Talent for Nonsense? The Five Elements Unity Bluff
Do I have a talent for nonsense?
Baek Cheong froze like a stone statue on the spot. At the entrance stood her father, hands clasped behind his back. He'd clearly said he was leaving for a few days to inspect the patrols. She couldn't understand why he was here now. But she'd simply lost track of time—hunkered down in the training chamber, grunting away to upload an image post to Moomyeongbang, and several days had flown by like an arrow.
"Ah, Father..."
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Baek Cheong's nape. Her pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
Instead of barking orders or unleashing his fury, Baek Mujin smiled faintly and asked in a gentle tone, "Did you complete the special training assignment from Elder Gok? I was quite curious about the results, especially since it required the dense spiritual energy of the eastern sector."
At her father's probing words, Baek Cheong instinctively knew her lie had been completely exposed. No point in wriggling out with more clever excuses—it would only make things worse. She quickly tucked in her tail and bowed her head obediently.
"I-I'm sorry, Father. Elder Gok didn't assign any such task. I just wanted to use the training chamber, so I lied to Grandpa Jin."
She kept the unspeakable secret to herself—that she'd swindled massive amounts of spiritual energy just to access Moomyeongbang and post an image.
Meanwhile, seeing his daughter meekly confess her wrongdoing wiped the smile from Baek Mujin's face.
"Cheong-ah, I fully understand your eagerness to cultivate. But skipping a solid foundation and relying on pills or formations to force a breakthrough will cause your base to crumble later, plummeting you into the abyss of qi deviation."
Baek Mujin continued his stern lecture. For a child at the early Refining Qi stage to recklessly absorb the energy from a Chwi-ryeong-jin formation risked severe damage to her meridians.
"Come here. Let me check your dantian."
As Baek Mujin extended his hand, Baek Cheong approached with resignation and offered her slender wrist. His rough fingers pressed against her pulse, sending a thread of pure energy flowing in.
But Baek Mujin's stern expression twisted into bewilderment.
"Wh-what is this? You stayed in the eastern sector for five days while the Chwi-ryeong-jin was active, yet your dantian is utterly depleted? How?"
His shocked question echoed thunderously. And rightly so—with the chamber's vast spiritual energy and repeated doses of supreme-grade Chwi-ryeong-dan, her dantian should have been brimming. Instead, it held barely enough true energy to sustain her, looking as ravaged as if someone had forcibly wrung out every last drop.
"Cheong-ah! What on earth did you do in there?!"
Under her father's urgent interrogation, Baek Cheong's lips fluttered in panic. She could hardly say she'd burned through all her energy uploading a crude doodle to the Moomyeongbang boards.
Unable to withstand his piercing gaze, she unleashed her forum-honed skill for spouting nonsense.
"W-well... My dantian felt unstable, so I tried consolidating my realm. I attempted to merge the five attributes into one—Five Elements Unity—but the energy scattered everywhere."
It was improvised gibberish, pieced together from pretentious terms. But upon hearing Baek Cheong's excuse, Baek Mujin's face hardened as if struck by lightning.
Five Elements Unity!
Baek Mujin reeled inwardly from the shock. It was a profound enlightenment that even cultivators with five-element spiritual roots glimpsed only upon reaching the Origin Infant stage. The ultimate realm of clashing opposing forces and weaving mutual generation into a single point of universal truth.
Even if it had failed and dispersed the energy, the mere fact that a mere ten-year-old at Refining Qi 3-star had approached such lofty insight on her own was a miracle.
So that's how it is...
Baek Mujin had been quietly searching for a rare talent who'd overcome five-element roots to reach late Core Formation, planning to invite them as his daughter's master. But the reality before him mocked how futile that had been.
Guided by no one, she grasps the principles of all creation and pursues Five Elements Unity. What was I about to do?
Deep self-reproach flooded him. Had he been treating his daughter like an ordinary child, binding her with his authority as family head and overprotectiveness as a father? Was he hindering a once-in-a-millennium prodigy who yearned to shatter her limits and soar?
In that fleeting moment, countless worries and regrets swirled through Baek Mujin's mind. Then resolve hardened in his eyes.
"Cheong-ah..."
He gently released her wrist. His stern face melted like spring snow, brimming with profound affection.
"This father has been so foolish and narrow-minded."
Stunned by the sudden shift, Baek Cheong blinked, gauging the situation.
Baek Mujin knelt to meet her eyes, continuing softly, "I didn't realize you were striving for such profound enlightenment. How stifling I must have been for honest, kind Cheong-ah to borrow Elder Gok's name and sneak into the east."
His voice dripped with remorse and apology. Baek Cheong inwardly cheered but bit her lip, feigning grievance.
"Still, as a parent, it's agonizing to watch my little one tread such a perilous path. Please understand my worries."
Baek Mujin spread his arms and pulled her small frame into a tight, warm embrace.
"From now on, I won't meddle in your cultivation methods. Follow your heart, your chosen path. The Baek family will simply be the sturdy nest for you to spread your wings."
It was a firm declaration: full acceptance of her genius, withdrawal of all control.
Clasped in his arms, Baek Cheong eyed his broad back warily.
Did it work?
She'd braced for a scolding or confinement, yet things had veered bizarrely in her favor. Her offhand "Five Elements Unity" had thoroughly misled him.
Maybe I do have a talent for nonsense...
Either way, dodging the crisis was a huge relief. Pretending to be moved, she hugged his neck in return.
"Thank you, Father. I'll be careful not to worry you."
Baek Mujin chuckled heartily, patting her back gently.
"Now, with your energy depleted, you must be unwell. Head back to your residence and rest. I've wrapped up patrol duties, so I'll stay by your side and tend to what you need for a while."
Baek Cheong inwardly whooped. With her father personally backing her cultivation, sourcing herbs and materials would be a breeze.
"Yes! I'll rest well and come greet you tomorrow morning."
She bowed brightly and hurried down the rear mountain path.
Back at her residence, Baek Cheong locked the door and flopped onto the bed. The agony of her meridians from pouring out massive spiritual energy in the chamber, the heart-stopping near-miss with her father—all the day's storm of fatigue crashed over her like a wave.
"Still, the results are solid."
She couldn't hide the grin spreading across her face. Her energy was drained, but the pride of launching a meme terror that would echo through Moomyeongbang forever swelled her little chest.
"Let's check the reactions."
Rubbing her weary eyes, she stirred her faintly recovered divine sense and logged into Moomyeongbang. Thousands of replies flooded beneath her crude doodle post. It felt like every eye in the forum was on her.
The cultivators' fury blazed without end. Most were rigid folks who'd spent lifetimes in strict cultivation and upheld dignity. This crude, primal provocation trampled their sensibilities—a fatal insult.
"Pffft, haha, they're seriously pissed."
But Baek Cheong just rolled on the bed, giggling. She savored the strange superiority of making the entire Moomyeongbang erupt because of her.
Scanning replies, her eyes sharpened on one incisive comment.
Dou(55.19)'s sharp analysis cooled the reply sentiment in an instant. Suspicion spread that the troll might be a skilled cultivator hiding their power.
Watching the shift from rage to bewilderment, Baek Cheong snorted.
"Refining Qi 3-star, you idiots."
Of course, she had zero intention of clarifying. Nothing looked worse than explaining away community misunderstandings.
"Bend now, and you lose."
Scraping together her slowly recovering energy, she posted one more.
The cultivators puzzled over the unfamiliar slang.
But sadly, Baek Cheong had no time to check replies. Exhausted from the day's reckless energy and divine sense drain, she plunged into dreamless sleep.