Chapter 4: Return to the City

"How should I report it? Brought here by a shell? Kidnapped? Or lost?"

Just as Chen Mobai nervously dialed the phone number of the Immortal Gate Enforcement Department, something shocking happened.

His phone had no signal!

He couldn't make the call!

On Earth Star, even at the bottom of the ocean several kilometers deep, there was still signal coverage from the Immortal Gate's celestial stars.

Chen Mobai had even heard a proud Fifth Rank Array Master say while watching TV that even two thousand years ago, during the war to open the world, the Immortal Gate cultivators who entered the abyss could still receive signals from Earth Star, maintaining smooth communication among all cultivators.

Where on earth was he?

Chen Mobai was utterly bewildered!

He racked his brain, searching through all his knowledge, and even explored every non-dangerous part of the underwater palace, tapping on every brick on the ground.

But in the end, Chen Mobai could only sit helplessly on the floor of the front hall.

He found no clues to leave.

Just as he was about to resign himself to meditating, his phone screen suddenly lit up with a silver glow, catching his attention.

"Huh?"

He noticed that his phone had a new app icon that he had never downloaded.

The icon was a dark green little turtle.

Below it was the app name:

[Turtle Treasure]!

What was this?

Chen Mobai instinctively moved his finger to the app icon, intending to uninstall it. He didn't allow unknown apps on his phone.

Then, a red message appeared on the screen: [Cannot Uninstall].

What was going on?

Was his phone out of control?

Chen Mobai was so angry that he was about to turn off and restart his phone, but suddenly a thought flashed through his mind.

This Turtle Treasure... Could it be... the shell!?

He quickly tapped the app to open it.

The action went smoothly without any issues.

A simple main page with only three function buttons appeared: [Teleport], [Return to City], [Proxy].

Chen Mobai was both surprised and delighted, but he still felt a bit uneasy. He closed and reopened the app to confirm there were no instructions, then, with a trembling finger, he tapped [Return to City].

[This process requires an 8-second guide. Do not be disturbed during the guide time. Please find a quiet place.]

As he tapped the [Return to City] button, this message suddenly appeared on the screen.

While Chen Mobai was still thinking about what would count as a disturbance, a silver light suddenly flashed, enveloping him. It spiraled, opening a void, and carried him away from the underwater palace.

"Is this it?"

After the silver light faded, Chen Mobai found himself back in his room, his hand touching the shell.

With a "whoosh," he quickly pulled his hand back, then retreated to his bed, pulling out a small sword his father had bought for him at a scenic spot when he was a child.

The sword was shiny but only a child's size, about thirty centimeters long, and more of a toy.

The room was quiet for about two minutes.

Chen Mobai watched the shell, and just as he was thinking about how to deal with it, the sound of the front door opening came from downstairs.

It was his mother returning.

The familiar sounds of the door opening and closing confirmed it for Chen Mobai.

Since Chen Mobai's door had a "In Meditation" sign, his mother didn't come up to disturb him, but he still heard her familiar muttering.

"This child, I told him to practice at the spirit vein room, but he still likes to stay in his room..."

Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn't go downstairs.

He gently sheathed the child's sword and then used a light body technique to land in front of the shell, examining it carefully.

...

The next day.

Chen Mobai, looking a bit lethargic, went downstairs and ate the carefully prepared breakfast while listening to his mother's nagging. He then hurriedly caught the bus with his backpack.

After the morning self-study, a simply dressed old man entered the classroom on time.

"Good morning, Mr. Ding!"

The students stood up to greet him, and Mr. Ding nodded calmly.

"Today, we will continue discussing the solidification of defensive magical forms..."

The Immortal Gate curriculum divides all the content that cultivators need to learn into four subjects.

They are [Techniques, Elixirs, Artifacts, Arrays]!

These four major subjects are further divided into dozens of courses and specialties. For senior high school students, they need to choose one as their main subject to lay the foundation for their future studies.

It's similar to the division of arts and sciences before Earth Star entered the cultivation civilization.

Only now, there are four subjects to choose from.

After all, to be admitted to those great academies, in addition to the basic scores and cultivation realms from the college entrance exam, there is also the final and most critical assessment by the academy itself.

Chen Mobai's class had all chosen [Techniques] as their main subject.

He didn't know why others chose it, but he chose Techniques because it was the cheapest.

Whether it was Elixirs, Artifacts, or Arrays, practicing and improving required certain resources and merit points.

Techniques, on the other hand, were the simplest and most straightforward.

Just one word: Practice!

Moreover, Techniques could lead to the path of becoming a talisman master, a profession with a very promising future in the cultivation world.

Chen Mobai had always aspired to become a talisman master.

He had a family background, as his mother worked at a talisman paper factory. Through osmosis, he had gained some insights and could shorten the learning curve, giving him more time to cultivate.

Mr. Ding, whose full name was Ding Jinglue, was a well-known cultivator in Danxia City.

In his youth, he had decent aptitude, being a True Spirit Root with three attributes, slightly better than Chen Mobai.

His college entrance exam scores were average, and he barely entered the local Dan Zhu Academy. However, with his resilient character, he studied hard for twenty years at Dan Zhu Academy and passed the Immortal Ascension Exam of the Ten Great Academies, being admitted on a special basis.

But his success came too late.

Even after entering the Pure Yang Academy, he only reached the peak of the Qi Condensation stage before the sixty-year limit and obtained the secret method for Foundation Establishment, but he still failed.

After using up his one Foundation Establishment opportunity at the Pure Yang Academy, Ding Jinglue endured another twenty years, re-cultivating to the peak of the Qi Condensation stage, and with great determination, attempted to reach the Foundation Establishment stage again.

Unfortunately, the heavens did not favor him, and Ding Jinglue failed once more.

After two attempts, all his potential was exhausted, and he returned to his hometown of Danxia City to become a teacher.

Before reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, he had been fully focused on cultivation. After returning to his roots, he had more time to delve into the various arts of cultivation.

Among these, because the path of Techniques required no capital, Ding Jinglue had profound expertise. However, his teaching skills were average, and most students often dozed off during his lectures.

Chen Mobai usually didn't take his classes seriously, but today was different.