Chapter 14

In the end Ludwig left his yard and went around the Steward Palace before he arrived at a larger building with the words "General Affairs Hall", here most management positions of the stewards were places, and here one would also be able to exchange the clan points they have for items.

Unsurprisingly, Ludwig had points. First it was the points he would gain as a student, he had to pay for neither housing nor food, so naturally he saved everything. In addition to that, he was actually paid for his little play at the banquet, the sum was way larger than the pay for the whole year, and not by a small margin.

At the entrance of the general affairs hall, there were several waiting places while at the end of the room there were receptions. Ludwig was surprised at the modern setting, it felt as if he was in a governmental building with an ancient vibe, especially because he was given a 'ticket' by a servant on the side when he entered, apparently it was his turn when it shined.

'I underestimated this world somewhat. But it is true, this world doesn't need science because a few simple spells destroy any plague, sickness, drought or other natural phenomenon that made humanity focus on science, here, the spells and formations are the scientific research and advancement, a formation master only needs to know a simple few things about modern life and he'd probably be able to recreate everything… even a computer! Of course that's also somewhat useless, since cultivators are able to do everything, a computer can do, and better. The only people it would help would be mortals, but computers aren't something that help with the reproduction of mortals, so once again it seems as if science has no need for existence.'

Soon it was Ludwig's turn and he came to a counter, the person on the other side looked at him and smiled "May I get your identification jade?"

Ludwig nodded and handed him the jade with the inscription 'Ludovicus de Anima Occulta, Steward Palace, Steward in Training', when the receptionist saw this, he became more respectful but didn't say anything and just put the jade on a position on his counter, where it was scanned.

Afterwards, light seemed to float out of the token into a special jade plate in front of the receptionist, and on it he saw a number. The receptionist was instantly surprised, this sum was something he'd probably never gain in life, so he became even more respectful and asked, "How may I help you today?"

Ludwig smiled "Could you check whether the clan has any Sleeping Nether Poppies?" This was one of the basic plants in the Netherworld, so Ludwig was sure it would be available.

The receptionist took out a scroll, did some incarnations with his hand, through which the scroll brightened up. Then he whispered the word 'Sleeping Nether Dandelion, and indeed a picture of a little blue dandelion came upon his screen. On the side was some extra information, which described the dandelion and its usage, as well as the price, which was another shock.

He said honestly "We do indeed have it available, but the price will consume nearly everything the young steward has on his token, do you wish to proceed?"

Ludwig was happy and nodded "Yes, proceed please." This was the benefit of a large clan, even though they don't focus on soul cultivation, they still have items of the netherworld, even a basic item such as the sleeping nether dandelion was extremely rare in the mundane world. If one wasn't of at least the rank of a middle-ranked clan's clan leader, then one could forget getting such an item, even those at that rank might not get it. Of course, this was something easy to get for a soul cultivator, but how many of those exist? And even they have to cultivate a high soul cultivation art, no matter what, the requirements are high, so the resources are rare.

The receptionist left for a second and went to the back, prior he had already ordered the item, now it was only his turn to wait for the item to be delivered, which didn't take long. He took the box and went back to the counter where he presented Ludwig with the item and the token.

Ludwig took it smilingly and left the building. As he headed towards his own room, he used his perception to look at the box while he wondered 'No one mentioned my band, it seems it has a spell on it, the grand elder is very generous.'

When he arrived back at his room, he opened the box and saw a little dandelion placed on a purple silk pillow. It was a special pillow that would work together with the box to protect the dandelion and ensure none of its power gets lost.

Ludwig didn't wait long, he went to his bedroom and put the dandelion in front of him as he laid down on his bed. When he was ready, he took a breather, then blowed the dandelion and the small seeds were carried around his room as his eyelids closed, since he had a band he would just let them behave the way it is most comfortable for them, so when standing, they would mostly remain open, so with him laying down and with the help of the dandelion, he actually fell asleep.

…

He woke up again just a few seconds later, he was still in his room but all around it was very illusory, as if his whole room was made of glass. He could barely perceive outside the room with his bare eyes without even focusing, but when he focused, he could look even further and see movement of spiritual power which shouldn't have been possible.

Then he looked at himself. He saw five things when he saw himself. Ge saw three ginseng-root like objects, golden, green and blue flowing from an oval-shaped object that contained a great amount of spiritual power, when he looked deeper into the object, he could see a little seed that was shaped similarly to the oval object it was in.

They were his three spiritual roots of gold, wood and water as well as his dantian and the barely awakened soul seed. There are different ways to 'enter' and 'perceive' the Ethereal World, the soul seed could be called one of the easiest, but also one of the most needing, because once you open your soul seed too early, it is like going from breathing unconsciously to conscious breathing, as a baby. How would a baby know how to breathe properly? Naturally the risk is very great. Once again, this risk only exists for non-soul cultivators. For soul cultivators, it is somewhat lacking, since the soul hadn't fully awakened just yet.

After all, the ethereal world is not the nether world. The physical world supports physical entities, the ethereal world supports spiritual power, while the nether world supports the soul. Body, Dantian and Soul are the three entities supported by different cores of any entity.

The ethereal world exists between the nether and physical world, meaning if a person in the physical world wants to enter the nether world, one would need to go through the ethereal world, the same is the other way around.

The usual way is to pull the soul into the dantian and use the dantian as the anchor in the nether world, as for how Ludwig will do it… is pretty self-explanatory.

Ludwig looked around, when he willed his body to move, he was unfortunately unable to do so. In the end, the soul-seed is not almighty, and the ethereal world is not its domain, being able to enter the ethereal world is a side-effect and not the focus. No matter what, the ethereal world might seem lesser than the other two, but it is equal or even slightly stronger.

Instead of forcing it, Ludwig closed his eyes and used the connection of his dantian to his physical body to travel back. When he opened his eyes in his room, the way he saw things were somewhat different. He still had his soul perception, but now he was able to see sparks now and then when he looked further. He thought about it and used his own spiritual power, only willing it to form a small ball in the air, when he looked at the ball once again, he saw sparks coming from where the ball was.

That was right, prior he wasn't even able to see the outer appearance of spiritual power, he still wasn't able to do that, but he was able to see spiritual fluctuations. Meaning that whether it is a silent spell, an invisible spell, a destructive spell, or a most obvious one, he will be able to see them equally strong.

…

Days went by as Ludwig pulled more and more spiritual power from the ethereal world. Like he had expected his cultivation speed of the dantian fastened up by a lot, while his body was only half as fast as the dantian.

It was still too early to fully give up the body, so Ludwig went ahead and did basic muscle exercises he knew from his previous life. Anyways, he didn't need too deep of a training in that regard.