Covering the Sky: I, a mortal, ascended to the throne step by step.

The wind whipped up the dust on the ground.

Master Zhang stared intently at Li Xian, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

"Who...who exactly are you, Immortal Master?"

Zhang Wuye's voice was hoarse.

"Just a passerby," Li Xian said calmly. "I know your ancestor was Zhang Lin. I also know that the 'Source Book' was lost in Zishan a thousand years ago. I don't want the book; teach me the basics of finding the source."

Master Zhang let out a long breath and slumped to the ground.

The secret of Master Yuan had weighed on the Zhang family for too long, bringing countless disasters.

Upon hearing that Li Xian didn't want the Heavenly Book, his tense nerves relaxed.

"Since you saved Shizhai, I will naturally impart all my knowledge to you." Zhang Wuye stood up, took out a yellowed and tattered leather book from his pocket, and handed it over with both hands. "These are some notes left by my ancestors. There are no magical spells or magic, just some simple methods for identifying soil and stones."

Li Xian took it and opened it.

It depicts the contours of mountains and rivers, marks the differences in soil color and smell, and records the source techniques in a very ancient way. It can hardly be called source techniques; it's more like a travelogue of mountains and rivers.

"Teach me." Li Xian put down the animal skin scroll, looked at Master Zhang, and said, "No need for books, use your experience."

Master Zhang paused for a moment, then gave a wry smile.

"Master, my skills are beneath my notice—"

"You've managed to support a whole village in this depleted mining area for decades; your skills are truly exceptional."

Master Zhang was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

He led Li Xian to a rocky slope outside the village, squatted down, and placed his withered hands on the ground.

There was no spiritual light, no incantation, and none of the detection methods commonly used by cultivators.

The old man simply closed his eyes, his palms flat on the ground, as if listening to something.

"The source is underground, and like water, it flows." Old Master Zhang's voice was very soft. "You don't need to look for it; just listen to where it's going."

Li Xianyi squatted down, her palms covering the ground.

He probed with his divine sense—no, Master Zhang didn't have divine sense; he wasn't using that.

Li Xian withdrew his divine sense and switched to his most primal perception.

Body temperature, vibration, airflow, humidity.

There was nothing there.

"Take your time," said Master Zhang. "I've been studying for forty years."

Li Xian did not answer.

He silently calculated in his mind:

What is the essence of Master Zhang's Source Technique?

It wasn't a cultivator probing the veins, but a hunter's intuition—an instinct honed over decades of dealing with the earth's veins.

A heavy sword has no edge, and a heavy sword has no skill.

This is something others have studied for forty years.

With his omniscient theoretical framework and the enlightenment blessed by the Bodhi branch, how long will it take?

The answer is—I don't know.

But it certainly won't be forty years.

Inefficiency is insufficient; adjust the method.

That day, Li Xian squatted on the gravel slope for six hours, his palms blistered and bleeding, but he gained nothing.

……

into the night.

The best stone house in Shizhai was given to Li Xian.

Even if it's considered the best, it's nothing more than having intact walls and a draft-free roof.

Li Xian sat cross-legged on the stone couch, his second transformation underway.

Beneath the withered skin, a faint life force spreads like a wisp of smoke.

The bones are remodeling very slowly, and the meridians are widening inch by inch.

The process was very painful.

It's like breaking all the bones in your body and then putting them back together.

Li Xian remained unfazed; the man who covered the sky was too stubborn, and he was somewhat immersed in his situation.

The stone door was pushed open—

Lei Ying stood at the door, holding a bowl of hot soup in her hand. She was wearing only a thin undershirt with the neckline slightly open, revealing her curves.

The northern night wind blew in, making her shiver, but she stood very straight.

"Immortal Master," she said softly, her head bowed, "Ying'er has nothing else to repay you with..."

Li Xian glanced at her.

Moonlight streamed in, making the girl's cheeks flush red. Her eyelashes trembled, and her fingers gripped the rim of the bowl until they turned white. She was so nervous that the soup was shaking.

It wasn't seduction, it wasn't scheming.

This is the most generous thank-you gift a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl could think of.

"Put the soup down, put your clothes on, and go outside," Li Xian said.

Lei Ying bit her lip and didn't move.

"The Immortal Master saved the entire village, and he saved me and my two younger brothers. Ying'er—"

"I saved you because I needed your grandfather to teach me Origin Techniques," Li Xian interrupted her, his tone flat and emotionless. "An equal exchange, nothing owed."

Lei Ying looked up, her eyes red, but she didn't cry.

She knelt down.

"Then Ying'er will be your maid. She can serve tea and water, do laundry and cook, she can do anything. Please, Immortal Master, take her in."

She kowtowed, her forehead hitting the stone ground with a muffled sound.

"No woman in the village is willing to serve others, but Ying'er is. She doesn't want any payment, just meals."

Li Xian remained silent for a few moments.

He wanted to refuse.

Having another person around means being a burden, which doesn't align with the speedrun route.

But then I thought again—Lei Ying, a descendant of the ancient silver-blooded royal family, who achieved enlightenment through an unconventional path.

Once this bloodline awakens, its combat potential is terrifying. In the original work, King and Reiber proved the title of "Uncrowned Emperor" with facts.

Keep it; it'll be useful.

"Get up," he said. "You may be a maid, but I'll set the rules. First, you're not allowed in my cultivation area. Second, you don't need to ask why I tell you what to do. Third—"

He paused.

"Put your clothes on properly."

Lei Ying stopped crying and smiled, nodded repeatedly, and ran out with the bowl in her arms.

Reaching the door, Lei Ying stopped, turned around, and gave a respectful bow.

"Thank you, Immortal Master."

The door closed.

Li Xian continues to transform.

'Silver-blooded royalty, quasi-emperor potential, awakening requires a large amount of resources. No rush, let's use him as a tool for now.'

……

The next morning.

Li Xian stepped out of the stone house, his desiccated appearance particularly horrifying in the morning light.

"Bang!"

A pebble hit his feet.

Wang Shu and Lei Bo, the two little brats, hid behind the low wall, peeking out half their heads with their eyes wide open.

"You old monster! Give me back my sister!"

Wang Shu gripped the second pebble, gathering strength in his arm.

"Exactly!" Reeb chimed in, "You're a hundred years old and you're still bullying my sister!"

The second pebble flew by, its aim was perfect, heading straight for Li Xian's face.

Li Xian tilted his head, and a pebble flew past his ear.

He looked down at the back of his withered hand, the skin of which was wrinkled like tree bark.

'...A hundred years old? These two kids have a good eye.'

"Wang Shu! Lei Bo! What are you doing!"

Lei Ying rushed out from the side, grabbed the two children by the ears with one hand each, dragged them in front of Li Xian, and pressed their heads down.

"Apologize to the Immortal Master!"

"No way!" Wang Shu retorted, his neck stiff.

"He looks like he crawled out of a grave!" Reeb said even faster.

Lei Ying's face turned pale, and she turned to look at Li Xian with fear in her eyes.

"Master, they are young and don't understand..."

Li Xian raised her hand to indicate that it was alright, and walked straight past.

Behind them came Lei Ying's low voice scolding her younger brother, mixed with the two children's unconvinced grumbling.

He didn't turn around.

In the days that followed.

During the day, Li Xian learns Origin Techniques from Master Zhang.

The old man's teaching method was as simple as his craft—he didn't talk about principles, he only talked about doing.

Close to the ground, listen to the pulse, identify the flow direction, and mark the ore eyes.

Repeat the same set of movements until they become second nature.

On the third day, Li Xian touched the threshold.

On the fifth day, he found a trace of a vein as thin as a hair two zhang below the scree slope.

Grandpa Zhang was stunned on the spot, and almost dropped his cane.

"This... it took me eight years to find this vein back then."

Li Xian didn't say anything and continued practicing.

He left the village late at night.

The northern region is not short of bandits. There are more than a dozen bandit gangs of varying sizes entrenched around Shizhai, making a living by plundering mining villages.

Li Xian cleared out one stronghold after another.

Not for chivalry, but for Originium.

Unfortunately, these bandits were dirt poor. After ten days of searching and looting, they had only managed to find a total of two or three hundred catties of ordinary rice.

It's sufficient, but far from fast enough.

Each transformation requires an ever-increasing amount of life force, and the energy provided by ordinary source stones is like a drop in the ocean. Moreover, there is the Dao Palace Secret Realm above the Sea of ​​Wheels Secret Realm, which requires a large amount of source energy.

'Other sources, even divine sources... one must go to the jade gambling grounds.'

……

Day 11.

early morning.

The door to the stone house was pushed open from the inside.

Wang Shu was squatting by the door, teasing ants, while Lei Bo lay beside him, the two of them bored.

The sound of the door opening made them all look up at the same time.

Then, the two children's expressions froze.

The person who came out had skin as white as jade, without a single blemish.

Her long, black hair cascaded down to her waist, her facial features were sharply defined, and there was an ethereal quality about her eyes that was hard to describe, as if she had stepped out of a painting.

No, it looks like it fell from the sky.

Wang Shu opened his mouth, and ants crawled onto his fingers, but he forgot to shake them off.

Reiber exclaimed "Wow!" and stammered:

“Who…who are you?”

Li Xian glanced down at them.

"The one who's a hundred years old."

Both children swallowed at the same time.

Lei Ying, carrying breakfast, turned from the alleyway and nearly dropped the wooden tray the moment she saw Li Xian.

The bowl shook twice, and the soup spilled out, scalding her fingers before she came to her senses.

"Immortal, Immortal Master..."

Li Xian took the wooden tray, lowered his head and sipped the drink, finding it quite delicious.