Chapter 177: Red Heart Treasure Mirror, Formless Doll

Following the arrow signs within the academy, Chen Mobai arrived at the summit of Chicheng Mountain after half an hour. As expected, a seven-story building resembling a pagoda stood there. The entrance was covered by a formation, but Chen Mobai's student ID served as a pass. After swiping it, he freely entered the tallest building on Chicheng Mountain.

He soon arrived at the principal's office on the seventh floor.

"Please come in!"

After he knocked, the voice that had called him earlier came from inside. He walked in and saw a silver-haired old man standing beside a conference table.

"Hello, I am Chen Mobai."

"Ah, you're the earliest to arrive. Please have a seat for a while; there are thirteen more people." The silver-haired old man smiled and nodded at Chen Mobai. He introduced himself as Che Yucheng, the Dean of Instruction at the Martial Artifacts Academy.

"Hello, Teacher Che."

Soon after, two more students entered. They respectfully greeted Che Yucheng, who smiled in response and told them to sit down. After waiting for about half an hour, everyone else had arrived except for one person. Che Yucheng frowned slightly, made a phone call, then shook his head helplessly.

"Zhong Litianyu has something to attend to and can't come for now. Let's begin." Upon hearing this, Chen Mobai couldn't help but feel slightly surprised. He didn't expect the last person to be Zhong Litianyu. Given his talent and circumstances, would he also, like himself, be assigned to a hands-off mentor?

"I've already told you the reason I called you here during our phone conversation," Che Yucheng began. "There are two great Divine Transformation cultivation methods in the Martial Artifacts Academy. Among this batch of new students, only you thirteen have chosen to cultivate these two methods."

"The Pure Yang Scroll is manageable; after Grand Ancestor Yuanyang's improvements, one can get started as long as they are willing to put in hard work, though progress will be slow. However, the Can Tong Qi requires consideration of many factors and has numerous restrictions. Since you have such grand aspirations, the academy will naturally provide you with maximum support."

"First, we need to confirm your aptitude to see if it matches the Can Tong Qi, and whether there are suitable complementary items for you within the Immortal Sect." Che Yucheng stood at the head of the conference table. After smiling and speaking at length, he turned and pointed to a full-length mirror placed in the corner of the principal's desk.

The mirror was approximately two meters long and half a meter wide, with rounded corners and a plain dark red wooden frame.

"This is the principal's magic treasure, the top-grade Tier 4 Scarlet Heart Mirror. Each of you will go up and stand in front of the mirror. After about three minutes, it will generate your most complete personal panel at this stage."

After Che Yucheng finished speaking, he gestured for the nearest new student to approach. A series of beeping sounds rang out. Streaks of wave-like fluctuations resembling electric currents flashed on the mirror surface, forming rows of text. But no matter how Chen Mobai looked, he couldn't make out the content.

"All right, you can come down now." Che Yucheng called the new student down, then pressed a button on the printer on the principal's desk. Immediately, over ten pages were printed out. Che Yucheng looked them over, confirmed there were no anomalies, then nodded and handed them to the new student.

"Keep this yourself. The academy will archive an electronic copy, which will be useful later."

Chen Mobai felt worried. His spirit root, having been nourished by special products from the Heavenly River Realm, had slightly above-standard values, and he wondered if the Martial Artifacts Academy would investigate further. However, at this point, there was no reason for him to back down.

When it was his turn, Chen Mobai gritted his teeth and stood in front of the Scarlet Heart Mirror. Amidst the beeping sounds, he found that he could actually see the content displayed. It showed his spirit root values, the circulation routes of spiritual energy within his body, the extent of his meridians' development, his physical age, the state of the two spiritual energy vortexes in his Dantian Qi Sea, and even the most mysterious Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness, which was reflected as the outline of a sapling.

It turned out that the text and content reflected on the magic treasure's mirror surface could only be seen by the relevant individual.

"Oh, your innate vital energy seems much more abundant than that of ordinary people. Your total spirit root attributes actually exceed 100." Che Yucheng roughly scanned the printed content, and upon seeing the spirit root section, he couldn't help but feel slightly surprised.

"My mother was in the mountains when she was pregnant with me, so perhaps my vital energy was cultivated a bit more sufficiently." Chen Mobai could only offer this explanation. Fortunately, while a total spirit root value exceeding 100 is rare in the Immortal Sect, it's not unheard of.

"To what extent have you cultivated your Pure Yang Dharma Body?" After Che Yucheng finished reading, he looked up and asked a crucial question.

"I just achieved One Yang." Chen Mobai hesitated but ultimately decided to answer truthfully.

Upon hearing this, Che Yucheng's expression became even more surprised. He looked down again at the spirit root values: Metal 23, Wood 31, Water 27, Fire 26, Earth 10. Adding up to a total of 117 points, and knowing that the One Yang Body sacrifices 3 points each from Water and Wood while adding 9 points to Fire, it was easy to deduce Chen Mobai's original spirit root attributes. This meant his original spirit root value was 114 points!

This child's innate vital energy was truly astonishingly abundant. But Che Yucheng merely kept it in mind without speaking aloud. He handed the thirteen pages in his hand to Chen Mobai, then gestured for the next person to go up and stand before the mirror.

Soon after, everyone in the office completed this step. Then Che Yucheng led them to the laboratory on the first floor. The middle of the laboratory was empty, but along both walls were rows of life-sized, transparent, faceless mannequins with eyes and screens on their foreheads. Chen Mobai counted a total of fourteen mannequins.

"These are the Formless Mannequins, the pinnacle of collaborative research between our Martial Artifacts Academy's Automaton discipline and the Gou Mang Academy's Human Bionics discipline. They can perfectly simulate the human body's cultivation method operation and breakthroughs," Che Yucheng explained to the curious group.

"I will input your body model data, as reflected by the Scarlet Heart Mirror earlier, into these Formless Mannequins. They will then simulate the various problems and bottlenecks you might encounter while cultivating the Divine Transformation Great Method. If you can successfully complete Foundation Establishment, then the academy will not stop you from cultivating the Can Tong Qi or the Pure Yang Scroll. However, if you cannot progress to the Foundation Establishment stage, it indicates that you are not suitable for cultivating the Divine Transformation Great Method, and we will advise you to give up. Of course, if you insist on cultivating it regardless, the academy will still respect your choice."

After speaking, Che Yucheng inserted the USB drive he was holding into a slot at the back of one of the Formless Mannequins' heads. Under everyone's astonished gaze, meridians, bones, and internal organs began to appear within the life-sized transparent mannequin. Finally, the faceless mannequin began to transform into the exact face of the new student standing beside Chen Mobai. Its two eyes, embedded on either side, were two digital dials, and no one knew what their purpose was.

Just as Che Yucheng activated the mannequin's mechanism, the display screen on its forehead began to constantly change, finally forming the faint image of a long sword. At the same time, the mannequin's left eye slowly began to rotate, and the number changed from "zero" to "one."