CHAPTER 4: Mother Yi

Luo Ling was rather excited as he welcomed the headmistress into his room. He was finally getting the answers to the questions bugging him throughout the year.

Mother Yi smiled upon seeing the eager look flashing on Luo Ling’s face. She took a seat on his bed and straightened her back. “You have a lot to ask, don’t you?” She said, propping her head on her palm. “Ask away. I’ll answer them for you.”

Luo Ling pulled out a wooden stool and settled onto it, his gaze fixed on the headmistress before him. He harbored a multitude of questions clamoring for answers. Piecing together fragments from conversations with villagers and snippets picked up through eavesdropping, he had begun to grasp the intricacies of this unfamiliar realm. But there were too many gaps in his information, and they had to be addressed first.

He cleared his throat as decisiveness flashed in his eyes. He knew what to ask.

“Who are cultivators?”

“Cultivators are the true overlords of Spirit Continent.” Mother Yi said sombrely. “They practice the art of Qi Refining and pursue immortality. Of course, their most important role is to protect the world from the threats that lurk in the unknown. More often than not, they—”

“Wait a minute, Mother Yi.” Luo Ling raised his voice and pretended to not see the spark of annoyance flashed by the headmistress’ face. Interrupting someone when they were speaking was very rude, but the transmigrator couldn’t care less about the etiquette at the moment. He heard something unbelievable and needed confirmation.

“Immortality?” His voice was a little forceful. “You mean real immortality as in living forever kind of thing?”

“Yes.” Mother Yi responded curtly, seemingly still annoyed over the sudden interruption.

“Is immortality even possible? Has anyone become immortal?”

Luo Ling was in genuine disbelief. In this previous world, martial artists could live for hundreds of years, but they would still erode with the passing of time and die of old age. Even the transcendents with godlike control over their bodies could slow down the aging to live for a thousand years at most. To his knowledge, no one had crossed that threshold.

“Yes. Cultivators who have reached a high enough level could stay alive for as long as the sun and moon in the sky.” Mother Yi’s tone expressed her worship for such people. Even Luo Ling felt tremors in his heart and the yearning in his heart grew. Having suffered through death once, he vividly experienced the agony that came with it. The paranoia and despair as darkness overwhelm all your senses. The helplessness at your inability to do anything while your consciousness gradually sinks into nothingness. He really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of such helplessness again.

He decided in his heart. He must become a cultivator in one way or another. He had to strive for immortality.

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“Then, how can I learn to become one?” He asked; his usual level-headed demeanor melting away, giving way to the eagerness befitting his present age. From the gist of Mother Yi’s explanation, it was clear that achieving immortality was a step-by-step process, like the Martial Arts path he was pursuing. It was evident a systematic training process was available for those who wished to pursue this path.

“I’m here for this matter.” Mother Yi nodded her head, pleased at Luo Ling’s eagerness. She coughed to clear her throat and straightened her back, in the process, gaining his undivided attention. “Cultivation is the process of going against the rules of the heavens. Immortality is, after all, a forbidden path.”

Luo Ling felt his heart skipping a beat. This orphanage matron sure knew how to build up an atmosphere: even a man like him, who had experienced death once, was drawn in.

“The Heavens has enforced many shackles on our bodies. Cultivators must refine their energy and repeatedly break those shackles to get closer to immortality.” Mother Yi almost appeared zealous when she spoke about cultivation, catching Luo Ling off guard. He didn’t know the mature lady who looked to have weathered countless storms could wear such an expression on her face. But he couldn’t blame her. Even a Martial God like him was feeling the tremors in his heart.

“But…” She stopped and retracted her expression. Although she hid it well, Luo Ling noticed a trace of helplessness and reluctance in her eyes. “Not everyone could cultivate. To embark upon this path, one ought to have the required talent for it.”

Luo Ling nodded his head; he agreed with that statement. It takes up a lot of resources and investment to train a powerhouse. Talent decides how fast and how few of those resources a practitioner consumes compared to others. No organization would be willing to waste its resources on mediocre people when it could invest the same amount in better talents and yield twice the result.

“You must have heard rumors about our orphanage being funded by a cultivator organization. You even asked about it a while ago. To answer that, Yes. This orphanage is built and cared for by the Fragrant Crown Immortal Sect.” Mother Yi revealed, then put a hand to stop Luo Ling from speaking out. “And don’t ask anything about the sect anymore. You will naturally know everything if you pass the assessment test tomorrow.”

Luo Ling gulped down the plethora of questions he had for the dean. Mother Yi had made it clear that she wouldn’t be answering them, so he might as well not waste his time. Most of his questions had gotten satisfactory responses, helping him fill in the gaps in the information about this new world.

“Understood. But what should I expect from this assessment test you speak of?” Luo Ling asked, ready to give his undivided attention to the woman. He was familiar with assessment tests. The Martial schools and affluent families often conducted them before choosing disciples or guards. Usually, such assessments would have tests designed to evaluate a participant’s talent and hard work. He assumed the same would be true here as well.

“Nothing much. You only have to put your hands on a stone tablet that the guest will bring. If you have what it takes to be a cultivator, the tablet will show some reaction.” Mother Yi smiled as she replied.

Luo Ling made a good impression of a fish out of water while he was struck with disbelief. Although he didn’t make any assumptions beforehand since he knew next to nothing about being a cultivator, it was still shocking to learn all he had to do was put his hands on some stone thing.

“That’s it?” He wondered out loud, thinking the dean was teasing him.

Mother Yi chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t underestimate the means of an immortal sect. That tablet was inscribed with runes that could detect the quality of a person’s meridian coil.” She said admonishingly.

Luo Ling’s eyes lit up as he caught a piece of important info from the orphanage caretaker’s words. “What’s a meridian coil?” He inquired. He was like a sponge, absorbing any and every information related to the cultivators. Luo Ling had not felt this enthusiastic about something since the day he started on the [Light Wheel Swordsmanship].