The Jambudvipa Vast Land was this very world.
Its myriad territories were divided into the Five Domains. Jiang Yi had read the Dao school's "basic textbook" and knew that the land beneath his feet was one of them, called the Southern Continent.
He had heard that the Southern Continent was vast, with ten sects and a hundred nations warring against one another. Bordering the Savage Wilderness, it saw much killing and strife-a lively place indeed.
But the Dao school's textbook contained little substance, and its contents were vague and sweeping. Jiang Yi had remembered only two points.
First, four Dao traditions manifested in the Jambudvipa Vast Land: immortal, Buddhist, demonic beast, and fiendish.
Only Dharma Lineages belonging to these traditions were permitted to establish Dao schools and throw open their sect gates.
The Qianji Sect was one of the Demonic Path Lineages.
Second, Rogue Cultivators and unaffiliated cultivators had no future. They had long been relegated to the ranks of the "heterodox paths." Even joining a proper sect as a mortal laborer was difficult for them; they could only seek work in illicit labor pits.
If he had to draw a comparison, they were roughly the equivalent of unattached people with neither diplomas nor household registration.
Seeing Jiang Yi's curiosity, Steward Lin was happy to offer a few pointers.
"Living forever, ascending amid rosy clouds, roaming beyond the heavens, indulging in unfettered freedom-that is the Dao Path walked by those born with an immortal destiny.
"Junior Brother Jiang, for blades of grass like you and me, struggling to survive amounts to earning a little more talisman money and eating a few more mouthfuls of spirit rice. We could go our whole lives without ever seeing a 'true cultivator.'"
That was true enough.
Jiang Yi nodded. From what his body's former owner had seen and heard, never mind mighty wielders of Divine Abilities who rode swords upon the wind and moved mountains and overturned seas-even cultivators who commanded water and fire or bound spirits and dispatched spirit generals were rarely seen.
Take the Qianji Sect: most duty officers were at the fifth level of Qi Refining. Above them were the administrators, positions reserved for inner disciples, who were roughly at the sixth or seventh level of Qi Refining.
As for whether the sect actually had any cultivators at the perfected twelfth level of Qi Refining, Jiang Yi truly did not know.
And that was already the limit of what lay within his reach.
"However hard things are for us, we're still 'practitioners of the Dao.' With some diligence, we can at least hope to shake off the label of 'mortal' hanging over our heads, rather than wallowing in the muddy mire of the mundane world."
Steward Lin raised his chin, his words carrying a touch of pride.
"Think about it, Junior Brother Jiang. Without the sect, where would you and I earn talisman money? Without talisman money, how would we get spirit rice? Never mind learning arts, practicing techniques, and advancing our cultivation.
"That's why the ordinary mortals down the mountain fight until their heads split to get in.
"The Dao school pupils are no different. Giving themselves over to a sect is their only path upward!"
Jiang Yi's brow creased slightly. Something about that felt wrong.
Cultivating the Dao began with "working a job"?
"Senior Brother Lin."
Jiang Yi ventured a question.
"What if Rogue Cultivators and unaffiliated cultivators gathered together, claimed a mountain and enclosed some land, reclaimed spirit fields, and collected Spiritual Qi...?"
Steward Lin burst out laughing.
"Wouldn't that be the 'Outer Dao'? Hahaha, there have been such cases over the centuries, but the great figures above wiped them all out with a flick of their fingers.
"Ah, it seems the Dao schools really have no decent teachers. They might as well not exist.
"Remember this well, Junior Brother Jiang: the greatest crime in the Jambudvipa Vast Land is to break away from one's Dharma Lineage and defy the Dao traditions! To become vermin gnawing at the Dao!"
"Especially those of the Outer Dao who establish sects and found Dharma Lineages without a Dao tradition's talisman decree—eight or nine out of ten are vermin."
Vermin gnawing at the Dao?
Jiang Yi's expression turned slightly odd. Hearing such "righteous and solemn" words from someone of the fiendish Dao was truly incongruous.
He wanted to ask more and learn the particulars, hoping to gain a clear outline of this world, but Steward Lin shook his head.
"Junior Brother Jiang, today's work is done, and I must meditate and cultivate. When I have time another day, I'll discuss it with you at length."
Jiang Yi tactfully took his leave, feeling somewhat envious of "retirees" like Steward Lin, who spent their remaining years at the lower compound.
Without having to work, they enjoyed "freedom to cultivate" and even received a monthly "stipend" from the sect.
It was the sort of good life the Qianji Sect's many mortal laborers could enjoy only in their dreams.
Who knows how long I'll have to endure before I can be like Steward Lin.
Jiang Yi followed the mountain path toward the shared courtyard on Crimson Flame Peak.
In this world, immortals and Buddhas manifested their divinity, while demonic beasts and fiends stood alongside them. Compared with his previous life, it could be called infinitely vast.
Having finally come here, how could he resign himself to being nothing more than a mortal laborer?
Even with the lot of an ox or horse, I still want to become an immortal. I still want to cultivate the Dao.
Jiang Yi considered his present circumstances. He had to work eight hours every day, with occasional "overtime." He mainly shuttled between the Quenching Room and the forging room.
The work was not complicated. The former involved "controlling fire," using his meager True Qi to manipulate a Pill Furnace and keep it at the proper heat; the latter involved hammering refined iron with True Qi to produce rough blanks.
There was little difficulty to these tasks. Someone at the first level of Qi Refining could learn them with a few days of instruction and perform them once practice made perfect.
They were merely dull and monotonous, as well as time-consuming and exhausting.
If I work only eight hours, I'll earn around two thousand in talisman money each month. Living in the shared courtyard costs four hundred, and food and drink cost another three hundred, provided I don't starve myself sick.
Jiang Yi worked through the figures carefully. Without talisman money in his pocket, he could hardly take a step, whether on the mountain or below it.
The Qianji Sect imposed few prohibitions on mortal laborers. As long as they could afford the talisman money, they could seek cultivation teachings too.
The prices were simply steep.
A single class on cultivation secrets taught by an inner sect elder cost five hundred in talisman money.
As for learning techniques, exchanging money for a look at a ninth-grade Qi Refining cultivation manual cost at least a sum beginning in the "tens of thousands."
That was without even mentioning the rather rare Grain Avoidance Pills or meditation chambers brimming with spiritual vitality.
The Qianji Sect only seems generous because it has ways to collect the talisman money it pays out all over again.
This fiendish Dao of Jambudvipa, ruling the world through its lineages, is rather interesting.
As Jiang Yi mulled it over, an inexplicable sense of déjà vu arose.
Earn it in the sect, spend it in the sect-not a penny goes home?
Thinking over the road ahead as he walked, Jiang Yi soon returned to the shared courtyard.
These were the "workers' quarters" provided by Crimson Flame Peak.
Usually seven or eight people, or even a dozen or more, crowded into one place.
Jiang Yi's lodgings were fairly good. In his memories, there were communal sleeping platforms costing two hundred in talisman money a month, where twenty or thirty-odd people lived jumbled together, as filthy and disorderly as pigpens and cowsheds.
In their former lives below the mountain, these people might have been respectable and well presented, dressed in silk and dining on fine food. But once they sold themselves to the Qianji Sect as mortal laborers, they could no longer put on such airs.
However much the fiendish Dao observed rules, it still bore the word "fiendish."
The cultivation methods commonly practiced did not follow righteous paths. Most required drawing out souls and seizing spirits, harvesting blood and nurturing essence.
Work honestly and dutifully, and talisman money would still come in.
But fail to follow the rules or know one's limits, and one might be devoured clean, skin and flesh alike.
"You're back, Yi? Didn't go to work today?"
Besides him and He Laohun, the shared courtyard housed a married couple surnamed Li and a widow surnamed Qin.
Four households in total, each occupying one of the four rooms.
The one greeting Jiang Yi was Widow Qin.
The woman had a respectable cultivation level. The loose-tongued He Laohun had once guessed that she should be at the third level of Qi Refining.
"Greetings, Sister-in-law Qin."
Jiang Yi offered a Daoist salute and greeted her politely.
"I didn't go to work today. Duty Officer Yang sent me to the lower compound to recruit newcomers."
Widow Qin smiled.
"That's a good assignment. Your eyes look so red—the smoke in the Quenching Room must have gotten to them badly. I happen to have brewed some Chrysanthemum Tea. Pour yourself a pot to drink and ease that dryness."
"Thank you, Sister-in-law Qin."
Jiang Yi spoke.
Trouble gathered at a widow's door. He exchanged only a few pleasantries and thanked her for her kindness before ducking back into his cramped room.
It's rather like the workers' barracks where I stayed during summer jobs.
The "single room" he rented for five hundred in talisman money each month was small, little more than a place that barely sheltered him from the wind.
Its four walls were rough earth, and it had room for only a plank bed, a table, and a chair.
Jiang Yi often felt that it was more like a cage that trapped his life.
He quickly suppressed these stray thoughts and raised a hand to rub his eyes, wondering whether he should get some medicine.
Ever since he had transmigrated, his eyes had felt as though wheat awns had gotten into them, pricking painfully now and then. It really was terribly uncomfortable.
With what I earned recruiting newcomers, plus these past few days of diligent work, I've nearly saved three thousand in talisman money.
If I go to the inner sect for classes on the secrets of Qi Refining, one session definitely won't be enough. I'll need to spend at least two thousand... The medicine can wait a little longer.
So Jiang Yi thought.
He was no longer the Crimson Flame Peak laborer who had scrimped and saved through hardship, wanting only to stake it all on a factory girl.
Since he had come to the Jambudvipa Vast Land, the most important thing was naturally to cultivate the Dao!
Here in the Qianji Sect, the most direct path upward was undoubtedly to seek cultivation teachings!
I can't skimp on this! If I break through to the Qi Refining Second Stage, never mind anything else—even work will become easier...
As Jiang Yi pondered, his eyes suddenly grew sore and dry. Golden light seemed to flicker within them, and an endless stream of tiny, tadpole-like characters emerged.
[Greetings, fellow immortal!] [The Great Dao transforms, and all things change; take up this book and examine cause and effect!]
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