Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Fellow Daoist, please call me Yun Heng.” Yun Heng’s tone was polite and his eyes twinkled as he looked at Lonemoon. “How should I address you?”
“Lonemoon,” Father Niu answered, putting on his business-like smile He Turned around and introduced the people around him. “These are the disciples of Invincible Sect. They have come to spread the word. They look forward to cooperating with Fellow Daoist in the future.”
“Of course, of course.” Yun Heng nodded. It was obvious from his expression that he was overjoyed. “Spreading the word cultivation is a huge matter – as long as Fellow Daoist says the word, I will definitely do what I can to be at your service.”
Lonemoon had no intentions of speaking too much with Yun Heng. After exchanging a couple more pleasantries, he allowed Yun Heng to lead Si Yu and the others down to test spirit roots. There were only the three of them left in the hall, along with one ghost. They were no longer required to be involved in recruitment of disciples. In fact, that would be insulting to their positions They put so much effort into making a grand entrance – they had to make sure that they played that role well to the end.
However, Lonemoon could not help his curiosity toward the quality of people in this small world. He retrieved a crystal which displayed the testing stage below them. At that moment, there was a long line before the stage. All sorts of Mystic cultivators were excitedly waiting. Perhaps it was because Si Yu and the others were already there – the crowd was not pushing and jostling to get to the front. Instead, everything was progressing in an orderly fashion.
The miraculous thing was everybody who was on the stage, including those who were standing guard at the city gates, had a spirit root. Of course, this was apart from one or two civilians who were just there to enjoy the excitement. Those who had spirit roots were not of bad quality either. Most of them had either two or three spirit roots. Within an hour, they managed to find two people with celestial spirit roots.
People of this caliber were rare in other small worlds. It was almost as if everybody with good-quality bodies had gathered into one city. The only thing was…
“Why do they all have cultivations?” Lonemoon glared at the two unreliable master and disciple duo. “Didn’t you say there are no cultivators in this world?” Everybody who had their spirit roots tested were in their first- to fifth-stages of Qi Refinement.
“Perhaps it’s because of what they call Mystic cultivation,” Yi Qing replied. “They had been training in a cultivation that was mainly concerned with creating talismans. That was what most of them did before, although they claim they do not know how to gather Qi into their own bodies. Nevertheless, they know how to activate the spirit Qi in their surroundings to create talismans. Of course they would gain some form of cultivation from that.” What they were missing was an understanding of spirit Qi. That was why they did not know how to activate it. Of course, they would not know the basics of how to endure lightning tribulation. That’s why they could not reach Foundation Establishment after going through the lightning tribulation., and why they were all only at the Qi Refinement stage.
Lonemoon pondered over this. Then, he released his divine perception to scan the crowd. Indeed, he did not find one cultivator in the Foundation Establishment stage. Suddenly, a question popped into his head. “How did Yun Heng become a Soul Formation cultivator?”
“He has a light… he has merit,” Yi Qing answered.
Lonemoon stared blankly back at him as he recalled the golden glow around Yun Heng. People with merit would normally be taken care of by the Heavenly Dao. Given that the glow around Yun Heng was so bright, it was natural that he did not face any obstacles while training. That was probably the reason why he could advance without having to go through the lightning tribulation.
He looked into the crystal curiously, specifically at the man who was very seriously trying to help Si Yu write names into the register. “He realized that there was a mistake with his own cultivation and immediately became determined to change his training technique. The key was he did this not for his own selfish gains, but for the benefit of this small world. A heart like Yun Heng’s is rare indeed. He deserves to have accumulated so much merit.”
“Indeed.” Yi Qing nodded. Yun Heng was probably the first to find out that there was a problem with this world’s cultivation. When he realized that Yi Qing knew the way to train and become an immortal, he did not succumb to temptation and change his own training techniques like ordinary people would. Instead, the first thing he did was ask Yi Qing to tell the rest of the Mystic cultivators about his method of cultivation. He had no selfish intentions in his heart. The only thing he desired was for the small world to get out of danger. “He indeed is a rare, kind-hearted soul.”
“You can’t put it that way,” Song Ren suddenly interrupted the two of them. He tutted as he looked contemptuously into the crystal. His expression darkened. “You can’t tell just from looking at the surface of some people what they harbor in their hearts!”
Shen Ying, who had been chewing on a fruit beside them, paused and turned to look at the rich ghost. “You don’t like him?”
Yi Qing and Lonemoon turned to face Song Ren as well, surprised that he would say something like that.
Song Ren frowned as he continued to look into the crystal with contempt. Instinctively, he answered, “He looks like a sun – so blinding. What’s there to like? Hmph!” The hatred in his eyes grew deeper as he began to get riled up. He could not take his eyes off of Yun Heng.
Yi Qing jumped and stepped forward. “You can see the glow of merit around his body?”
“It’s so bright – who wouldn’t be able to see it?” He looked at Yi Qing, as if offended that the latter would suggest he was blind.
Yi Qing exchanged a meaningful glance with Lonemoon and said, “Song Ren, did you know Yun Heng before?”
“Huh?” Song Ren turned. “I didn’t.”
“Then… why do you have so much hatred toward him?”
Song Ren paused, as if realizing what he had said. A look of confusion flashed across his face as he scratched his head. “I don’t know. I just… he doesn’t look like a good person. He’s hateful!” Once he finished speaking, he nodded hard and glared at the man in the crystal. His entire body tensed up.
Yi Qing frowned even more deeply now. By right, people with the glow of merit should be likeable and friendly. Song Ren was a timid ghost, and he was not hard to get along with. He was even kinder and more friendlier than his own master. Lonemoon would not have expected him to form such an extreme view of Yun Heng on his first time meeting him.
Could it be that before he died, he knew Yun Heng?
…
It looked like they had to ask Yun Heng about this soon.
——————
Lonemoon was excited. He did not think that he would suddenly have so many disciples who would train in sword cultivation. The next day, Si Yu reported to him the outcome of all the tests. There were 17 celestial spirit roots, among whom two had extraordinary spirit roots. They found a few hundred people with two or three spirit roots each. This was even more than the number of people with waste spirit roots that they had found.
Among these, Lonemoon picked a few people with better quality bodies to be sword cultivators. To these, he personally imparted his skills. He let Si Yu and the others train the others to gather Qi into their own bodies, and to teach them basic sword techniques. Again and again, Lonemoon reminded them not to train them in body cultivation. Moreover, he isolated Shen Ying from all the new disciples, and allowed them to enter the hall to train.
The more he looked at the few cultivators he picked, the more satisfied he felt. It was a fact that they were slightly older, had already missed the ideal window period to begin training, and had accumulated several waste energies and qualities in their bodies. However, Lonemoon was confident that as long as they could train hard and form their cores before they reach the end of their lifespan, they would be well on their way to immortality – much less to become Soul Formation cultivators.
There was very little spirit Qi and spirit herbs and plants in the small world. However, this did not affect sword cultivators. Sword cultivators depended on their own sword techniques. Pills and herbs would have no use to them apart from if they found themselves gravely injured. Moreover, they had Yun Heng! He was himself a Soul Formation cultivator. All he had to do was to train a bit harder in this cultivation and endure the lightning tribulation. He would soon become an immortal, fit to enter the immortal realm.
Naturally, he was following the sword cultivation manuals.
Lonemoon could almost see the entire place filling up with sword cultivators. He was fully dedicated to the great cause of imparting cultivation to this entire population.
Shen Ying, who was skiving in broad daylight: “…”
Er, why did she feel like she was forgetting something?
Forget it, that probably was not important.
“Chef, can you prepare my afternoon tea? I’m hungry.”
“Yes, Master. No problem, Master!”
