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Back then, I tried my best in order to sense qi somehow.

When he was young, there was something he was worried about while he practiced the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art under his master: wouldn’t he get abandoned if he could not learn martial arts properly?

This problem was not unique to Zhou Xuchuan; rather, it was common among many of the orphan disciples of Mount Hua. While the training at Mount Hua was harsh and difficult, they weren’t starving at least. They also did not have to worry about freezing to death every winter. All of the orphan disciples did their utmost best in cultivation in order to not lose that privilege.

However, in spite of his efforts, Zhou Xuchuan didn’t have any talent, so he had a lot of difficulties learning.

Haah, but I have to intentionally slow down this time.

His mental enlightenment was on the level of the Harmony Realm, so seeing great achievements in a basic cultivation method like the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art was not that difficult.

However, if he did so, the older generation members, starting with his master, would notice it and cause a commotion, so he couldn’t do that.

Of course, the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art wasn’t some peerless divine art like the Violet Haze Divine Art, so reaching the final stage in a short period of time didn’t mean he would instantly become an expert. Even the most powerful cultivator in the world would find it hard to notice his progress unless they could directly make contact with his body.

However, his master was watching him right now, so he had no choice but to hold back.

***

A year passed by in a blink of an eye and Zhou Xuchuan was now nine years old.

“Oh, you have finally reached the fifth stage. That’s great.”

Liu Zhengmu smiled gently and patted Zhou Xuchuan on his head. Zhou Xuchuan looked embarrassed, but he smiled in joy as well.

At first, he had felt a little troubled due to being treated as a child. He was an old man past his seventies on the inside, even if his outer appearance was child-like. He wasn’t at an age where he should be getting head pats.

However, there was no way for Liu Zhengmu to know that. Whatever Zhou Xuchuan did, Liu Zhengmu complimented him for doing well. Zhou Xuchuan, too, got used to it over time. While it was embarrassing, it wasn’t entirely bad. In his previous life, his master, Liu Zhengmu, was the only one who cherished him and looked after him. He would be lying if he said he didn’t miss his master’s care.

Just for this moment, he decided to forget about his original age and rejoiced like his peers.

“Starting today, you’ll have to proceed by yourself. It will be hard, but I believe you’ll do well.” Liu Zhengmu expressed his pity.

Finally!

Meanwhile, Zhou Xuchuan was rejoicing inside, even though he didn’t express it on the outside as he was in front of Liu Zhengmu. During the past year, Liu Zhengmu had guided him in cultivation without missing a single day, so he couldn’t train in anything else.

However, that would end today. He could finally start the things he had been postponing until now.

Fortunately, it wasn’t entirely boring.

It was boring to intentionally slow his practice of the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art, but aside from that, his daily life wasn’t that bad.

First of all, there was the dreaded Wild Goose Hell. Despite having experienced the era of war and chaos in his previous life, going through Wild Goose Hell again was still difficult.

His killing intent inadvertently boiled within him whenever he saw the instructors pushing him to his limits without batting an eyelid. Whenever he thought that he could finally take a breather, the instructor would raise the difficulty and push him to his limits once again.

It was like this back in the day, and it was like this now. It was a good thing that he had gotten an opportunity to live his life again, but he really didn’t want to experience Wild Goose Hell.

“And also…”

Organizing his memories—this was the most important.

He knew the general events that would occur in the martial world in the future. However, his memories weren’t perfect. He was only human and it was impossible to remember every event he had experienced in his life in detail.

As such, Zhou Xuchuan desperately tried to recall the big events that would happen in the future. He really wished he could write it down, but if anyone happened to see his records, it was unknown what kind of butterfly effect that would cause.

Of course, even if anyone did see it, they would simply choose to ignore it for being ridiculous, but as with everything in the world, there were always the what-ifs. He was very cautious with everything that pertained to his previous life, and even if he did write something down, he would write it on the ground with a twig and erase it immediately afterward.

At the same time he organized his memories, he planned for the future.

They say nothing you study goes to waste, and indeed, my visits to the library in my later years are helping out a lot.

Becoming one of the Five High Elders of Mount Hua required intellect on top of martial prowess. Intellect was especially important after the era of war and chaos, as they had to talk about the stability and security of the world. Back then, Zhou Xuchuan had racked his brain to the limits to study because he didn’t want others to call him a lucky man who had obtained his position through sheer happenstance.

“Well then, the wait is now over.”

It wasn’t that his basic training was over. For a time, he would have to keep going through Wild Goose Hell and train with the others in the training grounds.

However, it wasn’t the same for his internal cultivation.

“Now, I can finally proceed with the things I have prepared during the past year.”

A broad smile appeared on Zhou Xuchuan’s face.

***

This was an event that was bound to happen sixty-six years in the future. A prodigy would appear among the fourth-generation disciples of Mount Hua, someone who had both great wisdom and talent for martial arts.

Thanks to that genius, a secret to one cultivation method would be revealed. And the method in question was none other than the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art.

No one expected it.

The Plum Blossom Cultivation Art. It was something that every member of Mount Hua knew. It was one of the fundamental cultivation arts everyone had to learn in order to be able to use a higher-level one.

However, that was it and there was no other meaning to the art. And indeed, in the centuries since the founding of the sect, and even after it became a renowned sect in the orthodox faction, no one bothered to think that there would be a huge secret in the most basic cultivation method.

Even Zhou Xuchuan was like the others and thought of it as nothing but the foundation, a step that led elsewhere. He wanted higher-level methods.

That was why he was very shocked when the secret behind the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art was revealed, and in fact, he was doubtful at first.

“Bias is truly frightening. You cannot escape it easily, and even if you see the truth, you will not realize it and reject it instead.”

Everyone in the course of history thought that the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art was just one of the footholds to reach a higher stage. They were all too ignorant about that foothold.

The Plum Blossom Cultivation Art was a first-rate method even within the entire martial world, and had been with the sect since its founding. While everyone focused on higher-level cultivation methods and ignored them, one person took an interest in the art and discovered a secret.

Having finished recalling his past, Zhou Xuchuan sat down in front of a nearby plum tree after checking that there was no one nearby.

In front of his eyes was a display of white petals. It was the white plum blossom.

It’s been living with us for its whole life.

The symbols of Mount Hua were the sword and the plum blossom.

The White Plum was also called the Winter Plum, as its flowers blossomed in cold weather, or the Snow Plum, for blossoming within the snow.

Zhou Xuchuan had grown up watching plum blossoms his whole life; when the whole martial world was engulfed in war and chaos and when Mount Hua was in crisis; when he was young and when he had become a high elder; even when he saw his death approaching.

Now, he was going to let this flower—and the secret behind it—truly bloom.

Phew.

He sat cross-legged and straightened his back. He pointed his chin forward and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and let it out again.

Tsssp, haa-

Inhale, exhale.

He established a steady, harmonious breathing cycle, repeating it over and over again.

He wasn’t simply breathing air. It was just a minute amount, but he was also moving around the warm energy originating in his lower dantian and circulating his qi.

At first, it was the ordinary Plum Blossom Cultivation Art, but things started changing. This was the secret cultivation method that would be discovered far into the future.

The Plum Blossom Life Art!

This secret was transmitted to the members of Mount Hua as soon as it was discovered. Back then, the era of war and chaos had just ended and they had regained peace, but the peace was very unstable.

The martial world had received a lot of damage due to the decades of war and conflict, and was still suffering from its aftermath. The orthodox faction had merely three-tenths of its former prowess, and the same went for Mount Hua.

They found the need to raise the future generation in order to regain stability, and the Plum Blossom Life Art was discovered just in time.

In the case of Zhou Xuchuan, he was in the position of checking the stability of the art and transmitting it to the future generation, so he had to memorize it.

It’s faint, but it’s here.

A wide smile formed on his face against his will.

It’s the vitality of the Plum Blossom!

The secret behind the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art, and the reason it was later called the Plum Blossom Life Art, lay in the vitality contained in the plum trees.

A cultivation art referred to methods of gathering the qi floating around in nature into the dantian through a special way of breathing. That was the most basic method and principle behind cultivation.

However, the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art required additional elements from that basic structure, which was the vitality of plum trees.

It was impossible with other trees, but if they chanted a certain sutra while cultivating near a plum tree, they were able to absorb the vitality of plum blossoms.

It might look like a demonic cultivation art at first, but it definitely wasn’t. Such methods relied on simply robbing life energy. If that were the case, the plum tree would soon dry up and never be able to bloom again. Then, the art would no longer be orthodox; instead, it would shift toward a heretic path.

It’s not robbing or borrowing vitality. It’s me breathing in what the plum blossoms breathe out.

Qi didn’t exist just in humans. Not to mention animals, even the tiny bits of grass on the side of the road possessed qi. If they possessed life, they would breathe. The same was true for the plum tree.

The Plum Blossom Life Art allowed the practitioner to absorb the vitality exhaled by the tree alongside the qi of nature and accumulate it slowly in the lower dantian.

"Union with the Plum Blossom."

He chanted the sutra of the Plum Blossom Life Art that would be discovered far into the future.

"Become one with the plum blossom and breathe."

I feel a little sorry now.

Originally, this glory and fame was destined for one person. Having unearthed a secret that should have been discovered by a later generation not even born yet, Zhou Xuchuan felt a prick on his conscience, as though he had just become a thief.

That being the case, he decided to keep it to himself that he knew the Plum Blossom Life Art, for the sake of that very practitioner of the future.

Good, it’s working.

The biggest reason the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art continued to be a stage that many people passed was the accumulation of qi. It was decent in every other aspect, but its speed of accumulating internal energy was low enough for it to be called third-rate in the martial world. This was also why many people thought that this was the only disadvantage there was to the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art.

However, that was no longer the case after the secret was discovered. Although it couldn’t be put on the same line as peerless cultivation arts, it definitely superseded many first-rate ones.

The reason for the slow accumulation of qi was that the secret wasn’t discovered. With that solved, everything was perfect.

It’s not as good as the Violet Haze Divine Art, but it doesn’t lose out to other advanced arts.

Having formed his dantian at eight and accumulating qi for a whole year, Zhou Xuchuan only possessed a year’s worth of internal energy. However, with the Plum Blossom Life Art, he would be able to accumulate a lot in a short period of time.

His master would also not check his cultivation for a while, so he should be able to hide himself. He couldn’t help but think that his plan was perfect.

The effect of the new discovery was the acceleration of qi accumulation, and the expansion of the maximum capacity of the dantian.

Above all, what makes me the happiest is that…

He couldn’t help but let a grin light his face. As though to release all the frustrations he had until now, he focused and pushed the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art forward in one go.

...There’s no need to hold myself back anymore!

His understanding of the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art had already reached the maximum stage, but he had to suppress himself as his master had checked his body to verify his progress every single day. Fortunately, that was no longer the case.

Just because he reached the maximum stage in the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art didn’t mean that he would advance in his cultivation realm in an instant. That was why instructors and sect members would not be able to notice his progress unless they came into direct contact with him, and checking a young disciple’s qi through physical contact was only permitted to the disciple’s direct master.

Even then, aside from special situations, the master would rarely check the disciple’s meridians. Usually, it would be the disciple asking the master for help.

Thanks to these circumstances, Zhou Xuchuan could feel at ease and quickly made progress with his Plum Blossom Cultivation Art without suppressing it.

The enlightenment and understanding regarding the art that was suppressed flowed out without restraint and merged with his mind and body. His will, riding through his qi passages eventually arrived at the dantian and brought about a change.

His Plum Blossom Cultivation Art, which was at the fifth stage, reached the tenth stage in one go. The final stage was the twelfth stage, but he couldn’t reach that far due to the lack of internal energy.

However, it was only a matter of time. He could just use the Plum Blossom Life Art to accumulate qi quickly.

I have finally taken my first step toward the future.