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However, even someone as inexperienced as her found these things utterly unappealing. The outer disciples were quite a rip-off, charging a hundred low-grade spirit stones here and there. It was probably a scheme targeting new outer disciples. The sect granted exactly one hundred low-grade spirit stones to each outer disciple. Song Chi paid them no mind.

But when she moved to the inner sect, at the foot of Peach Blossom Mountain near the Spirit Turtle, there was also a flea market for inner disciples. Song Chi took a look around and found that the inner disciples were just as deceptive. Everything they offered was priced at exactly one hundred medium-grade spirit stones, likely aimed at trapping new inner disciples.

The items here were indeed of a slightly higher caliber, but nothing that could truly change the fate of a transmigrator, such as spirit treasures or cultivation techniques, was to be found. She thought to herself that novels and reality were truly worlds apart.

She circled the flea market and by the time she reached the last stall, she inexplicably took a liking to an old, yellowed booklet. It was a book on divination; the title page clearly stated that the “Immortal’s Divination Technique” could only be obtained by those with a destined connection. However, the subsequent pages were entirely blank, though stained with blood, burnt marks, and water damage. Presumably, the senior disciple who had found this technique had tried various ways to unlock the book, but all attempts failed.

The senior brother running the stall smiled when he saw her leafing through the book and said, “Junior sister, don’t be fooled by this tattered divination book. It actually has a significant origin—it was obtained by chance two years ago when I dropped into a secret realm. Only those with a destined affinity can comprehend this wordless celestial scripture. Alas, I have no choice but to part with it. If you like it, I’ll sell it to you at a bargain price of one hundred medium-grade spirit stones.”

One hundred medium-grade spirit stones again. Their sales pitch never changed! Moreover, the spirit energy of this world was as stagnant as ever; they said no secret realm had erupted in a thousand years. This senior brother left her speechless.

Song Chi immediately put the book down, intending to leave. The senior brother quickly blocked her, “You look familiar, junior sister. How about this: a special discount, fifty medium-grade spirit stones. Rest assured, with your spiritual acuity, you’ll definitely gain the approval of the technique’s original owner.”

Song Chi thought to herself, just look at all these bloodstains. Many must have tried and failed.

“Forget it, senior brother, I’m not really interested,” she said.

He stopped her again. “Junior sister, don’t go. Tell me how much you can pay. If reasonable, I’ll give you a further discount!”

Song Chi raised one finger.

“Ten medium-grade spirit stones?” The senior brother barely suppressed a grin before quickly putting on a pained expression.

Song Chi shook her head. “One.”

The senior brother was so furious he nearly passed out, swatting her away like a fly. Nearby, a senior sister laughed out loud and then scolded him for scamming. “That thing’s just junk. Maybe some prankster made it to fool people. Luckily, this little junior sister didn’t fall for it.”

“I’m not scamming anyone,” the senior brother retorted. But as Song Chi took two steps away, he grabbed her sleeve, feigning great pain. “You look familiar. Today, I’m feeling generous—one medium-grade spirit stone it is.”

Song Chi was now somewhat reluctant, but a strange feeling inside told her she’d be disappointed if she didn’t buy it. She took out one medium-grade spirit stone, bought the book, and quickly left the market amid the senior sister’s shaking head.

Before she had a chance to examine it, she heard the clang of the academy bell—classes were over, and it was time for lunch. Stomach growling, Song Chi headed straight to the cafeteria.

The sect was quite considerate; the cafeterias were located between the Peach Blossom Mountains and the Azure Academy. There were eight cafeterias, each four stories tall. The first two served the immortal masters and other high-ranking figures, while the remaining six were for inner disciples.

Two of those, called the Geng and Xin cafeterias, provided free meals to new disciples for three months as a sect benefit.

Since meals were free, Song Chi didn’t spend a dime and surprisingly, the dishes were quite good. Back home, spirit beast meat was a luxury reserved for festivals, yet here it was served free for three months. Naturally, her three plates contained no green vegetables.

She was mocked by Dai Jia, who happened to be eating on the second floor of the Geng cafeteria. “Never eaten meat before? Taking so much, tsk.”

Song Chi was speechless; the woman seemed ill. She ignored her.

After a hearty meal, she went downstairs to the academy to learn about the class schedule and curriculum, and how to commute on the spirit turtle. She had initially thought riding the spirit turtle cost spirit stones daily, but it turned out to be free for round trips to the academy. Of course, only punctual trips were free; being late meant paying.

Song Chi thought to herself that the Azure Sword Sect truly deserved its reputation as the wealthiest sect among the eight great sects south of Yuqiong Mountain. It was said the sect controlled sixteen spirit ore veins, while her hometown sect, Changyun Sect, had only five, making it comparatively poor. Elders in Changyun Sect often engaged in side businesses; Song’s family’s incense and powder shop was merely a management shop run for Elder Pan of the outer sect.

After learning about the academy, Song Chi went to the Azure Cloud Pavilion, where inner disciple task assignments were given.

She was surprised to find that the Azure Sword Sect was indeed different from others; it had special tasks suited for sound cultivation disciples. These tasks were said to have been established by the sect’s founding immortal ancestor.

The ancestor, Immortal Lord Qingxiao, was not only an extraordinary sword cultivator but also a master of ancient melodies. The sect was originally called Azure Sound Sword Sect but later declined in influence, dropping from a four-character to a three-character sect name. Four-character sects, like Lingxu Immortal Sect where Ye Qingyu hailed from, were top-tier sects.

Song Chi spent ten low-grade spirit stones buying all the task books and returned to her dorm to study.

Her initial plan was to do sound cultivation tasks because the spirit stone rewards and task points were doubled compared to other tasks.

But she quickly realized this was nearly impossible.

Even the simplest tasks required prior study of sound cultivation courses at the academy.

These tasks involved playing melodies learned in class for spirit plants in the sect’s herb garden or for spirit beasts in the pens.

It was said that music nourished spirit herbs, enhancing their medicinal properties, and made the meat of spirit beasts more tender.

In later generations, it was indeed common knowledge that playing music to cattle improved meat quality, though Song Chi, a semi-foodie, hadn’t noticed much difference.

Moreover, as sound cultivation advanced, one could use spirit-force blades created by melodies to repel pests from spirit plants or remove parasitic insects from spirit beasts.

However, the task board specifically warned that if unstable spirit power caused harm to spirit plants or reduced spirit beast yields, the disciple responsible would bear all losses.

Who would dare take that risk?

Even a minor injury would be unbearable for Song Chi, who currently had a total of 2,100 medium-grade spirit stones—two thousand given by her parents before entering the sect, plus one hundred from the sect itself. She couldn’t afford such a loss.

The main cause of damage in sound cultivation tasks was unstable spirit power control, which caused spirit blades to scatter wildly, injuring the plants.

Given her balanced three-element spiritual roots—Metal, Water, and Wood—she could produce stable output of three types of spirit power with ease, so she might still manage these tasks if she risked it.

She would see how things went after studying the music method. If she could do sound cultivation tasks, it would be a relief.

Ordinary tasks, if done within the sect, only yielded rewards sufficient for a common disciple to buy refining pills, and she would have to rush to tasks immediately after classes to compete for them.

Refining pills were expensive, and her entire fortune would only buy about a hundred—a half-year supply.

Tasks outside the sect paid more spirit stones but took longer and were dangerous. The sect required disciples to be at least fourth-level Qi Refining before allowing them to undertake such missions.

Earning spirit stones was her top priority now. She had to prepare to establish her foundation.

No choice. Although the Song family ran two incense and powder shops, they only earned a twenty percent profit. The whole family had expenses, and her grandfather and others needed spirit stones daily to maintain the enhancement formations in the training rooms.

In truth, the Song family was not wealthy.

Before leaving for apprenticeship, her parents had promised that if she worked hard, they would help prepare foundation-establishing pills for her.

But with her talent, she needed at least ten such pills to stand a chance of success. The family’s saved spirit stones might only cover half.

According to cultivation world consensus, the world’s spirit energy was stagnant; spirit plants grew slowly, and secret realms were nonexistent. Thus, pills were extraordinarily expensive.

The Azure Sword Sect’s wealth was also due to its alchemy sect being among the top three of the eight great sects.

Alchemy pills were costly. Even the Qi Refining period’s refining pills were expensive, let alone foundation-establishing pills, which started at five thousand high-grade spirit stones each—that’s fifty thousand medium-grade spirit stones for ten.

Fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones was an astronomical sum for Song Chi and her family.

But no matter what, she had to establish her foundation successfully.

Though her talent was modest, she was her family’s hope. Only by establishing her foundation could she protect the family’s modest legacy.

The cultivation world was harsh.

Now, improving her cultivation was urgent. The sect’s ordinary tasks required at least first-level Qi Refining.

Though she had practiced some spirit energy at home, her father had given her only a basic Qi Refining introductory method. Though her parents had joined Changyun Sect, they naturally did not share the sect’s methods with her. That was the cultivation world’s rule.

Thus, her training speed was slow with the basic method. Now, with Azure Sword Sect’s cultivation method and the spirit-rich training room, progress was possible.

Song Chi packed away the task books and went straight to the training room.

The Azure Sword Sect’s cultivation method was indeed very different in spirit flow pathways and offered categorized guidance based on spiritual root types. For her triple roots of Metal, Water, and Wood, there were dedicated pages guiding meridians and acupoints.

She began meditation according to the method, and after an entire afternoon, she completed three cycles of the spirit circulation. Previously, she could only complete one cycle a day—a cruel contrast. The life of a scattered cultivator was truly harsh.

In just one afternoon, she broke through to first-level Qi Refining, a level she had struggled to reach for a year. Tomorrow, she could take on one or two ordinary tasks daily.

After dinner, she caught a free ride back on a spirit turtle with academy disciples.

She meditated late into the night, noticing a tiny new dot of spirit power growth, feeling genuinely pleased. Early cultivation was going well for her talent level. But the sixth level of Qi Refining was a major hurdle. Her parents had stalled there for twenty years, but at her current speed, she might reach it in two years—a harsh comparison.

Still, after sixth level, her speed would slow.

The academy curriculum lasted ten years, the sect’s expected latest time for inner disciples to reach ninth level Qi Refining. Song Chi worried she might lag behind and lose face.

If not for fatigue, she would have continued training until dawn. Talent aside, she’d make up for it with sheer effort.

But her meridians ached all over, and her eyes grew heavy. She washed up and went to bed.

Before sleeping, she remembered the divination book she bought from the senior brother. She still felt a sting at spending one medium-grade spirit stone on it. If bleeding on it yielded no result, her heart would bleed too.

She immediately lit a lamp, got up, and opened the tattered, yellowed book. At a glance, she thought she must have been blind to think the book looked promising. How could she have been so naive?