Chapter 13
[Balance: 85,800 credits]
An amount nearing 100,000.
A fortune she could barely get her hands on before reaching the later stages of Qi Refining.
Yet Nine pursed her lips as she looked through [My Bookmarked Cultivation Arts].
[Cloud-Gathering Formula (淸雲結) - 2,000 credits]
[Fire-Seal Floating-Palace Formula (火印府歷結) - 3,000 credits]
[Dragon Form Formula (龍狀結) - 2,500 credits]
[Sun-Awakening Formula (日覺結) - 3,500 credits]
“Hmm…….”
These were the cultivation arts Nine had carefully collected, optimized to suit her perfectly, all in anticipation of the day she would reach Qi Refining.
The Cloud-Gathering Formula, a cultivation art for refining spiritual power.
The Dragon Form Formula, a cultivation art for tempering the body.
The Sun-Awakening Formula for strengthening the mind, and even the Fire-Seal Floating-Palace Formula, which included talisman techniques.
And yet, these were the results of years of careful consideration…….
“Mmm…….”
Nine narrowed her eyes, caught in a fierce inner struggle. It was hard to say what she wasn’t satisfied with.
She glanced around the dim cultivation room, stroked her changed body, then glared at Pou, who was milling about beside her.
[User: Eun (銀) Nine (羅引/Nine)]
[Talent: Five-Element Spiritual Roots 400 / 10000]
[Constitution: Talisman Dao Sacred Body Rank 1 190 / 10000]
[Cultivation Arts: Tempering Formula 8th Star 1000/15000 / Introductory Talisman Dao Art 7th Star 4200/15000 / Body Tempering Formula-12th Revision 3rd Star 50/200]
[Current Realm: Tempering Stage 100%(+120% compressing spiritual power….)]
“As I thought. They’re not quite suited for me to learn right now, are they?”
The Cloud-Gathering Formula, Dragon Form Formula, Sun-Awakening Formula, and Fire-Seal Floating-Palace Formula.
They were all good cultivation arts, but….
Weren’t they a little… lacking for Nine, whose talent had bloomed thanks to Pou?
“In the end, they’re all just formulas.”
Nine left [My Bookmarked Cultivation Arts] and turned her attention to [Real-Time Cultivation Art Rankings].
Hundredfold Star Force was an exclusive platform used by cultivators not only on Earth, but even across the interstellar systems.
The real-time rankings included every cultivation art that could be practiced at the Qi Refining stage.
There were even Foundation Establishment cultivation arts occupying places in the rankings.
[1st - Dragon-Elephant Prajna Method (龍象般若法) - 2 billion credits]
[Detailed Description]
[The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art, an Earth-Dao cultivation art, is a Foundation Establishment art that allows one to cultivate spiritual power, the body, and the mind all at once.
Its Dharmic power carries the might to crush mountains, its body can seize the heavens and drag them down, and a single strand of spiritual sense can vaporize the sea.]
“Woooow….”
It was amazing.
Nine read through the detailed description of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art with sparkling eyes.
Crush mountains and vaporize the sea.
Just reading the words filled her with awe at its overwhelming power.
“Sigh.”
But Nine let out a light sigh and tapped the filter window.
For Nine, who was still at the Tempering Stage, a Foundation Establishment cultivation art was farther away than the stars in the sky.
[Filter: Hide Foundation Establishment Arts]
Sshhk.
The Foundation Establishment arts occupying the top ranks disappeared in a rush.
Only Qi Refining arts remained.
Nine seriously scanned the newly listed cultivation arts again.
“Hmm, this one’s questionable, and this one doesn’t suit me. Huh? A Child's Body Art (童子功)? Can I still learn this at my age…?”
Phew.
After searching for over an hour,
Nine leaned her head and body against the soft wall of the cultivation room.
She couldn’t find a single cultivation art she really liked.
‘Am I asking for too much? It just needs to be Earth-Dao grade and Method-form.’
Cultivation arts were classified by two factors: form and quality.
Just as spiritual roots, constitutions, and talismans had grades, cultivation arts were clearly divided into five levels.
By form, they were classified as Formula (結), Art (功), Method (法), Canon (典), and Scripture (經).
By quality, they were divided into Foundation, True Dao, Earth Dao, Heavenly Gate, and Immortal grades.
‘It’s not like I’m asking for Heavenly Gate grade….’
In the first place, Hundredfold Star Force didn’t allow users to purchase Heavenly Gate-grade cultivation arts, or anything of Canon form or higher.
That was because the great sects and corporations kept their highest-level secret arts firmly in their own hands.
Nine really was asking for a lot.
Nine touched the filter window again.
This time, she removed everything except Earth-Dao-grade and Method-form cultivation arts.
Then cultivation arts whose names alone appealed to Nine appeared on the screen.
“I should’ve done this from the start.”
[1st - Interstitial Seal Art (行間府印法) - 1 million credits]
[2nd - Ascending Dao Great Strength Art (昇道大力法) - 2.3 million credits]
[3rd - Reclusive Lord’s Mind-Guiding Human-Realm Art (寓公心導人界法) - 800,000 credits]
“Huh?”
Nine blinked.
For a moment, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.
So she rubbed them hard with the back of her hand and looked at the screen again…….
“One million, 2.3 million, 800,000 credits…?”
The scale was different.
Unlike the mere tens of thousands of credits she’d seen before, these numbers had two extra zeroes.
“Eeeeh???”
Nine despaired.
She was so sad to see her grand dream crumble before it had even begun that tears welled in her eyes.
***
Nine’s talent hadn’t merely been nonexistent; it had been abysmal.
So whenever she logged into Hundredfold Star Force, she never even looked at cultivation arts above Foundation grade or Formula form.
A dream she couldn’t attain would only break her heart.
Because of that, she had no idea how expensive high-ranking cultivation arts were.
Every cultivation art on the market was a lower-grade art derived from the secret arts of corporations and sects.
But would corporations and sects really be stupid enough to sell their own cultivation arts for cheap?
[171st - Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art (五行昇靈悟道法) - 2.7 million credits]
Nine absentmindedly moved her finger.
Then she found a cultivation art whose name and description both appealed to her.
To start with, it was a Five-Element art perfectly suited to Nine, who had Five-Element Spiritual Roots, and it combined the cultivation of spiritual power and the mind.
[The Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art is an Earth-Dao cultivation art that can be practiced through the Qi Refining stage.
It is a subordinate art derived from Quintessence Co.’s Primordial Unity Scripture (混元經)…… Despite its name, it can also be practiced by those who do not have Five-Element Spiritual Roots. In fact, the fewer spiritual roots one has, the easier it is to practice……]
“But 2.7 million credits…. This is too expensive, too.”
Nine’s gaze shifted to [My Bookmarked Cultivation Arts].
The Cloud-Gathering Formula, Dragon Form Formula, and Sun-Awakening Formula.
Their names were so familiar they almost felt like old friends.
They were so short and cute that she found them adorable.
‘Should I learn these first, then switch to a higher-ranking art later?’
She stared into space, considering it for a moment.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Nine shook her head hard, resisting the temptation of such a shallow compromise.
There was no way it would be an easy transition from hastily learning a Foundation-grade art to switching to an Earth-Dao-grade art later.
Above all, Nine had something she could rely on with certainty.
[Constitution: Talisman Dao Sacred Body Rank 1 190 / 10000]
When it came to the Dao of talismans, she had talent bestowed by heaven—or rather, overwhelming talent forged by Pou.
“W-why was I worrying about money? I can just draw a ton of talismans and sell them!”
With that flash of insight, Nine’s eyes came alive.
How long had it taken her to earn 80,000 credits?
Hadn’t she earned it in just one day?
Hundreds of thousands, even millions of credits? If she kept churning out talismans, they weren’t unreachable fantasies at all.
In fact, they were well within reach.
Nine shut down the hologram she’d been keeping in the air.
Instead, she pinned the detailed page for the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art (五行昇靈悟道法) right in the middle of her field of vision.
Cultivation toward immortality.
It was, by nature, a defiant path that went against the laws of heaven.
A cultivator sometimes has to stake their life to claim what they desire, even if it is an ideal they can never reach or a treasure they can never possess.
The moment one’s will falters and one settles for reality, the path of cultivation—which must keep reaching ever onward—is blocked then and there.
No compromise.
“M-my goal is 3 million credits!”
Nine immediately spent her credits on materials for drawing talismans.
Two thousand sheets of lowest-grade talisman paper for 20,000 credits, twenty bottles of lowest-grade ink for 20,000 credits, and five low-grade spirit stones for 40,000 credits.
It cost her 80,000 credits, but she didn’t regret it at all.
It would all come back to her as credits.
Sparks flew in Nine’s eyes.
“A-all right. Let’s do this.”
***
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ryu Yeonhwa opened her eyes at the constant chime of her terminal.
Her blue eyes were filled with confusion.
“Who could it be? I’m not expecting anything at this hour.”
She tapped her terminal to check the messages.
Then she saw that her inbox—where she kept messages from ‘VIP Customers’ she’d marked with a star—was overflowing with messages.
[Eun Nine] + 14
Ding! Ding!
The messages kept coming, even now.
Ryu Yeonhwa hurried into the chat window.
[Eun Nine: Low-Grade Might Talisman * 100]
[Eun Nine: Low-Grade Might Talisman * 100]
[Eun Nine: Low-Grade Might Talisman * 100]
*
*
[Eun Nine: Mid-Grade Might Talisman * 100]
[Eun Nine: Mid-Grade Might Talisman * 100]
[Eun Nine: Mid-Grade Might Talisman * 60]
“What is this?”
Her eyes quickly scanned the messages from top to bottom.
There were 2,000 talismans in total.
1,740 low-grade Might Talismans and 260 mid-grade Might Talismans.
“What….”
The talismans sent through spatial delivery were already waiting to be materialized in reality.
Ryu Yeonhwa hurriedly pressed the Accept button and headed for the spatial transport room in the office.
Whoosh!
And there, boxes filled with talismans radiating vivid green and blue light stood in a neat row.
Ryu Yeonhwa stared at the sight for a moment, then thought,
‘The credits I sent last week were around 80,000, weren’t they?’
There were 2,000 talismans.
Ryu Yeonhwa briefly looked up the price of talisman materials on the network, then let out a hollow laugh.
“That’s insane…. Her failure rate is zero percent?”
That was the result if Nine had bought all the materials with 80,000 credits.
Failure rate was a label attached to talisman masters who drew talismans.
Drawing a talisman wasn’t a button you could click and expect to succeed every time.
They had to devote all their focus and mental energy to every single talisman just to succeed.
And if luck wasn’t on their side, the talisman would explode with a bang, leaving them unable even to recoup the cost of the materials.
The average failure rate for talisman masters was 20%.
And this talisman master had a failure rate of zero?
Ryu Yeonhwa had never even heard of talent that absurd.
“And she drew 2,000 of them in just one week.”
It made no sense.
How many times had she found herself thinking that?
From low-grade talismans onward, material costs rose sharply. The materials alone cost more than 10,000 credits….
As a general rule, a talisman master who drew low-grade talismans made a net profit of 15,000 credits per 100 talismans.
Even so, most talisman masters couldn’t make 100 talismans in a day.
Why else would people who could make a hundred in one day be called ‘One-Hand, Hundred-Talisman’ masters?
“But if she can use the cost of lowest-grade materials to make low- and mid-grade talismans like this….”
Ryu Yeonhwa shuddered at the thought of how much Eun Nine would earn.
She could picture that girl, who was barely in the early stages of Qi Refining, raking in hundreds of thousands, even millions of credits.
Even the commission she’d earn would be incomparable to what she got from her other customers.
“This is insane….”
Shaking her head, Ryu Yeonhwa moved Eun Nine’s name from [VIP Customers] to [VIP VIP Customers].
It was a category she’d made in the hope she’d get to use it someday….
She’d expected it to fill up at least a decade or more from now.
“I never thought I’d use it this soon.”
Ryu Yeonhwa sent credits to Eun Nine.
***
December 16.
Nine giggled as she looked at the credits that had been transferred into her account.
Deep dark circles hung beneath her eyes, and her face was gaunt and pale.
Even so, her eyes shone with life.
[Balance: 3,200,000 credits]
Two thousand talismans hadn’t been enough to reach 3 million credits, so she’d repeated the process once more halfway through.
That was why the work she’d expected to finish in a week had taken two.
[User: Eun (銀) Nine (羅引/Nine)]
[Talent: Five-Element Spiritual Roots 6000 / 10000]
[Constitution: Talisman Dao Sacred Body Rank 1 4190 / 10000]
[Cultivation Arts: Tempering Formula 8th Star 7000/15000 / Introductory Talisman Dao Art 10th Star Great Perfection / Body Tempering Formula-12th Revision 3rd Star 50/200]
[Current Realm: Tempering Stage 100%(+3,000% compressing spiritual power….)]
Nine had purchased the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art (五行昇靈悟道法) from Hundredfold Star Force.
“Ahahaha, this is unbelievable!”
In the dim cultivation room, she stroked the golden slip containing the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art.
It was a square piece of golden metal.
The contents of the cultivation art were stored inside it.
Nine hugged the golden slip and smiled happily.