Professional Panel, Daoist Acolyte

"Phew, the Heavenly Vault Spiritual Realm is updating again. Which profession should I choose this time..."

"Don't think entering the Daoist Academy makes you a true disciple of the Divine Firmament Sect. The Great Dao must be contended for, and the immortal sects do not harbor mediocrity. You have one hundred days to prove whether you are dragons or worms!"

"Mgh..."

In the Divine Firmament Sect's thirteenth-station outpost at Green Bamboo Town, inside the side room of a civilian dwelling, a youth was deep in a heavy slumber.

Yet the youth's sleeping expression was far from calm. His brows were tightly locked and his features twisted, as if he had fallen into a clinging, tangled nightmare.

He knew not how much time had passed when, with a huff, the youth abruptly sat upright, his chest heaving violently.

"Hah..."

Panting while raising a hand to wipe away the cold sweat from his face, it took a long time for the youth's emotions to settle before he sighed inwardly:

"The memories of two lives are clashing again. Fortunately, this is the last of it. In another day or two, I will be able to completely fuse both sets of memories."

Thinking thus, Jiang Xuan recalled his two drastically different lives.

Both men were named Jiang Xuan. One was a modern college student from the twenty-first century who, while playing a game called Heavenly Vault Spiritual Realm, had his consciousness suddenly extinguish due to unknown reasons. Upon opening his eyes again, he found himself in another world.

The other person was a youth who grew up in the Divine Firmament Sect's Outer Disciple thirteenth-station outpost.

Raised in the immortal sect, the youth's childhood dream was to enter the Divine Firmament Sect and become a cultivator.

Three days ago, filled with overflowing excitement and longing, the youth had finally stepped into the Divine Firmament Institute and begun his journey of cultivation.

Yet upon reaching this point, Jiang Xuan's gaze suddenly sank.

After entering, Jiang Xuan truly felt that the Divine Firmament Immortal Sect was not a peaceful and serene place. Here, hierarchies were distinct and competition was fierce.

Even among disciples, there were several ratings: Legacy, Inner Disciple, Outer Disciple, and Menial.

Among these, only Legacy and Inner Disciple counted as recognized disciples of the Divine Firmament Sect, whom the sect would carefully nurture as its backbone.

Outer Disciples had to busy themselves with chores like spiritual rice farming, fire-tending, and beast-tending for the majority of their time. Cultivation techniques, pills, and magic tools all required contribution points to exchange. Cultivating in such a manner naturally made every step arduous.

As for the menial laborers... they were the most miserable. Treating them like servants, the sect assigned them to various peaks, and some even degenerated into personal attendants for Inner Disciples, their dignity and futures trampled beneathfoot.

Pondering to this, Jiang Xuan's gaze abruptly narrowed.

I must never fall to the fate of a menial laborer. The Outer Disciple rank is my bottom line, but if I wish to achieve success in the Dao, I had best advance to become an Inner Disciple during the Hundred-Day Grand Examination.

The moment this thought arose, a trace of bitterness crept over Jiang Xuan's brow: The Inner Disciple rank is still too far away for me. What I must consider right now is how to enter the Dao-Bearing Class.

The Divine Firmament mountain gates revered a single word: "Contend."

On the very first day of stepping into the Daoist Institute, the lecturer had carved this word into the hearts and souls of all the new arrivals.

Even now, Jiang Xuan still remembered that lecturer's unmasked, cold words of indifference:

"At the time of your admission, the mountain gates distributed numerous resource benefits to the Daoist Institute... Don't look, the vast majority of you are destined never to see even a shred of these resources."

"Of course, this isn't me holding them back. If you obtain good results during the Hundred-Day Grand Examination, the resource rewards I can obtain will be far, far greater than what the sect currently issues."

"So, don't worry about me hiding them away and refusing to give them out. As for why I'm not distributing them..." Having reached this point in his recounting, that lecturer carefully swept his gaze across every green and nervous face before speaking in a harsh tone: "The sect does not need mediocrity, nor do I. The Great Dao must be contested, and your contention begins today, right this very moment!"

"The cultivation of our Divine Firmament Sect's first realm is called Spirit Pivot Aperture Opening. The core cultivation method of this realm is to open the apertures within your bodies."

"The human body has a total of three hundred and sixty apertures. The first round of examinations will test your speed in opening apertures. Cultivators who open thirty-six apertures within seven days will be rated as superior and may enter the Dao-Bearing Class for cultivation."

"Successfully opening them in fifteen days is rated as good, and they may also enter the Dao-Bearing Class. However, the resources issued down by the sect will only be rewarded to the students of the Dao-Bearing Class."

"If you want resources, cultivate hard for me!"

The final sentence was spoken very coldly by the lecturer on the platform, and Jiang Xuan and the others' emotions were indeed stirred up.

At fourteen or fifteen years of age, youths were right in the prime of their spirited years, and no one wanted to fall behind others.

This drove everyone to strive toward the Dao-Bearing Class—namely, opening thirty-six apertures within fifteen days.

Reflecting upon this, Jiang Xuan let out a sigh.

Over the past two or three days, his cultivation had not been smooth.

Cultivation required a Spirit Root. Among the four grades of Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow, Jiang Xuan possessed a Mysterious-Medium one. While this was not the absolute lowest Yellow grade, it was still vastly distant from the Heaven and Earth Spirit Roots.

What left Jiang Xuan feeling powerless was that the superiority of a Spirit Root was not determined by the number of its attributes; rather, it represented the degree of resonance between the human body and the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, affecting every single aspect of cultivation.

"Hah..."

Closing his eyes and sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jiang Xuan circulated the Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Method. This was the technique practiced by all students in the Divine Firmament Sect's outer Daoist institute; the Dharmic power cultivated through it was upright, balanced, and could seamlessly convert into other Dharmic powers, making it the most suitable for laying a foundation.

"Hah..."

As Jiang Xuan breathed in and out, wisps of heaven and earth spiritual Qi were drawn into his body, flowing slowly along his meridians.

While the technique operated, this spiritual Qi would circulate nine rounds through Jiang Xuan's body, which was also the origin of the name Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption.

When the heaven and earth spiritual Qi circulated within Jiang Xuan's body, it would become tainted by his aura, imbued by his vital blood and soul force. At that point, this unowned spiritual Qi would transform into Dharmic power that he could command.

—The better one's Spirit Root talent, the shorter the time required to transform spiritual Qi into Dharmic power.

A Heaven-grade Spirit Root could even transform spiritual Qi into Dharmic power before a single circle was finished, utilizing it to "open apertures."

As for Jiang Xuan, "Hah..." With his inhalation and exhalation, after a full seven cycles, this spiritual Qi was finally transformed into Dharmic power by him.

This was not a mere sevenfold time gap. When converting ownerless spiritual energy between heaven and earth into magical power, it consumed Jiang Xuan's vital blood and spiritual soul power.

The longer it dragged on, the more it consumed.

Furthermore, during this process, the spiritual qi within Jiang Xuan's body would still overflow and dissipate.

A sevenfold time stack multiplied into more than a sevenfold consumption, coupled with the leaked spiritual qi, created a gap between Jiang Xuan and a Heaven-grade Spirit Root that was utterly unimaginable.

And this was still not the end of everything.

"Hoo..."

After nurturing the magical power, Jiang Xuan needed to open his apertures. To open an aperture, the first step was observation and surveying.

Jiang Xuan had to observe the exact locations of the apertures before he could use magical power to impact and nourish them.

The quality of one's spirit root also had an influence on the observation of apertures.

Apertures in the world of cultivation are not actually empty holes located in the flesh; they exist between the soul and the flesh, forming a sort of quantum superposition state.

When others search for them, they can never find them no matter what. Only when a cultivator uses their own mind to observe can they detect the location of the apertures and cause them to solidify from a quantum state into reality.

What left Jiang Xuan feeling helpless was that, born in the mortal world, human bodies all possessed turbid qi. Blocked by this turbid qi, it was no easy task for scholars like Jiang Xuan to observe the apertures.

And without any exception, the higher the spirit root rating, the more limpid the bodies of scholars like Jiang Xuan, and the simpler it was to want to find the apertures. Conversely, with turbid qi pervading, they had to spend a massive amount of time searching, and during this process, the cultivator's mental effort would be continuously depleted.

Falling under the Heaven, Earth, Xuan, and Yellow grading system, the "Xuan-middle" evaluation meant Jiang Xuan's spirit root talent was not quite in the worst tier. Because of this, after spending the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, he managed to find his third aperture.

Yet finding it was still not the end. Next, Jiang Xuan also had to consume a vast amount of magical power to nourish this aperture, completely fixing it from an illusory quantum state into reality.

All of these various things heavily consumed Jiang Xuan's time, mental effort, and magical power, making him understand one thing all the more.

My speed of opening apertures is too slow. If I practice step by step like this, I will definitely not make it into the Dao-Bearing Class!

Having realized this point, Jiang Xuan's expression was naturally so heavy.

Of course, immortal cultivation never consisted solely of bitter toil.

Jiang Xuan did know a few ways to accelerate cultivation speed, only he lacked the capability to use those methods.

There are elixir shops in Green Bamboo Town. Elixirs refined from spiritual herbs have spiritual qi within them that is extremely easily refined and absorbed by the human body, which can massively accelerate my cultivation speed.

There are also various kinds of spiritual incenses within the Star Daoist Academy that can restore mental effort and even temporarily enhance perception, which is of great use for finding apertures.

Pondering to this point, Jiang Xuan nonetheless shook his head with regret: Pity that elixirs and spiritual incenses are good, but I simply do not have enough spirit stones to purchase them.

Thinking thus, Jiang Xuan did not feel despair, nor did he feel discouraged. On the contrary, a trace of faint light quietly swept across the depths of his eyes.

Fortunately, I am not completely without something to lean on.

Closing his eyes once more and silently reciting [Celestial Firmament Spirit Realm] in his heart, with a soft hum, an illusory gaming panel silently manifested before Jiang Xuan.

[Player: Jiang Xuan]

[Age: Fourteen]

[Profession: None]

[Talent: Spirit Root (Xuan-Middle) (Blue)]

[Technique: NineBreath Qi-Absorption Method (1st Realm Initiation, 109/300) (Blue)]

[Available Professions]

[Primary Professions: Apprentice Qi Refiner, Apprentice Swordsman, Martial Apprentice...]

[Support Professions: Apprentice Painter, Daoist Acolyte, Kitchen Apprentice, Apprentice Blacksmith, Stream Fisher...]

This panel was a blessing Jiang Xuan had brought along with his transmigration.

For reasons unknown, the game he had played transmigrated right along with him and merged into his true spirit.

When the Jiang Xuan of his past life merged with the true spirit of the Jiang Xuan in this world, this panel also appeared within his sea of consciousness.

After several days of groping and exploration, Jiang Xuan had also figured out the capabilities of this panel of his.

First was displaying the status of Jiang Xuan's techniques and body. Although this ability looked unremarkable on the surface, it was extremely useful.

When a person was cultivating, what most ground down their mindset was not knowing the path ahead, nor knowing their own progress. Yet the attribute panel displayed all of Jiang Xuan's information right before his eyes, making every single drop and bit of his progress visible to the naked eye, which gave Jiang Xuan an abundance of motivation for seeking the Dao.

Furthermore, this panel could also ensure that Jiang Xuan's cultivation would never take a wrong step.

For this point alone, this gaming panel was enough to satisfy Jiang Xuan. What made him even happier, however, was the profession system.

This was also the core feature of the game Celestial Firmament Spirit Realm. In that world, professions could be chosen at will, and upon meeting certain conditions and raising one's own level, one could concurrently hold multiple professions.

Moreover, these professions possessed a nearly un-capped class advancement system.

As long as you had sufficient time and energy, you could become an all-profession master within the Celestial game.

And this profession system was the shortcut Jiang Xuan believed would allow him into the Dao-Bearing Class.

Thinking thus, Jiang Xuan first opened [Apprentice Qi Refiner] and began reading its detailed information.

Without a doubt, having come to the world of immortal cultivation, his best direction for employment was a qi refiner. These past few days, Jiang Xuan had also been constantly striving toward this goal.

[Apprentice Qi Refiner]

[Status: Unemployed]

[Rating: Rare (Blue)]

[Prerequisites for Induction

①: Find a spiritual land and settle within it (Completed)

②: Acquire a Qi-refining technique and practice it to the Proficient tier

③: Refine a wisp of dharma power (Completed)]

"I have the technique, but the Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Method needs to complete a full cycle and refine a wisp of dharma power before it counts as increasing proficiency by one point."

"Because my mental energy is limited, I've only completed 109 cycles in the two or three days since coming to this world. The remaining 191 cycles will take at least another three to five days."

Being unable to induct immediately left a trace of regret in Jiang Xuan's heart.

Fortunately, even at the very beginning and outside of combat professions, Jiang Xuan could still choose a support profession.

This time, he chose the Daoist Acolyte, which was related to immortal cultivation.

[Daoist Acolyte]

[Status: Uninducted]

[Rating: Rare (Blue)]

[Prerequisites for Induction

①: Find a Daoist temple and join it (Completed)

②: Sweep floors, sprinkle water, and tidy the courtyard thirty times (27/30)

③: Sincerely recite the Eight Divine Incantations thirty times within a Daoist temple (27/30)

④: Offer incense, change water, light lamps, and wipe the divine statues thirty times (27/30)]

Unlike Qi Refiners, a Daoist Acolyte was considered an identity and even more so a support profession.

Fortunately, most professions in the game had some utility, not to mention that the Daoist Acolyte was still a rare blue profession.

What thrilled Jiang Xuan even more was that the Daoist Acolyte's work could be performed three times a day, granting 3 experience points per session, and the last three induction prerequisites could be performed simultaneously.

"For the past three days, I haven't forgotten to sweep the floor, offer incense, and recite the divine incantations every morning, noon, and evening. Three times three times three equals twenty-seven, which means with one more session early this morning, I'll be able to induct."

Thinking this, Jiang Xuan immediately got up and went to the main hall.

The main hall in Jiang Xuan's household was not large, but its furnishings were extremely strange.

The furniture of an ordinary household had been pushed to the corners, while a tribute table stood in the exact center, with three prayer mats placed before it.

On the wall above the tribute table, there were no divine statues and no portraits, only two large characters hanging high—Heaven and Earth!

Jiang Xuan had astonishingly set up his own home as a Daoist temple and, much like Zhen Yuanzi of Wuzhuang Temple, worshipped neither immortals nor Buddhas, but only Heaven and Earth.

When he first started doing these things, Jiang Xuan wasn't sure if he could succeed.

Yet perhaps because they were situated within an immortal gate and located right upon a spiritual land, these advantages offset the other conditions; in short, Jiang Xuan succeeded.

His household had become the Daoist temple he was affiliated with: Profound Heart Abbey.

Because he treated his home as a Daoist temple, his subsequent induction tasks involved reciting the Eight Divine Incantations, sprinkling water, sweeping the courtyard, or wiping down the tribute table and divine statues at home.

At this moment, Jiang Xuan, having arrived at the main hall, first wiped down the tribute table, added some oil to the lamp upon it, and then lit three ordinary sticks of incense.

"Clang!"

The moment Jiang Xuan finished these tasks, a prompt rang out in his mind.

[You wiped the tribute table, offered incense, and lit the lamps for the divine statues. Task progress +3. Your prerequisite ④ for inducting as a Daoist Acolyte is completed.]

The abrupt sound made Jiang Xuan's footsteps pause, but soon, he nonchalantly went to the courtyard, picked up the broom, swept away fallen leaves, sprinkled water to settle the dust, and tidied the utensils.

"Xiaoxuan, just leave these chores to me. Rest for a bit first; you'll be heading to the Daoist academy to cultivate soon enough."

As Jiang Xuan was busy, the bedroom door beside the main hall pushed open, and then a woman who looked somewhat similar to Jiang Xuan walked out. That was Jiang Xuan's mother in this world, Shen Yuerong.

Seeing Jiang Xuan busy, she immediately stepped forward, preparing to take over.

Yet this was blocked by Jiang Xuan.

"It's fine, Mother. There's still plenty of time before morning class, it won't be delayed. Besides, doing this allows me to calm my mind."

"..." The latter reason forced Shen Yuerong to stop.

Fortunately, the courtyard at Jiang Xuan's home was small and had always been clean. After casually sweeping the fallen leaves, sprinkling some water, and tidying a few things, Jiang Xuan's task ② was also completed.

[②: Sweep floors, sprinkle water, and tidy the courtyard thirty times (30/30) (Completed)] ```

By this point, he had completed three of the four requirements for inducting as a Daoist Acolyte. As long as he finished the final task—sincerely reciting the Eight Divine Incantations—he could take on the Daoist Acolyte profession.

Though it was only a support profession and merely in the probationary period, the impending induction still stirred excitement in Jiang Xuan's heart.

To this end, he spent a good long while letting his mind grow peaceful before coming to the main hall and sitting cross-legged on a prayer mat beneath the characters "Heaven and Earth".

"Hoo..."

Drawing a deep breath, Jiang Xuan slowly began to chant aloud.

"Supreme platform star, response without cease; drive away evil and bind specters, guard life and protect the body; wisdom clear and bright, heart and spirit tranquil; the three souls eternal, the anima without loss or ruin..."