Two days.
That's how long Wei Liang spent mapping the founding hall's surveillance patterns, guard rotations, and exactly which elders cared enough to monitor the sect's ceremonial building.
The answer was simple: almost none.
The Founding Hall sat at the mountain's base, far from the residential wings and training grounds.
It was used four, maybe five, times a year for major ceremonies. The rest of the time, it simply existed.
No guards stationed permanently. The patrol route passed by once every two hours during night shifts, which meant a ninety-minute window between each check.
Three old detection arrays existed, calibrated to alert only if a Foundation Establishment cultivator or stronger tried to force entry.
Being the Sect Leader's bloodline, the formations wouldn't stop him.
Wei Liang was one of the nine heirs, and he was obviously not one of the three serious contenders.
His brother, born of the same mother, was one though and his supporters dwarfed those of other contenders.
The original Wei Liang had been invisible, unmotivated, drifting ever since his mother died three years ago.
All this, plus his brother's influence, gave him leeway to move freely and lazily.
Wei Liang stood and moved to his desk, where he'd spent two days sketching maps and timing patterns.
The patrol would pass the Founding Hall at the second hour of the morning. The next pass wouldn't come until the fourth hour.
He had ninety minutes before the next patrol passed by.
He spent them cultivating with the sluggish, poorly-maintained Qi circulation the body possessed. It was... depressing.
The original owner had done the absolute minimum to maintain Foundation Establishment and nothing more.
'May the Heavens allow me to change that today,' Wei Liang thought as he completed the circulation and opened his eyes.
The water clock marked the third hour's beginning.
Time to move.
- - -
The Founding Hall was a ten-minute walk from the family residences if you took the main paths.
Wei Liang took the side trails, moving naturally through spaces where the original body had walked countless times wandering.
The crescent moon cast silver light across the stone pathways.
The founding hall emerged from the darkness ahead.
A weathered structure with upturned eaves and thick support pillars.
Wei Liang approached the main entrance and reached for the doors.
Of course they were unlocked. Who would steal from a ceremonial hall?
'The most valuable thing in the sect and nobody knows it exists.' Wei Liang chuckled, a bit amused.
The interior was dark except for moonlight filtering through high windows. But his eyes adjusted quickly.
The space was vast, empty, echoing.
Protruding from the stone floor were carved pillars depicting scenes from the sect's founding, beneath a high vaulted ceiling that made every sound carry.
At the heart of the hall stood an altar, three steps above the main floor.
A massive stone platform carved with the sect's emblem—a crane in flight above a reed bed.
Wide enough for twenty people to stand on during ceremonies.
Wei Liang climbed onto the altar's center.
His heart hammered but his breathing stayed controlled. Nobody had stood here knowing what he knew.
He spoke clearly, voice steady, reciting the three lines:
"A crane flies low where tigers hunt. Surviving not through strength but patience. The reed that bends outlasts the oak."
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then the stone beneath his feet pulsed with Qi.
It wasn't violent or dramatic. It was a smooth process.
Lines of silver light traced across the altar's surface, spreading outward from where he stood, forming a complex array pattern that had been invisible until this moment.
The crane and reed emblem glowed.
Then—
The center of the altar moved.
Not the whole thing. Just a circular section three meters wide, directly beneath where he stood. It descended smoothly, silently, like a platform lowering into darkness.
It reminded Wei Liang of the elevators of Earth.
For a brief second, the memory of fluorescent lights and elevator chimes stabbed deeper than any blade.
'How bittersweet.'
Wei Liang stayed perfectly still as he descended.
The platform soon stopped in a chamber carved from solid rock.
And there was light.
Soft, ambient illumination from spirit stones embedded in the walls—maintained by some self-sustaining formation that had kept them glowing for centuries.
The chamber was large, circular, maybe twenty meters across.
And it was full.
Shelves lined the walls, packed with jade slips, bound volumes, and scroll cases. A weapons rack held seven different weapons, each radiating Qi that made the air shimmer.
Formation diagrams were etched into sections of the floor. Sealed containers were stacked in organized rows.
In the center of it all stood a simple stone pedestal with three items:
A jade cultivation manual, its cover marked with characters that gleamed with embedded Qi: Celestial Crane Evergreen Art.
A weapon technique manual, bound in dark leather: Reed Bending Sword Forms.
And a sealed jade bottle, one foot tall, with a formation lock that pulsed with faint light.
Wei Liang stepped off the platform and approached the pedestal.
His hands shook slightly as he picked up the cultivation manual.
The cover was warm to the touch. He opened it.
The first page: Heaven Grade Cultivation Method: Celestial Crane Evergreen Art, by Yun Shuangbai upon achieving Yuan Severance.
"I leave this to whichever descendant proves wise enough to seek knowledge over power, patience over strength.
"The cultivation world values only advancement. I valued understanding. May you be the one who comprehends the difference."
Wei Liang would have mused, thinking, 'Indeed, the comment section holds knowledge. Maybe I was destined to have it after all.'
But he was distracted…
To test the authenticity; Wei Liang used the system perk he got after transmigrating the second time.
'Inspect.'
- - -
Type: Cultivation Technique
Name: Celestial Crane Evergreen Art
Grade: Heaven
Info: QI circulation that promotes body recovery and versatility for adaptability.
- - -
'It really is Heaven Grade!'
Even the Sect Leader's cultivation method was Earth Grade, considered exceptional for a mid-tier sect.
This was Heaven Grade. Second only to Transcendent Grades.
Wei Liang's throat went dry. Across all his lives, this was the earliest he had ever touched something this powerful.
He set down the cultivation manual and picked up the weapon technique, using his [Inspect].
- - -
Type: Weapon Technique
Name: Reed Bending Sword Forms
Grade: Earth
Info: Info: Sixty-seven forms forming the foundation of adaptable combat. Covers guidance from the Foundation Establishment Realm to Yuan Severance.
- - -
He set it down carefully and examined the sealed jade bottle.
The formation lock was complex, but as his fingers touched it, the Qi recognized him—sect bloodline, inner cultivation method—and the seal released.
The cork came free.
The scent hit him immediately. Dense, pure spiritual energy concentrated into liquid form.
- - -
Type: Alchemy
Name: Spirit Condensation Elixir
Info: A liquid alchemy aid that strengthens the spirit and supports early-stage cultivation. Contains ten drops.
- - -
He'd read about these in the novel. Rare and expensive. Each drop was worth a hundred spirit stones.
This bottle held cultivation resources worth one thousand spirit stones, just sitting here for eight centuries.
'Hehehe. This is the fruit of always reading comment sections!' Wei Liang's hands were trembling now.
He grabbed all three items and moved to a clear section of floor near the wall.
He sat cross-legged and opened the cultivation manual.
The first chapter explained the fundamental theory: where most methods forced Qi through established pathways, the Celestial Crane method created adaptive circulation.
The meridians didn't just carry Qi—they learned to optimize flow based on the cultivator's unique physiology. It was slower to advance at first, but the foundation it built was...
He read three chapters in complete focus.
He set down the manual, opened the jade bottle, and carefully measured out three drops of Spirit Condensation Elixir onto his palm.
Three drops would be enough. Too much would strain his poorly-maintained meridians.
He consumed them, closed his eyes, and began circulating according to Celestial Crane's first chapter instructions.
The elixir dissolved into pure Qi that flooded his meridians.
Immediately he felt the difference.
Where his old method had pushed Qi through like water through pipes, this one moved Qi like blood through veins, flowing naturally, finding optimal paths, strengthening as it went.
His Dantian, weak and neglected for three years, began to fill.
The process accelerated. His meridians, clogged and sluggish, began to clear. The Qi refined itself as it circulated, impurities expelled, purity increasing with each cycle.
Early Foundation → Middle Foundation.
The breakthrough happened smoothly, naturally, without strain.
Middle Foundation → Late Foundation.
He kept circulating. The elixir's energy was still abundant, the method was still optimizing, and his foundation was solidifying with every cycle.
He stopped there. Felt the solidity of Late Foundation settle into his body like bedrock.
His Qi was refined to a purity he suspected most Late Foundation cultivators never achieved.
Wei Liang opened his eyes.
Ding!
[You have obtained the Third-Transmigration Perk: Luck Conversion]