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On the Shengtian Continent, removing impurities from one’s spiritual roots wasn’t overly difficult. It required various spirit herb medicinal baths, but setting aside the high cost, the cleansing process was extremely painful, even to the point of causing the skin to bleed.
Therefore, for an alchemist, the grade of the refined pill was secondary; what was most important was that the pill be crystal clear with few impurities. This was the highest quality among pills, as it could minimize side effects, prevent the spiritual roots from being contaminated, and avoid the need for medicinal baths.
[There are two methods.]
A box popped up in front of Sui An, detailing the effects of the Marrow Cleansing Pill and the spirit herbs required to refine it. She said, “The sect has these spirit herbs, but even the elder of our sect’s Pill Pavilion cannot refine a supreme-grade, impurity-free Marrow Cleansing Pill. It’s simply not fit for consumption.”
The very essence of a Marrow Cleansing Pill was to cleanse the marrow and spiritual roots, so it could not tolerate the slightest trace of impurity. Even a tiny amount would render the pill useless.
As for the other method, it was a secret cultivation technique, but she had no idea where to even begin looking for such a technique.
[Host, with the System’s assistance in alchemy, you do not need to follow the rules like others. You only need to complete System tasks to obtain skill books. After you light up the “Marrow Cleansing Pill” skill, you can begin refining it. You will need to continuously refine it to increase the pill’s proficiency, which will allow you to level it up directly. The higher the proficiency, the higher your alchemy level.]
Sui An was shocked!
[As for the success rate of pill formation1 and the grade of the pill, that will depend on the Host’s own continuous practice and breakthroughs. The System is only an auxiliary system; it cannot help the Host increase the success rate of pill formation.]
“That’s enough,” Sui An exhaled slowly.
She looked at the faintly visible panel before her. With a thought, the panel flipped. At the very top was a line of yellow text: the main quest customized by the System—accumulate karmic luck to repair the System.
Below it was a row of green text for side quests. Expanding the page revealed hidden quests in gray text, which required luck to trigger.
Sui An accepted a side quest.
[Side Quest: Place in the top three of the Inner Sect Grand Competition. Mission Reward: Skill Book x1]
[Host, the plot missions customized by the System have a chance to change the Host’s future fate of being cannon fodder. Please prioritize completing them.]
Sui An pursed her lips. “I’m not doing it.”
This customized main quest not only required her to follow Tan Yun, but now it was even demanding she refine high-quality Jade Flame Wine and give it to her.
She had just been nearly beaten to death while Tan Yun merely stood by. The memory of that voice, as cold as an ice pick, saying ‘continue’ was still vivid in her mind. And now she was supposed to make wine for Tan Yun to drink? What a joke.
She was filled with resistance.
[Host, the main quest cannot be abandoned. Moreover, this is a method of refining Jade Flame Wine using alchemy, not brewing. The System has determined this method is the most suitable for the Host to practice with. And because it is food, you need not worry about any refined impurities affecting your spiritual roots.]
Sui An ignored it.
[Host, completing this mission will grant one skill book, plus thirty karmic luck points. Learning the Marrow Cleansing Pill requires two skill books.]
Sui An’s eyelids lowered slightly. She said, “If it weren’t for your peculiar functions, your efforts to make me stay by Tan Yun’s side would make me suspect you’re a spy she sent.”
[Host, Tan Yun is the female lead. You can only accumulate karmic luck by staying close to her. The Host is still very weak and cannot leave the protection of Tan Yun for now.]
In the end, this system wanted her to stay by Tan Yun’s side. But Sui An couldn’t let go of what happened in the water prison. Although she wasn’t sure who wanted to harm her, it was Tan Yun’s inexplicable treatment of her that led to her demise.
“I understand,” Sui An said, standing up.
She sat on the edge of her bed and began to meditate, tending to her external injuries.
In the past, her attitude towards cultivation had been very casual. It was difficult for her to quiet her mind during meditation. Usually, she would rely on the good pills Fan Tianyou refined and brought her, using them to coast her way up to the ninth level of Qi Refinement. Tan Yun had reprimanded her for it before, but the Sui An of her past life had only ever paid lip service.
So now, when she meditated, her brows were tightly furrowed. She found it hard to calm her mind and enter a deep meditative state. For a cultivator, this was undoubtedly fatal. Without entering a meditative state, one couldn’t gain enlightenment, and without enlightenment, one couldn’t break through existing realms.
Sui An opened her eyes. In this life, she would absolutely not live so foolishly again, nor did she want to live in a daze. “It seems I’ll have to go to the Library Pavilion to borrow a Mind-Calming Art.”
[Host should also find a jade slip with a technique suitable for a Wood spiritual root. Dual refinement is hard and slow, but as long as the Host persists in arduous cultivation, it won’t be difficult to kill enemies of a higher rank2 in due time.]
Sui An nodded and got up to head for the Library Pavilion.
Because of the wounds on her back, she could only walk down the stairs. With every step, the wounds throbbed with pain. The staircase before her seemed to have no end.
It wasn’t the first time Sui An felt that this staircase was incredibly long. She let out a mournful sigh, “Why did they build so many stairs… Hiss… Yuan Nuannuan, you really hit hard.”
Few people came to the main peak, so it was unlikely a passing senior brother or sister would fly her to the Library Pavilion on their sword. She rolled her eyes in exasperation.
She hated living here even more now.
Sui An could have directly asked the disciples guarding the hall for help, but she knew they would definitely inform Tan Yun, so she could only seek help from others.
The Demon Slaying Sect’s Library Pavilion was well-stocked with all sorts of cultivation techniques, with the exception of artifact refining and alchemy books, which were relatively rare. Among all the techniques, the sword arts were the most outstanding.
The grades of cultivation techniques were divided in the same way as alchemy: Human, Yellow, Mystic, Earth, Heaven, Immortal, and God3. Each grade was further subdivided into low, middle, and high quality. On the Shengtian Continent, Earth-grade techniques were extremely rare, let alone Heaven-grade ones.
Fortunately, the Mind-Calming Art that Sui An wanted to borrow was just a common Human-rank, high-grade technique. This kind of technique was widely available; forget borrowing, no one would say a word if she simply took it.
She walked with the slow pace of an old woman. After finally descending the stairs, she found a senior sister to fly her to the Library Pavilion on a sword. She looked up at the towering Library Pavilion before her, its layers rising like a pagoda into the vast blue sky, its peak wreathed in hazy clouds. It was truly as ethereal as a fantasy realm.
As soon as Sui An entered, her nose was filled with the thick scent of scrolls. How many books and how many years would it take to accumulate such a rich, papery smell?
On the first floor, a few disciples were standing on ladders in mid-air, organizing books and sorting them into categories.
“I would like to borrow the Mind-Calming Art. May I ask where I can find it?”
Sui An’s voice wasn’t loud, but it made the disciples’ jaws drop. In her sixteen years, the number of times Sui An had come to the Library Pavilion could be counted on one hand.
“Senior Sister, I happen to have a copy of the Heart-Purifying Art on me. Its effects are better than the Mind-Calming Art. Why don’t you take a look at this one first and see if it suits you?” one of the disciples said, jumping down from a ladder and handing her one of the books he was holding.
“Thank you,” Sui An said after taking it. She then asked, “I would also like to find a cultivation technique suitable for a Wood spiritual root.”
“Senior Sister, you’ll have to go to the second floor for that,” the disciple said, scratching his head. “But the second floor has a restriction barrier. You can’t enter without a Foundation Establishment cultivation base.”
Sui An felt at her waist, only to realize that her jade token was missing. Thinking back, she had probably lost it accidentally during her escape. Before her rebirth, she had never come to the Library Pavilion after being captured, so she hadn’t paid any attention to things like her token.
This token had been given to her by Tan Yun. With it, she could basically go anywhere she pleased, except for leaving the sect. Now that the token was lost, to get to the second floor, she would either have to find a senior brother or sister, or go back to Tan Yun. As for waiting until she reached the Foundation Establishment stage herself, that would take too long, and too much could change in that time.
Just as Sui An was at a loss, she caught a glimpse of a graceful figure out of the corner of her eye. She called out happily, “Senior Sister Miaomu!”
Miaomu was startled to see Sui An. She then walked over with light steps, looked her up and down, and hesitated before speaking, “Junior Sister An… you… weren’t you being punished in the grand hall? Are you injured?”
“I’m fine.”
Miaomu frowned. “Turn around.”
Sui An gave a bitter smile and reluctantly turned.
Although Miaomu was concerned, Sui An was getting annoyed that everyone wanted to see her injuries. If she had known, she would have changed her clothes before coming out.
The person behind her sighed. “Have you applied any medicine?”
“Not yet.”
Sui An turned back around. Seeing Miaomu’s displeased expression, she raised her voice and said, “Senior Sister, I want to go to the second floor to find a suitable cultivation technique… but, I forgot to bring my token.”
Miaomu was a disciple of the inner sect elder of the Finance Hall. All the spirit stones distributed monthly by the Demon Slaying Sect had to pass by her first.
Sui An, as the Sect Master’s disciple, was entitled to one thousand high-grade spirit stones per month. But since she was confined to the sect day in and day out, apart from using them for cultivation, she often had more than she could spend.
Although Miaomu was an inner sect elder’s disciple, the spirit stones she received each month were definitely not enough for her cultivation, let alone for buying spirit artifacts and pills. Even though Miaomu often took on sect missions to hunt demonic beasts, it was still not enough.
Therefore, Sui An would lend her unspent spirit stones to Miaomu, and Miaomu would bring Sui An some tasty treats from the outside to satisfy her cravings.
Hearing her words, Miaomu knew she couldn’t persuade Sui An. She reached out, wrapped an arm around her waist, and said, “Then Senior Sister will take you to the second floor.”
Miaomu tapped her toes on the ground.
Sui An was lifted into the air with her, easily passing through the restriction barrier and arriving on the second floor.
Before her rebirth, Sui An had already reached the Golden Core stage, so she acted quite nonchalant about this sudden levitation.
Miaomu was puzzled. “It seems Junior Sister An has grown a lot during your trip outside. In the past, whenever I took you flying, you would always scream your head off. I didn’t expect you to be so calm today.”
Sui An’s heart skipped a beat, but she kept her expression neutral. “That’s right. It’s all Shizun’s fault. She forbids me from leaving the sect all day; I’m about to be ruined by all this pampering.”
Miaomu was amused by her words. Realizing this was disrespectful to the Sect Master, she quickly cleared her throat, handed a bottle of pills to Sui An, and said, “It’s just ordinary pain-relieving powder. You can apply it without worry.”
“Thank you, Senior Sister,” Sui An said, accepting it.
She was relieved that Miaomu didn’t seem suspicious.
It seemed she would have to be more careful in the future. At this point in her past life, although she had been beaten half to death by Tan Yun, she still didn’t hold such a great grudge against the people around her.
The Sui An of that time was still naive and ignorant; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been poisoned to death in the water prison.
“Will you be alright on your own?”
“Senior Sister, go on with your business. I’ll be fine.”
“Alright then, I’m heading to the third floor. If you need anything, you can send me a sound transmission.”
Before leaving, Miaomu looked back at Sui An one more time. Her gaze was somewhat complex, like a mixture of love and hate, yet also of helplessness.
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Reika’s Notes:
- Thus, our heroince starts cultivating seriously.
- I guess there’s nothing like death to focus your attention on getting stronger.
- Who could have poisoned her in her past life?
- This text was translated by RudeGirl, and given to BC Novels to publish.
- I helped with the footnotes, formatting, grammar, etc., the usual stuff that is needed to post this on the website.
- Please let me know if there are any errors. Thanks for reading!
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Glossary
Marrow Cleansing Pill (洗髓丹, xǐsuǐ dān): A legendary pill in cultivation novels used to purify the body, remove impurities from one’s spiritual roots, and dramatically improve cultivation talent.
Pill Pavilion (丹阁, dāngé): A hall or building within a sect dedicated to alchemy and the storage of pills and ingredients.
Jade Flame Wine (碧焰酒, Bìyàn Jiǔ): A special type of wine the System wants Sui An to make for Tan Yun.
Library Pavilion (藏书阁, Cángshū Gé): The sect’s library, which houses cultivation manuals and other important texts.
Mind-Calming Art (静心诀, Jìngxīn Jué): A basic cultivation technique for calming one’s mind to enter a meditative state.
Jade Slip (玉简, yùjiǎn): A small slip of jade used to magically record information, a common way of storing high-level techniques in fantasy settings.
Heart-Purifying Art (清心诀, Qīngxīn Jué): A similar technique to the Mind-Calming Art.
Restriction Barrier (禁制, jìnzhì): A magical seal or barrier, often used to protect locations or restrict access.
Jade Token (腰牌, yāopái): A token, often worn at the waist, used for identification and access.
Miaomu (妙木, Miàomù): A Senior Martial Sister who is on friendly terms with Sui An.
Finance Hall (财政堂, cáizhèngtáng): The department of the sect responsible for managing finances and distributing resources like Spirit Stones.
Spirit Stones (灵石, língshí): Crystals filled with spiritual energy, used as currency and a power source for cultivation and formations.
Golden Core Stage (金丹期, jīndān qī): A major cultivation realm that comes after Foundation Establishment. Reaching this stage grants a much longer lifespan and significantly greater power.
Sound Transmission (传音, chuányīn): A magical ability to send one’s voice directly to another person’s mind over a distance.
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- Pill Formation (结丹, jiēdān): In this context, jiedan refers to the final, critical step in alchemy where the medicinal essences coalesce into a solid pill. The term can also refer to the “Golden Core” or Jindan stage of cultivation, but here it specifically means the act of successfully creating a pill.
- To kill enemies of a higher rank (越阶杀敌, yuèjiē shādí): A common and highly respected feat in cultivation novels. It signifies that a cultivator’s techniques, foundation, or combat sense are so superior that they can overcome the raw power difference and defeat an opponent from a higher cultivation realm.
- Human, Yellow, Mystic, Earth, Heaven, Immortal, and God (人、黄、玄、地、天、仙、神, rén, huáng, xuán, dì, tiān, xiān, shén): This is a common ranking system for techniques, items, and sometimes talent in Chinese web novels. The hierarchy is from lowest (Human) to highest (God). The character 玄 (xuán) can mean “black” but in a Daoist context, it more often means “mysterious,” “profound,” or “abstruse.”