Premium Pills from Father, Spiritual Roots Begin to Grow
Baek Cheong, the pill-munching repairman, woke up feeling utterly refreshed. She washed her face with the clear water prepared by her maids and changed into neat silk robes. Despite practicing spells late into the night and lurking on the Moomyeongbang, she felt no fatigue at all. It was thanks to the ceaseless circulation of the five elements' mutual generation cycle, constantly infusing her with vitality.
Standing before the mirror, she cleared her throat and checked her expression. To wring spirit herbs from her father, she needed to embody the image of an innocent, overflowing-with-talent, adorable daughter. With her preparations complete, Baek Cheong headed to the family head's office.
Her father was buried under a mountain of documents. Lately, troubles at the family's spirit stone mine had given him a deep furrow between his brows.
Baek Cheong called out cautiously from beyond the door. "Father, may I come in?"
Baek Mujin immediately set down his brush at the sound of his daughter's voice, his stern expression melting away. "Come in, come in."
Baek Cheong stepped inside lightly on her toes, clasping her hands and bowing her head. "I hope I'm not disturbing you during your official duties."
"Anytime my Cheong comes to see me is always welcome. So, have you paused your training and read the jade slip I gave you?"
At the question she'd been waiting for, Baek Cheong beamed innocently and nodded. "Yes! Just as you said, Father, I paused my training and read the jade slip you gave me. It was so fascinating that I tried imitating a bit of it."
Baek Mujin burst into hearty laughter. "Haha, the Five Elements Circulation is a spell even late-stage Qi Refining elders struggle with. Just grasping the principle of blending energies shows remarkable talent."
Before his words could fully land, Baek Cheong raised her right hand and lightly drew up energy from her dantian. A murky brown glow of earth attribute and a clear blue of water attribute floated above her palm. The two energies didn't clash but fused smoothly, forming a single round shield.
A sturdy earth energy shell wrapped in flexible water energy, deflecting external impacts—a practical defensive spell—unfolded right before Baek Mujin's eyes.
A heavy silence descended on the office. Baek Mujin's mouth gaped open, his eyes bulging as if they might pop out. "Wh-what is... this..."
He shot up from his seat, scrutinizing the spell rotating above his daughter's palm. It was unmistakably the genuine basic form of Five Elements Circulation, with no tricks involved.
"Ch-Cheong. You mastered this in just half a day?"
"Yes. I failed a few times last night, but once I mixed water and earth, it shaped up right away. You'll praise me, right?"
At Baek Cheong's innocent reply, Baek Mujin collapsed back into his chair, legs giving way. A two-star Qi Refining child had fused two attributes' energies into a practical spell. It was a genius unprecedented in Baek family history.
"Haha... hahahaha!" Baek Mujin let out laughter laced with ecstasy. He felt pathetic for once pitying his daughter's talent due to her O-yeong-geun. A prodigious five-element root could more than compensate for any shortcomings.
"Praise you? Of course! Cheong is the true treasure of our Yeonha Baek family!"
With the mood perfectly ripe, Baek Cheong broached the main topic casually. "But Father, after using the spell, my dantian feels so empty. The energy drained away, leaving me hollow like I'm starving. I want to try the other methods in the jade slip, but I lack the spiritual energy."
She deliberately slumped her shoulders, feigning exhaustion with a pitiful expression.
At his genius daughter's complaint, Baek Mujin's heart sank. "Oh no, your father was short-sighted! Your dantian has expanded several times larger than ordinary cultivators' due to the five elements circulation, and you've deployed a complex spell on top of that—naturally, the spiritual energy consumption would be immense."
Without a shred of doubt, Baek Mujin rationalized his daughter's condition himself. He fiddled with the spatial ring on his finger—a family heirloom—then nodded decisively. Forming intricate seals, he opened the ring's space and retrieved two ornate jade boxes.
As the lids opened, the office filled with dense spiritual energy.
Supreme-grade Zi Xiao Pill beside it. Both are precious elixirs given only to family elders on the cusp of breakthroughs.
Baek Cheong's pupils quaked. These were supreme-grade elixirs for stabilizing energy before Core Formation breakthroughs—far more precious than the supreme-grade Chwi-ryeong-dan her grandfather had given her.
"To fill your vast dantian and properly master Five Elements Circulation spells, you'll need something like this. Don't hold back—eat them all. If it's not enough, your father will raid the family vault for more!"
Baek Cheong put on an act of being moved, eyes welling with tears. "Thank you, Father!"
Clutching the heavy spirit herbs in both hands, Baek Cheong hurried back to her residence. She locked the door firmly and let out a triumphant whoop. "As expected, being a gold digger is the best."
With the desired elixirs secured, there was no time to waste. This was the perfect chance to prove Dou(718.44)'s hypothesis and grow her spiritual roots. She sat cross-legged on her bed and opened the jade box containing the Ice Snow Pill. Picking up a white pill radiating chilling aura, she swallowed it down.
The moment the pill slid down her throat, a massive explosion rocked her dantian. The millennium-old spirit plant's energy surged like a tsunami, slamming into the five elements mutual generation cycle.
"Urk!"
Baek Cheong curled up, stifling a groan. The cycle ballooned as if about to burst, overloading with extreme strain. The energy spun wildly, tearing through her dantian in agonizing waves that swept her body. But she didn't give up, mustering her focus to forcibly control the circulation. The five elements guzzled the pill's vast spiritual energy, refining it into pure true essence. The true essence flowed through her meridians, seeping into the roots of her spiritual roots deep in her soul.
A bizarre sensation climbed her spine. Something invisible was thickening, hardening. The murky, thin stem of her O-yeong-geun began absorbing the pure energy, radiating vitality. Even her breathing, which drew in heaven and earth's spiritual energy, felt different.
"It's... really growing."
A smile of pure joy spread across Baek Cheong's sweat-drenched face. After hours of excruciating torment, the Ice Snow Pill's energy was fully digested. Her spiritual roots' growth was still minimal, but the change was undeniable. Her spiritual energy absorption efficiency had more than doubled compared to her one-star Qi Refining days. If she consumed the supreme-grade Zi Xiao Pill too, breaking through to three-star Qi Refining was only a matter of time.
Unable to contain her excitement, Baek Cheong logged into the Moomyeongbang. She had to brag about this astonishing feat.
She boldly posted on the chat board.
Eating supreme-grade spirit herbs to grow my spiritual roots.
O-yeong-geun grows too if you feed it heaven-earth treasures and run five elements mutual generation. Ate millennium Ice Snow Pill—spiritual energy absorption went insane lol.
Reactions exploded instantly to the envy-inducing content.
Amid the torrent of mockery, one Dou's reply appeared in earnest.
A chill ran down Baek Cheong's spine. Five times harder than heavenly roots to advance? But she'd already crossed the irreversible river.
"It'll... be fine, right..."
Ignoring the reply out of sheer stubbornness, she backed out of her post. At the same time, she scoured the Moomyeongbang for related info.
"It'll be okay...!"
Unfortunately, whether due to her novice status or a lack of info, nothing relevant turned up. She wanted to ask Dou(3.198) if it was true, but her pride as a community ghost wouldn't allow it.
"At least it'll be five times stronger than heavenly roots!"
She'd vaguely intuited it from her monstrous dantian size. She'd just been turning a blind eye to escape the daunting reality.
"No choice but to become the pill-eating repairman..."
Confronted with harsh reality, Baek Cheong steeled her resolve. Like a true gold digger, she'd fill her ocean-like dantian with heaven-earth treasures and elixirs. To do that, she'd have to deploy her ultimate weapon—her cuteness—on her Gold Core grandfather and the other elders.
"Gotta refine full-body Five Elements Circulation ASAP."
Manifesting spells only on her hand or limited areas wasn't enough. At minimum, she needed to cover her whole body or wield all five elements for true Five Elements Circulation to even qualify as a spectacle for the grandpas.
"But first..."
No sooner had she firmed her resolve than Baek Cheong logged back into the Moomyeongbang. She checked the notifications pouring into her post one by one. Even after a while with no new replies, she scrolled through the chat board.
"Just this one more..."
Her gallery addiction showed no signs of stopping as she endlessly browsed the flood of posts.