'Compared to the Circulation of the Celestial Qi in the *True Meridian Qi Flowing Technique*, the variations in this Ninth Grade Qi Cultivation Technique are quite complex.'
'What's even better is that it contains the Essentials for opening the Primordial Inner Mansion... but when it gets to the specifics of Cultivation, why are there suddenly huge, obscure passages?'
Jiang Yi's brow furrowed. Faced with inscrutable phrases like "Lead Collection and Repair, using Lead and Mercury" and "Burning Primordial Truth for Qi Manipulation Fire," he grew drowsier the more he read.
As he flipped to the end, the ink characters seemed to spin and swell to the size of buckets, filling his vision.
'A top student who aced the civil service exams in my past life has fallen into the Demon Dao and become an illiterate. Who can I even complain to! The compulsory education in Daoism must be terrible; it didn't give me a proper foundation...'
Jiang Yi's head was spinning from reading. Finding it impossible to continue, he had to set it aside for now.
'It seems that without the guidance of a skilled teacher, trying to get started with just a Cultivation Technique manual is nothing more than a fool's dream.'
'No wonder Yang Zhi was so casual about it, hiding it in a secret compartment on the bookshelf instead of somewhere more secure and hidden.'
'Without a deep foundation in Cultivation knowledge, even if someone else got their hands on it, they'd be completely baffled, as if they were reading a celestial book.'
Huh?
'The Celestial Book!'
'That's right, that reminded me!'
Jiang Yi rubbed his temples, trying to ease the cruel blow of his own illiteracy. A glint flashed in his eyes, and a golden light appeared.
'Since I can't understand it, I'll just hand it over to the Celestial Book... Inner Sect Disciples spend talisman coins to have Elders teach them, but how can the understanding they gain compare to a direct transmission from the Celestial Book? This will be much more solid!'
[I beg the Celestial Book, show me the essence of this Cultivation Technique.]
[Additional condition: Record the full text of the Cultivation Technique and present it in a way I can read and understand.]
A radiant light flowed over the surface of the golden paper, and small, tadpole-like characters gradually appeared.
[Deduction Time: One day and eighteen hours.]
'I'll just have to wait.'
Jiang Yi picked up the thin volume of the *Little Refining Yuan Fire Control Technique* and held it over the oil lamp. The flame caught the paper, and the words turned to black ash.
'The Celestial Book has already recorded the entire text. There's no need to carry it around and take an unnecessary risk; I can just destroy it.'
'As expected, it's a bit of a fantasy for a Demon Cultivator to try and turn their life around through personal effort alone.'
'It still comes down to 'fortune' and 'fate'.'
A look of understanding dawned in Jiang Yi's eyes.
His so-called fortune and fate could be summed up in four words.
The Celestial Book helps me!
...
...
By the time Jiang Yi returned to Red Flame Peak, only a few streaks of sunset clouds remained in the sky. They looked like embers about to burn out, occasionally flickering with a final hint of red—not dazzling, but carrying a certain warmth.
Two or three crows in the mountain forest were startled into the air, carrying the pale red light on their backs as they flew sluggishly back to their nests.
The Big Mixed Courtyard was bustling with noise, and He the Venerable's booming voice could be heard from a great distance.
"...Who knows how that kid offended Senior Brother Xu. Ai, it's just fate!"
Jiang Yi stepped through the courtyard gate and saw He the Venerable, Widow Qin, and Old Li's family gathered together as if holding a meeting.
Seeing the string of paper-wrapped packages in Jiang Yi's hand, Widow Qin asked:
"Brother Yi, you're back? Did you go down the mountain?"
Jiang Yi nodded.
"I finished my cultivation and took a stroll down the mountain. I brought some pastries for everyone to try."
Then he asked:
"What happened?"
Old Li sighed.
"Someone died in the Quenching Room. Today, Senior Brother Xu from the Inner Sect came down to inspect and push for progress. He said we must produce forty-two Magic Artifact Rough Drafts this month."
"Xiao Gao from the Bing-Class Workshop was a bit slow with his work, and he was directly... beaten to death."
"These are water chestnut cakes. They're soft and smooth. Sister Qin, you try one."
Jiang Yi unwrapped the kraft paper and handed out the pastries to his fellow workers in the Big Mixed Courtyard, asking casually:
"How was it handled afterward? Did Xiao Gao just die for nothing?"
He the Venerable spread his hands.
"What else could be done? They followed the rules. Xiao Gao was at the Qi Cultivation First Layer, so his skin was valued at 2,800 talisman coins and sent to Sewing Peak."
"His flesh and bones were valued at 1,400 talisman coins and sent to the Quenching Room;"
"As for what's left, if Gathering Herbs Peak and Nourishing Soul Peak are willing to take it, it would fetch about 3,000 in total."
"All together, that comes out to 7,200 talisman coins."
"I don't know if Xiao Gao has any relatives down the mountain. If he does, they can collect this money as compensation."
Jiang Yi finished handing out the pastries and picked up a chestnut cake for himself, chewing it slowly. The taste was complicated.
'So a Mortal Servant at the Qi Cultivation First Layer, skin, flesh, and all, is only worth 7,200 talisman coins?'
"After Senior Brother Xu was done beating him to death and his anger had subsided, he didn't make a fuss. He just threw down a note for 8,000 talisman coins."
He the Venerable added:
"It's written right in our contracts as Mortal Servants: life and death are governed by fate, and we belong entirely to the sect."
"If the rules of the Beimang Ridge's Dharma Lineage weren't so strict, there probably wouldn't even be any compensation."
It wasn't just Jiang Yi; everyone felt a shared sense of unease, a stifling weight in their chests.
Once a person is gone, no amount of compensation can help.
Besides, quite a few of the Mortal Servants have no family or relatives, so that money might never even find a home.
"Let's disperse."
Widow Qin was the first to get up and head back to her room. Old Li's family thanked Jiang Yi for the pastries and left as well.
The courtyard fell silent once more.
Jiang Yi asked:
"Brother He, how much were the talisman coins for covering my shift today? I'll get them for you."
He the Venerable said:
"Ninety. The guy wanted a hundred, but I haggled him down for you."
Jiang Yi took out one hundred talisman coins and handed them to He the Venerable, casually mentioning:
"Keep the extra as a fee for your trouble, Brother He. By the way, I still want to go to the Inner Sect to broaden my horizons and see the world. Do you know of any way to get in?"
It was difficult for a Mortal Servant from the Outer Sect Four Peaks to enter the three peaks of the Inner Sect without a specific assignment.
It wasn't that the Qianji Sect explicitly forbade Mortal Servants from setting foot there, but that the three peaks of the Inner Sect were thousands of feet high, steep, and treacherous—a climb that would vex even monkeys. The only way to get there was by riding a Flying Crane.
He the Venerable truly lived up to his reputation as the Qianji Sect's "All Knowledge." He immediately said:
"Zhou Guang, a Servant in the Forging Room, specializes in this business. Elder Zhou, who's in charge of raising the Flying Cranes in the Inner Sect, is his maternal uncle."
'In this Demon Dao, there really are business opportunities everywhere. It's just that you need connections and a background.'
Jiang Yi sighed with emotion and clasped his hands.
"I'll have to trouble Brother He to make an introduction."
He the Venerable let out a long sigh.
"Ai, still haven't given up, Brother Yi? Fine. I'll put in a word for you. The Preaching Elder in the Inner Sect gives a lecture every ten days. You'll understand once you go and listen to one."
Jiang Yi offered his sincere thanks. Although he held the Celestial Book, which could investigate cause and effect and let him know anything, he understood that a "tool" should be used wisely, not relied upon blindly.
'Going to the Inner Sect to attend a class, learning more about the Demon Dao Dharma Lineage and the Essentials of Qi Cultivation, will help me find a direction and set a path for myself.'
'Otherwise, if my perspective is limited to just the Qianji Sect, I'll be like a frog in a well.'
Back in his room, Jiang Yi's thoughts returned to the matter of the Mortal Servant, Xiao Gao. Even if he had gone to work as usual today, he might not have run afoul of Senior Brother Xu from the Inner Sect and ended up dead.
But it was best to avoid such "calamities" whenever possible.
He the Venerable's calculating voice echoed in his mind, and Jiang Yi's heart felt as if it were shrouded by dark clouds, breeding a gloomy haze:
'A Qi Cultivation First Layer, skin and flesh included, is worth less than 8,000 talisman coins. Just like cattle and horses put on a butcher's block to be slaughtered and sold.'
'I'm at the Qi Cultivation Second Layer now. At the absolute most, I'd probably fetch fourteen or fifteen thousand talisman coins.'
'Most of the senior brothers in the Inner Sect could probably afford that...'
Jiang Yi suddenly laughed out loud. Was the Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer that the Mortal Servants so desperately sought for the sake of making an Inner Sect senior brother pause, when filled with rage and murderous intent, to consider whether he could afford the compensation?
'Consumables. We're just consumables. Materials to be expended, just like firewood stuffed into a stove to cook a meal or boil water. We're meant to be used up.'
Jiang Yi mused that under the rule of the Demon Dao, there appeared to be clear rewards and punishments, a semblance of order. It wasn't the stereotypical scene of mutual slaughter and societal collapse.
'But if you looked up from the bottom, it was like the heavy night sky outside—as thick as ink, with dark clouds hanging low, pressing down on people until they bent their backs and knelt, unable to raise their heads.'
'It really is just as Brother He said. You have to 'fight' and 'snatch' to carve out a path forward.'
Jiang Yi sat quietly, letting his thoughts rise and fall. Gradually, his drifting emotions solidified into firm resolve.
'I absolutely cannot remain a "consumable" to be used at will.'
'To shed the status of a 'Mortal Servant' and change the fate of 'Cattle and Horses,' I must first become an 'asset'.'
Jiang Yi thought it through. Consumables were everywhere. If you didn't want to be a Mortal Servant, there were plenty of others scrambling for the job.
'To escape this "bottom-tier environment" established by the Dharma Lineage, I have to demonstrate my own usefulness.'
'A useful person is an "asset." They won't be easily consumed and can catch a few more breaths.'
'With the Celestial Book in hand, making a name for myself won't be that difficult.'
Recalling that He the Venerable had said they "must produce forty-two Magic Artifact Rough Drafts this month," Jiang Yi faintly saw the beginning of a plan.
'A low-level Demon Cultivator's comeback starts with becoming an "asset"!'