I gazed at the stalactite that hung from the ceiling of the cave. The walls glistened gold, an endless treasure trove of spirit stones. I’d struck it rich, but that wasn’t even what my gaze was focused on.

  The stone stalactite looked plain to mortal eyes, but when observing it through spiritual senses, it was dazzling. The most concentrated drop of spiritual energy I’d ever encountered in my life lay within.

  With tentative steps I approached the stalactite, my gaze never leaving the energy held inside. As I drew closer, I was able to more deeply appraise the energy.

  Something about it felt familiar, as if I’d encountered it before. I suddenly realised it had an extremely similar signature to the Ten Ascensions Lily. This was a natural treasure!

  Even the natural formation of the flowers was a magnificent boon. If that had been the only secret this mountain held I would have been satisfied. However, to think that a natural treasure had been hidden within made me salivate with anticipation.

  Standing right underneath the stalactite, my foot hit a raised section of rock. A natural pond was directly below, though it was currently empty.

  A closer inspection of the treasure informed me that it wasn’t quite ready to harvest. I would make sure to keep a close eye and return when it was time. I didn’t think it would be more than a few days. I was trembling with anticipation already.

  Before leaving the cavern and returning home, I walked over to the walls and attempted to pry off one of the spirit stones.

  To my surprise, they seemed glued to the cave walls! It took me infusing a few strands of qi into my muscles to pull one free. However, when I managed that and inspected my prize, I was shocked once more.

  This was no ordinary spirit stone—the energy was far too dense. Looking around the cavern, my jaw dropped. Every single one of these was a high grade spirit stone!

  A low grade spirit stone, like the one I’d inherited from this body’s predecessor, contained enough spiritual energy to allow a cultivator to progress halfway from one to two-star Body Tempering. A mid grade spirit stone had about five times as much energy, while a high grade spirit stone had ten times as much energy as a mid grade spirit stone.

  I knew this because it was information freely available in the Cloudy Falls Sect and hence in my inherited memories. That meant every single high grade spirit stone was worth fifty low grade ones. And I had an entire cavern full of them!

  A big grin was plastered on my face as I exited the cave and made my way back up the cliff face. There was another strange property these spirit stones had, which was their golden colour.

  Usually spirit stones were a faded white colour, but these weren’t. Was it something to do with the environment in that cave? Perhaps the natural treasure’s influence?

  The only way to find out would be to examine the stones in detail, which I planned to do once I returned. Yet another task had fallen on my plate, but I didn’t mind.

  I’d actually been worried about where to find the funds to develop a sect. It was always going to be expensive. This went a long way to assuaging those worries.

  With a spirit stone mine beneath our feet we would have enough money to purchase all the resources and materials we needed for the next century, if not longer. Everyone else was asleep when I returned, so rather than wake them I returned to the roof of my house and lay down beneath the stars.

  I lifted the golden spirit stone to my face, attempting to peer into its depths. All I could see at first was a blinding mass of spiritual energy, uniform in nature and sealed within the facets of the crystalline structure.

  It seemed to me that it was regular spiritual energy. However, not just the stone itself but also the energy locked within was bright gold. That had to mean something.

  My own medicinal qi and the healing energy my refined organs produced was tinged various shades of green compared to the faint sky blue of ‘normal’ qi, for example.

  An interesting phenomenon I had noticed quite soon after I arrived in this world thanks to my enhanced ability to sense energies was that almost every cultivator’s qi had a distinct signature—a flavour unique to that person. That was true even if two cultivators practiced the same method under the same master.

  Therefore the differences in qi came from a feature unique to each cultivator and also changed how that qi interacted with the world. The same should be true for spiritual energy and perhaps even other forms of energy.

  I’d not had much experience testing other people’s blood essence but I imagined that the same theories would hold true. So, what made this golden spiritual energy unique?

  Try as I might, even straining my senses to their limit until I had a splitting headache bore no fruit. In the end I gave up and put the spirit stone away for another time. I didn’t need much sleep anymore, but there were still a few hours until sunrise and with nothing else to do I decided to catch some shut eye.

  ****

  “Are you serious, Junior Brother- wait, no, I should be calling you Sect Leader Zhao now,” Wang Ren corrected, before rushing to finish. “A variant high grade spirit stone and you’re saying there’s an entire cavern of them inside the mountain!? And on top of that a potent natural treasure which is almost ready to harvest? The heavens are smiling on our Grasping Life Sect. This is an omen of great fortune.”

  Wang Ren’s eyes were wide as he stared at the golden spirit stone in my hands. I passed it over to him and he flinched as if scared it would shatter at his mere touch.

  Everyone was gathered in the Grasping Life Palace. I’d called them here to share the good news and to finally decide on the immediate plans for the sect, now that we’d secured a long term source of wealth.

  Until now we’d been relaxed—a holiday of sorts. I felt it was fair after everything we’d been through to have a break. However, the world would not rest while we did and in order to stake our place and establish the Grasping Life Sect, we had to ensure our efforts matched our intentions.

  One could not grow a tree without watering the seeds. Laying a stable foundation for the sect would allow it to flourish, even if disaster struck.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  A lot of that work would fall to me as the sect leader, but I would do my part. Everyone passed the spirit stone round and marvelled at it.

  For those who were still mortal, namely little Cui, Yu Chun, and Du Wen, it was simply a shiny stone. They couldn’t see the dazzling quantity of spiritual energy locked within.

  Our guest, the wandering cultivator Jing Ma, was also present. Excluding him might be taken as a slight and given that he was stronger than both Wang Ren and myself, we had to show him face.

  I was wary to reveal such a big secret to a stranger, but there was little choice in the matter. Thankfully, while the man was mildly impressed at the spirit stone and remarked on its unique colour, he didn’t show an overt interest.

  Which in itself was suspicious. Cultivation was an extortionate undertaking—everyone required resources to reach the peak. Even in the Foundation Building Realm, a high grade spirit stone mine would be a powerful resource. Yet to Jing Ma, it was as if I’d offhandedly told him I found a curiously shaped leaf by the side of the road.

  Whatever the truth was, I would keep half an eye on him while he remained here. If it came to it, I would fight tooth and nail to defend what I’d claimed for my nascent sect.

  ****

  That evening, I once again found myself without purpose. I sat upon the roof of my modest pagoda, staring up at the stars above.

  How could I go about creating a cultivation technique and related healing arts from scratch? Taking the Cloudy Falls Sect’s basic methods as inspiration, the Body Tempering Realm required one to use their blood essence while chanting specific mantras and performing precisely guided movements.

  I wasn’t sure I needed to change that when it came to making a cultivator suited to healing arts, but there had to be tempering methods that would make one’s body more aligned with them. The only question was what would that involve?

  I took out Zhao Dan’s old notebook. He’d copied down all the chants and the diagrams of the movements and breathing methods into it, giving me a base to work from.

  I’d thought this the first time I read them, but the mantras were a bunch of flowery nonsense. How did cultivators even use these to refine and temper their bodies?

  With the heart as your centre, find balance in the art of movement

  One with the world and one with the self,

  The essence of flesh nourishes the heavenly vessel

  Flow like clouds in the sky, crash like water in the falls

  As the river carves through earth, I ascend

  To me it sounded more like a poem than a method of training the body. Yet clearly it worked. Disciples of the sect broke all the way through to Qi Gathering using this mantra and the others for each consecutive star of Body Tempering.

  Of course, it was meant for use with specified breathing techniques and movements of the body, but I had a suspicion the latter two held more importance. If only my spirit roots hadn’t shattered, I could’ve tested it myself when I was still a practitioner.

  Wait! I had the perfect test subject. Teng Sheng was still just a three-star Body Temperer. I would not do anything to risk his cultivation, but perhaps observing him would be enough to glean some insights.

  That would only help with cultivation in the first major realm. When it came to advancing beyond that, or creating healing and diagnosis techniques to supplement the cultivation method, I still had little idea how to proceed.

  I heard a shuffling in the grass and my focus snapped to the ground. Jing Ma stood near my house, an apologetic expression painted on his face.

  “Apologies, Brother Zhao. I didn't mean to disturb your meditation,” he said with a shallow bow.

  I waved him off. “No need to apologise, friend. I was only running in circles. You were right about sleeping under the stars. It is an unmatched experience,” I replied.

  He smiled. In the blue beams of the moon, his sharp features and narrow eyes were cast in a sinister light. Then again, we couldn’t choose our appearances.

  “I am glad you agree. You seem troubled. Perhaps a walk among these beautiful flowers and conversation with a stranger might ease your mind,” he offered.

  I slipped off the roof and landed beside him with barely a sound. Using my qi to slow my falls was second nature now, even more so when I had to be careful of the flowers.

  “A generous offer. You are right. Taking a break often brings inspiration when charging headfirst into the problem is fruitless.”

  “Indeed.”

  We didn’t talk much as we began our midnight stroll. It was approaching the anniversary of my first year in this world and we were heading towards summer. The flowers were in full bloom, giving the air a heady floral aroma.

  I was utterly relaxed. Despite his villainous appearance, Jing Ma had a soothing presence. Even walking beside him I felt the stresses that had been piling up recede to the depths of my mind.

  After a while, he was the first to break the silence. “I believe I will continue my travels tomorrow. Your Million Flowers Celestial Peak is a wonder of natural beauty, but I grow restless staying in the same place for too long,” he admitted with a wistful sigh, staring up at the starry sky above. “Before I go, let me share some advice that I think may help you with your problem and a piece of information you might find interesting.”

  I raised an eyebrow. Was he suggesting that he knew what I had been working on? That had to be impossible, unless he could read minds. When he spoke however, I realised what he’d meant.

  “I’ll start with the advice. I often find that lessons are better learned when paired with exciting news. The mind clings to drama in the same way women do—and noble lords,” he added with a smirk. “When one finds themselves stuck on the same problem for a long period of time, they must remember that even though we face the heavens alone, we are not alone on earth.

  Even the simple company of a stranger can offer an interesting new perspective that may lead to an unexpected insight. Don’t try to climb Mount Tai alone when you have friends to help with the burden.”

  That… was obvious and yet deeply profound. I’d been forcing the issue myself, racing to try and put together what was a groundbreaking undertaking, when I had time and allies to lean on.

  I’d already somewhat realised that—I planned to rope Teng Sheng in to help, after all—but this reminded me that a sect was not built by a single man. “Thank you, that is insightful advice, Brother Jing.”

  “Indeed, but it is not me you should thank. I was given that advice by my father when I was a young and stubborn brat seeking fights and danger in every corner. It helped to temper my edges and build me into the man I am today, along with his other lessons,” Jing Ma replied with a melancholy twinkle in his eyes.

  “Well, thank you Father Jing,” I replied with a chuckle.

  “Hmm. I can see the tension has left your shoulders already, that is good. Now, before we make our way back, let me share with you a piece of interesting news.”

  I nodded and motioned for him to continue. Without realising it, we had reached the edge of the forest. As we turned back, he began his tale.

  “The era is shifting as we approach its zenith. Many great dangers lie in the near future, but with danger comes opportunity. The first of these opportunities lies in the Blossoming Heavens. A secret realm which only opens once to herald the start of each era’s golden age. Only those below the Core Forging Realm may enter, but all the sects and clans of the Celestial Jade Empire and the world beyond will fight to gain a spot,” he explained.

  Secret realm? I had never heard of them before, but from the way he spoke of it, it should be something important.

  “The reason for that is what lies within the Blossoming Heavens. Treasure that is impossible to find or create in our world, heralding from the ancient era. Lost arts and profound techniques, sky grade artifacts and beyond, or even herbs which do not grow in the outside world—all of these and more lie within. There are even rumours that a legendary inheritance of an ancient master is hidden at the centre of the Blossoming Heavens, although no one has claimed it for a dozen eras or more,” he continued, my eyes widening with every word.

  I had never heard of anything so outrageous, but I doubted he was lying. There was only one question on my mind and I wasn’t sure the answer would be what I wanted to hear.