At dawn, a red sun leaped above the sea.
Zhao Yi sat cross-legged beside the Spirit Spring, his eyes tightly shut, gently breathing out mist. A ribbon of white vapor curled around his mouth and nose.
With his slow, deep breaths, mist rose around him, gathering and dispersing by turns, as though he had become one with heaven and earth.
After an unknown length of time, all the white vapor around his mouth and nose was drawn into his body.
A dozen or so breaths later, an arrow of air shot from his mouth, traveling over ten feet.
Zhao Yi rose, gazed at the sea of clouds and the sun amid the rosy glow, and let out a long cry, startling a flock of birds from the woods.
His injuries had finally healed. Feeling the endlessly surging true qi within him, he seemed to hear the ceaseless roar of a great river.
Wherever the true qi flowed, it nourished his meridians, making them broader, thicker, and tougher.
He stood and shook the dew from his clothes, then walked a hundred or so paces through the woods to the cliff's edge.
Whoosh!
With a leap, a figure plunged from the hundred-meter-high clifftop.
Zhao Yi scrambled along the cliff face like an ape, grabbing vines now and then to lend himself leverage as he descended at tremendous speed.
With several dozen meters still separating him from the sea, Zhao Yi pushed off one last time and leaped hard.
Splash!
The seawater was bone-chilling, but Zhao Yi paid it no mind and swam swiftly through it.
He had come to this world twenty-four years ago. He had begun cultivating under his master at six, and eighteen years had passed since then.
After he began cultivating, memories of his previous life returned in scattered fragments. Zhao Yi had gradually integrated into this world as well, cultivating diligently, respecting his elders, protecting his junior brothers, and doing everything he could.
After his master died, Zhao Yi had kept himself taut as a bowstring, cultivating with all his might.
Then Daoist Mu's covetous scrutiny had been like a thorn in his back. Only after Zhao Yi reached major attainment in meridian opening and killed Daoist Mu on that rainy night had he breathed a sigh of relief.
Between tension and release, tightening and loosening, he had undergone half a year of arduous cultivation and a life-and-death battle with Daoist Mu.
Zhao Yi had made marked improvements in both his mental resolve and the potential of his flesh, muscles, and bones.
His true qi had grown deeper and more condensed, and his greater and lesser celestial circuits had become more interconnected. His cultivation had improved, and he had opened several more meridians of the lesser celestial circuit.
After swimming roughly three li, he reached the northern side of Linghua Island. Zhao Yi surveyed his surroundings, confirmed that no one was there, and dove deep underwater.
He swam underwater for over a hundred feet, reaching a reef fifty feet below the surface.
There was a cave here, which Zhao Yi had discovered while swimming in this spot as a boy.
He moved aside the boulder blocking the entrance. The cave wound and twisted for over a hundred feet, gradually rising toward the sea's surface.
Zhao Yi swam through the cave for twenty breaths, then abruptly broke the surface and entered its interior.
The cave presumably had an air vent leading to the surface, as it was not at all stuffy inside. It was small, roughly seven or eight feet wide and high, and twenty feet long.
Over the years, Zhao Yi had come here to improve the cave whenever he had time. Two wooden shelves now stood inside.
One shelf held Cultivation Technique Manuals and accounts of cultivation experiences, all original volumes. The Cultivation Technique Manuals on Linghua Island were actually Zhao Yi's handwritten copies.
The other shelf held two jade boxes. One contained a flying sword magical artifact, while the other held a dingy gray pouch.
On the ground lay a piece of dark ore the size of a human head. It was black iron ore, weighing over a hundred jin, and would fetch at least three hundred spirit stones at a cultivators' market.
Beside it stood a chest made from spirit-sealing wood, which could block spiritual energy.
Zhao Yi opened the chest. Inside were three stacked trays, each holding thumb-sized spirit stones. Zhao Yi counted them three times: a hundred and twenty spirit stones in total.
He took out the twenty spirit stones he carried and put them inside, then counted three more times before closing and locking the chest.
He rose again and placed the original Azure Wood Pure Spirit Art on the first tier of the bookshelf.
Including this one, there were now three cultivation arts: the Spirit Origin Body-Nourishing Art, the Water-Spirit Wave-Subduing Art, and the Azure Wood Pure Spirit Art.
He placed Wang Xuanmu's First Record of Beast Taming on the second tier, where there was also a copy of Record of Spirit Seeking.
Runes carved into the wooden shelf kept out moisture and flames, preserving the books better.
They consumed little spiritual energy; one spirit stone could sustain them for five years.
He made a circuit of the cave, taking particular care to inspect the traps.
Seeing that the traps were still functional, Zhao Yi turned and left.
After swimming out of the cave, he thought for a moment, then turned and swam back. Once inside, Zhao Yi made another circuit of the cave.
He counted the Cultivation Technique Manuals, firmly felt over the wooden chest, and confirmed that it was locked. Then he swam out again, blocked the entrance with the boulder, and only then swam back to Linghua Island.
Back on Linghua Island, Zhao Yi resumed his methodical, intensive, orderly cultivation.
There was one small interruption: a sea beast attacked. Zhao Yi fought it at sea for half a day before finally driving it away-killing it was impossible.
The thirteenth day of the seventh month, Year 5492 of the Yuangguang Calendar.
Time flew, and a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Zhao Yi found two islanders to sail him to Jade Pearl Island. He wondered how Liu Yu and Wang Qing were getting along there, and whether they had been cultivating diligently.
This time, the wind and current were favorable, and they reached Jade Pearl Island in four hours.
Zhao Yi jumped off the boat and told the two islanders to rest at the dock and head back in the afternoon. He strolled toward Qingxin Abbey halfway up the mountain.
As he approached the courtyard, Wang Qing's voice drifted faintly over.
"Chunsheng, have you practiced your ten rounds of the Body-Tempering and Body-Nourishing Fist this morning?"
"Third Senior Brother, I've finished."
"Good. Today we'll continue studying Daoist script. This afternoon, I'll teach you the Gale Sword Technique. It's quite formidable!"
"All right, Third Senior Brother."
A young voice came from inside the Daoist abbey.
Third Senior Brother? It seems they've found a child among the islanders with an aptitude for cultivation. Judging by his voice, he should be in his teens.
Not bad. No wonder that boy Wang Qing is so eager to play teacher. He's no longer Linghua Island's youngest disciple.
As he pondered, Zhao Yi walked into the abbey.
In the left wing, Wang Qing was teaching a boy to read.
Zhao Yi quietly approached the doorway. Neither noticed him; one was absorbed in teaching, the other in learning.
The young boy had a dark face, wore a wooden hairpin, and was dressed in a black Daoist robe.
The robe was a little large and did not fit very well. They could alter it for him after returning to Linghua Island.
Looking at the two before him, Zhao Yi did not know what he was thinking. Coming back to himself, he rubbed his face.
He gave a soft cough, drawing Wang Qing's and the boy's gazes at the same time.
Seeing Zhao Yi, Wang Qing said delightedly, "Eldest Senior Brother, when did you get here?"
"Just now. Not bad, Wang Qing. I could hear you from outside the abbey. You're teaching him well."
Zhao Yi smiled as he praised him.
Wang Qing chuckled and said to Chunsheng:
"Chunsheng, come pay your respects to Eldest Senior Brother."
The boy hurried over and bowed properly. "Greetings, Eldest Senior Brother!"
Looking at the nervous boy before him, with his thin build, thick eyebrows, large eyes, dark skin, and calluses still faintly visible on his palms, Zhao Yi was deeply stirred as well.
"Your name is Chunsheng? What's your formal name? How old are you?"
"Eldest Senior Brother, I don't have a formal name. I'm fourteen this year."
"Oh, then study Daoist script well. Once we return to Linghua Island, you can choose a formal name for yourself."
"Yes, yes, I understand, Eldest Senior Brother!"
The boy nodded hastily.
"Wang Qing, where's your second senior brother?"
"In the back courtyard."
"All right, carry on studying. I'll go find Liu Yu."
When he reached the back courtyard, Liu Yu was watering the medicinal herb field. He was happy to see Zhao Yi back as well.
Zhao Yi gestured, and the two went to the pavilion, one following the other.
"Have you settled into life on Jade Pearl Island this past month?"
"It's been all right, the same as on Linghua Island. I do my morning practice every day and patrol the island and surrounding waters. In my spare time, I stay at the abbey and make repairs."
Liu Yu continued:
"Wang Qing has taken his Essence Qi Pill and has now reached perfection in qi nourishing. I also plan to give him my three Essence Qi Pills. Perhaps they can help him enter the meridian opening stage."
Zhao Yi nodded slightly. There was not much difference between qi nourishing and meridian opening, but having another meridian opening cultivator would be good.
"Senior Brother, the Spirit Pearl truly is extraordinary. The spiritual energy inside it sustained my cultivation for a full twenty days, and my cultivation has advanced considerably. I've opened twenty-one of the greater celestial circuit's thirty-six meridians."
"Opening the greater celestial circuit means reaching minor attainment in meridian opening. Back then, it took me two years and two months to complete the greater celestial circuit. The Spirit Pearl helped you open twenty-one meridians, saving you at least a year of arduous cultivation."
After a moment's thought, Zhao Yi took out his own Spirit Pearl and said to Liu Yu:
"You can have this Spirit Pearl too!"
Liu Yu was just about to decline when Zhao Yi spoke again.
"Don't refuse. Don't forget, in three months, we have to go to Little Wave Island for the Trade Fair."
"My strength alone won't be enough. If you can reach minor attainment in meridian opening, you'll be able to help!"
Zhao Yi placed the Spirit Pearl in Liu Yu's hand and pushed it toward him.
"Eldest Senior Brother, how are your injuries?"
"They've healed. I came this time to take over from you and Wang Qing. Head back to Linghua Island tomorrow."
"All right. We'll take Chunsheng home!"
The two exchanged a glance and both smiled.
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