On Being a Beggar and Being a Good Beggar

At Li Houxuan's question, Xiao Yuanjun sank into thought.

For a Qi Refining cultivator to prove and attain Celestial Human, they had to pass three heaven-and-earth trials. Cultivators of the Gang Sha Path called this "passing the three trials." Passing all three meant becoming a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being; failure meant their Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Baleful Forces would disperse, their body would perish, and their cultivation would vanish.

Every Nine Turns cultivator faced a somewhat different set of trials, but certain fixed patterns offered a reference. Her first trial had been the [Beggar Trial].

As the name suggested, regardless of a cultivator's status or the mighty power they hailed from, anyone who encountered this trial would be reduced to a beggar with no one to rely on.

As for how she had passed the [Beggar Trial]?

She seemed to have wandered endlessly, unable to save even half a copper. Things had only improved after she wandered into the Bian Kingdom and took Zhang Yuan as her disciple, finally managing to put aside a little silver.

She had passed the trial, but as for experience, she really had none to offer.

After all, she had constantly used her Divine Ability to conceal herself from heaven's workings and erase karma. Good fortune never found her, and misfortune stayed a thousand miles away.

Seeing Xiao Yuanjun lost in thought, Li Houxuan did not rush her.

He had already reached eighth-turn Qi Refining and prepared his ninth Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Baleful Force. He only needed to refine it to condense his third Divine Ability and advance to ninth-turn Qi Refining.

But once he entered ninth-turn Qi Refining, the three heaven-and-earth trials could arrive at any moment.

To be safe, he had specifically asked a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being in his clan to divine his first heaven-and-earth trial: the [Beggar Trial].

Thus, he had deliberately held himself at eighth-turn Qi Refining, seeking advice far and wide from fellow cultivators and seniors who had passed the [Beggar Trial], all so he could clear the first trial in one go.

After thinking for a short while, Xiao Yuanjun decided to toss the question to Zhang Yuan. "Zhang Yuan, you explain."

She genuinely had no answer. She would let Zhang Yuan muddle through with whatever he could come up with.

Li Houxuan turned his gaze toward Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan? That name sounds familiar. Haven't I heard it somewhere... Never mind, perhaps it's someone with the same name. It doesn't matter.

Zhang Yuan blinked, bewildered.

What [Beggar Trial]? He knew nothing about that.

"Just tell him how to survive after becoming a beggar," Xiao Yuanjun prompted through voice transmission.

How to survive as a beggar?

There are actually people who don't know how to be beggars?

Oh, he's from the Eastern Bian Li Clan, one of the Five Surnames and Seven Houses. No wonder he doesn't know how.

Zhang Yuan steadied himself. He might not have answers to other questions, but when it came to being a beggar—and being a good one—he really did have a whole body of knowledge.

After considering his words for a moment, Zhang Yuan slowly began. "If we trace things back to their origins, all people seek in life is food, drink, and shelter from cold and heat. Times have changed, and everyone now calls beggars lowly, but in truth, beggars are people who return to simplicity and truth, pursuing humanity's primal, natural state."

Li Houxuan furrowed his brow, pondering this silently.

Return to simplicity and truth? Pursue the primal?

Oh! So that's how it is!

No wonder some inheritances require cultivators to practice austerity and hardship, without clinging to the mortal world.

Xiao Yuanjun was stunned.

This kid Zhang Yuan really has a silver tongue. He makes having nothing to eat and nowhere to live sound so wonderful. If I hadn't actually been a beggar, I might really have swallowed his nonsense.

"Young friend, what exactly should I do?" Li Houxuan hurriedly asked.

"Of food, drink, cold, and warmth, food and drink pose no problem to cultivators who have transcended the need to eat. But cold and warmth... even for a Nine Turns cultivator, those present a major test."

"Why do you say that?" Li Houxuan asked eagerly.

"Cold and warmth come in two forms: those of natural disasters, and those of human relationships. The fickleness of natural disasters takes lives, while the fickleness of human hearts..."

Zhang Yuan spoke at length, then concluded, "So, to be a good beggar, you must first observe heaven's workings to avoid being harmed by natural disasters. Second, you must discern human hearts, so no one stabs you in the back."

Li Houxuan listened from beginning to end, nodding inwardly all the while. He thought Zhang Yuan made excellent sense.

Observe heaven's workings and discern human hearts—isn't that precisely what only a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being can do?

There's profound learning in being a beggar.

"Fellow Daoist, your insight is profound. I am impressed," Li Houxuan said earnestly to Xiao Yuanjun.

In his view, Zhang Yuan was merely a first-turn Qi Refining cultivator. Such profound knowledge and Daoist attainment were clearly beyond him; Xiao Yuanjun must have taught him everything.

"Haha, it's nothing..." Xiao Yuanjun chuckled.

By the look of things, Zhang Yuan has probably bamboozled Li Houxuan senseless.

Seeing that the moment was nearly ripe,

Xiao Yuanjun asked with feigned casualness, "I have been traveling here from the Ya Kingdom. I heard that the Bian Kingdom's Third Princess has recently been seeking a Princess's Consort. Do you know when the wedding will take place, fellow Daoist? My second trial involves festive joy, so I thought I might go and share in some."

Li Houxuan shook his head and warned her, "I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, fellow Daoist. The Third Princess's wedding day will be the day she dies. You had best not attend."

"The day she dies? Could a kingdom's princess really lose her life on her wedding day?" Xiao Yuanjun asked in puzzlement.

Whether the Bian royal family had a Golden Core True Lord was uncertain, but they definitely had a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being guarding them. Who would dare attack the reigning emperor's Third Princess in the Capital City?

Actually, there really were two clans with both the ability and the nerve.

The Eastern Bian Li Clan and the Western Bian Chu.

What bitter feud did those two clans have with the royal family, to actually want to kill the Third Princess? Were they not afraid the Bian Emperor would hold a grudge?

Xiao Yuanjun knitted her brows in confusion.

"It is exactly as you suspect, fellow Daoist."

Li Houxuan nodded in confirmation, then explained, "It's a long story. Decades ago, His Majesty took an empress. It should have been a joyous occasion, but no one expected the intended empress to be switched out, allowing a Transformed Great Demon to become empress and give birth to the Third Princess."

Zhang Yuan's expression shifted slightly.

The Bian Empress is a demon, and the Third Princess is a half-demon?

Fine, fine, fine. At least the last one was human. This one isn't even that.

"His Majesty has little time left, and the Demon Empress is using the Third Princess as a conduit to steal the national fortune. For the next thousand years, the Bian Kingdom will inevitably see one incompetent ruler after another, with its destruction looming. So our clan agreed with the Chu Clan that each would send one person to join forces and slay the Demon Empress, the Third Princess, and the Princess's Consort," Li Houxuan said.

"I see. But why kill the Princess's Consort?" Xiao Yuanjun asked, puzzled.

Wouldn't killing the Demon Empress and the Third Princess settle things? Why did they have to kill the Princess's Consort too?

"Originally, we didn't need to. But some foolish brat actually entered into a marriage agreement with the Third Princess. If we don't kill him and let the Third Princess complete the wedding, it could very well allow the Demon Empress to advance to Golden Core True Lord."

At this point, Li Houxuan could not help frowning.

The two clans had originally planned everything perfectly. They only needed to kill the Demon Empress and the Third Princess before the Bian Emperor on the wedding day. Now, however, a new variable had appeared out of thin air. The Demon Empress might just use him as a chess piece to break out of their trap.

Zhang Yuan: ...

Xiao Yuanjun gave a dry cough. "What if you found the Princess's Consort beforehand and had him dissolve his agreement with the Third Princess?"

"That won't work. They are bound by karma, and the marriage between the Princess's Consort and the Third Princess is already fated. To dissolve the agreement, we would have to kill the Demon Empress. But she must be slain on the wedding day—not before, and not after."

Li Houxuan shook his head, then changed tack. "It isn't entirely impossible, though. If a True Lord intervened, they could erase that karmic fate and save his life. But as you know, fellow Daoist, why would a True Lord intervene over such a trivial matter?"

True Lords generally remained secluded from the world. Unless a matter concerned them or their own forces, they would never intervene.

For this operation to encircle and slay the Demon Empress, for instance, the Eastern Bian Li Clan had only sent a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being with considerable Daoist attainment.

His older cousin, Celestial Zhenjue, Li Houjin!