Chapter 18: Letters from the Ancestors
After taking a quick shower, Lu Yunxi collapsed onto her bed and rolled around comfortably.
Having stayed up on the ridges for several days, she had been forced to remain hyper-vigilant even while sleeping at night, and her days had been filled with non-stop fighting. In truth, she was completely exhausted. She had her triple-digit Strength and Agility stats to thank for her survival; otherwise, she might not have made it back in one piece.
The creatures in that forest were definitely not to be underestimated. As the thoughts drifted through her mind, she gradually sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The next morning, just as Yunxi was getting ready to whip up some breakfast, a knock rattled the front door.
She opened it to find her neighbor. “Daya?!”
“Xiaoxi! Grandma said the mustard greens in our garden are growing beautifully, so she made a fresh batch of mustard green dumplings and wanted you to try some!” Li Daya beamed, holding out a steaming container.
Looking down at the bowl piled high with dumplings, Yunxi felt a warm swell of gratitude. Grandma Li really went out of her way to look after her.
“Please thank grandma for me. I was just about to make breakfast anyway!” She pulled Daya into the house by her sleeve. “Have you eaten yet, Daya? Come join me.”
Daya let herself be pulled inside, her eyes darting around curiously. “I already ate, but wow—your new house is absolutely gorgeous!” When she had come over previously for the housewarming banquet, she had been too focused on the food to actually pay attention to the architecture.
The sudden shift in topic was abrupt, but Yunxi was entirely used to it. That was just how childhood friends were—fickle and spontaneous.
“If you want a proper tour, I’ll show you around later.”
“Eat your breakfast first!” Daya insisted, gently pushing her toward the dining table. “I’m in no rush.”
Noticing her friend’s remarkably relaxed posture, Yunxi asked, a bit surprised, “Don’t you have cooking or dancing lessons today?”
Mushroom Village was practically bursting with talented eccentrics, each possessing a master-level trade or two that they were eager to pass down. Consequently, even though the village children didn’t have to work the fields, their schedules were packed with various informal vocational classes. None of them ever just sat around idly.
“I…” Hearing the question, Daya’s expression turned incredibly self-conscious. “Grandma and Master gave me two days off. They want me to stay home and think carefully about what I want to do with my life.”
Happily savoring the savory mustard green dumplings, Yunxi looked up, catching the deep anxiety swirling in Daya’s eyes. “Have you reached a decision?”
Daya slumped onto the table, looking utterly defeated. “I have no idea. It’s too hard to choose! Everyone says that if I dedicate myself to dancing, I’ll never get married or have children. Grandma told me to think long and hard about it. She says a woman’s life is miserable if she remains single. But if I follow Grandma and just learn to cook and farm… I don’t even know what my future husband will be like. If he turns out to be a terrible person, I’m terrified I’ll live to regret it.”
Remembering Grandma Li’s aggressive match-making talk from the day before, Yunxi’s eyelid twitched. The old woman was still so fiercely traditional.
She finished off the last of her dumplings in a few bites, contentedly patting her stomach. “Why would learning to dance inherently prevent you from getting married? Is that a rule Grandma Wang set?”
“No,” Daya shook her head, “but I overheard some villagers saying that every single woman in Grandma Wang’s dance troupe died unmarried.”
“Then why don’t you go ask Grandma Wang directly? Find out if they chose to remain single by choice, or if the troupe rigidly forbade marriage. There is a massive difference between the two!” In Yunxi’s estimation, while the traditional villagers found Grandma Wang’s solitary life pitiful, it was highly likely the free-spirited grandmaster had simply chosen independence. Grandma Wang was entirely unbothered by societal expectations; outside of her absolute obsession with dance, she didn’t care about anything else.
Daya didn’t quite grasp the nuance, but she still gave a solemn, serious nod. Ever since they were toddlers, whenever she encountered a dilemma she couldn’t resolve, she would consult her sharp friend. If Yunxi suggested it, she would do it.
After seeing off the anxious Daya, Yunxi tidied up the kitchen. She then accessed her newly bound spatial bracelet, mentally reviewing the inventory she had acquired.
A patch of toxic mushrooms and a massive, poisoned wild boar carcass. Sadly, the meat was thoroughly contaminated and completely inedible.
As Yunxi flipped past those slots to see what else was tucked inside the dimension, her breath caught.
!!!
Shock hit her like a physical wave as she stared at the legacy her maternal ancestors had hoarded within the spatial realm.
It was a vast repository of cultivation techniques—the path of immortal cultivators!
Images of her future self conjuring a massive spiritual broadsword, letting out a fierce battle cry, and cleaving a monstrous wild boar clean in half with a single strike flashed through her mind, causing her to break into a silly, euphoric grin. It turned out the world she had reincarnated into wasn’t a standard, historical timeline at all. It was a world of high fantasy and immortality!
Forcing herself to calm down, she meticulously cataloged the spatial inventory.
There wasn’t just a solitary manual; the collection of texts was staggering, enough to fill several large libraries. She had an endless sea of paths to choose from. Beyond the esoteric techniques, the space was packed with mountains of spiritual elixirs, rare herbs, ancient robes, legendary weapons, and a stack of personal journals written by the previous owners of the bracelet.
After analyzing her options, Yunxi temporarily stepped outside, caught dozens of large river fish from the stream, and expertly cooked them. She packaged a generous portion and sent it over to Grandma Li as a return gift.
Once she was back home, she firmly bolted her front door, entirely prepared to enter a state of absolute, meditative seclusion.
She pondered her starting point and pulled out a introductory text titled The Fundamentals of Immortal Cultivation.
“Ah, so the very first requirement to cultivate is possessing spiritual roots.”
Rubbing her palms together in anticipation, Yunxi extracted a crystalline spirit plate designated for testing one’s latent aptitude. According to the manual, a user simply had to place their hand flat against the surface to instantly reveal their elements and grade.
She pressed her palm against the smooth stone.
One second passed… two seconds… then three full minutes.
Refusing to let despair take hold, she kept her hand firmly planted, holding the pose until a quarter of an hour had ticked away. Yet, the crystalline spirit plate remained completely dull, without a single flicker of light.
Yunxi’s excitement evaporated, replaced by a dull ache of disappointment. It appeared she lacked the baseline genetic qualification to cultivate. The techniques, the treasures, the divine pills, and the legendary armaments were all sitting right at her fingertips, but she had been locked out by a simple lack of spiritual roots.
Her grand dream of soaring through the heavens cracked and shattered. Just as she was about to close the spatial interface, her eyes caught the handwritten journals of her ancestors, each volume penned by a different generation.
Hesitating briefly, she selected a few diaries to pass the time.
[Hmph! To all those hypocrites who dare look down on me today, mark my words! One day, I will become the undisputed powerhouse of this continent!]
[They actually dared to throw me out of the Treasure Pavilion?! That short-sighted, arrogant shop boy! Dynasties rise and fall, so never underestimate a penniless youth!]
Yunxi read a few entries, her eyelid twitching at the classic, melodramatic tropes. She swiftly swapped to a different volume.
[Sigh! If only I hadn’t rushed into Foundation Establishment during my youth. I forced the breakthrough at twelve, which permanently froze my physical growth! The female cultivator in the neighboring courtyard has such a curvaceous, stunning figure, but I look like a toddler…]
[Another skirmish broke out on the neighboring peak today. Those sword cultivators are completely destitute, yet they still find the energy to duel! I wonder how much property damage they’ll have to pay off this time. Debt like that is a slow death.]
[I just caught wind that the political marriage between the neighboring sect’s Eldest Senior Brother and Senior Sister fell through. It turned into a betrothal between the Senior Brother and the cute Little Junior Sister instead. That girl is genuinely bizarre; the entire sect coddles her blindly! The Senior Sister spent years treating them with absolute kindness, yet they exiled her over a misunderstanding. Just they wait! They will live to regret their idiocy!]
Reading through an entire volume of ancient complaints and historical sect gossip proved surprisingly entertaining. Satisfied, Yunxi picked up a heavily weathered journal from the very bottom of the pile.
[The ambient spiritual energy of the world is depleting at an alarming rate. I read historical texts claiming that in the ancient era, Nascent Soul grandmasters were as common as stray dogs and Golden Cores were everywhere. Now, a low-tier Foundation Establishment cultivator like myself can actually hold the title of the sect’s Primary Senior Sister.]
[The sect’s Grand True Lords congregated today to perform a massive divination, peering into the secrets of heaven. The verdict is grim. The world’s spiritual energy is destined to dry up completely. Humanity will lose the ability to cultivate immortality forever.]
Yunxi’s expression stiffened. Her gaze automatically drifted back to the dormant, lifeless spirit testing plate resting on her table.
As she closed the final page of the historic journal, a wave of profound, bittersweet resignation washed over her.
The truth was laid bare: the spiritual energy of the world had completely vanished over a millennium ago. It wasn’t that she inherently lacked the talent or the aptitude to become an immortal; rather, the very atmosphere had been drained of its magic. The testing plate would never glow again because there was no longer any spiritual energy left to ignite it. In this current era, the path to immortality was permanently sealed for every soul alive.
