Chapter 16: Black Water Skill

A good book.

The human heart is truly treacherous.

Chen Mobai sighed inwardly after leaving Wu's Gold Shop. No wonder many cultivators prefer to pay a bit more to go to large, branded stores; at least they wouldn't try to pull a customer into illegal activities the moment they see them.

Although fictitious transactions to earn points were commonplace in the Immortal Sect, those were only carried out between acquaintances, signifying that both parties held leverage over each other. Chen Mobai and Wu Wan had only done business once, and there was not even a sliver of trust between them.

Chen Mobai was still young. Given his current cultivation progress and the second-tier spiritual land of the Water Manor, he was certainly capable of reaching Qi Refinement completion and attempting Foundation Establishment at least once. There was simply no need to take such risks yet.

After this transaction, Chen Mobai, who had originally intended to do more shopping, lost all desire to continue.

After taking public transportation home, he, now carrying a large sum of money, decided to treat himself. He didn't cut talisman paper, didn't even cook, and simply ordered some *malatang*.

While waiting for the delivery, Chen Mobai scanned the entire *Detailed Explanation of the Azure Water Formation* into a document and sent it to Teacher Chan. Then, he took out *Black Water Skill* and began to read it.

This was a typical water-attribute Qi Refinement cultivation method, consisting of nine layers, allowing one to cultivate all the way to Qi Refinement completion. It also included three accompanying spells: Water Control Art, Water Elemental Shield, and Ice Art.

The three spells progressed incrementally. Water Control Art was the simplest, but mastering it required a considerable amount of time. Once proficient in water control, one could manipulate refined spiritual water to form a Water Elemental Shield to protect oneself. This was considered a spell that could substitute for defensive magical artifacts, and it was quite popular among low-tier cultivators. The final spell, Ice Art, was the most difficult.

According to the description in *Black Water Skill*, one first needed to condense their spiritual power into a breath of ice. Then, by combining it with the Water Control Art, they could freeze refined spiritual water and transform it into any desired form, whether for offense or defense.

Although this cultivation method was simple, it was a complete system in itself. Moreover, practicing the three spells could, in turn, promote the advancement of one's Qi Refinement realm.

"Not bad, not bad. If my water spiritual root attribute wasn't only 23, I'd want to switch to cultivating this immediately."

Several major hospitals in the Immortal Sect had jointly conducted experiments. If a spiritual root attribute exceeded 33 points, cultivating Five Elements Skill would be less efficient than cultivating a single-attribute Qi Refinement method. For talents like Chen Mobai, whose spiritual root attribute was so low it bordered on being a pseudo-spiritual root, cultivating the Five Elements Skill was the most suitable, both in terms of cultivation progress and efficiency in refining spiritual energy.

For Chen Mobai, the greatest value of *Black Water Skill*, apart from serving as a reference, lay in the three spells it contained. Although knowledge within the Immortal Sect was shared, it all required points to redeem. Moreover, before redeeming spells from the Immortal Sect, one had to take an oath to cultivate them only for oneself and not to teach them to others. Only schools were permitted to openly teach spells.

The Movement Art, Cleansing Art, Qi Nurturing Art, and other spells Chen Mobai knew were all taught in school. However, most students were instilled with the philosophy that cultivation realm was paramount from a young age, and their enthusiasm for practicing spells was limited to those convenient for daily use. After all, the Terrestrial Star was simply too peaceful. While petty theft and tax evasion were common, major crimes like murder had not been heard of for a long time. Only when expansion wars drew near would cultivators begin to practice spells for combat. In peacetime, students at school were single-mindedly focused on Qi Refinement cultivation, aiming to raise their realms and achieve Qi Refinement completion and attempt Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.

Just as Chen Mobai was comparing the Water Elemental Shield with the Flowing Water Shield given by Old Man Ding, the doorbell rang. The delivery had arrived.

Chen Mobai went into the kitchen and poured the *malatang* into his bowl. As he was about to serve himself a bowl of spiritual rice, he suddenly saw a fish in the sink that had already been gutted but still looked somewhat familiar. 'Oh, isn't this the fish I brought from the Water Manor?' he thought. He had been in a hurry that morning, and after dealing with his spoils, he had casually tossed it into the sink. He had originally intended to cook a bowl of spicy boiled fish that evening to avoid wasting it, but after making a profit from selling the gold, Chen Mobai had completely forgotten about it. His mother must have prepared it before she left.

As Chen Mobai thought this, he looked at the translucent, pale pinkish-white fish meat. With a swift movement of his knife, he sliced the fish into pieces. Then he turned on the stove, poured his *malatang* into the pot as a soup base, and added the fish slices one by one. After some effort, as the tender, spicy fish entered his mouth, Chen Mobai's eyes narrowed in satisfaction.

After his meal, he wasted no time and immediately teleported into the Water Manor. First, he circled the Water Manor to confirm that nothing had changed since he left. Feeling at ease, he walked to the array flag. Sitting cross-legged on the cushion he brought, he began to refine the rich spiritual energy of this second-tier water vein.

The next day.

During class, Chen Mobai looked at his phone screen with a strange expression. He had a habit of recording himself with his phone every time he cultivated. He would then import the footage into a software called 'Assisted Cultivation,' compare it with previous cultivation recordings, identify differences, correct mistakes, and reinforce good practices. This 'Assisted Cultivation' software hadn't displayed a pop-up window for half a year, indicating that his cultivation time, posture, and state were already optimal, with no room for improvement.

But this morning, a pop-up window suddenly appeared. It read: "Detected that the water attribute in the spiritual power cultivated by the user last night is 2 points higher than usual. Please confirm the reason."

The 'Assisted Cultivation' software highlighted the difference but didn't analyze the cause. Users needed to investigate the reason themselves and then provide feedback. Chen Mobai recalled his cultivation session from yesterday. It was exactly the same as his previous sessions in the Water Manor; he hadn't even moved his position, staying on that very cushion. Unable to figure it out, he could only conduct more experiments.

That day, Chen Mobai started recording again and cultivated in the Water Manor for an entire night. His Five Elements Skill showed further progress. The pop-up showed: "Detected that the water attribute in the spiritual power cultivated by the user last night is 2 points lower than yesterday. Please confirm the reason."

Another pop-up window appeared.

Chen Mobai confirmed that something unusual must have happened to him the day before yesterday. The 'Assisted Cultivation' software was developed by the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy, one of the Four Great Dao Academies, and after hundreds of years of adjustments, it was now incredibly sophisticated. The software couldn't be wrong, so what exactly had happened to him?

Chen Mobai fell into deep thought, beginning to recall all his experiences from the day before yesterday: attending class, consulting his teacher, reading and experimenting with the needle box in the cultivation room, selling gold...

Upon thinking of Wu's Gold Shop, Chen Mobai frowned slightly. However, he confirmed that he had no physical contact with Wu Wan, only a conversation and a business transaction.

His memory rewound again: ordering takeout, slicing fish, eating, returning to the Water Manor to cultivate, and then coming back for class!

A complete circle clearly emerged in Chen Mobai's mind. He considered what was different about that day compared to his usual routine, and since it could affect the adaptive spiritual power cultivated by the Five Elements Skill, the most probable cause was a difference in his spiritual root attribute points.

The takeout!?

Chen Mobai thought of the food he had eaten. It was possible for food to affect spiritual roots, but it shouldn't be the case here. He had secretly ordered takeout several times before, and the 'Assisted Cultivation' software had never displayed a pop-up.

Could it be... the fish was the problem?