章節 152: The Acceptance Of Greed 2
(Blue Polar Star/Blue Wind Empire - Floating Cloud City)
To live a waking dream is something I never imagined I'd be able to do.
When I was younger, I would dream of endless tables filled with amazing food, sitting on a throne of shimmering gems and gold. But then the dream would end, and I would find myself shivering, leaning up against a wall.
Even now, as I can feel the breath in my lungs, a small part of me is afraid that this is a grand illusion. Yet the reality is slowly seeping in, which is odd, as while I will say that I'm decently adaptable, this is something entirely out of my depth.
The world itself just seemed bigger. The city that I had seen in the distance felt so close, yet as I began walking, I realized how far it was. But to be honest, I didn't really mind. It allowed me to think. That was something I didn't really do too often.
By the time I had awoken, the sun had just risen in the sky, but now it seemed to be around noon. The city was now in my sights again. As I approached what seemingly was one of the main gates, I found it odd that there weren't any guards.
There were plenty of people on the street, but no guards. To be honest, I was slightly nervous, as after the descriptions my now-father gave of this world, I was afraid I was going to be met with hostility as soon as I entered the city.
But after entering it, all I was met with was the small bustling of crowds. However, I also overheard murmurs of discontent and blatant jealousy.
What's even odder is that I find I can hear them even from multiple feet away, as if I was standing right next to them.
"I can't believe some waste like Xiao Che is going to marry a beauty like Xia Qinyue! The heavens must be punishing us!" I overheard as I passed by a group of men.
It seems that there's some kind of big event about to occur. Also, isn't it a bit much to say someone is a waste? I mean, I assume this guy isn't homeless, and based on how people are talking about the girl, at least it seems like they are from some caste of nobility.
However, social events are second; food is first. After a couple of minutes, I managed to find what seemed like a restaurant, not even realizing the fact that I was essentially reading Chinese after I could barely even consider English a first language.
Walking inside, I headed over to the counter. The man at the pedestal put on what I assumed to be his customer service smile and asked, "Hello, sir, are you here looking for a table?"
Giving him a fake smile, I responded, "Yes, I am. Are there any available tables?"
He then grabbed what I assumed to be a menu and handed it to me, pointing over to a table near the entranceway in what I assumed to be some kind of booth.
"With what's happening, you're quite lucky, as we have actually been pretty slow today. Simply ring the bell on the table when you wish to order." I nodded in thanks and headed over to my table, grabbing the menu that the customer service person handed to me.
Sitting down at the table, I took in my surroundings. The city itself is large, but the architecture is something out of a fantastical drama. The worst thing is that, based on the smells, the bathrooms are definitely nowhere near modern standards.
But I assumed that to be due to the time period this place seems to be stuck in.
Looking back to the menu, I opened it to find that while it is a decent size, it's nothing too grand. But to me, that's OK. Any food is good food—unless it's poison or moldy; then that's just straight-up poison.
After looking it over a couple of times, I took the small bell in my hands and gave it a ring. Within a few seconds, a young waitress walked over to the table.
"Hello, good sir. Are you prepared to order?" The odd thing is that when she asked the question, she seemed to be blushing. Maybe she's sick?
With another smile on my face, I pointed to the Peking duck, as well as some tofu and a salad. The waitress then returned a smile and took my menu. Before leaving, she handed me a glass filled with water. After she left with the menu, I looked outside the window again, and again my eyes just stared—not at the people, but at the atmosphere.
The city was beautiful. The people, however, were odd. The dichotomy between how the people looked here was night and day. All of them were of Asian descent, obviously, as this seems to be some kind of Chinese novel. While some looked plain, others were decently handsome. But then came the true divide, as others looked like Quasimodo on a bad day, while some looked like they were straight out of a Vogue magazine.
Thankfully, since the restaurant was mostly empty, my food didn't take too long. After she handed me the chopsticks, I was thankful I didn't embarrass myself, as Chinese places were the best places to find food—at least in the trash—and so I got used to using chopsticks, as those were the only utensils I found there.
Before she left, I asked her a question. "Hello, Miss, would you be able to give me directions?"
The waitress turned around and, with a smile, responded, "Of course, sir. What would you like to know?"
"Is there anywhere where I can find a library?" The waitress, seemingly prepared for the question, then took out a small map from behind her. While I was somewhat confused about where she got that, she then placed it on the table and began tracing a specific path through the city with her finger.
"If you follow my finger from the restaurant to the main library, you'll find it here. However, be careful. The city isn't in the best of moods today." My confused look after what she said was seemingly question enough, as she continued.
"There's a big marriage happening today between two big families. One of them is the daughter of a famous merchant family. The other is a family that has relations with a sect that is known across the Blue Wind Empire. However, the groom is known to be an utter failure as a cultivator. Truly, it is sad that the heavens have cursed the girl with such a useless person. But between you and me, I have heard that the groom had fallen ill, so the marriage is currently up in the air." With the same smile on her face—which was a bit odd, as she was straight-up talking about someone fainting on the day of their wedding—she began to walk away. However, before she left, I handed her a small tip.
After placing some of the coins in her hand, she looked almost genuinely shocked. "Thank you for the information, Miss, and the food too. It was pretty good—my compliments to the chef."
Again, the girl began to blush, but I didn't want to ask if she was sick, as that would be a bit rude. She sprinted away.
It makes me wonder if I am as ugly as I was in my previous life. With a shrug, I focused on the food. As I ate some of the duck, I almost began to shed tears over how long it had been since I ate anything decent.
I didn't make any noises, as I didn't want to be a weirdo. But I just sat and enjoyed it. Honestly, this is probably one of the best dreams I've ever lived.
As I sat and savored the food, I smiled, completely content. The food itself barely lasted a couple of minutes, and after leaving payment on the table, I cleaned up after myself and tossed the bones and other scraps into the trash.
The customer service person at the entrance gave me a small nod, which I returned.
After heading out the doors, I began to follow the directions the waitress gave me to the city's library. After around 15 minutes of walking, I entered what most historians would start drooling over—a large library filled with current-era scrolls.
The main librarian was an older man. After I entered, he looked up from his table. As I headed over to him, he placed down the scroll he was reading, but before I could say anything, he said, "If you wish to read through the scrolls, feel free, but do not leave a mess behind, youngster."
Seeing that he didn't want to be disturbed, I walked into the library. As I headed over to the first row of scrolls, I saw that this section mostly had to do with the basics of this world.
Specifically, it had to do with the various realms of what these people call cultivation. Nothing concrete, but I assumed that that information is held by these sects. However, the more I read about this profound energy, the more curious I grew about it.
Honestly, it was definitely something out of a fantasy world. An energy that allows someone not only to do amazing things like controlling the elements or comprehending the laws of nature—to me, the thing that stands out is the ability to fly.
Now that is something worth chasing. I remember when I would watch planes take off and come back into the airports, and I wondered how it felt to fly. But it seems like one has to be in the Sky Profound Phase of their cultivation.
As I placed the scrolls back where they came from, I felt like I was missing something. As I stared at the storage ring that I was given, it began to glow in a slight purple light. From the storage ring, a book appeared.
The book itself was titled The Miracle of Life. However, I couldn't see the author's name, and when I opened the book, the lettering began to rearrange itself, and my head began to hurt as I tried to read it.
But I had dealt with worse pain than this, and as I read through chapter after chapter, I found myself amazed—which has been happening a lot today. In this book is essentially multiple doctorates' worth of medical knowledge, specifically to do with the human body and profound entrances.
However, I focused specifically on the process to gain profound energy. After closing the book, I realized that I had developed a bloody nose. After wiping the blood away with my left hand, I placed the book back in my storage ring and sat down on the pillow I had found in the reading area.
No one else was there, which I assumed was due to the fact that either a lot of people couldn't read, or people were really hyped up for this marriage today.
As I focused, I felt the world begin to fall away, and I seemed to gain some type of third-person perspective. I then began to see my own profound entrances. All 54 of them had already been opened, which was apparently some type of heaven-defying miracle. But to be honest, I'm so dull to surprises today that this doesn't even faze me.
I then focused on my surroundings, and I saw what looked to be glowing yellow lights around me. So I focused on trying to vacuum the light into myself. As the lights entered my profound entrances, I began to feel an almost euphoric feeling of strength.
It felt like I was spiked with some kind of stimulant, like I was invincible. I took a breath and focused, but then an idea began to ring in my head. Some of the chapters within The Miracle of Life talked about how medicine could be refined before being used, so I wondered if that could be used with profound energy.
After a few moments, I reopened my eyes. As I summoned the green pearl that I was given, it floated in front of me, as if understanding what I wanted to do. I closed my eyes again and focused on bringing the profound energy into the green pearl.
As it was sucked in, it then dispersed toward me. But instead of being like gaseous clouds of light, it was like liquid gold. Again, that euphoric feeling of strength returned. This time, it felt like I had hit the ceiling of something. I refocused and bashed up against the ceiling over and over again. Soon enough, it shattered like glass. As I opened my eyes, I saw that my aura had formed around me like a fiery red with a hint of white. Thankfully, it wasn't pink.
I took a breath, and after standing up, I noticed that the outside of the library had become abuzz with activity, with people lining the streets. But to be honest, I could care less. After exiting the library, I began to make my way toward the outskirts of the city, as I was interested in farming some medicinal plants. That, and I wanted to make sure that I didn't break anything with my new strength.
But again, this world and its grandiose need to be large. It took me around 30 minutes to walk back to the main gate of the city. As I entered the forest, I took a seat near a fallen tree and watched as the sun set on the horizon.
(Well another chapter, and if anyone is confused, the main character is now in the second level of elementary profound after only starting to cultivate for a few minutes. So yeah, this isn't going to be a story that's taken very seriously. Also do be aware that the main character is essentially going in cold turkey he knows essentially nothing and is learning as he goes along.)
Cultivation Levels: Elementary Profound -> Nascent Profound -> True Profound -> Spirit Profound -> Earth Profound -> Sky Profound -> Emperor Profound -> Tyrant Profound -> Sovereign Profound (Each of these cultivation levels are split into 10 levels.)
每周推薦票狀態
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榜單 
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