Seeing that the atmosphere in the room was tense, Liu Xuehan relaxed her stance and smiled at Liu Yuming. "You don't need to worry about all of that for now. Open your dantian, condense qi, and establish your immortal foundation. Speaking of which…" she said, as she pulled out a jade slip, "this is for you."
Yuming glanced at the name: 'Unbroken Ledger True Sutra.' "This…"
"This is a Dao Imprint level cultivation technique," Xuehan said casually. Then she looked at him sharply, "Countless clans would fight to the death just to get a glimpse at this technique. Which clans can attain Dao Imprint is decided by those above. This shows how much the Family values you."
Yuming was shocked at how valuable the item before him was, and he listened as she continued, "Naturally, this jade only contains the Spiritual Opening and Qi Condensation sections. The Family will provide you with more when you're ready to establish your foundation. Don't let the family down."
Yuming wanted to ask more, but the palace-dressed woman was already gone. He let out a deep breath, and then walked back to his lodgings, lost in thought.
….
In his room, Yuming sat down with a book in his hand. Xuehan had been kind enough to leave the book when she disappeared: it was the opening section of Unbroken Ledger True Sutra. Strictly speaking, since he hadn't awakened his spiritual sense he wouldn't even be able to read a jade slip.
Still, Yuming felt uncomfortable. The book and the jade slip he'd tucked away were exceptionally valuable. He was aware that he was now being watched at all times, even though the portion he held didn't even contain the foundation establishment method—much less the Dao Imprint portion.
He collected himself and began to read the introduction.
'Beneath Heaven is the Sea. Beneath the Sea the root of all Names. In that root, form is not mercy, and distinction is not given; the unsteady is carried away without malice.
Cultivation is the pursuit of continuance. Set the current within the body. Let it cycle without urging. Let it complete itself as seasons complete themselves.
Pristine turns to Dew, and Root turns to Bud, but Clear Mirror reveals True Name, and True Name escapes Samsara. But at the root is Yin and Yang, until the wheel grinds stable Self.
When the circuit is whole, the self becomes heavier. When the self is heavier, the Sea cannot pass through it as though it were mist.'
Yuming was startled after reading just the opening, feeling like this was not at all an introductory manual for eight-year-olds.
Hmm… In the first line, the "Sea" is most likely the Sea of Suffering that Liu Xuehan had been talking about. The root of all Names? Is he saying that Names are the foundation of the Sea? But didn't Liu Xuehan say that the Sea is the foundation of everything?
Yuming was confused, however the second line cleared things up slightly: set a current in the body, circulate qi, this was in line with how Yuming had previously understood cultivation.
The third line completely went over Yuming's head. He had a sneaking suspicion that the author didn't know what the line meant either, and was just throwing in words to sound fancy. Why can't these monks just explain what they mean clearly!
Dissatisfied, Yuming left his room and walked over to the Far Lantern Library to find a technique for comparison. The librarian, Liu Xiye, saw him walk in and smiled. "Back again, Little Ming? More history or fiction for you this time?"
Yuming sighed. "No, Librarian Ye. Can I take a look at 'Emberwater Spiritual Opening Scripture?"
Liu Xiye raised an eyebrow. "You're very quick to start unblocking your meridians. But is the Family not going to give you a better technique?"
"Just for comparison."
Liu Xiye chuckled. "Always studious. I'm sure it's not worth much to you, but rules are rules, and you cannot take the scripture out of the library."
"Yes, Uncle Ye," Yuming said as he cupped his fists.
Yuming sat down and pulled out a copy of Emberwater Scripture, reading the opening:
'In Spiritual Opening, the task is simple:
open the roads, gather the current, kindle the furnace.
The meridians are the roads of the body. If blocked, qi becomes poison.
The lower abdomen is the basin of return. If unstable, qi becomes drift.
The dantian is the furnace of refinement. If unkindled, strength is only borrowed.
Therefore this method uses the Family's twin inheritances—Ember and Water.
Ember breaks obstruction; Water repairs what is broken.
Ember drives forward; Water prevents collapse.
Follow the sequence. Do not skip steps.
Yuming read the introduction and his eyes narrowed slightly. This… this! This is understandable! The method detailed the process of unblocking the meridians and forming a dantian. The cultivator starts by opening the twelve primary meridians, tempering with both ember and water to force through obstructions while providing a cool recoating.
Yuming was aware that most cultivation techniques emphasized opening the twelve meridians first, but that many low-level techniques used by smaller clans would blast open meridians and scar them or open them too gently and lead to stalling; this technique clearly helped mitigate those problems.
Next, the pressure generated from the opened meridians helps the cultivator partially open their Ren and Du meridians for a downward return, ensuring a stable flow of qi towards the naval. Later, the technique emphasized forming a lower basin proto-dantian with water essence, and then using an ember seed to ignite the dantian and begin to break through to Qi Condensation.
In comparison… sigh, in comparison, Yuming thought as he looked at the beastly 'Unbroken Ledger True Sutra' in front of him, this Emberwater technique actually makes sense!
The Unbroken Ledger True Sutra didn't use the common method of first unblocking the twelve meridians, but instead advocated for the far more difficult task of opening the Ren and Du meridians first, which required generating far more spiritual pressure. Ren was to be opened first because it was the "receiving gate." Before the technique even described opening the Ren meridian, the author went into detail about the "Significance of Ren as a Receiver," writing aimlessly about the coherence of mortals under surface order and the three methods of permission.
After opening Ren came opening Du, the "holding gate." This was even harder than opening Ren: it needed to be broken via "unbroken alignment" connecting the tailbone, sacrum, lumbar, midback, shoulder blades, and jade pillow… all without having opened the twelve meridians to help circulate qi to those parts.
The precision needed is immense, and I'm afraid that if I didn't have an Earth-grade root, I wouldn't attract enough qi for this to even be possible.
Then bridging the Ren and Du Meridians to form a microcosmic orbit within the body, which also required extreme concentration and body-control. Finally, the twelve meridians could be opened with the help of the pre-existing orbit.
Then came opening the dantian itself. Most cultivation techniques endorsed first accumulating essence where the dantian would be, forming a 'proto-dantian,' and then rooting it to the partially formed Ren and Du aperture. The thesis of the Unbroken Ledger True Sutra was instead: "the dantian is born because the orbit needs a center." This requires a long process and also dedicated and painful manual circling of qi through the body.
Looking at the two techniques side by side, Yuming felt a slight headache. He had a feeling that soon, Liu Yiling would be teasing him for falling behind.
Yuming put away Emberwater Scripture and headed to lodgings to sleep. Tomorrow, he would start cultivating the Unbroken Ledger True Sutra, as difficult as it was.
He was unwilling to fall behind because he was afraid. Afraid that he would become a laughingstock: someone with an Earth-grade spiritual root who cultivated slower than everyone else. Afraid that the Family would no longer consider him valuable and stop providing him resources. But most of all, he was afraid thinking about the Sea of Suffering.
Right now, I'm still a mortal… am I even real? Am I just a reflection, and my "selfhood" is fake? And my family… they're all mortals…
After some tossing and turning in bed, Yuming fell asleep. That night, he dreamed of his family melting.
….
Another six months passed.
Liu Yuming had spent the last six months diligently tempering his marrows. Aside from the basic techniques taught by Instructor Zhao and the Far Lantern courtyard, the Family had provided him with a Resonance Mat that vibrated his body while he sat, Marrow Forging Beads that cycled pressure through his bones, as well as miscellaneous pills. While some of the most direct descendants, like Liu Yiling, received even more than he did, it was still very generous.
Although he was still worried about being overtaken once actual cultivation began, for now it appeared that he had slightly overestimated the speed at which his peers would progress. Only Liu Yufeng—who had a high-grade spiritual root—and Liu Yujin—who was extremely diligent—had just entered the Marrow Tempering realm.
"Old Ye, how are you today?" Yuming asked the librarian Liu Xiye, who in the past six months had transformed from 'Librarian Ye' to 'Old Ye."
"Quite well, Baby Ming," Liu Xiye responded. Yuming wrinkled his nose. He hated that nickname, but he'd be called it as long as he referred to Liu Xiye as 'Old Ye.' "Which cultivation technique are you looking at today?"
"I want to see the 'Stillcloud Opening Art.'"
"Your taste gets poorer and poorer! You've gone through the Family techniques, and now you're looking at the ones for pitiable loose cultivators. Don't let it influence you!"
"Sigh, I won't, I won't" Yuming said with a wave of his hand as he reached up to grab the technique.
Yuming sat down and began reading, clicking his tongue. This technique didn't even open all twelve meridians simultaneously. Instead, it used "peripheral awakening," opening minor channels gradually, then the eight extraordinary channels, and then finally the twelve meridians. The talent required wasn't high, but it was slow and—without regulators like ember or water—often resulted in a worse foundation.
The real problem with the technique, in Yuming's eyes, was the dantian forming process. Gather and compress mist in the lower abdomen, relax, repeat, eventually link with the meridians. But the cloud wall it formed was too porous—the circulation loop would never have a formal "return point" or ignition that allowed Qi Condensation to be achieved.
Being a loose cultivator really is difficult.
Yuming had been spending the past months reading techniques not just to familiarize himself with cultivation, but also to look for information related to the Sea of Suffering. But he found none. Although he had complained about the philosophical ramblings in the 'Unbroken Ledger True Sutra' at first, he now found himself disappointed that these other techniques were pragmatic and straightforward. Where are all the monks who don't explain anything clearly?
After a few hours of reading, he closed the book, as a visitor had arrived to talk to him. It was Liu Tianrui, the cultivator who had brought him from Willowbank to the mountain.
When Yuming was found to have an Earth-grade spiritual root, the person most ecstatic was Liu Tianrui, who felt as if he'd won the lottery. Unfortunately, his fantasies about being taken up to Vermillion Rose Abode along with Yuming never came to fruition, but he did make sure to stay close to the boy.
"Ming'er," he said with a smile, no longer trying to appear detached and otherworldly.
"Uncle Rui," Yuming said as he clasped his fists. "Today, you'll take me to a spirit farm?"
"If that's really what you want," Liu Tianrui replied with a chuckle.
He turned, sleeves fluttering, and strode toward the door. Yuming hurried after him.
Outside, the mountain air was cool and thin. Wisps of cloud drifted lazily between terraces carved into the slope, and far below, the roofs of the outer halls gleamed faintly with morning dew.
Tianrui led him along a stone path that wound behind a line of ancient pines. Then the path opened into a small platform of pale stone jutting out over a sheer drop. And resting on the platform, tied down with thick spirit rope, was a flying boat, which the two promptly boarded.
The flying boat curved along the mountain's flank, following invisible paths between wards.
After a short while, the boat dipped and the air changed. It became warmer, thicker, and faintly sweet, as if scented by ripe grain and wet soil. A pale mist clung to the slope here, not drifting freely like clouds but hanging in careful layers, caught and shaped by formations.
Below, Yuming saw terraces—dozens of them—carved into a broad shoulder of the mountain. Each terrace held flooded paddies that shone like mirrors, their water not muddy but unnaturally clear. Between the paddies ran narrow stone ridges, and along the edges stood wooden posts etched with runes to keep the water level perfect.
And in the paddies grew rice. Not ordinary rice.
The stalks were taller than Yuming's waist, each blade slender and glossy. The grains hung heavy and pale-gold, and when the wind blew, the terraces shimmered like a field of coins. "Spirit rice…" he whispered.
Along the slope above the terraces stood a massive wooden wheel—half waterwheel, half formation device—slowly turning. With each rotation, pale mist spilled from it and drifted down across the paddies in measured breath-like pulses.
"That mist…" Yuming said.
"Tuned spiritual mist," Tianrui replied. "Drawn from a minor vein nearby. If we didn't feed it through arrays, it would be too violent for rice. This way, it nourishes without burning."
The boat lowered toward a flat landing platform beside the uppermost terrace.
"Come, I'll show you why spirit farms matter," said Tianrui.
Tianrui led him toward the terrace edge and gestured broadly.
"Look at it," he said. "You asked what supports cultivation."
Yuming stared over the fields. "It's… food."
"It's more than food," Tianrui corrected, voice sharpening. "That's the point."
He reached down, pinched one stalk between his fingers, and rubbed a grain gently. A faint glow flickered across his fingertips.
"This rice is grown in spirit mist, watered with spirit-infused channels, and anchored by formations. Each grain has swallowed Heaven-and-Earth Qi for months, then softened it into something the body can digest."
Yuming frowned, trying to understand. "So eating it is like… absorbing qi?"
Tianrui nodded. "Like absorbing qi after it has been cleaned and tamed."
He tapped Yuming's chest lightly with the back of his knuckles.
"You're Earth-root. That means your body can endure more, store more, condense more. When you want to unblock meridians, you can do it naturally—with some effort. For most cultivators, that's nearly impossible. And forming the dantian is even more so."
Yuming felt enlightened.
"This is why the farms matter. Not because it's pretty."
He walked along the terrace edge, hands behind his back.
"Pills are fast but expensive. Spirit stones are pure but scarce. Rice is slow but stable, and not particularly damaging. It's essential and omnipresent amongst low-level cultivators. And because it's easy to transport, extremely useful for the masses…"
"It becomes currency," Yuming finished his sentence, to which Tianrui gave a satisfied nod.
"For most cultivators, five or ten spirit stones is a fortune, so they use spirit rice instead for most purchases. Our Liu Family controls the most farmland in the area, so we essentially control the economy for low-level cultivators. If demonic cultivators start raiding the area, and we close our farms off, the lower levels get poor, and they're not worth targeting anymore."
Yuming nodded, feeling like that made sense.
"And also…" Tianrui began, now speaking in a more hushed tone. "It gives our low-level cultivators something to keep busy with. So we control them."