Chapter 18: Qinglong Carp

"Good book…"

"My teacher is an alchemist, but I don't have a certificate myself because I'm not old enough yet," the girl in white said. Not every cultivator could apply for a Hundred Immortals Arts certificate. To screen applicants and reduce annual workload, the Immortal Sect had set age, specialization, and other restrictions.

For example, high school students like Chen Mobai didn't meet the first requirement: insufficient age. The girl in white was also in the same situation for this reason.

The only drawback of water alchemy is that it's very time-consuming. A single alchemist finds it difficult to monitor and participate throughout the entire process from beginning to end. Therefore, although the Immortal Sect stipulates that only alchemists can refine medicines, it's an unwritten rule in the industry for apprentices to assist with tasks like preparing simple auxiliary herbs. Chen Mobai thought the girl in white before him was likely an apprentice pharmacist.

He recalled the spiritual water refining method described in the Black Water Art, which he hadn't yet figured out. He wanted to ask for guidance but found it awkward to do so without a specific reason.

"Goodbye," Chen Mobai finally said, turning and leaving the pharmacy.

"Strange person," Qing Nu sensed that Chen Mobai had something he wanted to ask but wondered why he didn't say it in the end. Watching the boy disappear around the street corner, she shook her head, turned, and went back to the rear hall to extract medicinal herbs.

***

At the Water Mansion.

Chen Mobai somewhat nervously pulled up the black formation flag. The giant, hemispherical light shield above him began to ripple slightly. He immediately channeled his spiritual energy into the formation flag, following the energy circulation method described in the Chan Si lecture notes. Then, with his other hand, he formed hand seals, performing two very simple sets of movements.

With a whoosh! Soon, the perfectly round, flawless light shield, guided by the black flag, caved in to form a two-meter diameter opening. Suppressing his excitement, Chen Mobai reinserted the formation flag and walked towards the entrance/exit he had created in the formation.

He extended his hand, trembling slightly, past the light shield's boundary, and touched the water outside. It was cool and clear, like silk. After playing with the water for a bit and confirming there was no danger outside, Chen Mobai began to lean half his body out. Since he hadn't cultivated any water-avoidance spells, he could only rely on holding his breath for a long time to manage. Even so, he caught a glimpse of the scenery outside the Water Mansion.

It was a lake of unknown size; at least, he couldn't see its end with a single glance. Blue bioluminescent aquatic plants grew at the bottom, glowing prominently in the dim environment. Among the water plants, greenish-blue carp swam back and forth, playing. Chen Mobai confirmed they were the same type of fish he had eaten before.

He raised the needle box in his hand, activated his Five Elements Art, infused it with spiritual energy, and a golden stream of light shot out. Although his use of the artifact was still a bit stiff, with Chen Mobai pouring in spiritual energy, the flying needle shot in a straight line, requiring no technique, and directly pierced a greenish-blue carp that couldn't escape in time.

Seeing his successful catch, Chen Mobai raised his other hand. Two glass beads, infused with his Five Elements Art spiritual energy, flew out like two multicolored rainbows, seizing the greenish-blue carp as it slowly sank after death. After retrieving the fish and the flying needle, Chen Mobai pulled up the black flag again, sealing the opening in the Azure Water Formation.

He first carefully examined the greenish-blue carp in his hand, noticing a dark greenish-blue line along its spine, resembling a tendon. It also had two long whiskers near its mouth. Touching it, he found it cool, almost like holding an ice cube.

"Why does this carp look so similar to the Azure Dragon Carp, a Level 2 protected spirit beast of the Immortal Sect?" Chen Mobai muttered to himself. The Azure Dragon Carp's lineage originated from a green jiao in the deep sea, which the Immortal Sect had painstakingly captured when expanding its maritime territory. It was said that after being cooked using special methods, consuming Azure Dragon Carp allowed cultivators to absorb a trace of the water jiao's essence within its flesh, which would randomly increase their Water spiritual root by 15 attribute points.

However, the Immortal Sect's Azure Dragon Carp could only be successfully bred at the Kunpeng Daoist Academy and was regarded as exclusive property by a Nascent Soul Venerable. Twenty years ago, this Venerable even added wild Azure Dragon Carp to the Immortal Sect's latest list of protected spirit beasts, prohibiting cultivators from killing them for food.

Chen Mobai hesitated but ultimately couldn't resist the temptation. He took out the short blade he had obtained from the old man. The Immortal Sect decreed that wild Azure Dragon Carp were protected spirit beasts, but farmed ones were permissible to eat. Although these greenish-blue carp resembled Azure Dragon Carp, they were still different; they lacked spiritual energy and were bred outside the Water Mansion, so they could be considered farmed.

Scaling, gutting, cleaning, and filleting the fish – Chen Mobai's movements were remarkably fluid and skilled, completing the process in one go. This short blade was not an artifact, yet it was exceptionally sharp. He had tried cutting gold with it, and it was as easy as slicing tofu, making it somewhat overkill for filleting fish. This time, he planned to eat the fish chilled and had brought ice and seasonings from home. However, since the fish meat itself was already cold, the chilling process could be omitted.

Chen Mobai even brought a can of carbonated drink. If he had a wine glass, the sense of ritual would be complete. It was a shame he was eating alone. A slight regret lingered as the cool, tender fish meat entered his mouth. Paired with aged vinegar purchased online from Wangwu Grotto-heaven, an indescribably tangy, numbing, and refreshing sensation bloomed on his taste buds. As the fish meat settled in his stomach, a wave of cool energy spread throughout his body, making Chen Mobai shiver. This was followed by a feeling of profound comfort and exhilaration, like taking a cold shower on a hot day—pleasant and invigorating.

After finishing, Chen Mobai burped. The first thought that came to his mind was: "Cooking the previous one was a real waste."

Of course, he didn't forget his main task. After tidying up with a cleansing spell, he sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion and performed a major circulation of the Five Elements Art. Before the self-adaptive spiritual energy he had cultivated could return to his dantian, Chen Mobai intercepted a portion and infused it into the spiritual energy test paper he had just bought. This was a simple tool for measuring spiritual roots, though it was only effective for cultivators practicing the Five Elements Art.

In the Immortal Sect, everyone was a cultivator. Almost every child was taught qi refinement and immortal cultivation techniques during their enlightenment phase. To measure spiritual roots more simply and quickly, the Grand Medical Academy invented this spiritual energy test paper. As soon as Chen Mobai's spiritual energy was absorbed by the test paper, it instantly displayed five colors. Then, a series of numbers appeared on the paper, indicating the proportion of each of the Five Elements' brilliance.

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

Indeed, his Water spiritual root had increased by 2 points. Chen Mobai had confirmed one thing, and the next step was to conduct more experiments. Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he rose again and activated the Azure Water Formation.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Golden streams of light flashed outside the Water Mansion, and one by one, the greenish-blue carp, idly feeding on aquatic plants, inexplicably became Chen Mobai's next meal.