After Becoming the Hero's Ex-fiancée

A New Disciple (1)

How much pain does a person have to experience in this life before he or she can break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly?

Zheng Wan did not know.

All she knew was that she was a little worm in the mud that was about to die. Her shell was too thick and heavy, and the pain she felt as she was shedding her shell seemed like it would kill her.

How would Zheng Wan, who had been raised delicately since she was a child, ever suffer this kind of pain? She could only use all her willpower to herself from fainting, and as she cried, whined about wanting to eat golden silk naan, jasmine cakes, and candied jujubes from Precious Pastries……

Granny Jin listened amusedly to her singing the words like a shopkeeper in a restaurant, and thought that this person was truly very interesting.

Unlike the tough female cultivators in the cultivation world who would grit their teeth and not say a word, she was one who would let others know when she was suffering, and needed to be coaxed and cared for.  Yet, this delicate little thing had also held out for half a day without fainting or calling for a stop.

Even if her heart was like iron, she couldn’t help but yield to her and said coaxingly, “Stop crying, there’ll be jujube pastries to eat in a little while.”

“I also want to eat golden silk naan,” said Zheng Wan tearfully. It was a mystery as to what was going on in her head, and not a moment later, she added, “And Jade Tofu Spinach Soup.”

“Okay, okay, tell that to your father and mother later.”

“You said it, just a little while longer, right?” choked Zheng Wan.

Unfortunately, Grandma Jin lied to her.

The so-called “a little while” was actually “a little while” until the next morning, and only ended when the sun rose in the east.

“The moon flows like a river, and the sun shines like fire; one yin and one yang, it’s just perfectly compatible with this place. Calm your mind and continue to sit.”

Zheng Wan could only feel that the countless barbed iron awls suddenly retracted along with Granny Jin’s utterance of the word, “compatible”. Her entire body felt lighter, but her spirit was utterly fatigued, and she wanted to find somewhere to sleep immediately. Yet she still had to sit cross-legged, and following Granny Jin’s instructions, to sense the first strand of clear air between heaven and earth.

“……Exhale, inhale… Relax, leave all your worries behind, remember only this sky, this earth, this lake……”

Granny Jin’s voice grew distant.

But Zheng Wan felt as if the entire world had brightened; in her eyes, the world’s appearance had changed, and she saw that it was filled with grey stuff that looked like cotton wool. Only the area before the lightning-struck tree was clean.

No wonder Cui Wang had said that the mortal world was heavy with turbid air, and wasn’t suitable for cultivation. This should be the turbid air he was talking about.

As she continued to exhale, she saw faint dots of light floating towards her; gold, green, blue, red, and yellow…… They held hands and spun around her, and a moment later, drifted away again.

Zheng Wan was a little anxious.

She could roughly guess that these were the vital energy of Heaven and Earth. If these vital energies entered her body, they would become vital power. But these vital energies weren’t compatible with her, and so they floated off as soon as they came.

“Focus!”

Zheng Wan hurriedly collected her mind, and gradually, she forgot everything, even herself.

She saw a swath of transparent but faintly blue dots of light; they were slightly lighter than the blue dots just now. They formed a strand, and fought to be the first to burrow into her body.

Zheng Wan felt as if she were soaking in a warm spring. A clear whistle came, and she opened her eyes dazedly.

“Granny Jin?”

Granny Jin let out an “Eh”.

“Your vital roots were of the water element to begin with. But it’s probably because this Azure Moistening Essence is too rare, and with the addition of this terrain——half-alive and half-dead, half Yin and half Yang, and that your ex-lover had spent lots of rare materials for you to soak in, that resulted in the metamorphosis of your foundation so quickly.”

Zheng Wan couldn’t quite understand, and asked, “What metamorphosis?”

“Ice vital roots.”  Seeing that she did not understand, Granny Jin explained, “Cultivators are blessed by nature, and there are only one or two in a thousand people. But in these one or two, they mostly have ordinary vital roots belonging to the five elements, metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Above these ordinary vital roots, there are five rare types, and are as follows: wind vital roots, lightning vital roots, ice vital roots——

“Compared to the ordinary vital roots, the cultivation of these three rare vital roots will take more time. But in battles within others of the same stage, these vital roots can often overcome the opponent and win. What’s more, when breaking through to the Accomplisher and Grand Magnificence stage, you will gain a gift of small divine ability and great divine ability respectively. As for what they are, you will only know when you face your opponents in the future.”

Zheng Wan was already dizzy, but on hearing that ice vital roots were more powerful than regular vital roots, she immediately became merry again.

“So are my orifices open now?”

“No more, no less, exactly one hundred orifices. You’ve been saved from many years of gruelling work. However, you’ll still have to take the accumulation of vital energy one step at a time. Wan girlie, congratulations, you’ve officially stepped upon the path of cultivators; cultivator stage one, ‘Gateway’.”