In the latter half of the night, a light rain began to fall, pattering softly.
Chen Jin did not sleep. With the support of his cultivation method, he hardly needed to sleep as ordinary people did; he only needed to sit in meditation.
Sitting in meditation was not closing his eyes to rest his mind, but cultivation, commonly called the "Greater and Lesser Celestial Circuits."
The Lesser Celestial Circuit mainly ran along the conception and governing vessels, that is, the eight extraordinary meridians.
The eight extraordinary meridians differed from the twelve primary meridians. In ordinary people, the twelve primary meridians were unobstructed from birth, but the eight extraordinary meridians were not. Only after beginning martial training and cultivation would one connect and open them.
Hence the saying that once the conception and governing vessels were opened, one's martial prowess could advance by leaps and bounds.
This corresponded precisely to "Aperture Opening" in the Fourth Realm.
Chen Jin had drawn lightning into his body, opening the Three Yin Meridians of the Foot in one stroke, then ridden the momentum of Yin and Yang Qi to break through the eight extraordinary meridians like splitting bamboo.
For the orthodox methods of the Great Dao, these procedures were actually all foundational.
But the foundation also had to be laid firmly, and that depended on the slow, steady work of practicing the Greater and Lesser Celestial Circuits day after day.
As for those who took shortcuts, some consumed heavenly materials and earthly treasures, while others received an infusion of enlightenment, directly purging impurities and undergoing Marrow Cleansing to save themselves a hundred years of bitter cultivation.
The problem was that Chen Jin had no such immortal fortune or encounters.
His luck seemed to have been exhausted after an immortal master took a liking to him and brought him up the mountain.
Later, he had even fallen into a pit someone else had painstakingly dug and been made into a zombie. His misfortune could hardly have been worse.
Still, being able to return to life in a borrowed corpse might already have been the turning of utter adversity into good fortune.
That was all unknown.
What he could seize now was every morning and evening, cultivating without wasting a moment.
After Aperture Opening, one could draw Qi into the body. This step was crucial, marking the starting point of formal cultivation.
The Qi Seed and Qi School determined the prospects of one's Dao Path.
The former Chen Jin had strayed onto the wrong path and taken a wrong turn, leaving his Dao Path without hope. But after returning from death, he had cultivated Yin and Yang Qi directly, and his Dao Path was now bright and promising.
Perhaps this was what the common saying meant: survive a great calamity, and blessings were sure to follow.
But even blessings had to be sustained through effort.
After being a corpse monster once, his temperament had been tempered. Compared with his former exuberance and restlessness, he had become far steadier and could endure solitude.
Which brought the question back around: just what realm was Chen Jin in now?
He could open apertures and draw in Qi, could even perform Embryonic Breathing, and had a portion of True Qi as a trump card...
Thinking it over carefully, even he grew a little confused and could not make sense of it.
After all, his condition was one in ten thousand; there was simply no relevant point of comparison to be found.
Heh, who cares?
The divisions of cultivation realms were themselves only a frame of reference, by no means the sole, immutable standard.
After finishing his celestial circuit practice, Chen Jin took the Slay Evil Sword from his leather case and prepared to refine it.
This was refining, not practicing-not practicing swordsmanship or sword moves, but tempering the body of the magic sword itself.
This was precisely the core distinction between a magic sword and an ordinary blade.
Because of the special nature of their materials and refining methods, Law Artifacts all contained spiritual substance and vitality, and their quality was ranked according to their degree of spirituality.
The Slay Evil Sword was middle-grade. Above that was "high-grade."
The three grades-high, middle, and low-were as clearly divided as the Jing and Wei Rivers.
Above Law Artifacts were the legendary Law Treasures, which could only be encountered by chance, not sought. In any case, Chen Jin had never seen one.
For an ordinary cultivator, even possessing a low-grade Law Artifact was a rare blessing. Most used magic implements a rank below.
Thus, with the Slay Evil Sword in hand, Chen Jin was like a tiger given wings, his fighting strength multiplied.
Come to think of it, he had a fated connection with this sword.
At the very beginning, the monkey king had simply been moving about so much that he found it unbearable, so he had deliberately set it a difficult task and sent it off to fetch a sword.
Who would have thought the monkey would steal such a fine sword from the Yan Household Great Stronghold?
That was not quite right either. There had been a complication along the way: the Yellow Immortal Clan had stolen the blade. Only later, when Huang Yu came attacking his door, had Chen Jin called, "Sword, come," and seized it.
The feeling at the time had been quite mysterious, as though an object had returned to its rightful owner.
Now that his spiritual terrace aperture had opened, stirring up many memories in his consciousness, he discovered with a start that this sword really was his.
More precisely, it had once been his.
The Slay Evil Sword came from the sword sect's lower courtyard and had originally been the grand prize at a sword competition. Back then, Chen Jin had been brimming with spirit, taken first place in the competition, and won this sword. He had carefully nurtured it, fostering considerable spirituality within it.
Later, after trouble struck and Chen Jin fell to his lowest point, his fellow disciple and senior brother Su Zhen took a fancy to his sword, made it the stake of a wager, and won it from him.
Losing the sword had dealt Chen Jin a heavy blow, leaving him even more despondent.
He had never expected that, after so many twists and turns, this sword would return to his hands.
As for Su Zhen being lured to the Yan Household Great Stronghold by Yan Hui, needless to say, whether he had fallen for a beauty trap or some other pretext, he had followed in Chen Jin's footsteps and lost his life for nothing.
Although he had lost his beloved sword to this Senior Brother Su, Chen Jin had accepted the loss as part of the wager and truly held no resentment.
That was not the same situation as with Yan Hui.
Thinking of it that way, had Su Zhen's corpse not also been made into a zombie?
Judging by the time, that corpse should still have been lying in the Yan Household Great Stronghold.
Chen Jin sighed ruefully, then carefully examined the hilt again. Sure enough, he found signs of alteration. The side engraved with "Su Zhen" should originally have borne Chen Jin's name.
But once the treasured sword changed hands, the name naturally changed as well.
If he had a suitable tool, Chen Jin would likewise scrape off the two characters for "Su Zhen" now and engrave his own name again.
Precisely because it had returned to its rightful owner, refining the sword now came easily and went very smoothly.
He knew very well that until he formally cultivated his way into the Eighth Realm, "True Qi," this sword would remain a powerful tool.
Once he reached the Eighth Realm, he could nurture a Sword Seed without relying on external objects. That would be a true flying sword.
He would leave future matters aside for now. Becoming engrossed in them would be fantasy, leading to delusion and making Qi Deviation likely.
Several days hurried past in a flash.
Chen Jin mostly stayed in his hut, practicing his cultivation, drawing talismans, refining his sword...
His days were thoroughly full.
Old Man He and his family had grown accustomed to his never stepping outside and no longer bothered with him.
After all, no one liked being turned away at a closed door and inviting a rebuff.
But at noon that day, Old Man He came knocking again.
Chen Jin opened the door and looked at him calmly.
Old Man He looked visibly nervous. He said in a low voice, "Brother, something may have happened in the mountains."
"Something happened?"
Chen Jin asked.
Old Man He glanced to either side. "Haven't you noticed there have been far fewer people in the market lately? Quite a few people went out and haven't come back."
Chen Jin paused. Absorbed in cultivation, he truly knew nothing of these circumstances.
Belatedly realizing this, Old Man He hastily added, "In any case, it's very strange. Something's very wrong."
Chen Jin said mildly, "Could they have chosen to leave and gone out of the mountains?"
Whether mountain foragers, wandering warriors, or traveling merchants, their movements had always been uncertain, and they were accustomed to pursuing profit.
In other words, if Stream Mountain offered no prospects for development, they would naturally leave for somewhere else.
Who wanted to spend their days amid barren mountains and treacherous waters?
Old Man He smacked his lips. "That was what I thought at first, too, but after watching carefully, I found that wasn't the case. Quite a few of those parties had clearly made full preparations to go into the mountains to dig for medicinal herbs. But once they went, they vanished without a trace. A day or two would be understandable, but if they haven't returned after four or five days, something has most likely happened."
Chen Jin asked, "So what are you saying?"
Old Man He said, word by word, "This is no place to linger! My family has already packed everything, and we're leaving today. That's why I came especially to give you a word of advice: leave quickly. If you don't leave now, it'll be too late."
With that, he cupped his hands and hurried back to the opposite side.
Chen Jin watched his retreating figure, lost in thought.