The next day, Lucian found himself in front of a tall pavilion. Each floor was separated by a protruding roof, as the stories steadily grew smaller in diameter. As Lucian gawked at the sight, a voice called out to him several times.

Broken out of his reverie, Lucian embarrassedly scratched his head and looked in the direction of the voice.

“Sorry, did you say something?” Lucian tried to brush the matter under the rug.

“I’ve been talking as long as it takes for an incense stick to burn. How much did you hear?” Zhang Hui said with a scolding tone.

“Eh? Something about arrays and stuff?” Lucian replied. He didn’t know what an array was, but according to Zhang Hui, this entire pavilion was protected by it and seemed very proud of the fact.

With an exasperated sigh, Zhang Hui walked up the stairs to the pavilion and started to retell what he said earlier, "Yes, arrays protect the pavilion. So, don't wander off into the pavilion, or you may get hurt. You'll need the Patriarchs jade Ruyi to unlock the array.”

‘Get hurt? Is an array a kind of defense mechanism?’ Lucian thought skeptically and glanced at the pavilion.

When Zhang Hui reached the top of the stairs, he took out an s-shaped scepter from within his robe and held it up in front of him. Seconds later, the air distorted, like a thin transparent film that slowly peeled away, starting from the top of the pavilion.

Zhang Hui turned around and glanced at Lucian, “There. Now it’s safe to go in.”

Gobsmacked at the unfathomable phenomenon, Lucian stood and stared at the pavilion with scrutinizing eyes.

“Lucian! Get in!” Zhang Hui hollered from inside the pavilion, once more, breaking Lucian out of his reverie.

The inside of the pavilion was vast, but sparse, with a few shelves placed in an orderly manner. Zhang Hui was at a shelf containing small jade slips of various sizes and colors.

“Zhang Hui,” Lucian broke the solemn atmosphere in the room, “are arrays normal in this world?”

Zhang Hui looked up from the jade slips. His eyes didn't manage to hide his pain.

He shook his head, “No, only greater families have them.”

As if expecting Lucian’s next question, he continued as he stared into the distance.

“The Zhang Clan was a great family, until that damned war thirteen years ago with the Yan Empire. We lost more than two hundred members of our family in that war. Can you imagine it? Every three in five died due to a stupid war. Now we’re a shell of our former selves. Forced into the mountains to lick our wounds.”

Zhang Hui began to chuckle in mockery and then turned around to find a jade slip for Lucian. In the meantime, Lucian stood baffled, as he thought, ‘Three in five, dead? Is this a military family? How many of them are in service?’

Suddenly, Zhang Hui exclaimed with glee, “Here it is!” and handed Lucian an old jade slip. Not much could be distinguished from it, with the only visible feature on its smooth surface being the engraved “Zhang” character.

Perplexed, Lucian looked up and asked, "This is?"

Zhang Hui then proudly explained, “This is the Zhang Clan’s cultivation method, Nature’s Ruler.”

Lucian cocked his head and examined the jade slip, “This jade slip?”

As if noticing Lucian’s doubt, Zhang Hui continued, “Yes, that jade slip is the culmination of more than a thousand years. Every Zhang Clan Patriarch has practiced it, and it can only be practiced by the direct descendants of the Zhang Clan. When you practice it, your Qi will gain a tint of green, and you will gain the ability to manipulate nature like its ruler, thus, Nature's Ruler.”

Lucian raised his eyebrows when he heard that this worn jade slip was more than a thousand years old, and it had such fantastical properties.

Zhang Hui saw his surprised look, and then grinned, “So, take good care of it. It's one of a kind.”

“Nature’s Ruler? What does Bing Ling practice?” Lucian asked as he studied the jade slip with the utmost care.

 “She’s mortal, so she doesn’t cultivate anything,” Zhang Hui smirked.

“Mortal? Are you telling me that if I ‘cultivate’ this thing, then I can become immortal? Are you immortal?”

This all seemed like the ramblings of a madman. If it had been in any other situation, Lucian would also have dismissed it as such. However, recently, his worldview had been overturned several times, so despite his skepticism, he paid Zhang Hui the benefit of a doubt.

Zhang Hui chuckled at the naïve questions, but he was tolerant because he knew that Lucian had forgotten everything.

“No. I’m not immortal, not yet anyway. That is simply the term that we cultivators use to describe regular people. However, through cultivation, you may achieve immortality, or something close to it. Nature's Ruler is an Earth rank cultivation technique that reaches the Nascent Soul stage, so if you put in the effort, you can reach that.”

“How do I use it?” Lucian asked.

“Only members of the Zhang Clan can study it, so you will need to drop a drop of blood on it to reveal its contents. Once you have done that, you simply hold it up to your third eye in the center of your forehead, and the information on Nature’s Ruler will be revealed to you.

“But not here, the information transferred to you is a thousand years of knowledge, so you should head back home, and cultivate in silence while you ponder on the mysteries of the method.” Zhang Hui patted Lucian’s shoulder as he explained.

“Now go home, I need to return the jade Ruyi to the Patriarch.”

Being ushered off, Lucian nodded and left the pavilion in a trance as he pondered. When he heard that a seemingly ordinary old jade slip could perform direct-to-brain information transfer, something that his previous world had only begun to scratch the surface of, he was more than a little skeptical. He studied the jade slip, trying to uncover its secrets, but ultimately, he didn’t find anything special about it.

When he looked back up, he found himself standing in his courtyard, where Bing Ling was tending to the bonsai trees at the wall with a pair of clippers.

“How are you, sweetheart? Do you remember anything?” Bing Ling asked as she put down the clippers.

Lucian broke out of his stupor and shook his head.

Bing Ling’s expression briefly clouded over, but she soon composed herself and smiled when she saw the jade slip in his hands.

“I see you went to see your father. Did you receive your cultivation manual?”

“Yea,” Lucian muttered. His brows furrowed as he thought about the meaning of cultivation and how it was scientifically possible.

“Let me see,” Bing Ling said with a tender smile and reached out her hand.

Lucian didn’t think much of her request and handed it to her.

“Oh? An Earth rank cultivation method. This will indeed take you to the Nascent Soul stage.” She held it in her hands, letting her fingers feel the indentation of the “Zhang” character. After hesitating for a moment, she gave it back and looked deeply into Lucian’s eyes.

She bit her lips, and then said, “Follow me.” Leaving no room for objection, she shuffled over to Lucian’s bedroom. With a raised eyebrow, Lucian followed, wondering what Bing Ling wanted.

As soon as they were inside, Bing Ling waved her hand, and all sounds from the rustling banyan tree in the courtyard disappeared.

Bing Ling smiled as she studied Lucian's reaction when the room suddenly went quiet.

“Surprised? I have some tricks of my own.” she chuckled, and then paused.

“The cultivation manual you received reaches the Nascent Soul stage, but it’s Earth rank, which is not the best you can find.”

She studied Lucian's expression as she waited for the words to sink in; however, Lucian had composed himself after the umpteenth shocking unscientific thing of the day. Now, he stood passively with his one eyebrow raised as he waited for her to continue.

Sighing to herself, she waved her hand, and a jade slip appeared out of thin air.

“Take this,” she said and handed Lucian the new jade slip. “This is my family's Heaven ranked cultivation method. Much better than the incomplete method of the Zhang Clan.”

This time, Lucian was completely numb to all the magical things happening around him. Cautiously, he took the cultivation method from Bing Ling and looked at her questioningly.

“Why do you have a cultivation method?” he asked when he thought of an issue. “Aren’t you a mortal?”

Bing Ling held up her hand to cover her mouth as she chuckled, “That’s what your father thinks? Don’t worry so much about why I have one, just practice this one instead. This method details all the stages up to the seventh stage, the Enlightened Ascended stage. The Zhang Clan's method only goes up to the fourth stage.”

Apprehensive, Lucian glanced at the new cultivation method in his hand. “The cultivation method Zhang Hui gave me, supposedly, enables one to manipulate plants and nature. What’s so special about this one?”

Bing Ling stroked Lucian’s black hair. “This one is more efficient in gathering Qi and will enable you to manipulate fire. Like this.”

She held out a finger, and then a small golden flame appeared from the tip of it.

Lucian almost dropped the jade slip in surprise and exclaimed, “what magic is this?” but then soon remembered, his recently faltering convictions in scientific fact. Regaining his calm, he stared intently at the flame on Bing Ling’s finger and then reached out a hand to touch it. However, the fire disappeared as soon as his finger was an inch away.

An amused glint could be seen in Bing Ling’s eyes as she found her son’s reactions very entertaining.

“Don’t reveal anyone about the cultivation method I gave you. A Heaven ranked cultivation method is remarkably rare, and people will kill, slaughter, and betray for it. Promise me that, understood?”

The amusement in Bing Ling's eyes was gone, and what had replaced it was utter seriousness as she stressed every word of what she said.

Nodding like a chicken pecking food, Lucian turned his attention to the cultivation manual in his hand with renewed interest.

“Also,” Bing Ling continued, “are you planning to participate in the fighting tournament?”

His nose wrinkled as he said, “No, I’m not. Are such things common here?”

Visibly relieved, Bing Ling patted her chest. “Fighting is quite common; after all, only the strong can decide their fate. But whatever you do, sweetheart, don't participate. Accidents happen, and I can’t stand to lose you once again, okay?”

The corner of Lucian’s mouth turned up at the concerned she showed, and then said, “I’m not fond of violence, so why would I participate in something so barbaric and pointless?”

Bing Ling beamed and snickered, “So mature. My young boy is finally growing up. I’m glad to know that you’re not hotheaded. But please promise me, never reveal your cultivation method, and don’t go to the tournament. Oh, and you know how to unlock the manual, right? Just drop a drop of blood and hold it up to your forehead.”

Lucian gave her a reassuring nod, to which she smiled and waved her hand. The sounds from outside once more flooded into the bedroom.

Giving Lucian a small peck on the top of his head, she shuffled out of the room while muttering, “So mature. Maybe I should find him a little wife?” which Lucian luckily didn’t hear as he was busy examining the new jade slip.

Left alone in the room, Lucian resolved his determination. He then sat on his bed and found a letter opener from the desk next to it.

“Let’s see what this ‘cultivation’ is all about. Supposedly, the method Bing Ling gave me is the better choice.”

He stabbed the letter opener into his palm and squeezed his hand over the jade slip that Bing Ling had given him.

Blood fell from his hand and trickled down the side of the jade slip, but it inexplicably vanished halfway, as if it was absorbed.

‘Yet again, another incomprehensible thing just happened, I wonder how this stuff works.' Lucian sighed inwardly.

His eyebrows now only slightly raised at the phenomenon. He decided it would be better for his health to ignore such inexplicable things in the future.

After grabbing a cloth to tie up his wounded hand, he then held up the jade slip in front of him.

“Well. Here goes nothing,” Lucian muttered and pressed the tip of the slip against his brow.

Pain.

Excruciating pain, and then blackness.

That was the last thing Lucian remembered when he woke up. It was dark outside, so he assumed that he must have been unconscious for at least half a day. His meeting with Zhang Hui was in the morning.

‘Fuck. I’m not doing that again. What the hell was that?’ Lucian ranted to himself as he massaged his temples, attempting to alleviate the headache.

As he did, he noticed that he “knew” a lot of things. His mind flooded with knowledge about meridians, channels in the body designed to take in spiritual energy, or Qi as it was called. It also detailed information about how to circulate the Qi in a specific pattern to achieve a desired effect.

‘This shit’s real?’ Lucian dazedly thought as he skimmed over the new knowledge.

Disbelievingly, he stared at the jade slip on the side of the bed for a good minute. A new world had opened up in front of him, and he didn’t know what to make of it. He sat torpidly, trying to sort out his feelings until he eventually decided to try out the method described in his thoughts.

‘So, cultivation is about meditation and feeling the presence of spiritual energy in the air. Once achieved, one can passively guide the energy, through the pores of their skin, into the meridians.

‘When this happens, one must control the Qi and circulate it through the body, finally ending in the Dantian, which is below the navel. Sounds simple enough.' Lucian thought.

He then sat cross-legged on his bed, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

In the beginning, nothing happened, and several times he opened his eyes in frustration, wondering if it was all a fraud. After ranting to himself a couple of minutes, he sat back down and tried with renewed determination.

Persistence did eventually pay off. After the night had passed, he felt the first sliver of Qi in the air around him, which he then gently guided through the pores of his skin and into his meridians. As he circled the Qi in the prescribed manner, he felt oddly rejuvenated, like the Qi was a refreshing breeze that flew through his entire body, washing away his fatigue.

As dawn broke, Lucian was entirely engrossed in meditation, paying no heed to the world around him. He focused solely on finding more Qi and guiding it into his body.

Like this, time passed, where the only thing Lucian was occupied with was meditation. Occasionally, Bing Ling would come by and ask him to eat with Zhang Hui and her. At other times, he studied the effects of cultivation in attempts to understand how it worked. When Lucian felt bored, he strolled around the clan to get more information on his surroundings and the world he now resided.

It was on these excursions that he noted that this world was primitive in its way of life. It consisted primarily of cultivation and sparring, and it was also on these strolls that Lucian met the wizened Patriarch for the first time and several of the clan juniors. The juniors were, in Lucian's opinion, strangely arrogant and competitive; however, pacifist as he was, he ignored their challenging stares and crude remarks.

As two months passed, a sudden knock on his door woke Lucian from his meditation.

Outside, Zhang Hui stood with his arms clasped behind his body.

“Lucian, the tournament is in a month. I’ve come to check on your progress. How is it going?” Zhang Hui questioned as his eyes scanned Lucian from head to toe.