My Career Can Be Infinitely Enhanced
Author: Firmament Old Guest
Synopsis:
In the Firmament Ancient Realm, the Immortal Dao is supreme and ten thousand races contend.
There are world-suppressing major sects that wield the cosmos, supreme holy lands that overlook the heavens, and divine descendant aristocratic clans that inherit hereditary authority. Countless factions compete for longevity here amidst endless slaughter and warfare.
This is a world where the Immortal Dao dominates everything, and also the beginning of the descent of a great calamity.
Jiang Xuan crossed over into this world precisely when the great calamity descended.
Let us see how a little youth from a Cold Gate background relies on a career panel without an upper limit to step by step ascend to the supreme heights and climb the ultimate peak during this golden great age and apocalyptic catastrophe!
Career Panel:
[Daoist Acolyte]...[Feng Shui Master/Yin-Yang Master]...[Celestial Master/National Preceptor] → [Yellow Heaven]
[Swordsman Apprentice]...[Sword Hero]...[Sword Immortal] → [Apocalyptic Sword Lord]
[Warrior Apprentice]...[Mountain and Sea Mighty Spirit]...[Heavenly General] → [Divine Monarch/Demon God]
[Stream Angler]...[Time Angler]...[Causal Fishing Lord] → [Destiny Sovereign]
[Kitchen Apprentice]...[Four-Seasons Cook]...[Nuo Feast Shaman Chef] → [Lord of the Myriad Spirits]
Main Text
"Oh, the Celestial Firmament Spirit Realm has updated again. What career should I choose this time..."
"Don't think that entering the Daoist Academy means you are a Divine Firmament Sect disciple. The Great Dao requires contention, and the Immortal Sect does not accept mediocrity. You have one hundred days to prove whether you are dragons or worms!"
"Ugh..."
In a side room of a civilian dwelling in Green Bamboo Town, Chen District 13 garrison, Divine Firmament Sect, a youth lay fast asleep.
However, the youth's sleeping expression was far from peaceful. His brows were tightly knitted and his face was distorted, as though he had fallen into a clinging nightmare.
I do not know how much time passed before a sound of "Hah..." escaped the youth as he abruptly sat upright, his chest heaving violently.
"Hah..."
He panted while raising a hand to wipe away the cold sweat on his face. After a long while, the youth's emotions finally calmed down and he sighed inwardly:
"The memories of the two sides have clashed again. Fortunately, this is the last of it. In another day or two, I will be able to completely fuse the memories of both sides."
Thinking thus, Jiang Xuan recalled his two utterly distinct lives.
Both men were named Jiang Xuan. One was a modern college student from the twenty-first century whose consciousness suddenly extinguished due to an unknown reason while playing a game called "Celestial Firmament Spirit Realm". When he opened his eyes again, he was already in a foreign world.
The other was a youth who grew up in the outer sect of the Divine Firmament Sect, in the Chen District 13 garrison.
Having grown up in the Immortal Sect, the youth's dream since childhood was to enter the Divine Firmament Sect and become a cultivator.
Three days ago, harboring boundless excitement and yearning, the youth finally stepped into the Divine Firmament Sect Daoist Academy and began his journey of cultivation.
Only, upon reaching this point, Jiang Xuan's gaze abruptly sank.
After entering, Jiang Xuan genuinely felt that the Divine Firmament Immortal Sect was not a peaceful and serene place; hierarchies were strict here, and the competition was all the more intense.
Even for disciples, there were several ratings here: True Disciple, Inner Disciple, Outer Disciple, and Laborer.
Among them, only True Disciples and Inner Disciples were considered recognized disciples of the Divine Firmament Sect, and they would be carefully nurtured by the sect as its backbone.
Outer disciples, on the other hand, had to busy themselves with menial tasks such as planting spiritual rice, tending fires, and raising beasts for the majority of their time. Cultivation techniques, medicinal pills, and magical artifacts all required contribution points to exchange for. Cultivating like this naturally made every step arduous.
As for laborers... they were the most miserable. Like servants, they were assigned to various peaks, or even relegated to servants of inner disciples, trampling dignity and future beneath their feet.
Recalling this, Jiang Xuan's gaze narrowed abruptly.
I must never fall to the fate of a laborer. The outer sect is the bottom line, but if I want to achieve success in the Dao, I had better be promoted to an inner disciple during the Hundred-Day Grand Examination.
The moment this thought arose, a trace of bitterness spilled over the corners of Jiang Xuan's brows: The inner sect is still too far away for me. What I need to consider right now is how to enter the Dao-Bearing Class.
The Divine Firmament Sect advocated a single word: "Contend".
On the very first day of stepping into the Daoist Academy, the lecturer had carved this word into the heart and soul of every newcomer.
Until now, Jiang Xuan still remembered that lecturer's unmasked, cold words:
"When you enrolled, the sect distributed many resource benefits to the Daoist Academy... Don't bother looking, the vast majority of you are destined to never even see a shred of these resources."
"Of course, it is not because I am withholding them. If you achieve good results during the Hundred-Day Grand Examination, the resource rewards I can obtain will be far, far greater than what the sect currently distributes."
"Therefore, do not worry that I am hiding them away and refusing to hand them out. As for why I am not distributing them..." Speaking up to this point, that lecturer carefully swept his gaze across each raw and nervous face before continuing with a rigid tone: "The sect does not need mediocrity, nor do I. The Great Dao requires contention, and your contention begins today, from 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."
"There are three hundred and sixty total apertures in the human body. The first round of examinations tests the speed at which you open your apertures. Cultivators who open thirty-six apertures within seven days are rated as excellent and may enter the Dao-Bearing Class to cultivate."
"If you succeed in opening them in fifteen days, that is considered good, and you may also enter the Dao-Bearing Class. As for the resources bestowed down by the sect, I will only reward them to the students of the Dao-Bearing Class."
"If you want resources, then cultivate hard for me!"
The lecturer upon the stage spoke that final sentence very coldly, and the emotions of Jiang Xuan and the others were indeed stirred up.
Youths of fourteen or fifteen years were at the age of high-spirited vigor, and no one wanted to fall behind others.
And this caused everyone to strive toward the Dao-Bearing Class, which meant opening thirty-six apertures within fifteen days.
Pondering to this point, however, Jiang Xuan let out a sigh.
Over these past two or three days, his cultivation had not been going smoothly.
Cultivation required a Spirit Root. Among the four grades of Heaven, Earth, Xuan, and Huang, Jiang Xuan's was Middle Xuan. Although this was not the lowest Huang grade, it still fell far short of the Heaven and Earth Spirit Roots.
What made Jiang Xuan feel powerless was that the superiority or inferiority of a Spirit Root was not determined by the number of its attributes; it represented the degree of resonance between the human body and the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, and its impact on the cultivation of the Dao permeated every single aspect.
"Hoo..."
Closing his eyes and sitting cross-legged upon the bed, Jiang Xuan circulated the Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Method. This was the technique practiced by all students in the outer sect Daoist Academy of the Divine Firmament Sect. The spell power cultivated with it was upright and harmonious, and could be seamlessly converted into other spell power, making it the most suitable for laying a foundation.
"Hoo..."
Following Jiang Xuan's breathing and exhaling, wisps of heaven and earth spiritual qi were sucked into his body and flowed slowly along his meridians.
While the technique operated, this spiritual qi would circulate nine rounds inside Jiang Xuan's body, which was also the origin of the name Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption.
And when the heaven and earth spiritual qi circulated within Jiang Xuan's body, this spiritual qi would become stained by his aura, imbued by his vital blood and Divine Soul power. At that time, this ownerless spiritual qi would likewise transform into spell power that could be driven by him.
--The better the Spirit Root talent, the shorter the time it took to convert spiritual qi into spell power.
A Heaven-grade Spirit Root could even transform spiritual qi into spell power before a single round was finished, using it to 'open apertures'.
As for Jiang Xuan, "Hoo..." Following his breathing and exhaling, a full seven rounds passed before this spiritual qi was converted into spell power by him.
This was not simply a matter of a sevenfold gap in time. When converting ownerless spiritual qi of heaven and earth into spell power, it consumed Jiang Xuan's vital blood as well as his Divine Soul power.
The longer it dragged on, the more it consumed.
Moreover, during this process, the spiritual qi within Jiang Xuan's body would also dissipate.
Sevenfold time compounded more than sevenfold consumption, coupled with the dissipated spiritual qi—the gap between Jiang Xuan and a Heaven-grade Spirit Root was completely unimaginable.
And this was still not the end of everything.
"Hoo..."
After nurturing the spell power into being, Jiang Xuan needed to open the apertures. To open an aperture, the first step was observation and surveying.
Jiang Xuan had to observe the positions of the apertures out so that he could use spell power to impact and nurture them.
Furthermore, the superiority or inferiority of the Spirit Root also had an impact on the observation of the apertures.
"The apertures of the cultivation world are not truly empty holes located within the flesh. They exist between the soul spirit and the flesh, and are more of a quantum superposition state."
"When others search, no matter what, they cannot find them. Only when a Cultivator uses their own mind to observe can they perceive the whereabouts of the apertures and cause them to solidify from a quantum state into reality."
What made Jiang Xuan helpless was that, born in the mortal world, human bodies all possessed turbid qi. Blocked by this turbid qi, it was no easy matter for students like Jiang Xuan to observe the apertures.
Without any surprise, the higher the Spirit Root rating, the more limpid the bodies of students like Jiang Xuan were, and the simpler it was 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 consumed.
Heaven, Earth, Xuan, Huang—the evaluation of Middle Xuan meant that Jiang Xuan's Spirit Root talent was not quite of the worst tier. Because of this, after spending the time it took to brew a cup of tea, he found his third aperture.
Yet finding it was still not the end. Next, Jiang Xuan also needed to consume a massive amount of spell power to nurture 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 spell power, and furthermore made him understand one thing.
My speed of opening apertures is too slow. If I cultivate step-by-step, I will definitely not be able to enter the Dao-Bearing Class!
Having realized this point, Jiang Xuan's expression had turned so heavy.
Of course, the cultivation of the immortal Dao had never consisted solely of bitter toil.