Chapter 4: The Mysterious Peach Branch

Spring and autumn pass in a dream of the mortal world, and a year slips by like a river.

Inside the room.

With doors and windows tightly shut, the light was dim.

Jiang Min sat cross-legged, her eyes half-closed, motionless, her breathing so gentle it was barely noticeable.

She did not know how much time had passed before she slowly opened her eyes, then collapsed onto the quilt as if suddenly deflated, sighing softly.

“Why is cultivation so difficult…”

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, she had been at the Eastern Spirit Sect for nearly a year. Looking back on her days, she had endured countless hardships.

Her literacy classes barely passed peacefully before some menial workers began causing her trouble, obstructing her attendance. Although these workers were not from the Pill Refining Hall, their actions were clearly related to that chubby Li Mao. It was highly likely that Li Mao had instigated them.

Matters quickly escalated; they began to corner her after class, even some disciples of the Qi Refining stage were involved. Luckily, sensing danger, she slipped away just in time—otherwise, who knew what fate awaited her.

This meant she could no longer attend classes smoothly.

After all, to command so many people against her, it could not be just Li Mao alone; there must be a greater force behind him. If she continued to leave Cloudstream Peak, who knew what schemes awaited her!

But then,

Without lessons, how could she learn to read? Without literacy, how could she cultivate?

Finally, Jiang Min devised a solution. She turned to her neighbor, Ming Ruoshui, a fellow menial disciple who entered the sect the same year as she did.

Ming Ruoshui was two years her senior, born in a cultivator family, and had already begun literacy and cultivation. She did not need to run to the Hall of Enlightenment every day like Jiang Min. Yet this neighbor was reclusive and eccentric, never socializing, her days spent either working or cloistered in her room. She disliked interruptions above all.

Even so, Jiang Min braced herself and approached her, hoping Ming Ruoshui would teach her to read. In exchange, Jiang Min offered to help Ming Ruoshui complete her cleaning duties every day.

Initially, Jiang Min did not expect much, but to her surprise, Ming Ruoshui was quite tempted by the offer. She agreed, teaching Jiang Min for an hour each day, starting with literacy, then moving to the basics of cultivation theory. For as long as Ming Ruoshui taught, Jiang Min would help her with chores—cleaning or whatever task the steward assigned to Ming Ruoshui. Jiang Min would handle the steward herself; Ming Ruoshui would not be bothered.

Thus,

Relying on Ming Ruoshui’s instruction and with the help of many introductory books she lent, Jiang Min studied diligently for a year, finally grasping the fundamentals of reading and cultivation theory. She could barely comprehend the contents of the “Spiritual Communion Technique” and began her cultivation.

Since she stayed on Cloudstream Peak throughout, the pass token—worth two low-grade spirit stones—was used only a handful of times, virtually wasted.

Yet this cultivation

Was not as simple as she had imagined.

Jiang Min was beginning to think her mind was dull. Despite Ming Ruoshui’s repeated explanations, she could not overcome the first hurdle in cultivation: opening the spiritual aperture.

To begin the path, one must first observe the heart.

The method of heart observation lies in the spiritual aperture.

Only by opening the spiritual aperture can one draw forth a thread of innate vital energy, cleanse the body and marrow, awaken the heavenly eye, and truly embark on the path of cultivation.

“Don’t lose heart! Try again.”

After a few plaintive sighs on her bed, Jiang Min revived her spirits, sat cross-legged once more.

“The essence lies in storing first, then forgetting.”

“Remember, only when both heart and self are forgotten, all thoughts extinguished, can one directly illuminate the spiritual aperture.”

Once again, she closed her eyes and calmed her mind.

Perhaps after countless failures, the moment of breakthrough arrived.

This time, she quickly entered deep meditation; her thoughts stilled, her consciousness vanished.

She did not know how long it lasted. Though her eyes were closed, she faintly perceived a glimmer of light—at first dim and obscure, then gradually brightening, like sunlight piercing through clouds. The light finally broke free from its confines.

A humming sound rang out, clear and distant. A surge of innate vital energy poured forth, descended to the Yellow Court, traversed the spine, passed through the tailbone, coursing through her limbs and organs.

As this energy washed through her, a sense of abundant strength flooded her body, intoxicating her mind.

Jiang Min’s awareness returned. She felt as if she were soaking in a warm spring, a boundless strength coursing through her. She felt that she could, at this moment, kill a wild boar with her bare hands. If she faced Li Mao again, as long as no external forces were involved, she would not be powerless to fight back.

She had finally succeeded in opening her spiritual aperture!

“Did I succeed?”

“I did it! Hahaha…”

Still a child at heart, were she not in deep meditation, Jiang Min would have danced in delight.

At the same time,

Her senses grew extraordinarily sharp. All her perceptions magnified many times—though her eyes remained closed, the arrangement of the room was vividly reflected in her mind. Questions that had once puzzled her now became clear as day.

The heavenly eye was awakened; Jiang Min could see the spiritual energy flowing around her and could even look within, perceiving everything inside her body.

“How miraculous—so this is inner sight?”

Filled with wonder, she examined herself, seeing a stream of energy circulating throughout her body, opening apertures and cleansing impurities.

This was the thread of innate vital energy stored within the spiritual barrier, which gradually dissipates with age. Only this energy could break open the spiritual aperture and refine the meridians, so the younger one started cultivation, the better.

“I can finally begin absorbing spiritual energy, cultivate as an immortal… wait, what is this?!”

When Jiang Min’s inner sight reached her dantian,

She was suddenly struck with terror.

Within her dantian floated a bare tree branch, its lower end embedded in the radiant spiritual light, as if rooted there.

Why—why was this thing inside her body?

Terrified, Jiang Min realized the branch looked familiar—like a peach wood branch.

Peach tree…

Her thoughts drifted, recalling a childhood memory.

When she was five or six, she already helped her family with chores. Once, she accompanied her mother up the mountain to gather firewood. She picked up a branch from the ground, and unexpectedly, everything went black and she fainted on the spot.

While unconscious, she had a dream.

She dreamed of a towering peach tree rising from the earth—a monster, swinging its branches to entwine her, trying to eat her. Then, suddenly, the peach tree monster howled, flames erupted from its body, and it was soon reduced to ashes.

When she awoke, several days had passed. Her parents said she had suffered a high fever for three days and three nights, remaining unconscious.

After her parents went to work, she discovered that the protective talisman she always carried, which had been obtained from a temple, was now nothing but a pile of ashes. She was so frightened she never told anyone, afraid she would be burned as a monster herself.

“Looking back, I must have encountered a peach tree monster that year. It probably tried to possess me, but the talisman saved my life.”

After nearly a year in the immortal sect, Jiang Min had learned enough about monsters and evil spirits to piece together what had happened in her childhood.

“But why is that peach wood branch in my dantian? Did the monster not die after all?”

At this thought,

Jiang Min’s face turned pale with fright.