Chapter 26: Turtle Hermit

Chen Mobai took out his phone and opened "Turtle Treasure."

Just as he was about to press the raised, lit-up proxy button, something else came to mind.

He exited "Turtle Treasure," opened "National Library," and first logged out of his own account.

"I wonder if it'll work without an account?" Chen Mobai muttered to himself as he pressed the proxy button. The interface immediately bounced back to his phone's home screen.

"Please select proxy software."

"Huh?"

"Why did it automatically select 'Assisted Cultivation' last time? Could it be that when the proxy function is enabled, it automatically proxies the software I'm currently using, but if launched from 'Turtle Treasure,' I need to select it manually?"

Chen Mobai didn't overthink it and tapped the icon for the "National Library" software.

Then another interface popped up.

"No account detected, unable to proxy. Would you like to create a new account?"

"It has this feature? That's quite user-friendly!"

Chen Mobai tapped "Yes."

Then he thought for a moment while entering the account name. The first thing that came to mind was: "Report with peach blossoms blooming in one place."

This, combined with his previous username "If I were the Azure Emperor in a future year," would complete a full line of poetry.

But after a moment's thought, he decided against it, fearing potential exposure. He chose to be less poetic.

Finally, inspiration struck, and he entered two characters:

"Turtle Immortal!"

After the new account was registered, the proxy activated.

He saw a cute little turtle appear in the center of the "National Library" application he had opened. After spinning around once, it disappeared into his user avatar in the top right corner.

However, this time was different from when he proxied "Assisted Cultivation." The little turtle struggled to circle his avatar again and again, as if the "National Library's" protective measures were far stronger than "Assisted Cultivation," making it impossible to succeed in one go.

Eventually, it managed to boost his access to almost four halos before it could no longer climb and vanished.

A Tier 3 user.

This represented a Golden Core True Person.

Seeing this, Chen Mobai felt a sense of relief, but also a faint hint of disappointment.

"Turtle Treasure" wasn't omnipotent after all. It seemed there were forces within the Immortal Sect capable of suppressing it.

However, this was actually good. If his access had been elevated to a Tier 4 user, the Immortal Sect would undoubtedly pinpoint him immediately upon investigation, instantly realizing there was an issue with his new alias, "Turtle Immortal."

After all, within the entire Immortal Sect, Nascent Soul Venerables all had well-known names. A mysterious "Turtle Immortal" suddenly appearing would be far too suspicious.

Suppressing his thoughts, Chen Mobai excitedly opened the "National Library," which had now been successfully proxied.

He wondered what difference Tier 3 access would make compared to his previous Tier 1.

The interface looked the same.

He glanced at the user manual, and his eyes lit up after reading just the beginning.

While Tier 1 users had no choice with the National Library, only able to view whatever cultivation methods were provided, Tier 3 users enjoyed a great deal of freedom.

By simply inputting their ideas, desired goals, or even resources at hand, the "National Library's" artificial primal spirit would synthesize various conditions, compare them against its collection of 84,000 Daoist scriptures, and prioritize thirty cultivation methods for them to choose from.

In some ways, 95% of the National Library was already open to Tier 3 users.

After all, for users above that, like Tier 4 users (Nascent Soul Venerables), the number of useful Daoist scriptures and cultivation methods was extremely small.

Chen Mobai suppressed his inner excitement, entered his spiritual root attributes into the input bar, and then pressed the search button.

Instantly, thirty cultivation methods appeared.

Five methods per row, a total of six rows.

The very first method listed was still the Five Elements Cultivation Method!

Chen Mobai tapped it open and found it was the complete version, with chapters allowing cultivation up to the Nascent Soul stage. He was about to download it when a prompt appeared.

"Insufficient points, unable to download."

It seemed even the most privileged users couldn't get everything for free.

While Tier 3 users got a 30% discount, "Turtle Immortal" was a new account with no points at all.

However, Chen Mobai hadn't intended to take every advantage, so his mindset remained balanced. He exited the Five Elements Cultivation Method interface and continued browsing.

Infinite Power Cultivation Method, Water Bloom Sword Canon, Profound Yin Great Law, Nine Bends Diagram, Ten Thousand Rivers Book, Jade Purity Scripture, Pure Yang Scroll...

Each one had a more impressive name than the last, becoming increasingly outlandish further down the list.

The Jade Purity Scripture was the supreme technique of Taiyuan Academy, and also one of only seven great methods in the Immortal Sect that could lead to the formation of a Primal Spirit.

The Pure Yang Scroll was no less impressive; it was the supreme great method of Chunyang Academy, also leading to the Primal Spirit.

However, as he looked further, Chen Mobai understood a principle.

All methods converge.

Although the National Library contained 84,000 Daoist scriptures, these were essentially derived from the seven Primal Spirit cultivation methods. No matter what spiritual root one possessed, to achieve the Great Dao, one ultimately had to follow one of these seven paths.

Chen Mobai was now a Tier 3 user, so the artificial primal spirit provided him with cultivation methods suitable for at least forming a Nascent Soul. It also assumed he had some potential to form a Primal Spirit, hence, based on his spiritual root attributes, the Jade Purity Scripture and Pure Yang Scroll were included among the thirty methods.

Among these, the Jade Purity Scripture could be considered the ultimate version of the Five Elements Cultivation Method. It had low requirements for spiritual root attributes; in fact, a balance of the five elements was ideal.

However, the Jade Purity Scripture was extremely difficult to cultivate, and one could only begin to comprehend it after forming a Nascent Soul.

Therefore, after Chen Mobai eagerly tapped into it, he found his permissions were insufficient, only allowing him to view the introductory overview and table of contents.

Disheartened, he went through the introductions of all thirty cultivation methods, one by one, hoping to find the one most suitable for him.

The Infinite Power Cultivation Method, a technique from the Academy of Nature, produced pure and vast magical power, making one virtually invincible in combat among peers of the same realm. However, it required enormous amounts of spiritual energy and was slow to cultivate.

The Water Bloom Sword Canon, a sword cultivation method from the Academy of Mountains and Seas, involved condensing water into swords and forging swords into formations. Upon successful cultivation, facing multiple opponents was effortless, and one would be invincible when fighting over water.

...

Just from the descriptions, each method seemed more powerful than the last, leaving Chen Mobai, who suffered from a slight case of indecisiveness, highly hesitant.

But he quickly came to terms with it.

His new "Turtle Immortal" account had zero points.

He couldn't download any of these thirty cultivation methods.

Even his main account, "Azure Emperor," only had a little over 3,000 points. This meant he had only spent a total of about 3,000 merit points since childhood, nearly 1,000 of which were recently added when he bought Azure Arrow Talismans and Vitality Replenishing Elixir online a few days ago.

There wasn't much to spend money on, really.

Chen Mobai tapped open the last one, the Pure Yang Scroll.

Although this cultivation method also led to the Primal Spirit, compared to the high threshold of the Jade Purity Scripture, its progression was gradual and its advancement path was very clear and straightforward.