Chapter 43: A Bit of a Burden on the Teacher

Seeing Cui Yu so cooperative, Ji Liuli was very satisfied. “If you find any precious herbs, show them to me before taking them. Try to gather as many kinds as possible—each one affects your Dao foundation differently, and how you combine them makes a huge difference. This is crucial for your future Dao path.”

Cui Yu nodded solemnly.

After examining Cui Yu, Ji Liuli went to check Bao Yun.

Having cultivated the same Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram, Bao Yun’s visualization was now five zhang tall—slightly smaller than Cui Yu’s—but her bone structure was extraordinary, her fortune vast, and her visualization still expanding, far from reaching its potential. Within it, strange phenomena surged like a world of gods and demons.

Compared to Cui Yu and Bao Yun, Wei Yuan’s progress was painfully slow. Ji Liuli was deeply dissatisfied and decided to take drastic measures.

After class, Wei Yuan followed Ji Liuli to the Administration Hall as usual. She gathered the herbs from Xu Henshui’s cabinet, casually refined them into a powdered decoction, poured it into a wooden tub, then said: “Take off your clothes. What are you waiting for?”

Wei Yuan gritted his teeth, stripped, and stepped into the tub that looked like it was filled with blood plasma. Instantly, he shivered. The herbal broth was colder than the icy sea.

An hour later, Wei Yuan’s face had turned blue with cold, and the herbal broth had turned clear as water.

When Ji Liuli examined Wei Yuan again, she let out a surprised “Huh?” She circled him once, inspecting him meticulously.

After her inspection, Ji Liuli frowned in thought, then shook her head after a long silence. “Strange. Why has your bone structure become so unstable again? I clearly removed a lot of impurities last time.”

Ji Liuli pondered for a moment, found no answer, and said: “Go back for now. I need to consult the scriptures.”

“Is it a serious problem?” Wei Yuan asked.

Ji Liuli looked up at his earnest, anxious little face. “It’s not that serious. It’s just a bit of a bother for your teacher.”

“Huh?” Wei Yuan didn’t understand.

Still looking down at her herbal formula, Ji Liuli waved her hand to usher Wei Yuan out of the Administration Hall. “This isn’t your concern. Go back and cultivate hard. Don’t slack off!”

After leaving the Administration Hall, Wei Yuan didn’t head home immediately. Instead, he went to the nearby Bosi Hall—a vast complex of interconnected palaces where the Tai Chu Palace stored its scriptures. Inside the main hall, he saw several reception desks, each manned by a disciple on duty.

Wei Yuan approached the desk for distributing beginner-level scriptures, handed over his identity jade plaque, and said: “I’d like to borrow the cultivation insights for the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram.”

The disciple looked surprised. “This is a universal technique. Didn’t your teacher teach you?”

But he asked out of mere curiosity, not to interfere. He took the jade plaque and hurried into the back hall. Moments later, he returned with two jade slips. “This one contains the insights written by the True Lord of Swallowing the Moon, who created the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram. The other holds the cultivation insights of the top students who achieved the highest results. They should help you.”

“You may borrow them for seven days. You may copy them, but you must not share them outside. The rental fee is seven immortal silver taels—it’s already recorded on your account.”

Wei Yuan took the two jade slips and once again felt deeply the inadequacy of his immortal silver. Fortunately, he didn’t need to worry about food this first month, but once his Qi-Nourishing Pills ran out next month, he’d have to buy more. Though the Linghai True Person’s allowance seemed generous at first glance, given Tai Chu Palace’s prices, it wouldn’t last long.

Wei Yuan remembered something else. “Brother, do you have any information on the Cleansing Heart Pill?”

The brother’s expression changed instantly. “Cleansing Heart Pill? Why are you asking about that? That’s not something you should even be thinking about!”

Wei Yuan said: “I just overheard elders chatting about how rare the Cleansing Heart Pill is. I got curious—how much immortal silver does one cost?”

“Immortal silver? How dare you even ask! Can you buy a Cleansing Heart Pill with immortal silver?”

After a few sarcastic remarks, seeing Wei Yuan’s serious expression, the brother continued: “The Cleansing Heart Pill clears spiritual obscurations. It doesn’t just elevate your foundation—it enhances comprehension. It’s a sacred herb for young disciples to strengthen their base. One pill can raise a human-grade foundation to earth-grade. Rumor says three pills can push an earth-grade upper-tier disciple into heavenly-grade. The higher your foundation’s grade, the harder it is to improve—and the fewer herbs can help. The Cleansing Heart Pill can even improve a heavenly-grade foundation. Do you think immortal silver can buy it?”

The brother spoke at length, glared at Wei Yuan, then added: “The Zao Hua Guan opens only a few furnaces every three years, producing no more than a hundred pills total. The palace strictly limits distribution to merit exchange only—no other means allowed. Even if you tried to measure its value in immortal silver, tens of thousands would be too little! And if you could buy it with silver or treasures, do you think it would ever reach the mouths of ordinary disciples like us? This path to heaven is deliberately reserved by the palace for everyone!”

Wei Yuan knew the Cleansing Heart Pill must be rare, but he never imagined it was this rare. When Zhang Sheng had offered three of them, he’d mentioned the name casually and just handed them over. Thinking of this, Wei Yuan’s heart grew heavy—he had no idea how to repay such a debt.

Back at his quarters, Wei Yuan immediately began studying the two insights in detail.

Having lived with Zhang Sheng for three years, Wei Yuan knew well what his teacher wanted: to be first in everything, every moment. Coming in second was a disgrace. Aside from vanity and boasting about his poverty, Zhang Sheng had no other flaws. Perhaps there were more—but Wei Yuan hadn’t found them yet.

Wei Yuan had entered Tai Chu Palace with the top rank in the entrance exam and received the Ancestor’s blessing. He’d been quite proud. But his first steps in cultivation were met with a crushing blow: his visualization diagram stubbornly refused to expand, and strange phenomena were nowhere to be seen. After half a month, not only had Bao Yun and Cui Yu, who cultivated the same Jade Toad Diagram, surpassed him, but many of his classmates had too.

As the foremost immortal sect, Tai Chu Palace gathered geniuses from everywhere. Even the most basic techniques could blossom into brilliance, and nearly everyone developed strange phenomena. So having them wasn’t remarkable—it was how they compared that mattered. Of the six universal techniques, if you only produced the most basic template, you were guaranteed bottom of the class—and labeled as lacking insight and talent.

For example, Wei Yuan’s toad—even if a lotus bloomed on its head—wouldn’t make it into the top half of the class. Cui Yu’s toad was entirely deep blue, and before it grew a sword-lotus, its mouth held a divine sword. As for Bao Yun, her visualization was a chaotic riot of demons and spirits—wildly extravagant.

These past days, Wei Yuan finally understood: among Tai Chu Palace disciples, what mattered was the strange phenomena.

Under immense pressure, Wei Yuan didn’t hesitate to spend his immortal silver and went to Bosi Hall to borrow books for reference. Though the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram was a universal technique and both Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli could guide him, Wei Yuan had sensed his cultivation problems were unusual. Better to read more.

Zhang Sheng had said: “Other people’s stones can polish your jade. Even if others are inferior, studying their shortcomings still helps.”

Moreover, since meeting the Linghai True Person, Zhang Sheng had not appeared again—as if he didn’t want to see him.

Wei Yuan stayed awake all night, carefully reading both insights—and he truly found some issues.

(End of Chapter)