Fundamentally speaking, the Jade Toad Full Moon Painting absorbed the cultivator’s fortune to replenish their foundation. The inventor of this cultivation method, True Lord Tun Yue, was a Chosen One. After attaining great completion of his Dao, he came to believe that the effects of fortune were far too indeterminate and could disappear alongside a random twist in great fate just like that. It was far more practical to convert it into foundation instead. That was why he created this method.

The cultivation method converted roughly one-tenth of the cultivator’s fortune into foundation. Thus, the cultivator must possess an enormous amount of fortune for the cultivation method to be worth it. The more, the better. And of course, it was completely useless for someone who possessed no fortune.

Originally, this cultivation method was tailor-made for a Chosen One. However, people bearing fortune were as numerous as ox hair, and even Chosen Ones were appearing in batches in recent centuries. That was why the Jade Toad Full Moon Painting gradually grew popular and became one of the six universal body-tempering methods.

The disciples’ cultivation insights revealed that a cultivator who was measured to possess a foundation of one zhang during the aptitude test would have a corresponding image of ten zhang. Generally speaking, a cultivator with a fortune of one zhang could further expand the image by another zhang. Thus, eleven zhang was usually the ultimate limit of one’s image.

As for the over-achieving record holders, the greatest record they left behind was twelve zhang. They also recorded their images so that their juniors could use them as references.

It went without saying that every single one of these images was colorful and brimming with special effects. There were all sorts of exotic phenomena such as dragons, phoenixes and qilins; lotuses and pagodas. Even the color and composition of the images were well-balanced. To put it bluntly, they were the kind of extraordinary phenomena that anyone would realize was outstanding at first glance. Those who did not have a good-looking extraordinary phenomenon were too embarrassed to leave a picture behind.

Wei Yuan noticed a crucial detail while he was studying these images: their scale was measured relative to the ground. Their rocks and jade toads didn’t increase proportionally to the ground, and the full moon’s enlargement was even smaller. Although his image only spanned three zhang currently, the ground, the rock, the jade toad, and the moon—everything in the image was growing proportionally. That was why he still felt very cramped every time he transformed into the jade toad.

Maybe this is why my progress is poorer than the others? After a whole night of studying, Wei Yuan finally found an excuse that he could use to console himself.

Another reason why his aristocratic peers—Cui Yu, Bao Yun, Xiao Yu and more—were progressing so quickly was because they had refined their foundation long before they joined the sect. A refined child often became precocious at an exceedingly early age and progressed rapidly once they began cultivating. For example, Lee Zhi acted and sounded quite mature for his age during the martial test. Cui Yu was eight years old and so had refined his foundation a couple years more than his peers, allowing him to increase his original foundation of seven chi to eight chi. He too progressed way faster in his cultivation than most of his peers.

Wei Yuan’s fortune was otherworldly. He had no idea how he got it in the first place, nor could it be fathomed via conventional logic at all. The good news was that it could be converted into foundation through the Jade Toad Full Moon Painting, and the bad news was that the foundation he gained was extremely flimsy. It would take an enormous amount of effort to refine it properly.

Having read both cultivation insights, Wei Yuan finally realized that the medicinal baths Big Senior Sister Liuli gave him were immensely effective. Every time he took a bath, it saved him roughly two-third of a month of cultivation. The medicine she used had to be incredibly valuable.

Wei Yuan couldn’t help but feel worried, however. The medicine Ji Liuli used to make the medicinal baths was most likely what they called “cultivation resources”, and as far as he knew, they all had a price tag. A very expensive price tag, considering how effective the refinement process had been. And what was one of his master’s few flaws? A slim purse.

Of course, he was equally aware that it was pointless for him to worry about such things. He could only set aside his worry and focus on his cultivation, consuming the lunar essence night after night. Only by surpassing his peers could he compensate for everything his master had done for him a little.

Time passed quickly when one was cultivating. Two-third of the month was gone just like that. During this period, Zhang Sheng had only visited him once and offered him a few lines of instructions. He hadn’t even stayed for the duration of an incense stick. Wei Yuan couldn’t help but feel a little dejected.

A few days after that, Bao Yun had finished developing her image as well. On that day, Ji Liuli had purposely gathered everyone together and asked the girl to show off her image at the center of the Enlightenment Hall.

It had taken Bao Yun a total of thirty-nine days to finish her image. Although it still couldn’t compare to the senior who grew his image to the length of twelve zhang, it was still a formidable-looking image. For starters, her jade toad was covered in a rainbow, and countless gods and devils were lurking within her full moon. Every single one of them was trying to squeeze their way to the center and show off their faces. Lush green lotuses were growing out of the rock, and the roots were connected to a patch of primal chaos. Besides that, a golden silhouette was sitting crosslegged on the jade toad’s head looking as impressive as it was insufferably arrogant.

The Jade Toad Full Moon Painting was a tranquil, elegant image, but Bao Yun had somehow transformed it into the descent of the immortal sovereigns. Not only that, her extraordinary phenomenon had upstaged the jade toad, the original protagonist of this painting, and turned it into a mere mount[1].

The extraordinary phenomenon was so extraordinary that it caused quite the commotion in the Palace of Absolute Beginning. Forget the elders of the Bao Clan, it was even rumored that a couple True Lords had secretly paid her a visit.

Wei Yuan couldn’t help but feel a heavy weight in his chest as he stared at Bao Yun’s Descent of the Immortal Sovereigns Painting[2]. As of today, his image was only six zhang long. Technically speaking, it had an extraordinary phenomenon—namely the fine red line on the toad’s back—but one would have to look real close to even see it. In fact, the red line wouldn’t even have existed if not for Trueman Fen Hai’s heavenly fire.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, his cultivation progress had been three steps forward, one step back. For every inch of ground he grew, Big Senior Sister Liuli’s medicinal baths would shrink it by a-third of an inch. Although the speed at which he consumed lunar essence was growing slowly, her medicinal baths were growing more potent as well. In fact, his big senior sister was probably outpacing him.

The one constant in his image was the shadow on the moon. No matter how much fortune Wei Yuan absorbed from it, it neither increased nor decreased. It was as if it was immovable and eternal.

After the class, Wei Yuan didn’t head back to his house. Instead, he went to the kitchen and bought three hundred catties of rice and filled up a whole barrel with it.

The rice in the Palace of Absolute Beginning was no mundane rice. It was a kind of spirit rice that was rich with spirit qi. Spirit rice was also the main ingredient of the Qi-drinking Pills, and consuming one small bowl was enough to sate his hunger for a whole day. On top of that, the rice could easily last a decade within the Palace.

The reason he bought the rice—a year’s worth of it to be exact—was because he wanted to save some money. Had he spent the immortal silver on the Qi-drinking Pills instead, it would have lasted him a month at most. But now, he could save the time he usually spent traveling to the kitchen to eat as well.

Wei Yuan was going all out. He was going to spend every minute, every second of his time cultivating besides classes. The process of consuming lunar essence was thoughtless, so he didn’t need the mind-clearing effects of the Qi-drinking Pills.

He still needed to sleep of course, but luckily for him, he could consume lunar essences in his sleep!

A couple more days passed in the blink of an eye. Class was over, and Wei Yuan was consuming lunar essences as usual. Suddenly, a gentle bell chime alerted him that he had a visitor.

When he stopped his cultivation and opened the door, he saw that it was one of his classmates. The boy paid him a salute before starting, “Miss Bao Yun is planning to treat everyone to dinner at Drunken Wind Restaurant tomorrow. She would like to discuss how to handle the minor exam as well. Barring exceptional circumstances, your attendance is required, Junior Brother Wei.”

There was no reason for Wei Yuan to reject this invitation, of course.

Unfortunately, most people were addressing him as Junior Brother Wei these days. It was very different from when they first joined the Palace. Back then, nearly everyone had addressed him as Senior Brother Wei.

The next evening, a graceful-looking carriage stopped outside Wei Yuan’s house and took him to the Drunken Wind Restaurant. It moved like the wind, but was also exceptionally stable. Not only did it cover tens of li of distance in just a teatime, he never even felt that it was moving.

Wei Yuan couldn’t help but lament the magnanimity of the Bao Clan. The horse carriage had carried him and him only. There were over thirty students in his class, so did this mean they had dispatched over thirty horse carriages to fetch everyone?

1. I wonder why... ☜

2. Apologies for breaking the immersion but I really can’t help but laugh when I saw this line. ☜