Chapter 37: Repairing a Magical Artifact, a Blocked Cultivation Technique

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Repairing a Magical Artifact, a Blocked Cultivation Technique

Elder Qi was normally quite stern and rarely showed her face. Most of the time, she was nowhere to be seen.

Xiao Chen, led by Shen Siyue, had gone to pay his respects once. The Elder had only said a few words to him.

"Since you’ve come to Bishui Peak, you must cultivate well. Be self-disciplined and self-reliant. How are your living quarters? Are you satisfied?"

"I will remember the Elder’s teachings. The environment here is very good, and I am very satisfied."

"Good. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask Siyue. Siyue, if you have time, take care of him. Is there anything else? If not, go and cultivate."

Elder Qi’s tone was cold and detached, making it impossible to tell if she was pleased or displeased. She was like a completely different person from the passionate woman who had spoken up for him before.

Shen Siyue even offered some words of comfort to Xiao Chen. "Junior Brother Xiao, don’t overthink it. Master is like this with everyone. Her temperament is usually a bit cold, but she’s actually a very good person."

「In the blink of an eye, a whole month passed.」

This was because Elder Qi had once set a rule: all new disciples who joined Bishui Peak were not allowed to leave for the first month.

Instead, they had to stay on the mountain to diligently consolidate their cultivation, refine and familiarize themselves with their Magical Artifacts, and hand-copy the Inner Sect Manual three times to be submitted at the end of the month.

Most of the content in the Inner Sect Manual was nothing more than sect rules and etiquette. Only two points were truly critical.

The first was that if an Inner Sect Disciple failed to break through to Foundation Establishment before the age of thirty, they would be reassigned by the Sect to once again handle miscellaneous duties.

Xiao Chen already knew this and wasn’t worried about it at all.

The other point was that Inner Sect Disciples could receive a monthly cultivation stipend of five Spirit Stones.

Aside from that, if one wanted to obtain better Cultivation Techniques, Magical Artifacts, Spirit Pills, and so on, they needed to go to the Merit Hall to accept Sect missions and earn Contribution Points for exchange.

Of course, exchanging Spirit Stones for Contribution Points was also possible, but it made everything needlessly twice as expensive.

The Merit Hall’s rule was that two Spirit Stones could be exchanged for one Contribution Point, but conversely, two Contribution Points could only be exchanged for one Spirit Stone.

Unless you were a disciple from a powerful family who wasn’t short on money, it was not recommended to make such an exchange. It was a complete rip-off.

Nowadays, Xiao Chen no longer needed to go tend the Spirit Fields every day as he did before.

Instead, he stayed in his own courtyard every day, studying the manual, refining his Magical Artifacts, and reviewing his Cultivation Technique.

It was a bit lonely, as no familiar Inner Sect brothers came to visit.

But he was used to being alone, so his days were quite free and easy.

Of course, he wasn’t idle. Since Elder Qi had required him to consolidate his cultivation and refine his Magical Artifacts, he took the opportunity to thoroughly familiarize himself with his several artifacts.

Not only did he refine the Golden Light Pearl and the Evergreen Sword, nourishing them daily with his Magical Power, but he also tried to repair the Cyan Gourd with the Cyan Wood Spirit Liquid.

The "repair" simply involved pouring the Cyan Wood Spirit Liquid into the gourd and infusing it with Magical Power, using refinement to help it absorb the liquid.

The results of the repair were very pleasing.

Originally, the Cyan Gourd only required one unit of Magical Power to activate. Now, after being repaired, it consumed two units of Magical Power to summon the Cyan Wood Divine General from within.

Generally speaking, the amount of Magical Power consumed was directly proportional to the power of the Magical Artifact.

Typically, a Lower-Grade Magical Artifact only required one unit of Magical Power to operate, while a Middle-Grade Magical Artifact needed three units, and an Upper-Grade Magical Artifact required a full nine units.

Additionally, some meticulously crafted Magical Artifacts that hadn’t quite reached the next grade also required extra Magical Power to operate.

The increased Magical Power requirement for the Cyan Gourd was a clear sign that it was recovering to its original grade.

Xiao Chen estimated that if he refined another two or three portions of Cyan Wood Spirit Liquid into it, it should be able to recover to the level of a Middle-Grade Magical Artifact.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Shen Siyue’s voice suddenly came from outside the main gate. "Junior Brother Xiao, are you there?"

Xiao Chen hurriedly opened the gate to welcome her. "Senior Sister Shen, you’re here."

But as soon as he opened the gate, he saw Shen Siyue looking worried, as if she had run into some trouble.

Sure enough, Shen Siyue said apologetically, "I’m so sorry, Junior Brother Xiao. The Scripture Pavilion still says that the Cultivation Technique compatible with your Spiritual Root is still being inscribed."

"You can... you can just make do with your original Cultivation Technique for now..."

Her voice trailed off, getting lower and lower. Fortunately, Xiao Chen was a cultivator and could just barely hear her.

In the entire month since paying respects to Elder Qi, Xiao Chen had only seen two people.

Besides a Servant Disciple responsible for delivering his Spirit Rice, there was only Shen Siyue, who had come three times.

The first time, she brought him two pots of Spirit Flowers, saying that placing them in the courtyard could help gather a little Spiritual Qi for his cultivation. She also said she would immediately go help him claim his new Cultivation Technique.

The second time was to apologize, saying she hadn’t been able to get the new Cultivation Technique in time and asking Xiao Chen to wait a few more days.

The third time was now, and there was still no new Cultivation Technique.

Shen Siyue was clearly furious and ashamed about this. Her face flushed red as she explained, "I’m sorry, Junior Brother Xiao. I’ll go and press them a few more times."

Xiao Chen, however, had already figured it out and asked directly, "Senior Sister, what is the name of the Elder in charge of the Sect’s Scripture Pavilion? Are they related to the Jiang Family?"

Shen Siyue hesitated for a moment. "The Scripture Pavilion is managed by Elder Li. As for the relationships between the Elders... I’m not sure."

The matter wasn’t actually complicated. To increase the cultivation speed of its disciples, the Sect stipulated that Inner Sect Disciples could receive one free Xuan-level Cultivation Technique from the Scripture Pavilion that matched their Spiritual Root.

But there was no detailed rule stating that this Cultivation Technique had to be inscribed within a certain number of days.

A full month’s delay, coupled with Shen Siyue’s hesitation—Xiao Chen didn’t need to be a genius to know that someone was obstructing him, and it was ninety-nine percent certain to be the Jiang Family.

"Senior Sister Shen, let’s just drop it. If it’s not available, it’s not available. My original Cultivation Technique is quite good. Even if you really gave me a new one, I’d be reluctant to switch."

Xiao Chen was telling the truth. A Yellow Level Cultivation Technique was perfectly capable of getting one to Foundation Establishment; a Xuan Level Cultivation Technique was useless to him.

For him, his current Qi Nourishing and Breathing Technique was stronger than any Xuan Level technique, and its effects were a perfect fit.

If it weren’t for the Qi Nourishing and Breathing Technique reducing the difficulty of breakthroughs—an effect that was amplified tenfold by his Augment—he couldn’t possibly have broken through to the late stage of Qi Refining so quickly.

The Jiang Family wanted to obstruct him by withholding his Cultivation Technique, but they had severely miscalculated.

However, Shen Siyue misunderstood his meaning. "Junior Brother Xiao, I’m sorry. Master told me to take care of you, and I..."

"Wait!" Xiao Chen quickly interrupted her. "Senior Sister Shen, I’m telling the truth. I really don’t care about a new Cultivation Technique. I don’t need one."

Shen Siyue was still blaming herself. "Junior Brother, I know..."

Xiao Chen interrupted again. "Senior Sister Shen, I know Elder Chen. He took me as his disciple in advance; you should have heard about this. So I’m not lacking a Cultivation Technique. If I can’t get one, so be it."

’Of course, he couldn’t just let it go. He was only saying that for Shen Siyue’s sake; after all, the Jiang Family was targeting him, and there was no need to put her in a difficult position over it.’

’He mentally added another mark against the Jiang Family in his little black book.’

’For a gentleman, ten years is not too late for revenge. There would be plenty of opportunities to settle all scores in the future.’

Then, he proactively changed the subject. "By the way, Senior Sister Shen, it’s been a month. I can go out now, right?"

After becoming an Inner Sect Disciple, one could choose one of the Hundred Skills of Cultivation to their liking. He had been looking forward to this for a long time.

Unlike other disciples who were conflicted, hesitating over what to choose and feeling lost about the future.

Xiao Chen’s goal was clear, his path certain.

For the past month, he had been eagerly waiting to be free so he could go and learn Alchemy.