Chapter 14
A cube with a faintly shimmering golden hue.
Each side was about six centimeters long.
It was just small enough for Nine's little hands to barely wrap around it.
Swish.
The surface of the golden slip (金簡) was as smooth and cold as a mirror.
Its transparent surface reflected Nine's face.
The Nine reflected in it looked so happy.
“Ngh, so I just do this….”
After the Immortal Path Era began, humanity no longer used paper books.
In a highly advanced society where everything was digitized, there were clear limits to how much information a book could hold.
Two hundred pages amounted to a mere 120,000 characters.
Even by the standards of the once-popular medium called web novels, that was only twenty-five chapters' worth of information—and it could hold nothing but text.
They took up a ridiculous amount of space, yet could hold so little information.
In the end, books were reduced to mere collectibles and gradually disappeared.
But with everything digitized, there came the risk of losing information.
Data, too, grew outdated over time and gradually sank into the depths of the network.
That was why humanity developed golden slips (金簡).
They could store one gigabyte of information in a volume of just one cubic centimeter.
They overcame the limits of text, with the revolutionary ability to store images and videos, and even the user's memories.
Humanity now stored memories in cold metal.
Plink!
A drop of blood imbued with Nine's spiritual power fell onto the golden slip.
The golden cube sucked up the blood and the spiritual power within it, then began to shine.
Fwaaash!
‘It worked!’
Nine excitedly looked up at the hologram that appeared.
A license for the cultivation art and a certificate confirming that Nine had officially purchased the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art (五行昇靈悟道法) unfolded before Nine.
Thinking of all the hardships Nine had gone through made Nine's nose sting.
“Woooow…!”
For a moment, Nine stared blankly at the certificate alongside Pou.
Pou, too, fluttered around the hologram as if fascinated.
“Then now, it's really starting.”
Nine steadied their breathing and sprang into action.
Nine meticulously wiped the cultivation room floor until not a speck of dust remained. Nine also vacuumed up the ink residue and scraps of paper left lying around for the past two weeks.
After slowly washing for an hour, Nine took out the new robe ordered online.
It was a women's robe, with black, blue, and white blended together just right.
Nine stared silently down at the robe.
“…….”
A loose-fitting garment that looked strangely thin.
Suppressing the fluttery feeling in their heart, Nine squeezed their eyes shut and got dressed.
“Ugh.”
Nine forced the robe closed, even though it was too tight across the chest.
Nine sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation room, which gleamed as if it had been reborn.
The Spirit-Gathering Formation glowed faintly on the floor of the room, where a peaceful darkness had settled.
“Pou, come here.”
Nine patted the floor and called Pou over.
Pou, which had been fluttering in midair, slowly descended and unfurled beside Nine.
[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 made tremendous progress over the past two weeks.
Nine's Five-Element Spiritual Roots proficiency had passed the halfway mark, reaching 6,000, while the Talisman Dao Sacred Body was just shy of halfway.
Refining spiritual power had caused the Tempering Formula proficiency to skyrocket, and the Introductory Talisman Dao Art had jumped from the 7th star to Great Perfection of the 10th star in no time.
But there was something else that stood out even more.
[Current Realm: Tempering Stage 100%(+3,000% compressing spiritual power….)]
‘I've gathered enough spiritual power to break through to Qi Refining. But….’
Nine could feel the pitch-black Talisman Dao spiritual power filling the dantian.
Even so, the spiritual power Nine had continued to accumulate had passed its critical point.
“My spiritual power is compressing on its own.”
The Talisman Dao spiritual power was compressing by itself.
The spiritual power, once pitch-black, had turned an absolute black and settled deep in the dantian.
It was the purest Talisman Dao spiritual power, entirely free of impurities.
‘So there's an advantage to this, too.’
No matter how much one refined spiritual power, impurities were bound to build up.
That was because the spiritual energy scattered throughout nature contained minute impurities.
Yet the spiritual power that had sunk heavily into Nine's dantian was so pure that it had been stripped of every trace of impurity.
Nine smiled.
Naturally, the purer the spiritual power, the better.
On top of that, the density of the repeatedly compressed spiritual power was beyond compare.
Compared to the spiritual power of an ordinary Tempering Stage cultivator, it was roughly ten times heavier and denser.
“Too bad. I wish I could keep accumulating more.”
Nine had, of course, tested whether it was possible to compress the power further than 3,000%.
But no matter how hard Nine tried to gather more Talisman Dao spiritual power, no more would accumulate.
The spiritual power produced by the heart on its own had stopped long ago, too.
It seemed this was the limit of the dantian.
“Still, so what?”
Nine's white eyelashes fluttered as Nine gently closed their eyes.
Nine let out a long breath and straightened their slumped back.
Nine sank their consciousness inward and stirred the spiritual power settled deep in the dantian.
The absolute-black Talisman Dao spiritual power, compressed again and again.
It had settled heavily like a python, but at Nine's will it stirred and surged violently.
Rumble, rumble!
The thirty low-grade spirit stones arranged in a circle around Nine began to vibrate all at once.
A moment later, they split apart with a sharp crack like glass, then crumbled into dust in midair, illuminating the room brilliantly.
In response to the fragments, the Spirit-Gathering Formation etched into the floor blazed with white light and activated at full power.
The dense spiritual energy held within the spirit stones mixed with the energy drawn in by the Spirit-Gathering Formation, sending the spiritual energy density in the cultivation room soaring without end.
Munch, munch.
Nine chewed and swallowed a top-grade, first-tier Body-Cleansing Pill (洗身丹).
It widened the body's meridians, cleared the mind, and purified spiritual power one step further.
Nine swallowed the pill, which could only be taken when breaking through from the Tempering Stage to Qi Refining.
A single top-grade Body-Cleansing Pill cost a staggering 200,000 credits.
“Haaah….”
Having finished all preparations, Nine narrowed their eyes.
Nine thought back over everything done up to this point.
Nine had purchased Earth-Dao-grade and Law-grade cultivation arts.
Nine had gained the Talisman Dao Sacred Body, an Earth-Dao-grade constitution.
Nine had stored the maximum amount of spiritual power that could be accumulated at the Tempering Stage in the dantian.
The spiritual power was purer and denser than ever before, to the point that it rivaled that of a Qi Refining cultivator.
This was the best Nine could do right now.
Even with more time, Nine couldn't improve on this result.
Only the geniuses of great sects or the scions of Golden Core clans could receive such lavish treatment.
Nine felt they could be just a very, very little bit satisfied.
But Nine's longing to cultivate immortality hadn't diminished in the slightest.
If anything, it burned even more fiercely.
“Qi Refining isn't the end. Qi Refining cultivators, half-step Foundation Establishment, quasi-Golden Core… and beyond.”
Nine wanted to cultivate immortality.
Nine wanted to transcend through cultivation and stand above everyone else.
Afraid of the inevitable approach of death, Nine wanted to live forever and roam freely, strolling above the clouds.
It was a dream that had once been on the verge of breaking under the weight of fleeting talent.
It was a realm that someone with mere Five-Element Spiritual Roots would never even dare look toward.
“Not anymore.”
Nine could challenge it.
Nine had gained a talent that knew no limits to its growth.
Nine had obtained an incredible fortuitous encounter whose value could not even begin to be measured.
If Nine held all of this in their hands and still didn't challenge themself, how could Nine be called a cultivator?
Flutter~
Nine glanced at Pou, swaying beside them, then lifted the golden slip.
Then Nine pressed the golden slip containing the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art to their forehead.
Shaaak—!
A torrent of countless streams of information flowed into Nine's mind.
Its density was on a completely different level from the basic-grade and Formula-grade cultivation arts learned so far.
The sheer volume of information, hundreds or even thousands of times greater, struck Nine's mind.
Six gigabytes.
That was roughly three billion characters—or, by the number of books, more than twenty-five thousand volumes.
The information, interwoven with images, videos, and even the developer's notes, flashed past like a panorama.
The core incantation of the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art.
The methods for cultivating the art (鍊法) and refining the spirit (鍊神).
Even the paths and trajectories along which spiritual power flowed.
[The trajectory of the Five Elements (五行) issues forth from the One Origin (一元), disperses into the myriad phenomena (萬象), and becomes spirit (靈) and qi (氣). Ascending (昇), it is completed through enlightenment (悟) and forms the Dao (道)—that place is the Law (法).]
A certain will resounded in Nine's mind.
It seemed to come from nearby, yet also like a voice reaching Nine from an immeasurable distance.
But the profound mystery (玄氣) contained in that will was so deep that it was engraved in Nine's brain in an instant.
That was the way to reach Qi Refining.
That was the way to gather spiritual power.
That was the way to temper the mind.
A realization that began with a single insight spread in a chain reaction.
The incantations that had remained mere information in Nine's mind all began to shine at once.
The incantations Nine hadn't understood were deciphered, showing the way forward.
It was a method for refining dharmic power through the Five Elements and awakening spiritual sense.
In doing so, it laid the foundation for Foundation Establishment.
This was the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art (五行昇靈悟道法).
Fwaaash!
Pou, beside Nine, emitted a brilliant white radiance.
Dark characters, shadowy as night, were rapidly inscribed across the auspicious scroll.
[Cultivation Art: Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art (五行昇靈悟道法) 1st Star 0 / 100]
Nine's body trembled.
The Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art, newly inscribed in Nine's body, bared its fangs and roared.
The shoddy Tempering Formula vacated its place of its own accord, and the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art took over.
Rumble…!
The meridian pathways previously used by the Tempering Formula were revised.
The simple, clear pathways branched into a complex network, coursing through Nine's meridians as they absorbed spiritual energy.
Nine's body shone white.
***
December 30.
K Sector. Future Special City.
Central District.
At an altitude of 56,000 meters.
Yu-Ryong Grand Cultivator (柔龍大修), a cultivator at Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, had been meditating with closed eyes on Bongnae Immortal Mountain (蓬萊仙山), where spiritual energy was abundant. He narrowed his eyes.
“Hmm?”
He sensed the aura of a tribulation.
The tribulation aura (劫氣), which appeared only when a cultivator broke through to a new realm, filled the sky.
He sensed the will of the Heavenly Dao, ominous and filled with divinity.
“Are people still attempting unauthorized, illegal Foundation Establishment these days?”
Yu-Ryong Grand Cultivator's role was that of an adjudicator.
Earth's resources were always scarce.
That was why the number of Foundation Establishment slots was restricted, so that only the most exceptional talents could rise above the rest…
Those who failed to understand the greater purpose and sought to advance their realm out of selfishness deserved to be judged.
Yu-Ryong Grand Cultivator turned toward the place from which the tribulation aura seemed to originate.
The entire Korean Peninsula lay beneath his palm.
There was no way he could fail to find it.
‘There'd better not be.’
“What was that?”
Yu-Ryong Grand Cultivator stroked his bearded chin.
The tribulation aura had already vanished from his sight.
He hadn't imagined it.
How could a tribulation aura disappear so quickly?
Judging by the purity of the aura, it had to be a Foundation Establishment tribulation.
It definitely wasn't a tribulation on the level of Qi Refining.
“Yeah, it's me.”
After stroking his chin for a long while, Yu-Ryong Grand Cultivator contacted a junior who worked at the Realm Advancement Administration.
“What? There was no sign of a Heavenly Tribulation? No other tribulations either? Hmm….”
He'd definitely sensed it.
It couldn't have been his imagination.
Puzzled, Yu-Ryong Grand Cultivator eventually shook his head.
“All right. I definitely sensed it, so investigate it anyway.”
The world was always full of things one couldn't understand.
But to those standing high above it, the world was more like an answer key.
If there were still things in the world one couldn't understand despite standing in such a high position…
It was probably in one's best interest not to look too deeply into them.
Yu-Ryong Grand Cultivator ended the call and closed his eyes again.
“The will of Heaven is never something one can understand….”
The spiritual energy of the immortal mountain remained peaceful and serene.