It wasn’t like his path to immortality was completely uneventful. For example, Bao Yun was unhappy with their previous loss and asked the Traditional Party out for another fight. Now that Wei Yuan had finally started to temper his body, he could actually trade blows with his opponents.

Unfortunately, everyone in their class was full of themselves and unwilling to accept orders from a peer. The only order Bao Yun and Cui Yu could effectively issue was: “Charge!” It was the same for the Traditional Party. Consequently, the fight devolved into chaotic melee.

It was during this fight Wei Yuan discovered that a chaotic melee was completely different from the martial test. It was a fight where he felt like he was being hampered at every turn. Every time he wanted to swing his fist, an ally would coincidentally block his path. Whenever he tried to dodge, someone would accidentally step on his foot. It was most frustrating to be sabotaged by his own allies time and again.

When one side is in trouble, all sides will add to the chaos[1]. Wei Yuan then found himself surrounded from all sides and beaten blue and black for his efforts.

That said, Wei Yuan was much tougher after he started tempering his body. Despite being pinned down and attacked by over a dozen attackers for an extended period, the injuries he took were barely skin-deep, much less serious. If anything, it was his attackers who were worn out in the end. Still, he earned a ton of bruises and looked rather unsightly at the end of the fight.

Two brawls later, every centralized learning student was officially stuck with the Reform Party label. They interacted with the disciples of the Traditional Party as well as water and fire.

Just a few months later, Bao Yun and Cui Yu kicked off yet another battle for vengeance. As Wei Yuan had singlehandedly held off a dozen attackers during the second fight, he was unanimously promoted to the position of a lone wolf.

By now, most of the students had finished tempering their flesh and begun tempering their blood. A small portion had finished that as well and begun tempering their bones. Naturally, everyone’s physical prowess had improved dramatically. Jumping several zhang in one leap, shattering a rock with one punch and more were perfectly ordinary occurrences.

On top of that, nearly everyone studying in the Palace of Absolute Beginning was a genius. Most of them possessed their own abilities, powers, and whatnot. Even the simple act of mustering their strength would infuse their bodies with all sorts of colorful ribbons and rainbow strips. Did the flamboyance do anything to enhance their combat power? That was debatable. Did they look good? Absolutely.

And so the students flew up and down the battlefield while filling the spaces with all sorts of colorful lights. All sorts of gods, beasts, immortals, and devils were populating the sky as well. Not even the Three Immortals' Conquest of Yun Province had looked this flamboyant.

But no matter how much immortal qi filled the air or how bright a light shone, the fight inevitably devolved into a chaotic melee once more. You and me, me and you, we’re all in this together!

Thus, allies appeared around Wei Yuan and earned him a ton of bruises once more.

The good news was that he was still eating three Vigor Nurturing Pills each day and so was even hardier than he was in the previous fight. The punches and kicks were annoying, but not really all that brutal. Besides, this fight counted as a spar of sorts, so no one was using a weapon. Besides that, it was forbidden to use another person’s mystic artifact as well. Things would have been so much worse if his opponents were allowed to stab him with a mystic sword or something. Also, he noticed that even the blows of someone who had begun to temper their bones didn’t hurt all that bad so long as they were barehanded.

Of course, Wei Yuan knew his boundaries. This was reality, not an illusory realm like the martial test. Naturally, he did not stoop to using Outlawed by Heaven and Earth.

Bao Yun had nearly burst into tears when the fight was over, and Wei Yuan showed up looking like he had been kicked around like a ball, which he kind of had been. Of course, he also held back more than twenty opponents on his own and allowed Cui Yu and Bao Yun to score a crushing victory in other places, ultimately winning them this fight. This was the first time the Reform Party had won, so everyone except a certain punching bag was ecstatic.

After the fight, Bao Yun felt guilty and sought out Wei Yuan of her own accord. She had spent a long time comforting him and even shoving a bag containing ten thousand immortal silver into his arms. He had rejected the gift vehemently at first, but the girl clarified that she was just lending him the money, not gifting it to him. She had also brought up their bond as sectmates and fellows from the same province[2], and even Zhang Sheng. The last thing was what finally convinced him to accept it. In truth, his cultivation speed was dragging his class’ feet.

Speaking of which, most of the one hundred thousand immortal silver in the public account were used up. The effects were substantial, though. Since they didn’t need to worry about the lack of cultivation resources and pills, most of the students of the Reform Party were progressing way ahead of expectations. On the contrary, they were ahead of the Traditional Party by a significant degree.

Having spent over a year with his classmates at this point, Wei Yuan now had a very rough idea of the true strength of the aristocratic families. He no longer harbored the strange notion that Bao Yun’s life was going to be thrown into disarray just because she had given away tens of thousands of immortal silver.

After receiving ten thousand immortal silver, Wei Yuan’s personal debt had exceeded a grand total of thirty thousand. To be specific, he still owed six thousand taels in cultivation resources, and fifteen thousand taels from the public account. However, ever since the amount of immortal silver he borrowed had exceeded a thousand taels, his mentality had shifted ever so slightly. His debt, as heavy as it was, now felt just like a number to him. The anxiety that had once troubled him so much that he couldn’t sleep was mostly gone, and he felt more confident and less ashamed when borrowing from another.

The Reform Party students; morale soared after winning this battle. Within days, Cui Yu announced that he would contribute another fifty thousand taels to the public account. Bao Yun followed suit with fifty thousand taels, and Xiao Yu also matched that amount. Thus the morale of every student reached unprecedented heights—except for Wei Yuan.

He had lunar essence to consume.

Even difficult times passed eventually. Before he knew it, it was his third year in the Palace of Absolute Beginning.

According to his Heaven and Earth Theory teacher, a big, invisible star would be joining a couple more big, invisible stars this year. It was apparently a sign of disaster and turmoil. As for how he knew the movements of these big stars that couldn’t be seen, his teacher had spent three whole lessons explaining it to the class, listing a whole bunch of heavenly stems and earthly branches and drawing countless circles that didn’t resemble circles. Wei Yuan didn’t understand a word of it, and neither did anyone else in the class.

His Fortune Theory teacher also said that the great fate was experiencing some faint ripples, that the era’s fortune had peaked and was now waning, that the country’s fortune was in turmoil, and that individual fortunes were experiencing dramatic swings[3]. He too listed a whole bunch of heavenly stems and earthly branches that no one understood.

His Dao Foundation Theory teacher, Big Senior Sister Liuli declared that those who completed their Dao Foundation this year would enjoy additional potency in terms of killing power. The students were so excited that they threw themselves into additional practice after class.

A different teacher had taken over their Techniques Theory class. Instead of pills and artifacts, he talked about the shamans’ fortune-telling, curses, and poisons. The number of students who entered a cultivation state after the lesson decreased dramatically, and those who were paying attention hung onto every word.

Later, Wei Yuan used the fortune-telling spell he just learned to tell his own fortune. The result he obtained stated: Financial loss.

He thought that his grasp of Techniques Theory could use a little more work.

Just to be safe, he decided to pay his good friend, Yan Ming of Eastern Sea, a visit when he had the time[4]. They were fellows from the same province after all.

In conclusion, the twelfth year of the Longwu era of Great Tang was destined to be an eventful period.

Not long after spring began, Wei Yuan noticed that the atmosphere in the sect felt a little odd.

Once again, it was time for him to refine his foundation. When Wei Yuan went to the Council Hall and stepped inside the house as usual, he immediately saw his big senior sister playing with an orchid.

The orchid was exceptionally beautiful. It was also brimming with spirituality and immortal vitality, so much so that he couldn’t help but give it a couple more glances. The more he looked, the more he felt that it was extraordinary.

There was one other thing that he noticed. The orchid was rootless. Instead, its stem continuously disappeared into brilliant stardust that eventually faded into nothing. It was seriously gorgeous.

How could such an orchid possibly exist?

Unfortunately, Wei Yuan didn’t get the chance to proclaim his admiration before Ji Liuli commanded, “Stop stalling and get it done already!”

His big senior sister wasn’t looking at him when she said this, however. It was only then Wei Yuan noticed that there was another person in the room. He was busying himself in front of a medicinal cabinet and slotting packs of processed herbs into their respective slots.

He was a man who resembled living water. His beauty was so dazzling that Wei Yuan recognized him immediately even though he had only seen his side profile once. He was Hsu Henshui.

Right now, the man was picking up a couple herbs and reluctantly putting them inside the medicinal cabinet. When Ji Liuli saw this, she let out a cold chuckle and slid her hand up the orchid’s stem before cupping the flower.

1. A play on the original idiom: When one side is in trouble, all eight directions will rush to their assistance. You can probably see why people changed it like this. ☜

2. Chuckle snort ☜

3. So like, imagine that his teacher is giving a weather forecast or explaining market share trends. This should give you an idea why this passage is funny asf. ☜

4. For those who don’t understand or already forgot who Yan Ming is, he’s the guy who received a boon of wealth from the Founder. ☜