Chapter 1: [Take a Break]

Chapter 1 [Take a Break]

“Condensation Stage, first layer.”

This result immediately sparked a quiet discussion.

“Huh, is that the Xiao Chen the Instructor mentioned?”

“He looks pretty energetic. Doesn’t seem like he’s sleepwalking through life.”

The last comment was whispered low enough to ensure Xiao Chen couldn’t hear: “Even this year’s new disciples have advanced to the second layer of Condensation. Some people are still stuck in place.”

The senior apprentice conducting the test glanced at the thin young man before him with mild surprise.

Then, he jotted down Xiao Chen’s cultivation level and signaled him to leave.

Though the Servant Peak teemed with lower-tier cultivators trapped at cultivation bottlenecks, abandoning their paths as their lives slipped away, they were all elderly, their vitality long faded.

Disciples as young as Xiao Chen were still clinging desperately to progress. Even as manual laborers, they clung to faint hopes for the future, diligently practicing foundational breathing techniques.

Over the past three years since joining the sect, most newcomers had reached the third layer of Condensation, facing the minor bottleneck before Core Formation Mid-Stage. A few particularly slow cultivators had even broken through to the second layer last year.

After all, they were all “cultivation seedlings” who had passed the Red Fire Sect’s entrance test. With hard work, advancing through minor stages posed no real problem.

Yet Xiao Chen was an exception.

Three years in, he remained at Condensation Stage 1.

Rumors said that after finishing his daily tasks in the spirit fields, he’d always leisurely sip tea, stroll, admire flowers, and enjoy the scenery.

Never actively cultivating, living like a senile old man.

The epitome of sloth, a paragon of complacency.

The only reason the Servant Peak overseer hadn’t expelled him was due to the sect’s regulations lacking specific provisions for such a case.

Even the founding ancestors hadn’t anticipated this scenario when establishing the sect.

After all, aside from distant precedents, simply reaching the third layer of Condensation allowed one to effortlessly cast the Minor Cloud Rain Technique.

Normal people might slack off, but they’d at least break through to the third layer first.

Once at the third layer, with the Core Formation Mid-Stage bottleneck just ahead, they’d naturally try harder to advance into the Outer Sect.

But Xiao Chen acted bizarrely—he refused to cultivate at all.

Even though his Minor Cloud Rain Technique could cover only one acre of spirit field daily, forcing him to manually irrigate another acre by carrying water, he accepted this without complaint.

Call him lazy? Carrying water wasn’t easy.

Call him diligent? He didn’t even train his body. Each trip saw him struggling with just two half-filled buckets, panting at the slightest extra weight.

He didn’t seem foolish, yet he squandered his prime.

Thankfully, Xiao Chen’s two acres of spirit fields consistently produced decent harvests. Without errors to exploit, the overseers had no grounds to punish him.

Eventually, they grew accustomed to letting him drift.

After all, he was just a servant disciple tending spirit fields. As long as the crops thrived, how he cultivated mattered little.

The only one constantly berating Xiao Chen was Wu Lao Tou, the Servant Peak’s instructor—known to other disciples as the Instructor.

Responsible for teaching foundational breathing techniques to new servant disciples, he often used Xiao Chen as a cautionary tale during lectures, warning newcomers never to emulate him.

“Young ones must strive while you’re still fresh,” he’d say. “First, aim for the Outer Sect, then fight for the Inner Sect.

“Succeed, and you secure your future. Even failure earns resources for your descendants.

“After all, Outer Sect disciples receive two spirit stones monthly, while Inner Sect disciples get five.

“Servant disciples like you toil a month for a single stone, yet can’t even afford the Bigan Rice you grow.

“You’re forced to buy Huangsha Rice from the mountain markets—lowest yield, worst taste, cheapest price.

“It’s practically spiritless, barely better than ordinary grain. Even slightly decent spirit beasts refuse to eat it.”

Yet regardless of external opinions, Xiao Chen remained unmoved.

Idle gossip reaching his ears became mere background noise.

He continued his routine—tending fields, sipping tea, strolling—maintaining his rhythm day after day, year after year.

Xiao Chen wasn’t truly idle or resigned.

After all, he was a transmigrated soul!

Though he didn’t know why he’d regressed from twenty-eight to seventeen upon reincarnation, youth itself wasn’t a bad thing.

The key point? In his second year here, he’d detected a low-grade wood spirit root, joining the Red Fire Sect.

When he cultivated his first mana, a mysterious system activated—a Hextech Reinforcement choice.

A glowing interface only he could see materialized, displaying three cards with simple options:

[Axiom Arc I: Restores 10% mana upon defeating an enemy.]

[Golden Rain Coin: Instantly gain 80 spirit stones and receive 10 more annually.]

[Take a Break: For the next three years, cultivation becomes impossible. Afterward, advance three minor stages and receive 200 spirit stones.]

???

As a veteran player of Teamfight Tactics and Jin Chan Chan (Auto Chess), Xiao Chen was intimately familiar with Hextechs.

After brief shock, he instinctively looked for a “refresh” button beneath the options.

Why only one Hextech?

Axiom Arc I was out—mana restoration mattered, but requiring enemy kills made it the worst choice for a cultivator, not a battlemage.

Golden Rain Coin offered solid economic benefits, a steady income—mid-tier at best.

But Take a Break was one of the top-tier starting Hextechs!

Three years of cultivation suspension for a direct leap of three minor stages?

From Condensation Stage 1 straight to Core Formation Mid-Stage!

According to the Instructor, ordinary disciples needed five years of grueling effort to reach that level.

Each major cultivation stage had three minor tiers—early, mid, and late—each separated by major and minor bottlenecks.

The moment the Hextech appeared, Xiao Chen received a mysterious message:

Upon breaking through a cultivation bottleneck, you may select a new Hextech Reinforcement. Previous effects remain active.

Choosing Take a Break would let him bypass the early-stage bottleneck, seamlessly transitioning to the next Hextech.

Plus, the 200 spirit stones!

At his current rate, he earned just 12 stones annually.

200 stones would take 18.5 years of frugal living—far surpassing the combined value of the other two Hextechs.

Scanning for a refresh option yielded nothing. Only these three choices existed.

At the top of the interface, a numeral “10” appeared, beginning a countdown.

If he didn’t choose, a random Hextech would activate.

Without hesitation, Xiao Chen selected the third option—Take a Break!

As he mentally confirmed, the card dissolved into a streak of light, merging into his spirit sea.

From then on, he could absorb heavenly qi but couldn’t refine it into mana.

He couldn’t learn spells through the Instructor’s lectures.

Even using spirit stones yielded no progress.

Well then—time to take a break.

Three years passed in a blur.

Now, just one day remained.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end