Chapter 3: Can’t Stand It
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
What did cultivation feel like?
The answer found in the memory of the original owner of the body, a weakling with low talent, was: "Qi enters the body through breathing, making the body feel warm".
To be honest, Chen Shaojie did not share this feeling.
From the moment Chen Shaojie tried to control his breathing according to the mnemonic chant of the "Qing Yu Body Forging Technique", he immediately felt a surge of Qi rushing towards him from the surroundings. That was probably the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth mentioned in the mnemonic chant.
The spiritual Qi of heaven and earth did not enter Chen Shaojie's body through his breathing like it did for the original Chen Shaojie.
In truth, the role of breathing was just to control the rhythm.
It was the same way that rapping required a beat. As long as the rhythm of the rap followed the beat, the rap would sound smooth regardless of whether it was single rhyme or double rhyme.
The human body also needed an effective rhythm to inhale spiritual Qi, to synergize with the rhythm of heaven and earth.
Nine shallow exhalations and one deep inhalation...
And the spiritual Qi instantly surged like a tidal wave.
The reason the weakling original Chen Shaojie could only absorb spiritual Qi through his mouth and nose was because he simply had too little talent.
A person who could only use his hands to grab the money that rained down from the sky would not be able to grab much money no matter how hard they tried.
Meanwhile, those with massive talent would be scraping money with a bulldozer. They could collect all the money that fell from the sky, no matter how much there was to collect.
They were in two completely different weight classes.
Thanks to the Bask-in-the-Glow System, Chen Shaojie felt like every pore in his body was gaping wide to greedily absorb spiritual Qi.
The spiritual Qi that poured into his body through the pores made him feel like his body was being massaged by countless little hands. It was unbelievably comfortable.
This feeling...
It's so good!
In that instant, Chen Shaojie felt that he had fallen in love with cultivation.
The feeling could truly make one fall deeply in love with it after they had tried it once.
At the end of one round of breathing adjustment, the true Qi in the body would return to the dantian, and the spiritual Qi around the body would calm down again. That concluded a complete cycle.
'Keep going...'
'More, more, I want more...'
But after Chen Shaojie had only experienced the bliss nine times in a row, the steward's voice came from the middle of the hall.
"Morning cultivation is over. Everyone to their own work."
This signaled the end of the morning cultivation session.
Chen Shaojie regretfully stopped his actions and opened his eyes.
All the other servant disciples in the hall stood up one after another, ready to start working.
Chen Shaojie was about to stand up too when he heard a cold voice coming from the side.
"What's your name?"
Chen Shaojie turned to the source of the voice. Li Xuejiao was looking him up and down.
Having basked in the glow of this Senior Sister of his – and he would likely need to keep doing that for a while - Chen Shaojie bowed courteously and replied, "My name is Chen Shaojie, Senior Sister Li. I'm a servant disciple of House A, Class 2."
"Chen Shaojie... House A, Class 2..."
Li Xuejiao nodded at Chen Shaojie and walked away.
She left?
Chen Shaojie was a little dumbfounded.
He was ready to chat more with this amazingly-talented Senior Sister to improve their relationship.
But she actually just up and left like that.
Looking at Li Xuejiao's back, Chen Shaojie thought to himself: Could this Senior Sister have a social disorder?
He would have to work harder in the future.
...
"Senior Brother Wu, where will we be sent for errands today?"
Chen Shaojie quickly found Wu Fulai not long after leaving the main hall.
The servant disciples of the lower court were divided into ten Heavenly Stem houses, each of which was further divided into twelve Earthly Branch classes.
To put it bluntly, it was a hierarchical grouping to make management easier.
Wu Fulai was the class representative of House A Class 2, while Chen Shaojie was a member of House A Class 2.
Hearing Chen Shaojie's question, Wu Fulai's expression became slightly heavy.
"Today, we're going to serve in the Book Depository."
"The Book Depository?"
Chen Shaojie quickly searched through the original's memory and found information about the Book Depository.
There was not much information.
The Book Depository was different from the Scripture Depository. The Scripture Depository was the most important place for the sect, housing technique manuscripts and treasures, while the Book Depository was just a place to store ancient books and records.
Most importantly, the Book Depository was huge. Every time the servant disciples were sent to work there, they would end up completely exhausted.
This was probably why Wu Fulai had such a heavy expression on his face.
The thought of working made Chen Shaojie feel gloomy. Cultivation was a lot more fun. He really wanted to cultivate...
But company slaves had no human rights. Since House A Class 2 had been assigned to such an errand, there was nothing they could do but accept it. They climbed onto the steward's Flying Shuttle and reached the door of the Book Depository's main hall in no time.
The Qing Yu Mountains consisted of five floating mountains, namely Qing Zhu Peak, Qing Lian Peak, Qing Dai Peak, Qing He Peak and Qing Ming Peak.
Qing Ming Peak was the main mountain where the sect headquarter was located.
Meanwhile, the Qing Zhu Peak was the shortest mountain. The lower court was located at the foot of this mountain.
The Book Depository was at the top of Qing Zhu Peak.
The Book Depository also had a steward. The steward of the lower court and the steward of the Book Depository exchanged some pleasantries, and the servant disciples were let into the Book Depository so that they could start cleaning.
In terms of size, the Book Depository was bigger even than the biggest library Chen Shaojie had seen on Earth.
However, compared to the clean, bright libraries on Earth, the Book Depository, albeit not dirty, was really messy. It could not compare to Earth's libraries at all.
Inside the Book Depository, ancient books could be seen lying around everywhere you looked. Besides being scattered on the floor, a lot of them had also been haphazardly stuffed into the bookshelves. The disorganization was simply outrageous.
Of course, the disorganization of the books was not a concern for the servant disciples.
Their duty was only to divide the areas up into sections and clean their own section as quickly as possible. That was the extent of their job.
Chen Shaojie and Wu Fulai were in charge of a small section in the deep end of the depository. After they had been cleaning for a while, Chen Shaojie could not stand it anymore. "Don't you think this place is way too messy, Brother Wu? Look at all these books being thrown around. It really makes you feel uncomfortable."
Wu Fulai laughed, "The Book Depository has always been like this. It's been like this since the first time I came here to clean it, and it hasn't changed at all."
"And no one cares?"
"To make changes will require a lot of effort, yet it's a thankless job. Who would do it? The time would be better spent catching a few winks instead."
Wu Fulai shook his head, then added, "Even if someone really wants to make changes... tsk, look at the state of this place. How can anyone manage? Might as well turn a blind eye."
Chen Shaojie pursed his lips. "If I were put in charge, I can make this place clean and tidy in less than a month."
"Yeah, right!"
"You don't believe me, Senior Brother?"
"Nope!"
"Fine, whatever."
Chen Shaojie rubbed his nose and said unhappily, "I'm telling the truth, Brother Wu. If I were the steward here, I can really give this place a brand new look in a month's time. It'll be a piece of cake for me."
"Look at this kid! He sure knows how to talk big!"
An old voice suddenly came from above.
The voice startled Chen Shaojie and Wu Fulai. Their heads jerked up.
They saw an old man in a green robe with wide sleeves sitting atop a tall bookshelf, looking down at them from above.
The old man glanced at Chen Shaojie. He seemed a little taken aback at Chen Shaojie's appearance. He asked, "Tell me then, how do you plan to give this place a brand new look within a month?"
-- Gift
received