Chapter 26: Turtle Hermit

Excellent books!

Chen Mobai took out his phone and opened "Turtle Treasure."

Just as he was about to press the glowing, raised proxy button, he remembered something.

He exited "Turtle Treasure," opened the "National Library" app, and first logged out of his own account.

"I wonder if it will work without an account?" he murmured to himself.

Muttering, Chen Mobai pressed the proxy button, and the interface immediately returned to his phone's home screen.

A message popped up: "Please select proxy software."

"Why did it automatically select 'Auxiliary Cultivation' last time?" he wondered. "Perhaps when the proxy function is enabled, it automatically proxies the app currently in use, but if launched from 'Turtle Treasure,' manual selection is required."

Without overthinking, Chen Mobai tapped the icon for the "National Library" app.

Then another interface popped up.

"No account detected, unable to proxy. Create a new account?"

"It has this feature? How user-friendly!" Chen Mobai thought.

He clicked "Yes."

While thinking about what to name the account, the first thing that came to his mind was: "Report and the peach blossoms bloom in one place." This, combined with his previous username "If I were the Green Emperor in another year," would form a complete poetic couplet.

But after a moment's thought, he felt there was a risk of exposure, so he decided against something so poetic.

Finally, inspiration struck, and he entered two characters: Turtle Immortal!

After the new account was registered, the proxy activated.

He watched a cute little turtle appear in the center of the "National Library" app he had opened. After spinning around once, it merged into his user avatar in the top right corner.

However, this time it was different from when he proxied "Auxiliary Cultivation." The little turtle struggled to crawl around his avatar repeatedly, as if the defensive power of the "National Library" far surpassed that of "Auxiliary Cultivation," preventing an immediate breakthrough.

Eventually, it raised his access level to almost four halos before it could no longer climb and disappeared.

A Tier 3 user.

This represented a Core Formation Cultivator.

Seeing this, Chen Mobai felt a sense of relief, yet also a slight disappointment.

"Turtle Treasure" wasn't omnipotent after all; it seemed there were forces within the Immortal Sect capable of suppressing it.

However, this was actually good. If his access had been elevated to Tier 4, the Immortal Sect would surely investigate thoroughly and immediately realize there was a problem with his new alias, "Turtle Immortal." After all, all Nascent Soul Grandmasters in the Immortal Sect had well-known names. A sudden appearance of a mysterious "Turtle Immortal" would be highly suspicious.

Suppressing his thoughts, Chen Mobai excitedly opened the "National Library," which had now been successfully proxied.

He wondered what difference the Tier 3 access would make compared to his previous Tier 1.

The interface looked no different.

He checked the user guide, and his eyes lit up after reading just the beginning.

If a user was Tier 1, they had no choice when it came to the National Library; they could only view the cultivation techniques provided. However, Tier 3 users had a great degree of freedom. By simply inputting their ideas, desired goals, or even resources they possessed, the "National Library's" artificial spirit would synthesize various conditions, compare them against its collection of eighty-four thousand Daoist scriptures, and rank thirty cultivation techniques by priority for the user to choose from.

In some ways, 95% of the National Library's content was open to Tier 3 users. After all, for Tier 4 users (Nascent Soul Grandmasters), there were only a handful of Daoist scriptures and cultivation techniques that would be genuinely useful to them.

Suppressing his excitement, Chen Mobai entered his spiritual root attributes into the input field and pressed the search button.

Instantly, thirty cultivation techniques appeared, five techniques per row, totaling six rows.

The first one listed was still the "Five Elements Technique"!

Chen Mobai tapped to view it and discovered it was the complete version, with chapters that allowed cultivation up to the Nascent Soul stage. He was about to download it when a pop-up message appeared: "Insufficient points, unable to download."

It seemed even the most privileged users couldn't get things for free.

Tier 3 users received a 30% discount, but unfortunately, "Turtle Immortal" was a new account with no points whatsoever.

However, Chen Mobai wasn't planning on taking every advantage, so his mindset was balanced. He exited the "Five Elements Technique" interface and continued browsing.

"Boundless Technique," "Water Splendor Sword Canon," "Profound Yin Great Law," "Nine Curves Diagram," "Myriad Rivers Scroll," "Jade Purity Scripture," "Pure Yang Scroll"...

Each title sounded more impressive than the last, becoming increasingly outlandish further down the list.

The "Jade Purity Scripture" was the highest method of the Taiyuan Academy, and one of only seven great techniques in the Immortal Sect that could lead to the cultivation of a Primordial Spirit. The "Pure Yang Scroll" was equally impressive, the supreme great method of the Pure Yang Academy, and also a Primordial Spirit technique.

However, as he continued reading, Chen Mobai understood a principle: All paths lead to the same destination.

Although the National Library contained eighty-four thousand Daoist scriptures, these were fundamentally derived from the seven Primordial Spirit cultivation techniques. Regardless of one's spiritual root, to achieve the Great Dao, one ultimately had to walk one of these seven paths.

Since Chen Mobai was now a Tier 3 user, the artificial spirit provided cultivation techniques suitable for at least forming a Nascent Soul. It also assumed he had a trace of potential to cultivate a Primordial Spirit, thus including the "Jade Purity Scripture" and "Pure Yang Scroll" among the thirty techniques based on his spiritual root attributes.

Among these, the "Jade Purity Scripture" could be considered the ultimate version of the Five Elements Technique, requiring low spiritual root affinity and even being best suited for those with balanced five elements. However, the "Jade Purity Scripture" was extremely difficult to cultivate, and could only be comprehended after forming a Nascent Soul.

So, Chen Mobai excitedly clicked on it, only to find his permissions were insufficient. He could only view the opening general outline and table of contents.

Disheartened, he went through the introductions of all thirty cultivation techniques from beginning to end, hoping to find the one most suitable for himself.

The "Boundless Technique," a cultivation method from the Natural Academy, produced pure and vast spiritual power, making one virtually invincible in combat within the same realm. However, it required immense amounts of spiritual energy and was slow to cultivate.

The "Water Splendor Sword Canon," a sword cultivation method from the Mountain and Sea Academy, allowed one to condense water into swords and refine swords into formations. Upon successful cultivation, one could easily fight against multiple opponents, and in aquatic environments, they would be practically invincible.

Just from reading the descriptions, each technique sounded more formidable than the last, leaving Chen Mobai, who suffered from a bit of decision paralysis, extremely hesitant.

But he quickly found peace.

His new "Turtle Immortal" account had zero points. He couldn't download any of the thirty cultivation techniques. Even his main account, "Green Emperor," only had a little over 3,000 points. This meant he had only spent a total of 3,000 merit points since childhood, with nearly 1,000 of those recently added from online purchases of Green Arrow Talismans and Spirit Replenishing Water. There just weren't many places where he needed to spend money.

Chen Mobai clicked on the last one, the "Pure Yang Scroll." Although this technique was also a Primordial Spirit cultivation method, compared to the high threshold of the "Jade Purity Scripture," it was gradual, with a very clear and straightforward advancement path.