Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Cultivation Through Copulation.

Episode 4: Leaving The Village.

The first thing Yuk-gyeong did was return home.

Yuk-gyeong, who returned to his shabby thatched house, smiled as he looked at the house that seemed like it could collapse at any moment compared to the grand mansion.

Now that he was becoming a cultivator, he could say goodbye to a house like this.

Goodbye to a house where fleas jump, water leaks, and cold drafts come in!

Goodbye to a father who constantly beat and yelled at him!

Goodbye to a mother who was always indifferent and lethargic!

My poor little sister… I’ll miss her a bit.

She did follow him well. The little one-year-old would smile brightly whenever she saw her brother. The only one he felt a pang of regret for leaving was his sister, Chil-nyeon.

But still, goodbye!

Before leaving the familiar house, Yuk-gyeong first stole the money his father had hidden and put it in his pocket.

The very money that his older brother had tried to take and got beaten to death for.

Yuk-gyeong secretly peeked; his father placed a plank in a corner of the house’s floor, and beneath it was a hole. In that hole, his father hid the money.

It was a flimsy hiding place, but under the father’s violence and authority, if no one dared to challenge it, one had to pretend not to see it, so it didn’t need to be a very secretive spot.

Without much fear, Yuk-gyeong lifted the plank and took out the money pouch. After all, he wouldn’t see them again, so why not?

Let’s see, how much is there?

Jingle!

Yuk-gyeong couldn’t hide his disappointment when he saw his father’s money pouch.

There was only one silver coin, and the rest were just copper coins. Even those weren’t many, about a handful.

What?

The brother he never saw died over just this amount of money? How pitiful.

With disappointment, Yuk-gyeong stuffed the money pouch into his clothes.

‘Will this money be enough for travel expenses? I hope I don’t have to bribe anyone to enter the sect. There was no mention of that, so it should be fine. Anyway, it’s not much.’

Ugh!

Since Yuk-gyeong was sitting as he lifted the plank up and took the money pouch hidden under it, he considered trying to cultivate since he had gained a single Spiritual Root.

Should he start with the basic breathing technique for cultivation?

Of course, Yuk-gyeong didn’t know what the breathing technique entailed.

He just assumed it was something like meditation, so he sat in a lotus position, taking deep breaths in and out.

When he first realized this was a xianxia world, it was one of the first things he tried, but naturally, he felt no Qi or anything special at that time.

“Alright, sit in a lotus position.”

Yuk-gyeong didn’t give up and sat back down in the lotus position, breathing in and out.

Inhale! Exhale!

For an ordinary person, feeling Spiritual Qi with such a crude breathing method was impossible.

A passing cultivator would likely laugh at the foolishness.

Proper breathing to draw in Spiritual Qi involves reciting mantras and visualizing to lay the groundwork.

What Yuk-gyeong was doing was more like just taking deep breaths than a breathing technique.

But surprisingly, Yuk-gyeong’s single Spiritual Root allowed him to feel Spiritual Qi even with this crude method!

If a cultivator saw this, they would be shocked and might even confront Yuk-gyeong, questioning how he could gather Spiritual Qi this way.

Yuk-gyeong managed to do something seemingly impossible without a care.

Inhale! Exhale!

As he inhaled, he felt the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth circulate into his body, reaching deep into his dantian like the wind.

Without any systematic teaching method or training, Yuk-gyeong had entered the first stage of cultivation, the Qi Condensation stage!

If the cultivation world found out, it would be earth-shattering news.

Of course, Yuk-gyeong himself was unaware. He simply wondered if this was the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, and thought it must be..

However, he also marveled at how dense the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth was, since it was something he couldn’t perceive without Spiritual Roots.

“Now this is a single Spiritual Root…”

The overwhelming Spiritual Qi sensitivity emanating from Yuk-gyeong’s body was extraordinary, even to an outsider like him.

Wow, look at this.

Just a blink and it tries to draw Spiritual Qi into the body? The Spiritual Root doesn’t rest.

I was sure that the books I read mentioned that entering the Qi Condensation stage requires several years of training in a cultivation sect.

Isn’t it amazing!

Previously, without a Spiritual Root, I couldn’t even sense Spiritual Qi, but now, it’s completely different.

It felt like discarding a bicycle with square wheels that couldn’t run and boarding a sports car with a powerful engine and wheels.

It felt like this cultivation thing would progress smoothly.

This was a feeling completely different from the time when I had no Spiritual Root.

‘This is crazy. Surely not everyone feels this way, right? I have the single Spiritual Root. The xianxia books mention that it’s a rare talent that appears once in several hundred years.’

Yuk-gyeong’s knowledge of this world was entirely from books.

Books don’t usually cover the lives of such rural folks, jumping straight into the stories of the cultivators. That was why Yuk-gyeong had a hard time adapting. He believed he would fit right in once he entered the society of cultivators.

‘Is there anyone who knows the cultivation world better than me? I’ve surveyed everything through books.’

In the grand scheme of things, no one knew better than Yuk-gyeong.

Yuk-gyeong was well-versed in the stages of cultivation, from Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment to Core Formation, and he had a rough understanding of the various secrets and mysteries of the mortal realm.

To Yuk-gyeong, those things were no longer secrets. Of course, if he acted like he knew everything, he might get into trouble.

No matter how much time had passed since the novel’s setting, whether it was in the past or the future, those secrets would be a great strength for Yuk-gyeong.

‘The key is how much time has passed since the main character’s timeline in the novel. All the information I know is connected to the main character’s timeline.’

The main character.

In a xianxia novel, you can’t leave out the main character.

His name is Woo Yong-heon.

He may not have exceptional talent, but he grows steadily in the cultivation world with his unique qualities.

I wonder what the main character Yong-heon is doing now?

I hope he’s still a novice like me.

So I can follow his growth path.

Or it would be better if it’s a time before or after his era so I don’t get involved with him at all.

The main character always seems to bring about incidents and accidents.

Since Yuk-gyeong’s goal was to quickly cultivate and become an immortal, then find a way back to the original world, he wanted to stay away from incidents and accidents.

Do you think surpassing him is enough since the protagonist’s talent isn’t great?

Once you know his secret, you wouldn’t say that.

Even someone like Hye-chun, who is someone with a single Spiritual Root, would probably grow slower compared to the main character.

‘No matter how hard a person with a single Spiritual Root is, they’ll be weaker than the main character, Yong-heon. The spiritual power he possesses… It’s terrifying.’

It’d probably take a hundred Hye-chuns to match Yong-heon’s growth speed?

Naturally, Yuk-gyeong’s thoughts drifted to Hye-chun.

Her body was impressive. She had curves where there should be, and everything else was just right. Seeing it all without clothes after only glimpsing through them before was even more satisfying.

Yuk-gyeong let out a satisfied hum, as if still feeling the lingering effects of their encounter.

What will happen to Hye-chun?

The cultivator who examined Hye-chun’s Spiritual Root will return and discover that hers has disappeared.

They’ll find it very strange. They were sure she had Spiritual Roots, and not just any, but a single Spiritual Root! Yet, that root has vanished.

If they dismiss it as their own mistake, Hye-chun will just live as an ordinary girl in this village. The lord’s family won’t pay any more attention to her.

But the problem arises when the cultivator starts to suspect otherwise.

The cultivator will surely ask Hye-chun what happened while they were away.

Would Hye-chun not tell the cultivator that she had sex with Yuk-gyeong before her Spiritual Root disappeared? She might not, out of embarrassment, but nine out of ten times, she would.

Then, naturally, the cultivator would suspect Yuk-gyeong.

The mysterious man, Yuk-gyeong, who made her Spiritual Root disappear after having sex.

If he remains in the village, the cultivator will immediately realize that Yuk-gyeong possesses a Spiritual Root. A single Spiritual Root, no less.

Two single Spiritual Roots in one village, when they’re a rarity even in centuries?

This is too contrived.

Even in such a remote village, coincidences should have some limit. Besides, the girl who was initially identified to have a Spiritual Root had it vanish without a trace.

Perhaps that cultivator might have realized the truth that a Spiritual Root can be seized by another.

What would happen if it became known that Spiritual Roots could be taken?

The ability of Harvesting Yin to Replenish Yang might be branded as heretical, and he could become a target.

Isn’t that so?

In wuxia stories, those who steal women’s Qi through Harvesting Yin to Replenish Yang become public enemies. Even in the xianxia world, sex fiends would be considered a villain to be executed.

To be dragged to a sect and experimented on until death or simply killed outright.

It’s not a bug, it’s a skill.

It’s a real skill.

Damn it.

Let’s just run away for now.