.

As word of Qingli's entry into the Dao Registry spread without wings, Yang Huai saw Bai Jian, Yuan Sheng, and Hou Sheng—his three "roommates"—again at noon.

The three Daoist boys all stared at Yang Huai as though he were some rare curiosity.

"Qingli, if the Daoist master hadn't confirmed that you weren't possessed by evil, I would have thought some fiend had taken over your body. How else could you have entered the Dao Registry so quickly?"

By the time Bai Jian said this, he could no longer conceal the bitterness on his face.

Of the four Daoist boys living in this dwelling, everyone but him had entered the Dao Registry. In particular, Qingli, whom no one had thought highly of, had enrolled so early. The taste of it was truly beyond words.

He felt as though the heavens had treated him with particular cruelty.

He scratched at his hair, but when he recalled the obscure Twenty-Two Primordial Glyphs, he felt as though he might go bald.

Yuan Sheng and Hou Sheng both studied Yang Huai. Yuan Sheng asked, "Qingli, it seems you've awakened some special innate talent. What is it?"

His eyes flickered. Only that could explain the changes in Qingli.

"That's true, but it isn't something you should ask about."

Yang Huai had no intention of answering. Of course, if it had been the vain Qingli, he would probably have voluntarily revealed even the bottom of his pants.

"Uh..."

Yuan Sheng and Hou Sheng exchanged a glance, both somewhat surprised. In their minds, anyone with a special innate talent would flaunt it everywhere, wishing the entire Daoist temple knew so they could bolster their prestige.

Like the two of them—though they had merely received talismans bestowed by the Jade Palace Immortal, they still wished they could stroll around the entire Daoist temple several extra times.

They had thought Qingli was their kind of person.

Now, Qingli seemed to have changed a little.

Yang Huai was also studying the brothers. After not seeing them for several days, they had clearly changed as well. He noticed that their auras had become scorching, while yellow-green radiance glimmered in their eyes, making them seem somewhat inhuman.

What kind of inhuman foundational method had they cultivated?

"If you won't say it, then forget it. I had wanted to recommend you to Master Jade Palace, but now it seems there's no need!"

Hou Sheng snorted coldly, looking displeased.

"Brother, let's go. Don't bother with this petty man drunk on success!"

Yuan Sheng let Hou Sheng pull at him, yet he did not move. Instead, he looked at Yang Huai with sincere eyes.

"No matter what, Qingli, congratulations on entering the Dao Registry. From now on, you and I can be considered true fellow disciples. If you wish to enter Master Jade Palace's service, my brother and I will find a way for you!"

After a slight pause, he added, "Though you possess special innate talent, having a master's protection and guidance makes an enormous difference."

Yang Huai glanced at Yuan Sheng in mild surprise. Yuan Sheng was clearly far more worldly than the immature Hou Sheng, so he said, "I've heard that the guidance of the various Celestial Masters in the Daoist temple all comes with a price clearly marked in advance."

Through Qingli, he had already heard something of the temple's cultivation culture. The fiends and demons deep in the wilderness were certainly dangerous, but these Celestial beings and True Masters were no good people either.

Yuan Sheng replied as though it were only natural, "The Great Sage once said that knowledge is priceless. Without giving, how could there be gain? Just like my brother and me!"

He walked out of the dwelling and over to a rockery nearby. With a casual squeeze, a chunk of stone immediately became like dough in his hand, while faint threads of fiery force emerged from within it.

"Everyone needs to live. Only by living can there be a future!"

That display immediately stirred Yang Huai's eyes. The inhuman strength it revealed was truly astonishing.

And what was that faint firelight?

Was this the power brought by a foundational method?

Bai Jian could not join their conversation. He merely watched the scene, his face turning slightly pale. Especially when he looked at the stone casually crushed apart—how could humans of flesh and blood be mentioned in the same breath as stone? Before these Dao citizens, Daoist boys like them were no different from rocks, able to be crushed to death at any moment.

Yang Huai pondered briefly before saying, "At least I now have the chance to choose, don't I?"

Yuan Sheng glanced at him. He had to admit that Qingli was far more intelligent than he had imagined.

Yang Huai's words struck straight at the heart of the matter. He was no longer the same as Bai Jian.

Possessing innate talent gave him a little more room to choose than others.

He could choose how to live.

"I'll consider it."

Yang Huai merely said this calmly. Before long, Yuan Sheng and Hou Sheng both left. They had to return and report back. Their visit had indeed carried certain duties; they had not come solely to congratulate Qingli on entering the Dao Registry.

Bai Jian watched their departing figures, his eyes flickering. He had begun to waver over the decision he had made deep in his heart.

Taking such a shortcut did not necessarily seem wrong, for now.

Yang Huai saw the expression deep in Bai Jian's eyes but did not warn him. After all, he himself did not know whether rejecting the Jade Palace Immortal's goodwill would bring fortune or disaster.

But he had always believed there was no such thing as pie falling from the sky.

And as he had said, he had room to choose.

That afternoon, Yang Huai had to continue his shift in the kitchen.

As the innate vital essence within his body continuously merged into his twelve primary meridians and five viscera and six bowels, Yang Huai could clearly sense a difference. After the first two hours passed, he had not even shed a drop of sweat, nor had his breathing become disordered. The scorching heat radiating from deep inside the kitchen did not make him feel the slightest discomfort.

A ceaseless stream of innate vital essence flowed from his right arm into the depths of his heart, passing through his five viscera and six bowels as though merging into the deepest source of his life. His entire being was evolving toward something inhuman.

Throughout this process, his progress in the Heavenly Circuit Heart Method had gradually surpassed that of the main world. Yang Huai sensed that many hidden meridians and acupoints around the twelve primary meridians, which he had never encountered before, were being opened. The speed at which his fleshly body merged with innate vital essence grew faster and faster, gradually evolving toward the Greater Heavenly Circuit.

"Hmm!"

At that moment, Yang Huai, who was carrying firewood, suddenly felt his mind stir as though inspiration had flashed through it. He turned his head and saw the Daoist Yunwu, who was chopping logs, bring his axe down. From within that pitch-black giant tree trunk, a great swarm of black specks suddenly burst forth. At the sight, Yang Huai's hairs stood on end, and he instinctively darted toward the depths of the kitchen, where the temperature was extraordinarily high.

"Ah!"

A string of agonized screams suddenly rang out behind him.

They were the screams of another Daoist boy, accompanied by a dense buzzing like life-taking talismans, carrying threads of foul wind as they hurtled toward him at high speed.