Dao Merit
I Forge Immortality with Dao SeedsContents
- 1Biodata
- 2Function and Transactions
- 3Earning Dao Merit
- 3.1New-Disciple Assessment Rewards
- 3.2Mission-Team Deductions
- 4Purchasing Power
- 4.1Cultivation Inheritances
- 4.2Documented Market Values
- 5Role in Zhang Jing’s Cultivation
- 5.1From Mission Income to Talisman Production
- 5.2Funding an Upper-Grade Inheritance
- 5.3Water-Attribute Resource Price War
- 6Notable Quotes
Contents
- 1Biodata
- 2Function and Transactions
- 3Earning Dao Merit
- 3.1New-Disciple Assessment Rewards
- 3.2Mission-Team Deductions
- 4Purchasing Power
- 4.1Cultivation Inheritances
- 4.2Documented Market Values
- 5Role in Zhang Jing’s Cultivation
- 5.1From Mission Income to Talisman Production
- 5.2Funding an Upper-Grade Inheritance
- 5.3Water-Attribute Resource Price War
- 6Notable Quotes
Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Dao Merit |
| Original Name | 道功 |
| Type | Institutional currency and reward credit 15 |
| Affiliation | Dragon Lake Dao Academy 15 |
| Function | Payment for cultivation resources, inheritances, goods, and personal mission rewards 15 39 80 |
| First Appearance | Discussed as necessary for obtaining the academy’s Seventy-Two Inheritances 4 |
Function and Transactions
- Academy currency: Senior Brother Liu explains that Outer Court disciples need Dao Merit to exchange for cultivation resources and inheritances. Zhang Jing understands it as the Dao Academy’s own “money” 15.
- Recorded balance: Zhang Jing’s Identity Spirit Pendant displays his name, disciple status, and Dao Merit balance 28 76.
- Direct transfers: Disciples can transfer Dao Merit through their identity tokens when trading with one another 39.
- Service deductions: The Heavenly Craft Pavilion deducts one Dao Merit from Zhang Jing’s balance for his Spirit-Concentrating Meditation Cushion 39.
- Personal missions: Posting a purchasing mission requires depositing Dao Merit in advance. Staff cannot independently change the mission’s purchasing terms 80.
- Access restrictions still apply: Wealth alone does not guarantee access to every inheritance. Zhang Jing believes he cannot obtain an academy cultivation method for Lu Thirty-Eight because Outer Court inheritances apparently are not available to yaoshou 81.
Earning Dao Merit
| Source | Details |
|---|---|
| Academy work | Temporary-academy instructors and disciples performing duties such as transporting newcomers earn Dao Merit for their work 15. |
| Demon-Suppression Missions | Senior Brother Qiu describes these as the fastest earning route for ordinary Outer Court disciples, though they involve combat 30. |
| Demon materials | During the Langya uprising, Zhang Jing identifies materials from hunted demons—not the mission rewards themselves—as the main source of profit 50. |
| Immortal Dao crafts | Pills, law artifacts, and talismans are valuable because disciples consume or depend on them during missions. Better quality and higher grades increase their value 30. |
| Inheritance submission | Senior Brother Liu accepts Zhang Jing’s Azure Sparrow Qi-Gathering Method for 300 Dao Merit after discovering its lethal trap 30. |
| Resource sales | Demon Cores, spirit medicines, pills, and Spirit Divine Liquid can be sold for Dao Merit 61 75 76. |
| Sales commissions | The resource-repository attendant expects nearly 100 Dao Merit in commission from purchasing Zhang Jing’s batch of purified Demon Cores 76. |
New-Disciple Assessment Rewards
Final assessment rankings determine monthly payments during a disciple’s first year 16 17.
| Final Ranking | Monthly Dao Merit | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1st–10th | 50 | One year 16 17 |
| 11th–20th | 20 | One year 16 |
| 21st–30th | 5 | One year 16 |
| Below 30th | None | No ranking reward 16 |
- A top-ten finish provides 600 Dao Merit over the year. Zhang Jing concludes that this effectively covers early cultivation resources, allowing recipients to concentrate on cultivation 17.
- The assessment’s ranking rules force contestants to choose a single ranking tier. Failing to win a place in the chosen tier can leave them without any reward 26.
Mission-Team Deductions
Many squads require newcomers to surrender a portion of their earnings in exchange for protection, resources, and opportunities 18 19.
| Squad / Category | Required Share | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Hundred Rivers Squad | 30% | Taken from all Dao Merit earned during the first five years 18. |
| Linked Mountains Squad | 30% | Five-year requirement; Zhang Jing declines the invitation 19. |
| Five-Colored Squad | 20% offered to Zhang Jing | Ji Bochang negotiates a reduction from the usual cut 19. |
| Top-ten mission teams | No cut, according to Zhang Jing’s understanding | Their broader platforms also offer more earning opportunities 18. |
Purchasing Power
Cultivation Inheritances
| Cultivation-Method Grade | Exchange Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Low-grade | 300 Dao Merit | Senior Brother Liu identifies this as the Inheritance Pavilion’s exchange price 30. |
| Middle-grade | 1,500 Dao Merit | Cultivation methods are the most expensive category of middle-grade inheritance; other categories have different prices 16. |
| Upper-grade | 9,000 Dao Merit | The price Zhang Jing must meet to obtain his desired upper-grade cultivation method 30 77. |
An ordinary Grade D disciple may need roughly seventy years to save 1,500 Dao Merit after normal cultivation expenses. Senior Brother Liu says upper-grade inheritances are generally within the means of Inner Academy disciples, while higher cultivation makes Dao Merit easier to acquire 16.
Documented Market Values
Prices depend on the item’s quality, condition, location, and whether it is being bought, sold, or auctioned.
| Item / Resource | Dao Merit Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Yin Wind Talisman or Sword-Sealing Talisman | 1.5 each | Low-grade attack talismans displayed at the Thousand Techniques Pavilion 35. |
| Superior-quality Star-Attracting Talisman | 2 | Thousand Techniques Pavilion retail price 36 37. |
| Middle-grade attack talisman | 12 | Zhang Jing’s shop price 58. |
| Middle-grade defensive talisman | 18 | Zhang Jing’s shop price 58. |
| Qi Refining Third Layer Demon Core | About 13 | Exchange value in academy resources reported by rogue cultivators 53. |
| Ordinary Qi Refining Ninth Layer Demon Core | 900–1,100 | Thousand Techniques Pavilion purchase price 63. |
| Purified Qi Refining Ninth Layer Demon Core | About 2,000 | Value after completely removing lingering Yaomo will 63. |
| Five qian of Spirit Divine Liquid | 1,100 | Winning auction bid 61. |
| Water Origin Pill | 200 starting bid | High-grade spirit pill offered at auction 61. |
Role in Zhang Jing’s Cultivation
From Mission Income to Talisman Production
Zhang Jing’s desire for the Sea-Covering Flood Dragon Void-Seizing True Method makes retaining his earnings a priority. He rejects the prospect of surrendering thirty percent for five years and later concludes that ordinary mission income would be too slow to fund an upper-grade inheritance without delaying cultivation 18 19 33.
Talisman-making becomes his primary source of Dao Merit, which he continues even while on missions. After condensing Source Talismans, he can reproduce talismans more than ten times faster without failed attempts, provided he has enough spiritual sense and spiritual power 43 55.
Funding an Upper-Grade Inheritance
Zhang Jing combines talisman sales with Demon Core purification and resource trading. The Luodu Squad repository offers twice the ordinary price for purified cores of the same level; he sells 104 purified cores for 3,150 Dao Merit 75 76.
After selling additional resources and printing talismans to cover the shortfall, his pendant shows 9,183 Dao Merit. He then obtains the upper-grade inheritance, astonishing Ji Bochang, who says only one or two members of even the Five-Colored Squad could barely assemble 9,000 Dao Merit 76 77.
Water-Attribute Resource Price War
Afterward, Zhang Jing uses talisman income to finance purchasing missions for water-attribute Demon Cores and spirit medicines. When Coiling Dragon Squad alchemists offer higher prices, he deposits 1,500 Dao Merit and orders his purchasing price set five percent above theirs 80.
The resulting competition raises prices by more than fifty percent and encourages disciples across multiple squads to hunt water-attribute Yaomo. By the time Zhang Jing has advanced beyond the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, however, his conventional resources are exhausted and his Dao Merit balance is again low 80 86.
Notable Quotes
“Master, what’s dao merit?”
“That’s my life.”
— Lu Thirty-Eight and Zhang Jing, after Zhang Jing discovers his Spirit Crane has been killed 69