I snatched my hand back from the jade tablet, as if it had shocked me.

  It hadn’t. Physically. But something inside of me had definitely reacted to the touch.

  My soul or perhaps my inner world – I couldn’t even begin to guess. The sensation quickly disappeared much like it had started, and I found myself questioning whether I’d just imagined everything.

  “Azure,” I whispered internally, “did you feel that?”

  “Yes, Master,” Azure replied, and I could hear the curiosity in his voice. “The tablet resonated with your Soul Essence. Whatever method is contained in there, it’s reacting to the strength of your soul.”

  That was fascinating, and possibly frightening.

  None of the other jade slips had reacted that way.

  They were mere inanimate objects that contained knowledge.

  This tablet felt alive somehow.

  I picked it up again, using both of my hands to support it.

  The jade was cold, and the gold veins that ran through it pulsed softly with internal light.

  I might be imagining that, or maybe I wasn’t. Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised.

  There were inscriptions on the front of the tablet; they were written in an ancient dialect older than the cultivation language I had studied. More archaic. However, I could still read them.

  World Tree Sutra

  Remnant Cultivation Method - Origin Unknown

  Rank: Beyond Heaven

  I furrowed my brow. Remnant method? That didn’t seem promising.

  But what drew my attention was the rank – Beyond Heaven.

  It was already extremely difficult to acquire a Heaven Rank cultivation method.

  Just how powerful was this method?

  Underneath the title, there was more description of how the method worked:

  The practitioner plants a seed of life within their soul, nurturing it until it grows into a vast tree whose branches pierce the boundaries between worlds and whose roots anchor into the fundamental laws of reality itself. Like this, the tree becomes the foundation of the cultivator’s inner world and a bridge connecting all levels of existence.

  Warning: This method is incomplete. Important parts of the method for the nurturing of the tree and the stabilization of its connections to the various dimensions have been lost to time.

  Practitioners undertaking this method do so at a very high risk.

  Failure rate: 99.9%.

  Transformation rate of those who fail: 1%.

  I had to read that last paragraph three times to make sure I got it right.

  A 99.9% chance to fail, and those who failed had a 1% chance of transforming.

  Those were terrible odds.

  “Master,” Azure said slowly, “that warning is very direct about the danger.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Here’s the thing. The method described something that sounded just like what I need. Branches that connected different levels of existence. A tree that bridged different dimensions. If my main problem was that my soul keeps getting pulled into random worlds, maybe having a cultivation method that was literally intended to bridge between worlds would provide some measure of control over the process, so that I don’t just get pulled around at whim to wherever the universe wanted to pull me to.

  Or maybe I was being an idiot for seeing patterns that didn’t exist.

  A reasonable person would put this sort of thing back on the shelf and pick something safe.

  Something that had been shown to work.

  Something that wouldn’t turn me into a plant.

  However, I wasn’t sure I was reasonably sane anymore. I was a transmigrator with a powerful soul that apparently enjoyed being ripped into other worlds where I would then die in violent and creative ways.

  So yeah, regular cultivation methods might not be enough for someone with my specific issues.

  “You’re seriously thinking of picking this, aren’t you?” Azure asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Before I could start to think further about it, I heard the sound of footsteps coming toward us.

  I turned to find Senior Sister Liu walking down the aisle. Her expression was blank, but her eyes were fixed intently upon the jade tablet in my hands. When she saw what I was holding, those eyes narrowed slightly.

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  “Ke Yin,” she said, her voice calm but with a hint of warning. “Return that.”

  “Why?” I looked down at the tablet, then back up at her. “It’s there with the rest of the methods, isn’t it?”

  “It’s here because the sect elders refuse to get rid of it,” Senior Sister Liu replied. “That doesn’t mean it should be here. That method is a death warrant.”

  She walked closer to me, stopping several feet away. Close up, I could feel the pressure of her cultivation bearing down on me. Not enough to cause discomfort, but enough to remind me of the enormous disparity between us.

  “Three years ago, a disciple in my training cohort attempted the World Tree Sutra,” Senior Sister Liu continued. “His name was Zhang Wei. He was an extremely talented individual with a strong soul and confidence that bordered on arrogance. He believed the warnings associated with the method were exaggerated. He believed he could succeed where others before him had failed.”

  She paused, and I saw a flicker of sadness or possibly regret cross her face.

  “Two weeks after starting to cultivate using that method, he began to change. His eyes turned green. Bark started growing on his skin. Leaves replaced his hair. Within a month, he was rooted in the outer sect gardens and unable to move. Within three months, he lost his ability to speak. Within six months, he forgot his own name.”

  My stomach dropped. “He turned into a tree?”

  “An actual tree,” Senior Sister Liu confirmed. “He’s now in some elder’s inner world.”

  That was horrific. Not merely dying, but losing your humanity bit by bit. Losing yourself. Being reduced to something else entirely while your awareness gradually fades away. And then being used as a cultivation resource.

  “I appreciate the warning,” I said slowly. “But —”

  “There is no ‘but,’” Senior Sister Liu interjected. “That method is incomplete. It lacks critical components. In over a thousand years, no one has successfully cultivated this method. All recorded results involve death or transformation. These are your only choices if you decide to follow this path.”

  She extended her hand, clearly expecting that I would hand her the tablet.

  Before I could react, another voice joined the conversation.

  “Now now, Liu Qingge,” Elder Chang said as she emerged at the end of the aisle. “Don’t rush to dictate the choices of a student.”

  Senior Sister Liu’s jaw tensed, but she bowed deferentially.

  “Elder Chang, I am only trying to avoid another disaster.”

  “Zhang Wei’s fate was a disaster,” Elder Chang agreed, moving rapidly toward us despite her advanced age. “However, it was also his decision. He understood the risks, and he proceeded regardless. That is the essence of cultivation – to take risks.”

  She stood beside me, looking down at the jade tablet in my hand.

  There was no visible emotion in her face, but I thought I detected a flicker of interest in her eyes.

  “After all,” Elder Chang continued, “who are we to say the youth cannot attempt it? Maybe he has characteristics that young Zhang Wei lacked. Maybe the boy’s soul is more suitable for the method.”

  Senior Sister Liu didn’t appear to be convinced. “Elder, if I may respectfully suggest —”

  “Liu Qingge, you have always been overly cautious,” Elder Chang interrupted gently. “Caution can be beneficial under certain circumstances. However, this young man has already broken through to stage two in under a month without having any clan backing. His cultivation rate is impressive. Perhaps he requires an equally unconventional method to match.”

  Wait. She knew about my breakthrough?

  Of course she did.

  It would be futile trying to hide my cultivation from an elder.

  “If you’re interested in unconventional methods,” Elder Chang said, reaching for the shelves behind her. “Let me show you some of the other things we have in our collection of uncompleted failures.”

  She retrieved three more jade tablets, each of them approximately the same age and style as the World Tree Sutra. She placed them side-by-side on a reading table near her.

  “These are all remnant methods,” Elder Chang explained. “Unfinished techniques from ancient sects that have long since ceased to exist. Each of them offers incredible potential. Each of them has a failure rate that makes the World Tree Sutra relatively harmless by comparison.”

  Senior Sister Liu looked as though she wished to physically restrain me from the desk, but she remained where she was, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

  I took a tentative step forward to examine the tablets.

  My curiosity seemed to be greater than my fear of consequences.

  The first tablet read:

  Celestial Palace Method

  Remnant Cultivation Method - Imperial Dynasty Era

  This method forms the inner world into a colossal divine palace that contains countless rooms, halls, and chambers. Each room exists in an overlapping or folded state of space relative to the others. The practitioner is able to manifest their inner world at the Qi Condensation Realm as a domain, a skill usually reserved for Stellar Realm cultivators.

  Warning: Critical information for the layering of dimensions and the folding of space has been lost. Practitioners attempting this method commonly suffer catastrophic collapse of their inner worlds.

  Known case: Disciple Wen Jia, whose inner world collapsed while forming, leaving her comatose for three years prior to crippling her cultivation permanently.

  The second tablet read:

  Nine Suns Scripture

  Remnant Cultivation Method - Stellar Dynasty Era

  This method establishes multiple star nuclei within the inner world, each one emitting the radiance of a true sun. The suns are arranged in such a manner as to enhance one another's power, leading to exponentially increasing energy production. Fully developed Nine Suns practitioners possess enough raw energy to burn mountain ranges.

  This method allows the cultivator to develop stellar qi before entering the Stellar Realm.

  Warning: Information for the balancing of orbits has been lost. The suns tend to destabilize and either consume one another or undergo a catastrophic explosion.

  Known case: Core Disciple Huo Yan, whose inner world underwent a chain reaction explosion that left him with severe burns covering his entire body and shattering his meridian lines.

  The third tablet read:

  Infinite Mirrors Codex

  Remnant Cultivation Method - Mirror Sect Era

  This method fractures the inner world into countless reflecting realms, each containing an infinity of possible realities. The practitioner exists simultaneously throughout all of the reflective realms, providing unparalleled adaptability and permitting exploration of possibility itself.

  Warning: Methods for maintaining unity of consciousness have been lost. Practitioners inevitably lose themselves within the endless reflections.

  Known case: Inner Disciple Ling Shu, who cultivated for two months before forgetting which reflection was the original. He now believes he is seventeen people at once, and is in need of constant supervision.

  I stared at the four tablets. Each one was more terrifying than the last. Growing into a tree. An inner world implosion. Self-igniting. Total loss of identity. These were the options being presented to me.

  “Elder Chang,” I said slowly, “why are you showing me these?”

  The elderly woman’s mouth curled upward in something that resembled a smile.

  “Because you touched the World Tree Sutra, and it reacted to you,” Elder Chang explained. “That means something. And I want to see if any of the others react similarly.”

  She pointed toward the tablets. “Go ahead. Touch them. Let’s see what happens.”

  Senior Sister Liu looked as if she wanted to forcibly remove me from the desk. But she remained where she was, her fists clenched tightly at her sides.

  I cautiously walked over to the Celestial Palace Method tablet and touched it.