In the small courtyard of Taiping Medical Clinic, crows hopped around on the branches, as if they had witnessed something incredible.

Old Man Yao rose from his bamboo recliner, startled speechless, sputtering, “You, you, you…”

Chen Ji sat cross-legged on the ground, sensing the faint, flickering sword qi within him.

Old Man Yao bent down and pinched Chen Ji’s ear: “Wake up! What just happened?!”

“Ow, ow, ow,” Chen Ji grimaced.

He had been feeling triumphant and spirited, but Old Man Yao’s pinch immediately snapped him back to reality. It was like how children, no matter how successful they become outside, still get lectured by their parents when they return home.

Chen Ji quickly asked, “What’s wrong, Master?”

Old Man Yao released his ear and straightened up, grumbling, “I’m asking you, were you just cultivating the Sword Seed pathway?”

“Yes!”

Old Man Yao stroked his beard, momentarily at a loss for words, unsure what to ask. It wasn’t because he was unknowledgeable that he was shocked by this. It was precisely because he knew what the Sword Seed pathway implied that he was so startled.

Old Man Yao pondered for a long time: “How did you cultivate the Sword Seed pathway?”

Chen Ji innocently replied, “Didn’t you say that if I cultivate the Sword Seed, I can chop down officials and princes, and that the two pathways complement each other?”

Old Man Yao was shocked again upon hearing this. He widened his eyes and said, “Don’t talk nonsense! I was just saying that casually. Don’t go around messing things up. I’m telling you, the best way to cultivate the Mountain Lord pathway is to wait for those high officials to die naturally. That way, you won’t bring disaster upon yourself.” He then patiently advised, “The entire Grand Secretariat combined doesn’t even have ten teeth left. They’re all old, decaying things that won’t live much longer. Just wait a bit; there’s no need to rush.”

Chen Ji realized that his master was genuinely worried he might act on it. He quickly chuckled and said, “I was just joking with you. I’m not someone who would indiscriminately kill innocent people.”

Old Man Yao corrected him, “Those Grand Secretaries aren’t exactly innocent, but if you kill too many, you’ll eventually make a mistake. Which Grand Secretary doesn’t have a high-ranking official guarding them?”

“Mhm, got it!” Chen Ji nodded.

Old Man Yao had recovered his composure by now. Sitting back in his bamboo recliner, he asked seriously, “Where did you learn the Sword Seed pathway? This is the biggest secret of the Jing Dynasty’s Martial Temple. How could you possibly have learned it? Could it be that you’re the person the Jing Dynasty has been searching for all this time? No, that’s not right, your age doesn’t match; you weren’t even born yet!” “Did your uncle or your mother pass it on to you? No, that’s not right either. How could they have had access to the Sword Seed pathway?”

Chen Ji replied frankly, “Master, an immortal in my dreams taught it to me!”

Old Man Yao rolled his eyes: “If you don’t want to say, don’t make up stories. Get out of my sight.”

However, Chen Ji said earnestly, “Master, I’m not lying. The immortal in my dreams is named Xuanyuan. I’ve often dreamed of him since I can remember, but I couldn’t see him clearly or speak with him before. Now I can converse with him properly.”

Old Man Yao carefully observed Chen Ji’s expression; the young man was incredibly sincere. He pulled six copper coins from his sleeve and scattered them on the ground. But this time, no matter how many times he cast them, the divinations were all different.

“The hexagrams are chaotic. Could it really be an immortal helping you?” Old Man Yao smacked his lips: “I didn’t expect you to have such extensive connections.”

Old Man Yao sighed deeply: “To learn the Sword Seed like this, it’s unbelievable. Do you know that if all cultivation pathways in this world were ranked, the Sword Seed pathway would be second, and no one would dare claim first?” “Do you know that Lu Yang has been obsessed with martial arts his entire life, never marrying or having children? How many young talents from the Jing Dynasty entered the Martial Temple, hoping to receive the Sword Seed pathway from Lu Yang when he despaired of the Grand Dao? And how many of them waited from their youth until old age, only to grow old with nothing?”

As he spoke, he looked at Chen Ji and slowly said, “If the Jing Dynasty finds out you’re cultivating the Sword Seed pathway, they will use the full might of their Military Intelligence Directorate to kill you. Aren’t you afraid?”

Chen Ji whispered, “Master, I’ll cultivate in secret! Will Lu Yang himself come to kill me?”

“He wouldn’t. Lu Yang cultivated his entire life not to achieve immortality after reaching the Grand Dao, but to find new opponents.” Old Man Yao shook his head: “He might even look forward to you reaching the Divine Dao realm, just to fight you! But even if he doesn’t act, you still won’t survive. Come, let me see your life line; I might have misread it before.”

Chen Ji said, “Master, I won’t let anyone else know I’m cultivating the Sword Seed pathway.”

Old Man Yao looked directly into Chen Ji’s eyes: “But I know.”

The small courtyard fell silent. The crows stopped hopping, as if a large hand had enveloped the place, making even the air pressure dense.

Old Man Yao slowly said, “I can tell you’re a very cautious person—so cautious that you held onto that broken ceramic shard all the way from the Zhou Manor back to Taiping Medical Clinic. When I asked if you’d killed anyone, you said no. But if you’re so cautious, why did you dare to cultivate in front of me? Do you know that the human heart is the hardest thing to fathom in this world? How can you be so sure I won’t betray you? If I told this news to the Jing Dynasty, I might get ten thousand taels of gold, or maybe even have the Jing Dynasty build me a golden house!”

Chen Ji sat cross-legged on the ground, head bowed in thought for a moment: “A person carrying too many secrets is like carrying a mountain; they’ll be crushed and unable to breathe. I’m willing to trust that you won’t harm me. After all, you’ve saved me twice. If you genuinely intend to exchange me for gold, then do it!”

Old Man Yao observed Chen Ji for a long time, then finally said slowly, “Don’t tell anyone else about this, no one at all!”

The crow also observed the old man and the young boy beneath the tree, feeling that their relationship had finally improved, with a bit more trust.

Old Man Yao said, “Didn’t you cultivate the Sword Seed pathway? Let me see your sword qi!”

“Okay!”

Chen Ji activated the sword qi within his body. It coursed through his meridians, finally shooting out from his right fingertip, striking the ground and kicking up some dust.

“Heh…” Old Man Yao chuckled: “So a person really does laugh when they’re speechless. Even She Dengke’s fart has more power than your sword qi. Liu Quxing won’t do; he always farts like a child!”

“That’s so mean of you, Master! I’ve only been cultivating for less than an hour!”

Old Man Yao pondered for a moment: “Lu Yang nurtured his sword in the Northern Sea of the Jing Dynasty. What are you using to nurture your sword? Back then, Lu Yang’s father took him across mountains and rivers for a full year before he chose the Northern Sea. You just chose a place to nurture your sword too casually. You didn’t choose my Taiping Medical Clinic, did you?” At this point, Old Man Yao was frustrated by Chen Ji’s lack of ambition: “Since you have the Sword Seed pathway, you should have told me earlier so I could take you out to find the best place to nurture your sword. Whether it’s the Hundred Thousand Mountains in the southwest or the Seven Divine Mountains of the Esoteric Sect, they’re all better than this place! How can you make such an important decision so casually?”

Chen Ji pointed east and said, “Master, I chose the sun as my sword-nurturing place!”

Old Man Yao’s expression froze. He slowly looked up at the rising sun: “You…”

At this moment, a furtive voice came from outside the courtyard wall: “Baili, Baili, step on me to climb up. Slowly, slowly, don’t fall.” The crow flew into the sky, leaving early.

Chen Ji turned his head towards the courtyard wall and saw Princess Baili peeking her head over, secretly observing the courtyard.

“Wow, Chen Ji, Imperial Physician Yao, you’re awake? Good morning!” Baili greeted them, swaying precariously on the Prince’s shoulder.

Chen Ji wondered, “Princess Baili, are you and the Prince also up so early?”

Princess Baili explained with a smile, “We’ve both finished our morning lessons with Teacher Wang. Teacher Wang is quite fierce; my brother got his palm hit with the rod again this morning!”

Outside the courtyard wall, the Prince urged, “Baili, climb over first, then we can chat.”

Baili braced herself with her hands, flipped over, and used the ladder to enter the courtyard. Old Man Yao watched her familiar movements, raised an eyebrow, and looked at Chen Ji with a solemn expression.

Chen Ji quickly said, “Master, I already gave you the toll.”

“Almost forgot!” Old Man Yao’s brows relaxed. He stood up, grabbed a bamboo cane, and entered the apprentices’ dormitory: “You two chat. I’ll go wake up She Dengke and Liu Quxing.”

A moment later, the wails of the two senior apprentices echoed from inside the room. One went to fetch water, clutching his backside, while the other went to sweep the ground, clutching his backside. Liang Mao’er, meanwhile, happily went into the kitchen to start cooking.

Surprisingly, Princess Baili also rolled up her sleeves, skillfully scooped a spoonful of lard into the wok in the kitchen, seemingly ready to help with the cooking.

Chen Ji asked, puzzled, “Princess, why are you so skilled?”

Baili smiled, “That’s how we all are at the academy. The teachers don’t allow personal attendants, so everyone has to be self-reliant.”

“Everyone is self-reliant?”

“Not exactly!” Baili thought for a moment and said, “Some with very good family backgrounds would pay their less fortunate classmates to help with laundry and cooking, making their lives a bit easier! My brother wanted to do that too, but I wrote a letter to Father and reported him.”

The Prince leaned against the doorframe outside the kitchen, exasperated: “Baili, think of it this way: some students from declining families want to attend Donglin Academy, and just the tuition fees are a tremendous burden for their entire family. After that, they still have more struggles ahead, like the provincial exam, then going to the capital for the metropolitan exam. If they pass the metropolitan exam, they’ll need to buy a house and land in the capital. All of this costs money. We save effort, and they earn money; what’s wrong with that?”

“It’s wrong, anyway.”

With a sizzling sound, the Princess skillfully heated the wok with oil and poured in the washed and chopped cabbage. She was making a sour and spicy cabbage dish, and the aroma drifted into the courtyard. The old Taiping Medical Clinic used to be like a forgotten corner of the world, but now it felt like a bustling compound full of life and warmth. This everyday warmth pulled Chen Ji back from the world of the walking officials to the human realm. He struggled to sit up, lay down on the bamboo chair, and wearily slowly closed his eyes.

Chen Ji gathered the molten essence from his sixteen internal furnaces, once again plummeting into the depths of the dark cloud sea, returning to that ancient battlefield. Chen Ji landed there, opening his eyes to see Xuanyuan, clad in golden armor, leaning on a king’s banner, seated atop the mountain peak.

“We’ve communicated!”

Xuanyuan slowly stood up: “You never used to lie… You chose that star, let me guess, given your personality, you should have chosen the brightest one in the sky—Sirius. But even to Sirius, your spiritual consciousness would take years to reach. How could you complete it in just an hour?”

Chen Ji was silent for a moment: “I chose the sun. It’s quite close. You might not realize it, but the sun is also a star.”

“The sun! You actually chose the sun? You once plucked the brightest star from the heavens and didn’t cherish it. Now you’ve plucked another one.”

“Huh?”

There, a breeze swept past the banner. Xuanyuan stood unmoving on the cliff, as if he had become a statue.

Chen Ji asked earnestly, “I used the fire of the sun to cultivate my first wisp of sword qi. But this sword qi is incredibly weak, and it disappears after one use. I previously saw your sword on the battlefield, moving like a shuttle, incredibly sharp and unstoppable. How can I forge such a sword?”

Xuanyuan suddenly said, “Go back. I don’t want to teach anymore!”

Chen Ji looked up: “You just say you won’t teach anymore? People should be trustworthy.” “An hour ago you said you could teach, and an hour later you say you won’t. Isn’t that a bit too hasty?”

“Say what you will, I’m not teaching anyway.” Xuanyuan raised the king’s banner and walked down the mountain: “Don’t come here anymore.”

Chen Ji became anxious. He followed behind Xuanyuan, trailing him all the way down the mountain. Xuanyuan strode dozens of feet with each step, as if walking on flat ground, while Chen Ji could only stumble down the winding mountain path in pursuit. Fortunately, he felt no illness or injury in this dream; otherwise, just running down the mountain would have been excruciatingly painful.

“Hey, slow down! Let’s talk this over!” Chen Ji shouted, “Why won’t you teach anymore? Is it because I chose the wrong place to nurture my sword, or because of our past grievances?”

“You don’t need to know,” Xuanyuan said as he walked, “You and I are enemies. I don’t want to teach my enemy.”

Chen Ji quickly said, “Although I’m indeed not the person you know, I see that you are handsome, strong, and upright. So, if you have a grudge against him, it must be his fault. If he did anything inappropriate, I’ll apologize to you on his behalf, okay?”

Xuanyuan suddenly turned around at the foot of the mountain, looking at Chen Ji with a calm expression: “?” He was stunned, incredulous: “You’re apologizing to me? You apologize so easily?”

Chen Ji nodded: “Very sincerely!”

Xuanyuan burst into laughter: “Did you hear that? He apologized to me! He actually apologized to me!” “You want to learn the Sword Seed pathway that badly?” Xuanyuan asked, his voice steady.

Chen Ji: “Yes!”

“Alright!” Xuanyuan waved his hand. The frozen battlefield then came alive. A burly soldier emerged from the battle formation, holding a long halberd, and knelt on one knee: “My King, what is your command?”

Xuanyuan pointed at Chen Ji: “Kill him!” After speaking, he looked at Chen Ji again: “I won’t take advantage of you. His cultivation has been suppressed; he’s only slightly stronger than you are now. Defeat him, and I’ll teach you.”

“This?” Chen Ji watched as the burly man swung his halberd. The huge bronze halberd sliced through the air with a whistling sound that made his eardrums ache.

*Hiss*… Chen Ji gasped, waking up from the bamboo recliner. Before he could even react, the giant halberd soldier had already cut him down. The pain felt so real, as if everything that just happened wasn’t a dream, but a genuine death. Was Xuanyuan really taking this opportunity to exact revenge and vent his hatred?

At this moment, Baili was still cooking in the kitchen, and the Prince was sitting by the bamboo recliner, cracking sunflower seeds. Seeing Chen Ji wake up startled, he asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Had a nightmare?”

Chen Ji shook his head: “Nothing!”

With that, he once again gathered the molten essence, rapidly plunged into the dark cloud sea, and landed back on the battlefield. This time, however, the giant halberd soldier was already waiting there. Before he could even react, the bronze halberd pierced his heart again.

Xuanyuan chuckled, “Have you forgotten even your combat instincts? All battles in this world are about deception and using all your strength. If you’ve forgotten even your combat instincts, what’s the use of learning my Sword Seed pathway?”

However, Chen Ji let the blood spray from his mouth, turned to Xuanyuan, and smiled: “Again.”

“Hmm?” Xuanyuan raised an eyebrow, and a light flickered in his eyes.

The next moment, Chen Ji calmly opened his eyes on the bamboo recliner, then closed them again, returning to the battlefield. The moment he descended into the dark cloud sea, he ducked, avoiding the whistling sound above his head. The iron halberd slashed horizontally from above but hit nothing. Chen Ji actually picked up a stone shard from the ground and held it in his hand. Seizing the moment when the bronze halberd’s momentum waned, he lunged towards the giant halberd soldier.

As he got close, he saw the giant halberd soldier suddenly abandon the bronze halberd, draw a bronze short sword from his waist, and stab at him. The giant halberd soldier thought this stab would hit Chen Ji, but it didn’t. He looked up in alarm, only to find that Chen Ji had actually picked up the discarded bronze halberd from the ground and was running down the mountain.

Xuanyuan showed a hesitant expression for the first time.

“Did he admit his mistake?”