Spirit Beast Planning

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Chapter 6: Spirit Beast Planning

The next morning...

Chen Beiwu opened his eyes, got up, and drew back the curtains, letting the morning light spill into his bedroom.

This visualization diagram seemed basic, and all Immortal Alliance students could practice it, but it had an extraordinary origin: it came from the Pure Yang Grotto-Heaven, one of the Five Great Grotto-Heavens.

This visualization diagram seemed elementary, something any Immortal Alliance student could practice, but its origins were extraordinary. It came from the Pure Yang Grotto-Heaven, one of the Five Great Grotto-Heavens.

The principal of Shouhe No. 2 Middle School was a famous Golden Core cultivator in Far Sky County. At the freshman assembly, he had once said that the Great Mystery Guarding the One visualization method was the Immortal Alliance's finest foundational cultivation method for spiritual roots.

The principal of Shouhe No. 2 Middle School was a renowned Golden Core True Person in Far Sky County. At a freshman assembly, he had once declared that the Great Mystery Guarding the One visualization method was the Immortal Alliance's foremost wondrous method for laying the foundation of spiritual roots.

If a cultivator practiced this visualization method to minor mastery, regardless of age or whether they had made progress in Qi Refining, they could be admitted to the Pure Yang Grotto-Heaven as an exception—a fish leaping through the dragon gate.

Any cultivator who achieved minor mastery of this visualization method, regardless of age or accomplishments in Qi Refining, could receive exceptional admission to the Pure Yang Grotto-Heaven-a fish leaping through the dragon gate.

But the method was difficult to cultivate. Chen Beiwu had practiced the Great Mystery Guarding the One visualization method for eleven full years without even mastering its basics.

Even so, those years of practice had raised the purity of each of his five elemental spiritual roots by one point.

Without finding the doorway in, improving my spiritual roots really is difficult.

After finishing his habitual morning cultivation, Chen Beiwu went downstairs, ate the breakfast his mother had prepared, and left for school.

"Morning."

Seeing Chen Beiwu enter the classroom, Xu Lingling waved in greeting. "The results are out. Your ranking dropped pretty badly this time. You didn't even make the top five."

Chen Beiwu smiled, sat down, and said, "Do you think I'd believe that?"

"See for yourself if you don't believe me." Xu Lingling handed him her phone.

Chen Beiwu did not even look up. "Xu Ziqing, keep your best friend in line. It's first thing in the morning, and she's already spouting nonsense."

"Lingling, a bet's a bet. Pay up." Xu Ziqing held out her hand to her deskmate.

"Damn it, why can't I ever fool you?" Xu Lingling shot Chen Beiwu a vicious glare.

"Because you don't even know how to lie." Chen Beiwu remained calm. "Xu Ziqing is the only person in our entire year whose grades beat mine, yet you actually dared to say I couldn't make the top five."

Xu Ziqing was not only first in their class, but also an academic ace who had consistently held first place in their year.

"That's because you can't even lie properly." Chen Beiwu said calmly, "In the entire senior year, only Xu Ziqing has grades that can surpass mine. How dare you say I can't even make the top five in the year?"

But Chen Beiwu never judged prospective friends by their family background, cultivation, or looks. He only cared about their character and fortune.

Xu Ziqing and Xu Lingling were two cultivators in their class who had both good character and exceptionally strong fortune.

The former had pale orange fortune, suspected to be third-tier, while the latter had murky blue-black second-tier fortune, suggesting that a calamity might lie in her destiny.

The mention of grades piqued Chen Beiwu's interest. He took out his phone, opened the official Shouhe No. 2 Middle School website, and entered his student number to check.

Name: Chen Beiwu

[Spiritual root aptitude (maximum score: 100)]

Five elemental spiritual roots: 79+ (water and wood earth-grade spiritual roots)

[Beast Taming subjects (maximum score: 150)]

Exotic beasts: 145

Beast nurturing: 139

Beast training: 135

[Hundred Arts of Immortal Cultivation-electives (maximum score: 100)]

98: Medicine refining; psme&; psme&

39: Artifact refining; psme&; psme&

59: Formations; psme&; psme&

29: Talismans; psme&; psme&

[Qi Refining cultivation: sixth layer]

Total score: 867 (second place in the second year)

What a shame. Even if my total academic score clears the Five Great Grotto-Heavens' threshold, I still can't apply to them, Chen Beiwu thought.

There were numerous cultivation sects within the Immortal Alliance, but the only overlords remembered and eagerly discussed by countless cultivators were the Five Great Grotto-Heavens. They ruled the Immortal Alliance and possessed the absolute strength to suppress every sect beneath heaven.

;psme&;psme&

Precisely for that reason, the requirements for applying to the Five Great Grotto-Heavens-Pure Yang, Lunar, Xuanyuan, Zhouhua, and Jade Expanse-were extraordinarily high, far beyond what ordinary people imagined.

When Chen Beiwu first learned their application requirements from a teacher, he had been startled: only those with heaven-grade spiritual roots, or those who broke past the limits of Qi Refining and achieved Foundation Establishment within a hundred days, could sit their entrance examinations.

Chen Beiwu's spiritual root aptitude fell a little short. He could not even clear the threshold.

His targets for the college entrance examination were the Thirteen Immortal Sects, ranked directly beneath the Five Great Grotto-Heavens, or the sixty-three Upper Sects, which were slightly inferior to the Immortal Sects.

"What is it?" Chen Beiwu suddenly looked up.

"Once you reach the seventh layer of Qi Refining, you can buy a spirit beast from the Immortal Alliance. Have you picked one?" Xu Ziqing asked.

"I'm tentatively going with an Azure Spirit Newt," Chen Beiwu said casually.

Cultivators who cultivated through beasts needed to select a demonic beast compatible with their own spiritual roots. The greater their compatibility, the greater the feedback the cultivator received through the beast, and their cultivation speed would soar accordingly.

Con;psme&;psme&

versely, if a cultivator's compatibility with their cultivation partner beast was too low, not only would they get half the results for twice the effort, but the beast might even erode the spiritual roots within their body or turn against them.

Azure Spirit Newts had gentle temperaments and a pair of transparent fin-wings on their backs. They excelled at enhancing the vitality of plants and healing, making them quite rare spirit beasts with both water and wood attributes. Even out of water, they could glide briefly through the air, and their attributes were highly compatible with his spiritual roots.

Besides, gentle-tempered spirit beasts rarely turned against their masters.

"An Azure Spirit Newt?" Xu Ziqing's eyes brightened. "That's a pretty good choice."

"What about you? What cultivation partner beast are you planning to choose?" Chen Beiwu took a copy of [Ten Years of Formation Studies] out of his desk drawer.

Xu Ziqing had a Fire-attribute Earth Spiritual Root with a purity of 79, the same as his water spiritual root, and was only one point shy of a Heavenly Spiritual Root. She had broken through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining half a month earlier and was also eligible to buy a spirit beast from the Immortal Alliance.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't ignore me, you two!" Xu Lingling cut in.

Her cultivation was the lowest of the three, at only the sixth layer of Qi Refining, but she was the only Middle-Grade First Tier Alchemist in their class.

Chen Beiwu looked up at her. "Sure. Then stop facing away from us all the time, Lingling."

Lingling flew into a rage at that. She glanced down at her generously endowed landing strip and shoved Chen Beiwu indignantly.

"Get lost! Who's facing away from you?"

Just then, the bell rang, and an old man in Daoist robes entered the classroom. The noisy class instantly fell silent.

As the medicine-refining class representative, Xu Lingling quickly stood and led her classmates in greeting the teacher.

Teacher Li nodded slightly, handed the exam papers to the students in the first row, and motioned for them to pass them back.

"The first three questions are very simple, so we won't go over them."

"The middle three are of average difficulty. If you couldn't answer them, ask your classmates."

"As for the last three major questions, they're fairly classic examples. Everyone needs to take careful notes. The distinction between water-method and fire-method pill refining lies in...";psme&;psme&

Listening to Teacher Li's hypnotic lecture, Chen Beiwu grew a little drowsy and devoted his attention to pondering Great Mystery Guarding the One.

Medicine refining emphasized hands-on practice and required vast amounts of resources. It burned through money, and he had no intention of pursuing it in depth.

All he needed was to memorize the textbook knowledge by rote and make sure his medicine-refining score did not drag him down too much in the college entrance examination. He could spend the rest of his time contemplating the visualization diagram.

If he was fortunate enough to master the basics of the Great Mystery Guarding the One visualization diagram, or even achieve minor mastery, the purity of his water spiritual root might rise by one point and transform it into a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

However, Teacher Li's next words instantly jolted Chen Beiwu awake.

(End of chapter)