Chapter 12: Contemplation

Chen Mobai's parents worked hard all year, and in the end, they only earned about 50,000 merit points.

And now, the two spirit stones in his hands were already equivalent to half a year's income for them.

No wonder he was a bit out of sorts.

Indeed, Chen Mobai had never touched a spirit stone in his life. If it weren't for the detailed descriptions in textbooks and TV shows, he probably wouldn't have recognized them.

At this moment, Chen Mobai felt that this Water Mansion might already be outside the territory controlled by the Immortal Sect.

He forced his trembling hands to place the spirit stones on his clothes. Then he took out his phone and took photos of the first thirty pages of the *Detailed Explanation of the Blue Water Array*.

Chen Mobai was afraid that he wouldn't be able to bring these things back to the city when he returned.

By taking photos with his phone, he could at least study the knowledge at school later.

He tied the clothes and held them in his arms, then opened the "Turtle Treasure" app on his phone and pressed the "Return to City" button.

A silver-white light flashed, and Chen Mobai opened his eyes to find himself sitting on the bed.

He looked at the clock on the wall; there was exactly half an hour before class started.

The heavy feeling in his hands made him even more excited.

He had brought everything back!

He opened the clothes and laid out the items on the floor, rechecked them, and then, unable to contain his excitement, he jumped onto the bed and did a somersault.

Fortunately, the house had soundproofing restrictions when it was built; otherwise, the noise would have definitely woken his parents.

After venting his excitement, Chen Mobai opened his cabinet and put the spirit stones, crossbow, and short knife, which could easily arouse suspicion, at the very back.

He then took out a long-unused backpack and put the gold and the book inside.

The last item was the needle box used by the brown-clothed youth.

Chen Mobai looked hesitant. This item was undoubtedly a genuine magical artifact, but he didn't know its rank.

He also didn't know how to use it. The best method would be to sell it online directly.

However, on the Immortal Sect's online platform, the trading of second-hand magical artifacts required a certificate.

Cultivation items, especially magical artifacts, were more than 80% second-hand.

To ensure the order of the magical artifact trading market, the Immortal Sect issued certificates to cultivators who passed the magical artifact appraisal qualification exam, stipulating that each magical artifact transaction needed an appraisal certificate from an appraiser.

Each transaction required a new appraisal to determine the condition and lifespan of the magical artifact.

Of course, official regulations were one thing, and actual transactions were another.

Especially for first-rank magical artifacts, some low-quality ones were not even worth the fee to hire an appraiser, so there were still some unverified items circulating in the market.

However, if a magical artifact was to be sold at a good price, the appraisal step was indispensable.

Especially for second-rank and higher magical artifacts, due to their high value, cultivators would only dare to buy them after an appraiser had inspected them.

Therefore, the profession of "appraiser" was one of the most popular among the various cultivation skills.

After buying three Green Arrow Talismans, Chen Mobai was already penniless and had no extra merit points to hire a certified appraiser. So, he could only put the needle box aside for now, waiting until he had money to deal with it or figure out how to use it himself.

However, despite his thoughts, Chen Mobai still put the needle box in his backpack and took it to school.

This was the first genuine magical artifact he owned in his life.

With his backpack full of wealth, Chen Mobai went downstairs, threw the fish into the tank, heated up two cornbread buns for breakfast, and went directly to school.

It just so happened that today was the turn of the teacher who taught the array formation class to come to class.

The teacher's surname was Chan, a young intern teacher who was reportedly still a cultivator at the Dan Zhu Academy.

Although this teacher had the least experience in the entire Immortal Sect No. 5 High School, Chen Mobai felt that her teaching level was the best... one of the best.

If it weren't for the principal, who was at the Foundation Establishment realm, teaching at the school, Chen Mobai wouldn't have added the "one of the best."

Perhaps because she was young and her way of thinking was similar to that of the students, she always explained the knowledge points of array formations in a clear and vivid manner.

Because of this, even though Chen Mobai usually didn't pay much attention to the array formation course, he could still remember most of what Teacher Chan had taught.

Thanks to this, Chen Mobai was able to repair and restart the Blue Water Array.

Teacher Chan had a good appearance and a good figure, but she didn't smile much and was quite serious when teaching, which would have made her even more popular if she were more cheerful.

However, among cultivators, there were basically no ugly ones.

After generations of cultivation, their bodies had evolved to near perfection. The quality of spirit roots was determined by fate and luck, but having a beautiful appearance only required a few years of qi cultivation.

Some cultivators, to prove their firm resolve to cultivate, would deliberately go to the hospital to have plastic surgery to make themselves extremely ugly, showing that they had no other distractions besides the path of cultivation.

For example, Chen Mobai had an uncle who was incredibly handsome in his youth. When he was selling things on the street, someone accidentally took a video of him and posted it online, making him an overnight internet celebrity.

But his resolve to cultivate was firm. Facing numerous film and television companies that approached him, he went to the hospital and had his face made ordinary and plain.

Although his spirit root quality was average, he still entered the Ling Shu Academy, one of the 120 academies, and now spent his days buried in the mountain veins, excavating and protecting the relics of ancient cultivators.

The morning array formation class passed quickly as Chen Mobai focused on reading the *Detailed Explanation of the Blue Water Array*.

After class, he used the same trick, pretending to lag behind and turning into Teacher Chan's office.

With the same excuse, he said that his parents had hired a private tutor for his college entrance exam, and he had some homework about array formation maintenance and repair that he needed to complete independently. But he was too dull to figure it out, so he had to come and ask the teacher for help.

However, Chan Si was different from Old Ding. After listening to Chen Mobai's words and taking the draft paper with the Blue Water Array's rank that he had written, she frowned slightly.

"Given your strength, how dare this private tutor give you homework on a second-rank array formation?"

"It's just about the issues of maintenance and repair after the array formation is restarted. In fact, the private tutor has already taught me the entire array formation."

Chen Mobai tried to explain.

"Oh..."

Chan Si glanced at him and smiled meaningfully but didn't say anything more. She picked up her pen, ready to answer all the questions on the draft paper to show her skills as a teacher.

But after reading through it once, she found that with her knowledge, she was a bit at a loss.

"Hmm, the array formation your private tutor taught you seems to contradict the mainstream of the Immortal Sect. It's almost like two different systems."