Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Heart-Pounding Great Adventure (5)
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Seoran wandered the Street of Learning until she spotted an advertisement.
‘General Common Knowledge of the Cultivation World (Irregular Lecture)
Instructor: Qi Building Daoist
Knowledge is power.
Master this, and navigate the perilous cultivation world with confidence!
Enroll for free now.’
It was a promotional free lecture.
The notice stated it would cover information helpful for cultivation, precautions, and the history of the cultivation world.
These were basics that cultivators from major sects learned naturally, but rogue cultivators often didn’t know them.
With no spirit stones and not from the East Continent, it was perfect for Seoran.
She blended into the crowd and entered the lecture hall.
It was packed inside, so she sat in the very back row.
After a short wait, a Foundation Establishment cultivator stepped onto the podium and greeted everyone.
“Hello, fellow cultivators. I am the Qi Building Daoist, specialist instructor for the Foundation Establishment course. Thank you for joining today’s lecture.”
Once the polite greeting ended, the students applauded.
The instructor calmly delivered his prepared lecture in front of the many cultivators.
He clearly had plenty of experience; it showed in his seasoned demeanor.
The instructor began drawing the East Continent on a large blackboard.
The rough outline of the continent, the vast primeval forest at its center.
The massive sects clustered around the primeval forest, and the minor sects pushed to the outskirts.
The instructor tapped the blackboard as he spoke.
“To properly understand the history of cultivation, you must first memorize the continent’s geography. The most crucial element is the Great Rift at the deepest heart of the primeval forest. The Great Rift has profoundly shaped today’s cultivation culture. It might seem complex, but I’ll explain it as simply as possible.”
Seoran and the students were drawn into the lecture.
The vast primeval forest in the center of the East Continent could be divided into the surface layer and the deep layer.
The surface layer included Taibon Valley with its Street of Learning—all territories ruled by the Five Elements Treefolk.
Deeper inside, past the thick border of Five Elements Treefolk territory, lay the deep layer.
The key distinction between surface and deep layers was the degree of erosion by the underworld.
Eroded areas transformed halfway into the underworld.
Any being other than yokai, ghosts, or demon surgeons who stepped inside would be bound by the underworld’s laws—death itself.
The underworld pulled at both soul and body.
A low-realm cultivator who wandered in cluelessly would lose their soul, while massive races like the Five Elements Treefolk couldn’t withstand their own bulk and collapsed.
Only high-realm cultivators could approach the deep layer while resisting the underworld’s pull.
Even they needed the Incarnation stage to fly there.
The cause lay at the heart of the primeval forest: the Great Rift.
Its existence had been revealed to the world thanks to a life-risking expedition by an Incarnation cultivator.
Beyond the Great Rift lay, astonishingly, the underworld.
Even absolute rulers of the mortal realm—Incarnation cultivators—had nearly been dragged into the underworld through the Great Rift, or so the tales went.
The pull from the underworld leaking through the Great Rift drew not just souls and bodies, but spirit energy itself.
As a result, spirit energy distribution across the continent became extremely skewed.
The closer to the continent’s center where the primeval forest lay, the richer the spirit energy; it thinned drastically toward the borders.
This extreme imbalance in spirit energy profoundly influenced the formation of cultivation sects.
The central regions rich in spirit energy were fiercely competitive.
The stronger the power, the closer their territory hugged the primeval forest; minor sects were shoved to the fringes.
The gap between strong and weak only widened.
The polarized sizes of cultivation sects became the main reason for the massive influx of rogue cultivators.
Why stay with a minor sect on the spirit-starved fringes when you could become a rogue cultivator?
Fortunately, the primeval forest’s surface layer, ruled by the Five Elements Treefolk, allowed rogue cultivators free access.
It was inevitable that fringe minor sects crumbled one after another from constant loss of talent.
Over long years, the rogue cultivator hordes crowding the surface layer formed a symbiotic relationship with the Five Elements Treefolk.
Rogue cultivators gathered in neutral cities like Taibon Valley still flocked to the Street of Learning today, diligently cultivating.
Proving themselves through grueling training and joining major sects on good terms—that was their primary goal.
The instructor wrapped up neatly, covering other helpful cultivation info and a few precautions.
The packed content earned hearty applause from the students.
Seoran joined in enthusiastically.
As students rose to leave, the instructor called out.
“Thank you again for your attention throughout the class, fellow cultivators! I am the Qi Building Daoist, Foundation Establishment specialist! I also hold regular paid lectures for Core Formation cultivators, so please show your interest!”
Quite a few cultivators seemed tempted by the paid lecture promo.
Lure them with a free class, showcase skills, then pitch the paid ones.
A flawless marketing strategy.
Seoran trudged out of the lecture hall, lost in thought.
So that’s it—the Great Rift.
No wonder there were so many more rogue cultivators than in the West Continent, and their overall level was higher and more even.
Most East Continent rogue cultivators gathered around the primeval forest, honing themselves for major sect entry.
Seoran looked forward to her future life on the East Continent.
She felt a growing urge to stay on this Street of Learning, studying every day.
First on her list: sign up for tons of puppetry lectures.
But that required heaps of spirit stones.
Seoran stood at a street corner, pondering deeply.
She needed a way to amass huge tuition fees fast.
She considered construction work, but with minor sects all dried up outside the majors, how much demand could there be for large-scale projects?
Just then, she overheard two passing rogue cultivators chatting.
“Ah, should I try being an instructor?”
“You? In your dreams. Forget it.”
“Hey, what’s wrong with me?”
“The instructor biz is cutthroat competitive.”
“Some do lectures every few days and rake in spirit stones like mountains from fees.”
“That’s only for those with some standout talent. Who’d listen to your barely-successful Foundation Establishment lecture?”
The two bickered as they walked off.
One phrase stuck in Seoran’s ear.
Standout something—something unique others didn’t have.
A flash of inspiration struck.
Seoran grinned wickedly and licked her lips.
*****
The Street of Learning in Taibon Valley buzzed unusually after a long lull.
All because of a new instructor’s enrollment ad.
In a place where lectures popped up and vanished endlessly, a newbie’s ad rarely drew eyes.
Yet this new one grabbed complex interest from cultivators with its shocking wording.
The ad read:
‘What Is Core Formation? (Regular Paid Lecture)
Instructor: Core Formation Cultivator Ryu Seoran
Secrets of a colossal golden core holder—fully revealed!
How to forge a golden core the size of a Cintamani pearl!
You too can become a Core Formation cultivator!
(First lecture is free.)’
Impossible to forget after one glance.
A total rookie rogue cultivator instructor with zero credentials, and the title? ‘What Is Core Formation?’
She acted like she’d swallowed a Cintamani pearl whole.
No instructor in Street of Learning history had ever run such an arrogant ad campaign.
Cultivators counted down the days to the first lecture.
Not one naive rogue cultivator in Taibon Valley’s Street of Learning bought that ridiculous ad.
Conveniently, the first class was free.
As the day approached, cultivators flooded the hall out of sheer curiosity.
Just to see what kind of con artist’s face she had.
At the appointed time, Seoran took the podium.
Cultivators using Spirit Eye Technique gasped.
In Seoran’s dantian sat a golden core bigger than a fist, solid as could be.
Average Core Formation golden cores were pea-sized.
Rare geniuses with major sect backing might form walnut-sized ones.
That thing wasn’t a golden core in good conscience.
It was closer to a Cintamani pearl.
In that moment, students shared the same thought.
The ad’s ‘Secrets of a colossal golden core holder fully revealed, how to forge a Cintamani pearl-sized golden core’ wasn’t hype—it was fact.
Then maybe the last line too?
Amid expectation, excitement, and silence, the first lecture began.
“Cultivation is transcendence, and transcendence is accumulation.”
From that opening line, the lecture flowed smoothly.
Teachings from Yeomujin, Foundation Establishment cultivator of the West Continent’s Black Bamboo Sect, closest to Incarnation.
Teachings from Lady Blue, a mere carp who cultivated a millennium to near-ascension.
Wisdom from these giants spread across the East Continent through the mouth of the unprecedented prodigy, youngest-ever Core Formation cultivator Ryu Seoran.
At the end of the free session, Seoran said.
“That concludes the free portion. For more, please enroll in the paid lecture via spirit stone payment. Thank you.”
That day, applications overwhelmed the registrar, crashing it.
A Street of Learning record.