Third Update！！！！！

  Third Update！！！！！

  The mere thought of the shriveled wild gourds still hidden inside his robe made Sun Dazhu’s face burn with shame, his anger rising uncontrollably.

  Those gourds he had plucked on a whim that day—he had examined them again and again for half a day, yet no matter how he looked, they were nothing more than the most ordinary mountain produce. Refusing to give up, he had even scooped out the seeds, filled them with water from the Cold Nether Pool, and carried them carefully all the way back. Unfortunately, several passing fellow disciples saw him and immediately subjected him to exaggerated looks and thinly veiled mockery.

  Yun Che sneered inwardly, but outwardly maintained an innocent, clueless expression. In a timid voice, he said,

  “Master, this disciple is dull-witted and truly does not understand what you mean by ‘spiritual energy.’ You only said that finding the gourds would earn spirit stones. Perhaps… you could teach this disciple—what exactly is spiritual energy?”

  Sun Dazhu suddenly felt lightheaded.

  He scrutinized Yun Che from head to toe, carefully studying the face filled with “honesty” and “confusion.” For the first time, deep doubt took root in his heart.

  Were the gourds truly as he had initially suspected—something with hidden fortune and more than one in number?

  Or… was there really only this single gourd, nothing more than sheer luck, scooped out of the water by this foolish boy?

  After pondering for a long while, Sun Dazhu had to admit that Yun Che’s words made sense. Only cultivators who had reached the first level of Qi Condensation—those who had truly drawn spiritual energy into their bodies—could begin to sense the Xu Spirit Qi permeating heaven and earth. For a mortal who hadn’t even crossed the threshold, failing to notice anything unusual about the gourd was perfectly normal.

  At this realization, regret suddenly surfaced. He recalled how he had secretly tampered with Yun Che’s meals earlier, adding a drug meant to hinder the凝聚 of spiritual energy.

  “This idiot already has abysmal talent. Reaching the first level would’ve been like climbing to the heavens,” he thought bitterly. “Now with the obstruction of Spirit-Stagnation Powder… without thirty or fifty years of bitter cultivation, he won’t condense even a wisp of spiritual energy.”

  Annoyance welled up in his chest. Hadn’t he dug a pit for himself?

  With a silent sigh, disappointment and unwillingness tangled in his heart. After hesitating, he clenched his teeth and pulled out a faintly glowing low-grade spirit stone from his storage pouch, tossing it to Yun Che with a scowl.

  “Take it! That’s the spirit stone I promised! Cultivate properly and break through to the first level of Qi Condensation as soon as possible!”

  Yun Che quickly caught it. The stone felt warm to the touch, and his mind seemed to clear slightly. After expressing his thanks, he turned and returned to his room.

  Left alone in the courtyard, Sun Dazhu stood there for a long while before finally exhaling heavily. A trace of ruthlessness flashed through his eyes as he muttered under his breath:

  “You can’t catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb… There’s only one way left to test whether he’s lying. He must reach the first level quickly. Once he does, he’ll officially step into the ranks of cultivators and no longer be a mere mortal. Then—even if it costs me a minor drop in cultivation—I’ll use Soul-Search on him! That way, I won’t violate the heavenly law forbidding non–Core Formation cultivators from using Soul-Search on mortals!”

  Soul-Search was a vicious and sinister low-level spell. In nine cases out of ten, the target’s soul would scatter on the spot. Even in the rare case of survival, the best outcome was shattered intelligence—reduced to a mindless fool. Because of this, the laws of heaven imposed strict limits: cultivators below Core Formation who used Soul-Search on mortals would suffer severe backlash themselves. But if the target was also a cultivator—even one at Qi Condensation Level One—the restriction vanished. Still, the spell could only be used three times in one’s lifetime, and each use caused permanent loss of cultivation.

  Yun Che sat cross-legged in his room, carefully examining the low-grade spirit stone in his hand—often referred to as an “immortal stone.” At first glance, it was merely a pale blue rock with faint cloud-like patterns inside, nothing particularly extraordinary. Yet held in his palm, a cool sensation slowly traveled up his arm, sharpening his thoughts.

  He did not overthink it. Closing his eyes, he gripped the stone and once again attempted the monotonous breathing exercise.

  The night passed in silence.

  At dawn, Yun Che opened his eyes and sighed. His body remained empty—there was still no sign of spiritual energy entering him. Just as he was about to smile bitterly, the door was suddenly pushed open.

  Sun Dazhu entered with a dark expression, holding a bowl of pitch-black liquid that emitted a strange, bitter stench. He thrust it toward Yun Che and barked coldly:

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Drink it.”

  Yun Che froze, cautiously glancing at the bowl without taking it.

  “Master, this is…?”

  Seeing his guarded expression, Sun Dazhu’s anger flared instantly.

  “Do you think I’m trying to harm you?! Drink it when I tell you to! If it weren’t to help you useless blockhead awaken sooner, do you think I’d be willing to stay up all night wasting precious herbs to brew this bowl of Spirit-Gathering Decoction?!”

  Seeing Sun Dazhu’s murderous expression and then the bowl, Yun Che hesitated no longer. He took the stone bowl, held his breath, and gulped it down in one go.

  The liquid was unbearably bitter. The next instant, a violent wave of scorching heat exploded from his abdomen, like a fire igniting within, sweeping through his limbs and bones. His mouth went dry, his skin burned, and his vision blurred. The bowl slipped from his hand and shattered as his body nearly collapsed.

  “Quick! Follow the cultivation method! I’ll help refine the medicinal power!” Sun Dazhu shouted reluctantly, pressing a palm against Yun Che’s chest.

  A cool yet powerful current surged into Yun Che’s body, barely suppressing the burning sensation. Regaining clarity, Yun Che forced himself to endure the pain and began circulating the Qi-Guiding Art. Grimacing at the spilled medicine, Sun Dazhu cursed under his breath, then gritted his teeth and pulled out several low-grade spirit stones, quickly arranging them around Yun Che in a crude spirit-gathering formation.

  “This brat—I've really gone all out this time,” he thought viciously. “If he turns out worthless, he’ll repay every bit of this with interest!”

  Before long, under the combined effects of medicine and external assistance, faint tingling sensations—like ants crawling—began to appear and gather within Yun Che’s meridians. Sun Dazhu could clearly sense the medicinal energy struggling to condense into spiritual energy, and a hint of joy appeared on his face.

  But just as the newly formed spiritual energy was about to take shape and sink into the dantian—

  Pfft.

  A faint, almost inaudible sound rang out. A murky, dim current suddenly seeped from Yun Che’s dantian, clinging to the newborn spiritual energy like a parasite, eroding and dispersing it completely in the blink of an eye. All efforts were wasted.

  Sun Dazhu’s face fell instantly. He recognized the source of that turbid energy—it was the Spirit-Stagnation Powder he himself had mixed into Yun Che’s food the day before.

  Unwilling to give up, he tried guiding it several more times, but each attempt failed at the final moment. When all the medicinal energy was finally exhausted, not even a trace of cultivable true Qi remained.

  Sun Dazhu let out a long sigh and withdrew his hand, staring at Yun Che’s flushed face with a complex gaze—disappointment, anger, and regret tangled together.

  Yun Che slowly opened his eyes. Though exhausted, his body felt oddly light, as if it had been cleansed. Just as he was about to say something—whether in gratitude or probing—Sun Dazhu snorted coldly, flung his sleeve, and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

  Yun Che sat there, stunned, unable to decipher the old man’s intentions. Stretching his sore body, he stepped outside and called toward the closed door:

  “Master, this disciple is heading to the Cold Nether Pool again to see how today’s luck fares.”

  Silence filled the courtyard. Moments later, however, the tightly shut gate slid open by a narrow crack.

  Yun Che said nothing more and left quickly. As soon as his figure vanished, Sun Dazhu emerged like a ghost, silently following behind with a dark expression.

  A month passed in this cycle of waiting, surveillance, forced medicine, and failure.

  Every day, Yun Che went to the Cold Nether Pool without fail, rain or shine. Sun Dazhu followed like a persistent shadow, hoping to catch some clue—but each day ended in disappointment. The eagerness in his eyes gradually gave way to irritation, finally settling into cold despair.

  For that slim “gourd opportunity,” he continued burning through his hoarded low-grade spirit herbs to brew increasingly ineffective Spirit-Gathering Decoctions. Each attempt failed due to the lingering effects of Spirit-Stagnation Powder, and with each failure, his temper grew worse.

  The final blow came when he discovered that the faint spiritual energy within the gourd—once considered the key clue—had quietly dissipated. In just one month, it had become indistinguishable from an ordinary wild gourd. The water it held showed no special properties whatsoever.

  The realization struck him like a thunderbolt.

  After careful analysis, Sun Dazhu reached a devastating conclusion: the gourd itself was never a treasure. It had only temporarily absorbed spiritual energy due to a special circumstance—perhaps long-term immersion in a unique spring. Once removed from the source, the energy naturally dispersed.

  “So that’s it… so that’s it,” he muttered, gripping the now-ordinary gourd with a livid expression. “That fool really just stumbled onto a single gourd tainted with spiritual energy by sheer luck. He knows nothing beyond that! And here I thought… I was sitting on a treasure!”

  The more reasonable the conclusion became, the more unbearable it felt. A month of wasted time, effort, and precious herbs—all for nothing. The crushing sense of loss and anger exploded within him.

  Unable to endure it any longer, Sun Dazhu summoned Yun Che and unleashed a month’s worth of pent-up frustration in a merciless tirade, venting all his failures onto this “worthless disciple.” Finally, he pointed at the gate, his voice icy:

  “Get out! Get out immediately! Just looking at trash like you irritates me! From now on, go wherever you want—don’t appear before me again! I’ll leave you the title of inner disciple in name only, as my final act of mercy. But if within ten years you still fail to reach Qi Condensation Level Three, know your place and get off the mountain—don’t disgrace my sect!”

  In his mind, Yun Che’s inability to retain even a trace of spiritual energy after consuming so many resources was appalling. Even without the Spirit-Stagnation Powder, someone with such talent would need many years just to reach the first level. As for the gourd’s secret, now that the source was gone, Yun Che had completely lost his value.

  Out of sight, out of mind.

  Yun Che stood quietly, listening to the final “verdict.” His face showed no emotion, though a cold glint flashed deep within his eyes. He bowed respectfully, neither arguing nor begging, and silently turned toward the crude room he had lived in for over a month.

  Sun Dazhu stood there, chest heaving, expelling a month’s worth of suffocation with heavy breaths. Before long, he cast aside the name “Yun Che” and all related troubles, closing his door once more to resume his slow but steady cultivation.

  In his heart, this disciple had already been abandoned—a failure destined to stumble at the very beginning of the immortal path. Unless Sun Dazhu had gone mad, he would never again waste resources on such a bottomless pit.

  never realizing what truly slips through their fingers.

  Being abandoned is not the end—it is often the real beginning.

  Chapter 19 marks the quiet before Yun Che’s fate turns.

  Stay with him. The story is only just unfolding.