A Grand Opportunity

Literary Cultivators and Martial Cultivators were easy enough to understand. Arts of letters and arms could certainly count as cultivation. Poison Cultivators and Medicine Cultivators were crafts as well, understandable enough. But what in the world were Smoke Cultivators and Wine Cultivators? Li Banfeng asked, "Smoking and drinking count as cultivation too?" "Of course they count! Why wouldn't they? Whether smoking or drinking, so long as you can produce a realm out of it, it's cultivation!" Qin Xiaopang declared with a rather proud air. "Second Uncle Liu back in our village had to drink five jin of liquor every single day. Only later did we learn the man was a second-tier Wine Cultivator!" Ma the Fifth voiced skepticism. "What did this Second Uncle Liu of yours do for a living? Could he afford to cultivate as a Wine Cultivator?" A Wine Cultivator truly wasn't something just anyone could afford to be. Five jin of liquor a day—how much money would that cost? Refusing to back down, Qin Xiaopang retorted, "Second Uncle Liu was a brewer to begin with!" Ma the Fifth remained doubtful. "Even if he brewed liquor, how many jin could he produce a day? He drank five jin a day by himself—would his own brew be enough for him?" Li Banfeng felt Ma the Fifth was taking this a bit too seriously. What if Second Uncle Liu ran an entire distillery? Yet unexpectedly, Ma the Fifth dug his heels in. "Wine Cultivators are uncommon. I'd like to go see this Second Uncle Liu of yours. Where is he?" Qin Xiaopang puffed out his chest. "Dead!" Ma the Fifth frowned. "How did he die? Don't tell me he drank himself to death!" A Wine Cultivator couldn't drink themselves to death. Qin Xiaopang scratched his head. "Well, you could say it was related to drinking, but it wasn't drinking that killed him. That day, Second Uncle Liu got hammered, jumped into the river, and drowned." Ma the Fifth chuckled coldly. "Brother, it's not that I don't believe you, but what you're saying makes no sense. How could a second-tier cultivator drown so easily?" Qin Xiaopang answered in all seriousness, "He wouldn't have drowned easily. When Second Uncle Liu jumped into the river, he was swimming with absolute delight. Nothing was wrong at first. The villagers told him to hurry up and get ashore, saying the river mouth was just ahead where the current ran swift. Second Uncle Liu said no matter how swift the current, he wasn't afraid—he'd seen the Patriarch, and the Patriarch had helped him change pathways, turning him into a Water Cultivator." "Water Cultivator..." Ma the Fifth rubbed his chin and pondered for a long time. "There truly is such a pathway, though it's uncommon. Did Second Uncle Liu really become a Water Cultivator?" "Don't know," Qin Xiaopang said, shaking his head. "Anyway, I didn't believe it, and the villagers didn't either. To prove it to us, Second Uncle Liu deliberately swam to the deepest part of the river mouth where the current was fiercest, and plunged headfirst into the silt at the river bottom. By the time we fished him out, his mouth and nose were packed with mud and sand, and he'd long stopped breathing." Hearing this, Ma the Fifth let out a long sigh, seemingly convinced by Qin Xiaopang's words. "Wine Cultivator... That pathway is far too perilous." Li Banfeng asked, "How much did this Second Uncle Liu drink that day?" Qin Xiaopang replied, "From what I heard, twelve jin." *No wonder he saw the Patriarch.* "Twelve jin? Could a person even drink twelve jin of water?" Li Banfeng genuinely found it absurd. But then he remembered this chubby kid intended to eat twenty jin of food, and realized this place was simply absurd to begin with. "Must a Wine Cultivator drink desperately like that?" Li Banfeng wanted to understand more of the workings behind it. "Of course they have to drink desperately. Otherwise, how would they earn time?" Qin Xiaopang looked at Li Banfeng with dead seriousness. "What does 'earning time' mean?" Li Banfeng still didn't understand. The chubby boy looked down on Li Banfeng even more. "How do you know nothing at all?" Ma the Fifth was very patient and explained to Li Banfeng, "Regardless of the pathway, once you're initiated, pass the trials, and attain a tier, you must cultivate from then on. But if you cultivate by following the standard pace, every tier you advance takes ten years of time. That is to say, going from Tier One to Tier Two takes ten years. If you want to cultivate from initiation all the way to Tier Ten, that requires ninety years. Can you afford to wait that long?" Li Banfeng didn't know how to answer. He didn't know how large a leap going from Tier One to Tier Two was, what benefits it yielded, or whether it was worth ten years of time. Ma the Fifth continued, "If you don't want to wait, you have to earn that time back. I don't know the rules for Wine Cultivators, but I've seen a Tier One Food Cultivator. Five jin of food a day is the standard pace; if he eats less than that amount, his cultivation will regress. Eating ten jin of food a day—that's earning time. The extra five jin of food he eats helps him earn an extra day's cultivation. If he insists on eating ten jin every day, he can rise to Tier Two after five years! If he keeps eating double the requirement, instead of needing ninety years, he could reach Tier Ten in forty-five years." "What's the benefit of reaching Tier Ten?" Ma the Fifth said, "In the entirety of Yaowanggou, not a single Tier Six cultivator has ever appeared. As long as you reach Tier Seven, you're the head honcho of Yaowanggou. Not to mention Yaowanggou—in all of Puluo Province, Tier Ten cultivators can be counted on one's fingers. That's a bona fide overlord of the region!" Li Banfeng had no interest in being a head honcho. "By the time you reach Tier Ten, you're already in your seventies or eighties. What difference does it make whether you're an overlord or not?" "What's wrong with being in your seventies or eighties?" Ma the Fifth smiled. "Upon reaching Tier Ten, this mortal frame undergoes a transformation, and your lifespan is tripled. Where you could originally live to a hundred, you can now live to three hundred! In your seventies or eighties, scaled to three times the lifespan, that equates to your twenties—the prime of one's youth!" Reaching Tier Ten tripled one's lifespan! That was a massive allure! Qin Xiaopang thumped his chest. "Ever since the day I was born, the neighbors have said I'm blessed with good fortune. I'm definitely getting to Tier Ten cultivation!" Li Banfeng looked at Qin Xiaopang. "So, Brother Qin, you'll have to eat five jin of food every day from now on?" "Once I reach Tier Two and above, even that won't be enough..." At this point, Qin Xiaopang looked a little worried. He wasn't worried about being unable to finish it, but about being unable to afford it. Yet he had already made his choice, knowing that apart from eating, he possessed no other talents. Li Banfeng asked, "If you reach Tier Nine, by how many times is your lifespan extended?" "Tier Nine grants no extension!" Ma the Fifth waved his hand. "Only at Tier Ten can you alter your destiny. At Tier Nine, you still have the lifespan of an ordinary person. If you fail to reach Tier Ten within your lifetime, all your previous efforts will have come to nothing." That was rather harsh—lifespan didn't increase at all prior to Tier Ten. If one cultivated at the standard pace, reaching Tier Nine required eighty years. Even if someone began cultivating at age ten, by the time they reached Tier Nine, they'd be ninety years old. Would they still have the strength to keep cultivating then? This was likely why cultivators all strove desperately to earn time and shorten their cultivation periods. They all wanted to make a push for Tier Ten within their lifetimes. "Is every pathway like this?" Ma the Fifth nodded. "Every pathway is like this. If you want to alter your destiny, you must cultivate with everything you've got and charge toward Tier Ten. Martial Cultivators must train like mad every day, Literary Cultivators must study like mad, Food Cultivators must eat like mad, and Joy Cultivators must go at it like mad. Of course, there are shortcuts—eating medicinal herbs, drinking decoctions, popping pills—but those things are far too expensive and not a viable long-term solution." Li Banfeng thought for a moment and asked, "What about Tillage Cultivators?" Qin Xiaopang paused. "Why choose Tillage Cultivator? You're not just trying to be cheap, are you?" Li Banfeng really had wanted to save money. He had only two thousand dollars on him and couldn't afford initiation powder. Monkey Qiu had promised before leaving that he would pay for the medicine and that Li Banfeng could choose whichever pathway he wanted. But Li Banfeng wasn't shameless. Two bowls of instant noodles had traded for his life; that was already enough. What right did he have to make someone spend so much money on him? Ma the Fifth shook his head. "Brother Li, you must be cautious. This is not a bargain to chase. There is no difference in inherent worth among the powders; all are the wisdom of our forebears. The reason Tillage Cultivator powder sells so cheaply is that no one buys it, because Tillage Cultivator is the most grueling pathway." "How so?" Ma the Fifth said, "I don't know how things are in the Outer States, but there should be farmers there too, right? You ought to know how hard farmers work. Sowing in spring and harvesting in autumn, toiling daily without rest—that only counts as routine cultivation at the standard pace. Spending all your energy searching for fine seeds and cultivating rare flowers and exotic herbs—that is the method to earn time. Brother Li, just think about it: when you reach your seventies or eighties, will you still be able to farm? If you run into windstorms, floods, droughts, or locust plagues and the year's harvest falls short, not only will you fail to earn time, your cultivation might even suffer damage. If enemies or scoundrels come along to steal, rob, or set fires, you might not reap a single grain for the whole year. That wouldn't just damage your cultivation—it would imperil your life. Brother Li, this road is too arduous. Be prudent! Utmost prudence!" It seemed Tillage Cultivator was off the table. Ma the Fifth was right; that path was indeed too difficult. Li Banfeng roughly understood Joy Cultivators and Food Cultivators now. "Then how do journey cultivators cultivate?" "By roaming everywhere, of course!" The chubby boy could answer this one. "The more places you visit and the farther you go, the faster your cultivation grows and the more time you earn. People with no fixed home all favor journey cultivators!" "What about Dwelling Cultivators?" "Lying at home! The longer you lie down, the faster your cultivation grows!" Li Banfeng said in astonishment, "Lying at home counts as cultivation too?!" "Yeah, that's why Dwelling Cultivator is so expensive!" The chubby boy looked regretful. "If I hadn't come up short on money, I would have picked Dwelling Cultivator. Ma the Fifth, you look rich. Why didn't you choose Dwelling Cultivator?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "I can't stand the tedium. Staying cooped up in a house for most of the year would bore me to death. To tell you the truth, my favorite thing in life is 'joy.' Without women by my side, I couldn't endure a single day." Li Banfeng said, "That's simple. Just bring women into your house." Ma the Fifth gave a soft sigh. "You can't just bring people in willy-nilly. Dwelling Cultivators operate under different principles from other pathways. Your cultivation isn't earned by yourself alone; it's obtained together with the dwelling spirit." "What's a dwelling spirit?" Li Banfeng was hearing quite a few new terms. That stumped Ma the Fifth. "As for what a dwelling spirit actually is, I can't say for sure either. Dwelling Cultivators rarely show their faces, especially after attaining tiers; the dwelling keepers you see are few and far between. All I know is that a dwelling keeper must buy a good house. It can't be too conspicuous, or people will disturb you, but it can't be too isolated, or you won't have food and drink. The house itself must possess spiritual energy. Nurture that spiritual energy until it develops into a spiritual entity, and that entity is the dwelling spirit. What kind of spiritual entity it is, I don't know, but if a Dwelling Cultivator wants to advance in tiers, having a dwelling spirit is essential. That hurdle is exceptionally hard to clear. Dwelling spirits have temperaments. If the Dwelling Cultivator can please the dwelling spirit, the spirit can help them earn vast amounts of cultivation. If they fail to please it, their cultivation won't advance. And if they enrage the dwelling spirit, there have even been cases of dwelling spirits killing their masters—murdering the cultivator outright." Li Banfeng listened with eyes wide. Qin Xiaopang was listening intently as well. Dwelling Cultivator truly was a mysterious pathway. Li Banfeng asked, "Why would a dwelling spirit be enraged? How could it reach the point of killing its master?" Ma the Fifth said, "I've only heard of such a thing happening once, and it took place right here in Yaowanggou. Dwelling spirits love cleanliness. If they encounter something unclean, they find a way to clean it up, so Dwelling Cultivators must diligently maintain their residences. There was a Dwelling Cultivator in Yaowanggou who was exceedingly filthy. Leaving the house unkempt was bad enough, but he didn't wash his face, bathe, wash his hair, wash his clothes, or groom his hair and beard—he was constantly grimy. The dwelling spirit actually put up with it and often helped him wash his clothes, wipe his face, and cut his hair, tidying him up. Yet the man showed no remorse. Not only was he a slob himself, but he also brought a pack of slovenly friends to stay in the house for several days. Without the dwelling spirit's permission, outsiders cannot stay in the house. Those people even trashed the place into a complete pigsty. Enraged, the dwelling spirit killed the cultivator and all his friends in a single night—not leaving a single soul alive!" Qin Xiaopang shuddered; he was somewhat sloppy himself. "What happened to that dwelling spirit afterward?" "It remained in the house, turned into an evil spirit, and continues to harm people to this day." "Did no one deal with it?" "Who would care? There are tons of evil spirits around. Who has the mind to bother with that?" ... Listening to Ma the Fifth and Qin Xiaopang chat, Li Banfeng sank into deep thought. *Which pathway is right for me?* *Is this important?* Very important—it was to save his life. According to the peddler, having been shone upon by heavenly light, one would surely die without entering a pathway. But so long as he casually chose any pathway, wouldn't his life be preserved? *Wasn't the purpose of my trip here to save someone? Does choosing a pathway really matter?* Of course it mattered! What a rare opportunity this was! He had offended the people from the Dark Star Bureau, and they said they were going to shoot him dead. If he wanted to stay alive, he had to learn real skills to protect himself! More importantly, there was the grand ambition of Tier Ten cultivation! "Good things are good things, and bad things are bad things. It's as simple as that," Li Banfeng muttered to himself. Qin Xiaopang hadn't heard clearly. "Brother Li, what are you saying about good things and bad things?" Li Banfeng didn't answer. The matter before him was a good thing. Regardless of any other factors, gaining extraordinary power and an extended lifespan was inherently good. Finding a pathway that suited him would be the best of the best. *But which pathway is suitable?* *I know too little about these pathways.* "What abilities do cultivators of each pathway have?" "Now that's complicated," Ma the Fifth said. "Martial Cultivators can fight, Literary Cultivators can curse, journey cultivators can run, and Food Cultivators, once well-fed and watered, possess arts as well as raw strength." Qin Xiaopang chimed in, "Joy Cultivators can do it ten times a day—that's nothing to them!" Ma the Fifth smiled. "That's not their only skill. Joy Cultivators excel at disturbing the minds of others." "What about Dwelling Cultivators?" Ma the Fifth said, "Dwelling Cultivators are equipped for both offense and defense, though the details depend on the dwelling spirit's temperament. Outside the house, a Dwelling Cultivator has moderate combat strength among peers of the same tier. Inside the house, a Dwelling Cultivator is invincible among those of the same tier, and can even put up a fight against someone a tier above!" *Dwelling Cultivators are that strong?* *Should I just choose Dwelling Cultivator?* He could pay Monkey Qiu back the money later, but where on earth was he supposed to buy a house?