Young Lord of the Liu Domain

The spring breeze brushed gently by, and willows swayed gracefully.

On an open stretch of land surrounded by clear water, several hundred boys and girls cultivated in the breeze.

Each of them wore a solemn expression, their eyes slightly closed. Their breathing followed an extremely rhythmic pattern, and with every inhalation and exhalation, faint glimmers of light, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, seemed to emerge around their bodies.

This was the West Academy of Northern Spirit Academy in the Northern Spirit Realm, a place of cultivation dreamed of by countless young men and women throughout the Northern Spirit Realm. Yet only a select few with talent or influential backgrounds could be admitted.

At the front of the clearing stood a high platform built from bluestone. A lone figure sat quietly cross-legged atop it... His hands were clasped before him, fingers interlocked, eyes tightly shut. He had clearly entered a state of cultivation.

The figure was also a youth. He had slightly messy short black hair, and his still-youthful face was somewhat thin, giving him a sharp, cutting air.

At that moment, visible light bloomed around the youth's body. Beneath that glow, an enigmatic energy seemed to be pouring into him.

Such a disturbance naturally caught the attention of several nearby youths. They all opened their eyes and looked toward the figure atop the stone platform.

"Eh, Liu Bai actually broke through to the Spirit Movement Realm. That's amazing!"

A youth saw the hazy glow and immediately revealed an envious expression.

"Hmph, what's so impressive about that? If I had a Domain Lord father too, I'd definitely have entered the Spirit Movement Realm before him..."

This was someone unwilling to accept it.

"Shut up already. You'll be in trouble if he hears you!"

Young people were always unwilling to concede defeat.

But faced with the enormous power behind him, how could ordinary people like them dare provoke him? Otherwise, they might disappear one day without anyone even knowing.

Liu Bai naturally heard the murmuring below, but he paid it no mind.

He had been transported into this world for a year now. Throughout that year, he had cultivated diligently without daring to slack off for even a single day, yet only now had he barely entered the Spirit Movement Realm... Though reaching the Spirit Movement Realm at fifteen sounded rather unimpressive, it still counted as genius-level talent within Northern Spirit Academy. (Unfortunately, there was no clear indication of Mu Chen's age, so this book would tentatively set Mu Chen at sixteen when the story began and fourteen when he participated in the Spirit Road. When the story began, Mu Chen had only just advanced into the Spirit Movement Realm.)

"Ding! Detected that the player has completed drawing qi into the body. System successfully activated!"

A mechanical voice suddenly rang in his ears, making Liu Bai's entire body tremble.

The system... has finally arrived?

Though it was a little late, it still came in time.

Having already experienced being transported into another world, a system could no longer greatly shock Liu Bai. Still, he was undeniably delighted.

After all, transmigrators with cheat abilities and transmigrators without cheat abilities were entirely different kinds of existences.

Open the system!

After steadying himself, Liu Bai silently commanded in his heart.

The next instant, an intangible pale-blue Light Screen appeared before Liu Bai... He discreetly observed the little brats below and found that none of them reacted in any unusual way. It seemed they could not see the Light Screen.

After confirming this, Liu Bai turned his attention to it.

Player: Liu Bai

Realm: Spirit Movement Realm

Spirit Veins: None

Cultivation Method: None

Skills:

Mortal Grade High Rank Wind Breaking Finger (Minor Accomplishment 0/50)

Experience Points: 0

Mm, it was an extremely simple status panel. It seemed his cheat ability was something like a game system that leveled up by fighting monsters. Simple, but practical.

Since he had arrived in the Great Thousand World, Liu Bai knew from the original work that it was impossible to cultivate a Cultivation Method before entering the Spirit Movement Realm and drawing qi into one's body. That was why "None" appeared under his Cultivation Method attribute.

As for Skills, they probably referred broadly to spiritual techniques, divine arts, and even divine abilities...

But what dissatisfied Liu Bai most was that he actually had no Spirit Veins!

His current identity was the eldest son of Liu Qingtian, the Domain Lord of the Liu Domain in the Northern Spirit Realm. In other words, he was the elder brother of Liu Mubai, Mu Chen's primary opponent in the early stages of the original work—a newly added character.

Yet according to his memories, both Liu Mubai and Liu Yang possessed Spirit Veins, even if they were only the lowest-grade Human Veins!

One had to know that Spirit Veins were extremely useful to those who had just begun cultivating. Especially before reaching the Spirit Movement Realm, when Cultivation Methods could not be practiced, Spirit Veins could increase a cultivator's speed in sensing spiritual energy and tempering the body.

After entering the Spirit Movement Realm, Spirit Veins could not only improve cultivation speed but also raise one's combat strength at critical moments. They were an exceptionally useful talent.

Although the effects of Spirit Veins would grow weaker as one's strength increased and would eventually even disappear, Liu Bai, as a transmigrator, knew that once one's cultivation reached the Heavenly Sovereign level, the value of Spirit Veins would emerge once more.

I remember that to cultivate one's spiritual body to perfection at the Heavenly Sovereign level, one must possess Spirit Veins...

Although people without Spirit Veins in the Great Thousand World—or whose Spirit Veins were too low-grade—were almost incapable of cultivating to the Heavenly Sovereign level, Liu Bai was an exception.

With his cheat ability, he had a strong chance of breaking through that limitation. But if the time came and his lack of Spirit Veins prevented his spiritual body from reaching perfection, he would definitely be weaker than others at the same realm.

Liu Bai frowned. It seemed he would have to see whether this problem could be resolved in the future.

It's still too early to worry about all that. The most important thing now is to choose a Cultivation Method, then figure out how to gain Experience Points...

With that thought, Liu Bai opened his eyes and stood up.

As Liu Bai moved, the youths who had been whispering among themselves immediately fell silent. One after another, they hurriedly closed their eyes and put on the appearance of cultivating diligently.

Of course, not everyone acted that way. Several boys and girls saw Liu Bai rise and hurried over with delighted expressions.

"Big Brother Liu Bai, did you advance into the Spirit Movement Realm?" a Brocatelle Youth asked as he hurried over.

Liu Bai nodded faintly. "Mm, I happened to break through..."

"Haha, I knew Big Brother Liu Bai would definitely be the first person of our generation in Northern Spirit Academy to enter the Heaven Tier! Those guys from the East Academy didn't believe it. Let's see how I slap their faces!"

The Brocatelle Youth was instantly overjoyed, looking even happier than if he himself had advanced.

As the young lord of the Liu Domain, even though Liu Bai did not enjoy mingling with these little brats, quite a few youths still gathered around him and looked to him as their leader.

Liu Bai did not coldly drive them away. He merely allowed it.

The Northern Spirit Realm where he currently resided was one of the countless regions on the Hundred Spirits Continent, as well as the weakest realm within Hundred Spirits Heaven.

The Northern Spirit Realm was divided into the Nine Domains. The Liu Domain, where Liu Bai was located, and the Mu Domain, where Mu Chen was located, were two of those Nine Domains.

However, the Mu Domain had only been established a few years ago, while the Liu Domain had been passed down for decades since the old Domain Lord, Liu Jingshan. It was one of the oldest of the Nine Domains.

For that very reason, the Liu Domain was the strongest among the Nine Domains. The old Domain Lord Liu Jingshan had even reached the peak of the Divine Soul Realm, making him the strongest person among the Nine Domains of the Northern Spirit Realm.

As for newer domains such as the Mu Domain and Tang Domain, their Domain Lords were only at the early or middle stage of the Divine Soul Realm, far inferior to the Liu Domain.

In the original work, Mu Chen was around the same age as Liu Bai's third younger brother, Liu Yang, and younger than his second brother, Liu Mubai.

Liu Mubai was only fourteen now and would enter Northern Spirit Academy this year. Therefore, Mu Chen, the original Great Thousand World's Child of Destiny, was at most twelve or thirteen years old now. At least another two or three years remained before the story began.

But before long, that kid Mu Chen should be chosen to participate in the Spirit Road Trial...

Liu Bai silently estimated the timeline.

When the story began, the Spirit Road had already ended. Each Spirit Road training session lasted two years, and Mu Chen had been expelled after training there for one year. He then cultivated at Northern Spirit Academy, only entering the Spirit Movement Realm a year later, when the story began.

After perfunctorily exchanging a few words with the youths, Liu Bai headed straight toward the Freshman District.

Because of their young age, the freshmen were currently taught basic cultivation methods by Northern Spirit Academy's Mentors. They had little interaction with older students like Liu Bai, who could already cultivate independently.

"Instructor Xi!"

Seeing the middle-aged man correcting the freshmen's cultivation postures, Liu Bai cupped his hands and called out.

This Instructor Xi was the West Academy Mentor from the original work. He had always maintained a good relationship with the Liu Domain, so whether in the original work or in reality, he treated Liu Bai and his brothers very well.

"Oh, Liu Bai. What is it? Do you have some cultivation question you need me to answer?" Instructor Xi asked with a smile upon seeing Liu Bai.

Liu Bai shook his head. "No. I merely broke through to the Spirit Movement Realm, so I'm planning to return home for a while and ask Instructor Xi for leave."

Instructor Xi was startled when he heard this. He hurried over, grasped Liu Bai's hand, and placed his palm against Liu Bai's. A gentle stream of spiritual energy then entered Liu Bai's body through his arm.

Feeling the calm, flowing aura within Liu Bai's body, Instructor Xi immediately revealed a delighted expression.

"You really broke through!"

"Excellent... You truly haven't disappointed me."

As the young lord of the Liu Domain, the resources Liu Bai could access were beyond comparison with those available to ordinary people. Even he, a Mentor, could sometimes not compare.

A person like this, so long as he was not exceptionally useless, would cultivate far faster than ordinary people. This was also why Instructor Xi favored students from major powers so much.

And as the young lord of the foremost domain among the Nine Domains, Liu Bai naturally received even more of his attention.

"You're returning this time to choose a Cultivation Method, right? Good, good. With the foundation of your Liu Domain, you surely have a Cultivation Method suited to you. Although I am an academy Mentor, there is only so much I can help you with in that regard. I approve this leave. You may return whenever you wish."

It was not that Northern Spirit Academy lacked the foundation of the Liu Domain. Rather, the truly precious things were the academy's treasures and would not easily be opened to students.

Even as an academy Mentor, he had to follow that rule. Therefore, those with deep backgrounds like Liu Bai would mostly seek more suitable Cultivation Methods directly from their families.

As for why people from the Liu Domain, Mu Domain, and other domains all chose to send their children of suitable age to Northern Spirit Academy, it was because they valued the quotas Northern Spirit Academy held for entering the "Five Great Academies"...

After all, while each of them held no low status in the Northern Spirit Realm, compared with the "Five Great Academies," they were truly insignificant.

While Liu Bai was speaking with Instructor Xi, a young-faced boy suddenly walked over.

"Big Brother, are you returning to the Liu Domain?"

Liu Bai turned and looked at the youth standing before him, who was a head shorter than himself. He smiled lightly. "Yes, Mu Bai. Do you want to return with me and have a look?"

Liu Mubai was still somewhat immature at this time, but his extraordinary talent was already apparent. He was even considerably more gifted than Liu Bai, his elder brother.

Especially after entering the academy, he had been discovered to possess Second Grade Human Veins, causing quite a stir throughout Northern Spirit Academy.

Hearing Liu Bai's words, Liu Mubai shook his head. "No need. Big Brother, you've already broken through to the Spirit Movement Realm, while I'm only at the middle stage of the Sensing Realm. I want to break through to the Spirit Movement Realm as quickly as possible and catch up to you!"

Clearly, though the little fellow was young, he was ambitious. Especially after learning that he possessed Second Grade Human Veins, his confidence had soared...

He actually wanted to surpass his elder brother.

What a pity, little brother. You might really have managed it before. But now... hopefully you would not suffer too great a blow in the future.

"Very good. That's quite ambitious!"

Liu Bai raised a hand and patted his younger brother's shoulder. "Work hard. I believe in you!"

He was his actual younger brother now, after all. He ought to encourage him when appropriate; he was just a child.

Without some encouragement, he would never know just how vast the gap was between himself and someone with cheats...

After bidding farewell to his younger brother and Mentor, Liu Bai returned directly to the Liu Domain.

Although Northern Spirit Academy was far from the Liu Domain, with a Teleportation Array, that distance could be crossed in an instant.

One had to admit that the Great Thousand World's level was truly high. Even a remote backwater like the Northern Spirit Realm, where the strongest person was only in the Divine Soul Realm, possessed a Teleportation Array.

But there was no helping it. The Great Thousand World was simply enormous!

The Liu Domain alone, just one of the Nine Domains within the Northern Spirit Realm, was as large as Liu Bai's homeland in his previous life. The other eight domains were not much smaller than the Liu Domain either.

This showed just how vast the Northern Spirit Realm was. And above it lay Hundred Spirits Heaven, as well as the entire Hundred Spirits Continent...

With those thoughts in mind, Liu Bai stepped out of the Liu Domain's Teleportation Array.

In an instant, a clamor surged into Liu Bai's ears.

This was Willow City, the main city of the Liu Domain and one of the most prosperous and majestic cities in the entire Northern Spirit Realm.

The instant Liu Bai emerged from the Teleportation Array, the guards stationed nearby spotted him. They immediately surrounded him in delight and bowed to the ground.

"Greetings, Young Lord!"

"The Young Lord has returned! Quickly, report to the Domain Lord!"