Chapter 3: Water Mansion

A slight twinge returned to the healed wound on Chen Mobai’s right hand when he saw the turtle shell.

This is how it happened.

Half a month ago, he had just broken through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement. His superstitious mother, overjoyed, took him back to a supposedly very effective temple in their deep mountain hometown to offer the first stick of incense, hoping for good results on his college entrance exam.

Then, some unknown scoundrel pushed him from behind while he was offering incense. He stumbled and, to regain his balance, instinctively grabbed a turtle shell that had been placed as an offering in front of the idol.

The turtle shell, having been smoked by incense for who knows how many years, was quite dirty. Chen Mobai’s right hand was cut by its sharp edges, leading directly to an infection. He became so weak he couldn't stand and had to be hospitalized for half a month.

Since this object caused her precious son to be hospitalized, his mother naturally refused to let the matter rest. She had a lengthy argument with the temple's abbot-monk in their hometown, hoping to get a refund of the 188 merit points paid for the first incense offering.

However, the old monk was no pushover, or perhaps the temple was simply too poor. No matter how Chen Mobai's mother pleaded, he refused to refund the merit points, only offering two exorcism talismans as compensation.

Facing such a formidable opponent, and realizing he was somewhat in the wrong, the old monk eventually conceded a step.

He allowed Chen Mobai's indignant mother to take the turtle shell, claiming she would burn it to dispel her son's bad luck.

As it turned out, the turtle shell still hadn't been burned.

Open fires are prohibited in the city. All unused and discarded resources must be recycled, processed by special methods, and then buried by geomancers into the earth's ley lines to maintain the spiritual energy generation cycle of the Primordial Earth Star.

Only companies and organizations with approved alchemy or artifact forging licenses were permitted to light fires within the city.

Chen Mobai rolled his eyes, got up, and prepared to throw the turtle shell into the trash can, hoping the geomancers would bury the ominous item tomorrow.

But just as his hand touched the turtle shell, a silver light flashed.

Taken by surprise, Chen Mobai was completely enveloped by the silver light and then vanished from the room.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Chen Mobai's consciousness returned, and he slowly got to his feet.

He looked around and realized he was no longer in his room but inside a mysterious cave dwelling.

He had no idea where this cave dwelling was, but Chen Mobai was certain of one thing.

He was currently underwater.

He looked up to see nothing but a vast expanse of blue.

The entire cave dwelling was enclosed by a thin, semi-elliptical spherical light barrier. Fish and crabs from all directions in the water would bounce off the barrier as if hitting rubber.

Chen Mobai waited for nearly ten minutes, but no elder or master appeared. Slowly, he turned to examine his surroundings.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a small underwater cave dwelling.

Where he stood appeared to be the front hall of the dwelling. In each of the four corners, there was a pedestal with a formation flag. Along with the main formation flag on the central pedestal behind him, they formed a simple water-repelling formation.

It was fortunate that Chen Mobai usually paid attention in his formation classes. He was able to identify this as a second-tier, mid-grade formation that, besides gathering spiritual energy, repelling water, concealment, and defense, had no other offensive capabilities.

Following what he had learned in school, he cautiously probed the formation. After about an hour, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that it was safe.

Having confirmed that the cave dwelling wasn't filled with hidden dangers, Chen Mobai waited another half hour before beginning to explore.

The cave dwelling was indeed small. Besides the clear and unobstructed front hall, there were only three side halls behind it.

The central side hall appeared to be a cultivation room. Unsure if anyone was inside, Chen Mobai took out a "Wood Armor Talisman" from his pocket and clutched it in his palm; this was his life-saving talisman.

This first-tier, mid-grade talisman, once activated, was enough to block attacks from a sixth-level Qi Refinement cultivator.

With the talisman in hand, he felt a little safer.

Chen Mobai then took out a coin and gently rolled it across the floor towards the side hall's door.

Just as the coin reached the door, a faint blue electric light flashed, vaporizing the corundum-like coin into a wisp of spiritual mist.

Seeing this, Chen Mobai felt a pang of heartache.

This one-yuan coin was worth a point of merit.

It was forged from powdered dried spirit stones mixed with other jade, mineral, and metal materials. A single point of spiritual energy was imbued into it as a symbol for anti-counterfeiting, making it the basic currency unit of the Primordial Earth Star.

Chen Mobai only received five yuan in pocket money a week, and he had painstakingly earned only eighty points of merit as private savings by doing manual work like cutting talisman paper.

Losing a coin like that made him hesitate.

After waiting for a while, the central side hall, whose prohibition had been triggered, remained silent. Chen Mobai couldn't help himself. He searched his entire body and found that only coins could be used for testing. He could only grudgingly roll coins towards the other two side halls, left and right.

The prohibition on the left side hall's door, like that of the central side hall, triggered a faint blue electric light, directly vaporizing the coin.

However, the prohibition on the right side hall's door was completely different; it manifested as a deep blue water ripple that pushed the coin back like a wave.

Chen Mobai moved aside, clearing the path for the coin to roll back.

Only after the coin stopped rolling and he had used another coin to precisely tap it, confirming no residual prohibition power remained, did he pick it up.

He approached the door of the right side hall, cautiously tested it several times, and only after confirming the prohibition on the door was harmless did he begin to attempt to break it.

However, Chen Mobai did not have any talismans for breaking prohibitions, and the cultivation method he practiced was merely the Five Elements Inner Cultivation taught at school, used for laying foundations.

He regretted not having bought the "Water Sword Talisman" he had been eyeing for a long time.

After many attempts, he still couldn't break the water-ripple prohibition on the door, leading Chen Mobai to feel a bit of regret. He had many items he wanted to buy in his shopping cart on the Immortal Gate Network's marketplace.

Among them was a Water Sword Talisman, valued at 30 points of merit, a first-tier, mid-grade talisman, perfectly suited for his fifth level of Qi Refinement.

He felt the strength of the water-ripple prohibition on the side hall's door and sensed it was similar to his Wood Armor Talisman. If he used a Water Sword Talisman on it, he should be able to break it.

His mind raced, reviewing all his knowledge, but Chen Mobai was truly at a loss.

He could only return to the main hall of the water mansion, sit on the central formation flag pedestal where he had woken up, and begin meditating to recover the spiritual power he had expended while testing the water-ripple prohibition.

As soon as he started meditating, he jumped up in surprise, pulled out his phone from his pocket, and opened the spiritual energy concentration testing app.

Spiritual Energy Value: 60.

He realized with surprise that this place actually contained a second-tier, mid-grade spiritual vein.

Chen Mobai felt even more terrified. This water mansion was either the villa of a wealthy family or the cave dwelling of a higher-level cultivator. If they saw him, a stranger, here, they would certainly not be pleased.

How did I get here? He suddenly remembered the turtle shell.

Chen Mobai thought of the key point, but he searched every accessible part of the front hall of the water mansion, even overturning the potted plants, yet he couldn't find the turtle shell.

He felt despair. How would he explain this to his parents?

After waiting for another hour and checking the time, he felt his parents would soon be home from work. Chen Mobai realized he only had one last option.

He dialed 110.

He hoped that the enforcement cultivators of the Immortal Gate could pinpoint his phone's location and rescue him from this water mansion.