Tailored Fortuity
Baek Cheong reveled in the Dous' replies for a good while. "This is why I hang out on the gallery." Her eyes gradually settled into calm as she basked in the spectacle.
In that instant, the original purpose of her grueling training—vomiting blood to ascend to Refining Qi 2-star—flashed through her mind.
Dou(718.44)'s sophistries. It was all to sift truth from the wildly implausible info on spiritual root growth.
Baek Cheong directed her bolstered divine sense toward the information board. Flipping through pages felt worlds apart from her Refining Qi 1-star days. Back then, it was like forcibly rolling a heavy boulder; now, it was the light, effortless glide of parting gentle waters.
The drain on her divine sense with each page turn felt far less burdensome too. She plunged fearlessly into the archives. Ten pages, twenty, thirty. Countless traces of ages past scrolled swiftly by.
As the mental load lightened, her search speed skyrocketed. Frowning in focus, she zeroed in solely on Dou(718.44)'s interface number.
"Found it!"
After dozens of pages, she unearthed a weathered post from the depths.
[The innate grade of spiritual roots is regarded as an immutable truth. However, after centuries of research, this one has discovered the potential for postnatal spiritual root growth—but only for O-yeong-geun.]
[O-yeong-geun is not a worthless aptitude that repels heaven and earth's energy. It is the grandest vessel, encompassing the balance of all five elements with the broadest capacity. Ordinary techniques simply fail to fill that vast container, preventing talent from manifesting.]
[Complete the cycle of five elements mutual generation to expand the dantian. The pure true qi generated through ceaseless circulation will continuously stimulate the spiritual roots, gradually fostering their growth.]
[Note the catalyst for growth. Meditation alone would take centuries—too slow to feel personally. For rapid, tangible progress, periodically consume heaven-and-earth spiritual materials brimming with vast spiritual energy or superior-grade pills and above to forcibly overload the circulation cycle, accelerating root growth.]
Having read the full post, Baek Cheong felt chills race down her spine.
Dou(718.44) was no delusional liar. A great pioneer overturning the mortal realm cultivators' common knowledge—a true ancient.
"It's... convincing!"
She covered her mouth with trembling hands of joy. She'd already mastered the five elements mutual generation cycle. The only remaining condition: regular intake of heaven-and-earth spiritual items or superior-grade pills and above.
An impossible feat for poor loose cultivators over a lifetime—but for Baek Cheong, the Yeonha Baek family's beloved youngest daughter, pills were hers for the asking.
"A custom-made fortuity just for me."
Her joy was short-lived. Scanning the replies below the ancient post, her expression hardened. Despite its age, the responses were pitifully few.
Dou(718.44)'s groundbreaking discovery had been thoroughly crushed and buried under the mortal cultivators' rigid prejudices. No one had seriously listened.
"They probably don't even know he's ascended."
Baek Cheong pitied the ignorant Dous, yet felt relieved too. It meant she could monopolize this precious secret.
"With this, I might surpass heavenly roots and become a true prodigy."
She etched Dou(718.44)'s method perfectly into her mind. In that moment of gratitude toward the far-departed Dou—
"Then I can gallery for hundreds, thousands of years!"
Her mindset shifted from contentedly lurking in her room on the Nameless Board. Grow her spiritual roots to claim the realm's pinnacle talent, ascend realms on that talent's back, enjoy a cultivator's vast lifespan, and build an eternal gallery life of immortality.
"Heh, am I heaven's chosen?"
New ambitions stirred; her goals evolved.
"First, pill raid time."
Baek Cheong opened the storage pouch her father Baek Mujin had bestowed. The superior-grade Chwi-ryeong-dan from Grandfather were all consumed in her Refining Qi 2-star breakthrough—nothing left.
Her father's mid-grade Chwi-ryeong-dan and a hundred-odd low-grade spirit stones caught her eye. Fine pills, but insufficient for spurring spiritual root growth. At minimum, superior-grade or above.
She began scheming to raid the family vault. Even as the pampered youngest daughter, demanding superior pills outright would invite suspicion. She needed a righteous pretext and opportunity.
"Father even seemed wary of my training."
His morning admonition echoed: halt realm advancement training, learn spells, and rest.
Her gaze naturally drifted to the jade slip on the table holding the Ohang Bangpae spell.
"Yes, this!"
Master the spell swiftly, demonstrate her prowess to the family elders, and she'd have ample justification for pill rewards.
She withdrew her divine sense from the Nameless Board, hopped off the bed, sat at the table, and grasped the Ohang Bangpae jade slip. Pressing it to her forehead, she focused her divine sense.
Vast spell truths and meridian circulation methods flooded her mind. Her Nameless Board-tempered divine sense absorbed it in one gulp.
A spell fusing five elemental energies situationally for defense. Freely blend water's fluidity, wood's regeneration, fire's repulsion, earth's solidity, metal's sharpness to neutralize enemy attacks.
The theory was flawless; practice was the issue. Controlling five energies without error to form a barrier demanded utmost concentration and precise energy manipulation.
"Let's give it a shot."
Baek Cheong closed her eyes, drew qi from her dantian. She siphoned a portion of the mutually generating cycle into her palm. Five faint colored lights flickered there.
"Huto-su (Earth Supports Water)!"
Chanting the manual's incantation, she manipulated the qi. Centering on the sturdy earth-attributed energy, she layered water's fluidity.
But unlike her mental calculations, the qi in her palm rampaged wildly. They tangled instantly, fizzling out atop her hand. The backlash stung her meridians.
"Ugh... tougher than it looks."
Circulating five elements internally differed vastly from projecting and shaping them externally. One misstep, and she'd harm only herself with her own spell.
"Again!"
Baek Cheong didn't yield easily. Analyzing her failure, she summoned the energies anew.
As night deepened.
A stable orb of light finally floated above Baek Cheong's palm. Brown earth-attributed glow centered, wrapped softly by blue water-attributed sheen.
The most basic form of Ohang Bangpae—Huto Suryong Sun (Thick Earth Water Dragon Shield)—was complete.
"Success!"
She wiped sweat from her brow, beaming. Her experience shattering her dantian wall with clashing energies for the breakthrough had let her grasp it swiftly. Not a perfect five-element fusion, but blending two succeeded.
For Refining Qi 2-star, it bordered on miraculous.
"Father will be shocked."
She plotted: tomorrow morning, show off to Father, claim superior pills as reward.
Brimming with anticipation, she lay on her bed and habitually linked divine sense to the Nameless Board. Ending the day with gallery time before sleep was unchanged from her past life.
The idle chat board buzzed as ever. Her daytime post on Refining Qi 2-star breakthrough had ballooned to hundreds of replies, becoming a holy site.
Mostly mockery and doubt, but Baek Cheong ignored them, crafting a new post.
Tried making a shield by mixing earth and water attributes into Ohang-sun (Five Elements Shield). Pretty straightforward lol.
No sooner had she posted than familiar red notifications exploded.
Baek Cheong startled at Dou(55.19)'s words. Unease surged at the hint of guessing her identity.
But in the Nameless Board's sea of anonymity, doxxing was impossible. Even pinpointing her interface realm was futile for mortal cultivators—they couldn't cross realms.
"Whatever. Tomorrow's pill party!"
Grinning in satisfaction, she logged off the Nameless Board. Imagining tomorrow's spell demo before Father and the pill rewards to come, she drifted off contentedly.