Chapter 186
Even after deciding to give it a try, Baek Cheong couldn't bring herself to start.
Since her opponent was who he was, she intended to test every stepping-stone before crossing.
Baek Cheong sat cross-legged on the bed and gathered her divine sense first.
She circulated all forty pages' worth of divine sense inward without leaving a single page out.
She spread it thickly throughout her dantian and qi-and-blood pathways, ready to catch even the slightest anomaly at once.
There was a reason she had prepared so thoroughly.
It was so she could stop cultivating and pull out at the first sign of trouble.
After all, if one learned a cultivation method incorrectly, one's qi and blood could reverse and cause cultivation deviation.
All the more so when the seller was Daoist(237.309); there was no such thing as being too careful.
Only after completing all her preparations did she cautiously begin circulating the incantations of the Five Elements Art.
She probed forward very shallowly, as though merely licking the surface.
She dipped in only her toes, as if expecting some trap to be lying in wait.
‘...Huh?’
Even after circulating it for quite some time, she found nothing wrong.
Just in case, she circulated it over and over several times.
Still, she couldn't feel even the slightest discordance.
Far from finding anything wrong, she felt exceedingly comfortable.
The path along which spiritual energy flowed according to the incantations was so smooth that there was nowhere for it to catch.
When fire qi surged upward, water qi soothed it and earth qi supported it from below, leaving no chance of strain on her qi and blood.
Among all the Earth-grade cultivation methods she had seen so far, it was one of the most stable.
More than anything, there was another part that made her eyes widen.
If the cultivation methods she had learned until now were loose-fitting clothes, the Five Elements Art was like a tailored suit measured and made for her.
As the five spiritual roots meshed perfectly and turned together, an unexpected benefit came along with them.
The five-element spiritual roots that had always been anxious from having their nourishment stolen by the latent spiritual root visibly regained their stability.
‘At this level, I really can learn it, can't I?’
Her nerves, which had been wound tight with vigilance, slowly relaxed.
At last, she let down her guard and delved into the Five Elements Art in earnest.
Of course, she didn't neglect to observe the changes with her divine sense.
Yet the deeper she delved, the more extraordinary the principles contained within the cultivation method became.
Until then, she had thought that mutual generation and mutual overcoming were all there was to the five elements.
Water generating wood and wood generating fire, the elements feeding into one another, was mutual generation.
Water overcoming fire and fire overcoming metal, the elements clashing against one another, was mutual overcoming.
But the Five Elements Art went a step deeper than that.
It contained the principle of harmony that dwelled beyond mutual generation and mutual overcoming.
It was a state in which the five attributes pushed and pulled against one another while maintaining an exquisite balance.
Water qi soothed fire qi without extinguishing it entirely.
Metal qi suppressed wood qi without breaking it completely.
The forces of suppression and nourishment interlocked precariously, blending the five energies into one.
Once she awakened to its mysteries, she found it impossible to pull herself away.
The deeper she delved, the more new principles emerged in succession.
Without realizing it, she sank into a state of selflessness.
She indulged in the harmony of the five elements again and again without noticing the passage of time.
.
.
.
How long had she been delving into it?
Then a thought suddenly brushed across her mind.
‘The latent spiritual root...!’
Baek Cheong abruptly came to her senses.
While she was lost in a trance, she had no idea what the latent spiritual root might have done.
She hurriedly turned her divine sense toward her dantian.
Yet the dantian she examined was absurdly intact.
All five of the five-element spiritual roots were calmly maintaining their balance.
The strange thing was the latent spiritual root.
The thing that usually erupted at the slightest provocation and ravenously sucked up nourishment was quiet for once.
Even though it must have rummaged through her dantian throughout the entire trance, it hadn't moved a muscle.
Her bewilderment did not last long.
‘Huh?’
Baek Cheong soon noticed an astonishing change.
Simply sitting still and regulating her breathing caused Heaven and Earth spiritual qi to rush into her like a flood.
It was thanks to her spiritual pull having grown stronger than ever.
She was merely sitting and drawing breath, yet the amount she absorbed was comparable to what she had gathered while shut away in closed-door cultivation.
The surprises did not end there.
Her spiritual power had also increased by a considerable amount.
It was roughly comparable to the great completion of Foundation Establishment.
‘What is this...?’
She belatedly retraced what had happened while she was unconscious.
It seemed that she had completed the Five Elements Art all the way through while lost in a trance.
She had not merely learned it; she had completely switched over to the cultivation method as well.
The cultivation-method change she had been waiting for so desperately had finished without her even realizing it.
There was no cultivation deviation or entanglement of qi and blood.
The traps she had steeled herself for had not shown even the tips of their noses.
‘...This is ridiculous.’
Baek Cheong sat blankly for a while.
The fact that everything had gone so smoothly made the back of her head itch with suspicion.
Unable to bear the lingering unease, she opened the Nameless Forum first.
She went straight into the marketplace and searched for the Five Elements Art.
As expected, a familiar realm number appeared.
But it wasn't a marketplace listing; it was a post on the chatter board.
『Daoist(237.309): The Five Elements Art is a masterpiece I completed.』
[But to raise five-element spiritual-root cultivators, the cultivation method alone was insufficient. Since it was so perfect, the limitations of the spiritual roots themselves became clear; inferior five-element spiritual roots couldn't withstand the cultivation method and died, taking the dantian down with them. So Daoist(913.14), if you have the means, please sell me plenty of Five Elements Pills.]
Baek Cheong's eyes widened involuntarily as she read through the post.
The identity of the defect that had remained shrouded in mystery was solved all at once.
Just as she had determined, the Five Elements Art was indeed a flawless cultivation method.
The problem lay with the person learning it.
Unless the five-element spiritual roots provided sufficient support, they couldn't withstand the cultivation method and would die.
That was also why the Nameless Pavilion had reclaimed it after verification and never put it back up for sale.
‘So it was a cultivation method that would kill anyone who learned it blindly?’
If she had learned it without knowing better and her five-element spiritual roots had been inadequate, her dantian might have completely collapsed by now.
Yet she was not only perfectly fine; she had also gained spiritual power comparable to the great completion of Foundation Establishment for free.
That was because her own five-element spiritual roots were on an entirely different level from those of ordinary five-element spiritual-root cultivators.
‘Uh, well...’
At a loss for words, Baek Cheong scratched the back of her head for no particular reason.
Strictly speaking, it was true that the cultivation method had nearly put her life in danger.
But because everything had turned out so favorably, there hadn't been the slightest danger.
So rather than feel angry, she was left with only a detached sense that it had happened to someone else.
‘Anyway, I'm fine, aren't I?’
Then her curiosity about Daoist(237.309) suddenly took root.
Not content with grinding through a million five-element spiritual-root cultivators, he was now begging for Five Elements Pills as well.
Even amid all the insane things he did, his determination to raise the five-element spiritual root seemed entirely sincere.
‘Why does he go this far?’
Unable to overcome her curiosity, she left a reply.
[Daoist(913.14): Are you really raising five-element spiritual-root cultivators because you're bored?]
└Daoist(237.309): Making the Five-Element Spiritual Root Great Again
The reply came immediately, as though it had been waiting for her.
Yet the answer that came back was enigmatic.
He would make the five-element spiritual root great again.
What was it supposed to become great from, and had it ever been great in the first place?
She badly wanted to ask him, but swallowed the impulse.
If she engaged him for no reason, she had a feeling she would be dragged into endless nonsense.
As expected, when Baek Cheong didn't answer, replies came trailing after one another.
└Daoist(237.309): Asking why greatness needs a reason is the mindset of a petty man.
└Daoist(237.309): More importantly, more Five Elements Pills are always better, so please send me plenty.
└Daoist(237.309): Daoist's Five Elements Pills will be a tremendous help on the road to restoring the glory of the five-element spiritual root.
Every one of the replies was simply a request for Five Elements Pills.
It was impossible to tell what kind of past he carried to be so obsessed with the five-element spiritual root.
“Ha...”
Baek Cheong let out a hollow laugh at the sheer absurdity of it.
Still, one thing was clear.
Thanks to that madman, she had hit a jackpot that saved her from becoming flat broke.
For something that had nearly put her life at risk, she had never had a more profitable deal.
She no longer regretted even the premium spirit stones she had spent as seed money.
Besides, if it was Five Elements Pills, she could brew as many as she wanted if she put her mind to it.
[Daoist(913.14): I don't know what it is, but I benefited from it, so I'll put some up for you soon.]
She left the reply as though doing him a favor, then exited the Nameless Forum.
After closing the Nameless Forum, she gathered her divine sense into her dantian again.
She slowly examined the five-element spiritual roots that had switched to the new cultivation method.
The five elements were harmonizing, coaxing and soothing one another.
The traces of torment inflicted by the latent spiritual root had vanished without a trace.
As she watched them quietly, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
‘If this keeps up, could I achieve Five-Element Unification even without reaching Core Formation?’
Five-Element Unification was a state that gathered the five spiritual roots into one and raised their grade another level.
It was said to be a level one could only aspire to after reaching at least the late Core Formation stage.
Yet after glimpsing the principle of harmony through the Five Elements Art, it no longer seemed like a completely impossible dream.
Of course, her imagination went no farther than that.
She had only just begun learning the Five Elements Art and had merely tasted what harmony was.
When it came to discussing Five-Element Unification, she had barely even scratched the surface.
‘...Well, I still have a long way to go.’
Baek Cheong quietly deflated her puffed-up little chest.
It wasn't something she could accomplish today or tomorrow anyway, so there was no reason to rush.
Perhaps because she had remained lost in a trance for so long, her whole body went limp with lethargy.
As sleep washed over her, she lay down on the bed and closed her heavy eyelids.
And she dreamed a nightmare about being forced to undergo cultivation.