Chapter 173
Baek Cheong had no idea how much her family was supporting her from behind the scenes.
Once she returned to her quarters, there was only one thing on her mind.
‘Finally, time to browse the forum!’
Just thinking about the forum browsing she’d put off for days made her steps feel light.
As soon as she shut the door, she ran to her bed and flopped down.
She sprawled her arms and legs across the blanket and activated her divine sense.
She felt no hesitation at all as she headed for the Nameless Forum for the first time in a while.
With that familiar sensation, the Nameless Forum unfolded before her eyes.
Then, as if it had been waiting for her, notifications poured down in a rush.
While she’d been away for so long, the backlog of notifications had piled up like a mountain.
She had already guessed that the bidding alerts were for the premium-grade Cloud Tribulation Pill she’d put up for auction.
But there was something else that puzzled her.
Because even the promotional post she’d once put up to try selling the inferior Cloud Tribulation Pill was covered in notifications.
‘Why on earth did this pile up like this?’
It was a pill she had already sold, so she couldn’t see any reason for new notifications to be appearing now.
For now, she put her curiosity aside and decided to check the auction post first.
How much the premium Cloud Tribulation Pill had sold for was, above all else, what she was most curious about.
As soon as she opened the auction post on the market board, a line announcing the winning bid stood there in plain sight.
[Daoist 913.14’s auction has been won. Final winning bid: 137 top-grade spirit stones. Winner: Daoist 8.2]
Baek Cheong’s eyes went wide when she saw the winning bid.
‘137?’
When she’d set the starting price at one top-grade spirit stone, she’d thought she’d be lucky to get even a dozen or so.
But when she actually saw the result, it had blown far past even her rough estimate.
It should have been a moment of joy, yet somehow confusion came first.
After all, the Cloud Tribulation Pill was only a quasi-second-tier pill she had crafted to match her Foundation Establishment heavenly tribulation.
Even if it was premium-grade, if a cultivator of a higher realm swallowed it, the medicine’s potency would naturally be reduced.
Anyone wealthy enough to have plenty of top-grade spirit stones would naturally be quite high in cultivation as well.
So she wondered what possessed those Daoists to pour such a fortune into a pill whose effects would be reduced.
‘How could a single quasi-second-tier pill be worth 137 of them...’
Wondering if she had misread it, she looked over the winning bid again and again.
But no matter how many times she counted, it was definitely 137 top-grade spirit stones.
More than the joy of selling it for a high price, an inexplicable curiosity surged first.
As if bewitched, she went back to the promotional post that had been packed with notifications earlier.
It was the post she’d once put up looking for Daoists interested in a pill that could help withstand heavenly tribulation.
『Daoist 913.14: Any Daoists interested in a pill that helps withstand lightning tribulation?』
There were reply after reply she’d never seen before under the post.
[Daoist 661.11: Can’t you sell more of that Cloud Tribulation Pill? I’m in a hurry too.]
[Daoist 118.9: I rushed over after seeing the ghost-path cultivator’s review. Please release some more stock.]
[Daoist 45.88: Name your price. Can’t you sell just one more?]
Every single reply was clinging to her, begging her to sell the Cloud Tribulation Pill.
Still puzzled, she searched the Nameless Forum for Cloud Tribulation Pill.
Then threads discussing the Cloud Tribulation Pill poured out all at once.
『Daoist 412.8: Daoist 913.14’s Cloud Tribulation Pill—no matter how you pick it apart, it’s definitely a spirit-world pill.』
[A single inferior pill saved a ghost-path cultivator, so unless it was a spirit-world item, it makes no sense. I can’t even guess how extraordinary the premium one must be.]
『Daoist 2.2: If it’s a spirit-world pill, I’d want to keep one nearby and savor it, even setting aside its effects.』
[An item like this clears the Dao heart just by being carried. It’s more than worth collecting.]
『Daoist 76.2: I’ll be regretting missing the last auction for a long time.』
[I could understand missing the premium one, but I should’ve at least grabbed one when the inferior ones were available. Where on earth does Daoist 913.14 keep getting such items?]
└Daoist 331.5: Exactly. It’s like he’s hauling them over wholesale from the spirit world.
Some Daoists openly revealed their desire to collect the Cloud Tribulation Pill, even calling it a spirit-world pill.
Then she spotted the review left by the Daoist who had bought the premium Cloud Tribulation Pill.
『Daoist 8.2: The premium Cloud Tribulation Pill was indeed a spirit-world pill.』
[Even after paying such a huge sum, I don’t regret it at all. The pill’s mysterious effects were so deep and profound that I can’t even fathom its limits. Finding something like this at a lower-realm market can only be called divine luck.]
By the time Baek Cheong finished reading the review, her mood had turned sour.
It was supposedly a pill formula she’d personally come up with, yet she’d never expected such an intense reaction.
‘It was just a pill made to withstand a single heavenly tribulation.’
With all the Daoists extolling it as a spirit-world pill, she was starting to feel embarrassed.
Then, suddenly remembering something, she nodded.
The cloud spirit fruit used in the Cloud Tribulation Pill was originally an ingredient used to make the True-Cleansing Pill.
The True-Cleansing Pill was something Daoists revered as a spirit-world pill, because it could completely wash away accumulated pill poison.
Since she had crafted it with ingredients that went into spirit-world pills, one could almost call the Cloud Tribulation Pill a spirit-world pill formula.
‘Come to think of it, the cloud spirit fruit itself was no ordinary ingredient.’
The cloud spirit fruit’s hidden properties were so remarkable that she had even managed to make the Cloud Tribulation Pill more easily than expected.
With such an ingredient, it was no wonder the Daoists were going wild over it.
Even if she wanted to sell more, the cloud spirit fruit had long been used up, so she couldn’t make any more anyway.
Once her awkwardness faded, another worry came squeezing in.
The top-grade spirit stones from the winning bid alone came to 137.
She’d just been lying there, and spirit stones had swelled beyond her ability to keep up.
If she needed something, the family would give it to her, and she couldn’t reveal the top-grade spirit stones she’d gotten from the Nameless Forum, so there was no proper use for them.
‘What am I supposed to spend all these spirit stones on...’
Caught between pleasure and a strangely chicken-rib-like dilemma, she drifted into her thoughts.
Then a maid’s cautious voice came from outside her quarters.
“Young miss, the Grand Patriarch is looking for you.”
It was a summons from her grandfather.
Baek Cheong reluctantly put away the Nameless Forum and sat up from the bed.
She roughly straightened her disheveled clothes and headed for the Grand Patriarch Hall.
As soon as she entered the Grand Patriarch Hall, her grandfather looked at her and smiled kindly.
“Our Cheong is here.”
Baek Mu-ae welcomed Baek Cheong and gestured for her to sit closer.
Once Baek Cheong had obediently taken her seat, Baek Mu-ae slowly spoke.
“It’s nothing else. I’m about to enter a long period of closed-door seclusion, so I called you before that to tell you something.”
Baek Cheong nodded without surprise.
Her grandfather always called her separately like this to leave her with instructions before going into long seclusion.
“You did achieve the five-element mutual generation with the five introductory cultivation arts, but...”
Baek Mu-ae stroked his beard and began to speak.
After a brief pause to choose his words, he continued calmly.
“However, now that you’ve entered Foundation Establishment, things are different. If you want to fully fill your dantian and condense spiritual energy to the level befitting Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, your current cultivation arts will eventually fall somewhat short.”
Baek Cheong quickly thought it over at the precise words.
Indeed, her grandfather was right.
She had achieved mutual generation among the five elements and surpassed the level of basic cultivation arts, but the limits were still clear.
If she tried to fill her dantian to the brim and condense spiritual energy to the point of aspiring to Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, she would end up relying on quasi-unity in the end.
Even when she had advanced to Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, the final condensation had still been too difficult, so she had been forced to rely on quasi-unity.
But quasi-unity meant stirring up and awakening the dormant spirit root at the bottom of the dantian, so it was not something to tamper with lightly.
In the end, without a better cultivation art to support her, there would inevitably be clear limits to her condensation unless she touched the dormant spirit root.
‘Now that I’ve reached Foundation Establishment, it’s time to change my cultivation arts too.’
As Baek Cheong gathered her thoughts and nodded, Baek Mu-ae could not suppress his fondness and gently stroked his granddaughter’s head.
Then, with a pleased expression, he got to the point.
“So this old grandpa made some preparations in advance. The cultivation arts practiced by Five-Element Spirit Root holders are all rather mediocre, so I asked around and gathered the most usable ones I could find. I’ve put them on the second floor of the Baekgyeong Pavilion, so go take a look whenever you need to.”
At the unexpected words, Baek Cheong’s eyes lit up.
Wasn’t he telling her to choose and learn new cultivation arts to her heart’s content?
“Yes, Grandfather!”
Baek Mu-ae burst into hearty laughter as he looked at his adorable granddaughter.
After paying her respects to her grandfather, Baek Cheong left the Grand Patriarch Hall with light, excited steps.
Until now, she had only reluctantly flipped through the miscellaneous books on the first floor of Baekgyeong Pavilion whenever her forum browsing was interrupted; she had never even set foot on the second floor.
What kind of cultivation arts might be stacked there, waiting for her?
‘The second floor of Baekgyeong Pavilion.’
Just imagining herself boldly stepping into such a place made anticipation swell in her chest.
Unable to wait any longer, Baek Cheong immediately turned toward Baekgyeong Pavilion.
Since she was going into long seclusion anyway, it would still be good to change her cultivation arts first, even if she wasn’t going to devote herself to cultivation right away.