Chapter Three: Securing a Long-Term Meal Ticket

Recording cultivation methods is not a difficult task; as long as the person doing the recording has reached the Nascent Soul stage, they can use their spiritual sense to imprint the instructional content onto a medium through a dedicated array. Cultivators can then combine the written instructions with the spiritual sense explanations to practice the method.

The true value of cultivation methods lies not only in the requirement that the recorder’s cultivation must be sufficiently advanced, but also in the materials needed to create the manuals. The medium must be Divine Jade, capable of containing a cultivator’s spiritual sense. The higher the grade of the cultivation method, the higher the grade of Divine Jade required. To make matters worse, the spiritual sense preserved in Divine Jade, lacking a continuous supply of energy, can last at most three or four centuries—which is already remarkable. Over time, the spiritual sense dissipates, requiring cultivators to re-record the method.

The threshold of the Nascent Soul stage may not sound high, but how many Nascent Soul cultivators exist in the world? And how many are willing to repeatedly record their own cultivation methods?

Cultivators devote themselves to cultivation!

Even a super-sect like Pure Yang Temple can barely maintain the storage of its collection of cultivation methods, unable to promote large-scale recording and dissemination. Lesser sects, facing even greater challenges in preserving their legacies, tend to keep only backups of their most important methods to prevent their loss. The transmission of other techniques is left to fate.

If fortune is with them, a cultivator can pass a method directly to their disciple while alive. If not, the technique disappears along with the cultivator.

Some may ask: if recording and storing cultivation methods is so limited, why not simply have someone pass the method on directly?

Unfortunately, that doesn’t work!

This is due to the unique properties of cultivation methods in the Celestial Profound World, or rather, the world’s rules limit the growth of cultivators. Only when a cultivator’s constitution matches the method to a very high degree can they cultivate it properly. With vast differences in individual constitutions, finding a suitable heir is difficult, with only a one-in-five success rate. If the method or constitution involves multiple elements, it becomes even harder to find a match, making transmission even more arduous.

Why has Pure Yang Temple remained one of the Eight Great Orthodox Sects for tens of thousands of years? Because they have an enormous reserve of cultivation methods—almost anyone seeking the path of cultivation can find a suitable method there.

Major sects have profound foundations in techniques, so talented cultivators naturally flock to them, supplying a steady stream of high-quality practitioners. In contrast, smaller sects, disadvantaged in both methods and resources, lose their appeal.

Over time, this leads directly to the strong growing stronger—the major sects flourish, while the small ones struggle to survive. This has shaped the Celestial Profound World, where the Eight Great Orthodox Sects dominate the righteous path, and the Seven Major Demon Sects lead the demonic path.

Thus, it’s clear why Liu Wanjin reacted so strongly when Wang Li claimed he could preserve original cultivation methods long-term and lower the requirements for recording them.

This is also the source of Wang Li’s anxiety.

With Liu Wanjin gone, it’s Wang Li who must worry.

He had boasted—now what?

“Master Sheng, my life is in your hands now, for better or worse.”

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Wang Li knew that worrying alone wouldn’t help; to solve the problem, he’d have to consult the one who posed it.

Master Sheng said, “Do you think so little of me?”

Wang Li replied, “I wouldn’t dare, it’s easy to talk big, but you have to deliver on what you promise!”

Master Sheng laughed, “This is nothing. Turning boast into reality is my specialty. Here’s what you do: when that young fellow returns, ask him to give you a month, and find you a place rich in fire spiritual energy. After a month, you deliver the goods.”

“Why wait a month?” Wang Li wondered. “Will they really give me that long?”

Master Sheng snorted, “Of course. To implement my method for recording cultivation techniques, you must do it yourself. You’re just a novice at the third level of Qi Refinement. You need time to advance your cultivation—do you think you’re ready to record methods now?”

Wang Li was even more confused. “What’s the use of a month? Am I supposed to reach the Golden Core stage? Wouldn’t it be easier to ask a Golden Core cultivator to record it?”

Master Sheng replied, “You have no hope for the Golden Core. If it were me, perhaps I could form a core in a month, but for you, reaching Foundation Establishment in that time would be a blessing. Don’t ask about cultivation or recording methods now. The most important thing is to secure a long-term meal ticket.”

Wang Li asked, “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you ask why you must personally record the cultivation methods?”

Master Sheng explained, “It’s an economic issue. You’ve never spent money, so you wouldn’t understand. Just know that my method for recording cultivation techniques cannot be handed over all at once to Pure Yang Temple, nor can it be entrusted to others. I will leave myself a fallback, preventing them from fully mastering my method. That way, if they want to restore and duplicate the thousands of methods in their Scripture Pavilion, they’ll need you. You can then continuously obtain cultivation resources from them.”

“Is that really necessary? Pure Yang Temple is important to me. My master treats me well, and the sect leader spent a hundred years of cultivation to save me. Isn’t this inappropriate?”

Master Sheng made his intentions clear—shearing Pure Yang Temple for resources. Even Wang Li, slow as he was, understood, but he had grown up within the temple and couldn’t reconcile treating the place and people who nurtured him with the tricks of a merchant.

Master Sheng scoffed, “You’re still young. In the eyes of that boy Liu Guang, you’re already an outsider. Even if he overlooks the possession issue, he’ll never fully trust you. If you want to keep cultivating in Pure Yang Temple, you’ll face exclusion and suppression. You’re still acting sentimental, but eventually you’ll suffer. You’d be better off shifting your relationship with Pure Yang Temple from subordinate to partner—at least then, no one will toy with you.”

“But I wasn’t possessed! It was just your remnant soul completing mine!”

Wang Li knew, from the moment he agreed to Liu Guang’s terms, his identity as a possessed rebirth was set in stone. Yet he still hoped his master would believe in his innocence and give him justice, so he clung to this last desperate argument.

“Naive!” Master Sheng said, somewhat exasperated. “Whether it’s Liu Guang or Chu Xuan, they put the interests of the sect above all else. Sacrificing a mere disciple for the sect is nothing to them.”

...

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Pure Yang Palace, Sect Leader’s Hall.

While Wang Li wrestled with the prospect of shearing Pure Yang Temple for resources, Sect Leader Liu Guang was also troubled over how to deal with “Wang Li,” the outsider who had been reborn through possession.

In truth, such cases of possession and rebirth are not uncommon in the cultivation world. Most possessed cultivators choose hosts arranged by their own sects, and after rebirth, they remain within their original sect to cultivate, rarely venturing out or seeking shelter elsewhere.

Within Pure Yang Temple, no senior cultivators have needed to possess a new body in recent decades, meaning this possible possessor is likely an outsider, a hermit or rogue cultivator. Otherwise, news would have leaked within the sect.

Since it’s a rogue cultivator without a sect, there’s little to worry about.

Possession means “Wang Li” must start cultivation anew.

To do so, he needs sufficient resources.

As one of the Eight Great Orthodox Sects, Pure Yang Temple has no shortage of resources!

Thus, for “Wang Li” to restore his cultivation, he’ll need the sect’s support.

A fallen master, weak and desperate for sect resources—his choices are easy to predict.

Liu Guang was confident that financial leverage would suffice to reach some understanding, at least ensuring “he” wouldn’t pose a threat to Pure Yang Temple.

After all, Pure Yang Temple is not a minor sect; a possessed rebirth who hasn’t grown strong is still manageable.

In fact, if not for Chu Xuan’s feelings, “Wang Li” would have been apprehended already, rather than merely placed under the watch of a servant steward.

He just hadn’t expected “Wang Li” to be so bold, proposing to solve an age-old problem that had plagued the Celestial Profound World for countless years.

This left him uncertain, even starting to doubt his judgment of “Wang Li’s” origins.