What Was It Like to Be Cultivated?

Pinched in Fu Chengqin's hand, Gu Yuan didn't feel inconvenienced at all. He simply looked around curiously.

They followed a road, heading forward.

Before long, a commotion reached his "ears."

He could faintly hear vendors hawking their wares, along with laughter and chatter. The sounds mingled together. They must have been nearing the real hub of the outer sect.

"Freshly harvested demon beast cores! Just got them!"

"Come take a look! No ninety-eight, no ninety-nine—starting at just one spirit stone! One spirit stone to browse, one spirit stone to buy!"

"Pills for sale! Genuine pills issued by the sect this month! Tenfold refund if they're fake! I'm in urgent need of spirit stones, so come buy if you need any!"

"Forming a party to run missions! We're one mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator short!"

As the voices grew clearer, the bustle of the outer sect came fully into Gu Yuan's view.

Still, with so many outer sect disciples running street stalls, it looked like life wasn't easy for them.

As they passed the cultivators manning their stalls, Gu Yuan couldn't help noticing that some gazes were turning his way.

No, wait. They were looking at Fu Chengqin.

The person in question showed no reaction to all those eyes on him. Even his pace remained unchanged.

"That's him, right? I saw him by the gate when I was heading out on a mission."

A plainly dressed man stood by a stall and spoke cautiously to his friend, his voice very low. But Gu Yuan could hear him.

That guy?

Judging by the looks of it, this brat was pretty famous.

After all, he was the son of an inner sect elder. Was he some kind of spoiled young master?

"You know about it too?"

"Hell, who doesn't? He knelt outside the outer sect for a whole month without eating or drinking before the Third Elder of the inner sect made an exception and accepted him into the outer sect."

"Say what you want, but I respect his perseverance. At least he's tougher than those people who heard the news and are kneeling at the gate now."

"Yeah. Not eating or drinking, and he's only at Qi Refining. Not one of those people outside has managed to last five days."

"Respect my ass. Bringing crooked ways into my Cangyuan Palace—someone like him would be useless even if he made it into the outer sect."

He'd knelt for a whole month?

What kind of plot was this?

The protagonist's script in a fantasy cultivation novel?

Wait.

Gu Yuan was stunned by what he'd heard, but then he suddenly caught on.

The Third Elder of the inner sect?

Wasn't that Fu Chengqin's own father?

What kind of plot was this?

At that moment, Gu Yuan couldn't even call himself puzzled. He was thoroughly baffled, as if his brain were about to grow a whole new set of thoughts.

Could this be some kind of trial...? Bullshit!

The street was long, but it had to end somewhere.

After passing through a few alleys, Fu Chengqin finally returned to his residence.

The living conditions for outer sect disciples weren't great, to put it mildly. Each disciple had their own cave abode, but the place looked pretty shabby.

Even from the outside, it felt desolate.

Inside the cave abode.

Gu Yuan took a cursory look at the furnishings. The place wasn't much different from the outside.

This was all the son of an inner sect elder got?

Wait, why was he still walking?

After closing the door to the cave abode, Fu Chengqin didn't lie down or tidy up. Instead, he walked over to a chessboard.

The board looked somewhat mysterious.

A cultivation world. A mysterious chessboard.

Gu Yuan suddenly felt something was off.

A cheat?

He'd come in and immediately sought out the chessboard, treating it with such importance. If it wasn't a cheat—

As Gu Yuan speculated, he watched Fu Chengqin move two of the pieces on the chessboard. Then a strange tremor came from somewhere nearby.

A square entrance opened up in the floor not far away.

So it was an entrance.

At the instant it opened, an aged voice came from within, sounding exceptionally kind.

"Qin'er, come on in."

Fu Chengqin's expression, which had been unchanged for a long time, now held a trace of respect and deference.

"Father."

The Third Elder of the inner sect?

Well, look at this family, arranging secret-agent-style meetups.

The passage was rather long. It must have been deliberately dug, and Gu Yuan could guess where it led without being told.

The inner sect!

At the end of the passage was a great hall.

Several old men sat in the hall, each with a kindly smile on his face.

"Qin'er, you've come back at just the right time. This is your Uncle Li, the Deputy Palace Master. This is your Uncle Wang, the First Elder of the inner sect..."

The speaker was Fu Chengqin's father. He smiled as he introduced Fu Chengqin to the people sitting there.

[Name: Li Yuan]

[Cultivation: Late-stage Spirit Transformation]

[Identity: Deputy Palace Master of Cangyuan Palace]

[Status: Quite interested]

Deputy Palace Master?

Elder?

Quite interested?

What was all that supposed to mean?

Hadn't people said this kid had knelt outside the outer sect for a month before being accepted, concealing his identity the whole time?

Still, these people were genuinely powerful. Even the weakest among them was a Nascent Soul expert.

Too bad Gu Yuan was now a Qi Refining Formula. He had no way to cultivate.

"Greetings, uncles."

Fu Chengqin bowed to them with a graceful smile, utterly at ease.

He was polite and elegant, but somehow Gu Yuan sensed that Fu Chengqin had known these uncles for a long time.

The time that followed dissolved into a tedious exchange of pleasantries.

It nearly lulled Gu Yuan to sleep.

Still, there was plenty of information buried in the conversation.

For one thing, the kid really had pulled strings to get in. Kneeling there for a month had only been about giving them a reasonable excuse and opportunity.

As for going without food or water for a month, his uncles had helped behind the scenes. Otherwise, he would have starved to death ages ago.

As for why they'd gone to all that trouble—

Gu Yuan pieced it together from scattered remarks.

Apparently, there was an old monster in Cangyuan Palace who was incredibly powerful and had laid down a bunch of ridiculous rules. None of these people dared disobey them.

But even so, some of them had blood relatives or descendants outside the sect who weren't particularly talented.

Given enough time, there were always clever people who found a way around the rules.

Take the Deputy Palace Master, for instance. He had two personal disciples now. One of them had also been admitted to the outer sect by special exception. After breaking through to Foundation Establishment and entering the inner sect, he'd transformed in a flash into a personal disciple.

They said that disciple had been determined to join Cangyuan Palace. During a major battle between sects, he'd charged in at the early stage of Qi Refining and rescued dozens of Cangyuan Palace disciples.

As for the twists and turns in that story, or whether it was true, probably only these elders knew.

But even if they did know, they had a stake in it, so they'd keep their mouths shut.

"Qin'er, your father has already asked someone to find the most suitable cultivation technique for you, but it'll take some time."

The conversation was drawing to a close. The Deputy Palace Master and elders who'd come to socialize had already left, leaving only Fu Chengqin and Fu Mingtian in the hall.

Fu Mingtian looked at his youngest son with great affection. Then his gaze fell on Fu Chengqin's hand.

A strange energy surged over. Gu Yuan could clearly feel how vast it was.

A Nascent Soul expert was terrifying indeed.

Of course, even in the face of this energy, Gu Yuan wasn't nervous at all. What could possibly be worse than becoming a Qi Refining Formula?

After a long while, Fu Mingtian withdrew his gaze and said softly to Fu Chengqin, "Your cultivation has relied on accumulating spiritual energy so far, but you've only managed to reach the early stage of Qi Refining. I carefully read through this Qi Refining Formula, and it should suit you as a transitional technique for now."

"All right, Father."

Fu Chengqin nodded without refusing.

Cultivate me?

Fu Chengqin hadn't refused, but Gu Yuan still felt that something was off.

What was it like to be cultivated?