Chapter 595: The First Void Blind Box

Pure Nine-Lotus Treasure Lantern:

The cultivation requirements for the "Scarlet Emperor's Universal Radiance Scripture" are the same as for the "Yellow Emperor's Profound Virtue Scripture": both require a corresponding spiritual physique. Chen Mobai perfectly met these conditions, even possessing a superior Heavenly Fire spiritual root. In ancient times, during the heyday of the Longevity Sect, he would have been a true candidate for a Saint Son.

The key lay with the "Haotian Mirror." According to the crafting methods of the Longevity Sect, the highest standard for this life-bound magical artifact involved using the wood from a Celestial Venerable's true form as the frame, and then refining the mirror body from green copper imbued with Daoist patterns, soaked in the blood of a Green Dragon. However, only cultivators at the Soul Transformation stage, such as True Monarch Puzhao during the Longevity Sect's peak, could enjoy such a standard.

Naturally, when disciples initially cultivated the "Scarlet Emperor's Universal Radiance Scripture," it was impossible for them to immediately obtain these two types of rare heavenly materials. Therefore, there were progressively downgraded versions of the Haotian Mirror. These corresponded to cultivators at different cultivation realms. For example, a third-rank Core Formation cultivator could use Golden Sun Spirit Wood for the frame and Scarlet Spirit Copper for the mirror body.

Although the power to gather solar essence and Great Sun Fire would continuously decrease, Chen Mobai was delighted because he discovered he might be able to transform his Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror into a Haotian Mirror. It wasn't exactly a transformation; rather, it was about adding the functions of the Haotian Mirror to his own life-bound magical artifact. This way, he could not only enjoy the functions of the Haotian Mirror but also upgrade his Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror, which was gradually falling behind as his life-bound artifact.

However, the artifact refining knowledge involved was extremely complex; at the very least, a fourth-rank Artifact Refining Grandmaster would be required to possess this capability. Coincidentally, Chen Mobai had just taken such a master as his teacher. The question was how to reasonably explain the origin of the Haotian Mirror's content from the "Scarlet Emperor's Universal Radiance Scripture" to Hong Mengkui.

After a moment of thought, Chen Mobai slapped his forehead. He remembered that the merit points in his Immortal Sect account had just exceeded one hundred million, enough to buy a Void Mystery Box. After returning to Yumuo City, Chen Mobai called Wenren Xuewei to ask for advice on the matter.

"It mainly depends on your luck," Wenren Xuewei said. "Although these things are valuable, many wealthy and idle Golden Core true cultivators enjoy opening them. The Immortal Sect's online store usually lists one or two Void Mystery Boxes each month; it just depends on whether you can snag one."

Chen Mobai felt a bit strange after hearing this. As a third-rank user, wasn't he able to select one item officially released by the Immortal Sect each month and pre-purchase it?

"You haven't used your monthly privilege yet?" Wenren Xuewei asked, sounding surprised.

Wenren Xuewei, upon hearing this, was instead astonished. "I haven't used it all year!" Chen Mobai replied. Chen Mobai's answer made Wenren Xuewei, on the other end of the video call, widen her eyes in disbelief.

"The Immortal Sect's online store puts up so many good things every month, and you haven't snatched a single one!"

"Good things?" Chen Mobai asked. "Are you referring to the fourth-rank Immortal Spirit Rice listed in batches, the five pieces of third-rank synthetic purple gold, the two pills that help Golden Core cultivators break through minor realm bottlenecks, and the meat of a third-rank green ox that died of old age? Of those, I was only interested in the fourth-rank Five-Colored Immortal Spirit Rice. The year before last, when it was listed, I used my privilege to reserve ten catties. I originally wanted to buy all of it, but a Nascent Soul Venerable snatched ninety catties, and since then, with nothing else listed, I haven't used my privilege."

Chen Mobai's words, filled with confusion, made Wenren Xuewei take a deep breath, and then she asked in a slightly trembling voice. "In your eyes, are only third-rank and fourth-rank items worthwhile? Many second-rank materials are also very valuable; if utilized well, they can exhibit properties not inferior to third-rank ones."

Due to resource scarcity on the Immortal Sect's side, many Golden Core true cultivators mostly chose second-rank items when purchasing things they liked. For example, Wenren Xuewei loved drinking tea and called herself the Immortal Sect's foremost tea drinker. However, among her various tea tools, only the kettle for boiling water and her frequently used teacup were third-rank. All her other tools, such as the tea caddy, tea needle, tea tongs, tea scoop, tea measure, and tea strainer, were only second-rank. In fact, she only managed to upgrade all of them to second-rank after forming her Golden Core, using her monthly pre-purchase privilege. Before her Foundation Establishment, most of them had only been first-rank. It was precisely for this reason that many Golden Core true cultivators, when they had free time, enjoyed browsing the Immortal Sect's online store and snatching up these second-rank items occasionally released by the official channels. If they encountered something they particularly liked, they would use their privilege to reserve it. For items they liked less, or that hadn't been reserved by other Golden Core true cultivators, they would try their luck to snatch them up.

Chen Mobai truly didn't know about this. After he formed his Golden Core and became the sect master, Wang Tingbo, the head of the Artifact Refining Department, heard that he enjoyed drinking and tea. He specially selected various precious spiritual clays and crafted two sets of third-rank wine cups and teacups for him. Chen Mobai kept one set at his Longevity Wood Daoist sanctuary and the other in his storage bag. However, he once took out the latter set while drinking tea on Mount Xiaonan and forgot to take it back. Chen Mobai simply left it there for his two disciples to enjoy. He was even considering having Wang Tingbo craft two more sets: one for entertaining guests in the Divine Wood Hall, and another to keep in his storage bag as a spare.

Besides the teacups and wine cups, his wooden house at the Longevity Wood Daoist sanctuary also contained an entire set of furniture crafted from Golden Sun Spirit Wood, including tables, chairs, a bed, and cabinets. All of these were custom-made for him by Wang Tingbo and the Artifact Refining Department, considered a basic benefit for a Golden Core Ancestor. However, Chen Mobai had only slept on the third-rank Golden Sun Spirit Wood bed once; it was a bit hard and uncomfortable. After that, he basically replaced sleep with meditation.

The meditation cushion he used for cultivation was also extraordinary. Its raw material was the finest and most upright third-rank cattail grass, harvested by the Spirit Plant Department. After being sun-dried using a secret method, it was then soaked in nine different medicinal solutions and air-dried. When a cultivator sat upon a meditation cushion woven from this cattail grass, the faint medicinal fragrance would cause them to involuntarily relax, calm their mind, and stretch their body, significantly aiding their cultivation. Chen Mobai was most satisfied with this meditation cushion. It was purely hand-woven, with a natural herbal fragrance. After using it once, he had the Spirit Plant Department make five more. One was for his cultivation domain, one was a spare in his storage bag, one was for Mount Xiaonan, and one for the Divine Wood Hall. The last one was given to Luo Yixuan, because her spiritual consciousness had been somewhat depleted after being previously confined by Yellow Spring spiritual energy. This cushion could nourish her mind. This was considered the item he was most satisfied with among the Divine Wood Sect's Ancestor set. The cost was not expensive, only ten thousand spirit stones per cushion. Chen Mobai also didn't let the sect incur losses; he paid for the latter five out of his own pocket.

It was precisely for this reason that Chen Mobai could not empathize with Wenren Xuewei, a dignified cultivator of the Evergreen Technique and a future Nascent Soul Venerable, who spent her days snatching up these second-rank trinkets on the Immortal Sect's online store. For Chen Mobai, if any daily necessity or accessory within the Divine Wood Sect had raw materials of a rank lower than third-rank, it would be an insult to him, the paramount ancestor of the Eastern Barrens.

"I'm not one for enjoyment," he said, "and I believe these things can corrupt my courageous and diligent swordsmanship will. Therefore, apart from basic necessities like spirit rice, I pay no attention to anything else."

However, Chen Mobai quickly realized that this was the Immortal Sect, not the Eastern Barrens or his Divine Wood Sect. He swiftly came up with an excuse that fit his persona.

"Brother Chen has such talent, yet he remains content with simplicity and finds joy in the Dao," Wenren Xuewei said, her face filled with admiration. "No wonder he can surpass all of us..." Wenren Xuewei had taken Chen Mobai's words seriously, speaking with a look of admiration.

"Oh, no, no," Chen Mobai humbly replied. "I'm just a bit simple in my ways." Chen Mobai, thinking of his luxurious life in the Divine Wood Sect, gave a dry chuckle and quickly found an excuse to hang up the call. He couldn't keep talking; he was about to give himself away.

Afterward, he immediately used his third-rank user privilege to check the items the Immortal Sect would list over the next month, precisely located the Void Mystery Box, and placed an order for it. Soon after, an official from the Immortal Sect called. It was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, whose tone was very respectful. Evidently, they had seen Chen Mobai's identity verification from their backend system. After confirming everything and paying the merit points, the Void Mystery Box was officially Chen Mobai's. However, shipping would only occur a month later, as it hadn't been officially listed yet.

Chen Mobai did not waste any time. He began drinking the Enlightenment White Tea he had saved, using his enlightened state to ponder how to extract content related to the Haotian Mirror from the "Scarlet Emperor's Universal Radiance Scripture" and translate it into the linguistic customs and artifact refining terminology of the Immortal Sect. Chen Mobai first thought by himself, then took the Enlightenment Tea when he encountered difficulties. After deducing a portion, he would also use the tea to review it, ensuring there were no revealing flaws. Finally, a month later, after drinking most of his stored Enlightenment White Tea, he produced an ancient blueprint that seemed as if it had been revealed from a Void Mystery Box.

As for the Void Mystery Box he had snatched for one hundred million merit points, upon opening it, he only found two large jars of spiritual wine of unknown age. Without professional testing, Chen Mobai dared not drink them. However, based on his years of experience drinking spiritual wine brewed by Zhuo Ming, he felt that these two jars of spiritual wine were likely no higher than third-rank. A huge loss!

However, this experience provided him with an excuse to introduce items from the Heavenly River Realm to the Immortal Sect in the future, claiming they were found in this very Void Mystery Box. Perhaps soon, legends would spread within the Immortal Sect about Chen Mobai's incredible luck, having opened many top-grade materials. However, he couldn't be too excessive. When he accumulated another hundred million and opened a second Void Mystery Box, he would lament on his social circle, claiming he had lost everything. This would highlight a balance of gains and losses, making his "unboxing" seem authentic.

The next day, Chen Mobai converted the ancient blueprints of the Haotian Mirror he had compiled into an electronic version and sent them to Hong Mengkui.

"Oh, you certainly have ideas, young man," Hong Mengkui remarked. "Adding the functions of this ancient treasure to your Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror is indeed feasible. However, due to material limitations, it might actually lower the rank of your life-bound magical artifact."

As a fourth-rank artifact refiner and the former head of the Artifact Refining Department at the Weapon Dance Dao Academy, Hong Mengkui was a grandmaster-level figure in this field, second only to Venerable Chengxuan. After reviewing Chen Mobai's blueprints and draft, he immediately became interested. The two of them, conversing online, began a step-by-step deduction from scratch to figure out how to integrate the functions of this "ancient treasure" into the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror, one by one.