Chapter 3: The Water Shrine

When Chen Mobai saw the turtle shell, he felt a slight pain in the wound on his right hand that had just healed.

This is how it happened.

Half a month ago, he had just broken through to the fifth level of Qi Cultivation. His superstitious mother, overjoyed, took him to an old temple deep in the mountains, which was said to be very auspicious, to offer the first incense for his college entrance exam.

Then, who knows which devil pushed him from behind while he was offering incense. Staggering, in order to steady himself, he reached out and grabbed a turtle shell that was being offered in front of the statue.

The turtle shell, having been smoked for many years, was not very clean. Chen Mobai's right hand was cut by the sharp shell, and the wound became infected, making him so weak that he could barely stand. He had to be hospitalized for half a month.

Because of this, his mother, who was naturally unwilling to let it go, had a good argument with the temple's abbot, hoping to get the 188 merit points for the first incense refunded.

But the old abbot was not an easy person to deal with, or perhaps the temple was really poor. No matter how much Chen Mobai's mother pleaded, he refused to refund the points, only giving her two talismans to ward off evil.

In the end, the old abbot, who was at a disadvantage, made a concession.

He allowed Chen Mobai's angry mother to take the turtle shell away, saying she would burn it to dispel the bad luck for her son.

But the turtle shell has not been burned yet.

In the city, it is forbidden to start a fire. All waste and unused resources must be recycled and processed with special methods, then buried by geomancers in the earth's meridians to maintain the circulation of spiritual energy on the Earth Origin Star.

Only companies and organizations with approved permits for alchemy and artifact refinement are allowed to start fires within the city.

Chen Mobai rolled his eyes, got up, and prepared to throw the turtle shell into the trash, hoping that the geomancers would bury this unlucky thing tomorrow.

But as soon as his hand touched the turtle shell, a silver light flashed.

Caught off guard, Chen Mobai was completely enveloped by the silver light and disappeared from the room.

...

It's not clear how long it took.

Chen Mobai's consciousness returned to his body, and he slowly got up.

Observing his surroundings, he realized he was no longer in his own room but in a mysterious cave.

He didn't know where this cave was, but Chen Mobai was certain of one thing.

He was now underwater.

Looking up, he saw a vast expanse of blue.

The entire cave was surrounded by a thin, semi-elliptical light barrier. Fish and crabs from all directions in the water, upon hitting the barrier, bounced back as if they had hit a rubber wall.

Chen Mobai waited for about ten minutes, but no senior cultivator appeared. He slowly turned around to inspect the area.

Upon closer inspection, he found that this was a small underwater cave.

The place where he was standing was the front hall of the cave, with a base in each of the four corners, each holding an array flag. Together with the main base and array flag behind him, they formed a simple water-repelling array.

Fortunately, Chen Mobai had paid attention to his array studies and identified this as a second-grade middle-grade array, which, besides gathering spiritual energy, repelling water, concealing, and protecting, had no other offensive functions.

Following what he had learned at school, he cautiously probed the array. After about an hour, he confirmed it was safe and breathed a sigh of relief.

After confirming that the cave was not full of hidden dangers, Chen Mobai waited for another half an hour before starting to move around.

The cave was indeed small. Besides the front hall, which was clearly visible, there were only three side halls in the back.

The middle side hall was likely a cultivation room. Not knowing if anyone was inside, Chen Mobai took a "Wood Armor Talisman" from his pocket and held it in his palm. This was his life-saving talisman.

A first-grade middle-grade talisman, it could block an attack from a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Cultivation when activated.

With the talisman in hand, he felt a bit more secure.

Chen Mobai then took a coin and gently rolled it towards the door of the side hall.

Zap!

As soon as the coin rolled to the door, a pale blue electric light flashed, vaporizing the coin into a cloud of spiritual mist.

Seeing this, Chen Mobai was heartbroken.

This one-yuan coin was worth one merit point.

It was made by crushing dried spirit stones and mixing them with other minerals and metals, infused with one point of spiritual energy to prevent counterfeiting, and served as the basic currency unit on the Earth Origin Star.

Chen Mobai only had five yuan as pocket money per week, and he had to work hard to earn eighty merit points by cutting talisman paper.

Losing a coin made him hesitate.

After waiting for a while, the middle side hall, which had triggered the restriction, remained still. Chen Mobai couldn't resist and searched his entire body, finding only the coin to use for testing. He had to endure the pain and roll the coin towards the other two side halls.

Zap!

Whoosh!

Two distinctly different sounds and light effects made Chen Mobai widen his eyes.

The restriction on the door of the left side hall, like the middle one, triggered a pale blue electric light, vaporizing the coin.

However, the restriction on the door of the right side hall was completely different. It manifested as a deep blue ripple, gently pushing the coin back.

Chen Mobai moved aside to let the coin roll back.

After the coin stopped rolling, he took another coin and hit it precisely to confirm that there was no residual restriction force on the coin before putting it away.

He approached the door of the right side hall, carefully testing it several times. Finally, he confirmed that the restriction on the door was not harmful and began to try to break it.

But Chen Mobai had no talismans for breaking restrictions, and the cultivation method he practiced was only the Five Elements Internal Skill taught at school, used for building a foundation.

"If only I had bought that 'Water Sword Talisman' I've been eyeing for a long time."

After trying for a long time, he still couldn't break the water ripple restriction on the door. Chen Mobai couldn't help but regret it. In the Immortal Gate Network's trading market, he had many items in his shopping cart that he wanted to buy.

Among them was a Water Sword Talisman worth 30 merit points, a first-grade middle-grade talisman, suitable for his fifth level of Qi Cultivation.

He felt the strength of the water ripple restriction on the side hall door and thought it was about the same as his "Wood Armor Talisman." If he had bought a "Water Sword Talisman," he could probably break it.

Thinking hard, Chen Mobai tried every piece of knowledge he had but found no solution.

He could only return to the hall of the water cave, sit on the central array flag base where he had woken up, and start meditating to recover the spiritual energy he had consumed while probing the water ripple restriction.

"Huh?"

As soon as he started meditating, he jumped up, took out his phone, and opened the app to test the spiritual energy concentration.

[Spiritual Energy Value: 60]

"This place is actually a second-grade middle-grade spiritual vein."

Chen Mobai was even more alarmed. This water cave was either a wealthy family's retreat or a higher-level cultivator's residence. If they saw him, a stranger, here, they would not be pleased.

"How did I end up here? ... Right, the turtle shell..."

Chen Mobai thought of the key point, but after searching the entire front hall of the water cave, even flipping through the potted plants, he couldn't find the turtle shell.

"Finished, how am I going to explain this to my parents!"

After waiting another hour and checking the time, he realized his parents were about to come home. Chen Mobai had no choice but to take the last resort.

Dial 110.

He hoped the law enforcement cultivators of the Immortal Gate could locate his phone and rescue him from this water cave.

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