Chapter 16: Black Water Technique

The world is full of treacherous people.

After leaving Wu's Gold Shop, Chen Mobai sighed inwardly.

No wonder many cultivators would rather pay a higher price to go to large, branded stores; at least those places wouldn’t try to lure them into illegal activities just because they met a customer.

Although fictitious transactions to earn points are common in the immortal sects, they are usually only conducted between acquaintances, representing mutual leverage. Chen Mobai and Wu Wan had only done one transaction, and there was no trace of trust between them.

Chen Mobai is still young. According to his current cultivation progress, and with the Water Mansion as a second-stage spiritual land, he is definitely capable of reaching the peak of the Qi Condensation stage and attempting to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage. He is far from needing to take such risks.

After this transaction, Chen Mobai, who had originally planned to continue browsing, lost all interest.

After taking public transportation back home, with a large sum of money in his possession, he decided to treat himself. He didn’t cut any talisman paper or even cook a meal; instead, he ordered a spicy hot pot.

While waiting for the delivery, Chen Mobai scanned the entire text of "Detailed Explanation of the Green Water Array" and sent it to Teacher Chan. Then, he took out the "Black Water Technique" and started reading it.

This is a typical water attribute cultivation technique, with nine levels, allowing one to cultivate all the way to the peak of the Qi Condensation stage. It also records three accompanying spells.

These are the Water Control Spell, Water Essence Shield, and Ice Spell.

The three spells are progressively learned. The "Water Control Spell" is the simplest, but mastering it requires a lot of time.

After becoming proficient in water control, one can harness refined spiritual water to form a Water Essence Shield for protection, which can be considered a defensive spell that replaces defensive magical tools, and is quite popular among low-level cultivators.

The "Ice Spell" is the most difficult.

According to the "Black Water Technique," one must first condense their spiritual energy into a cold breath, then combine it with the Water Control Spell to freeze the refined spiritual water into any desired shape, whether for attack or defense.

Although this technique is simple, it has its own system, and practicing the three spells can, in turn, promote the improvement of the Qi Condensation stage.

"Not bad, not bad. If my water attribute wasn't only 23, I would have switched to this immediately."

The major hospitals of the immortal sects have conducted joint experiments, and if one's attribute in a particular element exceeds 33 points, cultivating the Five Elements Technique is less efficient than focusing on a single-element Qi Condensation technique.

For someone like Chen Mobai, whose talent is almost considered a pseudo-attribute, the best choice is to cultivate the Five Elements Technique, both in terms of cultivation progress and the efficiency of refining spiritual energy.

The greatest value of the "Black Water Technique" for Chen Mobai, besides being a reference, lies in the three recorded spells.

Although knowledge in the immortal sects is shared, it requires points to exchange.

Moreover, before exchanging spells from the immortal sects, one must swear to only cultivate them personally and not to teach them to others.

The only place where spells can be openly taught is in school.

The techniques Chen Mobai knows, such as the Agility Spell, Cleaning Spell, and Qi Nourishment Spell, were taught in school. However, most students are indoctrinated from a young age with the idea of cultivation supremacy and are only enthusiastic about spells that are convenient for daily use.

After all, the Earth Origin Star is extremely peaceful. There are many petty crimes like theft and tax evasion, but major crimes like murder are rarely heard of.

Only when war is imminent do cultivators begin to practice combat spells.

In peacetime, students in schools focus solely on Qi cultivation and improving their realm, hoping to reach the peak of Qi Condensation and advance to the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible.

While Chen Mobai was comparing the Water Essence Shield with the Flowing Water Shield given by Old Ding, the doorbell rang.

The delivery had arrived.

Chen Mobai went to the kitchen, poured the spicy hot pot into a bowl at home, and was about to serve a bowl of spirit rice when he suddenly noticed a fish in the sink that had been gutted but still looked familiar.

Hmm, isn't this the fish he brought from the Water Mansion? He left in a hurry in the morning, processed the loot, and casually threw it in the sink.

He originally planned to make a bowl of water-boiled fish when he returned in the evening to avoid waste, but after making a profit from selling gold, he forgot about it.

It must have been his mother who processed it before leaving.

Thinking this, Chen Mobai looked at the fish meat, which was translucent with a faint pinkish hue. He quickly filleted the fish into pieces and then turned on the stove, pouring his spicy hot pot into the pot as the base broth, and adding the fish pieces one by one.

After a lot of effort, as the tender and spicy fish meat entered his mouth, Chen Mobai closed his eyes in satisfaction.

After the meal, he didn't waste any time and directly teleported to the Water Mansion.

First, he walked around the Water Mansion to check if anything had changed since he left, and only then did he sit on the mat he brought, under the array flag, and begin to refine the rich spiritual energy of the second-stage water vein...

The next day.

During class, Chen Mobai looked at his phone screen with a strange expression.

He has a habit of recording his cultivation sessions on his phone and then importing them into a software called "Auxiliary Cultivation," where he compares them with previous sessions to find differences, correct errors, and inherit strengths.

The "Auxiliary Cultivation" software hasn't shown any pop-ups for half a year, indicating that his cultivation time and posture are already the most suitable, with no room for improvement.

But this morning, it suddenly showed a pop-up.

[Detected that the water attribute in the spiritual energy cultivated last night is 2 points higher than usual. Please confirm the reason.]

The "Auxiliary Cultivation" software highlights differences but does not analyze the reasons, which the user must find and provide feedback.

Chen Mobai recalled his cultivation last night, which was exactly the same as before in the Water Mansion, even the position on the mat.

Unable to figure it out, he decided to conduct more experiments.

That day, Chen Mobai again recorded his cultivation in the Water Mansion for the whole night, and his Five Elements Technique made further progress.

[Detected that the water attribute in the spiritual energy cultivated last night is 2 points lower than yesterday. Please confirm the reason.]

Another pop-up appeared.

Chen Mobai confirmed that there must have been something different about him the day before. The "Auxiliary Cultivation" software, developed by the Biantian Dao Academy, has been refined over hundreds of years and is very reliable.

The software wouldn't be wrong, so what had changed?

Chen Mobai fell into deep thought, recalling all his experiences from the day before.

Class, consulting the teacher, reading and experimenting with the needle box in the cultivation room, selling gold...

Thinking of Wu's Gold Shop, Chen Mobai frowned slightly, but he confirmed that he had no physical contact with Wu Wan, only a conversation and a transaction.

Recalling further, he remembered ordering delivery, filleting the fish, eating, returning to the Water Mansion to cultivate, and then coming back to class!

A clear circle formed in Chen Mobai's mind. He thought about what was different that day compared to usual, and what could affect the adaptive spiritual energy cultivated through the Five Elements Technique. The most likely cause was a change in his attribute points.

Delivery!?

Chen Mobai thought about the food he had eaten, which could potentially affect his attributes, but it shouldn't be the case, as he had secretly ordered it several times before without any pop-ups from the "Auxiliary Cultivation" software.

Unless... there was something wrong with the fish.