Tokyo: Proving one's position from behind the scenes

Adachi Ward, Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

"Ring ring ring".

In an ordinary apartment, three copper coins slipped from the fingers of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy and fell onto the table with a crisp sound.

Nagayama Akira fiddled with the fallen copper coin with his fingers, and the invisible destiny was connected by the hexagram, which then manifested as a hexagram.

"Ghost Gold Crossing the Moon, Gold Nature Chaos, Position Hanging in Vain."

Looking at the unchanging hexagram over the past eighteen years, Akira Nagayama wanted to burst into laughter, but he managed to stop himself.

"Heaven has not forsaken me, the Golden Spear Immortal!"

Jin Ge was Yongshan Ming's Daoist name in his previous life. This life is Yongshan Ming's second time transmigrating. In his previous life, he was an ordinary office worker who was transported to the eighteenth floor by a great transport to enjoy a life of luxury. He was reborn into a great world of cultivation where there are immortal cultivators.

Unfortunately, that great world of cultivation was a complete cesspool. Whether righteous or demonic, they would stop at nothing to advance further. Although those with great supernatural powers would cultivate lower-level cultivators, those who cultivated Qi would consume human pills, those who established their foundation would seize others' Dao foundations, and those in the Purple Mansion would even slaughter an entire nation to open a secret realm.

In his previous life, Yongshan Ming exerted all his strength, using his own Dao wisdom and some fortuitous encounters to become a Purple Mansion True Person, finally shedding the label of "lower cultivator" and at least having the right to know how he died. In the end, however, he became a consumable for a Golden Core True Lord to forge the [Bi Yue] golden nature, returning to the Dao and returning to Heaven.

For this reason, his original "Ghost Metal" destiny has an additional layer of "Ghost Metal Crossing the Moon" imagery.

In his previous life, he returned the Dao to the Heavenly Empress. Yongshan Ming's true spirit remained undying, and he was reborn in a technological world called Blue Star, which is very similar to his previous life. Unfortunately, he was unlucky in this life and was abandoned as an orphan right after birth.

Reincarnated here, Nagayama Akira never let his guard down, fearing that it was another scheme orchestrated by the upper cultivator. In the hands of a great supernatural being, a seemingly real world could be created using supernatural illusions or blessed lands.

However, even the most powerful cultivators cannot conceal the golden nature and fruition of those who have already attained them. This is because as long as one forges the golden nature and seeks the fruition through their own cultivation, they will immediately form a golden core or a Dao embryo, each possessing considerable strength. As a result, the cultivators achieve a visible balance of power and non-aggression, and their images shine brightly like the suns in the sky, making them known to the cultivators below.

Yongshan performed divination tomorrow night, and for the past eighteen years, the same hexagram has appeared: the nature of metal in this world is chaotic, the positions of enlightenment are hidden and all are without master, and at the same time, no superior cultivator has followed the hexagram to deliver a powerful blow. Therefore, it can be confirmed that no one in this world is cultivating.

Having definitively confirmed that there was no supreme cultivator in this world, Nagayama Akira reached into the cabinet and rummaged around, pulling out a dozen or so small porcelain bottles. These were the true qi that Nagayama Akira had collected through various channels.

True Qi is the origin of the cultivation system in the previous life. The first stage of Qi Refining requires using cultivation techniques to guide a True Qi that is compatible with one's destiny into the Dantian.

Open one of the porcelain bottles labeled with the character "Yang," and a domineering aura of a high-hanging sun instantly fills the room, making one feel as if they are under the midday sun.

"Alas, the [True Yang Qi] is incomparably domineering, it is the ninth-grade [Star Sun] True Qi. In my previous life, I could not obtain it, for to do so would mean certain death. Although I can obtain it in this life, my destiny is not compatible, and I lack supernatural powers, so I cannot use it."

"I possess the 'Ghost Metal' destiny and the image of 'Walking with the Moon,' so it's best to cultivate the 'Ghost Metal' from my past life. However, I can also cultivate other metal virtues or the 'Bi Yue' (Bi Moon)." Nagayama Akira thought to himself.

After carefully storing the [Zhengyang Qi], Yongshan Ming picked up a porcelain bottle labeled with the character "Jin" and opened it. A scent of incense began to emanate from it, followed by the low chanting of sacrificial music, which subtly surrounded Yongshan Lian.

The Six Heavens Ancient Qi was originally the seventh-grade true Qi of the [Witchcraft] path. As the ancient gold and earth elements divided and consumed the [Witchcraft], this true Qi became the [Ghost Gold] true Qi.

【Ghost Gold】is gold used for sacrifices, which can be used to worship and control gods and ghosts, and also has the hardness and sharpness of gold.

Without further hesitation, Yongshan Ming formed hand seals and focused his mind on his dantian. The cultivation path of his previous life's "Yu Gui Zhao Shen Jing" clearly appeared—this cultivation method was the fundamental technique that enabled him to become a Purple Mansion True Person in his previous life, specializing in the [Ghost Metal] path.

As Yongshan Ming silently recited the incantation, his aura suddenly changed. The [Six Heavens Ancient Qi] that was drifting in the air seemed to be drawn to him, and the previously aimless incense smoke began to converge on him. The sacrificial chants gradually became clearer, and the calls of "Return," "Return" could be faintly heard.

The moment the true qi entered his body, Yongshan Ming felt an icy, bone-chilling cold surge from his limbs and bones into his dantian. This cold was unlike ordinary low temperatures; it felt as if countless invisible hands were probing into his bone marrow and directly into his spiritual center, trying to tear his soul from his body. He vividly remembered the pain of guiding qi into his body for the first time in his previous life. Although he had a mortal body in this life, with the wisdom of his past life as a foundation, his mind was stable. No matter how much the tearing sensation ripped at him, his consciousness remained clear.

Within his dantian, a wisp of golden energy slowly took shape. This was the magical power formed after the [Six Heavens Ancient Qi] had been refined by the *Yu Gui Zhao Shen Jing*. As the first wisp of his natal true qi successfully condensed within his dantian, specks of golden light began to appear on Yongshan Ming's body. This golden light was not dazzling; instead, it carried a chilling aura, like the cold gleam of moonlight reflecting off newly cast bronze. Amidst the flickering golden light, the voices of gods and ghosts echoed from the void, as if countless ghostly soldiers were chanting softly, praising a certain deity.

He has successfully completed the initial stage of Qi cultivation.

Yongshan Ming opened his eyes, feeling the faint yet real magical power in his dantian, and for the first time in eighteen years, he showed a genuine smile. In his previous life, it took him three whole months to complete the step of guiding Qi into his body, but in this life, relying on his past life's wisdom and experience, he succeeded in just a quarter of an hour.

"Next is to consolidate my cultivation and nurture this wisp of magic power. Once it fills my dantian, I can try to break through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining. With my current Dao wisdom, I can do it in less than a year."

He was about to continue circulating his energy when he suddenly sensed something was wrong.

The flow of magical power in his dantian began to stagnate, as if he were struggling to move forward in a quagmire. At first, Nagayama Akira thought it was due to the blockage of his physical meridians in this life, but he soon realized that the problem was not with himself, but with this world.

It's a problem with the spiritual atmosphere.

Cultivators draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to refine themselves, requiring the assistance of the spiritual energy, spiritual objects, and the spiritual atmosphere created by the cultivator's actions. Just as fish need water, cultivators also need an environment with a suitable spiritual atmosphere to cultivate smoothly.

But the spiritual atmosphere in this apartment was shockingly thin.

No, it's not thin, it's lifeless.

Nagayama Akira extended his senses, using his true energy as a guide to probe the flow of spiritual energy in the surrounding area. Upon this probe, his expression immediately darkened.

In the great era of cultivation in the past, the life, death, and breakthroughs of countless cultivators caused the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to surge like rivers. Although there were varying degrees of richness and thinness of spiritual energy, there was always a sense of flow. Even in the most spiritually barren mortal lands, the spiritual energy would slowly circulate with changes in the seasons, the direction of the earth's veins, and the activities of cultivators, like a gentle stream.

But the spiritual atmosphere of this world is like a stagnant pool.

There was no sign of flow, no ebb and flow, and not even the slightest "vitality." The spiritual energy simply existed lifelessly, neither actively flowing into the cultivator's body nor rejecting the cultivator's absorption, but being drawn in an extremely slow and sluggish manner.

As Nagayama Akira tried to continue circulating his internal energy, a stiff, stagnant feeling came from his dantian and limbs. The once smooth flow of energy became bumpy and difficult. It felt like trying to cut meat with a rusty knife; the knife was still the knife, and the meat was still the meat, but he just couldn't get any leverage.

After managing to complete one small cycle of circulation, Nagayama Akira had to stop his practice.

"This spiritual atmosphere..." He frowned. His more than two hundred years of cultivation experience in his previous life made him feel as if he were in stagnant water. The water was not flowing, oxygen could not enter, anaerobic bacteria multiplied in large numbers, and eventually the entire body of water lost its vitality.

It's not that it doesn't exist, but rather that it's "dead."

Nagayama Akira remained silent for a moment, then picked up three copper coins and performed the divination again. The coins fell, and the hexagram was exactly the same as the one he had divined every day for the previous eighteen years—the metal element was chaotic, and the position of the celestial being was vacant.

"I see." Nagayama Akira put away the copper coins, his gaze calm. "The reason why there are no supreme cultivators in this world is not only because there are no cultivation methods passed down, but also because this world itself is not suitable for cultivation."

The spiritual atmosphere is deathly still, making the path of cultivation ten or even a hundred times more difficult than in the previous life.

But then he laughed again.

"So what if it's difficult? In my past life, I was able to achieve the Purple Mansion realm even in such a treacherous world of cultivation. In this life, I can occupy a world of my own. Even if the spiritual atmosphere is desolate, it's still a hundred times better than being used as waste material for others."

Wait, consumables!

Nagayama Akira immediately realized why the upper-level cultivators in his previous life would intentionally cultivate and protect lower-level cultivators.

These cultivators are not only the consumables for advanced cultivation, but their life, death, and breakthroughs are the best spiritual energy!