Immortal Estate

Immortal Estate, year 14994, July, summer.

A standard Cultivation Cave Abode provided by the Immortal Estate, available on an annual lease.

Chen Zhuo stood before the mirror, staring blankly at his face. He scooped up a basin of clean water and splashed it over himself, trying his best to stay clearheaded.

"Seventeen years of hard work... Today, it finally paid off."

Chen Zhuo murmured to himself, still somewhat dazed.

Just moments ago, Chen Zhuo had completed an Artificial Spiritual Root implantation surgery. From this day forward, he had the qualifications to cultivate immortality. He could officially call himself a cultivator!

This chance had not come easily. Chen Zhuo treasured it beyond measure, and he was beside himself with excitement. If he had not needed to scrimp and save to repay his Spiritual Root loan, he would have gone out to celebrate at once and gotten thoroughly drunk.

Seventeen years ago, a dump truck had sent Chen Zhuo to this world, where he had become a baby born in the "Immortal Estate."

He had thought that, upon arriving in this extraordinary world of urban immortal cultivation, he would astonish everyone and command the winds and clouds.

Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to have no innate Spiritual Root for cultivation. He was only a mortal.

The discovery had dealt Chen Zhuo a heavy blow.

But Chen Zhuo had not given up.

The Immortal Estate possessed powerful cultivation technology. It had mastered Spiritual Root implantation a thousand years ago.

Compared with the exorbitant cost of implantation back then, the price today was quite low. Not everyone could afford it, but a middle-class family could manage.

Chen Zhuo, however, came from an ordinary family. His only hope was to distinguish himself in the vocational and technical examination, place in the top three, and earn an implantation slot.

And Chen Zhuo had done it.

In the vocational and technical examination that had just ended, Chen Zhuo had placed third in the mortal division and gained admission to Taiqing City Alchemy Vocational and Technical College. He had earned an implantation slot and, in one leap, joined the ranks of cultivators.

He was truly a fish entering the vast sea, a bird soaring into the blue heavens!

"Ding-dong."

Just then, Chen Zhuo's Spirit Message Jade Slip chimed with a notification.

The Spirit Message Jade Slip was much like a phone, though it was made of jade and relatively thin and light. Chen Zhuo opened it and immediately pulled up his latest messages.

[Taiqing City Immortal Estate: Candidate Jiazi-356, congratulations on completing your "Basic Spiritual Root Implantation." Your Spiritual Root is a poor-quality, low-grade, single-element Spiritual Root, with a wood spiritual energy sensitivity rating of 19. Produced by Taiqing Pharmaceutical, this Spiritual Root is priced at 5,000 Spirit Stones. You have applied for an Immortal Path Student Spirit-Stone Loan. The repayment terms are as follows: the loan term is one hundred years, with no interest for the first fifty years; after fifty years, interest will be charged at one percent annually.]

[Taiqing City Alchemy Vocational and Technical College: Greetings, Fellow Daoist Chen Zhuo! You have been admitted to the "Elixir Appraisal and Grading" program at Taiqing City Alchemy Vocational and Technical College. Please enroll on September 10, immortal calendar year 14994.]

[Taiqing City Immortal Estate · Basic Education and Training Center: Greetings, newly registered cultivator Chen Zhuo. Your information has been entered into the Taiqing City Cultivator Registry. In accordance with Immortal Estate True Lord Edict No. 952, you will receive the "Fifty-First Edition Basic Wood-Attribute Immortal Cultivation Method (formerly the Everlasting Spring Art)." It has been delivered to your Spirit Message inbox. Please follow the video tutorials to regulate your breathing and complete your first Qi Refining session.]

[Taiqing City Immortal Estate · Taiqing City Cultivation Platform: University students enjoy a ten-percent discount on cultivation! Not enough spiritual energy for your first Qi Refining session? Hurry to the Taiqing City Cultivation Platform! Our blessed cave heavens are rich in spiritual energy—the perfect place for your first breathing exercise. Just 3 spirit stones per hour!]

A whole flood of message boxes appeared before Chen Zhuo's eyes, leaving him a little dizzy.

He had not even stepped through the gates of immortal cultivation, and he already owed five thousand Spirit Stones.

"Sigh."

Chen Zhuo let out a long sigh, but he did not let it crush his spirits.

Once he completed the twenty-year program at the vocational college, his monthly salary after graduation would reach thirty Spirit Stones. He would only need to work for a little over a decade to pay off the debt.

If he saved carefully, he could repay the Spirit Stones before interest began to accrue.

Of course, these "Spirit Stones" were not actual Spirit Stones.

Resources were scarce in the cultivation world today, and Spirit Stone mines had long since been exhausted.

Thus, the Spirit Stones in a cultivator's account were merely numbers representing wealth, not physical Spirit Stones. They were also known as Spirit Coins.

Real Spirit Stones, in fact, often cost ten or more of these virtual Spirit Stones apiece on the market. The two prices could not be treated as equivalent.

On top of that, each cultivator faced an annual limit on how many Spirit Stones he could exchange for.

But it did not matter. Chen Zhuo had no immediate need for Spirit Stones.

That was that.

"Classes start in September, so I have another two months. Presumably, that's to give me enough time to cultivate and reach the first layer of Qi Refining."

Chen Zhuo shook his head, then opened his Spirit Message Jade Slip to examine the "Fifty-First Edition Basic Wood Attribute Immortal Cultivation Method."

The Cultivation method had not come in print. Instead, he had received a collection of videos.

There were thirteen videos in all, each helpfully labeled.

They covered the Everlasting Spring Art from the first layer of Qi Refining through the thirteenth.

His heart pounding with excitement, Chen Zhuo opened the first video.

"Greetings, fellow Daoists. I'm Zhang Ping, a first-year student at Taiqing University. I'm currently at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, and I'll explain the key to Cultivation of the first layer of the Everlasting Spring Art..."

The Everlasting Spring Art was a basic Qi Refining technique for cultivators with a single wood spiritual root. There was nothing remarkable about it overall, but its strength lay in its safety.

Chen Zhuo had naturally studied countless aspects of immortal cultivation over the past seventeen years. Combined with the video, that knowledge helped him slowly grasp the technique's subtleties.

"Heaven and earth hold the primal essence; grass and trees keep their fragrance. Embrace the origin and guard the one; let life endure as long as the heavens. Breathe in the clear dew, draw in the dawn light. Wash away dust and dross, and make the immortal realm your eternal home..."

Gradually, Chen Zhuo quieted the stray thoughts in his mind. He sat still and sank into concentration, pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth, parted his teeth, and began to breathe in and out!

At once, a mintlike sensation rushed straight to his brain, prompting a thought: What refreshingly cool energy. Is this what Qi Refining feels like?

Then two wisps of white vapor began to curl around Chen Zhuo's mouth and nose. As he breathed evenly, exhaling through his nose and inhaling through his mouth, he slowly refined them.

The whole process felt wonderfully comfortable.

It was like taking a gulp of something cold in the height of summer—utterly refreshing!

There were only two wisps, but as they gradually dissolved, Chen Zhuo felt as though rivers were surging together within him, gathering and slowly settling inside his body!

A fine stream flowed on, unbroken and dense!

Before he knew it, his sinews and bones rang in unison. He had completed the refinement of his first wisp of qi.

Chen Zhuo concentrated completely, lost in the feeling of cultivation.

A long time later, the sky lightened to the pale white of a fish's belly.

Chen Zhuo slowly opened his eyes. Spiritual Qi surged through his body like a spring, filling him with excitement.

"Qi Refining! Qi Refining! So this is Qi Refining!"

His eyes shone with excitement and confidence. He felt like a prodigy of the immortal path who had finally set foot upon it!

But just as Chen Zhuo, too excited to contain himself, rose to stretch his limbs, his vision suddenly went black.

Then he felt the two wisps of Spiritual Qi he had just refined vanish in an instant, as if something had sucked them away.

"Huh?"

Chen Zhuo stared in disbelief. Had his Student Aid Loan bought him a fake Spiritual Root?

Wait—how could the two wisps of Spiritual Qi I just refined get swallowed up?

Great Purity Pharmaceutical, give me back my hard-earned stones!

Before he could react, a Black Bead appeared before him, flickering.

"What is this?"

It was the only thought Chen Zhuo had.

Then a flash of black light burst from the bead. It engulfed Chen Zhuo, and he vanished from his Cave Abode.