After sending away the curious classmates, Zhao Yuan closed the dorm room door and said to his three friends, "Alright, guys, let's start training again. But this time, you have to hold it in. Don't yell so loudly. We attracted the dorm supervisor this time; who knows who we'll attract next."
Liu Zhu, Wang Rongfeng, and Wu Yan all grimaced. "We don't want to yell so loudly either," they said in unison, "but practicing this technique is just excruciating. We can't hold it in even if we try."
"I see..." Zhao Yuan's brow furrowed slightly, and he quickly came up with a solution. "I've got it! Each of you grab a book and bite down on it. When it gets painful, just bite harder. That way you won't make so much noise."
The three of them thought it over. Seeing no other option, they did as Zhao Yuan said, each grabbing a textbook to bite down on.
Believe it or not, Zhao Yuan's terrible idea actually worked. During their subsequent Cultivation, the sounds of their pained screams and groans were indeed much quieter. The textbooks, however, paid the price, as they were all marred with deep teeth marks.
The consequence of this was that Wu Yan got chewed out by his professor in class the next day.
But the kid was remarkably quick-witted. Facing the professor's angry questions, he replied with a perfectly straight face, "Professor, you've misunderstood. I wasn't just messing around when I bit my book. I'm just so hungry for knowledge that I wish I could devour the entire thing, so I impulsively took a bite!"
His answer sent the class into an uproar of laughter. Even the professor couldn't hold back a smile and, with a wave of his hand, let him off the hook.
Of course, that was all a story for another time.
Back in dorm room 301, Liu Zhu, Wang Rongfeng, and Wu Yan were earnestly practicing the Four Saints Technique under the supervision and guidance of Zhao Yuan and the White Cat. They continued until lights-out, after which they all headed to the balcony for cold showers.
Even though the weather was cold, the three of them didn't find the cold showers uncomfortable in the slightest. In fact, they quite enjoyed them. This was all because cultivating the Four Saints Technique had improved their physical fitness and made them stronger.
After their showers, the three of them, just like the day before, collapsed into their beds and were fast asleep. Within minutes, a steady chorus of snores filled dorm room 301.
Zhao Yuan, however, did not go to sleep. He didn't open the Information Leaf to study, either. Instead, he opened his Storage Ring and stared blankly at the four small gourds nestled inside.
'I can't believe it. Today, I not only got a Storage Ring and an Exorcism Talisman, but I also obtained the Five Elements Gourd. It's just a shame one is missing. The Information Leaf mentions a way to compensate for it by using another gold-attribute item as a substitute, but a substitute is still just a substitute. The effect is bound to be diminished. If only I could find the Golden Gourd and make the set whole again!'
Suddenly, an idea flashed through Zhao Yuan's mind.
He thought of the Tracking Spell he had learned earlier!
'If I remember correctly,' he thought, 'the Tracking Spell isn't limited to just finding people, is it?'
Zhao Yuan hastily opened the Information Leaf and pulled up the description of the Tracking Spell. Sure enough, it only stated that the spell could pinpoint a target's location, without specifying that the target had to be a person.
Zhao Yuan was overjoyed. 'Does this mean I can use the Tracking Spell to find the missing Golden Gourd?'
He rolled out of bed, hurried over to his desk, and took out a pen and paper.
Although the room was very dark, Zhao Yuan could just barely make out his surroundings by the starlight and moonlight filtering in through the window.
The White Cat emerged from its nest, leaped gracefully onto the desk, and settled down to one side, watching Zhao Yuan with keen interest, curious to see what he was up to.
Zhao Yuan sat down, holding the paper with his left hand and the pen with his right. Following the method described on the Information Leaf, he began to softly chant the Spell. After more than ten failures, he finally got the hang of it. As he chanted, the Wish Power in his body surged into his hands and flowed into the pen and paper.
Then, something bizarre happened.
The hand holding the pen moved!
To be precise, the pen was moving on its own! Zhao Yuan's right hand was completely relaxed; he wasn't applying any force at all. It was being dragged along by the pen!
Even though he was mentally prepared, the sight still made Zhao Yuan's heart pound in his chest.
'This is absolutely incredible!'
Soon, a crude map appeared on the paper.
It was difficult to identify the location just by looking at it, as it was only a local map.
Watching as the pen drew a circle on one part of the map, Zhao Yuan mused, 'That circle must be the Golden Gourd. It's a shame this is only a local map; it won't be useful until I'm actually in the area it shows.'
Just as he was feeling a wave of disappointment, convinced that the Tracking Spell was completely useless, the pen, after finishing the map, kept moving. Below the drawing, it wrote a sentence: "The Five Elements Gourd of Gold is located within Jiantai Village on Nine Peaks Mountain."
"Holy crap!"
Seeing this, Zhao Yuan couldn't help but let out a curse.
'The Tracking Spell can not only draw, but it can write too? How ridiculously overpowered is that!'
Aside from his shock, Zhao Yuan was also thrilled. With this text, the search area was drastically reduced. He was sure that once he got to Jiantai Village on Nine Peaks Mountain, the local map would finally be useful.
'I thought the Tracking Spell was useless, but I never imagined it could be used like this! Amazing, just amazing. With the Tracking Spell, is there any treasure in the world I can't find?'
In his excitement, Zhao Yuan grabbed another sheet of paper. He silently focused on his new target, the "Ruyi Golden Cudgel," while chanting the Spell aloud.
Soon, the pen began to move on its own again.
This time, however, it didn't draw a map. Instead, it wrote a single line: "Insufficient Cultivation. Unable to query."
'Insufficient Cultivation? So using the Tracking Spell to find things is tied to my Cultivation level? What a shame. I was planning to look up the locations of Divine Artifacts like the Xuanyuan Sword and the Pangu Axe. If I could get my hands on one or two of those, I'd be unstoppable! Too bad I won't get to act like a badass just yet. But wait... does this mean that Sun Wukong's Ruyi Golden Cudgel actually exists, and I just can't find it because my Cultivation is too low?'
Those five short words sent Zhao Yuan's mind racing with wild theories.
After a long while, he finally calmed down and realized the true purpose of the Tracking Spell.
'I get it now. Master Wu Peng didn't leave the Tracking Spell for me to find people. Even though it has that ability, its main purpose is to help me find materials for Alchemy and Artifact Creation! It's just like how making a Storage Ring requires Qi-Containing Jade. If I had to find it myself, even with the help of the Qi Observation Technique, it would take a ton of time and effort. But with the Tracking Spell, it's so much easier!'
To test his theory, Zhao Yuan used the Tracking Spell again, this time to search for the nearest piece of Qi-Containing Jade.
Soon, another local map appeared on the paper, along with a line describing the location: "The nearest Qi-Containing Jade is located in the Fujia Residential Complex within University City."
'It's just as I guessed! The Tracking Spell isn't some useless Curse Technique, it's a Divine Skill for finding materials! It's just like the Dragon Ball Radar from *Dragon Ball*. With this Magic, I'll never have to worry about finding materials for Alchemy and Artifact Creation again! Plus, as my Cultivation increases, so will the quality of the treasures I can find with it! Haha, this is fantastic!'
As Zhao Yuan reveled in his discovery, the White Cat, still perched on the desk, watched him with a strange light glinting in its small eyes.