"Don't groan you can only have more access to the bag if you have a modicum of cultivation on you not dipping your hand in to pull out random stuff" she said with her hand on her hips

  She then brought out a nameless cultivation method to him and told him plainly "This is what you'll cultivate,"

  "This cultivation method is what he fashioned when he was training us"

  "Why no name?"

  "'Who cares about names just get strong' if my memory did not fail me that's exactly how he said it, gruffly at that." she mimed

  "The cultivation starter package" Hua Lei declared with a pomp

  "..." She looked speechless before laughing uproariously, "seriously?, you really do have uncanny names."

  *****************

  The day went on while I was trying to memorize the runic symbols what they meant and the incantation that follows, it was said that you'll have to memorize all 72 runic symbols and the formation diagram in detail without any deviation and also the incantations to break open the secret area and 'heed the call of Qi as a mortal'.

  Days passed it was easier for me to memorize the worded incantations, which was within 8 weeks of constant recitation, now remaining the runic visualizations that follows which proved to be tricky to handle. first is the fact of certainty, most people after agonizing on it will find out that they got the visualization aspect wrong and visualize the runes in the wrong order or incomplete runes.

  This at best will be a waste of time at worst they got unlucky to visualize a wrong but potent combination that will cause some extremely 'weird shit' to occur, waste their one chance to cultivate or worse kill themselves due to the recoil.

  So I consulted my 'maid' to ask about runes drawing and what she told me was a bit disheartening she said that I should get the blood of vicious beasts to test them, though any fluid charged with vital qi will do too

  She told me to use ordinary materials that could not or barely hold qi without been destroyed since it's just to test the correctness of the runes that I held in my mind. of all what I want to get the blood of vicious beast and the brush to be used will be the most expensive.

  The expense will be followed up by the papers fashioned from vegetations that held a slight amount of vital qi which is an inferior talisman paper, of which are sold at the rate of 1000 papers for two golden imperials.

  ************************

  "Expensive!" I couldn't help but mutter out loud, feeling the pinch of the expenses.

  "This is still dirt cheap" Xiao Xiao intoned "you are now starting to see the true water shed to cultivation which is 'resources'"

  "The orthodoxy kept such a tight lid on cultivation resources that the first independent cultivators were actually expelled disciples of the orthodoxy discontent with their lot in life, and so did they kept on it trying newer and more maverick things in order to move forward thus deviating from the normal set path of cultivation"

  "This people however still follow the general stages realms sub-realms and level involved in cultivation, however they brought a different flavor of cultivation to the world of cultivation, some of these people eventually rejoined the orthodoxy enriching their diversity, while enjoying the orthodoxy's stability in turn."

  "The price for that was stagnation, some unwilling for that to happen decided to bunch up in the outskirts of their the orthodoxy's influence, thus forming the unorthodoxy. these people are loose organization of independent cultivators who want to settle down while keeping their autonomy."

  ******************************

  "However alongside 'independent cultivators' comes another concerning problem, which is the presence of evil cultivators otherwise known as demonic cultivators or demonic masters. their history could be traced back to before the Battle Of The Chthonic's End

  ************************

  "And these people are also 'tagged' unto the unorthodoxy too making us steadily lose face, this also could be said to be a propaganda against us not to amass too much power to threaten their dominance in terms of cultivation resources."

  "Thus anytime they want to apprehend any of the unorthodoxy's cultivators they use the old trick of denouncement and some greasing of the right palms to get their way, this makes us appear weaker than the orthodoxy and also makes us look bad in the face of the public hence making us serve as the most convenient blame takers."

  "But this doesn't deter us since the recruitment method of the orthodoxy made it so that they mostly recruit from the big clans and other sects, this creates a power vacuum filled by us who mostly recruit disciples while we are out wandering and experiencing what the world of cultivation has to offer."

  "So get used to things like this"

  "You mean burning money like firewood?"

  "Yes," she answered "and get on with your cultivation"

  So I continued with the runic inscription occasionally taking a pointer or two from the scholar and Xiao Xiao on runes thus I did what I haven't done at all I made a journal, not the scroll style that is popular but the normal 12 in 1 subject note type, what I ended with was something akin to a grimore.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  ***************************

  That 'grimore' was what I used to record the beginning of my cultivation my successes and failures of my 'runology' as I named it and so for the next one and the half years will I keep practicing burning through over 30 golden imperials till I finally could not only recall the 72 runes perfectly but also inscribe them on a sheet of inferior talismanic paper.

  One and a half years clocked, and it became obvious that I could not improve anymore using this method again so I bought some more blood found a tree on the outskirt of the village near a mountain and I tried to marking all the runes upon the tree in one go took me some 16 weeks and lots of inscription damaged trees to make my first break through .

  After that I also switched to rocks which I could lift though, it was harder to mark than the wood, one has to be very steady when carving this all of this is so that I could achieve a one shot rune marking breakthrough. all of this is not to make mistakes when arranging the formation diagram in my mind and reciting the Incantation correctly and in correct order lest I lose the opportunity for ever to become a cultivator.

  Then it became time painfully obvious that I could not make anymore breakthrough, I've exhausted all the plausible Ideas that came into my mind this includes the buying of animals and inscribing on them, this was immediately discouraged. what blood I will use the beast that I awakened will become subservient to and vicious beast to humankind policy is to kill on sight.

  That will I visit later, when I am stronger, but it is time, the process was surreal, it was as if my very existence was sucked in and concentrated into a point till it spilled over into another space... my own personal 'secret space' of which I could use to gather the vital Qi that my body generates.

  *******************

  And so at the age of 30 years, 3 months and 3 weeks did I, Hua Lei a man from planet earth who was 'kidnapped' to planet jia yuan, stepped on the path of cultivation, near the border of the village that I turned into an experimentation site, yeah it was just like that one moment wasn't a cultivator another moment was a cultivator no world shattering lightning descent no hoot at all! that's meh!

  I mean with all this golden imperials I spent and the over 17000 talismanic paper wasted, and over 110 weeks spent to master the runes incantations and all there is to master before a breakthrough I expected more to happen when I become a cultivator not this blandness even my muscle strength did not change at all.

  Though I feel like I have this sense, of ... let me think about it and then I found that my memory had become ultra full HD exponential X, huh so memory improvement ehn, then I decided to test things out I sat down on the spot and meditated.

  At first things was so serene that I felt it should go on forever, I was about to congratulate myself for my meditation leveling up when things took another turn, that instant I felt like I lave re-lived my life all over again obscure stuff of the past kept getting clearer and clearer buried memories of different flavors of emotion attached to it was unearthed.

  And on and on it went, wait a minute this is not my memor... I felt a sharp pain the moment I tried stopping and exiting meditation that I was forced to live and witness the life un-lived by me, this time it was the life of Yu Ren.

  Be it an instant or an eternity was I trapped in a mental-scape till I woke up on the bed as thin as a broomstick all that was recalled mostly forgotten, all that was left was the impressions left but stronger this time, but that only occurred to most of yu ren's memories bit I retain 100% of mine.

  *******************

  "Wakey-wakey sleeping handsome," Xiao Xiao said this time not jesting or anything just with a downright serious tone instead

  "Urgh! what happened to me" I whispered groggily still feeling the disconnect between reality and the journey which I was forcibly made to undergo mentally.

  "Well nothing I could pinpoint, you still appear normal only dealing with the overdraw of vital Qi of which the origin of it I know not of."

  Then she fixed me with a leveled gaze and asked with a calmness bothering on the unnatural "what exactly on jia yuan were you thinking?, what were you trying to do over-drafting yourself the first day you managed to cultivate vital qi?."

  "I-I simply experimented on memories you know trying to recall all what I have learnt ages past and then Yu Ren's memories found its way towards me disjointed but of so massive proportion that it knocked me out."

  That explains it she said but still doesn't explain how you became as thin as a broom stick,

  The time you were practicing I have been secretly watching you but suddenly you slumped while cultivating it will be hilarious to have cultivation backlash this serious this early, however this exactly is the reality.

  Then in a week you were like this, Hua Lei inspected himself the atrophy that occurred made him look like a patient of anorexia nervosa disease, he then tried to sit up which proven itself to be a monumental task. don't worry I'll fix something for you right away she said already in the kitchen fixing up lunch

  Lunch came, as a broth, I looked at her askance, she just pretended she didn't saw my action and fed me the broth anyways, the broth at first didn't feel like anything special but some minutes into eating I had started to sweat I felt like I could outrun a horse.

  "Don't" she reprimanded seeing me twitching in ways like I want to leave the bed, she placed her hand 'gently' on me which stopped all my attempts to sit up in its tracks," what have you fed me" I demanded.

  "Oh nothing much I simply laced your broth with the diluted blood of a vicious beast the strength you felt then is false quickly rest yourself and allow me to feed you your ration it loses efficacy quickly."

  I seemed to remember something that skipped my mind entirely as soon as it surfaced, well I just lay there simply focusing on my breath losing myself in the rhythm of eating while breathing also the process at which the food enters my stomach I seemed to see something then I was jolted awake.

  It's already in the evening of the next day somehow I'd gotten an uncanny sense of positioning and time also my body was feeling good in more ways than one, but I'm still skinny though, guess I'll have to beef up myself before any shit about training and whatnot.

  "The vicious beasts are one step above the fierce beasts which is one step above normal beasts," she started knowing that I was wide awake now

  "Their superiors catalyses the development of fierce beasts by deliberately feeding them the blood of vicious beasts in moderate proportions."

  "So does this you feed me now makes me a 'fierce' human now huh?" I asked

  "No," she guffawed "it doesn't what it does is just similar it stimulates your body to generate more vitality which in turn becomes your vital qi with the help of your secret area and not discounting the body's capacity though.

  "Remember vitality is locked, even within your body you can't manipulate it at all not until you reach the higher stages of cultivation though but in this stage keep what I tell you in mind, while vital qi could flow in your body"

  "So this is the difference between static and mobile, liquid and solid, structural and energetic yet interchangeable with each other?"

  "How apt," she looked at me momentarily shocked "it seems that you are catching up a bit faster than I expected with this memory shenanigan that you've done, I mean who in his or her right mind begins cultivation by first firming ones memory

  "That's me" I jested

  "A waste of vital Qi if I've ever known one"

  Okay, so this is how it goes, I'll keep feeding you, you'll keep this new mode of meditation that you are on right now and after a week of repeating this pattern we shall proceed to the training regimen, got it.

  "Yeah got it." I answered and once again begin meditating.