Am I Really a Genius?
Baek Cheong had spent the past few days floundering in the sweet swamp known as Moomyeongbang. Her provocative post about growing her spiritual roots with a supreme-grade pill had seriously ruffled countless Dou's feathers. The endless barrage of mocking and scornful replies kept supplying her with a nonstop dopamine hit. She wasted most of her days lounging on her bed, burning time on gallery antics while shoving cultivation to the back burner.
"Miss, the family head is summoning you to the Naedang."
Only after hearing the maid's voice did Baek Cheong reluctantly pull away from Moomyeongbang. It was one of those rare days when the family gathered cozily in the family head's private dining hall for a meal with her parents. She straightened her clothes and headed to the Naedang with light steps.
Father and Mother were already seated there. Instead of lavish delicacies from land and sea, the table held neat, simple spiritual dishes—perfect for relaxed family chatter.
"Cheong-ah, come sit. How's your realm refinement going?"
Mother smiled warmly, taking Baek Cheong's hand and drawing her close. Baek Cheong responded with a bright, innocent grin and settled into her assigned spot.
"Yes, Mother. I'm taking it slow without pushing too hard, steadily refining my qi."
"Good thinking. The Five Elements Mutual Generation path is so risky—you must always be cautious."
As the meal began, talk naturally turned to her older brothers above her in the family hierarchy.
"A letter came from our eldest at the Biun Sect last night," Father said, taking a sip of warm spiritual tea before speaking.
The Biun Sect was one of the massive great sects in the Cultivation World, propped up by a Transformation Realm elder. The Baek family's eldest son had been accepted as an inner disciple thanks to his single-element spiritual root talent.
"He's standing out even among the inner disciples and caught an elder's eye. The elder hinted at taking him as a personal disciple."
"Oh, wonderful! As a personal disciple, he'd get core sect techniques passed down."
Mother lit up, but Father's expression remained clouded. He set down his chopsticks with a heavy sigh.
"The problem is that elder's only at early Gold Core. In a great sect like Biun, a spot under a Gold Core elder is like a hot potato."
The Yeonha Baek family alone had Grandfather Baek Mu-ae, the retired family head, as a solid mid Gold Core powerhouse. Father Baek Mujin himself had reached late Core Formation at a young age, with Gold Core formation half-assured—a promising prospect. There was zero reason to grovel under some early Gold Core elder.
"I see. But Biun Sect has a Transformation Realm elder holding it down. Flat-out rejecting might create awkward distance—truly a headache."
Mother recognized the gravity, her face filling with worry. In the Cultivation World, offending a great sect's sensibilities could threaten a family's very survival.
"Don't worry too much. Our family's elder and Biun's have a deep bond built over years. Plus, with the demonic great sects stirring lately, Biun needs to conserve strength too. A polite refusal won't make them touch our Yeonha Baek family lightly. I've already instructed Eldest to decline graciously."
Mother nodded in relief at Father's firm decision. Conversation shifted smoothly to the other brothers.
The second and third sons showed exceptional talent not in cultivation but in formations and talismans—one of the Cultivation World's hundred arts. They were off wandering under renowned masters in their fields, honing their crafts away from home.
"Second and Third keep sending news with their greetings—tidbits that add up nicely. Impressive, enduring hardships out there."
Once the brothers' updates wrapped up, both parents' gazes turned to Baek Cheong in unison.
"Our daughter..."
Baek Mujin stroked his chin thoughtfully. With Baek Cheong's spiritual root test done, deciding her residence and cultivation path was a key family matter. But her situation was far more tangled and tricky than her brothers'.
She'd awakened Five Elements Mutual Generation on her own and shattered straight through to 2-star Refining Qi—a genius among geniuses. Purely on talent, any great sect in the Cultivation World, Biun included, would welcome her with open arms. But publicly, she was branded with the worst trash talent: mixed five-element O-yeong-geun. Thanks to tight lips within the family, her miraculous feat hadn't leaked outside.
In this bind, entering a great sect meant Baek Cheong proving her Five Elements Mutual Generation miracle herself. But the pride of a Gold Core family like Yeonha Baek forbade it. Begging at sect gates with an O-yeong-geun label, groveling to prove her talent—it would smear the family's face badly. Other clans might even mock them over it.
Baek Mujin mulled the complexities inwardly before gazing softly at Baek Cheong.
"Cheong-ah, what do you want? Do you wish to venture into the wider world, learn under a great sect? If you do, Father will swallow his pride and secure you a fine spot."
The sudden question made Baek Cheong jolt inwardly. Jump into a great sect crawling with strict rules and stuffy old masters? That'd kill my gallery life dead. She'd be forced into endless cultivation, no time even to log into Moomyeongbang. She quickly welled up her eyes, crafting the most pitiful, innocent voice.
"I don't want to. I hate scary places like great sects. I just want to stay here forever, by Father and Mother's side."
Her young daughter's pure, heartfelt plea melted her parents' hearts like spring snow. Mother teared up, pulling Baek Cheong into a tight hug.
"Yes, let's do that. Stay by Mother's side forever, never leave. The Baek family's power alone can raise you into a fine cultivator."
Baek Mujin nodded vigorously, a pleased smile breaking through. His tangled worries dissolved like ice in her cuteness. Suddenly recalling something forgotten, he clapped lightly.
"Oh, Father was too busy to mention earlier. Soon, the elder will host a small clan-only banquet."
Baek Cheong's ears perked up at Baek Mujin's words.
"A banquet?"
"Yes. The elder rarely makes appearances during closed-door cultivation. But this time, for some important matter, he's calling one."
Outwardly, Baek Cheong clapped innocently like an excited child.
"Yay! A banquet hosted by Grandfather!"
But inwardly, her mind raced in a totally different direction. A gathering of all the Yeonha Baek family's power-holders—from Gold Core elder Grandfather to the elders. This is my chance! Her eyes gleamed with ambition. If she dazzled them at the banquet, snatching supreme spiritual herbs and heavenly treasures for root growth would be a golden opportunity.
The meal ended, and Baek Cheong bolted back to her Cheo-so like she was fleeing. She locked the door, sat at the desk, and furiously plotted.
"Only ten days till the banquet."
The late notice made time tight. Ordinary tricks wouldn't cut it to win over the elders. She needed to visually burn a genius image into their minds. The perfect tool: completing Ohang-sun.
Currently, she handled only earth and water—fusing them for a palm-sized defensive barrier. To drop jaws, she'd fuse all five: water, wood, fire, earth, metal into perfect Ohang-sun. Ideally, reaching the Minor Completion stage, wrapping it over her whole body.
"No more Moomyeongbang starting today."
Baek Cheong steeled her resolve. She ignored the nagging pull of the forum in her head. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she meticulously reviewed the Five Elements principles once more.
"Water begets wood, wood begets fire, fire begets earth, earth begets metal, metal begets water."
She began drawing the mutual generation cycle from her dantian outward. Five colors of qi rose simultaneously over her palm: blue, green, red, brown, gold halos trembling precariously in the air.
"Fuse!"
She squeezed her spiritual energy to forcibly balance them. But the qi wobbled unstably and—poof—vanished.
"As expected... not easy."
Her eyes didn't waver. Analyzing the failure, she dove into the next attempt. Fire attribute had overwhelmed and burned the wood. Fine-tuning ratios, she summoned the five halos again.
. . .
Relentless training continued day and night. Then, on the second night's eve, Something strange happened.
"Huh?"
The five qi Baek Cheong summoned began fusing naturally over her palm, like interlocking gears. The perfectly built mutual generation cycle in her dantian powerfully influenced the external qi too. Her body, remembering the flow, forcibly corrected the spell's deployment. The multicolored qi blended smoothly, forming a radiant round shield.
The moment she completed the perfect Ohang-sun, merging all five attributes' strengths.
"It worked?"
Baek Cheong stared at the Ohang-sun around her hand, dumbfounded. She'd mastered in days what even renowned Cultivation World geniuses barely shaped after much time—a complex spell. An overwhelming talent manifestation, impossible to pinpoint where it went "wrong."
Am I really a genius?
She let out a hollow chuckle, gazing at her palm. Truth be told, this miracle stemmed largely from her Moomyeongbang prowling. Countless cultivators' tips on training know-how and qi control from casual and info boards had unconsciously piled up. Even dismissed as crap posts, the vast data fed back perfectly in real practice.
But unaware it was gallery fruits, Baek Cheong just swelled with pride, marveling at her achievement.
Of course it's me.
With the basic form down, next: scaling it to full-body Minor Completion. Her current qi output fell short for whole-body coverage. She cranked her dantian circulation to the limit, pushing grueling training night and day to expand the Ohang-sun.