It had been a week since the Day of Spirituality, and many things had happened.
The most significant change was among the youths who hadn't been blessed. For the first few days, most of them fell into deep depression. Two even attempted to take their own lives, unwilling to face reality, but fortunately, both failed and were rescued by their families.
Despite these tragic events, there were also hopeful developments. A few of the unblessed youths refused to accept their fate. Instead, they continued to train diligently in the techniques Ling Ye had taught them, hoping to discover another path forward.
Others, though disappointed, accepted reality and returned to their normal lives. Yet even among them, many still practiced the techniques, having seen firsthand that they increased the chances of being blessed.
Some even began teaching the next group of children in preparation for the following Day of Spirituality.
Because of this, the village itself began to change. Younger children started to dream more boldly, hoping that one day, they too would become cultivators.
All of this was something Ling Ye welcomed warmly, as it aligned perfectly with his goals. Yet, though these changes in the village were important, something far more pressing occupied his mind, the Myridian Fortune Compass.
For the past week, Ling Ye had paid little attention to anything outside his office. He sealed himself away, ignoring most village matters.
Only Zhou Wu was allowed to enter once a day to report the most important events.
Now, seated at his desk, Ling Ye's gaze lingered on the Myridian Fortune Compass lying before him. Day after day, he studied it, trying to memorize every detail.
The compass itself was no larger than the palm of an infant's hand. It was made of metals Ling Ye could not identify, its craftsmanship unlike anything he had ever seen. But what puzzled him most were the unusual details he could not fully understand.
The first was the glass. Unlike the transparent glass he had seen back in the Ling Clan, this glass shimmered with an azure white hue, like faint mist trapped within. Because of this, it was difficult to see through clearly and almost impossible to get a proper look at the arrow beneath.
Not only that, the arrow itself was just as strange.
No matter how long he watched, it never shifted direction, it always pointed unwaveringly toward the same direction, as if the compass is broken.
These were all the unusual features Ling Ye could make out. Aside from the small fractures scattered across its surface, the compass revealed nothing else of note.
Yet most of these mysteries were soon answered, thanks to the notes Wu Sheng had left behind.
After studying them carefully for a week, Ling Ye's understanding of the Myridian Fortune Compass became much clearer. Not only that, but he even managed to glean a little more knowledge about the cultivation world.
"Sigh…" Ling Ye exhaled softly.
Though he had learned much, his desire to know more only grew stronger, but he knew well that opportunities like the one with Wu Sheng would be rare or would never happen ever again.
His hidden card, his identity, was only useful against cultivators without strong backing. Anyone connected to the great families under the Ling Clan would have at least heard of him, or of the 'waste' from the Ling Clan who lacked a spiritual root.
Gossip of that sort would spread easily among the lesser clans under Ling authority.
"Meeting Wu Sheng was truly fortunate… but I shouldn't expect something like that to happen again," Ling Ye muttered. He understood clearly, relying on luck would get him nowhere. Instead, he turned his thoughts to how the Myridian Fortune Compass could be used.
"To activate it, one must offer a drop of heart's blood. The compass then connects with the fate of the cultivator tied to that blood and points the way." Such was the method recorded in the notes.
"So simple… yet nothing could be further from the truth." Ling Ye let out a bitter chuckle. "If not for Wu Sheng's notes, I'd never have guessed the dangers hidden within this compass. Thankfully, Wu Sheng explained many of the hidden dangers."
Although the compass pointed toward the direction of one's fate and could accelerate the encounter, as Wu Sheng had warned, such fortune came with peril.
If the encounter led to a powerful cultivator, that cultivator might become angered and attack the compass holder. Or perhaps the fortune was not meant to be seized yet, arriving too early could cause one to lose it altogether.
"Haa…" Ling Ye sighed at these troubling possibilities. Yet, in truth, they were not something he needed to fear. He was only a mortal, and mortals had little to no connection with cultivators' fates, at least, that was what he had once read in a book.
"Cultivators and mortals are completely different beings. One is meant to roam the heavens, while the other is destined to remain on earth, forever staring enviously upward…"
Now that he lived as a mortal himself, Ling Ye finally understood the meaning of those words. And yet, why should he resign himself to looking up at the heavens? Why should he not attempt to reach them as well?
He knew the possibility was infinitesimal, as difficult as a cultivator ascending to the legendary Immortal Realm, perhaps even harder.
For there were no records, no tales, no scraps of history where a mortal ever stood as an equal to a powerful cultivator. At least, none he had found in all the books he devoured.
And still… because of that faint, almost laughable possibility, Ling Ye was tempted. Tempted to test his fate, to see whether the heavens themselves might one day play a cruel joke, dangling the path before him, only to snatch it away as he reached the end of his mortal life, mocking him with the dream of cultivation he could never grasp.
"Hehe, what nonsense am I imagining? Truly, I must be going mad. The heavens toying with a mortal at the end of his life? My thoughts are becoming more and more bizarre."
Shaking his head, Ling Ye laughed at himself, mocking his own wild imagination. After a moment of bitter laughter, he calmed down, touched his chin, and fell into thought.
"Now… how should I deal with this problem?" he muttered quietly. The problem he referred to was how to draw a drop of his heartblood.
Heartblood was something precious to every being. Even mortals possessed it, though unlike cultivators, theirs isn't refined by Qi. Still, the essence was the same, or so far as Ling Ye knew.
It was said heartblood should never be carelessly used, for doing so could damage one's body. Cultivators, however, could easily draw a drop when needed. What was simple for them, though, might be nearly impossible for a mortal.
"So… how should I extract a drop of heartblood?" Ling Ye whispered, frowning. He tried to recall everything he had ever read about it, but aside from what he already knew, no other answers surfaced in his memory.
As he came to this realization, Ling Ye's expression grew grim. He gritted his teeth, unwilling to give up, and forced himself to think more deeply about the matter of heartblood.
Hours passed before his emotions finally settled, and at last he found a small clue, something almost laughably obvious, hidden in the very name itself.
"If heartblood truly comes from the heart… then does that mean I must wound myself and draw blood directly from my heart? Would that count as heartblood?"
He didn't know if his guess was right or wrong, but lacking any better understanding, he could only smile bitterly and close his eyes.
"That means this will take time. Perhaps many years… maybe even more. How unfortunate."
With a sigh, Ling Ye accepted reality. Learning how to safely extract heartblood was not something he could achieve in a year or two, it would require patience.
For now, he set aside his thoughts about the Myridian Fortune Compass. He couldn't afford to devote all of his energy to it, not when the village's development still demanded his attention.
Disappointed but resolute, Ling Ye carefully hid the compass away in his office, choosing a secure spot that no one would easily discover.
Then, with his decision made, he called for Zhou Wu. After all, while he had entrusted Zhou Wu with full authority over the past week and only dealt with the most important matters himself, he couldn't allow the smaller issues to be neglected forever.
With that, Ling Ye returned once more to his duties as village head, waiting for Zhou Wu.