Chapter 4: Return to the City

"What should I say when I call the police? That I was brought here by a turtle shell? That I was kidnapped? Or that I got lost?"

Just as Chen Mobai nervously dialed the phone number for the Immortal Sect's Enforcement Department, something shocking happened. His phone had no signal! He couldn't make a call!

On Terrestrial Star, even at the bottom of the deep sea, thousands of meters down, there was coverage from the Immortal Sect's Celestial Star network. Chen Mobai had even heard a Fifth-Order Formation Master proudly declare on TV that even two thousand years ago, during the world-opening wars, Immortal Sect cultivators who ventured into the Abyss could still pick up Terrestrial Star's signal, ensuring smooth communication for every cultivator.

Where exactly was he? Chen Mobai looked utterly bewildered! He racked his brain, going through all his knowledge, and even explored every safe corner of the aquatic manor, tapping every single brick on the floor. But in the end, Chen Mobai could only slump down helplessly onto the floor of the front hall. He couldn't find any clue on how to leave.

Just as he resigned himself to meditating and cultivating, a silver light suddenly illuminated his phone screen, catching his attention.

“Huh?”

He noticed that a never-before-downloaded app icon had suddenly appeared on his phone. The icon was a small, dark green turtle. Below it was the app name: Turtle Treasure!

What was this? Chen Mobai instinctively moved his finger to the app icon, wanting to uninstall it. He didn't allow unknown software on his phone. Then, red text popped up on the screen: "Cannot uninstall."

What was going on? This phone was out of control! Chen Mobai, annoyed, was about to turn it off and restart it when a thought suddenly struck him.

This Turtle Treasure... could it be... that turtle shell!?

He quickly tapped it, opening the app. This action went smoothly; there were no unexpected issues, and it opened easily. The homepage was very simple, with only three function buttons: Teleport, Return to City, and Agent.

Chen Mobai was both surprised and delighted, yet still felt a bit uneasy. He closed and reopened the Turtle Treasure app, and only after confirming there were no instructions did he, trembling slightly, tap 'Return to City' based on his own understanding.

"This process requires an eight-second channeling time. You must not be disturbed during this period. Please find a quiet place, Host."

This line of text suddenly appeared on his phone screen just as he tapped the 'Return to City' button. While Chen Mobai was still wondering what would constitute a disturbance, a burst of silver light suddenly flared up, enveloping him. It then spiraled, opening a void, and carrying him away, disappearing from the aquatic manor.

“I'm back?”

After the silver light faded, Chen Mobai found himself standing in his room again, his hand coincidentally resting on the turtle shell. With a "whoosh," he retracted his hand at lightning speed, then stumbled back onto his bed, pulling out a precious sword hanging on the wall—one his dad had bought him as a child from a Grotto-Heaven scenic area. The sword was shiny, but it was a child's toy, only thirty centimeters long, purely for show.

The room remained silent for about two minutes. Chen Mobai stared at the turtle shell. Just as he was wondering how to deal with it, he heard the sound of the front door opening downstairs. It was his mom returning. The familiar sounds of the door opening and closing told Chen Mobai who it was. Since Chen Mobai had a 'Cultivating' sign on his door, his mom didn't come up to disturb him, but he still heard her familiar grumbling.

“This child, I told him to cultivate in the training room by the spiritual meridian nexus, why does he still prefer to hide in his own room…”

Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided not to go downstairs. He gently sheathed his child's demon-subduing sword, then used a lightness spell to descend in front of the turtle shell, examining it carefully.

The next day.

Chen Mobai went downstairs feeling sluggish. He ate the carefully prepared breakfast amidst his mom's nagging, then rushed to catch the bus with his schoolbag.

After morning self-study, a plainly dressed old man entered the classroom precisely on time.

“Good morning, Teacher Ding!”

After the students stood up and greeted him, Old Man Ding calmly nodded.

“Today, we will continue our explanation of the solidification of defensive spell forms…”

Immortal Sect textbooks divided all the content cultivators needed to learn into four subjects: Arts, Elixirs, Artifacts, and Formations! These four major subjects were further subdivided into dozens of courses and specializations. For high school seniors, it was already time to choose one of them as their main subject, establishing the direction of their future studies. This was equivalent to the arts and science tracks in high school before Terrestrial Star entered the cultivation civilization era. The only difference was that now there were four subjects to choose from for cultivation.

After all, to get into those Grand Dao Academies, besides the basic scores from the college entrance exam and cultivation realm, there was also the final and most crucial part: the academy's own assessment. Chen Mobai's class, specifically, had all chosen Arts as their main subject. Chen Mobai wasn't sure why others chose it, but his reason for picking Arts was purely because it was the most economical. The other subjects, whether Elixirs, Artifacts, or even Formations, required certain resources and merit points to practice or even improve. Arts, however, was the most straightforward. Just one word: practice! Moreover, Arts allowed for choosing Talisman Master as an advancement path, which was a profession with very promising earning potential among the hundreds of immortal cultivation arts in the later stages.

From a young age, Chen Mobai had aspired to become a Talisman Master. He had a family background in it; his mom worked at a talisman paper production factory. Growing up immersed in that environment, he had gained some understanding, which would shorten the time needed for him to get started and allow him more time for cultivation.

Old Man Ding, named Ding Jinglue, was a well-known cultivator in Danxia City. In his youth, his aptitude was decent; he possessed a triple-attribute True Spiritual Root, which was slightly better than Chen Mobai's. His college entrance exam scores were average, barely getting him into the local Danzhu Academy. However, his character was tenacious. After twenty years of diligent study at Danzhu Academy, he passed the Immortal Ascension Assessment within the Ten Great Academies and was exceptionally admitted.

But his breakthrough came too late. Even after entering Chunyang Academy, cultivating to Qi Condensation Perfection before his sixty-year lifespan limit, and obtaining a Foundation Establishment secret technique, he still ultimately failed. After exhausting his one chance at Foundation Establishment at Chunyang Academy, Ding Jinglue endured another twenty years, cultivating back to Qi Condensation Perfection, and with great perseverance, attempted to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm once more. Unfortunately, fate was not on his side, and Ding Jinglue failed again.

After two attempts, with all his potential exhausted, Ding Jinglue returned to Danxia City, where he was born, and became a teacher. Before Foundation Establishment, his mind was solely focused on cultivation. But after returning to his roots, he found himself with ample time to delve into the hundreds of immortal cultivation arts. Among these, he achieved profound mastery in the path of 'Arts' because it required no capital investment. However, his teaching skills were mediocre, and most students would often fall asleep during his lectures.

Usually, Chen Mobai wasn't very attentive either, but today was different.