Chapter 235
The Biseondae of Cheonnam Immortal City was already filled with tower ships before sunrise.
Once the city gates opened, cultivators seeking to rent cultivation caves filed inside, while marketplace merchants haggled over their newly acquired spots.
The city had been filled with clouds of dust from the construction of its walls until a month ago, but now it was so crowded that finding an empty pavilion was difficult.
Not only clans and sects from the southern continent but even merchant guilds from beyond the boundary had established branches here.
The cultivation rights and spirit-field lease rights originating from Yeonha’s fifth-tier spirit vein rose in value every day.
Spirit herbs and spirit creatures harvested from the lakeshore flowed into Cheonnam Immortal City’s marketplace, while goods brought in from outside flowed back to the alliance’s clans.
The more interests became tied to Cheonnam Immortal City, the harder it became to recklessly provoke Yeonha and the Cheonnam Alliance.
To seize the spirit vein, they would first have to destroy the city walls and the mountain-protecting formation.
After defeating the Cheonnam Alliance, they would also have to make enemies of the sects that had invested people in the cultivation caves and the merchant guilds that had invested spirit stones in the spirit fields.
Even if they managed to seize it through great difficulty, it would be difficult to defend the land alone.
Even the forces that had once harbored ill intentions abandoned their greed after calculating the losses.
It was far more beneficial to join hands with the Cheonnam Alliance and receive a set share.
“The Haeun Merchant Guild from the Eastern Continent even bought a pavilion yesterday.”
Baek Mu-jin closed the final ledger and set it down on one side of the table.
The entire view of Cheonnam Immortal City was visible through the open window.
Cultivators moved between the newly erected towers, while the tower ships that had just arrived at the Biseondae outside the walls were unloading their cargo.
“A sect from the Northern Continent has also expressed its desire to rent cultivation caves. Neither side seems to be directly coveting the spirit vein.”
“Can we trust them?”
“They still harbor greed, of course.”
Baek Mu-yeong smiled slyly and tapped the ledger with one finger.
“However, the cost of taking it has grown larger than the share they would gain. Even if they defeated the alliance itself, they would have to encroach on the shares of other forces as well, making it even more difficult to defend.”
“So their greed is blocking one another.”
“Yes. If someone appears who tries to swallow all of Yeonha, the first people to stand in their way will be those sharing interests with us.”
Baek Mu-jin gazed out at the bustling immortal city for a long while.
If the Baek Clan and the Cheonnam Alliance had tried to protect the fifth-tier spirit vein alone, they would not have been able to relax for even a day.
Now, countless ambitions had formed a wall around Yeonha.
If they had ceded too much, the Cheonnam Alliance would have been left with nothing but a hollow name, while ceding too little would have tempted outside forces to seize it by force.
It had been precarious, but Baek Mu-yeong had not miscalculated.
“We safely got past what could have turned a blessing into a curse.”
“It is still too early to lower our guard, but it seems we have passed the greatest hurdle.”
Baek Mu-yeong also stopped smiling and surveyed every corner of the immortal city.
The merchant guilds’ information networks and the reports submitted by the Cheonnam Alliance cultivators all pointed in the same direction.
At least for the time being, no force intended to confront the Cheonnam Alliance head-on.
As the mountain of administrative work dwindled, the worries they had postponed naturally rose to mind.
“Is Cheong still in her residence?”
“Yes. She has not come outside even once.”
“I punished her, yet she seemed pleased.”
“Since you even blocked her visitors, it may have been a reward for Cheong.”
Baek Mu-jin recalled his daughter lowering her head to hide the corners of her mouth and pressed a hand to his forehead.
Baek Mu-yeong also laughed silently before straightening his expression.
“It is not something we can simply laugh off.”
The traces uncovered while repairing Black Thunder and White Thunder had also been organized on the table.
The power left behind by the third-tier Earth Dragon had penetrated the puppets’ armor plating and reached deep into their formation inscriptions.
“Cheong is only fifteen. Not only is the speed at which she reached the third star of Foundation Establishment difficult to find precedent for, she also hunted a third-tier demonic beast by herself.”
“Even if she borrowed the Sword Venerable’s teachings and the power of several extraordinary treasures, it is still far from ordinary.”
“No matter how exceptional her insight and talent are, there are simply too many things that cannot be explained.”
Baek Mu-yeong recalled the conversation he had shared with Profound Void Perfected Person some time ago.
Only after the wine had made several rounds did the Perfected Person cautiously inform him that several Soul Transformation Venerables seemed to be interested in Baek Cheong.
It was an interest difficult to explain solely through the fact that she had formed a master-disciple bond with Sword Venerable Pacheon.
“Perhaps Cheong is a child born with a destiny beyond anything we can comprehend.”
“Destiny.”
“It seems the Apothecary Elder heard about it long ago as well.”
Baek Mu-jin could not answer easily.
He ought to have been happy to hear that his daughter had been born with a precious destiny.
Yet he had no way of knowing what burden a destiny that drew the attention of even Soul Transformation Venerables would place on his young daughter.
In the end, there was only one thing they could do as parents.
“Whatever destiny Cheong was born with, she is my child. We cannot defy the will of the great powers, but we must support her so that even a harsh destiny becomes a little easier to bear.”
“Brother.”
“I will work myself to the bone and raise her into a force strong enough for both the clan and the Cheonnam Alliance to pursue their ambitions freely.”
“I will lend my strength as well.”
Baek Mu-yeong and Baek Mu-jin looked at each other, then slowly turned toward the window.
Cheonnam Immortal City continued to grow, swallowing countless people, dharma treasures, and spirit stones.
***
During that same month-long period, Baek Cheong’s dantian also filled nearly halfway.
She merely repeated the process of absorbing high-grade spirit stones for one shichen each day and regulating them with the Five-Element Technique, yet her progress was faster than before.
The spiritual energy spreading from the fifth-tier spirit vein had also thickened the world’s spiritual energy all the way to Cheonnam Immortal City.
Even so, the thing she had spent the most time on lately was White Pearl.
Within the milky-white orb resting on her lap, a pale aura slowly swirled.
After infusing it with core essence and letting her divine sense seep into it for roughly a month, the unfamiliar interior of the dharma treasure gradually became clear to her, piece by piece.
Only the final verse remained in the incantation written on the jade slip left behind by the master of Biyun Sect’s Refinement Peak.
‘Now I only need to complete the blood refinement.’
Baek Cheong gathered her qi and blood at her fingertips and pushed out a drop of essence blood.
The red droplet seeped into the surface of the orb without leaving a trace the moment it touched it.
The pale aura swirling within White Pearl took on a reddish hue and spun rapidly.
The paths inside that had been closed in layer after layer began to open one by one.
Since she had reached the second level of the Spirit Resonance Art, there was no danger of losing track of the flow.
Her compressed divine sense entered gaps thinner than a strand of hair and clearly illuminated the places where the path of the essence blood and the core essence became entangled.
Whenever the flow deviated even slightly, she seized it with her divine will and aligned it with the key formula recorded on the jade slip.
Thanks to that, the blood refinement proceeded more smoothly than expected.
When the final drop of essence blood reached the center of the orb, White Pearl trembled lightly.
She immediately awakened her divine soul and gathered her divine sense in one place.
A mark modeled after her own will and energy was engraved in the center of White Pearl.
Woom.
The tremor ringing from White Pearl traveled through her palm and reached her dantian.
Even with her eyes closed, she could see every bit of energy moving within White Pearl.
The dharma treasure in her hand felt like a part of her body.
‘Done.’
As soon as she willed it, White Pearl disappeared from her palm.
White Pearl appeared inside her dantian and slowly circled her core essence.
And her core essence did not repel White Pearl.
The orb also absorbed the energy of the five elements and emitted a clearer light than before.
‘A natal dharma treasure.’
When she opened her hand again, White Pearl appeared in the air and descended onto her palm.
She had not opened her spatial dharma treasure or taken the orb out with her hand.
The mere intention to retrieve it allowed it to travel between her dantian and her palm.
“This is convenient.”
Baek Cheong put White Pearl away and called it back several times, playing with it.
The reduction in her fear of having it stolen was more than enough to justify making it her natal dharma treasure.
There was another change as well.
With White Pearl stored in her dantian, she cast the Water-Flow Technique.
Beside the stream of water extending from her fingertip, another slightly hazy stream appeared.
Even though it had not passed through the orb, she could duplicate the spell if she wished.
Although its power did not increase because it had not passed through White Pearl, it was clearly an advantage.
She could not determine the exact reason, but there was no downside.
‘Was its ability engraved in my divine soul because I made it my natal dharma treasure?’
Baek Cheong moved to the training room inside her residence.
She awakened the protective formations in the walls and floor, then reinforced the formation with the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc.
This time, she held White Pearl in her hand.
A flood of water qi surged from her core essence and entered White Pearl.
When she recalled the incantations of Ice Dragon Shatter, the water qi inside the orb split into dozens of strands.
At the same time, pure-white frost spread across the floor and walls of the training room.
Large ice dragons raised their heads one after another.
True to the name Ice Dragon Shatter, they resembled small dragons, and cold billowed between their scales as though it were about to burst out.
The power contained in a single spell was incomparable to before.
After being amplified and duplicated by White Pearl, now refined into a natal dharma treasure, each Ice Dragon Shatter possessed power comparable to a third-tier basic spell.
‘I could probably even hunt a third-tier Earth Dragon now.’
She recalled the third-tier Earth Dragon she had fought in the ruins.
At the time, she had needed to bring out all five puppets, the Five-Element Banner, and the Heavenly Armor Formation Disc before casting Star River One Line.
Now, she felt she could achieve an overwhelming victory through dozens of Ice Dragon Shatters.
‘Then this can properly be called a dharma technique.’
Baek Cheong dispersed the ice dragons and smiled with satisfaction.
Then she saw the frost remaining in the training room and wore a slightly regretful expression.
‘Ice Dragon Shatter would have been far stronger if it were a higher-grade spell.’
Even after reaching Great Perfection, Ice Dragon Shatter was still a high-grade first-tier spell by nature.
There was a definite limit to the water qi that could be contained in its incantations and meridian circulation.
Even if White Pearl doubled its spiritual power, it could not change the spell’s basic framework.
At present, there were two ways to make Ice Dragon Shatter stronger.
She could delve deeply into the essence of the spell and advance it into a second- or third-tier spell.
Or she could raise White Pearl itself to the level of a third-tier dharma treasure.
‘Neither will be easy to accomplish anytime soon.’
To advance the spell, merely mastering a wide variety of high-grade first-tier spells to Great Perfection would not be enough.
She would need to bring at least two second-tier basic spells to Great Perfection and comprehend the principles of spells.
Nor could she strengthen White Pearl on her own.
The materials used when it had been transformed into a dharma treasure were difficult to obtain in her lower realm.
Above all, the only person capable of handling White Pearl, which was made from unknown materials, was the master of Biyun Sect’s Refinement Peak.
She would have to visit Biyun Sect if she wanted to raise it to the level of a third-tier dharma treasure later.
‘But for now, I’m under house arrest.’
Baek Cheong put the thought aside, promising herself she would deal with it later.
Besides, thanks to her father blocking even her visitors, she had been able to enjoy the Nameless Forum to her heart’s content for roughly a month.
She put White Pearl in her dantian, returned to her quarters, and comfortably lay down on her bed.
‘I suppose I have no choice but to do some legitimate forum activity.’