People can be so wicked.
Chen Mobai sighed inwardly as he stepped out of Wu’s Gold Shop.
No wonder many cultivators would rather pay a higher price to shop at those branded stores. At least they wouldn’t try to pull every customer into illegal activities.
In the Immortal Gate, it was common to make fictitious transactions for points, but that was usually done among acquaintances, representing a mutual hold of each other’s secrets. Chen Mobai and Wu Wan had only done business once, and there was not even a shred of trust between them.
Chen Mobai was still young. Given his current cultivation progress and the second-order spiritual land of the Water Mansion, he was definitely capable of achieving Qi Refining perfection and making a shot at Foundation Establishment. There was no need for him to take risks yet.
After this transaction, Chen Mobai, who had originally planned to stroll around a bit more, was no longer in the mood.
After taking public transportation home, Chen Mobai, now a wealthy man, decided to treat himself. He didn’t cut any more talisman paper, and he didn’t even cook. Instead, he ordered a spicy hot pot.
While waiting for the delivery, Chen Mobai scanned the entire book of “Detailed Explanation of the Azure Water Formation” into a document and sent it to Teacher Chan. Then, he took out the book “Black Water Technique” and started reading.
This was a typical water attribute Qi Refining technique, with nine levels, which could be practiced all the way to Qi Refining perfection. It also recorded three accompanying spells.
They were the Water Control Technique, Water Elemental Shield, and Ice Technique.
The three spells were progressive. The “Water Control Technique” was the simplest, but mastering it required quite some time.
Once proficient in Water Control, one could manipulate refined Spirit Water to form a Water Elemental Shield to protect oneself. It was a kind of spell that could replace defensive magical instruments and was popular among low-level cultivators.
The last “Ice Technique” was the most difficult.
According to the description in “Black Water Technique”, one first had to condense one’s spiritual power into a breath of cold ice, then combine it with the Water Control Technique to freeze the refined Spirit Water into any shape one wanted, for either attack or defense.
Although this technique was simple, it had its own system. Moreover, when practicing the three spells, it could in turn promote the improvement of the Qi Refining realm.
“Not bad, not bad. If it weren’t for my water spiritual root attribute being only 23, I would want to switch to this immediately.”
Several major hospitals in the Immortal Gate had conducted experiments together. If one’s spiritual root attribute exceeded 33 points, the efficiency of practicing the Five Elements Technique would be lower than that of a single attribute Qi Refining technique.
For someone like Chen Mobai, who was about to be classified as a pseudo-spiritual root talent, the Five Elements Technique was the most suitable in terms of cultivation progress and efficiency of refining spiritual energy.
The greatest value of this Black Water Technique for Chen Mobai, apart from reference, was the three spells it recorded.
Although knowledge within the Immortal Gate was shared, it required points to exchange.
Moreover, before exchanging spells from the Immortal Gate, one had to swear an oath that they could only practice themselves and could not teach others.
The only ones who could openly teach spells were schools.
The Levitation Technique, Cleaning Technique, and Qi Nourishing Technique that Chen Mobai knew were taught in school. However, most students were instilled with the idea of prioritizing cultivation from a young age, and the spells they were keen on practicing were only for daily convenience.
After all, the Earth Elemental Star was too peaceful. There were many cases of petty theft and tax evasion, but major incidents involving murder and harm were rarely heard of.
Only when a war was imminent would cultivators start practicing spells for combat.
In peaceful times, students in school were all focused on Qi Refining, improving their realm, and hoping to achieve Qi Refining perfection and make a shot at Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.
Just as Chen Mobai was comparing the Water Elemental Shield with the Flowing Water Shield given by Old Ding, the doorbell rang.
The delivery had arrived.
Chen Mobai went into the kitchen, poured the spicy hot pot into a bowl at home, and was about to serve a bowl of Spirit Rice to eat when he suddenly saw a fish in the sink that had been gutted but still looked a bit familiar.
Eh, wasn’t this the fish he brought from the Water Mansion? He had been in a hurry in the morning and had thrown it into the sink after dealing with the spoils of war.
He had originally planned to come back in the evening and not waste it, making a bowl of boiled fish. But after selling the gold and making a fortune, Chen Mobai had forgotten about it.
It must have been his mother who had dealt with it when she left.
Thinking this, Chen Mobai looked at the fish meat, which was faintly pinkish white in the transparency. He raised his knife and cut the fish into pieces, then turned on the heat and poured his spicy hot pot into the pot as the soup base, and put the fish slices in one by one.
After all the hard work, the moment the tender and spicy fish meat entered his mouth, Chen Mobai squinted his eyes in satisfaction.
After eating his fill, he didn’t waste any time and teleported directly into the Water Mansion.
First, he made a round around the Water Mansion and found no changes from when he left. Then he walked under the formation flag, sat on the cushion he brought, and began to refine the rich spiritual energy of this second-order water vein…The next day.
During class, Chen Mobai was looking at his phone screen with a strange expression.
He had a habit of recording his cultivation sessions with his phone, then importing the footage into an app called “Cultivation Aid”. He would compare the current session with previous ones, identify differences, correct mistakes, and adopt strengths.
However, it had been half a year since the “Cultivation Aid” app had popped up any notifications. This meant that his current cultivation time and posture were optimal, leaving no room for improvement.
But this morning, a notification suddenly popped up.
[Detected that the spiritual power cultivated by the user last night contains 2 more points of water attribute than usual. Please confirm the reason.]
The Cultivation Aid app could identify differences, but it wouldn’t analyze the reasons. That was up to the user to figure out and provide feedback.
Chen Mobai thought back to his cultivation session yesterday. It was exactly the same as his previous sessions in the Water Mansion, even the position hadn’t changed, he was still on the same cushion.
Unable to figure out the reason, he could only conduct more experiments.
That day, Chen Mobai started recording again and cultivated in the Water Mansion all night. His Five Elements Skill had improved.
[Detected that the spiritual power cultivated by the user last night contains 2 fewer points of water attribute than yesterday. Please confirm the reason.]
Another notification popped up.
Chen Mobai was sure that something was different about him the day before yesterday. The “Cultivation Aid” app was developed by the Dance Instrument Academy among the Four Great Daoist Academies. After hundreds of years of adjustments, it was very reliable.
If the app wasn’t wrong, then what exactly had happened to him?
Chen Mobai fell into deep thought, recalling all his experiences from the day before yesterday.
Attending class, consulting teachers, reading and experimenting in the cultivation room, selling gold…
When he thought of Wu’s Gold Shop, Chen Mobai’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. But he was sure he hadn’t had any physical contact with Wu Wan, they had merely talked and made a deal.
His memory traced back again, ordering takeout, eating fish, having dinner, returning to the Water Mansion to cultivate, then coming back to class!
A complete cycle clearly emerged in Chen Mobai’s mind. He thought about what was different that day that could affect the adaptive spiritual power cultivated by his Five Elements Skill. The most likely explanation was a change in his spiritual root attribute points.
Takeout!?
Chen Mobai thought of the food he had eaten. It was possible that it could affect his spiritual root, but it shouldn’t have. He had secretly ordered takeout several times before and the Cultivation Aid app had never popped up any notifications.
Could it be… there was something wrong with that fish.