Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Newcomer Yang Wenqing
RRRING~
A piercing ring jolted Yang Wenqing from a deep sleep. He blinked his eyes open, and in the faint light filtering through the window, he saw a mottled ceiling.
After a moment of daze, Yang Wenqing reached out and silenced the mechanical alarm clock by his pillow. A draft of cool air slipped under his blanket, raising goosebumps on his skin and waking him completely.
Getting out of bed, he stretched habitually and then instinctively scanned his surroundings. The room he was in was small, with a bed taking up most of the space. A wooden desk by the window held various daily necessities.
In the corner to the left of the desk were a few wooden buckets. Next to them, near the left side of the window, stood a small tea table holding a small boiler. Underneath the table, bowls and chopsticks were scattered about. These items, along with a shabby wardrobe by the door, constituted all of Yang Wenqing’s worldly possessions.
Yang Wenqing did a few simple stretches in front of his bed, then walked over to the desk by the window. He picked up his toiletries and a half-empty pack of tissues, habitually glancing outside. A half-moon hung in the sky, emitting a faint blue halo. Behind it, beneath the starry expanse, a much larger, full moon was faintly visible.
He let out a long breath.
After exhaling the turbid air, Yang Wenqing cleared his mind of stray thoughts. He picked up his toiletries and key, then stepped out of his room. He found himself in a quiet hallway lined with a dense array of doors on both sides—clearly a dormitory corridor.
He pulled the door shut behind him and walked to the end of the hall on his right. Because he was up so early, the communal washstands and restrooms were deserted. He washed up and used the restroom as quickly as possible, returned to his room to put away his toiletries, and then took out a square wooden box he always carried with him.
"Open!"
Placing the wooden box on the desk, Yang Wenqing formed a Spell with his left hand, deactivating the preservation Array on the box’s surface. He took out the small, remaining piece of specially processed White Dragon Ginseng and expertly sliced off a tiny piece, dropping it into a glass.
WHOOSH~
As boiling water from a thermos was poured into the glass, the small slice of White Dragon Ginseng immediately began to dissolve at a visible rate.
Yang Wenqing closed the box and reactivated the preservation Array on its surface. After waiting quietly for the White Dragon Ginseng to completely dissolve, he picked up the glass and drained the medicinal liquid in one gulp. He then returned to his bed as quickly as possible, sat cross-legged, and entered a state of meditation.
As his mind sank into stillness, a golden light flashed in his mind. It was a Golden Core that had coalesced there. When his consciousness entered the Golden Core, he saw a space a hundred meters across. In the center of this space sat an illusory, cross-legged figure.
This was Yang Wenqing’s projection. Here, his body was both illusory and real, his Spiritual Veins so clear he could see the Spiritual Qi flowing within them. At this moment, his lower Dantian, where his Spiritual Veins converged, was rapidly generating Spiritual Qi. A white light spun continuously in the center of his Qi Sea—the power of the Golden Core digesting the energy of the White Dragon Ginseng.
Once all the power of the White Dragon Ginseng had been converted into Spiritual Qi in his lower Dantian’s Qi Sea, Yang Wenqing followed the methods of the *Basic Qi Cultivation* manual. He circulated the Spiritual Qi through his Spiritual Veins, expanding them while simultaneously absorbing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from the outside world.
Time passed imperceptibly. After the Spiritual Qi had completed three Grand Circulations within Yang Wenqing’s body, the energy from the White Dragon Ginseng was completely depleted. Unfortunately, the Spiritual Qi in his body had still not formed a self-sustaining cycle. However, he did feel a faint sense of Qi Sensing, which allowed him to maintain the Qi Sea in his lower Dantian.
’My Spiritual Veins are damaged again!’
Yang Wenqing sighed inwardly. By observing the illusory figure within his Golden Core World, he easily detected the minute damage his Spiritual Veins had sustained during his practice. He quickly mobilized the small amount of successfully refined Spiritual Qi in his body to repair them.
According to common wisdom, a person in his situation had no aptitude for cultivation. To truly reach the Qi Cultivation Stage would require at least thirty years of hard work, with no possibility of further progress after that.
But he possessed a Golden Core in his Sea of Consciousness. It not only allowed him to ignore his lack of aptitude but could also purge all toxins from medicinal herbs and pills. This meant he could take White Dragon Ginseng once a day, allowing his cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds. He had already succeeded in opening all the Spiritual Veins in his body.
However, his Spiritual Veins were too narrow to allow the Spiritual Qi in his Qi Sea to circulate on its own. He had to guide it every day; otherwise, his cultivation would not just stagnate but regress, and his Spiritual Veins would gradually close over time.
This Golden Core in Yang Wenqing’s Sea of Consciousness had suddenly appeared when he was five years old and first becoming self-aware. At the same time the Golden Core formed, a segment of memories surfaced in his mind, like memories from a past life. Though he had now forgotten most of them, they had left him with the gift of innate knowledge and had made him grow up overnight.
When he awoke from his meditation, mottled sunlight was already streaming through the window. Yang Wenqing rose and walked to the window. He formed a Spell with his hand, and a pattern of white runic lines instantly materialized before him—the Talisman for the Immobilization Spell.
With the help of the Golden Core World, he could cast a spell with ease simply by visualizing its runic pattern in his mind. This made his casting speed several times faster than that of an ordinary Cultivator. However, he could currently only cast it twice a day before the Spiritual Qi in his Qi Sea was completely exhausted.
Fortunately, the rune technology in this world was highly advanced. As he cast the Spell, he took out a black piece of Rune paper designed for recording spells. He imprinted the Magic onto it, then carefully put it away. It could be sold for money or thrown during a fight.
After confirming there was no issue with the Spell imprinted on the Rune paper, Yang Wenqing put the wooden box containing the White Dragon Ginseng into his pocket. He then walked to the wardrobe by the door, opened it, and revealed four summer outfits inside, two of which were light blue uniforms.
The year he turned five and became self-aware, the first thing Yang Wenqing did was rush to his clan’s school to audit classes. He spent a year learning most of the common characters in this world and read every book available to the public in his clan. He learned that this was a civilization where Daoist arts and technology coexisted, with the technology being primarily based on runes.
After a period of contemplation, Yang Wenqing made the decisive choice to join his country’s City Defense System. This was a nation of order, and that order was maintained by the City Defense Bureau. Furthermore, it was one of the few places where commoners could obtain Secret Techniques for cultivation.
After putting on his uniform, Yang Wenqing pinned his work badge to his left breast. He picked up a mechanical watch, put it on, and glanced at the time. Then, he went to the boiler, took a hard rice cake from the pot, and bit into it. He grabbed a water bottle from the wall, skillfully filled it with boiled water, and headed out the door with it in hand.
By now, the hallway outside had grown lively. Most of the residents were teachers from a nearby school, and they all had families. They greeted Yang Wenqing politely when they saw him, and he returned their greetings in kind.
Yang Wenqing was only temporarily housed here, but if he were to live a life of mediocrity, this place might very well be his final destination.
He walked out of the dormitory building into a large courtyard. A stone-paved road led away from the courtyard, and it was filled with workers hurrying to their jobs at the nearby factories.
