Ascension Token

"Junior Brother," Jing Wen suddenly said, his tone casual yet carrying a trace of deeper meaning,

"Are you still using... that low-grade flying sword?"

Han Li froze, somewhat bewildered.

He had not known flying swords came in different grades. Knowing how powerful his was had been enough to satisfy him.

But Jing Wen did not seem to expect an answer.

His broad sleeve swept upward, and spiritual light flashed!

Two cold gleams shot from his Storage Bag like startled swans cleaving the sky. Before their sword energy arrived, the wind struck first.

The next instant, two flying swords circled like roaming dragons and hovered steadily before Han Li, their tips trembling faintly as though possessed of spirits.

"This is a Middle-Grade Flying Sword, refined entirely from cold iron and inlaid with three layers of Wind-Travel Spirit Runes. It can travel a thousand li a day without exhaustion."

Jing Wen lightly tapped the sword on the left, but his gaze remained on Han Li's face, a barely perceptible smile playing at his lips.

"And this one-is the Superior-Grade Flying Sword, Azure Nether.

Its core is forged from profound yin meteoric iron, tempered through seventy-two rounds of Thunder Runes. On the day it was completed, it summoned wind and thunder from the nine heavens that lasted three days."

Han Li's eyes lit up. Almost instinctively, he reached out and grasped the Middle-Grade Flying Sword first.

The sword felt weighty but not unwieldy. Its spirit runes flowed like living water, and where his fingertips touched, he faintly sensed a warm, harmonious resonance.

With a slight stirring of his will, he poured spiritual power into it-

Hum!

The blade rang clearly like a crane's cry, trembling faintly as though answering its master's will.

What a fine sword! he praised inwardly, yet his gaze was irresistibly seized by the other flying sword.

The Superior-Grade Flying Sword had an ancient, unadorned design. Its long blade gleamed like autumn waters, with wind and thunder faintly entwining its edge. A deep blue gemstone was set into its hilt, its light restrained, yet exuding a pressure that made his heart shudder.

He drew a deep breath, slowly reached out, and grasped its hilt.

Boom!

In an instant, a vast surge of spiritual power rushed like a tide through the meridians of his arm and straight into his dantian!

Han Li shuddered. The spiritual power within him boiled and churned beyond his control, and even his sea of consciousness trembled.

This sword... can actually make my own spiritual power resonate?!

His heart shook with astonishment, mingled with delight!

His thoughts flashed like lightning as he swiftly weighed his options:

I already owe Jing Wen sixty stalks of millennium spirit medicine. He said I could repay him within a hundred years, so he clearly isn't in a hurry to collect.

Since that's the case, why not get the best in one step?

Jing Wen will be leaving soon. If I want to replace my flying sword later, I won't even know where to buy one.

He raised his head, his gaze firm and his voice clear. "Senior Brother, I want the Superior-Grade Flying Sword."

The amusement in Jing Wen's eyes deepened, though he pretended to ponder. "A Superior-Grade Flying Sword is extremely valuable. Compared with a low-grade one, it costs at least a dozen times as much.

But..."

He paused, then softened his tone. "Since you're the one who wants it, I'll give it to you at half price."

Warmth flooded Han Li's heart. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Thank you, Senior Brother!

The same as those talismans earlier-sixty stalks of millennium spirit medicine. How does that sound?"

"Deal." Jing Wen nodded, brisk and decisive, as though he had been waiting for those very words.

Han Li cradled the sword in both hands as though he had obtained a priceless treasure.

The blade was icy cold, yet it pulsed faintly like a beating heart.

He could not help stroking its spine again and again, his eyes filled with a young man's joy and dreams upon obtaining a powerful weapon.

Strangely, the heart that had been weighed down by his enormous debt now felt somewhat lighter.

Since Senior Brother said he could wait a hundred years... I'll repay him little by little.

With the Little Green Bottle in hand and this sword at my side, why worry that the road ahead will lack light?

Jing Wen sat upright beside the stone table, his fingertips gently caressing a celadon teacup whose glaze was as lustrous as jade.

Lowering his eyes, he took a small sip. The tea rippled, its waves spreading through the depths of his eyes as though reflecting a thousand mountains, a sea of clouds, and the endless river of ages.

Fragrant wisps of tea rose like mist and smoke, shrouding half his face in a hazy veil.

"Junior Brother," he said, setting down his cup. His voice was quiet, yet carried like bells and chimes piercing the mist. "Do you want to stop being a rogue cultivator?"

Han Li, who had been looking down and stroking the Superior-Grade Flying Sword, abruptly froze.

He slowly raised his head, his eyes full of surprise. The question had come too suddenly and struck too precisely, as though piercing the most secret desire in his heart.

Stop being a rogue cultivator?

Who wouldn't want that?!

Yet coming from Jing Wen, those words carried an entirely different meaning.

Han Li's throat shifted, his lips parting slightly. For a moment, he did not know how to answer.

His thoughts tangled like hemp in his mind. Why did Senior Brother suddenly ask that?

Could it be... he has a way?

Before he could sort through his thoughts, Jing Wen's piercing gaze cut through the tea's vapor, and he spoke again, each word clear as an inscription:

"Do you want to become an official disciple of the Seven Great Sects?"

Boom!

Han Li's pupils abruptly contracted, and his mind shook violently.

In an instant, the scenes Jing Wen had described earlier flooded back into his sea of consciousness-

Yellow Maple Valley's thousand-step Immortal Stairway wreathed in clouds, the Covering Moon Sect's Scripture Pavilion bathed in moonlight essence, Spirit Beast Mountain's Trial Valley resounding with the myriad beasts' roar...

Spirit veins suffused with energy, Pill Rooms standing in rows, cultivation arts as boundless as the sea, and even Golden Core Elders personally guiding their cultivation!

And what of rogue cultivators?

They merely trembled in corners of the Market while trading for a few pills, lived in dread over a single ten-year-old spirit herb, and had to set up three layers of warning talismans just to meditate at night...

The difference was that between heaven and earth, clouds and mud.

He almost blurted out, "Yes! More than anything!"

But as the words reached his lips, a deeper instinct held them back-pies did not simply fall from the sky.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Jing Wen's lips lifted slightly, and he delivered his final thunderbolt:

"Do you want... a Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Hum!

Han Li felt as though a bolt of electricity had shot from his tailbone to the crown of his head. All the blood in his body seemed to freeze, only to boil and churn a moment later.

A Foundation Establishment Pill!

That supreme spiritual pill of legend, which could help Qi Refining cultivators break through the barrier between life and death and enter the true gates of immortal cultivation!

Taking it could add over a hundred years to one's lifespan, grant command over the five elements, summon wind and rain, and free one forever from the shackles of mortal life!

His breathing quickened. His fingers unconsciously tightened around the flying sword until his knuckles turned white, as though only its cold blade could suppress the raging waves in his heart.

"Senior Brother... what do you mean?" Han Li's voice trembled, the words almost squeezed from the depths of his throat.

Jing Wen did not answer. He merely smiled calmly and raised a hand to pat the Storage Bag at his waist.

Hum!

A bronze radiance suddenly flashed, making the air tremble as though an ancient bell had rung.

A token shot out, light as a feather yet bearing the mountain-heavy weight of ages, and slowly came to hover before Han Li.

Han Li's gaze was instantly seized, unable to turn away.

On the token's face, the words "Ascension to Immortality" were wrought in strokes like iron lines and silver hooks. Their edges were sharp as swords, seemingly bearing the might to cleave heaven and earth, each stroke etched with the lifelong yearning of countless cultivators;

On its reverse stood an immortal peak a thousand fathoms high, wreathed in clouds and mist. Palaces loomed faintly at its summit, while a crane spread its wings over the sea of clouds, every feather rendered so precisely that it seemed alive!

"This... what is this?" His Adam's apple bobbed. His voice was dry and strained, and even swallowing seemed difficult.

"This is Yellow Maple Valley's credential-the Ascension Token." Jing Wen's tone was calm, yet every word struck like thunder.

"Whoever holds this token can enter the sect without taking the entrance trial and receive a Foundation Establishment Pill."

Boom!

It was as though lightning had struck Han Li's mind. He stood rooted to the spot.

A Foundation Establishment Pill!

Entry without a trial!

A disciple of Yellow Maple Valley!

Dreams he had once thought hopelessly beyond reach had now become a bronze token, quietly hovering before him, close enough to touch!

His chest heaved violently. His burning gaze remained locked on the Ascension Token, its flowing halo reflected in his pupils, as though he could already see a future in which he climbed the steps through clouds and rode his sword into the heavens.

His hands trembled slightly with excitement, even his fingertips quivering-

Not from fear, but from the shudder that came when the gears of fate suddenly began to turn.

Yet beneath his wild joy, a deeper worry coiled around his heart like a vine:

Why would Senior Brother give me such a precious treasure?

I can repay over a hundred stalks of spirit medicine, but this Ascension Token... how could I repay him for it?

How many rogue cultivators spent their entire lives fighting for a single chance to enter a sect, their blood spilled along the Trial Path and their bones buried outside the sect gates?

Yet today, Jing Wen had casually offered him this opportunity that came once in a thousand years.

Han Li's lips moved. He wanted to say, "I can't accept this," yet feared missing the only chance he would ever have;

He wanted to ask, "How can I repay you?" yet knew that any words would seem pale and powerless at this moment.

For a time, gratitude, fear, longing, unease... a hundred emotions mingled, all five flavors churning within him.

Seeing Han Li's shifting expression, the longing in his eyes mingled with bewilderment, Jing Wen could not help letting a gentle smile rise to his lips.

"Junior Brother," he said slowly and softly, yet every word sank into Han Li's heart,

"This Ascension Token is indeed worth a fortune-especially the Foundation Establishment Pill that comes with it. That alone can rewrite a Qi Refining cultivator's entire life."

He paused, his gaze distant, as though looking through the sea of clouds toward the lofty, unreachable gates of the immortal Dao:

"A Foundation Establishment Cultivator generates spiritual power with every movement, without relying on external aids;

Their lifespan extends to two hundred years, and they can project their divine sense, discerning the smallest detail within a hundred zhang;

They can fly through the sky on magical artifacts, traveling three thousand li a day as easily as walking on level ground."

"They can also establish their own cave abodes, receive offerings from their sect, and enjoy the nourishment of spirit veins..."

His tone deepened, growing more forceful. "But most importantly-only after Foundation Establishment does one truly set foot on the road to longevity.

Qi Refining?

That is merely a mortal knocking at the door."

Han Li listened, utterly enthralled. His face flushed red with excitement, and his heart thundered in his chest like a beaten drum.

As Jing Wen spoke, magnificent scenes burst open within his sea of consciousness-

He saw himself seated cross-legged in the center of a quiet chamber, holding a Foundation Establishment Pill the size of a longan, its pill markings shining like stars.

The pill melted the moment it entered his mouth. Vast spiritual power poured through him like rivers flowing backward, scouring his meridians and reshaping his dantian!

Golden light blazed around him, his spiritual pressure surging like a tide. The roof tiles shattered without wind, and even the courtyard's plants bowed before him!

The instant he achieved Foundation Establishment, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth poured into his body like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

Standing atop Azure Nether, he burst through the clouds, his robes snapping in the wind as he looked down upon ten thousand li of rivers and mountains-

The Market steward who had once bullied him for being a rogue cultivator was now no more than an ant;

The Qi Refining Peak Cultivator he had once desperately avoided could now be subdued with a single finger!

Later still, he stood at the summit of Yellow Maple Valley's thousand-step Immortal Stairway, wearing the blue robes of an Inner Sect Disciple with a Jade Token at his waist, while ten thousand people looked up to him.

Enemies attacking?

Raise a hand, unleash a bolt of Thunderfire, and burn everything in all eight directions;

Lacking resources?

Take whatever I want from the sect's Pill Rooms, choose any Spirit Spring or cave abode!

At this thought, Han Li swallowed hard, as though the Foundation Establishment Pill were already melting in his mouth.

He clenched both hands into fists, his nails nearly digging into his palms-

Not from pain, but from a longing he could no longer suppress.

While Han Li was lost in his dreams, Jing Wen's voice sounded again:

"As for the repayment deadline... there's no need to hurry, Junior Brother. Just repay it within a thousand years."

"A thou... thousand years?!"

Han Li abruptly raised his head, his eyes round and wide. He almost thought he had misheard.

In this cultivation world where the strong devoured the weak, who would give someone a thousand years to repay a debt?

Even blood brothers might not grant such leniency!

But on second thought, he gave a bitter, self-mocking smile:

I'm only a Qi Refining cultivator, with a lifespan of little more than a hundred years. I don't even know whether I'll live to reach Foundation Establishment. How could I speak of a thousand years?

What Senior Brother means is clearly... he doesn't expect me to repay him at all?

Then, a reckless resolve surged into his heart:

Who cares!

If Senior Brother isn't in a hurry, why should I bind my own hands and feet?

First, seize the opportunity before me-with a Foundation Establishment Pill in hand, I'll finally have the right to speak of the future!

He drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the tangled thoughts surging through his heart, and tried to steady his voice. "If... if we count it in millennium spirit medicine, would a thousand stalks be enough?"

At these words, the amusement in Jing Wen's eyes deepened. The corners of his mouth slowly rose, revealing an expression of satisfaction that was almost kindly.

"For others, finding even one stalk of millennium spirit medicine might mean crossing a thousand mountains and staking their lives;"

Jing Wen's voice was gentle, yet every word seemed carved in stone. "But you're different, Junior Brother-you possess the plant-and-wood sacred body, born to resonate with all growing things. Spiritual plants greet you as they would spring rain. To you, millennium spirit medicine is merely something to gather at your feet. What is there to speak of?"

He paused, a smile rising to his lips.

"A thousand stalks... deal!"

Before Jing Wen had finished speaking, he flicked his wrist. The bronze Ascension Token streaked through the air like a meteor, humming softly, and landed squarely in Han Li's palm.

The token felt cool in his hand, yet it pulsed faintly as though alive, as if responding to its new master's bloodline.

Han Li could not help lowering his head to stroke it, his fingertips tracing the words "Ascension to Immortality" again and again. Light flickered in his eyes, as though he held the very shape of his future fate in his hands.

A moment later, he calmed somewhat and silently began tallying all his transactions with Jing Wen that day:

Talismans-sixty plants;

Superior-Grade Flying Sword-sixty plants;

Ascension Token-one thousand plants.

A total of one thousand one hundred and twenty plants of millennium spirit medicine.

His heart abruptly sank.

At the Little Green Bottle's rate of accelerated growth, he estimated it would take more than two hundred years to repay everything.

But no sooner had the thought surfaced than he forcibly suppressed it.

Suddenly, he smiled in relief, with even a touch of the carefree spirit unique to youth:

Once debts pile high enough, their weight no longer presses you down.

Besides-with this Ascension Token, I'll no longer be a Rogue Cultivator anyone can trample on!

Enter Yellow Maple Valley, obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill...

Then I'll lack neither resources nor cultivation arts, and Foundation Establishment will be within reach!

At that thought, all the heaviness in his chest dispersed, and his face shone with renewed spirit.

Seeing Han Li's expression settle and the light rekindle in his eyes, Jing Wen's lips curved into a gentle smile. His voice was like a spring breeze brushing the willows:

"I'll be leaving this place in a few months. When the time comes, I can take you along to Yellow Maple Valley."

His gaze sharpened slightly, and his voice lowered. "After all... the road there is far from peaceful."

"If you set out alone, you could easily lose your way among Yellow Maple Ridge's thousand peaks and countless ravines-or worse, run into marauding cultivators."

At this point, his expression abruptly grew solemn, his gaze keen as a blade. "Those people specifically prey on lone cultivators-

"For a bottle of pills, a magical artifact, or even half a Spirit Stone, they'll kill and plunder. Their methods are vicious, and they have no limits.

"Though you have talismans and a flying sword to protect you, you're still inexperienced. Facing those seasoned villains would be perilous indeed."

Han Li's heart tightened at his words, only for a rush of warmth to sweep away all his unease.

Senior Brother not only gave me such precious treasures, but he even intends to escort me himself?

How immense this kindness is!

He drew a deep breath, forcibly holding back the warmth gathering in his eyes. His voice trembled slightly. "Thank you, Senior Brother!

"Without your help, I would be nothing but a Rogue Cultivator. How could I dare dream of a chance at Foundation Establishment?

"Your kindness today is like granting me a new life!"

Before his words had faded, his expression abruptly turned resolute. His eyes blazed like torches, as though flames had kindled deep within his pupils.

To demonstrate his resolve, he clasped his hands and raised them above his head, solemnly swearing each word:

"I, Han Li, hereby swear a heart-demon great oath-

"Should I achieve anything in the future, I will never betray the kindness Senior Brother Jing Wen has shown me today;

"The spirit medicine I owe, even if it takes a thousand or ten thousand years, I will repay in full;

"If I break this oath, may heart demons devour my soul, and may I fall forever into the cycle of reincarnation, never to transcend it!"

As the oath left his lips, heaven and earth seemed to respond. The wind in the courtyard stilled, the leaves fell silent, and even the distant birdsong quietly ceased.

After swearing his oath, Han Li slowly raised his head. No confusion remained in his eyes, only determination and gratitude.

He bowed deeply, then turned to leave. His steps were light yet steady, as though what he bore upon his shoulders was not debt, but a stairway to immortality.

Jing Wen remained where he stood, watching the young man's figure disappear at the far end of the bamboo-lined path.

His smile stayed as warm as ever, yet a barely perceptible glint of slyness quietly surfaced in his eyes.

He gently stroked the teacup in his hand, running a fingertip over a fine crack in its glaze, and murmured to himself, barely above a whisper:

"Heaven's workings are like a river. I'm merely following its current.

"Everything I've done has only been to put the plot back on the path it was meant to take.

"The plot-that is my greatest support!"