Chapter 5: Introduction

Huai Qing scanned with his spiritual awareness and discovered that Qu Yi actually had an innate physique—able to absorb the natural energy of heaven and earth directly without the need for special pills, transforming it into true energy within his body.
Yet, despite his initial joy, Huai Qing soon frowned. He realized Qu Yi also possessed a body with all five elemental spiritual roots—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—each in perfect balance.
On the path of cultivation, the first thing to assess is one’s spiritual roots. Without them, there is no chance of cultivation. Among thousands of people in the world, it’s hard to find even one with spiritual roots, which is why cultivators are so rare.
For those who do have spiritual roots, having a single type allows for extremely fast progress. If one has dual roots, they must abandon one type of cultivation technique and focus solely on the other, as attempting to cultivate both at once would cause their body’s meridians to be overwhelmed by conflicting energies, leading to destruction.
A body with all five elemental roots is the worst possible for cultivation. Besides having to choose just one cultivation technique, the interference from the other four roots makes progress extremely difficult.
Huai Qing sighed inwardly. He concluded that Qu Yi’s highest achievement in cultivation would likely be the Foundation Establishment stage; going any further would be impossible.
“Master, please accept my bow!” Seeing that Huai Qing had agreed, Qu Yi hesitated no longer. He immediately held his sword with both hands, knelt down, and bowed his head.
Huai Qing raised two fingers slightly, and an invisible stream of true energy was sent out, drawing the jade sword from Qu Yi’s hands. Without delay, he marked the sword as his own by shedding a drop of his vital blood onto it.
The blood vanished, and so did the sword. Huai Qing’s face instantly lit up with ecstasy. Even at his Yuan Ying stage, he could hardly contain such astonishing news.
After the sword recognized him as its master, Huai Qing stored it inside his body, where it immediately sent a message:
“Eight Directions Jade Sword, you have obtained one. The Vast Heaven Immortal Mansion awaits your arrival!”
Huai Qing had already guessed this. The importance of this sword lay in its ability to grant access to the Vast Heaven Immortal Mansion. There were countless secret realms and dangerous places in the cultivation world, but there was only one immortal mansion—a fact known to everyone in the cultivation realm.
As for the origin of the Vast Heaven Immortal Mansion, it was deeply tied to a significant part of the cultivation world’s history.
“Very good. Since you have taken me as your master, I will accept you as my disciple as agreed. By the way, what is your name?” Huai Qing took a deep breath to calm himself down and asked with a smile.
“Your disciple’s name is Qu Yi!”
Huai Qing fell silent for a moment before smiling and saying, “That’s a good name. Life is full of twists and turns; one must persevere. Cultivators should especially embody this spirit.”

According to the rules of the Xianyun Sect, those who have not reached the Golden Core stage do not have titles and are addressed by their names directly. However, the disciple of the sect leader naturally deserves some special treatment and can be given a title. But at this moment, Huai Qing, considering Qu Yi’s Five Spirit Roots constitution, concluded that Qu Yi’s cultivation level was at most at the Foundation Establishment stage, so there was no need to grant him a title.

Upon receiving praise, Qu Yi immediately stood up, smiled at Huai Qing, and said, “Master, I just offered my tribute as a disciple. Have you accepted it and given me a gift in return?”

Huai Qing’s joyful expression froze, and his refined demeanor suddenly turned into wild laughter. Then, with one kick, he sent Qu Yi flying off the giant rock.

“You brat, you really have a lot of nerve to demand something from me. If I don’t teach you a lesson, how can I discipline you in the future?”

Qu Yi got up from the ground, touched his bottom, feeling no pain at all, and realized that his master had only pretended to be angry. When he glanced to the side, he laughed heartily and reached for a green, three-foot-long sword nearby.

It turned out that when Huai Qing kicked Qu Yi away, he had thrown down a precious sword as well.

“This sword is called the Green Python Sword, a top-grade magical weapon. Use it well and don’t tarnish my reputation,” came a melodious voice from above the giant rock.

Qu Yi immediately replied with a smile, “Master, rest assured. How could I ever undermine your reputation?”

Although Qu Yi did not know Huai Qing’s true identity at that time, he knew it was never too much to say nice things, so he naturally praised him.

Qu Yi also had no idea the significance of this top-grade magical weapon, as he had not yet begun his cultivation journey and was unaware of the hierarchy of such artifacts. If he had known that many people at the Golden Core stage did not even possess top-grade magical weapons, he would likely have been extremely grateful to Huai Qing.

Huai Qing smiled, then his gaze fell on the black giant rock beneath his feet. This massive piece of meteoric iron from the starry sky was material for crafting spiritual weapons and needed to be taken back to the sect.

Suddenly, Huai Qing flew into the air, holding a deep red wooden long sword in his hand. His face was full of confidence, his eyes burning with intensity.

“Ten Thousand Roots Split the Earth!”

With a light shout, Huai Qing swung his sword, and a dense stream of green energy burst forth, resembling a huge cloud descending from the sky. Then, this energy split into countless strands, like fine threads, piercing into the meteoric iron.

These countless strands, resembling the roots of a giant tree, were delicate yet numerous, striving to penetrate deep into the ground to absorb moisture.

That star-metal meteorite, though hard, could not withstand Huai Qing’s true energy attacks. Countless strands of green energy pierced into it simultaneously, cutting it into hundreds of pieces at lightning speed.
“Storage bracelet, take it!”
Huai Qing flew down, not even glancing at the stunned Qu Yi. A bright white bracelet appeared on his wrist, then flew off and joined the pile of star-metal meteorites, causing all those pieces to vanish instantly.
Qu Yi stood on one foot, leaning sideways, with his right hand resting on the Green Python Sword planted in the ground to prevent him from falling. His face was pale, and he stared at Huai Qing as if looking at a monster, not blinking.
“What’s the matter, silly disciple? I just showed you a little skill—is that all you’re impressed by?” Huai Qing stored the bracelet and smiled at Qu Yi.
Qu Yi straightened up, rubbed his eyes, and sized Huai Qing up before asking, “Master, what was that technique just now? It was so powerful. Can you teach it to me now?”
Huai Qing frowned and immediately flew over to Qu Yi, kicking him. Unfortunately, Qu Yi fell face-first into the ground.
Unwilling to give up, Qu Yi struggled to get up, his eyes moist as he spat out a weed and glared at Huai Qing in anger.
“Silly disciple, don’t talk nonsense if you don’t understand. The spell I used requires the cultivation level of the Yuan Ying stage. You haven’t even mastered the basics of Qi cultivation—what’s the point of teaching you that technique?” Huai Qing laughed again.
Qu Yi brushed off the dirt from his body and walked over dejectedly, standing quietly beside Huai Qing with his head lowered.
“Eh? There’s a corpse under this huge rock?” Just as Huai Qing was about to pull Qu Yi away, he suddenly noticed something and exclaimed in shock.
Qu Yi immediately looked up and toward the pit formed by the rock. After Huai Qing took away the rock, there indeed was a corpse resembling mud at the bottom of the pit.
“Oh… this is Qu Meng!” Qu Yi saw a broken heavy sword beside the corpse—it was Qu Meng’s personal sword, so he recognized it right away.
Unexpectably, Qu Yi had originally planned to return to Linshan Village to avenge Qu Meng, but now he realized that Qu Meng had been killed by the falling rock.

When Qu Meng pushed Qu Yi off the cliff, he spent the night alone on the cliff edge. The next day, he cautiously descended the mountain. Unexpectedly, the world changed drastically—as countless violent storms arose, swallowing everything in their path. Only a huge black rock landed unharmed, coincidentally hitting Qu Meng right on target. It could be said that Qu Yi avenged himself indirectly.
“Oh, so it’s someone you know. Well, since he’s dead, I’ll bury him for him.” Huai Qing didn’t ask further and simply swung his sword, lifting the ground around and burying Qu Meng.
Qu Yi bit his lip, then relaxed, resolving some of his worries.
“Alright, good disciple. Now that this worldly matter is settled, you’ll follow me in cultivating the truth from now on.” Huai Qing grabbed Qu Yi and smiled lightly.
Qu Yi responded with a grunt and let Huai Qing hold his arm.
Huai Qing took out his red wooden sword, stepped onto it, and soared into the air with great speed.
……
Cui Mu Planet was a small cultivation world with just one continent called the Four Veins Continent, named so because the single rectangular continent was dotted with four massive mountain ranges.
To the east were the Gui Yang Mountains, running north-south—territory of the Xuan Yang Temple. To the south were the Lan Yue Mountains, stretching east-west—territory of the Fire Moon Sect. To the west were the Zui Wu Mountains, running north-south—territory of the Immortal Cloud Sect. To the north were the Wang Xing Mountains, stretching east-west—territory of the Jade Host Sect.
These four mountain ranges formed a ‘mouth’ shape. Each was towering and remote, filled with deep valleys and dangerous terrain, accessible only to cultivators.
The inland area surrounded by these mountains was the world of mortals, home to dozens of empires with a population of over a billion.
The Immortal Cloud Sect, Fire Moon Sect, Xuan Yang Temple, and Jade Host Sect regularly sent people to mortal lands to find those with spiritual roots and recruit them into their sects.
At that moment, within the clouds, the leader of the Immortal Cloud Sect personally piloted a flying sword, taking a mortal with him to the sect.
Such phenomena were indeed unusual.
“Master, you fly so fast! I can’t even keep my eyes open,” Qu Yi cried in pain.
Huai Qing flew through the air with Qu Yi, covering hundreds of miles in an instant. If not for slowing down out of concern for Qu Yi’s mortal body, he could have traveled a thousand miles in a single breath—wind speeds strong enough to tear Qu Yi to pieces.
“This is still slow. Stay quiet. We’ll be back at the Immortal Cloud Sect soon,” Huai Qing snapped.

It was then that Qu Yi realized his master came from the Xianyun Sect, and he finally knew which sect he would be joining. A day later, after continuous travel, Huai Qing finally returned to the Chuiwu Mountain Range and arrived at the location of the Xianyun Sect—Chuiyun Peak. “We’re here!” Huai Qing said with a smile as he hovered in midair. Only then did Qu Yi open his eyes, shake his head to clear his thoughts, and look down.