Azure Dragon Carp

Azure Dragon Carp

"My teacher is an alchemist. I'm not old enough myself, so I don't have a certificate yet."

The girl in white spoke. Not every cultivator could apply to take the certificate exams for the Hundred Arts of Cultivation. In order to screen candidates, and also to reduce its yearly workload, the Immortal Sect had set restrictions on age, specialty, and other aspects.

For example, a high school student like Chen Mobai failed the very first requirement: he was not old enough.

And the girl in white was the same.

The only drawback of Water Method alchemy was that it took a long time. For a single alchemist, it was very difficult to watch over the process from beginning to end and participate throughout.

So although the Immortal Sect stipulated that only alchemists could refine medicines, having apprentices and the like lend a hand and help process some simple Auxiliary Medicines was also the unspoken norm within the industry.

Chen Mobai felt that this girl in white before him was probably a pharmacist in training.

He thought of the Spiritual Water refining method recorded in the Black Water Technique. He still had no clue about it, and he wanted to ask for advice, but with no reason or connection between them, it was not easy to open his mouth.

"Farewell."

In the end, Chen Mobai said two words, turned, and left the medicine shop.

"What a strange person."

Qing Nü sensed that Chen Mobai had something he wanted to ask, but for some reason, he had not said it in the end.

Looking at the young man's back as it vanished around the street corner, she shook her head, turned, and went back into the rear hall to continue extracting Medicinal Ingredients.

Water Mansion.

Chen Mobai nervously pulled up the black Formation Flag, and the enormous hemispherical light barrier overhead began to ripple slightly.

He immediately followed the qi-circulation method described in Chan Si's courseware and injected spiritual power into the Formation Flag. Then, with his other hand, he formed hand seals and made two sets of very simple movements.

Splash! Before long, the originally smooth and flawless enormous light barrier caved inward in the direction pointed by Black Banner, forming an opening two meters in diameter.

Chen Mobai forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart. After inserting the Formation Flag back in place, he walked over to the Array Formation entrance and exit that he had opened himself.

He reached out, and amid a slight trembling, extended his hand beyond the range of the light barrier, touching the water outside.

Clear and cool, like silk and satin.

After he had played with the water enough and confirmed there was no danger outside, Chen Mobai began to lean half his body out.

Because he had never cultivated any water-avoidance spells, he could only rely on his long breath to hold on.

But even so, he saw a little of the scenery outside the Water Mansion.

This was a lake of unknown size. At the very least, he could not see its edge at a glance. At the bottom of the lake grew a kind of aquatic grass that emitted blue fluorescence, especially conspicuous in the dim environment.

And within the aquatic grass, one Azure Carp after another darted back and forth, frolicking.

Chen Mobai confirmed it. They were the same kind of fish he had eaten.

He raised the Needle Box in his hand, circulated the Five Elements Technique, and poured in spiritual power. A streak of Golden Flowing Light shot out.

Although his use of this Magic Artifact was still somewhat stiff, Chen Mobai spared no spiritual power, and it was a straight-line shot that required no technique. The flying needle directly pierced through an Azure Carp that had no time to flee.

Seeing that he had successfully caught a fish, Chen Mobai raised his other hand. As he injected the spiritual power of his Five Elements Technique, two Glass Beads flew out like two long five-colored rainbows and clamped onto the Azure Carp slowly sinking after death.

After retrieving the food and the flying needle, Chen Mobai pulled up Black Banner again and resealed the opening of the Azure Water Formation.

He first carefully examined the Azure Carp in his hand and discovered a Deep Azure line along its spine, like a tendon. There were also two long whiskers by the fish's mouth. They felt icy cold to the touch, as if he were holding a block of ice.

"Why is this carp so similar to the Immortal Sect's second-grade protected spiritual beast, the Azure Dragon Carp?"

Chen Mobai muttered to himself. The source of the Azure Dragon Carp's bloodline was an Azure Flood Dragon in the deep sea. It had been captured with great difficulty when the Immortal Sect was opening up the Sea Domain.

It was said that after the Azure Dragon Carp was cooked using a special method, cultivators who consumed it could absorb a trace of Water Flood Dragon Qi contained within its flesh and blood, randomly increasing their Water Spiritual Root by 1 to 5 attribute points.

But among the Immortal Sect, Azure Dragon Carp had only been kept alive over at Kunpeng Daoist Academy, and they were regarded as forbidden delicacies by a Nascent Soul Venerable. Twenty years ago, this venerable had even added wild Azure Dragon Carp to the Immortal Sect's latest list of protected spiritual beasts, and cultivators were already forbidden from killing them to cook.

Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he still could not resist the temptation and took out the Short Blade he had obtained from the old man.

According to the Immortal Sect's regulations, wild Azure Dragon Carp were protected spiritual beasts, while farmed ones could be eaten.

Although these Azure Carp were somewhat similar to Azure Dragon Carp, there were still some differences. They did not have much spiritual energy, and they were raised outside the Water Mansion, so they could also be considered farmed.

Scaling, opening the chest, splitting the belly, slicing the fish—Chen Mobai's movements were extremely practiced, flowing in one breath.

This Short Blade was not a Magic Artifact, but it was extremely sharp. He had tried using it to cut gold, and it had been as easy as cutting tofu. Using it to slice fish was somewhat like using a butcher's cleaver to carve a chicken.

This time, he planned to eat it chilled, and he had even brought ice cubes and seasoning from home.

However, the fish meat itself was already icy, so he could skip the chilling process.

Chen Mobai had even taken a can of carbonated drink. If he got a goblet too, the sense of ceremony would be filled to the brim.

Unfortunately, he was the only one eating.

That slight regret, along with the cold, tender, slippery fish meat entering his mouth, paired with aged Chen vinegar bought online from Wangwu Cave Heaven, made an indescribable sour, numbing comfort bloom across his taste buds.

When the fish meat entered his stomach, a cool qi naturally surged through his entire body, making Chen Mobai shiver all over. Immediately afterward came a full-body ease and exhilaration, like taking a cold shower on a sweltering day, comfortable and refreshing.

After finishing, Chen Mobai burped, and the first thought that surfaced in his mind was: Boiling that previous one in a pot was such a waste.

Of course, he did not forget the serious matter either.

After tidying up with the Cleaning Spell, he sat upright on the prayer mat and circulated the Five Elements Technique for one Great Cycle.

The Adaptive Spiritual Power he cultivated had not yet returned to his dantian when Chen Mobai intercepted a strand of it and injected it into the Spiritual Power Test Paper he had just bought.

This was a simple tool for measuring spiritual roots, but it was limited to cultivators of the Five Elements Technique.

In the Immortal Sect, everyone was a cultivator. Basically every child began to be taught qi-refining cultivation arts during the enlightenment stage. In order to measure spiritual roots more simply and quickly, the Imperial Medical Academy had invented this kind of Spiritual Power Test Paper.

As soon as Chen Mobai's spiritual power was absorbed by the test paper, it was instantly dyed in five colors. Then a string of numbers appeared on the paper according to the proportions of the five elements' radiance.

Metal 23, Wood 27, Water 25, Fire 17, Earth 10.

Sure enough, his Water Spiritual Root had increased by 2 points.

After Chen Mobai confirmed this point, the next step was to conduct more tests.

He forcefully suppressed the heat in his heart and stood up again to open the Azure Water Formation.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Streaks of Golden Flowing Light lit up outside the Water Mansion. One Azure Carp after another, which had been eating aquatic grass, inexplicably became food in Chen Mobai's belly.