[In the end, you chose a martial technique called the "Cold Pool Sword Technique." It was a mid-grade mortal rank technique and cost seven spirit stones. The sample booklet described it beautifully, claiming that, once mastered deeply enough, a single sword strike could seal a throat and spread cold for thirty feet.]
[A martial technique that directly showed off the effects of full mastery was simply far too enticing to a little maid like you, who had seen so little of the world.]
[You leafed through the sample booklet, liking it more with every page. Just seven spirit stones-you could afford that!]
[With three spirit stones left, you went back to the first floor and chose an internal cultivation method, the "Qi Gathering Art," and an external cultivation method, the "Essence-Nurturing Art."]
[Your heart ached terribly as you placed ten spirit stones on the counter. That was ten thousand taels of silver!]
[But after five years of taking jobs and hunting demons through the Gathering Worthies Hall, you had long since learned to keep joy and anger off your face.]
[Seeing you hand over ten spirit stones at once without so much as a change in expression, the shopkeeper assumed you were a scion of some aristocratic clan out gaining experience. He treated you with particular respect and personally escorted you to the door. "Take care, miss. If you acquire any good cultivation methods in the future, you can exchange them for spirit stones at our pavilion, too. Our prices are fair."]
[You nodded, giving your assent.]
[Only when you stepped out of the Peerless National Arts Pavilion and the night breeze blew over you did the tightness in your chest ease a little. You spent most of your remaining silver on medicinal herbs, then returned to Liu Family Ferry with a huge bundle on your back.]
[Early the next morning, you hired someone from the Changfeng Martial Arts School across the way to deliver your meals every day. From then on, you never stepped beyond either the inner or the outer gate. You did only one thing each day: cultivate!]
[Though Houtian Martial Artists were several times stronger than Low-Rank Martial Artists, they were still Martial Artists in the end, and all Martial Artists had mortal lifespans.]
[You trained hard day and night, intent only on becoming stronger.]
How inspiring!
Even Jiang Mi, watching from outside the Simulator, was a little moved.
She cheered on her simulated self in her heart. Once day breaks, I'll take you out for a good meal!
[You truly did give it your all.]
[In the twenty-sixth year, at forty-one, you successfully broke through to the Houtian Fifth Layer.]
[The Martial Artist who delivered your meals came every day. Seeing how engrossed you were in training and how little you cared about the jujubes on the tree, he thought it would be a shame to let them go to waste and asked whether he could take them home for his son. Thinking that knocking down jujubes would only waste your time, and that you were hardly short of food, you readily agreed.]
[In the thirty-fourth year, you were forty-nine and at the Houtian Sixth Layer.]
[Previously, no matter how slowly your cultivation improved, you could still feel spiritual energy accumulating little by little, like a stream flowing into a lake. Slow as it was, it had never stopped.]
[But once you truly stepped into the Houtian Sixth Layer, everything changed.]
[You sat cross-legged on your bed and circulated the "Qi Gathering Art." The surrounding spiritual energy slowly seeped into your body and flowed through your meridians... then there was nothing.]
[This spiritual energy entered your body like a drop of water falling into a pond, failing to raise even a splash.]
[You opened your eyes, stared at the wall before you, and fell silent.]
[The aptitude of a crippled spirit root was even worse than you had imagined.]
[Before the Houtian Sixth Layer, you could still force your way upward by piling on time. But reaching the sixth layer meant formally entering the late Houtian stage.]
[No matter how hard you worked, the "Qi Gathering Art" and your spirit root could draw in only so much spiritual energy. Your body no longer reacted to spiritual energy at this level, so naturally, it could no longer temper your body. Without tempering your body, you could not break through.]
[You sat cross-legged on your bed and considered what you should do next.]
[Since your cultivation could no longer advance, why not devote yourself to practicing martial techniques!]
[The Old Woman had told you that martial techniques had four stages: initial glimpse of the path, small accomplishment, thorough integration, and the pinnacle of perfection. If cultivation was the root, martial techniques were the leaves. Only deep roots could produce lush foliage, but dense enough leaves could nourish the roots in return.]
[If one road was blocked, you would take another. You had plenty of time, anyway.]
[You opened the "Cold Pool Sword Technique" and began practicing from the very first move. Though few truthful words ever came out of Liu Daye's mouth, he had been right about one thing: you had little aptitude for understanding martial arts.]
[It took you two years to go from knowing nothing to barely crossing the threshold.]
[Two years!]
[You practiced facing the water vat in the courtyard for two full years before understanding suddenly dawned on you late one night.]
[Wasn't the saying, "Let the heart be like a cold pool, reflecting the moon without pursuing it," describing your current state? You could only see the moon, yet had no inclination to chase it.]
[The moment you raised your head, you mastered the first form of the "Cold Pool Sword Technique," "Cold Pool Reflecting the Moon"!]
[If practicing sword techniques was utter torment for you, practicing the Changfeng Fist was pure recreation. It was not that your comprehension was particularly high; you had simply practiced this fist technique for a lifetime. If you still failed to understand something of it, all those years in your previous simulation truly would have been lived in vain.]
[The only rather awkward incident was when the Martial Artist delivering your meals caught you practicing your fist technique. He turned right around and told Liu Hei.]
[That very afternoon, Liu Hei knocked on your courtyard gate.]
[This was your second meeting in this simulation. The first, of course, had been when you went to the Changfeng Martial Arts School to find a Martial Artist to deliver your meals.]
[The moment he came through the gate, Liu Hei dropped to his knees. Looking up at you with tear-filled eyes, he cried, "Great-aunt! You must be the great-aunt Master talked about, right?! When Master was alive, he always wondered why a Houtian Realm Martial Artist would settle in Liu Family Ferry. You must have come to watch over us, right!"]
[You: "..."]
[Why was Liu Hei still like this? Besides, wasn't watching over people something you prayed to the dead for? How inauspicious!]
[Without a word, you held back your strength and sent him flying out with a punch.]
[As Liu Hei flew out, he almost thought he was going to die. After landing, he discovered that nothing hurt anywhere except his backside. Only then did he realize: this great-aunt had not injured him!]
[Instead of running away, he lay sprawled on the ground and twisted his head around, his eyes shining. "Great-aunt! That perfect control of yours is incredible! Master really was right!"]
[Standing in the doorway, you watched his shameless display and felt a little sympathy for Liu Daye.]
[From that day on, your seniority ranked even higher than Liu Daye's.]
[Liu Hei had been quick-witted since childhood, though rather neglectful of proper work. Under your urging, he shouldered the task of rebuilding the Changfeng Martial Arts School, and Liu Bai became its head once more.]
[You and Liu Bai grew close again, and through her, you learned more about Liu Daye.]
[Though his surname was also Liu, he was not from Liu Family Ferry at all. In his youth, he had been much like Liu Hei. The difference was that Liu Hei had little to boast about, while Liu Daye did. He was a man who had seen the wider world. According to his own account, he had traveled through many places in his youth and had even met real cultivators.]
[But when asked what real cultivators were like, he kept his lips tightly sealed, and his expression looked exactly like the embarrassment of someone whose lie had been exposed.]
[But you knew that Liu Daye was definitely no ordinary man.]
Jiang Mi wholeheartedly agreed.
How could a martial technique taught by an ordinary martial arts school be mid-grade mortal rank?
Before you continue