A Journey Through the Cultivation World

After several attempts at feeling his way through, Su Mu had gained some understanding of how to travel between the two worlds.

After successfully sensing a faint tether, Su Mu followed that thread of connection and successfully returned to the Immortal Cultivation Realm.

Judging by the time Su Mu had spent on Earth, a day had passed here as well.

When Su Mu opened his eyes and looked around, he immediately noticed the maid from before crouching in front of him, setting up three sticks of incense.

Su Mu's mouth twitched at the sight. "What are you doing?"

"Offering you some incense."

Hearing him, the maid looked up, saw that Su Mu had awakened, and answered as though it were perfectly natural.

Offering incense?

Su Mu looked at what she was doing. She had even thoughtfully placed an incense burner in front of him.

"Even if I am a soul, surely I don't need incense offerings."

Su Mu looked at his somewhat illusory body, feeling rather helpless. Did she think he had become a ghost and was offering him incense to eat?

"Your soul won't hold out for many more days. It'll probably dissipate in another two or three days. This incense can help your soul become a little more solid."

After carefully setting the incense in place, the maid clapped her hands clean and stood up.

Su Mu froze at her words. Taking a closer look at his body, he found that she was right.

His body had actually become much more illusory. At this rate, it really would probably dissipate in two or three days.

"You can still absorb some of this incense now. Once you're about to dissipate, you won't be able to absorb it even if you want to."

Hearing this, Su Mu hurriedly rose and approached the incense, just about to ask her what he should do.

Unexpectedly, the moment he drew close, a trace of longing immediately welled up within him. He gently reached out and grasped at the rising smoke. It immediately drifted toward him, and his body grew solid bit by bit.

At that moment, Su Mu also felt an incomparable sense of comfort and fullness, followed by the security of finally having his feet on solid ground after floating for a very long time.

The maid watched quietly from the side without saying a word.

Su Mu felt increasingly glad that he had not considered running away. Otherwise, he would not even have been able to enjoy this stick of incense.

"By the way, how do cultivators like you usually improve your chances of surviving Tribulation Transcendence?"

Su Mu asked as he enjoyed the incense offering.

"Well, among the things cultivators generally seek after, the first is calligraphy from the Academy of Righteousness. However, only a work written out for the first time contains the most Righteous Qi and noticeably improves protection."

"The second is fortune. Fortune includes Dao fortune, national fortune, and personal fortune. None of the three is stronger or weaker than the others, though national fortune is relatively common, while Dao fortune is much rarer. As for personal fortune, it's rather elusive and intangible, impossible to see. With fortune's protection, surviving Tribulation Transcendence is naturally relatively easy."

"The third is Spirit Artifacts. If you have a powerful Spirit Artifact, it will naturally improve your chances of surviving Tribulation Transcendence."

Only those three?

Su Mu could not help frowning at her words. He had thought he might find an opportunity in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, but now it seemed that none of these options was within his reach.

Fortune had so little to do with him that even an eight-foot pole could not reach it. As for Spirit Artifacts, she was Great Liang's eldest princess. Could she possibly lack one?

He did not even have any money here, so he could forget about that.

As for this calligraphy...

"What exactly is this calligraphy from the Academy of Righteousness? Could you explain it in detail?"

Su Mu turned his attention to the calligraphy. Whichever way he considered it, that seemed to be the only option he could relatively understand.

"Calligraphy is just calligraphy."

The maid answered directly, looking as though it could not be more obvious.

Su Mu's face fell. Could she not describe what exactly it was?

The maid's eyes shifted slightly. "There happen to be some scholars from the Academy of Righteousness gathering literary works in the imperial capital today. Unfortunately, I don't have any money. Otherwise, I could get a piece for you to look at."

"You could take me to have a look!"

Su Mu immediately perked up at her words and hurriedly spoke.

"How could a servant like me take you outside so casually? You're a prisoner."

The maid hurriedly shook her head.

"When did I become a prisoner? The eldest princess never said that. Besides, she never said I was to be locked up."

Su Mu hurriedly explained. From beginning to end, the eldest princess had never said to imprison him here, only to keep an eye on him.

The maid thought it over carefully upon hearing this. That did seem to be true.

"Just take me to have a look. I'm doing this to find the eldest princess a way to improve her chances of surviving Tribulation Transcendence, too. We'll come back as soon as we're done looking. Surely you aren't afraid I'll run away."

As far as running away went, Su Mu really would not.

If he ran off without her protection, he might end up being scorched to death by the sun.

Even if the sun did not kill him, he still had no idea what this world was like. He might encounter someone intent on subduing demons and vanquishing evil who would take him for a ghost and exorcise him on the spot.

At this, the maid was finally tempted. However, she did not take Su Mu away immediately. Instead, she closed her eyes as though deep in thought. After a long while, she opened them again and nodded at Su Mu. "Let's go."

With that, she rose and led the way out of the room.

Seeing this, Su Mu hurriedly absorbed the little incense that remained and followed her outside.

The palace on the ground was not particularly heavily guarded. Along the way, they could see quite a few maids and guards.

From time to time, someone would stride toward the palace in the sky, only taking flight toward it after reaching a designated spot.

After observing for a while, Su Mu had a rough guess.

If he was not mistaken, anyone wishing to enter the palace first had to pass through the palace grounds on the ground and reach a designated spot before they could fly up to the actual palace.

People could not take flight freely anywhere else, and when they did take flight, there were probably very strict inspections there.

That would make it extremely difficult to slip into the palace in the sky.

The maid led Su Mu along without any obstruction, though quite a few people wore peculiar expressions when they saw him.

They had all heard about the earlier sacrificial ritual. Seeing Su Mu's illusory body now, they immediately guessed who he was.

Su Mu's expression remained unchanged. Having already experienced that grand spectacle earlier, being looked at a few extra times was only a trivial matter.

They soon left the palace. Familiar with the route, the maid led Su Mu through the streets and alleys.

Filled with curiosity about everything around him, Su Mu looked in all directions.

The architectural style here closely resembled that of ancient Huaxia, though some buildings looked distinctly foreign.

Some were even enormous trees woven into multistory houses, while others were homes built from green bamboo.

Most of the people coming and going looked like ordinary commoners, though there were also some who looked like cultivators.

Su Mu also noticed some vendors whose wares looked exceedingly strange. After a hurried glance, he could not name any of them.