Chapter 29: Insufficient Points

“Spirit stones can also shorten the cultivation time for the ‘Pure Yang Dharma Body’?” Chen Mobai’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“The ‘Pure Yang Dharma Body’ is actually a type of cultivation method, and no cultivation method can be performed without spiritual energy. The reason it took me twenty years to achieve the Tri-Yang Body was because of the time spent refining spiritual energy during the spiritual root transformation. If I had spirit stones to assist, it would have saved at least ten years of hard work.” Old Man Ding didn't hide anything and shared the experience he had gained from twenty years of study at the academy with Chen Mobai.

It turned out that cultivating the Pure Yang Dharma Body also required spiritual energy to transform the spiritual roots. Without spirit stones, once one’s own spiritual power was exhausted, they would have to absorb spiritual energy while transforming, making the process twice as difficult for half the result.

“Why wasn’t this mentioned in True Lord Shaoyang’s video?” Chen Mobai wondered to himself after hearing this, but he quickly understood why.

On Yuanxing, spirit stones were essentially nationalized, and ordinary cultivators didn't have any. Since they weren't available, there was naturally no need to mention them.

In that case, cultivating the Pure Yang Scroll wasn't impossible for Chen Mobai. While there were indeed no channels to acquire large quantities of spirit stones within the Immortal Sect, the Heavenly River Realm was different. According to the Azure Wave Lake ledgers Chen Mobai had seen, the cultivation world there didn't seem to lack spirit stones. Even a third-rate sect like the Flying Needle Sect could distribute spirit stones to each disciple as a benefit.

However, to obtain spirit stones, he would have to leave the Water Mansion and venture into the true cultivation world of the Heavenly River Realm. Thinking this, Chen Mobai hesitated again.

He recalled the two Heavenly River Realm cultivators who had recently died in the Water Mansion. Their ruthlessness, backstabbing, and casual talk of the chaos and disorder in the Eastern Barrens seemed to be the norm. The Heavenly River Realm seemed to be in a primordial cultivation era of feudal civilization, where danger might lurk everywhere.

He wondered if he would be killed as soon as he stepped out of the Water Mansion. Chen Mobai mumbled to himself, then asked how many spirit stones were needed to cultivate the "Pure Yang Dharma Body."

“That’s unclear. After all, I only heard about it from a senior student back then and never experienced it myself. We might need to consult some ancient texts to confirm.” Old Man Ding frowned and shook his head.

Roughly five thousand years ago, spirit stones circulated freely in the market. In that era, there were cultivators who used spirit stones to practice the Pure Yang Dharma Body. However, finding information from so long ago might require significant effort. Chen Mobai nodded, deciding to search for the information himself. If only a few spirit stones were needed, he would consider switching to the Pure Yang Scroll after reaching the late stage of Qi cultivation.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Just then, a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.” As Old Man Ding’s words faded, his disciple, Song Zheng, opened the door.

“Teacher.” Song Zheng first bowed respectfully to Old Man Ding at the doorway, then looked at Chen Mobai, slightly frowning, seemingly curious as to why he was there.

“Teacher Ding, I’ll come back another time to ask you about lightning spell restrictions.” Chen Mobai, being perceptive, didn't linger, not wanting to interrupt the conversation between the teacher and disciple.

Although they were classmates, his relationship with Song Zheng was merely cordial, mainly because Song Zheng was dedicated to arduous cultivation and rarely wasted time on social interactions. The two nodded to each other, acknowledging their presence.

After leaving the office, the first batch of third-year high school students hadn't yet emerged from the cultivation room, so Chen Mobai returned to the classroom. He took out his phone, entered keywords, and searched for information on the relationship between the Pure Yang Dharma Body and spirit stones.

He finally found a relevant post on a forum. The title of the post was: "How long does it take to cultivate the Pure Yang Dharma Body?" It appeared to be a question from a new student of the Pure Yang Academy seeking advice from senior students.

There were over fifty replies to the post, and one of them, seemingly from a Pure Yang Academy student from a well-off family, mentioned that using spirit stones could shorten the cultivation time for the Pure Yang Dharma Body.

“My ancestors participated in the Founding War and left behind some spirit stones in a bank. After I was admitted to the Pure Yang Academy, my family was very excited and withdrew all of them for my cultivation. Based on my own experience, here’s some data, for reference only.

“For the One-Yang Body, to achieve the best spiritual root transformation effect, 9 spirit stones are needed. These 9 spirit stones should be used one by one in the order of spiritual root transformation for optimal results, basically adding 9 points of fire spiritual root by the end. This stage takes one month.

“The Two-Yang Body requires significantly more spirit stones. Since my family didn't have enough, I had to refine some spiritual energy myself to get through this stage, which ultimately took one year and three months.

“For the Three-Yang Body, lacking spirit stones, I relied purely on arduous cultivation and achieved it after six years of solitary meditation.”

This anonymous cultivator, during the process of achieving the Three-Yang Body, still took five years less than True Lord Mingyang, who cultivated the Pure Yang Dharma Body without spirit stones and had the shortest recorded cultivation time.

Chen Mobai was instantly tempted. “First, I’ll check outside the Water Mansion. If I can get my hands on spirit stones, I’ll try cultivating it.”

Chen Mobai, who had originally intended to stay in his peaceful corner, couldn't resist after all. After all, with only two months left until the college entrance exam, his hope of breaking through to the late stage of Qi cultivation was slim. If he could achieve the One-Yang Body, he might just receive an admission letter from the Pure Yang Academy.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but log into his main account at the National Library, only to be prompted that he had insufficient points to redeem the Qi Cultivation chapter of the Pure Yang Scroll.

“Huh, why does a Qi cultivation method require so many points?” In Chen Mobai's impression, the Qi Cultivation chapter of the Five Elements Cultivation Method only cost 500 points. His main account had over 3,000 points, which should have been more than enough to redeem the Pure Yang Qi Cultivation chapter.

Upon checking, he found that it required 10,000 points. Then he looked at the four subsequent chapters. Goodness! The Foundation Establishment chapter cost 100,000 points, the Core Formation chapter 1,000,000 points, the Nascent Soul chapter 10,000,000 points, and the Soul Transformation chapter was a staggering 100,000,000 points. Moreover, all required permission at the corresponding cultivation stage to download.

For example, Chen Mobai's main account at the National Library, 'Azure Emperor,' was real-name verified as a Qi cultivation stage cultivator. Even if the account had 100 million points, he could only download the Qi Cultivation chapter of the Pure Yang Scroll.

“I’ll sell that spirit stone first. Conveniently, Juman Dao Academy puts Replenishing Qi Spiritual Water up for sale daily these days, so I can use these merit points to buy it. Then, I can use the spiritual water to increase my cultivation while using the points gained from spending to redeem the Pure Yang Qi Cultivation chapter.”

Although Chen Mobai was usually not very decisive, he was always resolute when it came to his own cultivation. A spirit stone held in hand is just firewood; only when spent does it become a treasure. He decided that, with breaking through to the late stage of Qi cultivation as his top priority, he would also consider cultivating the Pure Yang Dharma Body if possible.

Of the two spirit stones he obtained from the Water Mansion, one was consumed when he broke through to the sixth level of Qi cultivation. One remained, untouched and unopened. If exchanged at the National Bank, it would be worth 10,000 merit points. If sold on the market, due to high demand and limited supply, it could fetch at least one to two thousand merit points more.