Han Xuhan’s heart bled as he handed 100 spirit stones in total to the archive pavilion’s treasurer and ca out with two scrolls in his hands. With that purchase, almost the entirety of his savings was emptied in one go.
"I’m going to be a cultivator now, a real cultivator, a future celestial! How can I let a ager 100 spirit stones make feel the pinch..."
Muttering lines like these were how he consoled himself as he clutched both scrolls and hurried toward his hut in the Salted Fish Mountain Peak.
His first priority now was to cultivate a Mystic Art and reach the first layer. As for milestones like reaching the first layer of Physique Transformation Realm through the martial path, or purchasing a cultivation guide on Monasticism, he was too broke to pursue those.
Inside his hut, Han Xuhan sat on his small bed, feeling that this mont was perhaps the most important turning point of his life. He would turn into a cultivator from today forth; what a glorious fate! He had fantasized so much about this in his previous life!
"I’ll have to try the Skeleton Monarch Technique first, to summon the skeletons. So what’s the first step...Ah, there it is. Draw in unrefined qi into your ridians to channel them in the way shown in the diagram below...huh?
How do I do that?
In fact, what the hell is this unrefined qi? And where are my ridians?
"I know that every cultivation novel has sothing like this as a source of all abilities. But is the manner of using this supposed to be common knowledge?"
Han Xuhan was familiar with this trope, but he actually had no idea how to implent the theory into practice. And he didn’t want to wait till Elder Kong Ye’s next class to learn how to do it.
Then he rembered a very important fact. He had two bosses now, and both were protagonist tier characters in this fictional world!
"Hahah, can’t I just Mu Ran? If I ask Xuanyuan Zhou to teach what she’s learning from the lectures, she would be under the pressure of the rules of the sect, even if she doesn’t admit it. It’s best not to trouble her over matters this insignificant."
Bubbling with happiness, Han Xuhan ran out of his hut and tracked down Mu Ran’s residence, which turned out to be pretty close to his own.
His new boss was sitting on the porch, calmly reading the scroll he had purchased from the archives under the light of the setting sun. Seeing Han Xuhan rush into his yard, a strange smile appeared on his face.
"Underling Xuhan, your timing is so good! I was just thinking that I needed so help cleaning my toilet. The servants in this mountain are too lazy. They even dare to ask for extra money!"
Han Xuhan blanched for a mont. But his heart was prepared already. If a janitor’s work was all that he had to do to step into the path of a cultivator, he’d do it every day as long as it brought an ounce of benefit.
Half an hour later, he walked out of the toilet, almost feeling so regret. But what was done was done. Now, he could reap the benefits.
Thus, as dusk fell, under a lamp’s soft orange glow, the boss and the underling went down to serious business.
"That technique you gave was so cool, Boss! The description verified that it was a super aweso technique made by a super genius cultivator! Thank you so much! I would have never found it without your guidance!"
An awkward smile appeared on Mu Ran’s face as he listened to Han Xuhan boasting about the Skeleton Monarch Art.
Ahh, this innocent underling was too gullible!
Why are people so easy to fool these days?
Or is it that I, Mu Ran, am just too smart?
"Boss, here’s the thing. I went ho and tried to cultivate as per the instructions. But my background is too ordinary. I don’t even know what refined qi ans, where our ridians are, and how to draw qi into these ridians. So I’d really appreciate so guidance in this matter!"
"Good heavens! You don’t even know these things?" Mu Ran was aghast, looking at Han Xuhan in a whole new light. But his surprise lted into a look of distinct intrigue soon.
"This is actually not a bad thing, underling Xuhan. Do you rember when I said I could help you construct a better foundation than any other disciples of this sect?
"Actually, if you were a cultivator already, regardless of the path chosen, this foundation enhancing technique wouldn’t have worked on you."
Han Xuhan nearly cursed him out loud. What if he had ended up cultivating a little before eting Mu Ran for a discussion?
Wouldn’t that an he was almost on the verge of losing the third reward promised for completing Mu Ran’s quest? The system did say that Mu Ran’s claim was true; a rare foundation was within his reach!
Han Xuhan silently thanked the past owner of his current for being so diocre that he didn’t know a single thing about practical cultivation. No such mories had co to mind while he was trying to decipher the manual.
While he was suppressing his rage, Mu Ran went inside his bedroom and returned with a patchy sheepskin full of complex-looking diagrams.
"To most cultivators of the Mystic Arts path, the start of cultivation is a common point. They learn how to sense and absorb qi from the world, which is generally known as unrefined qi, unless your absorption technique follows special formulae beyond the capabilities of a beginner cultivator.
"We cycle the unrefined qi throughout our ridians, thus slowly unlocking the door to the first layer of the Art, except...there exists a different thod to start cultivation, which is opening the door to the Zeroth layer!"
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