Skip the Origin Heaven Art's Cultivation Process!

North Hall, outer sect disciples' residence.

Compared to the drafty thatched huts on Servant Peak, this place was practically a mansion.

It had its own gate and courtyard, with bluestone paving. There was even a Spirit-Gathering Array core in the yard. Though it was only a miniature formation, the spiritual energy in the air was already twice as dense as outside.

"So this is the treatment you get when you're on the payroll."

Ye Xingchen casually shut the courtyard gate, sealing out the noise beyond. He did not hurry to inspect his new home, instead walking straight inside and sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled the dull gray jade slip from his robes—the Origin Heaven Art.

At the Technique Hall, everyone had laughed at him for choosing trash.

But Ye Xingchen knew very well that there were no trash techniques in this world, only trash players.

"System."

With a thought from Ye Xingchen, a pale blue screen instantly unfolded.

"Detected technique: Origin Heaven Art (fragment)"

"Rank: ??? (Beyond the scope of Yellow Tier; unable to assess precisely)"

"Detected that the host possesses 1500 Source Points."

"Would you like to One-Click Skip the cultivation process?"

Looking at that string of question marks, the corner of Ye Xingchen's lips curled upward.

Just as expected.

How could a technique that brought ominous misfortune in a cultivator's later years, even inviting heavenly punishment, possibly be a mere Yellow Tier technique? Though that old man Huang Zhen was an elder, his vision was ultimately limited... limited.

"Skip!"

[ Ding! Warning! ]

[This technique is of too high a rank and involves the level of "Heaven and Earth laws." The System's current version cannot directly skip it starting from zero.]

[The host must cultivate it to the "Initiation Stage" before the "One-Click Skip" function can be activated.]

Ye Xingchen: "..."

Could you be useful for once?

I had just praised you for being heaven-defying, and now you hit me with a bug?

"Not only do you want money, you also want me to grind it out myself?" Ye Xingchen rolled his eyes inwardly. "What use are you?"

Complaints aside, he understood that the more powerful a technique was, the higher its threshold would be. Since this Origin Heaven Art involved laws, entering the gate would indeed be difficult.

Then another prompt popped up on the system screen, making Ye Xingchen suck in a sharp breath.

[Supplementary explanation: This technique has been detected as a forbidden secret art above Heaven Tier.]

[Skipping cultivation of the first level is estimated to consume: 1000 Source Points.]

[Current Source Point balance: 1500.]

[Tip: When Source Points are insufficient, "percentage skipping" may be used. The amount of resources consumed corresponds to the amount of progress gained.]

Ye Xingchen nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The Source Points needed for just the first level equaled the two Blood-Coagulating Pills he had worked so hard to obtain. Wouldn't the later levels cost even more?!

"So this is the legendary 'free game, bottomless in-app purchases'?" Ye Xingchen looked at the dull gray jade slip in his hand, his expression complicated. "No wonder it's called a forbidden secret art. This is a forbidden art for poor bastards!"

Sure enough, without enough money, there was no skipping it.

"Fine. Better rely on myself than beg others."

Ye Xingchen calmed himself and gently pressed the jade slip against his forehead.

His divine sense entered it.

Boom!

A stream of obscure, ancient information instantly surged into his mind. It was not text, but scene after scene of bizarre visions: mountains and rivers shifting positions, waterways changing course, stars falling and turning into stubborn stones, dragon veins churning as they spewed vital essence...

Countless profound incantations exploded through his mind:

"Heed the constellations above, illuminate the earth veins below."

"When the force arrives and form comes to rest, it is called complete qi. Where qi is complete, there shall be a coiled dragon."

"The source is the essence of Heaven and Earth. Observe the sands and examine the waters, locate the acupoints and seek the dragon..."

If an ordinary cultivator saw this, he would likely have become dizzy and bewildered long ago. This completely leaped beyond the logical framework of conventional cultivation's "refining essence into qi," resembling instead a macroscopic interpretation of Heaven and Earth's great momentum.

Yet the more Ye Xingchen looked, the brighter his eyes became.

The more he looked, the stranger his expression grew.

"Observe the sands and examine the waters? Seek dragons and locate acupoints?"

Ye Xingchen abruptly opened his eyes, his expression utterly spectacular. "Isn't this fucking feng shui from my past life?!"

Although in this cultivation world, these theories had been elevated without limit, becoming Great Dao laws capable of communicating with the origin of Heaven and Earth, their core logic—observing the lay of mountains and rivers, judging the flow of qi fields, and finding energy nodes—was practically the same melody played with different instruments as Earth's feng shui geomancy!

In his past life, to write a tomb-raiding novel, he had spent half a year studying the Burial Scripture and the Dragon-Shaking Scripture. Lines like "Seek the dragon, divide the gold, observe the winding mountains; every winding is a barrier," he could recite backward and forward.

"No wonder that elder said this technique was difficult to cultivate and required one to spend cultivation nourishing the eyes."

Ye Xingchen pondered it. "Because native cultivators only understand how to plunder spiritual energy. They do not understand how to wield 'momentum' at all. They use brute force to pry into Heaven's secrets, so naturally Heaven and Earth retaliate against them."

"But I'm different."

"I understand science... no, I understand mysticism."

A confident curve formed on Ye Xingchen's lips.

To others, this was an obscure heavenly tome; to him, it was merely a "higher-dimensional application" of the theoretical knowledge from his past life.

"Why would I need a cheat for something as trivial as entering the gate?"

Ye Xingchen closed his eyes again and formed a strange hand seal.

This time, he did not mobilize the spiritual energy in his dantian to forcefully batter at his eyes. Instead, he emptied his mind and spread his divine sense outward like mercury spilling across the ground, sensing the "qi" within this small courtyard.

The wind stirred.

Fallen leaves in the courtyard slowly spun with the airflow.

In Ye Xingchen's perception, the world changed. It was no longer made of tangible objects, but an energy field formed from countless lines and points of light.

The Spirit-Gathering Array core was a bright spot of light.

The corner of the courtyard wall was a dead angle where airflow stagnated.

The underground water vein flowed slowly like a slender silver thread.

"When momentum arrives, form comes to rest. Qi scatters with the wind, and stops when bounded by water..."

Ye Xingchen muttered continuously. The spiritual energy within him was no longer a violent torrent; following a peculiar rhythm, it gradually flowed toward his eyes.

There was none of the legendary agonizing pain. Instead, a warm, tingling sensation spread through him.

It was like putting eyedrops into dry eyes—cool and soothing.

Time passed second by second.

The moon rose to the middle of the sky, then slowly set.

When the first ray of dawn pierced through Jueyun Cliff's mist and shone into the courtyard, Ye Xingchen slowly opened his eyes.

Buzz!

At that instant, a faint golden gleam flashed deep within his pupils and vanished.

The once ordinary world immediately became distinctly layered in his eyes.

He looked at the tabletop and could clearly see the path of spiritual energy within its wood grain. He looked toward the corner and could see the weak flame of life inside an ant. He looked at the jade slip and could see the remaining restriction nodes within it.

This was the embryonic form of the Origin Heaven Art—the Source Heaven Eye!

Though it was still very immature and could only see the most superficial phenomena, he had indeed reached the Initiation Stage.

[ Ding! ]

[Congratulations, host. Origin Heaven Art has been cultivated to the "Initiation Stage."]

[Prerequisite fulfilled.]

[The "One-Click Skip" function has been unlocked.]

[Would you like to skip?]

Ye Xingchen let out a long breath and rubbed his slightly swollen brow.

"Finally got it done."

"Skip!"