Two days later.
The morning glow had just risen, and the dawn light was faint.
Ninth Prince's Manor, rear garden.
The cold was biting; dripping water froze into ice.
Withered branches and dead trees lay buried beneath heavy snow, a vast expanse of white.
Fang Heng wore a plain sable cloak as he sat cross-legged atop a great rock on the artificial hill.
Facing east, he gazed toward the first rays of dawn rising over the horizon.
His dantian felt swollen, as though new life was about to burst forth from within him.
"Today is the day I break through and enter the Dao!"
Fang Heng exhaled a breath of turbid air.
The warmth of his breath instantly condensed into tiny ice crystals amid the depths of winter.
At the very instant the dawn light leaped above the horizon.
Fang Heng focused his mind and calmed his breath, circulating his cultivation technique.
He only felt surging purple qi rushing toward him.
Like rolling waves, endless and unceasing.
Or like ten thousand galloping horses, flowing onward without rest.
In that instant, Fang Heng felt as though his entire body had been surrounded by an ocean of purple qi.
Countless streams of purple qi rushed into his dantian, each vying to be first.
Like fledgling swallows returning to their nest, fallen leaves returning to their roots.
It gave Fang Heng a strange sensation.
As though his dantian was the final destination of Heaven and Earth Purple Qi.
If other Daoist cultivators learned of this treatment, of Heaven and Earth Purple Qi rushing in impatiently on its own, their eyes would turn red with envy.
Every day, they racked their brains and struggled to draw in even a thread of Heaven and Earth Purple Qi.
Yet for Fang Heng, it was as simple and effortless as eating and drinking.
Such was the Innate Immortal Seed!
Endless purple qi surged in.
The swelling sensation within his dantian grew ever more real.
Until...
Boom!
An invisible thunderous roar rang out from the depths of his body.
Like the great bells of the Yellow Bell and Grand Chime—great sound, rarely heard.
Profound beyond profound, wondrous beyond words.
Yet only Fang Heng himself could hear that tremendous sound.
Breaking through and entering the Dao happened at this very moment!
Dense vitality burst forth.
It nourished his flesh and nurtured his soul.
Even the withered branches and dead trees regained life, sprouting new buds and growing.
The hundred flowers filling the garden bloomed like rain, bursting open in competition.
The entire rear courtyard instantly transformed into a sea of flowers, their fragrance overflowing everywhere.
For a moment, it seemed as though time and space had been crossed.
This was no longer the twelfth lunar month, but bright springtime in March, with radiant sunshine.
Fang Heng slowly opened his eyes, two brilliant beams of light bursting from them.
As he looked upon the spring splendor filling the garden, a feeling of boundless exhilaration rose in his heart.
Ten years of bitter cultivation, unknown to all; in one morning, he saw all the flowers of Jade Capital.
The first realm of the Daoist School: Feasting on Rosy Clouds.
He had succeeded!
In the myths and legends of Huaxia, feasting on rosy clouds and consuming qi was a way of life for immortals, something that existed only in tales.
But in the Great Qian Dynasty, feasting on rosy clouds and consuming qi was no longer myth or legend. It was the first step in the Daoist School's cultivation system.
Feasting on rosy clouds and consuming qi meant drawing in and exhaling the vital essence between Heaven and Earth.
Compared to cultivators who had yet to break through and enter the Dao, the greatest improvement was that the essence they could draw in was no longer limited to the gentlest Heaven and Earth Purple Qi.
They could also draw in other essences between Heaven and Earth.
The most common of these was spiritual energy.
Their cultivation speed far surpassed what it had been before breaking through.
Fate Master: Fang Heng Lifespan: 16/25 Realm: Feasting on Rosy Clouds (First Realm of the Daoist School) Fate Traits: Innate Immortal Seed (Gold), Dragon Descendant (Red), Early Death (Gray) Destiny: 50 points ...
After glancing at his panel, Fang Heng nodded in satisfaction.
The three major mainstream cultivation systems—Martial, Daoist, Buddhist—each had their own strengths.
Among them, the Daoist School excelled at nourishing life and prolonging longevity.
Daoist cultivators of the same realm enjoyed lifespans far exceeding those of the Martial path and Buddhist School.
Merely advancing to the first realm had granted Fang Heng five additional years of life.
Of course, the Martial path and Buddhist School also had their own strengths.
The threshold for the Martial path was low.
Aside from cases like Fang Heng's, where one was born with an innate deficiency, anyone could cultivate the Martial path.
Thus, within the Great Qian Dynasty, Martial Artists vastly outnumbered Daoist and Buddhist cultivators.
Especially in the military, Martial Artists were as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river.
After surviving countless bloody battles and standing out from the rest, every one of them was an outstanding figure among men.
The military nobles of the Great Qian Dynasty also mostly came from Martial Artist backgrounds.
As for the Buddhist School, it placed great emphasis on enlightenment.
Within the Buddhist School, there was a saying that had spread far and wide: achieve enlightenment in a single day, and become a Buddha on the spot.
This was not myth or legend.
The founding patriarch of Azure Dragon Temple in the Western Regions Buddhist Kingdom was an example of one who had become a Buddha on the spot.
For the first sixty years of his life, he had rung bells and beaten drums in a temple, muddleheaded and unremarkable.
He had merely been an ordinary old monk who knew nothing of cultivation and possessed no cultivation whatsoever.
Yet on the night of his sixtieth birthday, he attained enlightenment in a single day and became a Buddha on the spot.
In one night, he broke through twelve realms in succession.
From an ordinary old monk with no cultivation at all, he became an eminent monk of the Buddhist School's twelfth realm.
Afterward, he traveled throughout the Western Regions Buddhist Kingdom, debating scriptures for thirty years without a single person able to defeat him.
After that, the eminent monk established Azure Dragon Temple in his hometown.
By now, Azure Dragon Temple had become one of the five great temples of the Western Regions Buddhist Kingdom.
In the depths of winter, all the flowers were blooming.
This abnormal sight fell entirely into Yun Menglan's eyes.
With a light tap of her toes, her figure flashed.
Her graceful, moon-white form appeared in the rear courtyard.
Looking up, she saw Fang Heng seated cross-legged atop the artificial hill.
The newborn dawn rested upon his shoulders; the young man's spirit was high, and the sunlight was just right.
"Your Highness, you..."
"Entered the Dao?!"
Astonishment, delight, relief... all manner of complex emotions intertwined across Yun Menglan's dignified and lovely face.
A thin mist rose in her autumn-water eyes, lending her an additional hazy beauty.
Fang Heng rose and leaped down from the artificial hill, his body light as a swallow and his bearing utterly carefree.
"Aunt Yun, I have entered the Dao."
Those lightly spoken words filled Yun Menglan with endless emotion.
"Good!"
"Very good!"
"Truly very good!"
"Was it Evergreen Temple's Life-Nourishing Art?"
Yun Menglan wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye and hurriedly asked with concern.
"About that... I'm not entirely sure either."
"Over the past two days, I always felt something strange when cultivating the Life-Nourishing Art, so I tried cultivating the Everlasting Evergreen Scripture."
"I never expected that it would actually work on the first try!"
Fang Heng's explanation was deliberately ambiguous.
After all, he could not reveal the fate trait of Innate Immortal Seed to outsiders.
Even though Yun Menglan had been utterly loyal to him and had watched him grow up since childhood.
Fang Heng still held something back.
Yet his ambiguous explanation immediately caused Yun Menglan to fill in the missing picture herself.
His Highness had cultivated the Life-Nourishing Art for ten years, then acquired an immortal root after birth, just like Evergreen Temple's founding patriarch.
"Her Ladyship did not send Your Highness to Evergreen Temple in vain."
"Ten years of bitter cultivation have finally borne fruit."
"Your Highness, come with me into the palace and tell Her Ladyship this wonderful news."
Yun Menglan eagerly wished to tell Consort Ning the good news that Fang Heng had broken through and entered the Dao.
"Aunt Yun, there is no rush."
"Let us wait a few more days until I have consolidated my cultivation, then it will not be too late to tell Mother the good news."
"That way, we will not celebrate too soon."
Fang Heng explained calmly and methodically.
Yun Menglan was first taken aback, then immediately understood and nodded her lovely head.
"Your Highness has thought it through more thoroughly."
The two returned to the study. Fang Heng sat down and asked, "Aunt Yun, how has the disaster relief been going these past two days?"
"Your Highness, this is the disaster-relief ledger. Please review it."
"I will not look at the ledger. I trust Aunt Yun."
Seeing the ledger Yun Menglan had brought out, Fang Heng waved his hand, having no desire to inspect the accounts.
But Yun Menglan was displeased.
"Your Highness, rules cannot be discarded."
"All manor accounts must pass before your eyes."
Seeing Yun Menglan's rigidly proper manner, Fang Heng revealed a helpless expression.
After checking through the accounts, he found that Yun Menglan had handled everything meticulously, and every account matched perfectly.
Over the past two days, disaster relief and porridge distribution had used three hundred taels of silver, even less than Fang Heng had expected.
Yet those three hundred taels of silver had earned Fang Heng 45 Destiny Points.
He had won big!
From this, Fang Heng also discovered that the acquisition of Destiny Points was related to his degree of involvement.
The same disaster relief could likewise increase National Destiny.
When he helped Shen Qiushui, he received 5 Destiny Points.
When he secretly took charge himself, he received even more Destiny Points.
The difference lay in how involved he was.
If he handled it personally, he might gain even more Destiny Points.
However, for a prince like him to personally carry out disaster relief would ultimately be far too conspicuous.
In the eyes of those with ulterior motives, he would inevitably be accused of buying people's hearts.
"Aunt Yun, you have done very well with the disaster relief. Continue it."
"If there is not enough silver, draw directly from the manor funds."
"Understood, Your Highness."
Over the following days.
The disaster relief and porridge distribution brought Fang Heng quite a few Destiny Points.
Destiny Points +20!
Destiny Points +15!
Destiny Points +20!
Destiny Points: 105
"Finally, I can condense my second fate trait."
Brilliant light flickered in Fang Heng's eyes.
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