Chapter 3 – A Taste of Something More (Patreon)

In this world, meat was an incredibly rare and precious thing. At least, Lynn Naya hadn’t eaten a single piece since she arrived. The memory of its flavor was so distant that she couldn’t even imagine what it tasted like anymore. All she knew was that it was fragrant and delicious, and the thought alone made her mouth water.

For Xue Yong and his wife to share such a precious food with her, it was an act of immense generosity. Whether it was because she was kind to their children or because they wanted to curry favor with the “doctor,” it was still an enormous kindness.

Lynn Naya took a deep whiff. The meat was already cold and hard, having lost most of its aroma, but if she got close, she could still smell that scent that made her mouth water uncontrollably.

It must have been roasted outside and brought back, as it still carried a faint scent of smoke and fire.

It seemed her neighbors’ haul today was even better than she had guessed. Meat was incredibly valuable; if they had only gotten a single animal, they surely wouldn’t have been so generous.

No longer pondering it, Lynn Naya took the bowl, stepped outside into the clear moonlight, and put the entire piece of meat in her mouth.

The meat was dry and had no juices, and was even a bit tough. But the moment the meaty flavor burst in her mouth, Lynn Naya felt an unexpected desire to cry.

Finally… I get to eat meat.

She chewed the piece of meat dozens of times before finally swallowing it. Then, she used a bran cake to wipe the bottom of the bowl clean, ate the cake with some water, and finally washed up for bed.

She hadn’t slept for a full day and a night. While cultivating was a form of rest, the fatigue in her mind could only be cleared through sleep.

Once you’ve had a taste of meat, you can’t stop thinking about it. That night, Lynn Naya dreamed that she was back home. She was desperately craving meat, and her mother, while playfully scolding her for being a glutton, made her a feast of pork dishes. She ate until her mouth was slick with oil.

When she woke up the next morning, there was nothing. No mountains of white rice, no table full of hot dishes, and no mom or dad.

*

After that day, Lynn Naya dedicated most of her time to cultivation. On the surface, she was still the same quiet medicinal farmer. In secret, she was cultivating the Evergreen Technique even when she was just sitting on a field ridge with her eyes closed.

She wasn’t one to complain.

If the situation couldn’t be changed, then she would accept it and live her life. She had to be thankful that this was a cultivation world. It was said that ascended cultivators could cut through time and space with a single sword stroke. She didn’t know if she would ever live long enough to reach that level, but at least she had a goal to strive for.

Clinging to the principle of not attracting attention or standing out, Lynn Naya stayed at home whenever she wasn’t working, determined to not get into any trouble.

Her “mind-your-own-business” attitude was something her neighbors couldn’t really criticize. But as time went on, the other three families in the courtyard became closer with each other, and she became a bit of an outcast.

Lynn Naya didn’t care about these subtle shifts in relationships. As long as her interests weren’t harmed, nothing else mattered.

In this world, being liked and respected wasn’t always a good thing, and being treated with indifference wasn’t always a bad thing.

In the blink of an eye, two months had passed. With Lynn Naya’s non-stop effort, her Evergreen Technique experience points finally reached 99. She was only one point away from a breakthrough.

It was then that something major happened in their courtyard. Aunt Wang, the neighbor from the other family, died. She had been bitten by a poisonous snake while hunting, and the venom killed her on the spot.

This was the first time Lynn Naya had experienced the death of someone familiar since she came to this world, and it left her feeling heavy-hearted.

Life always seemed to work that way. Just when things started to feel a little better, something would happen to knock you back to reality.

This was not the peaceful era of her old world. Here, survival and death were a constant, unending cycle.

The loss of a neighbor cast a somber mood over the courtyard for several days. The crushing sense of mortality made Lynn Naya want to get stronger faster. She cultivated even more diligently.

Perhaps the more eager she became, the harder it was to succeed. That final experience point was stubbornly slow to come. Lynn Naya grit her teeth and endured, finally earning that last point eight days later.

As soon as her experience bar was full, Lynn Naya felt a surge of heat in her abdomen, followed by a loud retch as she coughed up a mouthful of foul-smelling, dark blood.

After she spit out the blood, she felt a wave of lightness. Then, she realized that even without her eyes, she could perceive everything in the room. At the same time, she could “see” a milky-white wisp of gas swirling in her lower abdomen.

This must be the spiritual sense and visible dantian they talk about in cultivation novels.

And that milky-white wisp must be spiritual energy.

Lynn Naya felt a sense of novelty.

She stared at the wisp for a moment, then remembered her status panel. She quickly pulled it up, and saw that it had changed:

[Name: Lynn Naya]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation, First Level (0/100)]

[Martial Arts: Finger Flick: Mastered (11/100)]

[Cultivation Methods: Evergreen Technique: Beginner (1/100)]

[Skills: Medicinal Farming: Beginner (91/100), Medicine: Not Started (78/100)]

[Exclusive Trait: Everlasting Life]

Just as I thought. I’ve reached the first level of Qi Condensation.

I wonder what the difference between this and a normal person is.

Thinking this, Lynn Naya tried to command the wisp of spiritual energy within her.

The wisp moved according to her will, and everything was fine within her dantian. But the moment she tried to make it flow through her limbs and channels, she felt a slight prickling pain. If she forced it, the pain became more pronounced.

What’s going on?

Lynn Naya didn’t understand. She had no one to ask, so she had to put the question aside for now.

Aside from that one problem, the other changes were delightful.

For example, she felt much stronger. Things that once required effort to lift now felt as light as a feather. Her eyesight was also much better; she could see clearly for hundreds of meters. Her hearing had also improved. For example, she could now hear her neighbors talking about how Uncle Wang was getting a new wife.

When she sat down to cultivate the Evergreen Technique again, she noticed that her speed was much faster than before. The qi in the air was no longer a vague, indistinct presence. After completing a single circulation, she could distinctly feel a wisp of spiritual energy collecting in her body.

This is cultivation.

So, am I now the lowest of the low-level cultivators?

If she could live for thousands of years, she wondered if this lowest of low-level cultivators could one day break through time and space and return home.

After a brief daydream about the future, Lynn Naya returned her focus to the pressing matter of the prickling pain in her meridians.

As the saying goes, “Pain means blockage, no pain means clear.” There had to be a reason for the pain in her meridians, and she had to figure it out.

*

The mortal zone at the foot of Mount Yu had a library. It was a five-story building, and according to legend, a short-tempered disciple, annoyed by the hassle of carrying books, had used a spatial storage bag to bring an entire library back to the mountain.

The cultivators on the peak had no use for a mortal building, so the mortals at the foot of the mountain got a great deal.

At first, the library was coveted by others. A building this nice was far better than the crumbling shanties around it. But after a nasty fight broke out over it, the Dao Palace decreed that it could only be used for books. And so, the library was born.

Lynn Naya had walked past the library a few times, but she was always too busy trying to survive to go inside. Still, she would occasionally see people coming and going.

Even with resources so scarce, some people still refused to give up on their intellectual pursuits.

Lynn Naya wasn’t sure if she would find the answers she was looking for in the library, but she had no better option.

She couldn’t reveal her ability to cultivate. She had no elders to answer her questions, and the manager who was friends with her father wasn’t a cultivator. She could only try her luck at the library while also learning more about this world.

Seeing that she still had some time, Lynn Naya grabbed her basket and hoe and headed to her medicinal fields. After confirming that there were no major issues, she made her way toward the library.

When she arrived, no one was there except for an old man airing out some books at the entrance.

To be honest, the five-story wooden library looked completely out of place among the surrounding slum.

While Lynn Naya was lost in thought, the old man, who had already spotted her, asked her, “Here to read?”

Lynn Naya snapped back to attention. “Yes.”

“One contribution point for ten days,” the old man said gruffly. “Pay me now if you want to read. Otherwise, get lost.”

Lynn Naya didn’t mind his attitude. She asked, “Does ten days mean the next ten days, or any ten days I choose?”

“I don’t have time to keep track of that.” he said impatiently.

Lynn Naya understood. Before he could chase her away, she handed over the fee for ten days.

One contribution point was three days’ worth of her pay, so it was a bit painful to give it away, but she had no other choice.

After she paid, Lynn Naya had just stepped inside when someone else came in behind her.

People who came here were generally the ones with high aspirations, and she didn’t want to get into any trouble. She resisted the urge to look back, and only glanced at the person through a gap in the bookshelf while she was choosing a book.

It was a young man in rough linen clothes. He had no spiritual energy fluctuations, a rugged face, and a large scar. Despite his calm eyes, he gave off a fierce and imposing aura.

Lynn Naya knew this person. He was the “manager” of their district.

The Dao Palace didn’t meddle in mortal affairs, so the people in the slum naturally chose to govern themselves. There were too few people for a full-blown king or emperor, but it wasn’t uncommon for gangs to carve out their own territories.

Wherever there were people, there were interests. The Dao Palace didn’t seem to care who was in charge; as long as the mortals didn’t riot, they were happy. So, the leaders of these gangs were called “managers.”

Lynn Naya’s neighborhood, which consisted of a hundred households, was managed by a gang called the Spirit Snake Gang. Each family paid one contribution point a month for their protection. While they didn’t really provide any protection, paying the fee meant you could live a normal life. If you didn’t pay, your home might be robbed or vandalized every other day. It was essentially buying peace.

The leader of the Spirit Snake Gang was the young man in front of her. She didn’t know his name, but everyone privately called him “Scarface Qing.”

Lynn Naya had no business with him. After a quick glance, she looked away and continued to search for what she wanted.

The books in the library were sorted into different categories: history, biographies, immortal sect records, and many more. Because they were well-organized, Lynn Naya quickly found the section she was looking for.

It was worth noting that the young man was also in this section.

It seemed that he wasn’t here for intellectual stimulation but to find a way to become stronger. And the other people she had seen entering and exiting the library were likely here for the same reason.

It made sense. In these times, books were the most useless thing, so who would be willing to waste their precious time on them?

Lynn Naya sighed softly for these books, the result of so much painstaking effort, and began to pull books from the immortal sect records section.

Books here weren’t as convenient as they were in the libraries of her old world; you had to take them out to see the title. Soon, one book in particular caught her eye—True Person Jianwei’s Casual Notes.