The Cold and Aloof Palace Master's Daily Demon-Slaying Life

Standing among a group of equally bewildered, nervous, or curious children, Zuo Qingqiu tightly clutched the thin, rough-papered "Qi Cultivation Manual," her heart pounding.

She didn't know what "emptiness" was, nor did she quite understand what "sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth" specifically meant. But she understood the last sentence: if you can sense it, you don't need to go back to farming.

Not having to go back to farming means not being crushed by the burdens of life like my mother, and it means there's a possibility... to change my destiny.

Her father's death, her mother's suffering, her sister's tears, the family's increasingly dire situation... all of these things coalesced in her young but precocious mind into an incredibly clear thought:

Seize it! This is your only chance!

So, in the simple school, she became the most diligent child. She practiced every word the teacher taught her repeatedly until she could write them neatly and beautifully. When the teacher explained the formulas, breathing routes, and methods of calming the mind in the "Qi Cultivation Formula," she listened intently, afraid of missing a single word. If she didn't understand something, even if the teacher scolded her, she would muster the courage to ask until she got to the bottom of it.

She knew she had no way out.

After school, under the dim light of an oil lamp, she helped her mother with chores while repeatedly recalling and pondering the contents of the "Qi Cultivation Manual" in her mind. When the night was deep and quiet, after her mother and younger sister had gone to sleep, she would secretly get up and, following the description of the technique, sit cross-legged on the cold earthen bed, trying to calm her mind and sense the ethereal "spiritual energy of heaven and earth".

The first month was uneventful. Only the soreness and numbness in my legs and feet and the anxiety in my heart.

The second month passed, and she remained lost. Among the children who had started learning together, some had begun excitedly announcing that they "felt it!" The teacher's attitude towards those children became noticeably kinder. But she was still groping in darkness and silence.

Her mother saw it all and felt a pang of pain in her heart, but didn't know how to comfort her. She could only stroke her head and whisper, "Qiu'er, don't push yourself too hard. Even... even if it doesn't work out, our family can still get by."

Zuo Qingqiu bit her lip and shook her head vigorously.

No, she didn't want to "live well." She didn't want her mother to continue suffering like this, she didn't want her younger sister to repeat their fate in the future, and she didn't want to be like her father, whose life was easily taken away by a minor cold.

She wants to cultivate immortality!

She wants to become the kind of "immortal" who can dispel illness and control her own destiny with just a wave of her hand!

Perhaps it was this almost obsessive desire that awakened some dormant talent within her.

One night, two and a half months into the enlightenment process.

She sat cross-legged as usual, clearing her mind of all distractions, and tried to sink her thoughts into the dantian (three inches below the navel) according to the method of "Nourishing Qi". She wanted to capture the legendary "Qi sensation".

At first, everything was still in chaos.

But after an unknown amount of time, just as her mind was about to wander, suddenly—

A faint, cool, and vibrant "flow" was born from nothingness and flowed slowly into her dantian, guided by her will!

The feeling was mysterious and indescribable. It wasn't that anything actually entered the body, but rather a definite "perception," a kind of enlightenment that established a strange connection with the surrounding world.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth!

She sensed it!

Zuo Qingqiu suddenly opened her eyes. In the darkness, her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, and her heart pounded wildly, almost bursting out of her chest.

她成功了！

The next day, when she was in the classroom, in front of her teacher and all the children, she stirred a wisp of energy around her fingertips. For the first time, the usually serious teacher showed surprise at her, followed by an undisguised smile of admiration.

"Zuo Qingqiu, from Courtyard No. 3 (Class A), possesses a potential for cultivation!"

The news spread like wildfire.

When the steward in charge of the matter from the Zuo family personally came to their dilapidated tile-roofed house, announced that all their land rent would be waived, and that the mother and her two daughters would be taken to a better house on the outskirts of the Cuiwei Mountains, the mother, Ning Yuhe, was stunned for a long time. Then, she hugged her and her sister and burst into tears.

It was a release that had been suppressed for too long, an ecstatic joy at finally seeing a glimmer of light in despair.

Held in his mother's arms, Zuo Qingqiu felt her mother's trembling body and hot tears, but he felt not much joy, only a heavy sense of determination mixed with relief and ambition.

She took the first step.

But that's far from enough.

-

Moving into the new house and being exempt from land rent has visibly improved our lives.

A long-lost smile finally appeared on Mother's face. Although she was still thin, the sorrow in her eyes had faded considerably. Her younger sister, Leng Qiu, had also become more lively and no longer timidly hid behind her older sister.

But Zuo Qingqiu knew that this was just the beginning.

Becoming a "seed of cultivation" only grants one the qualification to cultivate; it does not guarantee a smooth path forward.

Cultivating immortality requires "resources"—spiritual rice, spirit beast meat, medicinal herbs containing spiritual energy, and even pills to aid cultivation.

Even with these things, their family still lacked.

Those children of immortals whose parents are cultivators themselves have an ample supply of spiritual rice and can often eat spirit beast meat, so their cultivation speed is naturally much faster than that of ordinary people.

She could only rely on the most basic "cultivation seed" quota issued by her family—a bowl of spiritual rice and a small piece of dry, unknown spirit beast jerky every day.

This amount of resources is far from enough.

But she did not complain or get discouraged.

If we don't have enough resources, we'll make up for it with more time and more effort.

Every day before dawn, she would get up to meditate, absorbing the purest "Eastern Purple Qi" at sunrise. During the day, she would go to the family's "Elementary School" to learn more in-depth cultivation knowledge and the basics of various immortal arts.

While others rested and played at night, she continued to meditate, repeatedly circulating the "Qi Nourishing Technique" to refine the meager spiritual energy she absorbed into internal energy, expand her meridians, and nourish her dantian.

Her goal was clear: to reach the first level of Qi Refining as soon as possible!

The master said that the level of emptiness cannot be measured with conventional measuring instruments before one enters the Qi Refining stage.

Only by reaching the first level of Qi Refining and becoming a true Qi Refining cultivator can one be tested using measuring artifacts. The level of one's Qi Aperture directly determines how many resources the family will invest in her in the future.

A, B, C, D, and E are five types of hollows.

Grade A is the highest, meaning there are almost no bottlenecks before reaching the Purple Mansion level. As long as one doesn't perish along the way, one is almost guaranteed to reach the Purple Mansion level!

The lowest level is E, and without a great opportunity, it will be difficult to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage in one's lifetime.

Once it's determined to be a superior acupoint, she'll be able to turn her life around and no longer have to worry about supplies, as her family will provide her with a large amount of resources.

Only in this way can she quickly become stronger, truly take control of her own destiny, and ensure that her mother and sister no longer have to worry about survival or fear a minor cold.

Without the nourishment of spiritual rice and spiritual meat, she relied on meditation to endure the pain.

As the spiritual energy entered her body and was refined, it caused waves of stinging pain as it cleansed her meridians, which she endured with gritted teeth. In the stillness of the night, drowsiness washed over her like a tide, so she pinched her thigh hard to stay awake.

-

PS: It's not a typical flashback; the flashback only takes up four to six chapters, mainly telling some of the protagonist's past events.