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"And this jade slip. You've already opened your Qi Sea, which saves me a great deal of explanation. Even if you cannot see at present, all you need do is cover the jade slip with the spiritual energy within your body, and you will know what is written upon it."

So it was this miraculous? Wen Xu found it even more interesting.

"Very well. Read the jade slip here first. It does not matter if you are slow at the beginning. I have some matters to attend to; in the time it takes an incense stick to burn, I will come see you again."

Having said this, Elder Zhan departed in great haste, evidently to announce the Preliminary Trial roster.

Only after Wen Xu heard the door close tightly did he slightly open his eyes and look around. Through the hazy gray cloth, he could make out that this seemed to be a reception room, furnished in an antique and simple style. There was not much furniture or decoration, however. After looking for only a short while, he focused all his attention on the Qi-Replenishing Pill and jade slip in his hands.

He had no intention of taking the Qi-Replenishing Pill now, but the jade slip—

Wen Xu tried to stir the somewhat sluggish spiritual energy within his Qi Sea, but it seemed too lazy to pay him any heed. Even when it moved slightly, it quickly sank back to the bottom of his Dantian.

He had never been one to admit defeat, and his interest was immediately piqued. He might not have been able to say much about anything else, but when it came to patience, even the monks in the temple probably could not sit as steadily as he could.

Before long, he managed with great difficulty to draw a thread of spiritual energy out from his Dantian. Yet once drawn out, it swiftly scattered away, giving him no chance at all to channel it into the jade slip.

It seemed that spiritual energy was depleted as it moved through the body.

Wen Xu frowned instinctively, but soon realized that this might be why the elder had given him a Qi-Replenishing Pill.

It seemed he had no choice but to take it. The other party had left him here to read the jade slip; evidently, this was also a test.

With that thought, he decisively took out a Qi-Replenishing Pill and swallowed it. The medicinal effect took hold very quickly. Wen Xu soon felt his Qi Sea stirring restlessly, and enlightenment dawned upon him. So he needed to use qi to command qi.

But what if there were no Qi-Replenishing Pills? What then?

And there was something else he was most curious about: when exactly had he opened his Qi Sea? Let alone anyone else, even he himself was not entirely sure. Wen Xu shook his head. Ever since arriving here, the questions in his heart had piled up more and more. He wondered whether being a cultivator was easy after all.

As the Qi-Replenishing Pill took effect, Wen Xu finally managed to mobilize the spiritual energy in his Qi Sea. Once that energy had circulated through his body for a full cycle, he was finally able to freely control a thread of it and pour it into the jade slip.

That had truly taken a great deal out of him. Wen Xu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, yet in the very next moment, information from the jade slip regarding the cultivation world surged into his mind as though racing one another to be first.

He stood stunned for quite some time before lowering the hand he had used to wipe his sweat.

So that was how it was. So that was how it was!

What was that saying? The old man at the frontier lost his horse—who could have expected that one day, he too would encounter such a fortuitous turn of fate?

Wen Xu could not help laughing. If the culprit who had hunted him down knew that this had brought him such an opportunity, they would probably grind their back teeth to dust.

Thinking of it that way, the resentment in his heart finally eased considerably.

This continent was called Hengze Continent. It was vast and boundless; Jade Isle Commandery, even the country where he had been, was no more than a drop in the ocean. Mortals were born, aged, fell ill, and died, their lifespans brief. But cultivators received the blessings of heaven and earth, possessing gifts beyond the reach of ordinary people. If they succeeded in cultivation, they could escape the cycle of reincarnation and enter the immortal path. Yet even cultivators who had only glimpsed the threshold were, in the eyes of mortals, immortals capable of moving mountains and filling seas, summoning wind and rain with a wave of the hand.

Wen Xu had never expected that the storybooks fabricated by those sour old scholars were all true!

What delighted him even more was that he was one of the gifted few among countless millions.

In other words, so long as he learned a little skill, he could return for revenge and toy with the person who wanted to kill him in the palm of his hand.

It sounded far too much like a pie falling from the sky. Wen Xu even suspected that this might be a beautiful dream he was having before death. But on second thought, his imagination was not that rich. Even in a dream, he could not have dreamed up such an absurd turn of events.

Further down, the jade slip provided brief introductions to cultivators' practice: the quality of a cultivator's Spiritual Root, the divisions of cultivation realms, ways to earn spirit stones—the common currency—instructions for taking common pills, renowned sects and factions across the continent, a rough map of the continent, and so on. All of it was highly useful information.

Wen Xu paid particular attention to the information concerning Yonglu Mountain.

Yonglu Mountain lay within the Yonglu Mountain Range in the southwestern region of the continent. It occupied an enormous area and was one of the five great sects of the age. Though it ranked at the bottom, Qi Refining cultivators still sharpened their heads trying to squeeze inside.

Moreover, it differed from the other three great sects. Yes, it was said that there were five great sects, but there were actually only four. The one ranked first was called the Harmony Sect, taking its name from the phrase "Heaven and man in harmony, following nature's course." According to the jade slip, the Harmony Sect had once been two great sects, but the two later merged into one colossal entity. Thus there was also the saying: "Of the five sects under heaven, only Harmony has ever dwelled in first place."

The one ranked second was the Heaven-Shattering Sword Sect. Its very name revealed a spirit of defying heaven. The foremost sword cultivator beneath heaven was the Heaven-Shattering Sword Sect's Supreme Elder, and rumor had it that he was one of the two people closest to ascension.

The third great sect was called Bitter Crossing Temple. Wen Xu had assumed it was a temple of monks, but judging from the introduction, monks and Buddhist cultivators seemed to be fundamentally different.

Yonglu Mountain ranked fourth. From the introduction to its sect, it appeared to be a school that embraced all things. For instance, the Hehe Sect had explicit rules stating that it would not accept disciples with Four-Spirit Roots or Five-Element Spiritual Roots, whereas Yonglu Mountain was different. If a cultivator possessed an extraordinary talent, even if they had the most difficult-to-cultivate Five-Element Spiritual Root, they still might become an inner disciple.

After roughly finishing the entire jade slip, Wen Xu immediately realized that cultivation was something that tested one's talent greatly. Hard work might lead to success, but without talent, success was absolutely difficult.

Moreover, according to the information revealed within, the cultivation world seemed to have a hierarchy of contempt among Spiritual Roots. Single Spiritual Roots were the best, with geniuses possessing all manner of Mutated Spiritual Roots and special physiques being the finest of all. Dual Spiritual Roots came next. Of course, Dual Spiritual Roots were also divided into those where both were evenly matched and those where one was strong and the other weak. Three-Spirit Roots were neither good nor bad. Below that came those with too many Spiritual Roots, a mixed lot of good and bad. It was like the imperial examinations: others could earn academic honors by specializing in one subject, but cultivators with Five-Element Spiritual Roots had to cultivate all five at once, and all five had to advance side by side. Few people, he feared, possessed such perseverance and talent.