"Where can it be…"
After a night of uncomfortable sleep and a short cultivation session in the morning, Yue Rin was scouring the area near where the boar had rushed out from. She circled the spot again and again but nothing looked disturbed. No snapped stems. No dug-up soil. No scent that screamed spirit herb.
She'd heard certain tracking Arts could make finding spirit herbs easy, but she'd never found anything like that in the library.
And it seemed she wasn't getting lucky again like the time she'd stumbled onto one that actually glowed.
After another wide sweep, she straightened and sighed. "Could it be that this boar was just aggressive…?"
She didn't think she was unlucky enough for even boars to charge her out of nowhere. Still, with nothing standing out, she rubbed the back of her head in exasperation.
"It feels like when I'm searching for something in my room that was in front of me the whole time… sigh. Alright. One more time!"
This time, she searched properly, hands parting bushes, eyes scanning branches, circling trunks, even crouching to check under broad leaves.
...
....
.....
"Still nothing. Bleh, time to move on."
The morning was slipping away and noon was closing in. By her calculation, she should arrive at the swamp forest by early evening if she walked nonstop from now.
She avoided the rotting boar corpse and started on her way.
As she walked, boredom crept in, slow and irritating. Looking around helped a little, but she still wished this world had phones like Earth. Or at least something that could distract her without making her feel like she was chewing on her own thoughts.
But alas, it didn't.
So she let her mind wander, because her feet weren't going to stop.
What would she do after she got the orchid? If it worked and healed her weakened foundation… could she finally cultivate properly? Or would she still be stuck clawing her way forward as a rogue cultivator?
The path ahead narrowed. Branches scraped her sleeves. Somewhere in the distance, something chirped, then went silent.
By the time the secret realm ended, she'd be 20.
And the Verdant Pine Sect's recruitment season would start soon after… for kids between 10 and 13.
Yue Rin had read why it was like that. Most awakenings happened around those ages. Earlier or later was possible, sure, but rarer.
If you awakened early, it was good news. Better if someone discovered you and you started cultivating young. Those were called heaven-favored ones.
If you awakened late…
Still good news.
Just paired with a word people said with a smile that didn't reach their eyes.
Latecomer.
In Yue Rin's case, she wasn't even sure when this body had awakened. Probably before sixteen. But she'd only started cultivating after sixteen, so the label still stuck.
And once it stuck, it followed you.
Latecomers weren't only people who awakened late. They were also people who awakened and didn't realize it for years, because of ignorance, poverty, or simply never meeting anyone who could tell them what the warmth in their dantian meant. By the time they realized and started cultivating, precious time had already been wasted.
Her steps kept a steady rhythm. Crunch. Rustle. Crunch.
Would a sect accept someone like that?
Yes.
But not the way people imagined.
Latecomers usually ended up as outer disciples.
And outer disciples…
Yue Rin swallowed, thinking of it like she always did: a contract that looked fair until you read the small print.
The resources weren't worth signing your freedom away for.
Outer disciples get a roof and meals. Just a tiny room. A place to sleep without worrying about rain.
Then they gave the sect their days in return.
Chores from sunrise to dusk. Errands. Cleaning. Carrying. Serving inner disciples who acted like the world was built to be handed to them. Most sects even 'generously' allowed one or two days a week to train and study, less of a break and more a reminder that you are supposed to be grateful for any scraps of time that belonged to you.
Some people called that stability.
Yue Rin called it a leash.
And even if you clawed your way into inner disciple status someday, you'd still be behind the ones who started young, the ones who'd had years of resources poured into them while you were sweeping their courtyards.
Her foot kicked a small stone off the path. It tumbled into brush and vanished.
As an outer disciple, you also couldn't just leave. You couldn't roam outside the sect, chase rumors, gamble on opportunities, or run when things felt wrong. You needed permission for everything that mattered.
So most latecomers became rogue cultivators instead.
It was dangerous. It was lonely.
But it was theirs.
So why did anyone still become an outer disciple?
Yue Rin counted them off without meaning to.
Prestige. Just show your token as a disciple of the Verdant Pine sect, and plenty of people would think twice before causing you trouble.
Safety. Missions in groups, sect formations, fewer sudden deaths.
And… company.
Friends. Connections. People you could laugh with without wondering if they'd slit your throat for a pouch of spirit stones.
As a rogue cultivator, you could find companions on the road, sure. But trust never sat easy. Not when one lucky find could turn a 'close friend' into a knife.
That was why Yue Rin had stayed rogue.
And because in her past life, she'd been a slave to money and work. So She didn't want to repeat that here.
When she started cultivating, she'd made herself a plan: reach Core Formation. Or at least get close to it. And at that point, she could enter a sect as a respected inner disciple, someone worth keeping, not someone worth using.
For that, she needed to go through the realms that are: Qi Foundation → Body Tempering → Qi Condensation → Core Formation.
But after four years, she was still stuck at Qi Foundation.
So that plan was a bust.
But... why did she even want to become stronger?
Yue Rin slowed a little as the question settled in her chest.
To control her fate? That sounded like something a protagonist shouted at the heavens right before getting struck by lightning.
To protect loved ones? She didn't have any in this life. She didn't even know where the original owner's parents had gone, or how she'd ended up as a beggar.
Maybe A-Ling counted… but protect her from what? So far, everything had been quiet. This world hadn't turned its teeth on her yet.
The path dipped. The air cooled. The scent of wet rot crept in so slowly she didn't notice until it was already in her nose.
And that was when another thought, one she usually avoided, rose up.
Maybe she could… settle down instead.
She still had more than enough spirit stones in her Ledger card to convert and live as a mortal without worry. She could buy a house. No! a farmhouse. Grow food. Raise animals. Live somewhere the days were simple.
Meet someone kind. Find Love. And... maybe even marry.
She'd heard of cultivators who'd left sects as inner disciples and chosen peaceful lives instead of pursuing realms. People called them cowards sometimes… but Yue Rin had always heard envy behind the insult.
Most cultivators didn't chase power just to feed their ego. A lot of them chased it for simpler reasons.
To gain enough strength that no one could trample them again.
To climb high enough that hunger and poverty could never touch them.
And of course, to protect their loved ones.
As she walked, her foot suddenly sank deeper into the ground, nearly making Yue Rin fall.
She caught herself and looked around.
Mud.
Dark water pooled between roots. Trees rose thicker here, and the air felt heavy, wet, stale, and oddly quiet. Even the light looked muted, like the canopy was swallowing it whole.
She had arrived at the swamp forest.
She still needed to go deeper to reach the shrine, but now she had to watch her steps. The ground here didn't forgive daydreams.
So Yue Rin stopped thinking and focused on walking.
She could decide the shape of her future after she got out of this secret realm.