“`
Geng District Number 9, Tongtian Tower, the sixty-third floor, Chen Mu’s room.
The white walls radiated a warm luster, clearly not jade or stone, but some kind of bone or keratin.
The corners were rounded, not like they were pieced together but rather as if they were one whole.
Chen Mu took a meditation cushion out of the Five Ghosts Bag and placed it in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, then sat down cross-legged and looked down over the entire Water Mansion.
The glittering ceiling of the sky, the yellow and white Tongtian Tower, the wide crisscrossing streets, the bustling crowd, and the occasional streaks of light and various flying kites that cut across the sky.
“What a wondrous world.”
Watching a streak of emerald light zip over his head and straight into the distant Jinzhu Dojo.
Chen Mu’s face showed envy, “Although flying kites can also fly, compared to this Flying Escape Technique, they still lack a bit of flair.”
“One day, I will be able to fly on my own!”
Chen Mu called up the grey wall, full of longing.
Writing: 8521/10000/Second Rank;
Drawing: 5967/10000/Second Rank;
Cooking: 8145/10000/Fifth Rank;
Pharmaceutical Technique: 7217/10000/Fifth Rank;
Five Ghosts Moving Mountain Curse: 7136/10000/Eighth Rank;
Shape-shifting Technique: 8372/10000/Fourth Rank;
Planting: 6933/10000/Third Rank;
United Heart Curse: 4502/10000/Ninth Rank;
Fire Cloud Curse: 4386/10000/Second Rank;
Manipulation: 6736/10000/First Rank;
Triple Yin Slaying Demon Technique: 4228/10000/Third Rank;
Truthful Listening Technique: 9006/10000/Fourth Rank;
Five Elements Qi Absorption Technique: 9181/10000/Second Rank;
“The Triple Yin Slaying Demon Technique is too noisy, can’t cultivate that.”
“Manipulation requires going out to fly, can’t practice that either.”
“If I could just slightly control the temperature, perhaps I could practice the Fire Cloud Curse.”
“I just don’t know if there is any equipment in Tongtian Tower designed for flames,” Chen Mu looked around the room.
In a former life, hotel apartments had fire alarm systems, “Better to ask later just to be safe.”
Chen Mu stared at the grey wall, plotting.
“First max out the Second Rank of the Five Elements Qi Absorption Technique.”
“Then start learning the Five Qi Primordial Technique while simultaneously cultivating the Truthful Listening Technique.”
“Once the Truthful Listening Technique reaches the limit of Fourth Rank Perfection, I’ll start on the Fire Cloud Curse.”
With a plan in place, Chen Mu completely closed himself in.
He closed his eyes and began to cultivate the Five Elements Qi Absorption Technique.
…
Four days later.
Chen Mu opened his eyes, staring blankly out of the floor-to-ceiling window. He absentmindedly watched the flying kites in the sky for a while before snapping back to reality.
“Getting too immersed isn’t good either,” Chen Mu clicked his tongue.
Watching the experience points slowly increase, that feeling was truly joyful.
But over time, it’s easy to develop a sense of unreality about time slipping away.
Chen Mu looked at the grey wall.
Five Elements Qi Absorption Technique: 93/10000/Third Rank;
Suddenly, black smoke billowed, and a grey cloth bag containing about a hundred catties of Yellow Bud Rice appeared in front of him.
Five Elements Qi Absorption!
Buzz!
Accompanied by a vibrating sound, white powder quickly gathered into a ball in the palm of his hand.
“This weight is just right,” Chen Mu weighed the roughly ten catties of Essence of the Five Grains and nodded in satisfaction.
To produce ten catties of Essence of the Five Grains from a hundred catties of Yellow Bud Rice, that was the normal industry level.
“The Five Elements Qi Absorption Technique is sufficient for now, set it aside.”
“The Five Qi Primordial Technique and the Golden Bead Talisman can be scheduled for later.”
“After all, the price of the Essence of the Five Grains doesn’t compare to the Fasting Pill.”
As he was planning his future cultivation, a knock came from the door.
Chen Mu got up to open it.
A grey-clad, short-haired young man in his twenties with a melon-seed face stood at the door, holding two brown triple-layered food containers.
“Sir, your dinner,” the melon-seed-faced young man said with a smile as he handed a food container to Chen Mu.
“Thank you,” Chen Mu said with a cheerful smile of appreciation.
He closely observed the young man’s expression to make sure it was no different from usual, then dissipated the Sand Shooting Shadow in his right hand behind his back and accepted the food container.
It wasn’t strange for him to be cautious.
Lately, Zhongshan Path was preparing to cause trouble for Jilong Road, and you could never be too careful.
He was about to close the door and eat.
Suddenly, the door diagonally across opened.
A dark-skinned, bearded giant of a man about two meters tall emerged from a room.
“`
“It’s finally here, I was about to starve to death!” he said, reaching out to take the other food box from the melon seed-faced young man’s hand.
Noticing Chen Mu’s gaze, the other party looked up, meeting Chen Mu’s eyes briefly before displaying a friendly smile and nodding slightly in greeting.
The man was rugged, looking somewhat fierce, but unexpectedly quite polite.
In this world, there are indeed people who appear fierce but are actually kind-hearted.
Thinking this, Chen Mu also smiled and nodded in response.
Then he lifted the food box and went back to his room to eat.
…
The black-faced muscular man with a fierce exterior but kind heart smiled as he bid the melon seed-faced young man farewell and then returned to his room too.
“Prefect, what’s the caliber of that man?” asked another muscular man, also over two meters tall with arms reaching past his knees.
“He’s willing to stay in Tongtian Tower, so he’s probably at Illusion Breaking Cultivation,” the Prefect replied.
“Slim and delicate, with a soft demeanor and a pretty-boy face, he looks like a weakling at first glance.” Prefect Zhang sneered dismissively.
He opened the food box casually, pulled out a roast chicken, and, without bothering to carve it, bit off half of it, bones and all.
“Don’t be careless, Prefect.”
“People like him are likely following the path of a Qi Cultivator of the Mysterious Gate and must possess some mysterious secret techniques.”
“To launch a secret technique, one has to recite a spell. Could he be faster than our actions?” Prefect Zhang with his black face and bristly beard dismissed the concern with indifference.
Seeing the tall, muscular man still trying to persuade him, black-faced Prefect Zhang waved his hand to stop him.
“No rush,” he said.
“I will definitely find out more before making a move.”
“Even if he’s a weakling, if we can’t snap his neck in one go, he will inevitably scream.”
“This place is ultimately the domain of Heavenly River Water Mansion, we can’t let him make a noise.”
The tall man sighed, “This guy is such a nuisance, how did he end up staying just above Mo Wuzhou’s room.”
“Isn’t that perfect,” Prefect Zhang chuckled, “We want to catch Mo Wuzhou by surprise, so we need to destroy the floors.”
“The Water Mansion’s strongmen and Song Wujie will definitely come to investigate, and this guy can take the fall for us.”
The tall, muscular man shook his head, “If Heavenly River Water Mansion gets involved, they will surely see through it.”
Prefect Zhang’s eyes narrowed with a smile, “Of course, they will figure it out. But all we need is for him to delay them for a bit.”
“Just enough to allow me to leave the Water Mansion’s Dragon Gate at leisure.”
“The Prefect has considered everything,” the tall man suddenly realized.
…
Inside Chen Mu’s room, after enjoying a full meal, he was in no rush to cultivate.
Instead, he took out the Heartless Bell that he hadn’t used in a long time.
A thread of mana followed the Primordial Talisman into his palm, and then into the Heartless Bell.
Clang!
A sound like that of a bronze bell echoed.
The blood in his body suddenly vibrated gently.
The relief of taking a brisk 3-kilometer walk and lightly sweating spread swiftly through his body.
Then, looking at the distant view through the floor-to-ceiling window, he felt refreshed and carefree.
“What a fine thing,” Chen Mu said, fondly fidgeting with it.
With the intervention of mana, the Heartless Bell’s soul-stirring and spirit-capturing capabilities were still ineffective on him.
But its ability to vibrate the blood and relieve fatigue from long sitting began to take effect.
“This is way more reliable than any massage chair.”
Chen Mu chuckled and put it away.
…
In the following days, Chen Mu began to attempt to understand the Five Qi Primordial Technique.
Similar to the Qi Absorbing Technique, this too was a foundational talisman.
Different elixirs, due to their need for various aggregation methods, gave rise to different aggregation techniques, such as the Golden Bead Talisman required for the Fasting Pill.
“No wonder alchemy makes money, the barriers are truly high!”
To absorb the components of elixir pills, one needs the component talisman.
To aggregate raw materials into an elixir pill, one needs the aggregation talisman.
To control the alchemy furnace, you also need different talismans corresponding to the different states.
A simple Fasting Pill involves five kinds of talismans, what about other, more complex elixirs?
And even if one mastered them all, the success rate of alchemy still remains an issue.
“To grasp a variety of talismans requires exceptional talent.”
“To increase the success rate of alchemy, one needs a lot of financial resources to practice.”
“I lack talent and resources.”
“Can an ordinary person like me really perform alchemy?”
Thinking of this dim future, Chen Mu couldn’t help feeling disheartened.
“Three months of hard training and I’ve only mastered two talismans.”
“Look at Mo Wuzhou; he only took half a year!”
“Even though I’ve worked so hard…”
Chen Mu shook his head with a wide grin, “I can’t compare, just can’t compare.”
“Ha ha!”