Card Fairy

"Ah! It's right on your belly!" Card Fairy sounded deflated when she heard him and hurriedly explained.

"On my belly?" Wang Yan froze, then instinctively touched his abdomen. His hand brushed the red triangular metal plate, and realization stirred in his mind. "You mean this?"

"That's right! This is the super Immortal Card Artifact I invented and forged!" Card Fairy answered proudly.

"Th-this thing... how do I use it? I don't have any magical power now. How am I supposed to activate it?" Wang Yan asked in bewilderment. The Wang Household had always kept its disciples under strict control. All they did was cultivate, day after day, and they were not even allowed to leave the household's Azure Spirit Mountain. This trial in the rear mountains was Wang Yan's first time leaving Azure Spirit Mountain.

Even then, he had only gone into the mountains behind it. With his young age on top of that, his knowledge was naturally limited.

"Ah! I'll give you a simple explanation. Who told me to be unlucky enough to possess a mere mortal like you?" Card Fairy said helplessly, her tone plainly suggesting that she would not stoop to arguing with him.

"Uh... I'm already an entry-level Cultivation Realm cultivator...!" Wang Yan offered a small protest. Still, in the eyes of someone like Card Fairy, he probably was no different from a mortal.

"I'm not going to waste words with you!" Card Fairy said. After a pause, she explained, "Simply put, didn't you just say it yourself? Cultivators need a dantian to hold the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Your dantian has been destroyed, but if I still had all my former Divine Abilities and magical power, repairing it for you would be no problem. As I am now, though, there's nothing I can do. But to cultivate now, you only need to store that spiritual energy in the Immortal Card Artifact on your abdomen. Then you'll be able to cultivate and hold the spiritual energy of heaven and earth...!"

"Store the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in this Immortal Card... Artifact thing on my abdomen?" Wang Yan asked in confusion. "Can it really hold spiritual energy? And how do I store it there? Also, what exactly is this Immortal Card?"

"Ah, it's hard to explain with words alone. Just try it yourself!" Card Fairy hurriedly said. She paused, then added, "Luckily, you already have a little cultivation. Otherwise, having to wait for you to learn a cultivation method would make things difficult. Start circulating your cultivation method. Even without your dantian, you should still be able to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, right?"

"Mm... yes!" Wang Yan promptly answered. Sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was the first step in cultivation. Mortals with immortal roots generally began there. As long as they could sense spiritual energy, they had successfully taken that first step. Those with immortal roots could usually accomplish it in a month or two if they were quick.

Those less gifted needed considerably longer. Although Wang Yan had lost his dantian, he was merely unable to store spiritual energy and convert it into magical power. His ability to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth remained.

"Good. Follow my instructions and guide the spiritual energy of heaven and earth through your cultivation method. When it would normally return to your dantian, send it into the Immortal Card Artifact through these two points instead!" Card Fairy instructed. As she mentioned the points, Wang Yan suddenly felt something wriggle at two spots on either side of his abdomen.

"Huh? When did I get two extra meridians here?" Wang Yan sensed the movement. Clearly, Card Fairy had done something to his abdomen. He circulated his cultivation method to examine it, then froze and asked in surprise.

"Never mind all that. The artifact opened them inside your body. Otherwise, with your measly cultivation, how would you pour spiritual energy into it?" Card Fairy replied impatiently.

"What's an artifact?" Wang Yan certainly had plenty of questions.

"A treasure used by true immortals!" Card Fairy answered offhandedly. "Try it first! That way you won't accuse an old woman like me of tricking a little brat like you!"

"Uh! All right!" Wang Yan hurriedly agreed. He sat cross-legged and began circulating his cultivation method according to his Spirit Formula. The air seemed to grow faintly damp.

Although Wang Yan was only at the entry level of the Cultivation Realm, he had cultivated for years. In fact, he was only a step away from minor attainment in the Cultivation Realm. Among entry-level disciples, his cultivation was fairly substantial.

Wang Yan felt the water spiritual energy enter his body and travel through his meridians, which eased his mind considerably. He slowly circulated it toward his dantian.

Just then.

"Why are you practicing a water-type cultivation method?" Card Fairy's puzzled voice rang out in Wang Yan's mind.

"Is there a problem?" The interruption nearly caused Wang Yan's magical power to leak out, but he managed to hold it steady.

"There is a slight problem... never mind. Try it first!" Card Fairy hurriedly said.

"All right!" Wang Yan was puzzled too, but continued circulating his cultivation method. Since the route differed from his usual one, it took him quite some time to find the entrances to those meridians.

However.

The instant he sensed the extra meridians, Wang Yan was startled. They seemed to be connected to two metal tubes. Then he remembered the triangular metal plate on his abdomen and accepted it. Things had already come to this, so there was nothing left to hesitate over.

That was what he thought.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Wang Yan directed his magical power into the metal meridians. Perhaps because there were no flesh-and-blood meridians obstructing it, all his magical power flowed into them with remarkable ease. Only after it entered did he realize how terrifyingly complex those metal meridians were. They contained countless crisscrossing routes, like a vast network, yet the flow moved at an astonishing speed...

Before Wang Yan could clearly sense their structure, he felt all the spiritual energy plunge into what seemed to be a metal space. Countless red lights filled it, making it impossible to see what was happening.

But even more startling was what followed.

"Pfft!" With a startling, muffled sound, Wang Yan felt the tiny amount of blue-glowing spiritual energy he had painstakingly absorbed vanish into nothing.

At that moment.

"Cough!" A dull pain struck Wang Yan's abdomen, and his whole body shuddered. He opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air, looking deeply uncomfortable. "Senior Card Fairy, why can't I gather magical power? Is it...?"

"I know!" Card Fairy cut him off before he could finish. In a grave voice, she said, "It's not that you can't gather magical power. It's that you're using the wrong cultivation method...!" She paused, then hurriedly asked, "Why are you practicing a Water-Type Heart Method, kid?"

"My aptitude isn't very good. I have Three Immortal Roots of water, fire, and metal, and I've practiced a water-type cultivation method from the start. Is there a problem with that?" Wang Yan quickly asked. After a pause, he continued, "With my Three Immortal Roots, shouldn't I be able to cultivate water, fire, or metal without any trouble?"

"There's no problem with that...!" Card Fairy replied, but her tone shifted and grew grave. "However, this Immortal Card Artifact isn't actually complete. At present, it can only hold fire-attribute spiritual energy!"

"What? It can only hold fire-attribute spiritual energy?" Wang Yan exclaimed in surprise, then asked suspiciously, "Hey! You're not trying to fool me, are you?"

"Listen to yourself! Look at it. There's only a single triangular piece, and isn't it the red of the fire attribute?" Card Fairy hurriedly said.

"Now that you mention it...!" Wang Yan frowned and glanced at his abdomen. The exposed triangular gem was indeed red. A thought struck him, and he quickly asked, "Could this thing be made up of several pieces?"

"Exactly!" Card Fairy promptly replied. "What you have is only one piece, the fire-attribute piece. There are metal, wood, water, and earth pieces too! And there are also...!"

"Then doesn't that mean I have to find the water-attribute piece before I can cultivate?" Wang Yan interrupted before Card Fairy could finish, looking deeply disappointed.

"Uh! You really do love cutting people off, you little brat!" Card Fairy said unhappily in a low voice. She paused, then scolded, "Find the water-attribute piece first? Dream on! Where would you even look? Even I don't know where it is."

"Ah! Then all that talk was for nothing!" Wang Yan said dejectedly, a trace of disappointment showing on his face.

"Tsk! Don't you have a fire immortal root? Why not just switch to a fire-type cultivation method?" Card Fairy spoke in a tone that suggested this rotten piece of wood was beyond carving.

"Wouldn't that take even more time? Then I won't be able to get revenge!" Wang Yan said darkly, bristling with murderous intent. Naturally, he meant Wang Ziling, the bastard who had nearly killed him.

"Revenge?" Card Fairy was taken aback. "You mean the fellow who did this to you?"

"That's right! I'm going to kill him! That little fiend!" Just thinking about it filled Wang Yan's belly with fire.

"What little fiend?" Card Fairy seemed intensely curious and hurriedly asked, forgetting everything else.

"That's my business!" Wang Yan clearly did not want to say more. Instead, he quickly turned the conversation back. "Is there really no other way?"

"Tsk! Your aptitude is actually better suited to a fire-type cultivation method to begin with. I was wondering why you were practicing a water-type one!" Card Fairy said.

"What do you mean?" Wang Yan froze and asked in confusion.

"With Three Immortal Roots, you can indeed practice cultivation methods of all three corresponding types. But your fire Immortal Root is clearly purer," Card Fairy said, sounding somewhat puzzled. "By comparison, your water Immortal Root is the most mixed... cultivating with it is actually the slowest. If you had practiced Fire Type arts, your cultivation should have been at least a full level above where it is now!"

"What? That's possible?" Wang Yan froze, then exclaimed in surprise. This was the first time he had ever heard such an explanation.