Chapter 3
“This is our Clan’s Basic Cultivation Method, the Yeonha Art.”
Baek-Cheong had not taken a single step outside her Abode for the past few days.
Despite being a busy Clan Head who had to decide the Clan’s important matters and manage numerous Family members, her father Baek Mu-Jin visited his Youngest daughter’s room every single day.
“Consume the spirit gathering pill and circulate it along the acupoints I point out.”
Pressing the acupoints on Baek-Cheong’s back, he meticulously taught her the Basic Cultivation Method of the Yeonha Baek Clan, passed down through generations.
The process of drawing in the Spirit Energy of Heaven and Earth through her breath and gathering it in her Dantian was a continuous, grueling ordeal.
However, the limits of the Five Spiritual Roots, treated as the absolute lowest grade even among mixed spiritual roots, were clear.
The speed at which she absorbed the spiritual energy drifting in the air was frustratingly slow, and the spiritual energy that entered her body ran rampant, its five elemental attributes muddied and tangled without direction.
“Endure it, even if it is difficult.”
Baek Mu-Jin generously infused his own true essence, gently suppressing the rampant, muddy spiritual energy within his daughter’s body and Clearing a path for it.
Through her father’s precious beads of sweat and devoted guidance, a single drop of clear, transparent energy finally formed quietly in Baek-Cheong’s empty Dantian.
“Ah!”
A refreshing sensation washed over her entire body as her blocked blood vessels opened up, Clearing away the heavy stagnation.
She had finally reached the Qi Condensation Stage, 1st Level, officially taking her first step on the path of a cultivator.
“You have worked hard.”
Baek Mu-Jin reassuringly stroked his daughter’s small head.
His face showed deep Admiration for his daughter’s perseverance, having grasped Spiritual Perception and reached the Qi Condensation Stage, 1st Level in just a few days despite the despairing Talent of the Five Spiritual Roots.
He took out a small jade bottle from his waist and pressed it into Baek-Cheong’s hand.
“Stop your Training for a few days and get some good rest. What are inside the jade bottle are the remaining spirit gathering pills, so swallow one whenever you experience Spiritual Energy Depletion while handling spiritual energy or when your stamina runs low.”
As soon as her father left the Abode, Baek-Cheong immediately closed the thick door and firmly locked the latch.
It was the long-awaited, honey-like rest time she had been anticipating.
“Freedom!”
Collapsing onto the bed, she quickly moved her Divine Sense with overwhelming excitement.
The Translucent Window of the Nameless Forum unfolded in the air before her eyes.
Upon connecting, a red notification icon blinked in the corner of her vision.
“Huh?”
It was a familiar type of notification, just like when someone reacted to a post she had written in a Community from her past life.
Baek-Cheong made a puzzled expression.
“Do they like newbies here?”
There was absolutely no reason for anyone to pay attention to the initiation shitpost she had barely managed to scribble down right before passing out from Spiritual Energy Depletion.
Unable to overcome her curiosity, she extended her Divine Sense to check the notification.
To her surprise, there were a dozen replies lined up on the post she had written.
[Dao Friend(11.235): 913.14? That’s an Interface Number I haven’t seen before.]
[Dao Friend(85.112): It looks like a Nameless Body was born in a new Lower Realm.]
[Dao Friend(44.201): Welcome, new Dao Friend.]
[Dao Friend(109.44): Looks like they passed out from a lack of spiritual energy while writing lol.]
The reactions in the replies were mostly filled with curiosity about the never-before-seen Interface Number.
It seemed the number attached to the front of Nameless Forum users acted as a unique identifier indicating their Lower Realm of origin.
There were occasionally warm messages welcoming the newbie interspersed, but it was mostly closer to a temporary, formal greeting focused on the appearance of a rare number.
“What is this?”
Baek-Cheong felt a strange sense of incongruity as she slowly read through the replies.
She felt as if she had missed something important.
“I missed something…”
However, the desire to try writing a new post right away was far too strong for her to ponder deeply.
Now that she was a proper Cultivator at the Qi Condensation Stage, 1st Level, she wouldn’t pass out unsightly after writing just a couple of letters like last time.
“It’s probably nothing major.”
Baek-Cheong firmed her resolve and opened the Writing Window.
Focusing on the blank title space, she engraved the letters one by one through her Divine Sense.
Every time a letter appeared in the window, in the air, the ominous sensation of the meager spiritual energy gathered in her Dantian rapidly draining away was vividly transmitted.
However, perhaps thanks to reaching the Qi Condensation Stage, 1st Level, the terrible pain of her crown splitting open or the surging nausea from last time did not occur.
As she barely managed to write down five letters, the spiritual energy in her Dantian hit rock bottom, and her head rang dizzily.
To naturally recover the used spiritual energy, she would have to sit in the Lotus Position and continue meditating for a long time.
“Hehe, but I don’t need to do that.”
Baek-Cheong opened the stopper of the jade bottle her father had left and tossed a small, round pill into her mouth.
As soon as the Spirit Gathering Pill slid down her esophagus, a hot heat bloomed explosively in her stomach.
The exhilarating sensation of her instantly depleted Dantian rapidly filling back up swept through her entire body.
Having recovered her energy, Baek-Cheong immediately filled in the remaining body text.
『Dao Friend(913.14): appears again.』
[Baby Qi Condensation.]
As she successfully registered the incredibly simple shitpost, an indescribable sense of pride filled her chest.
She didn’t even lose consciousness from Spiritual Energy Depletion this time.
She repeatedly refreshed the page, watching the reactions to her post in real time.
Surprisingly, not long after she uploaded the post, replies began to appear immediately.
[Dao Friend(22.15): It really is an Interface Number I’ve never seen before. What corner is that Lower Realm stuck in?]
[Dao Friend(190.22): Looks like they just learned a Cultivation Method from their Clan lol.]
[Dao Friend(45.10): The Qi Condensation Stage is the best time for Training.]
Just like last time, more attention poured in than she expected.
As she carefully read through the replies, the frustration lodged in Baek-Cheong’s mind was resolved.
She had finally accurately realized the true nature of the incongruity that had been uncomfortably lingering in a corner of her mind since a little while ago.
“Ah!”
They didn’t recognize the Interface Number 913.14 at all.
The true meaning implied by that fact was clear.
It meant that in the Cultivation World Baek-Cheong belonged to, she was the one and only Nameless Body capable of connecting to the Nameless Forum.
“To think I missed this!”
This massive revelation granted a tremendous sense of liberation to Baek-Cheong, who had been an Internet Ghost in her past life.
No matter how openly she acted out and engaged in eccentricities on the Nameless Forum, the risk of her identity as the Youngest daughter of the Yeonha Baek Clan being discovered was fundamentally blocked.
There was no way for any Expert in the Cultivation World to track down Baek-Cheong in reality while she hid behind the anonymity of the Nameless Forum.
Countless ideas for trolling and aggro erupted in her mind like a volcano.
“Hehehe.”
A destructive instinct to mess up the Forum Board with all sorts of provocative titles and clickbait posts squirmed within her.
It was the perfect opportunity to enjoy true pleasure without responsibility.
“B-But I have to hold back.”
However, Baek-Cheong coldly suppressed her boiling desires.
She knew the physiology of a Community better than anyone.
If she recklessly exposed herself to strong stimulation from the start and consumed a massive amount of dopamine, she would later fall into a numb state where she wouldn’t even react to moderate stimulation.
For now, she decided to play the part of a well-behaved newbie and test the information power of the Nameless Forum.
The title of a rookie who had just set foot in the Cultivation World was bound to attract the meddling and attention of veteran users wherever she went.
“Information first.”
Baek-Cheong swallowed another Spirit Gathering Pill and brought up the Writing Window.
She set a rule for herself to wrthe amount of writinge exactly five letters per pill, keeping it within a reasonable limit.
『Dao Friend(913.14): Five Roots help.』
[Writing is frustrating.]
Because she severely limited the character count, the content became extremely implicit and awkward.
Her intention was to ask for a Secret Method to improve the slow Training speed of the Five Spiritual Roots or a Shortcut to reduce the spiritual energy consumed when writing on the Nameless Forum.
She waited a moment after posting, and a reply quickly appeared.
[Dao Friend(88.31): To the Q&A Board.]
However, it was a terribly cold and businesslike response.
Baek-Cheong scratched the back of her head and admitted her mistake.
No matter how much of a newbie someone was, being ostracized for ignoring the nature of the Forum Board was the prerogative of a Community.
She hurriedly modified the post’s settings, moving it from the Chat Board to the Q&A Board.
She stared blankly at the Q&A Board, hoping for a new answer to be posted.
However, even after quite some time passed, no answer came.
Feeling frustrated, she carefully examined the question posts uploaded by other Dao Friends.
Most of the posts had no answers at all, or at best, just one or two mocking replies with no substance.
This was the world of Cultivators, where a fierce struggle for survival took place.
There was no idiot who would willingly give away precious Training knowledge or rare secret methods obtained through blood and sweat to an anonymous stranger he or she had never even met.
“Hmm…”
Baek-Cheong rested her chin on her hand and fell deep into thought.
She would never get the answer she wanted by asking honestly.
To dig out useful information from the Veteran Users of the Nameless Forum, she had to stimulate their arrogance and intellectual vanity.
“Should I use that?”
A method of confidently spouting idiotic nonsense to induce the other party to be unable to resist correcting her with the right answer and lecturing her.
It was the so-called number-one Aggro Secret Technique of the Community.
“What would be good?”
She thought fiercely about what kind of nonsense could draw out useful information related to the Five Spiritual Roots.
A flashing idea popped into her head.
Baek-Cheong checked the remaining Spirit Gathering Pills in the jade bottle.
To write a long sentence, she had to endure a considerable number of pills and extreme pain.
She gulped once and popped a Spirit Gathering Pill into her mouth.
At the same time the heat spread, she drew up her Divine Sense forcefully and began to engrave the letters.
As soon as she wrote five letters, a headache that felt like her head was splitting apart washed over her.
Without delay, she chewed and swallowed a second pill.
As soon as she wrote additional letters, her vision shook and her breathing grew ragged.
Her Dantian churned violently, but she couldn’t stop.
She swallowed a third pill and moved on to the body text section.
As she pushed herself to write the letters, she felt a phantom pain of her Dantian screaming and shriveling up.
Cold sweat drenched her clothes.
Squeezing out her last remaining spiritual energy, she crammed in the rest of the letters.
『Dao Friend(913.14): Isn’t it better to have a lot of spiritual roots?』
[That’s why it’s 1000 Spiritual Roots.]
The moment she pressed post, the view count of the post began to skyrocket like crazy.
Notifications announcing that replies had been posted poured in.
Just as Baek-Cheong expected, countless Cultivators from all over the Lower Realm were rushing in like mad to lecture the ignorant newbie.
“Hehe… It worked…”
A faint smile spread across Baek-Cheong’s lips as she watched the spectacle of countless replies being posted beyond her blurring vision.
The price for forcibly extracting spiritual energy by overdosing on pills all at once beyond her limits was incredibly heavy.
Her physical body could no longer withstand the immense fatigue crushing her head and the shock caused by Spiritual Energy Overload.
Her vision instantly went black, and she fainted on the bed.