Sweeping the First Floor: 200 Spells in Three Days
Finally seeing through my act, huh? Baek Cheong's daily life had grown so peaceful it was starting to feel downright boring. Her pill-refining lessons with Gok Elder were becoming routine, her senses for handling spiritual energy and spiritual senses now ingrained in her body. The time it took to complete assignments had noticeably shortened, leaving her with some real free time in the afternoons. Filling her dantian with spiritual energy through cultivation and steadily posting to Moomyeongbang were both going smoothly without a hitch.
But for Baek Cheong, addicted to dopamine, this peaceful routine meant unbearable tedium. Instead of the thrill of pulling aggro, writing the same old daily log format every day had dragged on for nearly a month, and she was starting to tire of it.
Something new and stimulating... I need it. Baek Cheong rolled around on her bed, pondering solutions.
Having reached Refining Qi 4-star, it was time to seriously learn a variety of spells. All she had under her belt so far was the defensive Five Elements Circulation. Securing some flashy attack spells or versatile techniques wouldn't be a bad idea.
If she asked her father, she could easily gain access to the second floor of Baekgyeonggak or snag a powerful first-tier spell from the family vault. But in Baek Cheong's mind, visions of the romantic fortuitous encounters that defined xianxia squirmed enticingly.
I stumble into a dusty corner on the first floor of an old archive, find a tattered manual no one's glanced at, and turns out it's a peerless supreme art from ancient times... C'mon, throw me a classic encounter like that.
Harboring this silly hope, Baek Cheong headed to Baekgyeonggak. Elder Baek Un-ho, the guardian, opened the barrier without a word. Knowing a late-stage Core Formation cultivator guarded the place only fueled her faint expectations.
Heh heh...
Baekgyeonggak's first floor was poorly maintained, thick with the smell of dust. This only swelled the anticipation bubbling in her young chest.
Fortuitous encounter, Dou... please show up...
She spread fifteen spiritual senses like a net, scanning the tens of thousands of books on the first floor meticulously. But nothing resembling a special manual turned up. Mostly basic spellbooks scribbled on ordinary paper with ink, alongside histories of the cultivation world or herbals—miscellaneous stuff.
Of course.
Even probing every nook with her senses yielded no special auras or traces of hidden formations. It was a perfectly ordinary first-floor archive.
Disappointed, Baek Cheong pouted and turned to leave when a ridiculous yet amusing idea flashed in her mind.
The spells here are all basic first-tier yawners anyway. Simple structures, no risk of qi deviation even if they fizzle.
Her eyes sparkled like she'd found a fun game.
Then why not just learn every single one on the first floor?
It was an insane idea that defied common sense. Normal cultivators picked one basic spell, mastered it, and honed proficiency. Dabbling shallowly in many scattered training and was useless in real combat—the iron rule of the cultivation world.
But such logic didn't apply to Baek Cheong. She had no real battles ahead anyway, and with her overflowing fifteen spiritual senses and finely tuned energy control from five elements fusion, it was the perfect playground to test her limits.
Let's do it right now.
Baek Cheong roamed the shelves, gathering every spellbook. Fireball, Water Stream Art, Earth Wall Art, Wind Blade, and so on. From basic elemental spells to handy lifestyle ones like Illumination Art and Cleansing Art.
Counting them up, there were roughly two hundred books.
Let's estimate the time.
She grabbed one at random and flipped it open. Using her spiritual senses to read, she instantly memorized the meridian pathways. Closing her eyes, she gathered energy at her feet and lightly kicked the floor—her body floated up light as a feather.
Understanding the content and reaching beginner proficiency took just about two hours—around thirty minutes.
Faster than expected, the corners of Baek Cheong's mouth lifted.
Two hours each? That'll take time this way... but then.
She planned to fully leverage her multitasking prowess. She split her meticulously controlled spiritual senses to the limit of ten strands and spread them out. She plunged them into ten books laid on the floor simultaneously.
She rapidly memorized ten different meridian operations and incantations. Once done, she divided her dantian's five elements energy into ten streams, operating meridians independently everywhere.
A small flame flickered at her fingertips, dust swirled at her feet, clear water droplets formed overhead—the bizarre scene unfolded.
About three hours passed. Panting, Baek Cheong had successfully reached beginner level in all ten spells.
Hah, hah. This is the pinnacle of multitasking. But ten books in three hours...
Doing the math, she flashed a confident smile. At this rate, squeezing it into her daily routine shuttling between the pill room and her residence, she could beginner-level all two hundred in three days.
Totally doable.
From that day, Baek Cheong paused even her Moomyeongbang steady posts to focus on spell learning. While guarding the furnace for Gok Elder, she secretly reviewed spellbooks and simulated energy flows. During meditation in her residence, her fingers endlessly formed incantations, cycling through dozens of spells.
The two hundred basic spells fell helplessly before her overwhelming spiritual senses and all-encompassing five elements energy.
...
On the third night, finishing the meridian operation for the last book, Illumination Art, Baek Cheong achieved the feat of beginner-leveling every basic spell on the first floor.
I did it!
She snapped her fingers, cycling through the spells. Handling two hundred incantations in a short time was complex, but as basics, it was manageable.
Tasting accomplishment, Baek Cheong's next goal was set: log into Moomyeongbang, neglected for three days, to brag about her feat and savor the Dous' baffled reactions.
She grandly posted to the chat board.
The post went up, and Dous who'd been waiting for her update swarmed in with replies. But the reactions wildly missed her expectations.
Cultivators dismissed Baek Cheong's post as the ravings of a Core Formation lunatic, scoffing. Learning over 200 spells shattered their solid common sense—it was fiction beyond miracles.
Why won't they believe it? Baek Cheong pouted, scanning the nonstop mockery. Then she spotted a reply from Dou(55.19), who'd branded her a Core Formation geezer before.
Baek Cheong's eyes lit up at the reply. A chance to shed the hated Core Formation geezer stigma? Her heart raced. But guessing the reason, she hurriedly replied.
Moments later, Dou(55.19)'s explanation followed.
Dou(55.19)'s clear, logical fact-bomb shifted replies to mocking Just a clueless Refining Qi noob.
Shedding the geezer image like this? Baek Cheong stared blankly at Moomyeongbang. She'd planned gradual image rehab through steady posts, never imagined instant reversal. And having learned 200 spells dismissed as worthless?
Two or three the limit at once? Strong doubt gripped her at Dou(55.19)'s final line.
She'd split her fifteen spiritual senses into ten for reading and energy control—no meridian tangles or clashes ever felt.
No way that's real.
Her competitive spirit ignited; she jumped up. Snapping fingers, she randomly picked five from her mental library: Fireball, Water Stream Art, Earth Wall Art, Wind Blade, Illumination Art.
Splitting spiritual senses into five, she drew up five elements energy simultaneously. Independent meridian paths for different incantations.
Whoosh! Splash! Rumble! Shrieeek! Flash!
Hot flames surged from her right hand, cold water swirled from her left. Sturdy earth wall rose at her feet, sharp wind blade sliced air behind. Bright orb like the sun lit the room daytime-bright overhead.
Five utterly different basic spells unfolded perfectly under her control—no errors, no clashes. The room became a bizarre stew of energies, but Baek Cheong remained utterly calm, not a drop of sweat.
What...
Baek Cheong alternated glances at the flashing spells on her hands and feet, blurting in bewilderment.
"It's easy?"