Black Water Technique

The human heart was treacherous.

After walking out of Wu's Gold Shop, Chen Mobai sighed inwardly.

No wonder so many cultivators would rather pay a little more and go to those big branded shops. At least they would not try to drag every customer they saw onto an illegal road.

Although in the Immortal Sect, fabricating transactions to exchange for Points was something seen so often it was like a common official's routine, those operations were only done between acquaintances. It meant both sides held leverage over each other. Chen Mobai and Wu Wan had only done business once; there was not even the thinnest trust between them.

Chen Mobai was still young. At his current cultivation progress, plus the Water Mansion, a Second Grade Spirit Land, he could definitely reach Qi Cultivation Perfection and make an attempt at Foundation Establishment. He was nowhere near the point where he had to take risks.

After this transaction, Chen Mobai, who had originally been thinking of strolling around some more, no longer had the mood at all.

After taking public transport home, he, now carrying a huge sum of money, decided to reward himself. He did not cut Talisman Paper anymore, and he did not even cook. He ordered a malatang instead.

While waiting for the Takeout, Chen Mobai scanned the entire copy of "Azure Water Array Detailed Explanation" into a document and sent it to Teacher Chan, then took out the copy of "Black Water Technique" and began reading.

This was a typical Water Attribute Qi cultivation technique. It had nine levels in total and could be cultivated all the way to Qi Cultivation Perfection. Moreover, it also recorded three paired spells.

They were Water Control Technique, Water Element Shield, and Ice Spell.

The three spells progressed step by step. "Water Control Technique" was the simplest, but becoming proficient in it required no small amount of time.

After one became skilled at controlling water, they could command refined Spiritual Water and turn it into a Water Element Shield to protect themselves. It could be considered a spell that replaced a defensive Magic Artifact, and was relatively popular among low-level cultivators.

As for the final "Ice Spell," it was the most difficult.

According to the description in "Black Water Technique," one first had to condense one's Spiritual Power into a mouthful of Ice Breath, then combine it with the art of controlling water, freezing refined Spiritual Water and turning it into any form one wanted, either for attack or defense.

Although this cultivation technique was simple, it had already formed its own system. Moreover, when practicing the three spells, they could in turn promote the advancement of one's Qi cultivation realm.

"Not bad, not bad. If my Water Spiritual Root attribute weren't only 23, I'd want to switch cultivation immediately."

Several large hospitals of the Immortal Sect had jointly conducted experiments. If one Spirit Root attribute exceeded 33 Points, then the efficiency of cultivating the Five Elements Technique would be inferior to cultivating a Qi technique of that single attribute.

For someone like Chen Mobai, whose talent was almost classified as a False Spirit Root, whether in terms of cultivation progress or the efficiency of refining Spiritual Energy, the Five Elements Technique was still the most suitable.

For Chen Mobai, aside from reference value, the greatest value of this Black Water Technique lay in the three spells it recorded.

Although knowledge in the Immortal Sect was shared, it all required Points to exchange for.

Moreover, before exchanging for spells from the Immortal Sect, one had to make an oath that they could only cultivate it themselves and could not teach it to others.

The only place that could openly and honorably teach spells was school.

The Levitation Technique, Cleaning Spell, Qi Nourishing Technique, and so on that Chen Mobai knew were all taught at school. It was just that most students had been instilled with the idea that cultivation realm came above all else since childhood, and the spells they were enthusiastic about cultivating were also limited to convenient daily use.

After all, Earth Origin Star was simply too peaceful. There were quite a few petty thefts and tax evasion cases, but major incidents of killing people and taking lives had not been heard of for a long time.

Only when the World Opening War drew near would cultivators begin practicing spells for combat.

In peaceful times, the students at school all devoted themselves single-mindedly to Qi cultivation, raising their realms, wanting to reach Qi Cultivation Perfection as soon as possible and attempt Foundation Establishment.

Just as Chen Mobai was comparing the Water Element Shield with the Flowing Water Shield Old Man Ding had given him, the doorbell rang.

The Takeout had arrived.

Chen Mobai entered the kitchen and poured the malatang into a bowl at home. Just as he was about to serve himself a bowl of Spirit Rice and start eating, he suddenly saw a fish in the sink that had already been gutted, yet still looked somewhat familiar.

Eh, wasn't this the fish he had brought back from the Water Mansion? He had left in a hurry in the morning, and after dealing with the spoils, had casually tossed it into the sink.

He had originally planned to come back at night and not waste it, making a bowl of boiled fish, but after earning a sum from selling gold, Chen Mobai had thrown it to the back of his mind.

It should have been handled by Mom before she left.

Thinking this, Chen Mobai looked again at the fish meat, which was transparent with a faint pinkish-white hue. His knife rose and fell, directly slicing the fish into pieces. Then he lit the stove, poured his malatang into the pot to use as the soup base, and dropped the fish slices in one by one.

After a round of hard work, the instant the fresh, tender, spicy fish entered his mouth, Chen Mobai narrowed his eyes in satisfaction.

After eating his fill, he did not waste time either. He directly teleported to the Water Mansion.

First, he made a circuit around the Water Mansion and found there was no change from before he left. Only then did he walk at ease beneath the Formation Flag, sit upright on the meditation cushion he had brought, and begin refining the dense Spiritual Energy of this Second Grade Water Vein...

The next day.

During class, Chen Mobai looked at his phone screen with a strange expression.

He had a habit: every time he cultivated, he would turn on Recording with his phone, then import it into a Software called "Auxiliary Cultivation," compare it with his previous cultivation recordings, find the differences, correct mistakes, and inherit the strengths.

And this "Auxiliary Cultivation" Software had not popped up a notification for half a year. This meant that, whether in terms of cultivation time or posture and state, he was already at the most suitable point, with no room for correction.

But this morning, it had suddenly popped up a notification.

Detected that among the Spiritual Power cultivated by the user last night, the Water Attribute was 2 Points higher than usual. Please confirm the reason.

The Auxiliary Cultivation Software provided the difference, but it would not analyze the reason. This required the user to search for it themselves, then give feedback.

Chen Mobai recalled his cultivation yesterday. It had been exactly the same as before in the Water Mansion. Even his position had not moved; he had been right on that meditation cushion.

Since he could not figure it out, he could only do more experiments.

That day, Chen Mobai once again turned on Recording and cultivated in the Water Mansion for an entire night. The Five Elements Technique advanced again.

Detected that among the Spiritual Power cultivated by the user last night, the Water Attribute was 2 Points lower than yesterday. Please confirm the reason.

Another notification popped up.

Chen Mobai confirmed it. The day before yesterday, there had definitely been something different about him. This "Auxiliary Cultivation" Software had been developed by Sky Mending Dao Academy, one of the Four Great Dao Academies, and after several hundred years of adjustments, it was already extremely complete.

The Software would not be wrong. Then what exactly had happened to him?

Chen Mobai sank into thought and began recalling all of his experiences from the day before yesterday.

Attending class, asking the teacher for guidance, reading in the Cultivation Room, testing the Needle Box, selling gold...

When he thought of Wu's Gold Shop, Chen Mobai frowned slightly, but he confirmed that he had not had any physical contact with Wu Wan. They had merely talked and done a business transaction.

His memory traced back again. Ordering Takeout, slicing fish, eating, returning to the Water Mansion to cultivate, then coming back for class!

A complete circle clearly emerged in Chen Mobai's mind. He thought about what had been different that day compared with ordinary days, and since it could affect the Adaptive Spiritual Power cultivated by the Five Elements Technique, then the most likely possibility was that there had been a difference in his Spirit Root Attribute Points.

Takeout!? Chen Mobai thought of this thing that he had eaten into his stomach. It was possible for it to affect his Spirit Root, but it should not have. He had secretly ordered it several times before too, and he had never seen Auxiliary Cultivation pop up a notification.

Could it be... there was something wrong with that fish.