Chapter 2
As soon as Baek-Cheong returned to her abode, she locked the latch on the thick, tightly closed door.
As her tension unraveled, her body felt as light as cotton candy.
She threw herself onto the plush bed and immediately focused her Divine Sense.
The thought of beginning her exploration in earnest made the corners of her mouth twitch upward uncontrollably.
The overall structure of the Forum Board was similar to the familiar community formats from her past life.
At the top of the screen were category tabs divided into various sections.
They bore intuitive labels such as Chat, Information, Questions, Marketplace, and so on.
Baek-Cheong’s gaze naturally drifted toward the Chat Board, the most active section crowded with cultivators.
The speed at which new posts appeared was terrifying.
Every time she blinked, dozens of new posts cascaded down endlessly.
The contents of the posts were incredibly familiar.
Meaningless shitposts and personal diary-like entries, the kind she often saw on internet message boards in her past life, made up the majority.
“Dao Friend (11.235): Ah, I blew all my spirit stones today.”
“Dao Friend (99.412): Lied about going into Secluded Cultivation and snuck out lol.”
“Dao Friend (451.08): Our Venerable Master’s personality is absolute trash. He makes me fetch spiritual spring water from One Hundred Thousand Li away every dawn.”
Posts poured in endlessly - gamblers lamenting the loss of all their spirit stones, deceivers breaking Sect rules to enjoy some deviance, and disgruntled disciples cursing their Preachy Elder Masters.
The universal truth that people are the same wherever they live applied perfectly even in the Xianxia World.
“Pfft, now this is a proper forum.”
Baek-Cheong giggled as her eyes rapidly skimmed through the countless posts.
She roughly grasped the overall atmosphere and rules of the Nameless Forum.
Now it was time to end her quiet exploration and leave her own mark.
She extended her Divine Sense toward the 'Write Post' button located at the bottom right of the Forum Board.
An empty input window popped up, and above it appeared a small, red warning message.
[Writing a post consumes spiritual energy.]
Baek-Cheong tilted her head.
How much spiritual energy could it possibly consume just to write a few letters?
Born into the bloodline of a Golden Core Clan, she had been exposed to the abundant spiritual energy scattered around her as naturally as breathing, so she brushed it off as a warning not worth worrying about.
With a fluttering heart, she focused her Divine Sense on the blank title field.
She clearly visualized the first letter in her mind and engraved it into the blank space.
In an instant, the meager spiritual energy quietly gathered in her Dantian evaporated.
A terrible agony radiating from her empty Dantian washed violently over her entire body.
A sharp, splitting headache struck the crown of her head.
Her stomach twisted, and a strong wave of nausea surged up her esophagus.
“Ugh, urgh!”
Baek-Cheong clutched her head with both hands and rolled around on the plush bed.
Her vision spun, making it difficult to even focus on objects.
She never could have imagined that a single letter would drain all the spiritual energy in her body.
Gasping heavily in excruciating pain, she instinctively struggled to gather the spiritual energy in the air.
.
.
.
Only after an endless time had passed.
The splitting headache barely subsided, and she was able to gather her scattered senses.
“I-I lived…”
Baek-Cheong gripped the thin blanket, drenched in cold sweat, and caught her ragged breath.
She felt the miserable reality of her five-element spiritual root - considered the absolute lowest grade even among mixed spiritual roots - deep in her bones.
The speed at which she could draw in the spiritual energy scattered through heaven and earth and store it in her body was horrifyingly slow and sluggish.
An ordinary child would have been terrified and immediately severed his or her Nameless Forum Connection, but Baek-Cheong was a severe community addict who didn’t know how to give up.
An unidentifiable stubbornness surged from deep within her chest.
If she surrendered here, what joy would she have left to endure the long, tedious life ahead in the Cultivation World?
'I will absolutely write this.'
She took a deep breath and sharply refined her scattered Divine Sense once more.
Slowly absorbing the faint spiritual energy in the air to fill her Dantian just a tiny bit, she forced herself to write the next letter.
She gritted her teeth and endured the inevitable, excruciating headache and the dizziness caused by Spiritual Energy Depletion.
The terrible process of writing a single letter, collapsing as if about to faint, and then agonizingly slowly recovering her spiritual energy was foolishly repeated.
Cold sweat rained down Baek-Cheong’s forehead, and her breathing grew so precarious it seemed it might stop at any moment.
After a persistent and desperate struggle, she finally managed to complete the five letters in the title field.
“Hehe… Success…”
It was the result of a fierce tenacity bordering on a triumph of the human spirit.
The problem was the body text she had to fill out next.
The lengthy and amusing self-introduction she had originally planned had long since evaporated from her mind along with her sweat.
She didn’t even have the strength left to lift a single finger.
She wrote in the empty body field, squeezing out her mental fortitude that had been pushed to its absolute limit.
Amidst the head-splitting agony, she scraped together the very last dregs of her remaining spiritual energy to finish writing.
“Just this…”
Right after she completed just three letters, her vision went completely black and she collapsed.
Just before letting go of the fading thread of her consciousness, Baek-Cheong desperately pressed 'Submit' with her Divine Sense.
“Dao Friend (913.14): This one has arrived.”
[Has exited.]
She confirmed that the post she had just written was safely registered on the Chat Board.
Baek-Cheong could no longer withstand the encroaching pain.
She didn’t have a shred of energy left to explore the Nameless Forum any further. Before she could even withdraw her Divine Sense herself, a deep and heavy slumber ravenously swallowed her consciousness.
Her small body, slumped onto the plush bed, didn’t so much as twitch, only letting out faint breaths.
* * *
She couldn’t gauge how much time had passed.
An intense, savory aroma pierced the tip of Baek-Cheong’s nose and lingered.
It was a scent that stimulated her appetite so strongly that it made her gulp down saliva even in her unconscious state.
Her completely empty stomach churned violently, urging its owner to wake up immediately.
“Ugh… I’m hungry.”
She struggled to push up her eyelids, which felt as heavy as lead.
With a hazy mind, she staggered down from bed.
Like a zombie, she instinctively directed her steps toward the source of the smell.
Without realizing it, she opened her tightly closed door, passed through the long hallway, and hurried her pace.
The final destination the delicious smell led her to was the Inner Hall, where the family gathered to eat together.
It happened to be breakfast time, so the family was seated around the large round table without a single person missing.
'Huh…?'
The scene that entered Baek-Cheong’s eyes as she stepped into the Inner Hall was quite different from usual.
The family’s atmosphere was incredibly heavy and deeply gloomy.
Although rare and splendid spiritual dishes filled the table, no one could bring oneself to pick up one’s utensils, only letting out deep sighs.
“Cheong, Cheong-A!”
Turning their heads in unison at the sound of careful footsteps approaching, the family members spotted Baek-Cheong standing in the doorway and their eyes widened.
However, Baek-Cheong’s current appearance was so wretched it was hard to look at with open eyes.
Because she had squeezed her spiritual energy to the limit and repeatedly suffered severe exhaustion, her cheeks were sunken and dark shadows had settled deeply under her eyes.
“…”
Seeing the emaciated child standing there, swaying precariously as if she might collapse at any moment, the family was so deeply shocked that they couldn’t speak.
An awkward and cold silence circled the massive Inner Hall.
Belatedly, Baek-Cheong was the first to neatly bring her two small hands together and bow her head, politely paying respects to the adults.
“Has everyone been well?”
With her hoarse voice breaking the silence, the frozen air began to thaw little by little.
Her father, who had been sitting in the Seat of Honor, sprang up from his seat.
He spoke urgently, his heavy voice dripping with worry.
“Cheong-A, you shut yourself in your abode for days. Do you know how much we fretted and worried?”
At her father’s words that days had passed, Baek-Cheong was inwardly appalled.
It seemed that several days had flown by while she was barely managing to write and post a few letters.
“Even when this Mother of yours worried and tried to check on you, I had to turn my steps back so many times because of the sound of your wailing…”
“We didn’t feel at ease either, so the food wouldn’t go down easily.”
Her mother and the other uncles sitting nearby also reddened around the eyes, each adding a word of worry with pitying expressions.
They continuously clutched their chests, saying it was too harsh an ordeal for a young child to bear.
At her family’s heartbreaking reactions, Baek-Cheong lowered her head and answered carefully in a shrinking voice.
“I’m sorry for causing you such great worry.”
She couldn’t possibly bring herself to utter the absurd truth - that she had lost track of time while writing shitposts after making a Nameless Forum Connection.
To hide the truth, she averted her gaze to the floor and put on a very awkward and stiff expression.
This clumsy attitude of Baek-Cheong’s reached her family with a completely different, sorrowful meaning.
They firmly misunderstood that she had withered away so gauntly because she had been alone pouring out despair-laced sorrow in her dark room after receiving the shocking result of a five-element spiritual root.
Baek-Cheong approached her designated chair and heavily sank into it.
She didn’t even have the energy left to lift the silver chopsticks placed on the table.
Due to having starved for days straight and the severe aftereffects of Spiritual Energy Depletion, her fingertips trembled minutely.
Seeing her just blankly bowing her head even with delicacies right in front of her, the family members' eyes were colored with a deep sympathy.
Pitiful and compassionate gazes poured heavily from all directions.
Unable to watch any longer, her mother quietly stood up from her seat and approached.
“Mother will feed you.”
Her mother picked up the chopsticks herself and delicately selected only the most nutritious and tender cuts of Spirit Beast Meat from the various dishes on the table.
She carefully brought the food to her daughter’s lips.
Baek-Cheong accepted the meat her mother fed her and struggled to move her jaw to chew.
Due to the aftereffects of Spiritual Energy Depletion, the process of swallowing food was not smooth.
She mashed the meat finely in her mouth and barely managed to swallow it down her dry esophagus.
Fortunately, the meal carefully prepared by the historic Baek Clan was on a different level from ordinary cooking.
It was no different from a restorative medicine, thoroughly boiled with Precious Spiritual Herbs and the highest grade Spirit Beast Meat.
As soon as the high-quality meat settled heavily into her stomach, a warm and comforting energy spread throughout her entire body.
Vitality slowly began to return to her parched body.
After she accepted a few bites in succession, her precarious stamina regained some stability.
A faint, subtle color returned to her cheeks as well.
Breakfast continued quietly amidst the subtle and heavy atmosphere.
It was around the time the large bowls were emptied one by one and the meal was reaching its end.
Baek-Cheong took a small, deep breath and carefully opened her mouth toward the dining table.
Meeting her father’s gaze straight on with an unwavering look, she spoke.
“Please teach me the Clan’s Cultivation Method. I want to do cultivation.”
To write freely and communicate smoothly on the Nameless Forum, an ample amount of spiritual energy was essential.
In her current meager state, where her Dantian bottomed out just from writing a few letters, normal community activities were completely impossible.
She absolutely had to learn a Cultivation Method quickly to raise the efficiency of her infusion of external spiritual energy into her body.
At Baek-Cheong’s sudden remark, her mother, who was standing nearby, was startled and hurriedly tried to dissuade her.
“Cheong-A. You don’t have to force yourself. With our Clan’s power, even if you never cultivate in your life, you can live comfortably, enjoying a life of luxury every day. There is no need for you to force yourself down the arduous and painful path of Cultivation.”
Despite her mother’s desperate and affectionate dissuasion, Baek-Cheong firmly shook her head.
Clenching both fists tightly on the table, she revealed her firm resolve with an unwavering, strong gaze.
“No. I really want to learn a Cultivation Method.”
Her father looked at his young daughter with wide, surprised eyes.
Even after receiving the judgment of the absolute worst talent, a mixed spiritual root, and being bedridden for days from the shock, she showed a demeanor that would never give up the path of a cultivator.
A burning admiration for her unyielding, strong heart from deep within his chest.
“You are truly admirable.”
Although he had mountains of work to handle every day due to his position as the Clan Head responsible for leading the entire massive Clan, he simply couldn’t turn away from his daughter’s eyes, which shone with firm resolve.
He let out a hearty laugh and replied in a deep, affectionate voice.
“I will make time every day to personally teach Cheong-A our Baek Clan’s basic Cultivation Method.”
Her father strode over from his seat and grasped Baek-Cheong’s small shoulders firmly, warmly.
Deep affection was fully conveyed through the rough touch of his calloused hands.
“Our Cheong-A has exceptionally outstanding innate comprehension, so even if your progress in Cultivation is a little slower than that of others, you will certainly be able to bloom wonderful talents in other areas.”
At her reliable father’s words, heavily mixed with warm comfort and encouragement, Baek-Cheong replied with a bright and clear smile.
On the inside, however, she was merely looking forward to the day she could quickly master the Cultivation Method and pour out shitposts to her heart’s content on the Nameless Forum.