Chapter 58: Return to the Market

After returning home, Chen Mobai pondered the entire situation.

He then searched online for "Swallowing God Technique," but found no useful information, as if it was controlled by the Immortal Sects.

He also looked up Gu Changfeng and discovered that the police department had issued a notice, alleging tax evasion and administrative detention for investigation.

This was indeed the all-purpose excuse used by the Immortal Sects' police department to arrest people.

Chen Mobai, not to be deterred, went to the Water Mansion and searched for "Swallowing God Technique" on the auxiliary cultivation software. As expected, with his fifth-tier user privileges, he saw a very mysterious post.

The poster was anonymous.

The title was: "On the Possibility of Improving the Swallowing God Forbidden Technique."

Chen Mobai first read the post, which was poorly written, seemingly assuming that the readers already knew about the Swallowing God Forbidden Technique. It directly presented a long section of conjectures and improvement plans.

However, the post mentioned that the biggest problem after cultivating the Swallowing God Forbidden Technique was the uncontrollable sudden surge of divine consciousness, exceeding the capacity of the Purple Mansion's Sea of Consciousness, leading to mental derangement and even the risk of death by head explosion.

Chen Mobai thought for a moment, then opened the national library software and entered the keyword: "Swallowing God."

Sure enough, a cultivation technique appeared.

"Swallowing God Technique · Fragment": An ancient evil sect's secret technique, where one's divine consciousness is transformed into a divine seed, injected into the cultivator's Sea of Consciousness. Once the cultivator reaches the peak, they can control the divine energy, refine the spirit, and merge it back into their own divine consciousness, eventually achieving the state of divine wandering in the void and mastering the great technique.

After reading the introduction, Chen Mobai felt it was very intriguing and wanted to read more, but a prompt appeared: "Insufficient privileges, insufficient points, unable to exchange."

His secondary account, Turtle Immortal, was already a third-tier user of the national library, equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator, yet he still lacked the necessary privileges?

Chen Mobai looked at the small print at the bottom of the "Swallowing God Technique" and, as expected, it stated that only fourth-tier users could view the full text with points.

No wonder it was a forbidden technique, with such a high threshold.

Chen Mobai, feeling helpless, had to give up.

However, he was not entirely without gains. He now knew that if one cultivated the "Swallowing God Technique," they indeed needed to plant a divine seed in a cauldron. If Gu Changfeng had truly cultivated this forbidden technique, then Qingnü was indeed the only choice for the cauldron.

In that case, Lan Haitian's warning was indeed well-intentioned.

Thinking of the worst-case scenario, Chen Mobai frowned, feeling the need to find a way to verify whether Qingnü's Sea of Consciousness had been planted with the so-called "divine seed."

But even if he verified it, he had no way to deal with it.

Gu Changfeng was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. If he had indeed tampered with Qingnü, what could Chen Mobai, a mere Sixth Layer Qi Cultivator, do?

A sense of powerlessness washed over him. This was the first time he felt an urgent need for strength.

Previously, his cultivation was driven by the expectations of his parents and the joy of self-improvement. Now, Chen Mobai's cultivation had an additional motivation: to overcome the feeling of powerlessness he experienced when facing Lan Haitian.

He sat on the cushion in the Water Mansion, took out a vial of the Qi-replenishing elixir that Qingnü had refined, looked at it for a while, and then, with a determined gaze, removed the stopper and drank it in one go.

For seven consecutive days, Chen Mobai attended classes, using his newly formed divine consciousness to catch up on the lessons he had missed. In the school's cultivation room, he nurtured his thoughts and cast his spirit. After school, he chatted and comforted Qingnü. In the evenings, he returned home and practiced in the Water Mansion. During his free time, he read the books he had bought from the Nanxi Market.

His knowledge, cultivation, and divine consciousness steadily improved.

...

In the Water Mansion.

After completing his cultivation for the day, Chen Mobai felt the increasingly round and three-dimensional spiritual energy vortex in his dantian and nodded in satisfaction.

However, when he checked the unopened vials of Qi-replenishing elixir in his backpack and found only one left, he became worried.

During this period, due to his companionship and comfort, Qingnü had emerged from her low spirits and had become even more diligent and hardworking.

She believed that her master was wrongly accused and that he expelled her to protect her.

Therefore, she wanted to become stronger to clear her master's name when the time came.

She offered to help Chen Mobai refine medicines to earn tuition fees.

According to her plan, she wanted to enter the Great Dao Academy, as it would be easier to clear her master's name after achieving success there. Chen Mobai naturally encouraged Qingnü's aspirations but also gently suggested that failing to enter the four major Dao Academies was not a big deal, as the ten major academies were also excellent.

Qingnü just smiled at this.

Then, the two of them returned to the topic of refining the Qi-replenishing elixir.

Since Gu Changfeng had severed the master-disciple relationship before entering the Ministry of Education's Inheritance Hall, Qingnü could not inherit the Longqing Pharmacy's resources. The medicine jars were not too expensive, and a small cold extraction machine could be bought to refine first-tier elixirs, albeit with lower efficiency, which was still manageable.

However, the medicine pool and the alchemy furnace were essential and expensive items.

A medicine pool usually required a spiritual spring, and the alchemy master would spend a long time cultivating it to gradually improve its quality.

The medicine pool at the Longqing Pharmacy was connected to a spiritual spring from the Immortal Sects' Water Bureau, and the annual cost for the spring alone was tens of thousands of merit points.

As for the alchemy furnace, many alchemy masters had custom-made ones according to their preferences.

Qingnü had a first-tier mid-quality alchemy furnace, which Gu Changfeng had given her as a gift when she refined her first elixir. It was just barely sufficient for refining the Qi-replenishing elixir.

The current issue was finding a medicine pool.

For the past few days, Qingnü had been visiting various pharmacies in Danxia City after school, looking for a long-unused one that she could rent.

Chen Mobai had become accustomed to the rapid improvement in his cultivation efficiency after taking the Qi-replenishing elixir. If he had to return to the slow pace of absorbing spiritual energy, the difference would be too great to bear.

As he was about to return to the city, Chen Mobai noticed a thick stack of talismans in his backpack.

These were the talismans he had prepared to make a fortune at the Nanxi Market, but reality was harsh. He had a thin face and, after a few days of no business, felt disheartened. With Gu Changfeng's incident and his busy schedule, he decided not to go anymore.

"It's been a while. I'll go and take a look tomorrow."

With the intention of gaining experience, the next day Chen Mobai dressed in ancient style, with a cloth bag hanging from his waist, and returned to the Nanxi Market, which he hadn't visited for nearly half a month.

He didn't see Qi Er at the entrance, possibly because he had business today.

Thinking this, Chen Mobai first wandered around the market, noticing no significant changes, and then walked to his stall.

Surprisingly, one of the three people who used to set up stalls nearby was missing, leaving only a bearded young man and a woman in a yellow robe. The other one might have earned enough to rent a cave for cultivation.

Chen Mobai greeted the two stall neighbors, not noticing their strange expressions, and leisurely set up his mat, skillfully arranging the talismans one by one.

"Daoist friend, how much do you sell your Green Arrow Talismans for?"

After he finished setting up, the woman in the yellow robe suddenly walked over and asked.