The Blindfolded Emperor: I Only Wanted a Quiet Life

Chapter 7 The First Step

In the stone chamber, a surge of energy poured into Jasper’s body as he finally understood the true meaning of cultivation, and even what it meant to wield a sword. Just then he remembered the words written within the manual.

“The river does not resist. The river does not chase. It flows because flowing is its nature.”

The bitter, ash-colored smog of the Mind Incense Rune still hung motionless in the dim stone chamber, but the air around Jasper had begun to hum. Before, those words had sounded meaningless. Now he understood. The technique had never been about breathing. It was about stillness.

Most beginners cultivated by forcefully dragging Chaos Energy into their bodies, which was why their energy became violent and unstable, like a house built on sand. But the Silent River Breathing Method taught the opposite principle: a calm river naturally gathers everything that enters it, and the quieter the river, the deeper it becomes.

Jasper slowly closed his eyes, and cross-legged beneath the dim candlelight, his breathing softened into a slow, natural rhythm. In the sky of his Chaos World, the black glass ocean of his newly birthed Mind Sea did not produce a single ripple, and under the influence of the Still Water Realm at Deep Stage, his thoughts remained frozen in absolute silence.

The moment his mind calmed completely, he felt it.

Chaos Energy.

For the first time, the fundamental force of the world laid itself bare. Tiny silver strands drifted through the air like invisible mist, weaving through the stone floor and walls, and before today they had seemed impossible to grasp. Now, within the sharp perception of his Mind Sea, they moved with absolute clarity, gentle and silent as they flowed through the world like rivers.

Jasper did not reach for them, and he did not force them. He simply breathed. The silver strands drifted toward him on their own, drawn into the unnatural stillness of his vessel. One entered through his nose, then another through his skin, then dozens, then hundreds.

The moment the Chaos Energy entered his body, the peace shattered.

CRACK.

Jasper’s spine trembled violently as a dull, agonizing thud echoed inside his chest, and his fingers dug into the stone floor hard enough to snap his fingernails. The energy was not settling into a pool; it was flooding directly into his skeleton.

Bone Tempering Realm—Stage One.

The first step of the Foundation Phase had begun, and Chaos Energy was not nourishing him. It was breaking him apart to rebuild him. His ribs creaked loudly under the pressure while his arms shook uncontrollably, because the raw, unrefined silver energy forced its way into his marrow like molten metal and scorched the mortal weakness out of his skeletal structure. Sweat poured down his face and mixed with the ash on his skin, yet his expression never changed.

His body was screaming, but inside the heavens of his Chaos World, the transparent figure of his Soul Light stood quietly, anchored by the frozen black sea above. The pain battered his physical flesh, but it could not touch his mind.

“Flow,” Jasper commanded internally, circulating the Silent River Breathing Method without a single flicker of panic.

The calmer his mind remained, the smoother the chaotic silver energy was forced to bend, and instead of thrashing wildly and tearing his internal organs apart, the raw Chaos Energy was guided with terrifying precision straight into the core of his bones.

Crack, Crack, Crack.

Dark, foul residue seeped out through his pores—the liquid impurities of a mortal life forced out as his bones hardened beyond human limits. Minutes passed, or perhaps hours, because time had lost its meaning inside the icy stillness of his Mind Sea.

Then, suddenly, the violent trembling stopped. Silence returned to the stone chamber, and deep inside his body, beneath the dark impurities coating his skin, a faint, crystalline silver glow spread through every inch of his skeleton. His bones were no longer mere human calcification; they were dense, heavy, and touched by the raw force of the world.

The first boundary was crossed. The mortal shell had yielded.

Bone Tempering Realm. Stage One.

Jasper slowly opened his eyes, and the dim chamber looked sharper and almost painfully distinct. Even the flickering flame of the candlelight seemed to dance in slow motion, stripped of its chaos by the cold, unyielding edge of his newly tempered perception.

He could feel the energy all around him, but then he smelled something different, and when he looked down at himself he realized he was the source. The smell must have been from the impurities.

Jasper got up and left the chamber, where he found Chris and Victor asleep outside. He sighed and walked up to them. Chris, who was asleep, smelled something bad and woke up with a start. Just then he saw the young master looking at him, so he quickly looked up and smiled.

“Young Master!”

Chris tried to wake Victor, who groaned and rolled over before muttering, “Who smells like my cow feet?”

Then Victor opened his eyes and saw Jasper standing there, and his face went pale as he scrambled to his feet.

“Young Master! Forgive me! I did not mean—I was dreaming—the smell—”

Chris smacked the back of Victor’s head. “Shut up and bow!”

Both men bowed deeply, and Jasper watched them with a blank expression before asking them to get water ready because he needed to bathe. But before Chris left, he paused and asked, “Young Master, you have been in the chamber for three days. What about food? Will you be eating this time?”

Jasper, who had been lost in thought, looked at Chris with his mouth slightly open.

WTF.

Even with a still mind, the world had a way of frustrating someone.

I was cultivating for three days, but it felt like six hours. So what are you saying?

Chris looked at the young master and said, “Young Master, you have no spirit stones, that is why. The vein in the chamber is also low, and I do not think the stone will want to spend money on you, sir.”

Jasper sighed. “Please, just get me water. One problem at a time.”

---

Minutes later, Jasper was in a pool of water with red petals floating on the surface. He looked at the water and then back at Chris before asking why there was soap in it.

Chris blinked. “It is in the water, sir.”

Jasper looked at the water again. “What?”

“We added it to the water, and since you complained about the smell, we put petals in it so it will not smell.”

Jasper just sighed. He was in a cultivation world, not Earth, so there was no bar soap. Thinking of this gave him a new idea for a business he could use to get money, because spirit stones were what cultivators used as currency while mortals used regular money. He would need a lot of money, and besides, there would be many female sect members who would want to smell nice.

Jasper smiled at this new idea before entering the pool and pulling up his dashboard. Just then a series of notifications appeared.

Congratulations! You have started your path of cultivation.

Congratulations! You have started to understand the meaning of a sword.  

Congratulations! You have understood the meaning of cultivation.  

Congratulations! You have unlocked your Mind Sea.

The congratulations came all at once, each with its own reward, and Jasper was happy to check them, but first he needed to see his current level while he was still inside the pool bathing. He called for his dashboard.

The Blindless Sovereign System

Host: Jasper Stonehart

Rank: Foundation Phase  

Realm: Bone Tempering Realm Stage 1

Wow, Jasper thought as he looked at the realm. If he remembered correctly, the Mortal Phase had three realms, and the first was the Bone Tempering Realm with nine stages. He had just reached the first stage.

Wow. I really did it. I am a cultivator.

Mind Sea Realm: Still Water Realm Deep Stage.

He looked at his mind sea and realized he had jumped a stage. The mind sea had its own realms, but Jasper was not sure what they were, though he remembered that each had two stages: Shallow and Deep. He looked at the mind sea realm again. He really jumped from the Shallow Stage to the Deep Stage.

Wow..... Just wow.

As Jasper read the rest of his dashboard, he saw:

Techniques: None.

He smiled to himself. Now it was time to check his rewards.