Chapter 10
“This is exactly why I browse the forums.”
Baek-Cheong’s eyes, which had been gleaming with amusement while watching the Dao Friends' replies for a long time, calmly settled down.
In an instant, she remembered the original purpose of the grueling Training during which she had coughed up blood to reach 2nd-Stage Qi Condensation.
The sophistry of Dao Friend (718.44).
It was to determine the truth behind the absurd information regarding Spiritual Root Growth.
Baek-Cheong moved her expanded Divine Sense to browse the Information Board.
The sensation of turning the pages was distinctly different from when she was at the Qi Condensation Stage, 1st Level.
If it had previously felt like forcefully rolling a heavy boulder, it now conveyed a lightness akin to smoothly cutting through calm waters.
The amount of Divine Sense chipped away with each page turn also felt significantly reduced.
Baek-Cheong unhesitatingly dug into the past records.
Ten pages, twenty pages, thirty pages.
Information posts bearing the intact traces of countless years flashed rapidly before her eyes.
As the burden of occupied Divine Sense lessened, her search speed increased exponentially.
Baek-Cheong furrowed her brow, chasing only the Interface Number of Dao Friend (718.44).
“Found it!”
Finally, after turning dozens of pages, she unearthed an old post from the deep abyss.
Baek-Cheong’s heart began to pound as she checked the title.
『Dao Friend (718.44) Information: Correlation between acquired Spiritual Root Growth and Five Elements Mutual Generation.』
It was a post containing the crucial information about Spiritual Root Growth that Baek-Cheong had been desperately searching for.
The main text was densely packed with serious, academic content on a completely different level from the attention-seeking nonsense posts commonly seen on the Chat Board.
[The innate grade of a spiritual root is considered an absolutely immutable truth. However, This Venerable One has discovered the possibility of acquired Spiritual Root Growth exclusively for the Five-Element spiritual root, as a result of This Venerable One dedicating hundreds of years to research.]
[The Five-Element Spiritual Root is not a useless aptitude that repels the Qi of Heaven and Earth. Because it possesses the balance of all five elements, it is a massive vessel with the broadest capacity for inclusion. It is simply that ordinary cultivation methods cannot fill this massive vessel, so the Talent remains unmanifested.]
[When the Cycle of Five Elements Mutual Generation is completed to expand the Dantian, and when the highly pure true qi generated through continuous circulation applies constant stimulation to the spiritual root, Spiritual Root Growth will gradually occur.]
[The point of caution is the catalyst for growth. With Meditation alone, it would take hundreds of years, making it difficult to personally experience the Spiritual Root Growth. If one wishes to experience it in a short period, one must periodically consume Heaven and Earth Spirit Treasures containing massive spiritual energy or spirit medicines of top-grade or higher to forcibly overload the Circulation Loop, which is the only way to accelerate Spiritual Root Growth.]
Having read through the entire text, Baek-Cheong felt goosebumps run down her spine.
Dao Friend (718.44) was by no means a pathological liar.
They were a great pioneer who overturned the common sense of the Cultivation World and a true veteran user.
“It’s… convincing!”
Baek-Cheong covered her mouth with hands trembling from joy.
She had already enlightened herself and completed the Circulation of Five Elements Mutual Generation.
The only remaining condition was to periodically consume Heaven and Earth Spirit Treasures or spirit medicines of top-grade or higher.
It might be a condition that poor rogue cultivators would struggle to meet even if they dedicated their entire lives, but to Baek-Cheong, the Youngest daughter of the Yeonha Baek Clan, spirit medicines were merely something she could obtain if she wanted them.
“This is a fortuitous encounter perfectly tailored for me.”
Her joy was short-lived; Baek-Cheong’s expression stiffened as she examined the replies posted below the article.
Despite its being a post written a long time ago, the number of replies was abysmally low.
[Dao Friend (11.23): You are spouting nonsense possessed by demonic energy. A Five-Element Spiritual Root growing? A passing spirit beast would laugh at that.]
[Dao Friend (88.4): To maintain Five Elements Mutual Generation, one must endure Qi Deviation, but how could someone with the aptitude of a Five-Element Spiritual Root withstand that?]
[Dao Friend (305.1): Take this post down. If ignorant juniors believe this nonsense and attempt mutual generation only to lose their lives, how will you take responsibility?]
Dao Friend (718.44)'s great discovery had clashed with the stereotypes and prejudices of the Lower Realm cultivators, leaving it thoroughly trampled and buried.
No one had listened seriously to Dao Friend (718.44)'s claims.
“They probably don’t know that this person is an Ascendant.”
Baek-Cheong felt pity for the ignorant Dao Friends, yet at the same time, she was relieved.
Because it meant she alone could monopolize this precious Secret Method.
“With this, I might become a true prodigy surpassing even a heavenly spiritual root.”
Baek-Cheong perfectly engraved the Secret Method left by Dao Friend (718.44) into her mind.
Deep in her small heart, she felt gratitude toward the Dao Friend who had left for the distant Upper Realm.
“Then that means I can browse the forums for hundreds, even thousands of years!”
Her mindset of being satisfied with comfortably enjoying the Nameless Forum from the corner of her room changed.
Her goal was to grow her spiritual root and obtain the greatest Talent in the Cultivation World, and based on that Talent, to raise her realm to enjoy the abundant lifespan of a cultivator, thereby building a long-lived forum-surfing life.
“Hehe, am I a genius?”
A new ambition squirmed within her, and her goal shifted.
“First, I need to loot some spirit medicines.”
Baek-Cheong opened the Storage Platform bestowed by her father, Baek Mu-Jin.
The top-grade Spirit Gathering Pills given by her grandfather had all been consumed for her breakthrough to 2nd-Stage Qi Condensation, leaving none behind.
The high-grade Spirit Gathering Pills and the hundred or so low-spirit stones given by her father caught her eye.
High-grade Spirit Gathering Pills were certainly good spirit medicines, but they were vastly insufficient to promote Spiritual Root Growth.
She needed spirit medicines of at least top-grade.
Baek-Cheong began to scheme about looting the Clan’s storehouse.
No matter how beloved a Youngest daughter she was, blindly demanding top-grade spirit medicines would definitely arouse suspicion.
She needed a legitimate justification and an opportunity.
“Father also seemed to be trying to stop my Training.”
The request her father had left her with that morning lingered in her ears.
The words were telling her to stop Training to raise her realm and instead learn a Technique/Spell while taking a rest.
Baek-Cheong’s gaze naturally turned toward the jade slip containing the Five Elements Shield Technique/Spell resting on the table.
“Right, this is it!”
If she quickly learned the Technique/Spell and proved her achievement to the Clan elders, she would have ample justification to be granted spirit medicines.
She immediately withdrew her Divine Sense from the Nameless Forum and stepped down from the bed.
Baek-Cheong sat in front of the table and grasped the Five Elements Shield jade slip in her hand.
She brought the jade slip to her forehead and focused her Divine Sense.
The vast incantations of the Technique/Spell and the Meridian Manipulation Method contained within the jade slip poured into her mind.
Her Divine Sense, tempered by the Nameless Forum, absorbed the jade slip’s information in a single breath.
Five Elements Shield.
A Technique/Spell for deploying a defense by fusing the energies of the five attributes according to the situation.
It neutralized enemy attacks by freely mixing the flexibility of water, the regenerative power of wood, the repulsive force of fire, the sturdiness of Earth, and the sharpness of metal.
The theory was perfect, but the problem was actual practice.
The process of constructing a defensive Barrier while controlling the five energies without a single inch of error required extreme concentration and minute energy manipulation.
“Let’s give it a try.”
Baek-Cheong closed her eyes and drew up the energy from her Dantian.
She detached a portion of the energy circulating through Five Elements Mutual Generation and gathered it in her palm.
Faint halos of light in five different colors flickered on her palm.
“Earth-Phase Water!”
Baek-Cheong chanted the manual’s Incantation and manipulated the energy.
She attempted to add the flexibility of the Water Element, centering it around the energy of the Earth Element, which boasted the greatest defensive power.
However, contrary to the calculations in her head, the energy in her palm ran wild.
In an instant, the energies tangled together and faded away above her palm.
Perhaps because the energies had caused a repulsion, she even felt a tingling sensation down to her meridians.
“Ugh… This isn’t easy.”
Circulating the five elements inside the Dantian and emitting them externally to maintain a specific form was on completely different levels of difficulty.
If she made a slight mistake, she could end up being the only one hurt by the Deployment of her own Technique/Spell.
“Then, again!”
Baek-Cheong did not give up easily.
She analyzed the cause of her failure and drew upon her energies once more.
* * *
As the night grew deep.
A stable sphere of light finally floated above Baek-Cheong’s palm.
Centered around the brown light of the Earth Element, the blue light of the Water Element softly wrapped around its surface.
It was the moment the Thick Earth Water Dragon Shield, the most basic form of the Five Elements Shield, was completed.
“I succeeded!”
Baek-Cheong wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled brightly.
Thanks to her experience of handling Conflicting Energies to pierce through the wall of her Dantian for her Realm Breakthrough, she was able to quickly get the hang of it.
Although it wasn’t a perfect fusion of the five elements, she had succeeded in mixing two energies.
At the level of 2nd-Stage Qi Condensation, it could be called an achievement close to a miracle.
“Father will be surprised too, right?”
Baek-Cheong made a plan to seek out her father, boast about her Technique/Spell, and obtain top-grade spirit medicines first thing tomorrow morning.
Lying on the bed with swelling expectations, Baek-Cheong connected her Divine Sense to the Nameless Forum out of habit.
Finishing the day with forum surfing before falling asleep was an unchanging daily routine, both in her past life and now.
The Chat Board was still noisy.
The post about her 2nd-Stage Qi Condensation breakthrough that Baek-Cheong had left during the day had turned into a Sacred Ground, accumulating hundreds of replies.
Most of them were mockery and suspicion, but Baek-Cheong paid them no mind and wrote a new post.
『Dao Friend (913.14): Learned a five-element Technique/Spell in half a day.』
[It’s called the Five Elements Shield. I tried making a shield by mixing the Earth Element and Water Element, and it’s pretty simple.]
As soon as she uploaded the post, the familiar red notifications rang like crazy.
[Dao Friend (11.23): Your pathological lying is getting worse. A mere Qi Condensation Stage cultivator learned a five-element Technique/Spell?]
[Dao Friend (88.4): Seriously, lies just pour out whenever you open your mouth. Just because you have a Five-Element Spiritual Root doesn’t mean you can handle the five elements.]
[Dao Friend (55.19): Five Elements Shield? I think I’ve seen an Interface Number that uses a similar Technique/Spell.]
Baek-Cheong was startled by Dao Friend (55.19)'s words.
A sense of anxiety washed over her at the sight of them guessing her interface.
However, knowing there was no risk of her personal information being leaked in the sea of anonymity that was the Nameless Forum, she decided to ignore it lightly.
Even if they somehow figured out her interface location, it was a distant impossibility for a Lower Realm Cultivator to cross between realms.
“Whatever. Tomorrow is a spirit medicine party!”
Baek-Cheong let out a satisfied laugh and exited the Nameless Forum.
She closed her eyes in a good mood, imagining the Technique/Spell she would display in front of her father tomorrow morning and the spirit medicines that would pour in as a reward.