Proofreader & Editor:Peter Pan
Chen Mobai stood at the entrance of the Wanbao Cave, taking a deep breath.
The smoky cloud in his palm dispersed, shimmering like a myriad of crystal fragments, forming a pale red mist that floated half a meter above the ground.
With a light jump, Chen Mobai was already standing atop the "Crimson Cloud Mist."
The sensation underfoot was like stepping on a soft carpet, extremely comfortable.
"It's just like the cloud-riding scenes from the TV dramas I watched as a kid."
Experiencing his very own exclusive mount for the first time, Chen Mobai felt a slight thrill of excitement.
With a release of spiritual power from his feet, the Crimson Cloud Mist burst into a pale red glow and swiftly carried him upwards into the sky.
The ease and comfort, so different from flying techniques, made Chen Mobai indulge in the sensation.
***
Yesterday, he had asked Ming Yihua how to refine this Crimson Cloud Mist. Ming Yihua sent over a book detailing everything from material extraction, cloud refinement, to the final consecration.
Chen Mobai selectively flipped to the last section.
After studying the consecration technique, he spent the whole night practicing, and today he was finally able to control this iconic cloud artifact of the Dance Weapon Academy.
If using the flying technique felt like pedaling a bicycle, requiring effort throughout the body,
Now controlling the Crimson Cloud Mist was like steering a car.
All it took was an infusion of spiritual power and then directing it with one's divine sense.
Riding the pale red clouds, Chen Mobai traced rainbows across the sky, his movements growing more elaborate, soaring and diving, rolling and arcing.
***
After a good while, he had his fill of fun.
The Crimson Cloud Mist, carrying him like a red cloud, drifted into the Wanbao Cave.
Chen Mobai saw the tunnel entrances on the cave wall, put on his gold-rimmed glasses with only one lens left, and began to measure the spiritual energy of each entrance.
Many were open, but some were sealed, indicating they were occupied.
Following the unwritten rules, he naturally wouldn't intrude.
He first tested his own limits.
The Crimson Cloud Mist continued to descend, quickly dropping a thousand meters.
At this point, his physical body alone could barely withstand the high temperatures around him, and he had to wrap himself in the cloud mist.
Thanks to the artifact's excellent resistance to fire spiritual energy, Chen Mobai descended another twelve hundred meters. Here, he felt his spiritual power depleting too quickly.
Although he felt he could descend another hundred meters or so, Chen Mobai decided it was unnecessary.
With a light tap of his foot, the Crimson Cloud Mist began to change direction, carrying him upwards.
Having already checked most of the tunnel entrances with his gold-rimmed glasses on the way down, he floated into a marked entrance after rising eight hundred meters.
Once his feet touched solid ground, Chen Mobai put away the Crimson Cloud Mist.
The artifact transformed into a red jade bracelet on his left wrist, complementing his fair and glowing skin beautifully.
The tunnel was still very primitive, dark and narrow. After walking twenty meters, there was no light.
Prepared, Chen Mobai took out an illuminating pearl from his backpack.
This low-grade, first-order artifact only needed a bit of spiritual power to provide light for over seven days. The highest quality illuminating pearls were said to shine for a thousand years without fading.
But Chen Mobai's was just the most ordinary kind.
Using the Attraction Technique, he controlled two illuminating pearls to float ahead within a ten-meter range, two behind, and two beside him, brightly illuminating a fifty-meter radius before he continued deeper into the tunnel.
He noted every step and measured the distance he traveled.
At three hundred and sixty-seven meters, Chen Mobai suddenly stopped.
He looked up at the ceiling.
An Artifact Nurturing Sphere was embedded there.
The white jade-like shell shimmered under the light of the illuminating pearls, casting a translucent jade hue.
Surrounded by the red ore, it glowed with a soft red luster, as tempting as a beauty's skin.
Chen Mobai floated up, closely examining the Artifact Nurturing Sphere.
The gold-rimmed glasses could only see large-scale spiritual energy flows and were of no use now.
Chen Mobai took off the glasses, and his originally dark pupils began to shine with a faint clear light.
Instantly, his vision changed.
The surface of the head-sized Artifact Nurturing Sphere slowly became transparent, and Chen Mobai saw the spirit liquid inside, as well as a long, bar-shaped artifact at the core.
It seemed to be a flying sword?
Chen Mobai thought to himself, as his divine sense and spiritual power surged into his eyes in a certain ratio, pushing the power of his Hollow Spirit Eyes to the limit they could bear.
His vision delved deeper, and he faintly understood why each Artifact Nurturing Sphere was placed differently.
The red iron ore surrounding the white jade sphere emitted strands of fine iron essence, which passed through the sphere's shell at a slow yet even pace, filtered by the spirit liquid, and then absorbed by the artifact at the center.
Chen Mobai watched the red luster within the sphere's shell and had a realization.
This was the impurity of the fine iron essence filtered by the spirit liquid.
Over the years, once the spirit liquid's efficacy completely vanished, the artifact would no longer grow and might even start to decay, or its grade could drop due to the impure environment inside the sphere.
No wonder when using an artifact chip to open it, the sphere and spirit liquid must be completely incinerated with the Fire Divine Light.
All of that was now useless.
Yesterday, when chatting with Ming Yihua, he mentioned that the nurturing spirit liquid generally lasted from a hundred to a thousand years.
The Dance Weapon Academy's Foundation Establishment spiritual essence, the Mysterious Fire Spirit Liquid, was an accidental byproduct when refining this nurturing spirit liquid.
No wonder the academy allowed students post-Foundation Establishment to select artifacts here and even permitted the exchange of "artifact chips" for credits.
Because many of the artifacts inside these spheres, if not consecrated by a new cultivator within a hundred years, would gradually become defective.
However, there are two modes for Artifact Nurturing Spheres: one is like the one before him, placed in an environment suitable for the artifact's growth, openly absorbing external spiritual energy.
That's why it was easily seen through by Chen Mobai's newly learned Hollow Spirit Eyes.
The other mode is completely sealed.
In this case, the spirit liquid inside the sphere wouldn't be consumed, and without interacting with external spiritual energy, it could maintain the artifact in a state as good as new for a thousand years, just like when it was first sealed.
Which method to choose depended on the mood of the artifact's previous owner before their demise or whether a suitable environment for the artifact's continued growth was found in the Wanbao Cave.
Chen Mobai already possessed the Sparrow Hairpin and the Divine Wood Sword, so he had no particular craving for flying swords.
Thus, he chose to leave this Artifact Nurturing Sphere untouched, allowing it to continue absorbing the fine iron essence.
Before leaving, though, he made a mark.
Putting his glasses back on and following the traces of spiritual energy flow, Chen Mobai walked another three hundred meters in the tunnel, eventually reaching the end.
There was no path left.
He used his Hollow Spirit Eyes to check the surroundings, confirming there were no sealed passages, then returned the way he came.
***
When he stepped out of the tunnel entrance, the sun was high in the sky.
Half a day had already passed.
Feeling that his spiritual power and divine sense were still sufficient, Chen Mobai once again rode the Crimson Cloud Mist, ascending to another tunnel entrance with a higher concentration of spiritual energy.
But luck was not on his side this time; after spending most of the day, he thoroughly searched all three branches of this tunnel and found not a single Artifact Nurturing Sphere.
Emerging empty-handed as night fell, his first day in the Wanbao Cave passed like this.
He didn't return to the wooden house he had rented outside; instead, he set up a restriction at the entrance of this fruitless tunnel to signal someone was there, took out a cushion from his storage bag, and began cultivating with two spirit stones in hand.
***
Time flowed like water.
In the blink of an eye, Chen Mobai had spent half a year in the Wanbao Cave.
Since he found an Artifact Nurturing Sphere on the first day, he was enthusiastic about exploring and treasure hunting for the first half-month.
But it seemed all his luck was exhausted on that day, and all subsequent actions ended in disappointment.
Afterward, he focused on cultivation.
Hard work pays off, and with the abundant fire spiritual energy here, his Pure Yang Body finally made another breakthrough, achieving the Four Yang Body.
【Spiritual Root: Metal 23, Wood 28, Water 19, Fire 53, Earth 10】
Seeing his spiritual root finally resembling that of a genius, Chen Mobai was very pleased.
Although his water and wood spiritual roots had each lost 3 points again, the increase to 53 points in his fire spiritual root made Chen Mobai decide to selectively ignore these.
At least, according to the Immortal Gate's standards, he was now a bona fide high-grade true spiritual root!
Placed in the Tianhe Realm, he was a super genius second only to the Heavenly Spiritual Root and the Exotic Spiritual Root.
With the improvement of his spiritual root, he could try his luck again in the Divine Wood Realm when he had time.
Actually, his water spiritual root should have dropped to 18 points.
But after eating the second-order Azure Blood Carp King given by his eldest disciple, which usually would have caused resistance to such spiritual creatures, his water spiritual root increased by 1 point.
After discovering this, Chen Mobai specially left seclusion to inquire about Liu Wenbo's cultivation progress and casually asked about his family's pillar industry.
Only then did he learn that even though their family was known for breeding Azure Blood Carps, they only raised twenty-six second-order Azure Blood Carp Kings.
These second-order fry could only be purchased from the Five Elements Sect's Water Vein.
What the Liu family mastered was the breeding method for first-order Azure Blood Carps, which could be hatched from the eggs laid by second-order female Azure Blood Carp Kings.
For this reason, the two egg-laying female Azure Blood Carp Kings were the lifeblood of their family. The initial purchase of the fry alone cost tens of thousands of spirit stones.
Giving Chen Mobai a male Azure Blood Carp King was already a grand gesture.
After clarifying this, Chen Mobai knew that if he wanted to freely consume Azure Blood Carp Kings, he could only go to the Five Elements Sect's Water Vein's Wind and Rain Lodge.
And the Wind and Rain Lodge was located near the center of Dream Swamp.
That was one of the most dangerous places in the East Desolation.
After some thought, Chen Mobai decided to put this matter aside for now.
After all, his remaining 19 points of water spiritual root were enough for him to cultivate to the Nine Yang Body.
With his fire spiritual root increased to 53 points, Chen Mobai finally felt the cultivation speed that a genius should have.
In the Wanbao Cave's unique environment, since his Pure Yang spiritual power had already been cultivated to perfection and his realm could not be improved, he spent his spare time after daily meditation practicing fire-related spells.
The "Ignition Technique," "Flame Manipulation Technique," and "Fireball Technique" recorded in the Pure Yang Qi Refining section, and the "Lamp Burning Technique," "Flame Burst Technique," "Fire Stabilizing Technique," and "Rising Yang Technique" from the Foundation Establishment section were all mastered by him within this half-year.
The Pure Yang Scroll was a Divine Transformation Great Method, and the Dance Weapon Academy's inheritance was the most fundamental cultivation method.
If one wanted to practice the powerful Elemental Yang Sword Art that complemented the Pure Yang Scroll, it was best to borrow it from the Pure Yang Academy.
Of course, if one had enough credits, they could also spend billions to download and exchange it from the Immortal Gate National Library.
One of the greatest benefits of the academy's library was the collection of books and knowledge available for free to students as long as they reached the required realm.
Although the Dance Weapon Academy did not have the Elemental Yang Sword Art, it did have the derived Mysterious Yang Needle Art, the Li Fire Sword Song, and the Burning Heaven Great Method, all supreme mysteries that could be cultivated to the Elemental Infant realm.
But even the spells from the Pure Yang Scroll itself were already very useful to Chen Mobai.
Not to mention the three spells in the Qi Refining section, which were self-explanatory, nurturing the cultivator's affinity with flames.
Igniting sparks from the void, controlling sparks, and shaping the form of flames.
But the four spells in the Foundation Establishment section were different.
They fully revealed the mysteries of the Divine Transformation Great Method.
The "Lamp Burning Technique" could be used to purify oneself and refine impurities.
For example, if Chen Mobai consumed pills from the Tianhe Realm and his Pure Yang spiritual power was poisoned, he could use the Lamp Burning Technique to detoxify in the shortest time possible.
Yet this wasn't the most miraculous part.
The "Lamp Burning Technique" could not only act on spiritual power but also on the physical body's qi and blood, and even refine the divine sense.
Long-term cultivation of this technique could make the cultivator's body as strong as steel, spiritual power as clear as crystal, and the mind as dazzling as a gemstone.
Moreover, this technique had no grade. After cultivating the Lamp Burning Technique to the fifth grade, Elemental Yang Ancestor discovered there were even higher realms.
Following the "Lamp Burning Technique," the "Flame Burst Technique" could enhance the explosion of flames, with the power depending on the ignited spiritual fire.
If Chen Mobai detonated his Qingyang Fire Seed, its power could increase threefold, and this technique could be combined with any form of flame, making it the strongest enhancement technique for fire spiritual root cultivators.
However, the only flaw was that the spiritual fire would extinguish after detonation.
Ordinary flames were one thing, but Chen Mobai would be reluctant to detonate his precious Qingyang Fire Seed unless it was a life-or-death situation.
The "Fire Stabilizing Technique" was the exact opposite of the Flame Burst Technique.
This technique could stabilize burning flames and was one of the Immortal Gate's top fire-averting techniques.
And the "Rising Yang Technique" was the second most mysterious technique in Chen Mobai's eyes after the Lamp Burning Technique.
Only cultivators with unbroken Elemental Yang could perform this technique, stimulating the innate Elemental Yang within the body and combining it with any flame to elevate the flame by one level.
It could not only enhance power but also allow the cultivator to comprehend the innate mysteries of the flame returning to its origin during this process.
In his heyday, Elemental Yang Ancestor could use the Rising Yang Technique to elevate a wisp of ordinary fire directly to the innate true fire level of the Solar Golden Flame, capable of burning mountains, boiling seas, destroying stars, and turning them to dust, terrifyingly powerful.
Chen Mobai had tried it with the Qingyang Fire Seed.
After being enhanced by the Rising Yang Technique, the originally small flame became a fist-sized purple-green flame.
Once the purple in the flame disappeared, turning to pure green, it would signify the complete refinement of the "Qingyang Fire," the perfection of the "Pure Qing Technique" for purifying the Qingyang Fire.
In that case, Chen Mobai could use this spiritual fire to condense the "Qingyan Sword Sha."