Yu Ke finished his last meal of the afternoon.
Two meals a day.
He had missed breakfast.
Couldn't get up!
He sat quietly cross-legged upon his bed, his eyes half-closed as he sank into thought.
Other than the first four days after he had just transmigrated, when he had been muddleheaded while absorbing eighteen years of memories, suffering faint pain in his head and utter mental exhaustion, and had slept in bed for several days before finally returning to normal—
Up to now.
Although "Celestial Reincarnation" had already lasted thirty years, only three and a half days had passed in the real world.
Fortunately!
He had finally resolved the problem with the acupoints within his body.
Yet the obstruction in his tendons and meridians remained.
Whenever he tried to guide spiritual energy into his body, the searing pain was like blades scraping bone, utterly unbearable.
If he forced himself to cultivate, it would likely only backfire, leaving all his efforts wasted and his meridians completely crippled.
Yu Ke shook his head. This definitely wouldn't do!
Cultivation required mutual consent. If you tried to force it, what if the other party called the authorities...
In this world.
The path of cultivation began with the First Heavenly Ladder, also known as "Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering." The many great sects all had their own names for it, such as meditation, qi refinement, Nourish the Vast Righteousness, and so on.
Its beginning was always the same: sensing the existence of spiritual energy.
Many people were blocked at this stage, as though faced with a natural moat.
To ensure their descendants faced no obstruction on the road of cultivation, great aristocratic lineages would carry out "Prenatal Cultivation" when a child was three or four months in the womb, laying down a solid foundation for the child's future cultivation.
Several direct descendants of Yu Ke's Lineage had received such treatment as well.
The cost of Prenatal Cultivation was extraordinarily high. It consumed an ocean of heavenly treasures, and the calculations had to be precise down to every hour.
The resources needed merely for the ten months of pregnancy could probably be piled into a small mountain of Spirit Stones.
Yet that staggering cost brought astonishing results.
The moment the child was born, they would have already crossed the First Heavenly Ladder. Their acupoints would be brimming, allowing them to directly absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into their bodies, greatly easing the later task of opening their meridians.
Without question, they had won at the starting line from the very beginning of the cultivation path.
Yu Ke thought of an old meme from his previous life.
"Mom will never have to worry about my cultivation again."
Yet there were always certain geniuses in this world, as though they had been destined from birth to walk the path of the Dao.
From the day they were born, they possessed a Flawless True Body, with incomparably pure Innate Qi naturally arising within them.
The moment such a constitution was revealed to the world, it would draw the attention and frantic competition of countless great sects.
So long as they could grow up safely and avoid dying young, their future achievements would surely be brilliant, and they would possess the potential to challenge the Grand True Person realm.
In Yu Ke's memories, there was one such person among the collateral branches of the Yu Family. She had been born with an "Innate Constitution," and the news had even alarmed the family's old ancestor.
Thus, the Lineage spared no resources in nurturing her, and her parents' standing within the family rose with the tide.
"Ah, the rich rely on technology, while the poor rely on mutation."
Compared to that prodigy, he felt his own talent was ordinary. He had only sensed the existence of spiritual energy through the family's cultivation technique at the age of ten.
Yet his parents had never given up their hopes for him.
In his memories, his parents had doted on him greatly. Strangely enough, ever since he joined the sect, even their exchange of letters had grown scarce.
From childhood onward, his parents had carefully arranged medicinal baths for him, intending to temper his muscles and bones and hone his will.
Only upon reaching adulthood had he been able to enter the Divine Firmament Sect and formally begin the cultivation path of absorbing spiritual energy.
Yet spiritual energy was wild and violent, difficult to tame.
Only by relying on the sect's exquisite cultivation arts could one gradually guide it and make it one's own.
The slightest carelessness could trigger a backlash from the spiritual energy and inflict grave injuries.
Yu Ke felt that the term qi refinement was rather fitting. Refining qi meant using it for oneself.
Thus, one had to cultivate the fleshly body to a certain realm before it could endure the impact of spiritual energy and truly begin refining qi.
He needed to carefully weave every threadlike wisp of spiritual energy into each acupoint throughout his body, until nine streams of spiritual energy filled them. Only then would this stage of cultivation be complete.
Upon entering the Second Heavenly Ladder—the Body Cleansing Realm—one would begin drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to scour the meridians within the body and clear the acupoints.
This stage was meant to temper one's muscles and bones, making them tougher, as though one had cleansed the marrow, remolded the bones, and shed one's mortal frame.
When all the body's tendons and meridians had been opened and spiritual energy completed one heavenly cycle, the realm would be perfected.
Yu Ke's original body had been at the perfected Body Cleansing Realm when it had suddenly croaked!
And now, if he ignored the damage to his tendons and meridians, his cultivation realm should have been at the First Heavenly Ladder, the "Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering" stage.
However, there were less than three months until the Outer Sect's first assessment.
In the past, this assessment had merely been a formality. Senior brothers and sisters from the Inner Sect would inspect cultivation levels household by household according to the roster.
But this time was different. For disciples like him, who had entered the sect nearly five years ago, if they had not achieved substantial progress on the Second Heavenly Ladder and failed to clear most of their acupoints, they would face the fate of expulsion from the sect.
A trace of unwillingness flashed through Yu Ke's eyes.
Or he could become a Servant Disciple, spinning like a top every day, laboring from dawn to dusk like an ox or horse. Who could stand that!
This young master wanted to cultivate immortality!
Therefore, he had to repair his meridians as quickly as possible and ensure that he passed this assessment smoothly.
The Outer Sect's grand competition and advancing to become an Inner Disciple were still far too distant.
As for becoming Fairy Yunxiao's disciple, that was even more like a flower reflected in a mirror, the moon in the water. Countless children of prominent families throughout the Three Continents dreamed of it.
Rice had to be eaten one bite at a time, and roads had to be walked one step at a time.
First, passing the assessment and remaining in the Outer Sect was the urgent priority—the foremost task.
He couldn't just force himself on someone the moment they met. That was seriously criminal.
When Yu Ke emerged from his thoughts, the sky had already darkened, and night had quietly descended.
He slowly rose and walked out of his room, gently closing the door behind him.
Since he couldn't cultivate anyway, he might as well sleep early and stop staying up late.
Just then!
A white-robed figure drifted into the courtyard. Yu Ke caught only a glimpse of his back before the lights in the western room came on.
The new neighbor, the youth in white, had returned.
Suddenly, a faint sound came from outside the gate, and Yu Ke looked toward it.
A group of people entered the courtyard cautiously.
At their head was a beautiful female cultivator with a respectful manner.
Behind her were four or five servants dressed like restaurant attendants.
They carried delicate food boxes in their hands and had clearly come to deliver a meal.
The female cultivator respectfully knocked on the western room's door. Only then did the servants behind her slowly step inside, every step humble beyond measure.
Yu Ke instantly noticed the subtle patterns on the backs of their garments: embroidered words reading "Blue Sea Tide Pavilion."
Blue Sea Tide Pavilion!
There was only one of its kind in the Outer Sect!
It was several tiers more upscale than Immortal Delicacy Tower, where they had held that previous banquet.
The most expensive restaurant in the Outer Sect, without a second.
It was said that every ingredient there was of immortal grade, and the prices were outrageously high.
His good friend Zhou Liang had once followed a little rich girl inside and tasted its rare delicacies.
That flavor had given him bragging rights for over half a year.
Now, the meal delivery service itself further displayed the diner's noble status.
At Blue Sea Tide Pavilion, only VIPs among VIPs could enjoy such service.
After all, in his previous life, delivery was always more expensive than street-side fare—and better quality too.
Those who knew, knew.
Before long, an enticing aroma assaulted his nostrils, so rich it seemed capable of stealing one's soul and making one drool.
Even Yu Ke was hungry from smelling it!
Damn it.
Comparisons really could infuriate a person. In this courtyard, one was a little rich girl, while the other was probably even wealthier.
I hate rich, handsome bastards the most!
Bang!
Close the door and sleep!
Late at night.
The Kun Void Cauldron in Yu Ke's mind trembled slightly, emitting a deep, mysterious hum.
Immediately afterward, faint light surfaced upon the cauldron's body, and clear words appeared on it:
[Cooldown complete. Begin Heavenly Man simulation?]
Yu Ke woke up groggily.
Without hesitation.
"Celestial Reincarnation, activate!"
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