Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

Chapter 699: Chapter 699: The Salty Fish Wang
 

Paths are made by walking; boats are built for sailing the endless sea of learning!

After several months in the Scripture Pavilion of Yongle Immortal City, Wang Chen found his current job to be extremely well-suited for him, as if it had been tailored specifically for him.

The position of Director was neither high nor low; he did not have to take on major responsibilities, nor did he need to do tedious and exhausting work.

Wang Chen simply had to inspect the floor he was responsible for on a regular schedule, check on the work of the Book Servants, and then he could spend the rest of his time in his room reading, savoring tea, nurturing his Qi, and cultivating.

Though the Scripture Pavilion housed a vast collection of books and jade slips, it did not involve high-value cultivation techniques or secrets, so even the most ordinary residents of the city could borrow texts here.

Therefore, no one would go out of their way to target this place, making it very safe and stable.

The more Wang Chen read from the library, the deeper his understanding of the Haotian Realm became, and the richer the variety of information he possessed.

Quantitative change can bring about qualitative change; in fact, many interesting and useful pieces of knowledge and information were hidden in the lines of these texts, easily overlooked with a casual glance but could be unearthed with careful reading.

For instance, records about Spiritual Pearls and mysterious ginseng came from the travel notes of an unnamed author.

This notebook was stored in a corner on the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion, and Wang Chen had discovered it inadvertently while conducting a detailed inventory of the library’s collections, due to his responsibility for managing the third floor.

Unexpectedly, he found content inside that was very useful for himself.

Compared to that, the meager salary and benefits of the Scripture Pavilion were simply insignificant!

Wang Chen hoped to continue as he was, until he could form his Golden Core.

“Little Wang,”

inside the tearoom on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, an old cultivator with white hair and beard smiled at Wang Chen and said, “The rest of us are just old fellows waiting for death and eating without working; you’re so young, don’t close off your own path.”

“Cough, cough!”

Wang Chen coughed twice, and with a bitter smile said, “Elder, as you know, my Taoist Foundation has been damaged. Unless I obtain a Revival Pill, it’s already good if I can preserve my cultivation level. I don’t dare to dream of anything else!”

Revival Pills are tier-three pills, and to concoct them, one needs seventeen main ingredients and auxiliary materials, all of which are valuable treasures of heaven and earth.

Furthermore, the difficulty of concocting such pills is extremely high; not every master dare attempt it, and producing two or three successful pills in one batch is already quite good.

Therefore, even for a Golden Core True Person, obtaining a few Revival Pills is no easy task.

How could Wang Chen, an insignificant and powerless Purple Mansion, dare to hope for them?

The other Directors present, of course, understood this very well and commonly offered words of comfort.

One said the lucky have their own heavenly protection, another said that surviving a great disaster usually brings greater blessings.

It sounded heartwarming, but Wang Chen could detect a hint of schadenfreude.

It wasn’t because he was overly sensitive.

The five Directors of the Scripture Pavilion were ranked according to seniority, from the Principal Director down to the second, third, and so forth…

Wang Chen was ranked last as the fifth Director.

Unlike the other four Directors, who were waiting for death and freeloaders, he was still very young. Even with a damaged Taoist Foundation and a bleak future, the vitality of life he possessed was incomparable to others.

Even if Wang Chen’s cultivation remained stagnant, with proper self-care, he could live another two hundred years.

The lifespans of the other four Directors were not that long, and seeing Wang Chen so young, how could they possibly feel comfortable?

These fellows, cast aside to the Scripture Pavilion to while away their days, had long since lost their ambitions, and thus their minds were not magnanimous!

Therefore, they enjoyed provoking Wang Chen, intentionally or unintentionally, reminding him of his “wound” both overtly and covertly, and also putting on an act of caring and concern that made it difficult for him to respond with anger.

They relished this to no end!

Wang Chen had long seen through their petty thoughts and avoided them as much as possible when it wasn’t necessary to interact.

In doing so, he inadvertently isolated himself.

But for him, this was actually for the best!

After exchanging a few forced pleasantries with several directors, Wang Chen rose from his seat to take his leave, returning to his own room from the tea room.

Today was the monthly directors’ meeting, which he had to attend.

Now that the meeting was over, Wang Chen had only been pretending to engage with these decrepit old men as he was stuffed full and bored!

“Tsk tsk!”

The elderly cultivator from earlier shook his head, displaying an expression of regret, “What a pity.”

The other directors nodded earnestly in agreement, repeating, “Such a pity!”

Then they shared a knowing smile with each other.

They felt superior to Wang Chen with their longer years of service and status, but in reality, Wang Chen regarded these men as nothing more than dry bones in a tomb; he couldn’t care less about them as long as they didn’t interfere with his life.

Upon returning to his room and closing the door, Wang Chen picked up a Taoist canon that he hadn’t finished reading and continued to immerse himself in it.

Meanwhile, as he focused on reading, inside his Qi Sea Dantian, a bright and lustrous Golden Core continuously absorbed and exhaled spiritual power, spinning incessantly.

His robust mana surged like a long river flowing through his meridians, cycling back and forth, ultimately returning to the Dantian.

His cultivation realm was slowly but steadily improving!

By the time the Scripture Pavilion was about to close for the evening, when Wang Chen stepped out of his room, his complexion had “recovered” to its original paleness, the brightness faded from his eyes, and his entire aura became downcast and defeated.

Although the one who had relegated Wang Chen to this place, True Person Guan Shengping, had already forgotten this insignificant figure.

Wang Chen continued to diligently play the role of an “injured person.”

As long as he maintained the image of a “salted fish,” he could lie low in security.

No longer attracting attention or scheming from the likes of Guan Shengping, Yu Fei, and other calculating individuals!

And so, with winter passing and spring arriving, another year went by.

In the Grain Rain season, a slight change occurred in Wang Chen’s comfortable life at the Scripture Pavilion.

He was promoted.

It wasn’t that Wang Chen’s cultivation realm had broken through from the eighth tier of the Purple Mansion to the ninth, but that he had been promoted from the lowest-ranked fifth director to the fourth, now responsible for managing the fourth floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

The reason was simple; the previous second-ranking director had passed away.

The second director was the oldest, with particularly narrow-minded views, and he especially enjoyed lording over Wang Chen with his seniority.

Perhaps it was the heavens that decided to intervene, but it was said that he deviated during a pill consumption meditation and died on the spot.

In this way, Wang Chen became the fourth director.

And his previous position was quickly filled by someone else.

There were countless cultivators in Yongle Immortal City, and plenty of unfortunate ones; being dispatched to sit on the cold bench of the Scripture Pavilion was considered rather good.

As summer arrived in the blink of an eye,

Wang Chen applied to the Director of the Scripture Pavilion, Cao Ke, for annual leave.

The Scripture Pavilion was considered an obscure department within the structure of Yongle Immortal City, without any perks or future prospects, thus the rules were quite lenient.

For a director like Wang Chen, it was possible to apply for a ten-day or half-month annual leave as needed.

As long as he returned after his rest, that was sufficient.

Cao Ke didn’t make it difficult for him, granting his request quite readily.

——–

The first update has arrived.