Zhou Chuan walked away with his head bowed. He had once stood in the spotlight as a genius from the Goose Kingdom and its youngest top scorer in the liberal arts, but now he had sunk so low that he was despised and shunned by everyone, finding himself in a place where nobody thought him worthy of respect.
Not a single person looked at him with kindly eyes. All he could do was stay far away from them and search for the most remote cave dwelling. The most distant cave dwelling was now his.
He was quite satisfied with the environment of the cave. To others it appeared rather crude, but he felt it was spacious, had many rooms, and best of all, it was free.
At the entrance were three Jade Slips: the sect rules, the sect map, and instructions for using the cave dwelling's restrictions, respectively. To preview the contents of a Jade Slip required divine sense, so Zhou Chuan was currently unable to open them.
He was starving and deeply frustrated; if he knew the map, he could go to the dining hall to find something to eat.
"I heard the Water Talisman Sect has a dining hall, but there are too many mountains here, and without a map I can't find the place. I refuse to believe that all my fellow disciples are the same and not a single one has a warm heart! I'm just asking for directions, I don't believe no one will answer."
Zhou Chuan went from cave dwelling to cave dwelling to inquire. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to have reached a tacit agreement. Seeing him approach, they couldn't even be bothered to converse, instantly activating their restrictions and slamming their doors shut.
Xiao Shengke was the person with the highest Cultivation base on Heiwu Mountain. He disliked Zhou Chuan, and whoever formed a bond of good karma with Zhou Chuan would be equivalent to going against him. Weighing the pros and cons, anyone would choose to lean toward the advantageous side.
"Fine! You're all ruthless, then I'll look for it myself. I refuse to believe that the disciples of the entire outer sect are cold-blooded animals."
The more setbacks Zhou Chuan faced, the more courageous he became. The more others looked down on him, the more determined he was to prove himself.
The Water Talisman Sect was considered a major sect, covering a vast territory. Without the ability to fly, it was difficult to cross mountains to reach another. After walking for half a day, Zhou Chuan found that he couldn't run into a single person. At this time, the grand defensive formation of the mountain had already concealed itself, so there was a distinction between white day and black night.
Seeing that it was getting dark, he figured that if he continued searching, he would likely get lost. He decided to stop walking, picked tree leaves at the foot of Heiwu Mountain, and ate a vegetarian meal.
Rustle! Rustle! Zhou Chuan climbed up a tree to pick tender leaves when he suddenly heard a noise from below. Having survived in the wild, he quickly judged that it was an animal.
"That's right! Why can't I go hunting? Why must I go to the kitchen?" Zhou Chuan suddenly woke up to the idea.
Zhou Chuan had a lot of experience capturing wild boars and hares; he would set traps and use small animals as bait.
No sooner said than done, it wasn't long before he successfully set up the trap and went into hiding. While waiting for his prey to take the bait, he chewed on tree leaves to fill his stomach. Smacking his lips, after a while, he heard a sharp sound.
"It's hooked!"
He immediately ran over and parted the leaves. He saw a piece of prey fallen at the bottom of the trap, its body pierced by sharp thorns and still bleeding.
"Hey, what kind of rabbit is this, covered in red fur? I've really never seen a red-furred rabbit before. Whatever, a rabbit can definitely be eaten."
He knocked the rabbit unconscious and carried it back to his cave dwelling. Zhou Chuan had marked his path along the way so he wasn't afraid of getting lost. When he returned to the cave dwelling it was already quite late, and the doors of the individual cave dwellings were open, casting out the glow of lamps. Fellow disciples who had come out to get some fresh air or chat casually noticed him carrying the red rabbit in his hand.
Several people wanted to open their mouths to speak, but in the end they held back. Zhou Chuan flashed an unfriendly look; since others treated him poorly, why should he bother plastering a smile on his face?
Having been hungry for a long time, Zhou Chuan decided not to let the rabbit's blood go to waste either. After plucking the fur and removing some of the internal organs, he threw it into a large pot to boil. He had already gathered quite a few seasonings at the foot of the mountain to use for flavoring.
He couldn't wait for the rabbit meat to be thoroughly cooked, so he drank the rabbit blood first. Drinking blood was something he had done many times before.
He lived far away, and as long as he didn't make a big commotion, no one would be willing to waste their divine sense to spy on him.
By the late hours of the night, the rabbit meat was thoroughly cooked, emitting a fragrant aroma.
"Wow! So delicious!"
Zhou Chuan wolfed down the food, finishing all the meat and drinking a whole pot of soup. The long-lost feeling of fullness made him immediately want to sleep. The initiation trial had truly consumed too much energy, and this was his first full meal in many days. It was getting late; before dawn, he collapsed on the floor and fell fast asleep.
He didn't know how long he had slept before he was woken up by his feverish, burning body. He sprang up, shouting continuously about the heat. He hurriedly fetched a large barrel of cold water and soaked himself in it, only then feeling somewhat comfortable.
He fell into a hazy sleep inside the water.
On the second day, not a single person came to pass along a message, nor did anyone come to visit him. Heiwu Mountain was dead silent. Fellow disciples often visited one another, but on Zhou Chuan's side there was none.
Hungry, still hungry! The Spiritual Qi of Heiwu Mountain was relatively dense, but he only absorbed it without refining it, which would accelerate the loss of his physical energy and easily induce hunger. Thinking of the scene of eating the rabbit last night, Zhou Chuan drooped saliva all over the floor.
He made up his mind to go down the mountain to catch rabbits.
"No matter how big the world is, getting a full stomach is the most important thing."
At dusk, the fellow disciples of Heiwu Mountain saw Zhou Chuan coming back carrying two red rabbits, and they also saw a hint of smugness on his face.
Today's rabbits were exceptionally fat, and he had harvested two of them, no wonder Zhou Chuan was feeling quite pleased with himself.
The fellow disciples still stared at him without speaking. Zhou Chuan didn't care, whistling as he walked away.
That night, Zhou Chuan ate one rabbit, and sleeping right after eating was the most wonderful thing. A barrel of cold water had already been prepared. Sure enough, in the middle of the night he was once again woken up by the heat. Waking up, he immediately jumped into the water barrel, struggled for a while, and fell asleep again.
On the third day, Zhou Chuan found that there were three more Jade Slips at his doorstep. Holding them in his hand, Zhou Chuan let out a helpless sigh. Afterwards, he decided that survival was still paramount; he needed to stockpile meat so he wouldn't have to go down the mountain every day.
That evening, he came back carrying a wicker basket on his back. The basket contained some wild vegetables and five red rabbits. When passing by his fellow disciples, Zhou Chuan hummed "Nine Fragrant Grasses".
"This rabbit can't be eaten!" someone finally spoke. His name was Wu Zhongmin.
"Why?" Zhou Chuan stopped.
"Anyway, it can't be eaten. Eating it is harmful to the body."
"Will it kill people?"
"That won't happen."
"Absolute nonsense."
Wu Zhongmin vowed that he would never speak a second word to Zhou Chuan again.
Knowing that the rabbit couldn't kill people, Zhou Chuan felt doubly reassured. The so-called inedibility probably just meant that eating it would make the body feverish. As long as this bodily fever was cooled down in time, the problem could be resolved, and it wouldn't kill anyone. Not eating meat was the only way people would die here.
The cave dwelling was very cool and shady. He killed all the rabbits, and keeping the meat for a few days would be no problem at all. The problem of having enough food and clothing for five to seven days was temporarily solved.
On the fourth day, a peerlessly beautiful Senior Sister arrived, and everyone on Heiwu Mountain rushed out to meet her.
"My name is Lu Meiling, an outer sect disciple on duty at the Hall of Affairs. I've come today to notify everyone that starting from today, you can go to the Hall of Affairs to accept tasks and accumulate sect contribution points. Considering that most of your Cultivation bases have not yet reached the 3rd Layer of Qi Condensation and you cannot fly with swords, I have brought you Flight Talismans and Flying Cranes this time."
She took out a stack of talisman paper and continued, "Flight Talismans have limits on the number of uses and flight distance; they can fly one hundred times, with each flight covering one hundred miles. The immortal sect gives each of you newcomers three of them. As for these Flying Cranes, they have no limit on the number of uses, but they are restricted to use within the sect only and cannot break out of the grand defensive mountain formation. As for how to use them, I don't need to teach you; come over and collect them now."
Everyone orderly collected their Flight Talismans and Flying Cranes. The Water Talisman Sect was famous for its talismans, and every disciple had to study talisman arts, aiming to become a talisman master. Being able to use a Spirit Talisman did not make one a talisman master; being able to project a Spirit Talisman made one a talisman master.
Talisman masters were divided into grades from low to high: First-Rank Talisman Master, Second-Rank Talisman Master, and Third-Rank Talisman Master. Above the third rank were Heavenly Talisman Masters, though the Water Talisman Sect had yet to produce one.
Zhou Chuan lined up at the very end. He had a whole pile of questions he wanted to ask Senior Sister Meiling.
"Senior Sister, are there any Flight Talismans and Flying Cranes that can be used without Spiritual Power?" Zhou Chuan asked a question that seemed very idiotic to others.
"No." Senior Sister Meiling replied very coldly.
"Is there any way? I mean the kind where even a mortal can fly." Zhou Chuan's tone became much weaker.
Lu Meiling immediately released her divine sense, scanning Zhou Chuan's entire body. Zhou Chuan was completely unaware of the divine sense scan; he assumed one had to cultivate divine sense themselves to perceive when they were being spied upon.
"Oh, I remember now, you're the new disciple who climbed the mountain-opening gates without even reaching Qi Condensation." Meiling wore a realization look.
"That's exactly this junior brother, so please Senior Sister, don't blame me for the question I just asked."
"The Elder gave instructions, this is for you."
Lu Meiling took out a piece of sheepskin parchment from her storage bag and handed it to Zhou Chuan. When Zhou Chuan saw that it was text he could touch, joy was written all over his face.
"Righteous Qi Formula!" Zhou Chuan read the title aloud.
"This is for you to condense your Qi. Comprehend it yourself. Without condensing Qi, you won't have a shred of Spiritual Power, and you will find it difficult to take a single step within the sect. Therefore, for you, the most urgent matter is to successfully condense Qi and break through to the 1st Layer of Qi Condensation."
"May I ask Senior Sister, how long does it generally take an ordinary person to comprehend it?"
"The fast ones take two or three months, the slow ones three to five years, or even ten years is possible. However, the time the immortal sect gives you is limited. According to the sect rules, you must complete one sect task every year, and you cannot complete them without Spiritual Power. If you fail to complete a task for two consecutive years, you will be expelled. So your time is only two years."
"Thank you, Senior Sister, for explaining it to me in such detail."
After answering Zhou Chuan's questions, Lu Meiling mounted her immortal crane and flew away.
Before Foundation Establishment, cultivators had to eat before achieving inedible fasting (bigu). However, in a sect with dense Spiritual Qi, practicing cultivation would absorb a large amount of Spiritual Qi, thereby alleviating hunger. Furthermore, every cultivator knew that the longer one went without eating, the better the cultivation effect. If they were truly hungry, the dry rations, spirit fruits, or even pills in their storage bags could satisfy their hunger.
The Water Talisman Sect had no dining hall, only Baili Pavilion. At Baili Pavilion, one could exchange contribution points or Spiritual Stones for spiritual food. As cultivators, they generally chose not to eat mortal food, opting instead for spiritual materials that helped improve their Cultivation base as food.
"Guard the heart with the spirit, transform intent into qi, connect qi with heaven and earth, guide qi into the body, circulate it smoothly. The meridians begin to form, the spirit gathers and concentrates, the spiritual embryo is born initially, nourishing the qi meridians."
This was the incantation of the Righteous Qi Formula. Zhou Chuan committed it firmly to memory after reading it just once. However, thoroughly understanding it was not something that could be achieved in a day or two.
"Transform intent into qi, connect qi with heaven and earth, guide qi into the body, circulate it smoothly. This means comprehending the body as qi, communicating with the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, thereby achieving the goal of guiding qi into the body. Although I understand these words, how on earth am I supposed to imagine myself as qi?" Zhou Chuan's interpretation was very accurate, but he was unable to achieve a true sense of realization.
What annoyed him was that every time he tried to sit in meditation and cultivate spiritual imagery, his stomach would rumble, emitting signals of hunger. Moreover, this feeling of hunger would become increasingly intense until it reached a point where he couldn't ignore it.
"This won't do. If I don't solve the problem of eating, I truly cannot settle my mind to meditate."
He made up his mind.