As expected of the year that many predicted to be an eventful period, trouble had already befallen him.

Zhang Sheng’s face kept getting uglier as he studied the contents of the jade paper. All Wei Yuan could do was stand primly and await the coming storm.

When his master was done, he let out a grunt and slapped the jade paper against the table, asking, “You haven’t even figured out your own Dao Foundation, so why are you studying a Yin Yang Dao Foundation? Are you that free?”

“I just thought there might be a small possibility that—”

Zhang Sheng cut him off before he could finish. “Not even a little!”

“Then… I’ll return it tomorrow.”

The cloudiness on his master’s face subsided a little. “Do you know how many people are working their tails off to see your cultivation complete? Do you think that the pills you consume everyday are daily gifts from the heavens? You should strive to do your best so as not to disappoint those who are helping you!”

After Wei Yuan apologized for his error in judgment, Zhang Sheng tested him on his latest homework as usual. His expression improved a little more after he discovered that nothing could stump his disciple. After that, he left behind three bottles of Vigor Nurturing Pills and flew away on his sword.

After his master had left, Wei Yuan abruptly broke out in cold sweat and thanked the heavens for his luck. Thank goodness that the jade paper he picked up tonight discussed how one could subsume the Yin Yang Qi into their Dao Foundation. Technically speaking, it counted as a part of the great Dao of Yin and Yang. He was wondering why his senior brother had shoved this among the other things into his hands that day, but now he realized it was a life-saving gesture.

In any case, his hands were visibly trembling when he picked up the jade paper. He was just about to put it back to its hiding place when Zhang Sheng’s voice came behind him again, “What are you nervous about?”

Wei Yuan trembled all over and accidentally dropped the jade paper on the floor.

Right now, his master was standing at the center of the room. Coincidentally or not, his face and expression were completely hidden by the shadows cast by the trees outside.

It was life or death. At the last moment, an idea occurred to him, and he blurted out, “To be honest, some of my homework is incomprehensible to me, but I am too ashamed to tell you about it. I thought I would study the texts until I understand them eventually.”

“What are they? Tell me about it.” Zhang Sheng stepped into the light with a much softer expression and sat down at the table.

Wei Yuan grabbed a brush and drew a circle that wasn’t a circle; an egg that wasn’t an egg on a piece of jade paper. Then, he dotted two not-yolks inside the not-eggs and began, “This month, my Heaven and Earth Theory teacher talked about a big, invisible star coming between several big stars. He said that the star’s path can be calculated even though it cannot be seen, and this picture shows the trajectory of the star as he has deduced it. These two points are said to be of great importance for the following reasons…”

He proceeded to list out countless numbers and equations on the paper. A single page wasn’t nearly enough to hold them all. Fortunately, the jade paper possessed the ability to switch pages at will, so space wasn’t a problem. Even so, it took him seven pages before he wrote out all of the basic calculations that were covered in class.

He might not understand what was being taught during those lessons, but he did memorize all of the contents.

Zhang Sheng simply watched in silence from the start until the end.

After Wei Yuan was finally done writing, he gaped at his master and asked, “I may have memorized it all, but I don’t understand them. Please teach me, Master.”

Zhang Sheng tried to grab a teacup, but realized that no tea was prepared on the table at all. Wei Yuan wasn’t a tea drinker. Ji Liuli was, but she never shared a single leaf with him.

He tried searching for a folding fan next. Again, nothing. When he looked around, he discovered that the tables were spotless besides the brushes and papers.

Finally, he withdrew his outstretched hand without a flicker of emotion. While wearing a composed expression, he began, “This is the unspoken secret of Heavenly Mysteries Hall, so many of the preliminary steps and procedures were omitted. It’s only natural that you couldn’t understand them. For now, your immediate priority is to temper your body and grasp the methods to discern fortune and misfortune in Fortune Theory and Technique Theory. Everything else can wait.

“I have matters to attend to now and must depart. When next I visit, I shall examine your fortune-telling skills. You may then tell my fortune.”

Zhang Sheng had always come and gone as he pleased. Before Wei Yuan could say a word, he abruptly rose to his feet and flew away on his sword.

It wasn’t until the light of his sword had disappeared into the sky that the boy finally withdrew his gaze and thought to himself: So, I guess there are things that even Master doesn’t understand.

But… he feels more down-to-earth this way.

Still, the homework Zhang Sheng had issued before he took his leave made him a little nervous. Wei Yuan had never been confident in his grasp on Techniques Theory, and this was especially true for fortune-telling. However, he would be remiss to ignore the homework his master had personally assigned him. He didn’t want to be rebuked again.

There were many types of fortune-telling spells and techniques. He decided to tell Zhang Sheng’s fortune with the most basic Turtle Shell Fortune-telling Method. Although he didn’t have a turtle’s shell right now, it could be replaced by many materials. After finding a piece of spirit wood, he offered a sincere prayer to heaven and earth and imbued it with his Dao energy. Then, he burned it over a piece of red charcoal before examining the cracked patterns on its surface.

The patterns looked scattered, chaotic, and more sharp than rounded. According to his instructor’s teachings, this signified financial loss and calamity. Simply put, it meant that the person would fail to avert misfortune even after suffering financial setbacks[1].

It would appear that he had not mastered his Turtle Shell Fortune-telling Method. He would have to try another method. Some thinking later, Wei Yuan decided to perform the Ode to the Spirit Warlock. It was a fortune-telling technique originating from the Shamans and was said to be very effective. He grabbed a handful of incense ash that was full of spirit qi and an item Zhang Sheng had used before. Then, he sang the shamanic song and tossed the ash at the item.

The incense ash was activated the second it made contact with the item. At the same time, Wei Yuan squeezed some blood out of his fingertip and wiped it across his eyes. Through the crimson haze, he saw a human cooking inside a cauldron while roaring flames burned under it[2].

Having read a good number of secret texts at this point, Wei Yuan blurted out, “Human cauldron?”

The boy wiped a shaky hand across his brow. Thank goodness he decided to test out his fortune-telling skills beforehand. If he had blurted out this outcome in front of his master, his finger and eyes wouldn’t be the only things that were bloodied that day.

I should have known that a foreign race’s technique would be unreliable, Wei Yuan mentally ranted before casting an orthodox Daoist Qi Viewing Spell.

This time, he used a book Zhang Sheng had handwritten as a medium. A column of clear qi slowly rose out of the book, but suddenly, wisps of black qi wrapped around its lower half and slowly dragged it to the bottom. The column of clear qi eventually became completely mixed with the black qi.

What does this mean… Debasing oneself, wallowing in corruption?

That was what the book stated. He didn’t know if it was accurate or not, but he was sure that he would face a life-and-death tribulation if he were to inform Zhang Sheng about this result.

Wei Yuan was deeply troubled. Before this, he thought that fortune-telling was just a minor Dao. He didn’t think it would be so difficult that he failed to master even the basics. It would seem he really had to spend the next couple days catching up on his Techniques Theory, or his master was going to scold him to death for his repeated failures.

It was very late in the night. On his sword, Zhang Sheng flew into a humongous mountain that was covered in caves. Many of the caves were lit by fire, and earth fire could be seen spilling here and there. On top of that, the mountaintop was shrouded in a cloud of blurry, blue light.

The scholar landed at the mountainside. Specifically, he landed at the cut-off point between the blue light and the earth fire. Standing here, hellish heat was rising from the bottom, but desolate cold was whooshing down from above.

It was at this moment a muscular cultivator boasting a dark complexion ran up to Zhang Sheng. He exclaimed in joy while reaching out to grab the scholar’s hand, “My name is Yu Zhizhuo. I’ve been eagerly anticipating your arrival, Junior Brother!”

Zhang Sheng silently took a step backward and dodged the hand. Despite the rudeness, Yu Zhizhuo didn’t take offense. He even let out a laugh and said self-derisively, “Apologies for my rudeness. I interact with mystic treasures and artifacts every day, and I was overcome with joy earlier.”

The scholar replied, “It’s no problem. Anyway, you mentioned an urgent matter?”

“Straight to business, eh? That’s fine by me. I heard that among your immortal foundation is the immortal sword, Void Cutter. Am I right?”

Zhang Sheng replied, “That is correct. It has not had the chance to test its edge since coming to be.”

The cultivator looked overjoyed to hear this. “That’s wonderful! When I read the texts, it is stated that Void Cutter is one the top three immortal swords in terms of sharpness! Indeed, only you can do this, Junior Brother!”

The scholar said, “I wouldn’t presume to call it a top-three sword, but it is pretty sharp—there are very few things that can withstand its edge. So, can you please elaborate on the specifics of this mission, Senior Brother? What am I to slay? A centuries-old demon? A savage foreigner? Or perhaps a devilish entity from the Beyond?”

“Patience, Junior Brother. This way!” Yu Zhizhuo took the lead and ran into the blurry blue light. As soon as Zhang Sheng stepped inside, the sweltering heat instantly became bitingly cold even for him, so much so that he had to secretly channel his Dao energy to resist it. His senior brother didn’t seem to notice a thing, however.

The scholar couldn’t help but feel a tad apprehensive. The cultivator was a Dao Foundation cultivator just like him, and they were at the same level in terms of minor stage as well. Yet, Yu Zhizhuo’s Dao energy seemed to be stronger than his. He supposed he should have expected this from a fellow cultivator of the Palace of Absolute Beginning. There wasn’t a single soul here that could be underestimated.

As they walked, Yu Zhizhuo said, “The Mastercraft Hall specializes in yin yang artifact-forging arts. The bottom half of this mountain draws natural earth fire, whereas the top half borrows its strength to nurture a Nether Flame from the Beyond. In fact, it forged one of the three great immortal artifacts of the Palace!”

Yu Zhizhuo would spend the next few minutes droning about the scenery of the Mastercraft Hall. Truth be told, the hall’s spectacular fire and ice mountain was one of the most famous sights in the Palace of Absolute Beginning. It was also something Zhang Sheng had known for ages. As for the minor attractions, he couldn’t care less about them. Still, he understood the importance of paying respect to one’s patron. It wasn’t like he needed to respond; just listening was good enough.

The duo soon arrived at a side hall. They were still outside when suddenly, Zhang Sheng felt a blast of fiendish energy!

Most people would feel apprehension upon sensing this energy, but the scholar felt ecstatic instead. His eyes began to ripple like the surface of a body of water as grayish smoke emerged from the center. Whoever this fiendish qi belonged to, they were someone not even the Mastercraft Hall was able to contain. It looked like a huge battle was waiting for him. It had been too long since he cultivated properly, and this battle had come at just the right moment. This was the perfect opportunity to hone his blade!

Yu Zhizhuo led Zhang Sheng into the side hall where several Mastercraft hall disciples had set up a great array. They were sitting in the eight directions and surrounding a certain object from all sides. It was a lump of crooked metal about the size of a water jar. It was also the object from which the fiendish qi was leaking from.

The cultivator’s eyes shone with excitement as soon as he saw the lump of metal. While rubbing his hands fervently, he said, “This is a lump of meteoric iron from the Beyond. It took the Truemen quite a bit of effort to pull it to our location. Physically, it is nigh indestructible. We could not cut it with mystic power either because doing so would contaminate it with said power and alter its properties. Out of everyone in the Palace, you are the only one in the Dao Foundation stage who can undertake this crucial task, Junior Brother Zhang!”

He then stepped aside and declared, “With all that said, please cut this object into a cube, Junior Brother!”

The Mastercraft Hall disciples were all looking at Zhang Sheng with expectation as well. They all wished to witness the legendary immortal sword in action.

1. In Chinese we have an idiom that goes something like, “Spend money to avert misfortune.” Like if you crashed your car and paid to fix it, you’re supposed to be protected from further disaster for a time. Or maybe you pay to perform a ritual/toss money into a well even and get a blessing or protection in exchange. Obviously, this does not apply to Zhang Sheng. ☜

2. In the raw it’s really a tripod and a cauldron, but then this next line wouldn’t make any sense to readers. Hence this change. ☜