Did You Come from the Void Realm

【There were mineral resources around Firewood Town, and quite a lot of them at that. The only thing they didn’t have was a Source Stone mine.】

【Under the usual script, the Firewood Sect should have been exploiting the common people in the area, forcing them into corvée labor to fill those mines.】

【But the Firewood Sect hadn’t done that.】

【Nor had they sent their disciples to perform such backbreaking labor.】

【As Shen Yifeng put it:】

【“These kids came to the Firewood Sect for a chance to cultivate. Aside from a few cultivation manuals, we can’t give them much. We can’t make them do hard labor on top of that, can we?”】

【Farming and working were necessary for survival. If they had no other choice, the entire sect would starve.】

【But now, you could put bandits to work as miners, solving the bandits’ employment problem while expanding the sect’s resources. It was killing two birds with one stone.】

【The problem was how to manage those bandits.】

【After this measure was implemented, quite a few miners tried to escape.】

【That continued until you had saved enough Source Stones to purchase a batch of formation materials from the marketplace and seal off the mines with a large formation.】

【Shen Yifeng, Ma Bang, and the others were stunned once again.】

【“You know formations too?”】

【Some time later…】

【Using the artifact-forging materials extracted from the mines, you crafted a set of mid-grade magical artifacts for everyone in the Firewood Sect, dramatically improving the sect’s combat strength.】

【You thought of the disciple who had been killed by the bandits. You hoped that, with weapons and armor, the disciples would be better able to protect themselves in the future.】

【“You know artifact forging too?!”】

【What else was there to say?】

【Ma Bang immediately took off his sect master’s formal robes and draped them over your shoulders.】

【“Huh? Sect Master Ma, what are you doing?”】

【Ma Bang looked at you, his eyes glistening with tears.】

【“I once lost my way, but the Old Ancestor saved me, taught me how to cultivate, and passed the position of sect master on to me.】

【I’ve always wanted to help him make the Firewood Sect stronger, but my abilities were limited and my talent mediocre. The Firewood Sect never made much progress.】

【But now you’ve arrived. You’re the Chosen Sect Master bestowed upon the Firewood Sect by the heavens!】

【Under your leadership, the Firewood Sect will surely replace the Ironblood Sect and become a first-grade affiliated sect of the Qiu Feng Sect!”】

【The corner of your mouth twitched. You wanted to say, Sect Master Ma, couldn’t we set our sights a little higher?】

【You returned the sect master’s robes to him.】

【“I’m not doing these things to become sect master. I’ve simply hit a bottleneck in my cultivation and had nothing else to do, so I did them on a whim. Please don’t misunderstand me.”】

【“No, Young Friend Chen! Of course I don’t think you’re trying to usurp my position. Who would usurp such a poor sect? I’m begging you!”】

【The sect master remained Ma Bang.】

【Once the Firewood Sect’s economic development was on the right track, you left its management to him and devoted more of your time to condensing your core.】

【In fact, not long after arriving at the Firewood Sect, you had already asked Shen Yifeng about how to break through to the Core Transformation Realm.】

【Shen Yifeng told you everything he knew.】

【He systematically explained how true qi advanced into origin qi, as well as the essentials of condensing an origin core with origin qi.】

【You immediately realized that he had received a “systematic education.” Compared to the scattered cultivation insights of the wandering cultivators outside, who learned one thing here and another there, his knowledge was worlds apart.】

【Of course, all of this was based on the Qi Refining Technique.】

【The Qi Refining Technique you cultivated was different from theirs, so there would naturally be some differences in actual practice.】

【To improve your chances of successfully condensing a core, you had Shen Yifeng take your cultivation method and study it.】

【Sharing cultivation methods was extremely rare among cultivators.】

【Your trust in Shen Yifeng brought you much closer to him.】

【He was fairly experienced in this area. After reading through your cultivation method, he immediately made several corrections.】

【Even so, the process of condensing a core was still quite troublesome. It couldn’t be accomplished in one stroke; it required repeated attempts and the accumulation of origin qi.】

【Shen Yifeng mentioned a pill called the “Voidreturn Origin Pill.”】

【With the assistance of this pill, anyone whose Immortal Root wasn’t too poor could almost certainly condense a core successfully and enter the Core Transformation Realm.】

【However, the Voidreturn Origin Pill was a third-grade pill. Your current alchemy skills were barely sufficient to refine it, and you lacked the necessary ingredients.】

【“May I ask what grade your Immortal Root is, Young Friend Chen?”】

【“Probably fifth- or sixth-grade.”】

【“You can’t determine the quality of your Immortal Root?”】

【“Well… it really is difficult to determine.”】

【Strictly speaking, your Immortal Root was seventh-grade—high-grade bone constitution—but thanks to your supreme fire affinity, your cultivation speed was higher than that of an ordinary seventh-grade talent.】

【Whether it should specifically be classified as sixth-grade or fifth-grade was difficult to say.】

【“If it’s fifth-grade, you still have a good chance of condensing a core. Just follow the circulation method I taught you and try patiently. Given enough time, your chances will be quite high.】

【“If it’s sixth-grade, then you’ll have to leave it to luck.”】

【As luck would have it, you were absurdly lucky.】

【“Senior Shen, is it only after reaching the Earthly Extremity Realm that one can possess spiritual sense? What about aerial movement? At what realm can one fly?”】

【You were accustomed to using terms like “spiritual sense” and “flying” in the Virtual Realm.】

【Even now, you still hadn’t adjusted to having to rely solely on your eyes and instincts to judge a battle, or on your own legs and mounts when traveling.】

【Upon hearing those words, Shen Yifeng’s expression changed on the spot. He looked you up and down, his gaze growing much more profound.】

【“What did you just say? ‘Spiritual sense’? ‘Flying’?”】

【“Is there a problem?”】

【“You’re from the Virtual Realm, aren’t you?”】

【Shen Yifeng’s words were astonishing.】

【You were caught completely off guard.】

【He had inferred your true origins from just two terms?】

【Was he using a cheat or something?!】

【As if he could see your confusion, Shen Yifeng explained:】

【“In the universe… or, as you call it, the ‘Real Realm,’ cultivators here don’t possess ‘spiritual sense’ or the ability to fly.”】

【You replied with a laugh:】

【“Senior Shen, that’s not quite right. I’ve clearly seen some people behave as if they possessed spiritual sense. As for flying, I’ve never actually seen anyone fly unaided, but surely that’s just because they haven’t reached a high enough realm?”】

【Shen Yifeng shook his head.】

【“The Core Transformation Realm grants one the ability to sense qi, but that has nothing to do with spiritual sense.】

【“After the Core Transformation Realm comes the Earthly Extremity Realm, where cultivators begin comprehending divine abilities. Those in the Earthly Extremity Realm can comprehend the seventy-two Earthly Fiend divine abilities, while those in the Heaven-Reaching Realm can comprehend the thirty-six Heavenly Dipper divine abilities.】

【“If you see someone who appears to possess spiritual sense, they don’t actually have spiritual sense. They’ve comprehended a divine ability related to spiritual sense and are making use of that divine ability.】

【“Flying is the same. In essence, these are all applications of divine abilities, not abilities that cultivators possess innately.】

【“That’s what makes this place different from the Virtual Realm.”】

【Comprehending divine abilities was an extremely random matter.】

【Moreover, one didn’t need to comprehend every divine ability in order to break through to the next cultivation realm.】

【So, theoretically speaking, it was entirely possible for an Earthly Extremity Realm cultivator to comprehend a divine ability related to flight, while a Heaven-Reaching Realm cultivator might fail to comprehend one and therefore be unable to fly.】

【Shen Yifeng didn’t say much about divine abilities. After all, he himself was only at the ninth turn of the Core Transformation Realm.】

【“Remember this. From now on, when you’re traveling outside, never mention terms like ‘spiritual sense’ or ‘flying’ again—especially in front of nonhuman races! Like me, they may realize that you’re from the Virtual Realm!”】

“Would it be dangerous if they found out I came from the Void Realm?”

“You’d die!”