After finishing the steamed buns, the gnawing hunger in Gao Yang's stomach subsided slightly.
He returned to the kitchen and found that nearly all the food on the table had been devoured.
A dwarf had his feet up on the table, grinning and picking at bits of food stuck in his teeth with a toothpick.
"Hey, number thirteen is back! Too bad you're late—there's nothing left to eat."
The dwarf hopped off the stool and, passing by Gao Yang, whispered a threat, "Too bad that beautiful serpent didn't eat you just now. Next time, you won't be so lucky."
Gao Yang's pupils shrank sharply. "It's you?"
The dwarf walked off, hands clasped behind his head, swaying slightly. "Who knows what lurks after dark?"
Twelve rubbed her stomach and greeted the blind senior brother, "Third Senior Brother, I'm back."
The blind senior brother came over. "Did you read the notes I gave you?"
Gao Yang nodded, suddenly realizing the man couldn't see.
Before he could speak, the blind senior brother nodded. "Good. Remember everything in there."
Once the thirteen young disciples of Azure Mountain Sect had left, Xiao Man and the other servants began their meal.
Many of the sect's servants were children of twelve or thirteen, malnourished, some barely reaching the height of the table.
They perched on their toes, drinking thin broth-like porridge and gnawing on charred potatoes, lips stained black.
Xiao Man was mindful of her manners, so she barely ate before the food disappeared.
After the meal, the servants cleaned up, washed bowls, and tidied the place.
Back in his room, Gao Yang lay on the tattered bed, staring at the venomous spider perched on the cobweb above his head.
He was sorting through the information he had gathered today.
First, he had found his kind.
Though he didn't understand what had changed in his body, the world appeared different to him, Twelve, the Senior Brother, and Third Senior Brother.
After Foundation Building, Sixth Senior Brother and others would also see the world differently.
Gao Yang instinctively touched his eyes.
They observed the world through sight.
Was it the eyes that were faulty, or his mind?
Wait—eyes!
He suddenly sat up and realized a memory not his own had appeared in his mind.
How did he know that eyes observe the world?
He couldn't read; he had grown up in the village, doing rough labor with his parents.
Where had this knowledge come from?
Fear welled up inside him.
He thought of the village well.
Was he truly Gao Yang, or something that had crawled up from the well?
His hands repeatedly touched his face, trying to confirm his own identity.
The door opened, and Xiao Man slipped in quietly.
She took two blackened roasted potatoes from her arms. "Master, you didn't eat tonight, right? I sneaked back two potatoes for you."
Carefully, she handed them over, explaining earnestly, "They're food for the servants, but they'll fill your stomach."
Gao Yang grabbed her arm, asking, "Who am I?"
Xiao Man was startled. "Master, you are—you!"
He asked, "If someone else occupied my body, would they feel that they are me?"
Xiao Man offered the potatoes. "Master, you must be starving to say such nonsense. Eat quickly."
Gao Yang knew Xiao Man could answer nothing for him.
If he wanted answers, he would have to return to the village and check the well.
He asked, "How long until I can return home?"
Xiao Man quickly covered his mouth. "Master, never say 'home.' After becoming a disciple of Azure Mountain Sect, that place is no longer yours. If Immortal Mistress hears you, she'll be furious, and you'll suffer."
Yet she answered, "Master, to leave the sect, you must at least reach a certain level of cultivation."
Gao Yang asked, "What level?"
She replied, "I heard from other servants that once the young disciples succeed in Foundation Building, Immortal Mistress will allow them to descend the mountain for experience. Then you can go home."
He murmured, "Just need to succeed in Foundation Building?"
He asked, "Have the Senior Brothers and Sisters succeeded yet?"
Xiao Man shook her head. "No. Only five disciples have succeeded: Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, and Twelfth Sister."
Gao Yang was astonished. "Less than half? Foundation Building is that difficult?"
No wonder the dwarf Senior Brother had been so sarcastic.
Gao Yang was confident. According to Twelfth Sister, he and the Senior Brothers, along with Third Senior Brother, were the same type.
If they could do it, he could too.
To return to the village and discover his true identity, he must consume the Foundation Pill, not giving it to Twelfth Sister.
For the next two days, Gao Yang devoted every moment outside meals to studying The Detailed Explanation of Foundation Building.
If it weren't required for three to dine together, he wouldn't even enter the kitchen. Food made him nauseous.
These days, he ate only the roasted potatoes Xiao Man brought back.
Occasionally, Twelfth Sister would send half a bun, always marked with teeth.
Every time, she emphasized the Foundation Pill, increasing Gao Yang's pressure.
Having witnessed her effortlessly slay the beautiful serpent, he feared that withholding the pill might result in her striking him down just as swiftly.
Amid worry and anxiety, Immortal Mistress finally returned.
All thirteen disciples gathered outside the living quarters, kneeling in unison. "Welcome, Master."
Immortal Mistress' cyan robe was stained with blood, her aura unsettled.
She strode quickly to Gao Yang. "Look up."
He obeyed.
She held out a red, glossy pill. "Have you read The Detailed Explanation of Foundation Building? This is the Foundation Pill. Take it quickly in your room. I will teach you the incantations for cultivation this afternoon."
Gao Yang glanced at Twelve.
Her greedy eyes fixated on the pill, saliva threatening to spill.
All others, except Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, and Third Senior Brother, looked at the pill with raw greed.
Immortal Mistress frowned, sweeping her sleeve. A cold wind rose. "Hide your little schemes and follow me to class."
Twelve shot Gao Yang a threatening look.
He avoided her gaze, guilt-pricked.
Twelve, realizing something, ground her teeth in anger but dared not act with Immortal Mistress present, trailing behind seething.
Immortal Mistress led them to class to prevent any attempts at seizing the pill.
Gao Yang opened his hand, staring at the Foundation Pill.
Two visions appeared in his mind.
In one, the pill exuded a swirling immortal aura, red and bloodlike.
In the other, countless tiny white worms crawled and gnawed at each other within the pill.
Gao Yang hesitated.
Could he really eat this?