novelraw Chapter 2 : Chapter 2
Chapter 2 : Chapter 2
Chapter 2 : The Unnamed Book
I ultimately agreed to Yun Qingping’s condition, joining that mysterious organization whose name I didn’t even know.
I had no choice, after all.
As for the organization’s name, size, or main operations, I didn’t ask, and Yun Qingping didn’t seem inclined to tell me.
Likely, she’d only reveal it once I truly stepped onto the path of immortality and gained enough strength to qualify as an “outer member.”
The privileges were for the future; the responsibilities started now.
I didn’t dare complain.
I figured Yun Qingping had some intent to protect me.
Her organization… even if her earlier words were exaggerated, the gist was clear: the cultivation world, both righteous and demonic paths, despised this unnamed group.
They probably all held grudges against it—a real street rat of an organization.
Knowing less might actually keep me safer.
At some point, Yun Qingping had produced a meditation cushion and sat on it, composed like a deity:
“Back to business. Let me check your bone structure. Your comprehension, little rascal, is probably decent. If your bones are good too, you should quickly sense qi and generate your first strand of true qi… Xun Qiu, what kind of cultivation method do you want to practice? I can’t give you some peerless divine technique, but I have plenty of secret manuals from ordinary sects. As long as you don’t go blabbing about them later, practicing them is fine.”
Having willingly signed my indenture, I dropped my mournful expression and asked earnestly:
“Just take a manual and start practicing? That's simple?”
“Of course it’s not that simple. If you were six, I’d have you temper your body, soak in medicinal baths to build a foundation, and study Taoist and Buddhist scriptures to hone your comprehension. Then, a year later, we’d plan further,” Yun Qingping sighed.
“But you’re already fifteen. Though you look scrawny, your bones are set, and the innate clear qi from your fetal stage is gone. Building a foundation now… bluntly, you’d die of old age before finishing. Better to start practicing directly.”
“Starting at fifteen—will I never amount to anything?”
I clenched my fist.
“Not necessarily. The same person starting at fifteen won’t match one starting at six, but people differ. Some, nurtured from youth with perfect bones and meridians, barely progress. Others, with ordinary methods, achieve world-shaking cultivation. Some, born to great sects with high talent, waste their lives. Others, with poor bones and comprehension, grasp the Dao overnight and enter immortality,” Yun Qingping explained patiently.
“Xun Qiu, understand? Bones, comprehension, spiritual roots, talent—they’re superficial. In the end, it’s about the person.”
It sounded like motivational chicken soup, but I sensed the emotion in her words.
How to describe it?
Regret, envy, complexity—hard to pin down, but undoubtedly sincere.
I knew not to pry when we weren’t close, so I just nodded to show I understood.
I suddenly remembered the Unnamed Book Bo Qiuyun gave me.
That old thing was hardly upright and likely used me as a scapegoat, but… what if?
What if he was right about my peerless talent?
What if the Unnamed Book was truly a peerless divine text?
Trying it wouldn’t cost me anything.
Learning my thoughts, Yun Qingping had no objections.
She casually opened the rectangular jade box, took out the plain white ancient book, and flipped through a couple of pages.
Then her expression changed.
She flipped a few more.
Sitting upright, Yun Qingping began reading carefully from the start.
After a full quarter-hour, shivering from the cold and rain, I couldn’t help but speak:
“Immortal Lady Yun, how’s the book?”
“Hm? Oh… ah, that…”
Yun Qingping, immersed in the text, snapped back to reality, pondering briefly.
“Unnamed Book—your guess was right. It’s indeed a peerless text. Its approach is unconventional, but its methods are remarkably practical. The only issue is…”
“The issue is…?”
Yun Qingping waved the white book:
“To practice its opening ‘Enlightenment’ chapter, you need to die once.”
I froze.
Die once…?
If you’re dead, how do you cultivate?
I couldn’t help but ask:
“That’s not literal, right?”
“Of course not a death where your soul is annihilated, but it’s close. You’d strip away your body, grind down your three souls and seven spirits, leaving only a spark of true spirit, then rebuild your body and soul.”
Yun Qingping said, flipping through the book.
“It seeks a ‘new’ beginning, starting from scratch. It demands strong bones, comprehension, and unyielding will. One mistake, and your soul is destroyed.”
My budding interest in the Unnamed Book was snuffed out.
I wanted to cultivate, sure, but dying for it?
No thanks.
Yun Qingping clearly understood.
With a flick of her hand, she tossed the jade box with the Unnamed Book and Bo Qiuyun’s bag to me:
“Keep it. Even if you don’t practice, you could sell it to a great clan or sect for something. But the risks are yours to weigh.”
I deftly caught both items:
“I know nothing, so I’ll follow your arrangements, Immortal Lady.”
“Heh, of course you’ll follow my lead… Hand over here. Let me check your bones.”
I had no reason to refuse.
I extended my right hand, and Yun Qingping’s hand rested on my wrist the next moment.
She hadn’t looked closely before, but now her brow furrowed—not at my bones, but at my hand… terrifyingly thin, believable as an eight- or nine-year-old’s.
Probably never ate a full meal, wasting even the best bones.
Those sect prodigies grew up on heavenly treasures.
Yun Qingping’s brow furrowed.
Her boundless, ocean-like true qi surged through my meridians, withdrawing after a moment, her expression unreadable.
Seeing her face, I had a hunch and asked, hiding my disappointment:
“Immortal Lady Yun, are my bones terrible?”
Yun Qingping glanced at me, blunt as ever:
“Terrible? Of course they’re terrible!”
I shrank back, my voice lowering:
“Even if they’re bad, no need to get so mad…”
“I’m not mad because your bones are trash!” Yun Qingping glared, actually swearing.
“Damn it, do you know how good your foundation is? In my life, I’ve never seen bones and meridians so naturally suited for cultivation! And damn it, I never expected such immortal-worthy potential to be ruined into dog shit! Malnutrition and stunted growth are bad enough, but injuries too? If this were a hundred years ago, I’d drag your irresponsible parents up and chop them into a thousand pieces—”
She looked furious, her emotions even more intense than when she came to kill.
My only thought was—huh, that old thing didn’t lie?
Seeing her anger escalate, I quickly spoke:
“Don’t get worked up! First, I don’t remember much, but my parents were murdered, so you’d be chopping the killers, not them. Second, think again—is my foundation really unsalvageable?”
“Salvage what? I’m tempted to chop you for making me worry and rage! Your messed-up bones can’t even enter the path! The issue isn’t that you can’t cultivate—it’s that letting you try would kill you! Your meridians are so chaotic that a single strand of true qi would rampage and crash you to death!”
Yun Qingping sat back on her cushion, fuming.
Her slender sword at her waist hummed softly, sensing her mood.
“Let me think… I should have a gentle-natured method. It won’t get you past qi refining, but it’ll let you live a few more years…”
She reached for a jade pendant at her waist, her divine sense probing it, but I spoke calmly:
“Immortal Lady, don’t we have a method perfect for me right here?”
“What?”
Yun Qingping looked up, frowning, seeing the jade box in my hand.
“Unnamed Book…?”
“Exactly.”
I couldn’t help but smile:
“This method is so risky and demands good bones, but think about it—people with good bones wouldn’t touch an obscure technique that could kill them. The only ones who’d consider it are people like me, with great bones but unable to practice normal methods, right?”
I tapped the jade box lightly:
“Immortal Lady, don’t you think it’s a match made in heaven?”
Yun Qingping set down her pendant, then asked again:
“Xun Qiu, why do you want to cultivate?”
“To come and go like the wind, to be free and unfettered, to eat my fill, to avoid scornful looks, to live forever, to roam the vast world without limit.”
After a long pause, Yun Qingping sighed:
“I understand your resolve, but there’s one more thing you need to know.”
My mindset was utterly relaxed.
I didn’t even fear death—what could I worry about?
“Go ahead.”
“Rebuilding your body and soul costs money.”
“…”
“You need heavenly treasures to revive flesh and bone, immortal pills to protect your true spirit, medicinal baths to nurture your new body and soul, people to guard you, arrays to assist…”
Yun Qingping counted on her fingers.
“Let’s calculate the cost. Oh, mortal gold and silver won’t do—you need spirit stones. Bo Qiuyun’s bag had two top-grade ones. At that quality, you’d need… one billion, three hundred ninety million, roughly. Cash, cash, or cash?”
I dropped to my knees with a thud.
I never imagined my path to immortality would start not with thirty years of rise and fall, nor with finding a little bottle, nor joining a Shaolin Temple as a menial disciple.
But with a debt of one billion, three hundred ninety million top-grade spirit stones.
No money, no immortality.