Chapter 72: Blackwater System

A good book...

Inside the wooden house, Chen Mobai gazed at the black water on the table, which he had purchased with all his savings, and was filled with a multitude of emotions. If it weren't for the urgent need, he would never have spent so many spirit stones. He could only hope the results would meet his expectations.

He uncorked the bottle, and a cool mist rose. Looking inside, he saw that although it was called "Black Water," it was perfectly clear and had a faint herbal scent. Shenmu Sect, after all, was a major sect in the Eastern Desolate, so the quality of their products was at least guaranteed.

Chen Mobai activated his "Water Control Art," and the black water in the bottle began to transform into a thin stream, like a string of pearls, descending above his palm.

After speaking with Lu Shu, he understood the origin of the Black Water Cultivation Technique. It was one of seven Qi cultivation methods from the Water Meridian of the Five Elements Sect, capable of being cultivated up to the Core Formation stage. Though not the most potent technique of the Water Meridian, it was still one of the more renowned water-attribute cultivation methods in the Eastern Desolate.

The core of this technique lay in the refinement of "Black Water." Subsequent advancements in spells, and even the crafting of a natal artifact, all depended on the continuous evolution of this "Black Water." Chen Mobai naturally had no intention of switching to this cultivation technique, but he found its spell system construction to be very interesting.

In the Celestial River Realm, due to the collapse of social order and widespread chaos, cultivators frequently engaged in combat. Therefore, cultivation techniques here primarily focused on breaking through cultivation stages and building complementary systems of spells and artifacts that could enhance combat abilities. The Black Water Cultivation Technique was a typical Celestial River Realm method: "Water Control Art" as its foundation, followed by the core "Black Water." Once the Black Water was refined, there was the defensive "Water Essence Shield," then the offensive "Ice Art," and finally, the "Ren Water Lightning Art," which could advance to a third-tier spell. All these spells were developed based on Black Water.

Chen Mobai began to wield the "Water Essence Shield." The Black Water in his palm dispersed and, guided by his will, rose to the middle of the room, forming a water wall as thin as cicada wings. Compared to the Immortal Sect's basic spirit energy shield, the Water Essence Shield was far more flexible. The spirit energy shield involved releasing all of one's spirit energy at once, forming a comprehensive defensive barrier around the entire body with no blind spots. However, the drawback of this spell was also obvious: after use, one's spirit energy would be completely depleted, making it very wasteful. This was a defensive spell mandated by the Immortal Sect for everyone to cultivate, intended as a life-saving measure in situations like car accidents. The spirit energy shield had very clear advantages and disadvantages.

The Water Essence Shield, however, was different. It involved controlling the Black Water from the bottle. By simply focusing one's thoughts and anticipating the opponent's attack method, one could preemptively place all defensive power along the attack's trajectory. If the "spirit energy shield" was a fool-proof, full-body defense, then the "Water Essence Shield" was a preemptive, predictive defense. Furthermore, the latter's spirit energy consumption was only one percent of the former's. In other words, to effectively use the "Water Essence Shield," Chen Mobai still needed to improve his combat skills.

He took out his needle case, preparing to test the Water Essence Shield's defensive power. Fortunately, he had cultivated divine sense, allowing him to easily multitask. With a "whoosh," a yellow flying needle, propelled by the needle case's magnetic repulsion, shot out like a bullet and pierced through the Water Essence Shield that Chen Mobai had erected in front of a wooden pillar in the house.

The faint, semi-transparent water wall, under the sharp flying needle's impact, behaved like an elastic gel, deforming into the needle's pointed shape. However, with his continuous infusion of spirit energy, it never ruptured. Instead, it trapped the flying needle within the water wall.

Clink!

After the magnetic force on the flying needle was exhausted, it lost all its momentum and dropped to the ground with a crisp sound. Chen Mobai looked at the intact water wall, which had only deformed into the shape of a needle tip, and nodded in satisfaction.

Now, with the needle case for offense and the Water Essence Shield for defense, he should be able to operate in the fringes of Yunmeng Marsh without much danger. With that thought, he proceeded to test the Water Essence Shield's defensive limits, while also gauging the needle case's offensive capabilities. After reaching the late Qi Cultivation stage, this artifact was easy for him to wield and fully control.

Half an hour later, Chen Mobai, now fully aware of the power of both the needle case and the Water Essence Shield, put them away. The twelve flying needles scattered throughout the wooden house, like fledgling swallows returning to their nest, clinked and clattered as they were drawn back into the case by its magnetic force. Meanwhile, the Black Water, guided by the Water Control Art, flowed like a string of water beads back into the jade bottle.

According to Liu Zengpei's cultivation notes, "Black Water" also had usage limitations. Typically, after the Water Essence Shield was used hundreds of times, the medicinal spirit energy infused within it would be excessively depleted, requiring re-refinement, extraction, and blending; otherwise, its effectiveness would become inconsistent.

After a short period of meditation to recover his depleted spirit energy, Chen Mobai began practicing the "Ice Art" once more. This spell also required Black Water. Using the Water Control Art, one would shape the Black Water into any desired form, then condense one's spirit energy into a cold breath, freezing the Black Water. This could be used to form ice walls for defense, ice blades for attack, or even ice arrows for shooting—it was very versatile. However, this spell consumed "Black Water" much more rapidly than the Water Essence Shield. Typically, after twenty cycles of freezing and melting, the Black Water would need to be re-blended.

Chen Mobai had just purchased this bottle of Black Water, and using it for Ice Art practice felt a bit wasteful. However, to improve his combat prowess, mastering this spell was essential. At worst, he would just work a bit harder and sell more talismans here later.

Following Liu Zengpei's cultivation notes, he drew up the spirit energy from his dantian and began to exhale from the Twelve-Story Pagoda region of his body. With a "whoosh," a stream of air erupted from his mouth, landing on the Black Water that had been shaped into a rod by his Water Control Art.

Then, nothing happened!

It failed.

With a sigh, Chen Mobai felt he truly lacked talent for spells. He had been practicing this cold breath technique ever since breaking through to Qi Cultivation Level Seven, but it had never yielded any results. Not to mention freezing water into ice, he hadn't even seen a hint of frost. However, he also grumbled that the spell descriptions in the Celestial River Realm were not detailed enough. If they were like the teachers on Earth Star, who not only drew diagrams and included spirit energy flow lines for human meridians but also provided detailed video explanations when teaching spells, would he still be unable to master this Ice Art?

Just then, his phone's alarm rang. It reminded Chen Mobai that it was time to go home. He turned off the alarm and, from the wooden house on Qingguang Island in Yunmeng Marsh, clicked "Return to City."

"I still need to buy more talismans," he muttered. "Fortunately, I have some money now. It's a shame I missed out on that 'Profound Yang Purple Fire Talisman' last time. Pure Yang Academy is too stingy; they only released a hundred of them."

Back in his room, Chen Mobai began to wash up and change his clothes, all while muttering to himself. Today was his class's farewell dinner.