Chapter 18
The cultivation method for Qi Refining is as follows.
The Middle Palace (中宮), the core of cultivation and its first star.
Fill the eight directions (八方) surrounding it with the other eight stars.
However, the precise directions and positions vary depending on the cultivation art and constitution one has learned.
The detailed cultivation method of the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art Nine had learned was quite unfamiliar, too.
“The Middle Palace is the cultivator's very center. Therefore, the energy placed there differs depending on the path the cultivator walks….”
To be precise.
Back when Nine was in the Danxiu stage, their spiritual power had been ordinary talisman spiritual power.
It bore the nature of talismans—a special kind of spiritual power unique to the Talisman Dao that increased one's aptitude for drawing talismans.
But after learning a new cultivation art, its nature had changed.
It had once been gray talisman spiritual power, but…
with the energy of the Five Elements harmoniously infused into it, it was now more fitting to call it Five-Element talisman spiritual power.
So Nine's current state was only half-formed.
[East Wood is Azure (東木靑), South Fire is Red (南火赤), West Metal is White (西金白), North Water is Black (北水黑). Center Earth is Yellow (中土黃)
Suppress the four directions (鎭四方), divide the Five Elements into yin and yang (五行分陰陽), transform them into the Ten Heavenly Stems (化作十天干).
Condense the Origin to form spirit stars (凝元成靈星), illuminating the boundless heavens (照耀無極天)]
[Wood in the east is azure, Fire in the south is red, Metal in the west is white, and Water in the north is black.
Earth in the center is yellow, suppressing the four directions; the Five Elements are divided into yin and yang, forming the Ten Heavenly Stems (十天干).
Condense the Origin to forge spirit stars, and shine brilliantly upon the endless heavens.]
Nine naturally recalled the words of the cultivation art that came to mind.
Each time Nine breathed while sitting cross-legged, their chest rose and fell.
Nine could feel spiritual energy flowing through their body.
“My spiritual power has a pure-black cultivation attribute, specifically Gui Water (癸水), the Yin Water (陰水) stem.”
If the Five Elements were divided into yin and yang, they would become the Heavenly Stems.
Yang elements of the Five Elements radiated outward, while yin elements converged inward.
It made sense that a talisman, whose essence lay in delicacy, would wield Gui Water spiritual power.
With Gui Water occupying the center, Qi Refining with the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art meant filling the remaining eight positions with the other Heavenly Stems.
[Talent: Five-Element Spiritual Roots 7006 / 10000]
[Cultivation Art: Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art 1st Star 32/100]
[Current Realm: Qi Refining 1st Star 3.2%]
[Body Refining Dao (煉身道)]
Spiritual Power Density: 41.0
Physical Activation: 14.6
Divine Sense Strength: 0
[Cultivation Art Dao (功法道)]
[Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art 1/1 (Cultivating….)]
Nine was sitting atop the Spirit-Gathering Formation activated with low-grade spirit stones.
A flush of excitement rose to Nine's cheeks, and they clasped them.
It had only been an hour since Nine had set a grand goal and begun cultivating.
‘My Qi Refining cultivation has gone up by 0.7%, and my cultivation art proficiency has gone up by 12!’
Nine could sense the spiritual star in their lower dantian, now emitting energy that had grown even heavier.
Enjoying the pleasant warmth, Nine briefly rubbed their belly and continued calculating.
It took ten minutes to complete one cycle of the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art.
The process repeated: absorbing spiritual energy, refining it in the heart, then condensing the refined spiritual power in the lower dantian to strengthen the spirit star.
If so, proficiency should have increased by six, but it hadn't.
“Isn't this Cultivation Art Dao thing way too overpowered?”
Nine muttered excitedly.
Even now, while doing nothing, the Cultivation Art Dao was automatically cultivating the art.
And Nine could cultivate the art at the same time.
“Ah, it went up again.”
[Talent: Five-Element Spiritual Roots 7007 / 10000]
[Cultivation Art: Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art 1st Star 34/100]
[Current Realm: Qi Refining 1st Star 3.3%]
To Nine's surprise, even while zoning out, proficiency and cultivation continued to rise.
Even if Nine didn't think about anything, ate, or slept, the Cultivation Art Dao never stopped cultivating automatically.
[Talent: Five-Element Spiritual Roots 7008 / 10000]
[Cultivation Art: Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art 1st Star 36/100]
[Current Realm: Qi Refining 1st Star 3.4%]
“Hmm.”
Nine made up their mind.
They decided to seriously go ahead with bringing the bed into the cultivation room, an idea they'd considered half as a joke.
Their superhuman physical abilities made lifting something like a bed easy.
And so, a bed was installed in the center of Nine's cultivation room.
***
While Nine was sprawled on the bed, rolling around and savoring the bliss of automatic cultivation…
The world was in turmoil.
The excitement and fervor over the Foundation Establishment advancement had yet to subside.
If anything, it was burning even more fiercely.
“Who the hell was that unidentified person at the end? What cultivation art are they using, what sect are they from, does anyone even know what backwater district they're from? I've got a mountain of pills I can give them right now…!”
“Even the great sects and big corporations are scrambling, and they can't find a single thing about them? Hmm…. What? Even causal inference doesn't work? Damn it, I told the higher-ups I'd find out no matter what, with my head on the line!”
“Wow…. I want to hug him just once. What kind of face would a man like that make in bed?”
For all sorts of reasons, the public's attention converged on a single person.
Everyone was searching for the person who had triggered the black lightning tribulation.
But no one could find where they were.
It was as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.
The government remained silent.
Under normal circumstances, it would have made a huge announcement about the birth of a new hero.
But even after a day passed, then a week, not a word came out.
Then the Golden Core sects and massive corporations, which had been going wild, quietly held their tongues.
The government was Heaven's hands and feet.
If Heaven chose silence, there had to be a good reason for it.
In the end, only the ignorant fools who didn't even know why it was silent continued searching for the handsome young man and making a commotion.
***
Nine rolled around on the bed they'd placed in the very center of the cultivation room.
A week had passed before Nine knew it.
Pou fluttered and displayed the status.
[Talent: Five-Element Spiritual Roots 9754/ 10000]
[Cultivation Art: Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art 6th Star 1203/2000]
[Current Realm: Qi Refining 1st Star 98.4%]
It was one surprise after another.
The progress of the Earth-Dao-grade, Law-grade art, the Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art, had already reached the 6th star.
“If I'd cultivated normally, I wouldn't even have gotten past the 1st star yet.”
The proficiency system itself was overpowered.
It was a power that let one skip the immense effort, arduous training, and contemplation required to gain insight.
That didn't mean there was something wrong with Nine, though.
It wasn't that Nine didn't contemplate.
The moment all proficiency was filled, every effort and action Nine should have undertaken to gain insight…
the fruits of an immeasurably long time were compressed into an instant and driven into their mind.
Nine held all the memories of endless effort and arduous cultivation.
“Mmm….”
[Talent: Five-Element Spiritual Roots 9754 / 10000]
[Constitution]
[Golden Sea, Azure River (金海滄川) 0/ 10]
[Cultivation Art: Five-Element Spirit-Raising Enlightenment Art 6th Star 1203/2000]
[Current Realm: Qi Refining 1st Star 98.4%]
[Body Refining Dao (煉身道)]
Spiritual Power Density: 64.8
Physical Activation: 21.3
Divine Sense Strength: 0
[Balance: 140,000 Credits]
The status window was too long, so Nine had displayed it in a condensed format.
Nine looked at their account and Pou, thinking.
“I've almost maxed out the proficiency for Five-Element Spiritual Roots, and I'll reach the 2nd star of Qi Refining soon.”
Nine had four things to worry about right now.
The growth of Five-Element Spiritual Roots.
Breaking through to the 2nd star of Qi Refining.
Investigating Golden Sea, Azure River.
And securing Credits, which were nearly depleted.
First of all, if Five-Element Spiritual Roots grew into Four-Element Spiritual Roots, cultivation speed would increase by leaps and bounds.
By a simple calculation, about threefold.
Considering Nine's capital and Pou's power, it could be even faster.
The gap between Five-Element and Four-Element Spiritual Roots was that great.
Next was breaking through to the 2nd star of Qi Refining.
Nine shook their head.
“It's definitely right to do this after breaking through to Four-Element Spiritual Roots.”
There was no room for compromise on this choice.
Not only would the amount of spiritual energy Nine could absorb increase, its quality and purity would rise as well.
“Golden Sea, Azure River. What is this?”
Nine had stared at it intently, and even poked Pou.
They'd pressed, licked, and rubbed the pitch-black characters, but nothing changed.
Golden Sea, Azure River (金海滄川).
To put it simply, it meant a golden sea and a blue river.
Nine couldn't figure out why it was in the Constitution section.
It didn't seem like it belonged under Talent or Cultivation Art, either.
Its very existence was a mystery.
Anyway, since it was a constitution, Nine figured its function would be revealed someday and moved on for now.
Next was Credits, but…
Nine let out a deep sigh.
“How could the price have crashed this much?”
Immortal Path Year 470 - January.
Tier 1 Low-Grade
Might Talisman - 100 Credits
Fire Bomb Talisman - 300 Credits
Water Bomb Talisman - 430 Credits
Golden Wall Talisman - 540 Credits
Earth Dragon Talisman - 700 Credits
Tier 1 Mid-Grade
Might Talisman - 500 Credits
Fire Bomb Talisman - 900 Credits
Water Bomb Talisman - 1,000 Credits
Golden Wall Talisman - 1,200 Credits
Earth Dragon Talisman - 1,300 Credits
Talisman prices had plummeted across the board.
The Might Talisman was especially bad: the low-grade one had fallen to a third of its former price, and the mid-grade one to a sixth.
[FUCKING HELL!!!]
[MY TALISMANS, TALISMANS, TALISMANS!!!!!!]
[The Water Bomb Talisman is worth jack now. Talismans are cheaper than used toilet paper.]
[If you think talismans are outdated losers, smash that like button lol]
[The fact talismans were even part of the cultivation world was ridiculous to begin with. Sword Dao should take their place now.]
“Sigh….”
Nine sighed again while watching the Talismans Gallery go berserk.
The talisman market, which had been steadily falling lately, crashed hard at the start of the new year.
As a result, every first-tier talisman master had lost their mind.
[MY TALISMANS, TALISMANS, TALISMANS!!!!!!]
Anon (823.432)
How did I even collect all those? I didn't sleep, didn't eat, didn't even get double-eyelid surgery—I just talisman, talisman, talisman, and, and, and fuck, and, and, after all that I barely scraped them together, and if the market price falls to a fifth, are you telling me to just die as my body falls apart? Fine, I'll just die, but fuck, I'm not dying alone…….
[If you think talismans are outdated losers, smash that like button lol]
Anon (932.432)
At least I'll start with myself lol…….
[The fact talismans were even part of the cultivation world was ridiculous to begin with. Sword Dao should take their place now.]
Sword Dao Emperor
A cultivator should wield their own life-bound sword to cleave the world and comprehend the Dao of Heaven.
Relying on scraps of paper infused with a little spiritual power and using cheap tricks is already far removed from the essence of the Dao.
This talisman crash is simply the process of the abnormal cultivation world finally returning to normal.
Sword Dao is the true foundation of the arts and the irreplaceable pinnacle.
If you disagree, all your spiritual roots will rot.
“Ah.”
Nine pressed their forehead and lowered their head in despair.
The future of talismans was truly bleak.
Flutter….
Pou also drooped dejectedly beside Nine and rolled up the scroll.