Chapter 19
Baek-Cheong’s lips trembled as she looked through the Nameless Forum.
The Cultivators, tainted by madness, were no different from cult followers.
They were assigning meaning to incomprehensible nonsense, fleshing it out, and opening new horizons for the Alchemy Art.
“Pill veins were actually engraved? It must be a coincidence, right?”
However, seeing the replies praising her absurd post and offering three bows made her stomach churn.
Even in the communities of her past life, she had always loathed this kind of excessive deification.
Even so, it would be awkward to correct them and say that her post was nothing more than nonsense.
She didn’t have the confidence to handle the arrows of criticism and mockery that would pour down the moment she revealed the truth.
“Ugh, whatever. Have fun playing among yourselves.”
Baek-Cheong hurriedly withdrew her Divine Sense from the Nameless Forum, which had turned into a crucible of madness.
Fortunately, thanks to the time spent looking into the Nameless Forum, thick darkness had already fallen outside.
To soothe her exhausted body and mind, she immediately pulled up the covers and went to sleep.
* * *
The next morning.
Waking up feeling refreshed, Baek-Cheong logged back into the Nameless Forum out of habit.
She hoped that the fervor might have cooled down overnight, but the situation was exactly the same as yesterday.
No, it had actually gotten worse.
『Dao Friend (211.5): I forged a mid-grade Rejuvenation Pill using the Taiji Rotation Method! I am simply deeply moved by the grace of Great Senior 913.14!』
『Dao Friend (77.21): Additional considerations on how to manifest the Realm of Chaos within a Pill Furnace.』
Even more Cultivators than yesterday were carrying on serious discussions based on her shitpost.
From Baek-Cheong’s perspective, it was an incredibly boring sight, having expected entertaining provocative posts or a fight to watch.
She was just debating whether to stop using the forum for a while and observe the situation.
At the very top of the Nameless Forum’s Chat Board, a bizarrely formatted post she had never seen before suddenly appeared.
The title was painted in red with unknown characters, and a symbol she had never seen before sat at the front.
『※Dao Friend (###): ■■■■!』
Just as her curiosity was piqued, she extended her Divine Sense to check the post.
She instinctively stopped her movements at the chilling cold that crept up her spine.
Her intuition told her that something unusual was happening.
She carefully refreshed the page and observed the atmosphere of the Nameless Forum.
Then, the board instantly turned into a chaotic mess.
『Dao Friend (11.23): Forum Admin!!!』
『Dao Friend (88.4): Forum Admin, delete it right now!!!』
『Dao Friend (301.9): An Upper Realm Invasion!!!』
The Cultivators freaked out and desperately began calling for the Forum Admin, the unknown entity that managed the Nameless Forum.
Before long, the view count on the problematic post went up by exactly one, and then it was deleted from the board without a trace.
It seemed the Forum Admin had intervened and erased the post.
“What was that just now?”
Unable to hold back her curiosity, Baek-Cheong immediately wrote a question post.
『Dao Friend (913.14): What was that post that just got deleted?』
[Why is everyone making such a fuss? And what’s this about an Upper Realm Invasion?]
As soon as she uploaded the post, the dao friends avoided mentioning it and rambled incoherently, as if by prior agreement.
It was obvious they were terrified, as if they had seen a cursed object.
However, among them, there was also a veteran user who kindly explained the situation.
[Dao Friend (55.19): Sometimes, insane Cultivators from the Upper Realm… pierce through the realm Barrier of the Lower Realm Nameless Forum and log in. They try to destroy the minds of Lower Realm Cultivators by spreading images of bizarre True Immortal forms, which corrupt the soul just by acknowledging their existence.]
Reading Dao Friend (55.19)'s explanation, Baek-Cheong understood the situation at once.
It was a terrible act of terrorism, one she had often experienced in the communities of her past life.
It was no different from how malicious users would spread disturbing images to terrorize communities.
“Ah, Jinseonkasu.”
However, the level of danger was incomparable to that of her past life.
To think that one’s soul could be corrupted just by acknowledging its existence, if she had carelessly opened the post just now, she might have turned into something unrecognizable by now.
However, curiosity preceding fear was an incurable chronic disease of a Community Lurker.
[Dao Friend (913.14): Then can only Upper Realm Cultivators write image posts?]
When Baek-Cheong asked, Dao Friend (55.19) immediately replied.
[Dao Friend (55.19): It is possible to write them in the Lower Realm Nameless Forum as well. But since we have practically no resistance to the forms of True Immortals, the Image Function is implicitly banned, and no one uses it.]
└Dao Friend (913.14): So how do you write an image post? Tell me.
└Dao Friend (55.19): …While writing a post, you just need to focus a Divine Sense reaching at least 10 zhang into the Nameless Forum. To do that, you need a Divine Sense at least the level of the Mid Foundation Establishment Stage. If I recall correctly, you said you were in Qi Condensation, so it should be impossible for you to even attempt it. Don’t harbor useless curiosity.
As soon as she heard the method, Baek-Cheong’s eyes flew wide open.
A Divine Sense of at least 10 zhang.
It was a condition that ordinary Qi Condensation Cultivators couldn’t even dream of, but it wasn’t a problem for Baek-Cheong at all.
Upon breaking through to 3rd Stage Qi Condensation, her Divine Sense had expanded to a whopping 11 zhang.
Ignoring Dao Friend (55.19)'s warning, Baek-Cheong quickly exited the post she had written.
She opened a new Writing Window and forcefully pushed her Divine Sense into the Nameless Forum according to the method the Dao Friend had told her.
Vwoom.
As her Divine Sense touched it, the Nameless Forum wavered bizarrely.
Soon after, the image of the floor of her room was faintly projected beyond the Nameless Forum.
It was remarkably similar to turning on a Smartphone’s Camera App.
“Wow! Something like this existed?”
Baek-Cheong’s jaw dropped in amazement.
However, the size of the projected image was incredibly pathetic.
Even though she had poured in a Divine Sense of 10 zhang, the size of the image was merely the size of a pinky nail.
Even if she drew out and used her absolute limit of 11 zhang of Divine Sense, it would barely grow to the size of a thumbnail.
“This is it? The efficiency is, seriously, garbage.”
Just as she was about to project the pattern on the floor as a test and push the thumbnail-sized image into the body of the post.
Swoooosh!
The spirit energy filling her Dantian was instantly sucked toward the Nameless Forum.
Her Dantian, having hit rock bottom, greedily opened its mouth as if spirit energy wasn’t enough, threatening to gnaw away even the pure True Qi condensed on her Spirit Root.
“Gasp!”
Freaking out, Baek-Cheong urgently withdrew her Divine Sense and canceled the post she was writing.
Cold sweat poured down her forehead like rain.
It was a dizzying situation where, had she been just a little later, she would have been stripped of all her True Qi and her meridians would have dried up, turning her into a crippled person.
“I-I lived…”
Panting heavily, she checked the condition of her Dantian.
Half of the spirit energy she had painstakingly gathered had evaporated, but fortunately, her True Qi was safe.
She couldn’t have imagined that writing a single image post would consume such an exorbitant amount of spirit energy.
“So it means you need not only a Foundation Establishment-level Divine Sense, but also the spirit energy to match just to upload one image.”
Baek-Cheong smacked her lips in regret.
Adding a cheeky image multiplied the power of the provocation compared to just provoking with text alone.
The desire to somehow try to use the image post function boiled intensely in her chest.
The problem was that she had to drastically increase her spirit energy.
However, natural breathing or one or two top-grade medicinal pills wouldn’t even come close.
Furthermore, the Barrier of the minor realm leading to 4th-Stage Qi Condensation was so thick and daunting that it was difficult to expect a breakthrough anytime soon.
“If I do it right, I might be able to write an image post just by completely filling my Dantian…”
Resting her chin on her hand, Baek-Cheong pondered fiercely.
Then, the cultivation room located inside the Clan suddenly crossed her mind.
It was a special place where only people of the Clan were allowed entry.
Inside the cultivation room, a powerful Spirit Gathering Formation was installed to forcefully draw in the Spirit Energy of Heaven and Earth.
“If I even take a Top-grade Spirit Gathering Pill in there, the speed at which my spirit energy fills up will be no joke.”
Consuming a pill within the dense spirit energy of the cultivation room would maximize the Absorption Efficiency.
She judged that if she filled her spirit energy to the limit like that, writing an image post wouldn’t be impossible.
“I wonder if father will allow it…”
Another problem was the Access Rights to the cultivation room.
Because operating the Spirit Gathering Formation consumed a massive amount of spirit stones, she couldn’t enter carelessly without the permission of her father, the Clan Head.
Moreover, since it hadn’t been long since she reached 3rd Stage Qi Condensation, her father wanted her to steadily consolidate her realm.
Therefore, if she requested entry to the cultivation room, there was a high chance she would be flatly rejected on the grounds that it was unreasonable cultivation.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let’s just give it a shot.”
Baek-Cheong stood up from her Seat and straightened her Attire.
She took careful steps toward the Clan Head’s Hall where her father resided.
She practiced all sorts of pitiful expressions in her head, intending to act cute if she got rejected.
Arriving at the Clan Head’s Hall, Baek-Cheong carefully called out toward the firmly closed office door.
“Father? May I come in?”
No answer came from inside.
Tilting her head, she tried pushing the door slightly, but it was firmly locked.
At that moment, a guard who was protecting the Clan Head’s Hall approached and bowed his head.
“Young Lady, the Clan Head is currently out.”
“Where did he go?”
“He went to inspect the Clan’s marketplaces. Recently, the appearance of demonic beasts has become frequent, so he personally stepped forward to strengthen the defenses. According to his words, it seems he will be away for a few days.”
Baek-Cheong’s eyes sparkled with joy.
Her father would be away from the Clan for a few days.
This was a golden opportunity to use the cultivation room to her heart’s content.
“I can just make up an excuse to the cultivation room manager that father gave me permission.”
Baek-Cheong thought it was the perfect timing to use the reputation she had worked so hard to build.
She immediately expressed her thanks to the guard and headed toward the Back Mountain where the cultivation room was located without looking back.