I want to cultivate!!!

"...Leyan...Shen Leyan?"

Shen Leyan's Spiritual Power had been almost completely drained. His mind went blank, and it took a moment before he heard Chen Jing calling him.

"Senior brother."

Holding on to his wrist, Chen Jing struggled to sit up. "It really is you...I thought I was hallucinating...Here I am, your senior brother, needing you to save me again."

"Don't talk yet, senior brother."

His voice was terribly hoarse. Clearly, the Softening Powder had affected him badly, and even after taking the antidote, he couldn't recover right away.

"I'll give the other senior brothers and sisters the antidote first..."

"Leyan, your Spiritual Power is nearly exhausted. You can't transfer any more to anyone, or you'll damage your spiritual root. Their cultivation is higher than mine, so they should only be unconscious—did you come here alone?"

Shen Leyan shook his head and took out a Voice Transmission Talisman. "I'll ask Sect Master Lu to come."

He had just activated the Voice Transmission Talisman and hadn't yet spoken when a clatter of footsteps came from outside the cellar.

"They took that brat down to the cellar ages ago and still haven't returned. Something must have happened."

"That brat's a cultivator. If he uses some spell, we might not be able to beat him..."

"Cultivators are flesh and blood too, not immortals! Set a fire, and everything burns to ash!"

Something like a bucket of water poured down through the well opening. Shen Leyan smelled a strong odor of liquor.

He said only, "Come back now. Save us," and sent the Voice Transmission Talisman off.

He helped Chen Jing up. "Senior brother, can you use Spiritual Power?"

"Not yet."

Several buckets of liquor had already been poured down from above. Shen Leyan tried to form a wind blade, but the Spiritual Power in his dantian was almost exhausted. The blade barely took shape before dissipating.

The villagers at the well held cleavers and hoes. Seeing that the two of them couldn't cast any spells, they sneered.

"We kept you alive to see whether you could break the curse that's left our village without children. Since you're all useless freeloaders, there's no point keeping you alive."

With that, the villagers threw down all their torches.

The moment the torches touched the liquor, flames surged dozens of feet high, completely blocking the well opening.

The hemp rope they could have used to climb out quickly burned to ash.

Fuck!

"Senior brother, were you born under a sign that has a grudge against fire?"

Chen Jing gave a bitter smile. "Maybe fire has a grudge against your birth sign instead...Leyan, go into the cellar and see whether you can recover some Spiritual Power. If you can, get yourself out first. Don't worry about us."

"Sect Master Lu will be here soon—"

"The fire will reach us in a few minutes at most." Chen Jing pulled him behind him, shielding him.

Shen Leyan saw a faint white glow light up the meridians in Chen Jing's wrist, rapidly spreading toward his dantian and the space between his brows. Yet wherever the white light passed, black markings soon appeared.

He felt powerful waves of Spiritual Power surge from Chen Jing.

"Last time, in the village below the Cloud Radiance Sect, you were trapped in the ancestral hall, and I couldn't think of a way to save you."

"Senior brother! This isn't the time for ominous speeches!"

Chen Jing patted his shoulder. "If you won't let me show off now, who knows when I'll get another chance to act cool? Just humor me."

Warmth touched Chen Jing's face as he recalled the past.

"I wanted to cultivate ever since I was little, because demons killed my parents, and cultivators from the Cloud Radiance Sect saved me. The sect instructors always said cultivation was about helping the weak and hoping for a world where everyone lived in harmony.

After I entered the Inner Sect, lots of people told me a mixed spiritual root was too poor a talent. Even if I spent my whole life cultivating, I might never reach the Nascent Soul stage or accomplish anything great.

But I never wanted to do anything great anyway. Saving even one person still counts as saving someone...Don't you think? As your senior brother, I can't keep letting you protect me and taking advantage of you, can I?"

Fueled by the liquor, the raging fire lunged at them like a vicious beast. The other Cloud Radiance Sect disciples in the cellar had just awakened and were trying to summon their Spiritual Power. But half a month of Softening Powder had left them so weak that even standing was difficult.

Ignoring the flames about to reach him, Shen Leyan seized Chen Jing's sleeve.

"Senior brother, you can't—"

The flames rushed in!

A towering wall surged up from the ground, coursing with Spiritual Power of various attributes. Like an impassable chasm, it held the raging fire outside.

The searing heat was completely blocked. As though unwilling to concede, the flames tore savagely at the towering wall.

A faint smile appeared on Chen Jing's face.

Behind him, several senior brothers and sisters supported one another as they struggled to rise.

Shen Leyan didn't know how Chen Jing, who had been unable to summon any Spiritual Power a moment ago, could now use it to hold back the oncoming flames.

But the black markings covering his hands radiated an ominous aura of death. One look was enough to tell Shen Leyan that he must have used some forbidden method.

"...I'm fine. Didn't you say Sect Master Lu would be here soon? He can fix this little injury with a wave of his hand."

"Sect Master Lu is only human too!" Shen Leyan said anxiously. "Besides, fighting is the only thing he's good at. He can barely even tell fortunes, so his medical skills must be even worse!!!"

"...Leyan, are you sure you aren't Sect Master Lu's biological son?"

"I'd be his father before I'd be his son—senior brother, can you stop joking at a time like this?!"

Chen Jing laughed heartily. "Don't worry. You still owe me drinks. I'll definitely make it back to the Cloud Radiance Sect with you."

The black markings had spread all the way to Chen Jing's shoulders and were still crawling toward his neck.

Ripples began to appear across the wall of Spiritual Power, as though it might shatter at any moment.

Shen Leyan tried to squeeze the last of the Spiritual Power from his dantian and transfer it to Chen Jing. But the moment it touched the black markings, it turned into a wisp of black vapor and vanished, unable to pass through.

Wherever those markings appeared, the meridians seemed completely dead, like a corpse that had long since rotted...

"Don't transfer Spiritual Power to me. I can hold on a little longer." Chen Jing turned and gave him a reassuring smile. "Though Sect Master Lu seems to be taking a while."

Shen Leyan: "..."

"Senior brother, I forgot something very important."

"Huh?"

"Sect Master Lu has no fucking sense of direction."

In a cave somewhere in the Southwestern Jungle, the Spider Demon was singing a lullaby to her children.

Without warning, snowflakes drifted past the cave entrance, and the white-haired, golden-eyed young man who had left some time ago appeared inside again.

The Spider Demon: "⚆_⚆?"

Since he had restored her children to human form—and she couldn't beat him anyway—the Spider Demon was perfectly polite.

"Weren't you going back to Glory Ancestors Village? Why..."

"Show me the way."

"?"

"I'm lost. Show me the way, quickly."

The fire had been extinguished. A ring of grass around the well had burned black, and an acrid smell hung in the air.

The constables who had hurried over from the county town took the villagers responsible for the fire into custody, escorting them to jail one by one. The entire village wailed and cried that they had been wronged.

Shen Leyan stayed beside the unconscious Chen Jing. The black markings on Chen Jing's body had already covered his chest. Shen Leyan had tried several times to transfer Spiritual Power to him, but it couldn't pass through those markings.

He looked at the man checking Chen Jing's pulse beside him, suppressing the faint tremor in his voice. "Sect Master Lu, Senior Brother Chen Jing..."

Lu Yuanyi's expression was icy, and he didn't answer.

The corners of the boy's eyes had reddened. His throat bobbed. "Is there a spiritual medicine that can cure him? I..."

He had wanted to say that no matter how rare or hard to find the medicine was, he would search for it. But remembering his own cultivation, those words lodged in his throat.

...If I hadn't traveled with Sect Master Lu and Senior Brother Zheng, I couldn't even have reached Glory Ancestors Village safely. What makes me think I can search for spiritual medicine?

"...He destroyed his own spiritual root to forcefully summon Spiritual Power. Many of his meridians have now been damaged. I'll freeze his body for the time being, then reconstruct his meridians once we obtain Fire-Yang Divine Wood."

Shen Leyan's eyes went blank for a moment. He watched a mass of ice crystals envelop Chen Jing's body. The black vapor surrounding him was trapped by the frost, held in place.

"I'll find the Fire-Yang Divine Wood," he said quietly. After a moment, he continued.

"Sect Master Lu...I want to cultivate."

"The Fire-Yang Divine Wood..."

The boy lowered his eyes and said guiltily, "My cultivation isn't high enough to obtain that medicine yet, but I'll train hard. I'll bring it back as soon as I can."

Lu Yuanyi paused, then raised a hand to wipe the soot from the boy's cheek.

"I meant that the Cloud Radiance Sect already has Fire-Yang Divine Wood."

Shen Leyan froze.

"If I remember correctly, there should be several pieces left."

*⊙_⊙*

"His injuries are somewhat serious, but his life isn't in danger, so...stop crying. The constables over there keep looking at us."

Shen Leyan turned to look. Several constables carrying a stretcher covered in white cloth were hesitating, apparently unsure whether to come over and move the "corpse."

"...I'm not crying."

The boy quietly lowered his head and wiped his tears on his clothes.

"But Senior Brother Chen Jing's spiritual root is destroyed. Does that mean...it'll be difficult for him to cultivate again?"

"Mm...There's no spiritual medicine in this world that can heal a damaged spiritual root. Whether his recovers will depend on his own fortune."

His turbulent emotions settled a little.

"...I still want to cultivate."

Lu Yuanyi's fingertips paused. He raised his eyes. "Even though his life isn't in danger, and you don't need to search for medicinal ingredients?"

"Yes. Even so, I want to cultivate now."

The lingering moisture made the boy's eyes look ink-black. A faint trace of reminiscence stirred in them, then gradually gave way to resolve.

"When Senior Brother Chen Jing protected me down in the dry well, he said...the sect instructors told him cultivation was about helping the weak and hoping for a world where everyone lived in harmony.

Before...I only wanted to find somewhere far away from demons and the conflicts of righteous sects, and spend my whole life in peace.

But I forgot that Heaven is cold and the world is unpredictable. If you're unlucky, you might step outside and run into some lunatic who stabs you. Or when your friends and family go out to slay demons and uphold righteousness, some scumbag might stab them in the back and set them up...

Am I really supposed to find some deserted place, receive death notices every day, and crouch on my doorstep crying?

Helping the weak and bringing harmony to the world is too difficult. But I want the people around me to be all right, to keep living well.

So—I want to cultivate!!!"

Whatever makes me good at fighting, that's what I'll cultivate!

After he finished his speech, the constables nearby walked away with their stretcher.

He heard the two constables muttering.

"Is there something wrong with that young man's head? Even when I was fifteen, I didn't daydream that much."

"...Maybe his senior brother's dying, and grief's gone to his head."

"Ah...Poor thing. And that one whose hair's already white—an elder burying a youngster. Even more pitiful."

Lu Yuanyi: "?"

Shen Leyan: "..."

He stood up.

"My senior brother isn't dead!!!"

A moment later, several copper coins were pressed into his hand.

The constable spoke to him as though soothing a child. "Be good. Go get some medicine from the pharmacy and have yourself treated."

Lu Yuanyi sealed Chen Jing's body inside an ice coffin formed from Spiritual Power. The Spiritual Power within prevented the black markings from spreading further while also nourishing Chen Jing's meridians and damaged spiritual root.

But traveling with an ice coffin was rather too strange. If ordinary people saw them, they would certainly gather to stare.

Unless they made the entire journey back to the Cloud Radiance Sect by Sword Flight and never went into any towns to buy things.

"Sect Master Lu, how about this? At mealtimes, you can use Sword Flight to wait in the sky outside town with the ice coffin. I'll go into town to find something good to eat, then bring back two portions. What do you think?"

Lu Yuanyi nodded. After placing the ice coffin on the Jiangxue Sword, he gave Shen Leyan a cool glance.

"No keeping it all for yourself."

Shen Leyan stepped onto the Jiangxue Sword after him and declared righteously, "Do I look like that kind of person?"

Meanwhile, he quietly abandoned his plan to eat alone.

All the villagers in Glory Ancestors Village who had taken part in the poisoning and arson had been taken away by the constables.

The dynasty that currently ruled the human realm was Great Xia. Its imperial family and officials had always maintained close ties with cultivation sects. A major sect as influential as the Cloud Radiance Sect commanded courtesy even from imperial princes, and local officials were even less willing to offend it.

Once these people were convicted, the written verdict would be sent to the Cloud Radiance Sect by fast horse. Most likely, they would be sentenced to immediate execution.

The remaining villagers knelt at the village entrance, wailing as they saw the constables off, then repeatedly bowed and kowtowed to the two cultivators.

"Immortals—we know we were wrong—please give us a way to survive!"

"What are we to do if that Spider Demon comes back?!"

"Please show mercy, immortals, and spare us—"

Shen Leyan didn't look at the villagers and acted as though he hadn't heard them.

Cause and effect came full circle; retribution never failed.

The Spider Demon wasn't a demonic beast that slaughtered innocents indiscriminately. She had let all the villagers who bore no blood guilt leave. Those remaining had earned their punishment.

He wouldn't personally kill these people, but neither would he save them.

Trailing sword light, the Jiangxue Sword flew toward the Northern Territory.

To keep the two of them from getting lost yet again, Shen Leyan had specifically asked the constables for a map of the Southwestern Territory before leaving Glory Ancestors Village.

"This is the right direction. We haven't gone the wrong way."

Shen Leyan lowered the map and caught Lu Yuanyi's sleeve before he could close his eyes, hesitating for a moment.

"...Sect Master Lu, when will our Cloud Radiance Sect next accept disciples?"

Most cultivation sects accepted disciples once every five years. By his reckoning, the Cloud Radiance Sect should be recruiting this year, but he didn't know the exact month.

Although Outer Sect disciples could enter the Inner Sect to cultivate as soon as their spiritual roots were identified, they could only attend the instructors' group lessons. They had no master of their own to guide them individually.

They had to wait for the Apprenticeship Ceremony to formally become someone's disciple.

He still remembered...before Senior Brother Chen Jing's spiritual root had been identified, he had said he wanted to become Zheng Ziheng's disciple.

Well...he had thought about it at the time. Zheng Ziheng was about the same age as Senior Brother Chen Jing. The idea of Chen Jing respectfully calling Senior Brother Zheng "Master" was a little unnerving.

Lu Yuanyi answered, "The Cloud Radiance Sect will accept disciples this October."

October. That wasn't far off.

"Sect Master Lu, does our sect have any elders with a wind spiritual root? Or anyone especially skilled in wind-based spells?"

"Wind spiritual roots don't grow on trees." Lu Yuanyi pulled his sleeve out of Shen Leyan's grasp. "The Cloud Radiance Sect has no elders who specialize in wind techniques."

Shen Leyan sighed regretfully, his brows knitting in distress.

If that's the case... do I have to find a master in another sect?

But I'm a little reluctant to leave the Cloud Radiance Sect. What if the other sects aren't as open-minded?

"I don't recall any elders in the other major sects specializing in wind techniques either."

Shen Leyan: "..."

"But just because no one specializes in wind techniques now doesn't mean no one will later."

Lu Yuanyi lowered his gaze. The boy lay beside him, a faint trace of worry clouding his handsome features. For once, he was as quiet as a cat.

"If word got out that a disciple with a wind spiritual root was looking for a master, I imagine those elders would switch to wind techniques immediately."

Shen Leyan was dubious.

Surely it wouldn't be... that ridiculous, would it?