16 Chapter 16: Blackwater Cultivation_1
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
Oh, the wickedness of humanity.
After leaving Wu’s Gold Shop, Chen Mobai sighed inwardly.
No wonder many cultivators preferred to pay a higher price at those well-known brand stores, at least they wouldn’t try to push every customer towards illicit practices.
Within the Sect, fabricating trades in exchange for points was a common practice, but that was among familiar faces. It symbolized both parties having a hold on each other. Chen Mobai and Wu Wan had only made business once, and they didn’t even have a shred of trust between them.
Chen Mobai was still young, and judging by his current rate of cultivation coupled with the Rank-2 spiritual land, the Water Mansion, he could definitely reach Qi Cultivation Perfection and attempt Foundation Establishment. He was in no position to take risks yet.
After this trade, Chen Mobai, who had initially planned to wander around a bit more, lost his mood.
After taking the public transport back home, he, now a rich man, decided to reward himself. He didn’t trim any talisman paper, nor did he even make food, ordering a spicy hot pot instead.
While waiting for the delivery, after scanning the entire “Detailed Explanation of Azure Aquatic Formation” into a document and sending it to his teacher, Chen Mobai took out the “Blackwater Cultivation” and started reading.
This was a classic water attribute Qi Cultivation Technique with nine levels, allowing one to cultivate all the way to Qi Cultivation Perfection. It also recorded three complementary spells.
They were the Water Controlling Technique, Water Elemental Shield, and Cold Ice Technique respectively.
The three spells progressed sequentially, the “Water Controlling Technique” being the simplest, yet requiring a significant amount of time to master.
Once proficient in controlling water, one could harness refined spiritual water into a Water Elemental Shield to guard oneself, a spell that could replace defensive magical weapons. It was rather popular among low ranked cultivators.
Finally, the “Cold Ice Technique” was the hardest.
According to “Blackwater Cultivation”, one must first condense their spiritual power into an Ice Breath, then incorporating the Water Controlling Technique to freeze the refined spiritual water, transforming it into any shape they desire, either for attack or defense.
This technique, though simplistic, had an effective system. Moreover, while learning the three spells, one could enhance their Qi Cultivation Realm.
“Not bad at all. If only my Water Spirit Root attribute wasn’t as low as 23, I might be tempted to start learning it immediately.”
The top medical institutions in the Cultivation World had conducted an experiment. If the attribute points of any Spirit Root exceeded 33, its efficiency of practicing Five Elements Cultivation would be lower than that of a single attribute Qi Cultivation Technique.
For someone like Chen Mobai with a talent almost equivalent to a False Spirit Root, practicing the Five Elements Cultivation proved to be the most suitable in terms of both, cultivation progress, and efficiency of refining Spirit Qi.
For Chen Mobai, aside from being a reference, the significant value of “Blackwater Cultivation” was its recorded three spells.
Even though knowledge in the Cultivation World was shared, it all required points to exchange.
Also, before exchanging any spell from the Cultivation World, one must swear that the spell could only be learned individually and not taught to others.
The only place where one could legally teach spells was in schools.
The Propulsion Technique, Cleaning Technique, and Qi Nourishing Technique that Chen Mobai knew, were all taught in school. However, since students were taught from a young age that cultivation was superior, they only cared for spells that facilitated day-to-day life.
After all, their planet Earth was peaceful. While instances of minor theft and tax evasion were common, major crimes such as murder and causing harm were rarely heard of.
Only when a war was imminent, cultivators would start practicing battle spells.
In times of peace, students in school cared only for Qi Cultivation, enhancing their realms, eagerly anticipating to reach Qi Cultivation Perfection, and attempt Foundation Establishment.
Just as Chen Mobai was making a comparison between the Water Elemental Shield and the Flowing Water Cover gifted by Old Ding, the doorbell rang.
The delivery was here.
Chen Mobai went into the kitchen, poured the spicy hot pot into a bowl at home, and was about to scoop some Spirit Rice to eat when he suddenly noticed a fish in the sink. It had already been gutted yet still seemed somewhat familiar.
Huh, isn’t that the fish he brought back from the Water Mansion? He was in a rush in the morning. After dealing with the spoils, he casually threw it into the sink.
He had initially planned to come back in the evening and not waste it, intending to make a bowl of boiled fish. But after earning a fortune from selling gold, Chen Mobai entirely forgot about it.
It must have been dealt with by his mother when she left.
While thinking thus, Chen Mobai looked at the fish meat in the transparent tub, tinged with a light shade of pink. With a few swift chops, he sliced the fish into chunks. He then started the stove and poured his spicy hot pot soup into the pot, used it as soup base and started dropping in the sliced fish.
After the hard work, the moment the tender and spicy fish meat entered his mouth, Chen Moyai’s eyes squinted contentedly.
After finishing his meal, he didn’t waste any time and teleported directly to the Water Mansion.
First, he went around the Water Mansion to ensure nothing had changed from the time before he left. Feeling relieved, he sat down under the Array Flag on a meditation mat he brought, and began to refine the rich spiritual energy of the Rank-2 water vein….
The next day.
During class, Chen Mobai looked at his phone screen with a strange expression.
He had a habit of recording each time he cultivated on his phone and then importing it into a software called “Auxiliary Cultivation”. He would compare it with previous cultivation videos to find differences, correct mistakes, and continue to improve.
For half a year now, the “Auxiliary Cultivation” software hadn’t shown any pop-up messages. This implied that both his cultivation time and posture were the most suitable, with no room for improvement.
But this morning, a pop-up appeared unexpectedly.
[User’s spiritual power cultivated last night shows 2 more points in water attribute than usual, please confirm the cause.]
The Auxiliary Cultivation software only highlighted the difference; it wouldn’t analyze the cause. The users were supposed to find out the reason themselves and give feedback.
Chen Mobai thought back to his cultivation session yesterday. Everything was the same as his previous sessions in the Water Mansion, even the spot where he sat on his mat was the same.
Unable to figure out the reason, his only choice was to run more experiments.
That day, Chen Mobai once again started a recording and cultivated in the Water Mansion all night, and his Five Elements Cultivation made further progress.
[User’s spiritual power cultivated last night shows 2 fewer points in water attribute than the day before, please confirm the cause.]
Another pop-up appeared.
Chen Mobai was sure that something must have been different with him the day before yesterday. The “Auxiliary Cultivation” software was developed by the Repairing Heaven Institute, one of the four great Daoist Academies, and after hundreds of years of adjustment, it was fully reliable.
The software couldn’t be wrong, so what exactly happened to him?
Chen Mobai sank into deep thought, starting to recall all his experiences from the day before yesterday.
He’d attended classes, asked teachers questions, tried out the needle box in the Cultivation Room, sold gold…
Thinking about Wu’s Gold Shop, Chen Mobai frowned slightly. But he was sure that he didn’t have any physical contact with Wu Wan; they’d just had a conversation and made a deal.
His memory rewound further – ordering a takeaway, slicing fish, eating, returning to the Water Mansion to cultivate, then coming back for classes!
All these details of his routine clearly emerged in Chen Mobai’s mind. He thought about what was different that day and what could have affected the adaptive spiritual power produced by his Five Elements Cultivation. The most likely reason seemed to be a variation in his spiritual root attribute points.
Takeout!?
Chen Mobai thought about the food he had consumed. It could potentially affect one’s spiritual root, but it shouldn’t. He had secretly ordered in a few times before as well, and the Auxiliary Cultivation never flashed any pop-ups.
Could it be…there was something wrong with that fish?