The sun rose and fell many times over a span of a year. The seasons changed and Jin Jiayi had grown up.
His age reached three years old.
Wang Chang sat in the lotus position as he inhaled and exhaled in his room. Swirls of white mist formed by spiritual energy surrounded his naked body.
With each inhale, the spiritual energy entered his nostrils and pores.
After the Empress found out he reached the 1st Spiritual Gathering realm, she taught him the Jin Imperial Cultivation Manual. It was special and confidential. Only descendants of the Jin Imperial family were allowed to practice this manual.
When comparing it to the basic manual Su Zihao taught him, the two were separated like heaven and earth. One was mud and the other was gold, and there was no need to specify which.
The Jin Imperial Cultivation Manual was inherited from the Four Grass Sect. It was a gift from a Sect Elder hundreds of years ago during the Empire's foundation.
Su Zihao knew about it given that he was assigned to watch over the ever-growing Jin Empire by the Four Grass Sect.
Sweat formed and dripped along Jin Jiayi's skin as his face scrunched up in pain. The cultivation manual required strong pain resistance.
By imitating the spring season inside the body, the spiritual energy accumulated inside Wang Chang's body. Similar to a dew on a blade of grass in the morning.
As the human body was not the world, it required a technique in the manual to force the body to become slightly similar to the world in order to cultivate. This change was so small that Wang Chang couldn't even feel the change.
The proof that it was working was if spiritual energy gathered in his body. Its benefit was its improvement in cultivation speed.
However, cultivation was not a linear process. As Wang Chang cultivated further, it became harder and harder to fill his body with spiritual energy as the spiritual energy in his body resists new spiritual energy from coming in.
This was the main reason Su Zihao had been stuck in the 7th Spiritual Gathering realm even though he was much older than Wang Chang.
And at that moment, the spiritual mist around him dissipated as he opened his eyes.
"I'm still in the 2nd stage…"
Frustration filled Wang Chang's body. Reaching the 1st stage was so easy, and the 2nd stage took him a few months.
By the looks of it, he estimated that reaching the 3rd stage would take a few years. He wondered how long he would need to reach the Consolidation realm, his dream.
Sighing for a long time, Wang Chang stood up and wore his clothes after patting himself dry.
He walked out of his room and was greeted by Anatolia. She fashioned a sweet smile as she lowered herself to his eye level.
"Crown Prince, how was your cultivation?"
"Bad."
Wang Chang's face dropped into sadness. He couldn't help but sigh after he was reminded.
"You will get there, Crown Prince."
Anatolia rubbed his head as she released her motherly aura that he had grown familiar with.
"Thank you."
Wang Chang walked ahead to his master's room. Anatolia followed after him like a shadow.
Once he was in front of Su Zihao's room, he pushed the door open without knocking.
Su Zihao cultivated on his bed, and he opened his eyes upon the door's opening. He smiled at Jin Jiayi.
After successfully teaching Jin Jiayi cultivation, Su Zihao changed. He appreciated the little guy and stopped pestering him if he had understood him in the past.
His change of heart was the main reason Wang Chang reluctantly accepted him as his master. After all, his mother was the one who arranged it.
"Crown Prince, are you frustrated?"
Su Zihao saw it from Jin Jiayi's facial expression. He had been in a similar situation in the past so he perfectly understood the feeling of working hard with little effort.
"I want to learn your cultivation manual!"
Wang Chang uttered with a grim face. He knew the problem was in the cultivation manual. He had heard from Su Zihao that the Jin Empire's manual was a part of the Four Grass Sect's cultivation manual.
"I can't do such a thing, Crown Prince. As an inner disciple of my sect, I have no authority to share our cultivation manual."
Su Zihao shook his head while inwardly shocked that he asked such a thing in the open. Jin Jiayi blatantly showed his contempt for his family's cultivation manual.
"How then?"
Driven by his frustration, Wang Chang asked. He thought he could breeze by cultivation with his aged mentality, but he quickly realized it required a lot of patience, which he certainly did not have.
"Do you want to participate in my sect's recruitment? It is a harsh trial. You need to train your combat ability in order to pass."
Su Zihao sighed, showing how difficult the trial was using his face.
"..."
Wang Chang bit his lip in refusal to reality. He wanted to cultivate fast because he didn't want to put in more effort, but he needed to put more effort in order to cultivate faster. As he thought about it, it was like putting himself knee-deep into the earth just to dig himself with a shovel.
What an impatient child. He won't amount to much in the future.
Su Zihao's harsh evaluation of Jin Jiayi was kept to himself.
After learning that he needed to put in more effort and time, Wang Chang left Su Zihao's room and returned to his own. He locked the door and covered his face with a pillow.
His frustration reached an all-time high. He wanted to quickly reach the Consolidation realm but from the looks of things, he wouldn't reach it even if he cultivated for the rest of his life.
Ying'er… What am I going to do?
As Wang Chang asked his non-existent wife, he stared at the window. The afternoon breeze swayed the curtain gently as it provided him with coolness.
You need to endure.
Luo Nuying answered him, albeit it wasn't really her. It was Wang Chang himself.
"Endure…"
Wang Chang's eyes clouded as his eyes lost focus. He had lived for a long time, but there was nothing special about him besides that.
He was a mortal whose next life was thrown into chaos after he found out his wife was a cultivator. By all means, he was not a genius or a lucky person.
As Wang Chang wallowed in his lack of motivation to repeat the same motion every single day, four more years passed in the blink of an eye.
. . .
At the age of seven, Wang Chang had learned many things as the Crown Prince of the Jin Empire as well as reached the 3rd stage.
And today was a special day.
He watched as his mother gave birth. She screamed loudly as she pushed and pushed and out came a baby girl.
Anatolia spanked her and the baby cried, but as she did Wang Chang noticed something remarkable.
A white cloud of smoke rose from the ground and settled into the baby girl's body. After it finished, the baby girl cried loudly. It was a sign that she was alive.
What the heck was that!?
Wang Chang's mouth gaped in shock as he looked around to see if anyone else noticed.