The carriage shook as it traveled the unpaved dirt road. In this era, it wasn’t uncommon to see unpaved roads in the midst of two towns. Especially since they were very far from the capital.

The carriage had left the groves and was traveling on an open meadow with straw and thatch huts sparsely scattered nearby. Despite the pleasant weather overhead, the atmosphere on the carriage was very tense and awkward. They were on the road just after the youth had finished cleaning up the bodies. Although Ma Fei was hidden, there was no way she did not hear what the bandits call him.

Sitting on her hand, her hands were clenched into fists as she bowed her head deeply. “Ma Fei t-thanks the immortal,” her tone was full of respect. But that respect stemmed from fear and not admiration.

The youth smiled bitterly and waved his hands dismissively, “Sister Fei, you don’t have to thank me. I just did what was right.”

Ma Fei bowed again, “T-Thank you very much.”

The youth said nothing more. Throughout this exchange, Chun Long and Chun Jia were looking curiously at the youth, wondering what changed. Being older, Chun Long picked up on his mother’s reservations and was hesitant to approach the youth. But that was not the case for Chun Jia.

The little girl came forwards without giving Ma Fei the time to stop her. She grabbed the youth’s robes and under his surprised gaze, clumsily clambered onto his lap.

The little girl sat on his lap while her mother looked at her with a pale face, “C-Chun Jia, stop bothering the immortal.”

Tilting her head in confusion, the little girl asked him, “What’s an immoral?”

The youth looked at her with a dumbfounded gaze before laughing out loud, “I-I think your mother meant ‘immortal’.”

“What’s that?” Chun Jia asked once again.

“Those who can utilize Qi are called ‘Cultivators’. Immortals are just another name for them.”

“Ooh~” she looked at Ma Fei, “Mom, mom, is this big brother an immor…immortal?”

“Yes, don’t bother the Immortal,” she hissed at the little girl. In response, Chun Jia stuck her tongue out and stayed put. Ma Fei was anxious since she feared that Chun Jia would anger the youth yet she couldn’t exactly snatch her away from his lap.

Chun Jia then looked at the youth and asked, “What do the immortals do with Qi?”

“They use it to grow stronger.”

“Stronger?” Chun Jia’s eyes glowed. “You need strength to adventure!” she mumbled to herself. She looked at him with sparkling eyes and asked, “C-Can I become a Cultivator then?”

The youth smiled and glanced at her mother silently. Ma Fei could not comprehend what he was thinking. That was the same for Chun Dong who was trying subtly to peek at his expression.

The youth finally patted Chun Jia’s head, “You can become a cultivator but how will you become one?”

The little girl’s spirits dampened and she fell into deep thought. She stroked her chubby chin before replying, “Teach me!”

Ma Fei sucked in a cool breath of air as soon as she said those words. Her hands that were clenched began shaking from the force.

“If that’s what you want then I suppose…” the youth retracted his gaze. He looked at Chun Jia and said in a regretful voice, “I would like to train you but…”

“But what?” Chun Jia became anxious and Ma Fei looked like she had found her saving grace.”

“Uh…” the youth made a hesitant face as though he was unwilling to say it out loud.

“What, what?” Chun Jia pressed.

“My…my arts can only be passed down the family.”

“D-Does that mean you can’t teach me?” her small, round eyes welled up with tears.

“Uh, oh, yeah…sorry.” The youth scratched his neck awkwardly. Chun Jia’s tears began to roll as she puffed up her cheeks and looked at him with a pitiful look. She got down from his lap and went back to her mother. Ma Fei tried to placate her hastily while repeatedly glancing at the youth.

Even if he pretended to look somewhere else, there was no way he didn’t see what was happening. His mood soured. Exhaling loudly, he grabbed the sides of the carriage and vaulted off. Dusting his hands off, he murmured audibly, “I knew this was a bad idea…”

Chun Dong hurriedly pulled on the reins to stop the horses. He jerked forwards and stabilized himself before looking at the youth who was walking. “W-Wait, Immortal!” Chun Dong yelled behind him.

“Don’t worry; I’ll walk the remaining path.” The youth waved without looking back and began putting strength in his legs.

“W-Wait, have we wronged you in some way?”

“You have not,” the youth shook his head. He said nothing more as the others fell silent with only Chun Jia crying and whining for him to return after noticing that he was leaving.

Pushing on the ground, he sprinted forward and was soon out of the family’s sight.

After running a while, he stopped. He looked back and saw that the carriage could not be seen on the horizon. He sighed in relief.

“Thank fuck, I left. That was getting awkward way too quick.” Not even having sweated, he began walking at a leisurely pace once more. “By the looks of it, Bluebranch City shouldn’t be any more than 10 kilometers away. Hopefully, I don’t run into these situations anymore.”

“As long as-” Jian Gong appeared in his hologram form next to him, “-you’re in any other realm except the first, second, and third one, these situations will continue.”

“Does that mean those realms have no ordinary people?”

“There but such people are incredibly rare, mostly consisting of people with rare diseases.”

“Wait, you mean to say even newborn children are Cultivators up there?”

“Oh yeah, since the children born, if they’re even conceived, are usually from Cultivator parents of unfathomable realms, they’re usually born with the strength of Qi Refinement or Blood Condensation Realms.”

The youth sighed heavily. The impact of the information he just heard felt heavy. He paused and seemed to recall a particular point, “Wait, why did you phrase it like babies aren’t conceived all the much in higher Realms of Cultivation?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Jian Gong looked at him in mild surprise. “Yeah, the higher Realm you have, the fewer chances you have of conceiving a child.”

“Even with a partner with a similar cultivation level as you?”

“Yes.”

“Then, with ordinar-” before he could ask, Jian Gong cut him off, “Especially with ordinary partners. An ordinary mother would not be able to handle a child that has the strength of a Cultivator.”

“Because it needs far more nutrition than the mother can provide. Is that the case?”

“Exactly. At that point, the fetus becomes nothing more than a parasite. Once it stops getting nutrition from the mother in the normal way, it starts seeking nutrition in any way possible. Usually by depleting the mother’s life force.”

“Y-Yikes…”

“Yeah, the ending is particularly gruesome. The…uh, mothers end up shriveling and mummifying into nothing but a dry husk while the fetus, unable to get nutrition, dies.”

Jian Gong’s words made the air heavy. As the youth digested his words, his expression soon transformed into a mix of horror and disgust. Jian Gong, having noticed this, said, “Oh boy that face tells me you thought up some fucked up shit. Come on, lay it on me.”

The youth opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. After a bout of hesitation, he finally mumbled out the words. “If the mother is given adequate nutrition through artificial means, doesn’t that mean when the fetus forms its limbs, a simple kick from it will rupture the mother’s stomach?”

“…fuck you. Ugh, what the fuck goes on in that head of yours!?”

“You asked for it, you bastard!”

“Yeah, remind me not to do that again.”

“Haah~” the youth sighed and changed the topic, “let’s forget about this. What do I have next on the agenda?”

“Go to Bluebranch City, earn money, learn an occupation, make shit, sell shit, earn money, and buy shit to cultivate, cultivate, get stronger, rinse and repeat.”

“You mean get a job?” the youth raised an eyebrow.

“No, I mean learn an occupation. You do know the jobs practiced in Spiritual Haven, right?”

“No.”

“Good to know I have an uneducated bastard as my host this time around.”

“I don’t have time for your drivel. Answer, slave.”

“Right. The accepted cultivations can learn are- Forger, Physician, Formations Master, Alchemist, Diviner, Talisman Maker, Enchanter, Chorister, and Beast Tamer.”

“Those can’t be the only jobs.”

“You’re absolutely right. These are just the accepted and respected Cultivations. Of course, there are others but they are either obscure or looked down upon. Case in point- Poison Masters.”

“I have a feeling they’re not well received among the people.”

“Oh, yeah. People despise them; especially, Poison Masters.”

“For obvious reasons, yeah?”

“So, uh… which of these sound appealing to you?” Jian Gong asked whilst peeking at his expression.

After thinking a bit, the youth answered honestly, “On a surface level, all of them. Each of them sounds, and if I’m right about what they are, sounds amazing. And-” he paused and stumbled with his words before continuing, “-even if they end up being boring, they might have some great advantages.”

“Yeah but I asked what appealed to you the most?” Jian Gong repeated. He wanted to say more but his expression changed as if understanding something, “You…uh, won’t say that it’s Poison Master, right?”

“Honestly, from where I was standing, Poison Master seems like a pretty good option.” As he saw Jian Gong’s face contorting, he hurriedly changed his words, “I-It seemed like a pretty good option. Yeah, it seemed. I’m just saying that I’ll keep Poison Master as a side, side occupation. The most interesting occupation to me is Forger while the one I can learn the easiest might be Chorister.”

Jian Gong’s expression finally eased and he asked curiously, “Oh? Elaborate.”

“Forging should have the benefits of strengthening your body and making you heat resistant. And uh,-” he grinned childishly, “-the prospect of making my own weapons, even the more outlandish ones feels exciting.”

“And Chorister?”

“That’ll be easier to learn since I somehow have 100% singing talent and musical instrument proficiency. Speaking of which, why do I have those?”

“I did say you were a fragment of the 『Creator’s』 soul, right?”

“Yeah?” The youth sighed. “Of course, it had something to do with the fucking 『Creator』…”

“Yeah, well, he was a big fan of songs, singing, and just music in general.”

“So, his love for music was enough for it to be ingrained into his soul?”

“Yep, I mean two other things have also been ingrained but I won’t tell you what they are.”

“I see…” he did not bother pressing for answers since even if he did, he was sure Jian Gong wouldn’t tell him.

“Look,” Jian Gong called out. The youth lifted his head and saw a row of walls on the distant horizon. There were blue banners periodically hung on them.

Finally, they had reached Bluebranch City.