Chapter 366: Enlightenment Tea

Xiahou Weihuan recalled the arduous effort he had put into mastering a Sword Qi. Although the stage of condensing the Five Elements Essence Qi was completed with the help of many students from Pure Yang Academy, the rest, like body tempering, still depended on him alone.

He had originally thought that as long as he mastered the Yuan Yang Sword Qi, he would be invincible among those of the same cultivation level and, like his teacher Nangong Xuanyu, lead the Academy to surpass the other nine academies and even the Four Great Daoist Academies, all by himself. But who would have thought that Chen Mobai, whom he had previously paid no attention to, would be even more extraordinary than Lan Haitian? Not only had he mastered the Qingyang Sword Qi, but he had also mastered the Yuan Yang Sword Qi.

Xiahou Weihuan, who best understood the difficulty of cultivating Sword Qi, felt an emotion called despair for the first time.

Why do such monstrous talents always appear in the Four Great Daoist Academies? First Lan Haitian, now Chen Mobai! Could it be that the dominance of the Four Great Daoist Academies truly cannot be changed?

Filled with deep despair, Xiahou Weihuan, looking dazed, collapsed onto the lake surface.

"Senior Xiahou... Senior..."

A series of shouts suddenly reached his ears. Xiahou Weihuan turned his head to see several people from Pure Yang Academy. One of them had retrieved his severed arms, cut off by the Yuan Yang Sword Qi. Another was holding his Wuyang Sword, and someone else was bringing students from the Supreme Medical Academy.

"Senior, please concede," the chief disciple of Pure Yang Academy spoke with a sorrowful expression. If Xiahou Weihuan did not concede, according to the rules, people from the Supreme Medical Academy could not begin treatment. If his severed arms were not reattached promptly, it was very likely to affect the flexibility of his meridians.

"Concede!?" Xiahou Weihuan muttered to himself. He looked up, saw Chen Mobai still standing opposite him, and finally snapped out of his despair.

"I don't want to concede!"

Xiahou Weihuan's words made Chen Mobai look up in slight surprise. "Oh, do you want to continue fighting? After all, we are both from the Pure Yang lineage. During our sparring, I won't use lethal force. Just say you concede, and this matter will be over."

As Chen Mobai spoke, his right hand moved to the yellow gourd at his waist. Several Foundation Establishment cultivators from Pure Yang Academy, though their faces showed fear, still stepped in front of Xiahou Weihuan.

"Senior Xiahou, if your arms aren't treated quickly, there might be lingering side effects," two students from the Supreme Medical Academy also tried to persuade him. After all, it was clear to everyone that Xiahou Weihuan was certainly no match for Chen Mobai, and further sparring would only bring more humiliation.

"I promised that if I lost, I would never use a sword again in this life. It just so happens that these two arms have been severed, which shows it's the will of Heaven." Xiahou Weihuan looked at the arms severed by Chen Mobai's Yuan Yang Sword Qi, unexpectedly shook his head, and without even glancing at his own Wuyang Sword, he turned and left the island in the lake.

"Senior..." The chief disciple of Pure Yang Academy immediately led his people to chase after him, but Xiahou Weihuan moved faster, disappearing at the edge of the lake in an instant.

"He's quite a man, after all," Lou Fengcheng, who had just recovered some of his vitality, said with a hoarse voice from the platform of the Heaven-Mending Daoist Academy.

"What a pity," Tao Mingqing said with great incomprehension, looking in the direction where Xiahou Weihuan had disappeared. "With his arms crippled, the probability of him forming a Golden Core is estimated to drop by half. To throw all that away in a fit of pique over a mere sparring match is truly not worth it."

"You and I don't have such an obsession with victory or defeat, but Xiahou Weihuan is different," Fang Cunshu said. "His swordsmanship is built on strong conviction, and it's precisely this conviction that has allowed him to advance by leaps and bounds. If his conviction crumbles, his path in this life will also come to an end. By adhering to his oath, he has, on the contrary, preserved a shred of hope for forming a Golden Core."

Fang Cunshu was best at discerning opponents. During the time Lou Fengcheng was looking for Chen Mobai's weaknesses, he also didn't forget to observe those ranked above him on the Foundation Ranking, and Xiahou Weihuan, who had mastered Sword Qi, was naturally a key subject of his observation. Although Lou Fengcheng was not confident he could defeat Xiahou Weihuan, he had already understood about eighty to ninety percent of his swordsmanship. It was precisely for this reason that he, on the contrary, was the one who understood Xiahou Weihuan the most among those present.

"Why do some people always fail to see through something like empty fame?" Tao Mingqing became even more perplexed after hearing Lou Fengcheng's explanation and shook his head in disappointment. Wouldn't it be better to spend more time on breaking through cultivation realms, wait until forming a Golden Core and Nascent Soul in the future, ensure realm suppression, and then settle this score?

"There's one last match," Tao Mingqing said to Lou Fengcheng, gesturing with his chin towards Chen Mobai, who had just flown onto the platform of the Martial Arts Daoist Academy. "Do you favor Pei Qingshuang or him?"

"If it were before, I would definitely favor Pei Qingshuang."

"So, that means it's the opposite now." Lou Fengcheng sat weakly on the platform, glanced at Chen Mobai, and slowly nodded.

"Is the Qingxiao Sword a Tier 4 sword artifact?" Tao Mingqing said with a hint of disbelief.

"It's just my intuition."

"Intuition? Don't you Heaven-Mending Daoist Academy members rely on data for everything? Don't you disbelieve in vague things like intuition and inspiration the most?" Lou Fengcheng smiled faintly, then closed his eyes and drifted into slumber.

"President, you seemed to have been a bit heavy-handed," Zhuang Jialan said softly, hearing the shouts from the Heaven-Mending Daoist Academy's side, seeing Lou Fengcheng who had fainted onto Tao Mingqing, and the scene of two Supreme Medical Academy students rushing over with medical kits.

"I already held back," Chen Mobai replied. If this were in the Tianhe Realm, he would have surely scattered their ashes. Here in the Immortal Sect, he had been very restrained.

"However, it seems we've made quite an enemy of Pure Yang Academy this time," Sun Daoji remarked with emotion. As a Golden Core Dao Seed who had gone to experience the mysteries of the Realm Gate in the same batch, he was keenly aware of Xiahou Weihuan's formidable strength and believed he was no match. He had originally been wondering how to lose gracefully during this sparring match. Who knew that their own academy's chief disciple this year was a monster, who didn't even need their older senior brothers and sisters to make a move and had already dealt with all opponents.

"It's fine," Bian Jingchun said, looking completely unconcerned. "Our Martial Arts Daoist Academy has a stronger background and influence. Pure Yang can't afford to provoke us." The Four Great Daoist Academies were transcendent within the Immortal Sect. More than half of the Immortal Sect's top cultivators originated from these Daoist Academies. Unless Nangong Xuanyu formed a Nascent Soul, otherwise, a mere Pure Yang Academy would have no right to converse with the Martial Arts Daoist Academy as equals.

"I'm heading back first. See you on the last day." Chen Mobai looked at Lou Fengcheng, who was being carried away by the Supreme Medical Academy and the Heaven-Mending Daoist Academy. After confirming with his Void-Piercing Spiritual Eye that Lou Fengcheng had merely fainted due to excessive blood vitality consumption from the Sword Qi's burning, resulting in a lack of essence, he had no intention of staying there any longer.

"Okay. Oh, President," Zhuang Jialan suddenly remembered something, "Teacher Luo said to contact him if you have time. It seems he has something he needs to discuss with you."

"Doesn't he have my number...? It seems he really doesn't..." Chen Mobai muttered, remembering that he had indeed never asked for Luo Hezheng's number. Fortunately, Zhuang Jialan had it saved and forwarded it to Chen Mobai.

"Teacher Luo, I heard you were looking for me?""Yes," came the reply. "There's a spiritual herb that needs to be ripened using Pure Yang Fire spiritual energy. But it's not urgent. We can talk after your matches are over.""Okay."

The two quickly finished their conversation. Chen Mobai made a mental note of this matter, then returned to his alchemy room and mentioned it to Qing Nü.

"Ripening spiritual herbs? Could it be that they want you to ripen Fire Ganoderma in the Medicine Realm?"

Chen Mobai had heard of Fire Ganoderma; it was one of the easiest spiritual plants to cultivate in the Immortal Sect, with ganoderma of tiers one through four available. But ordinary people could at most cultivate it to Tier Two, while Tier Three and above were only available from the major pharmaceutical factories.

"The Six Great Pharmaceutical Factories all have minor realms left behind by Soul Transformation True Monarchs serving as their medicinal fields. In our alchemy profession, we generally refer to them as Medicine Realms," Qing Nü explained. "Jumang Daoist Academy's Medicine Realm is called the Azure Nether Minor Realm, and your Martial Arts Daoist Academy's is the Jade Peace Minor Realm. Spiritual herbs in the Immortal Sect that are over a thousand years old are basically all cultivated within the Six Great Medicine Realms."

Chen Mobai had never heard of this knowledge before and couldn't help but marvel. No wonder there were only Six Great Pharmaceutical Factories in the Immortal Sect; it turned out that they needed the support of a Medicine Realm behind them to develop into such large pharmaceutical factories.

"Can every Soul Transformation True Monarch create a minor realm? Then throughout the Immortal Sect's history, with so many Soul Transformation Grand Ancestors, shouldn't there be more than just six Medicine Realms?"

"That, I don't know," Qing Nü shook her head, indicating that these matters were beyond her scope of knowledge. "Perhaps other minor realms contain things even more precious than thousand-year-old spiritual herbs."

On the Immortal Sect's side, due to possessing the supreme treasure, the Realm Gate, their research into void power was extremely profound. Golden Core cultivators could possess a domain, Nascent Soul Venerables could transform their domains into territories, with a vastness of scope reportedly large enough to accommodate any of the Immortal Sect's Grand Grotto-Heavens. It was precisely for this reason that the domains of Nascent Soul Venerables were called Grotto-Heavens. As for Soul Transformation True Monarchs, they were even more extraordinary; their domain grotto-heavens had evolved to the extreme, reportedly no different from a minor realm.

"Oh, by the way, I heard my mentor say that the director has ordered our alchemy department to refine Enlightenment Tea, which might be the reward for the first-place winner of this sparring competition."

"Enlightenment Tea? What is that?" In alchemy, Chen Mobai had long received help from Qing Nü and Wang Xingyu, so he didn't know much about finished pills and spiritual liquids. He had specifically studied medicinal herbs, but only to find their equivalents in the Tianhe Realm.

"Do you remember the 'Spirit Awakening Enlightenment Pill'?"

"Of course, I remember. It's unforgettable." Chen Mobai would never forget this divine pill that allowed him to overcome countless difficulties and become a genius. To be honest, if it weren't for this pill helping him comprehend the Critical Method, he might not have even established his Foundation by now.

"The Spirit Awakening Enlightenment Pill is only useful for Qi Condensation cultivators," Qing Nü explained. "Enlightenment Tea is like an upgraded version of the Spirit Awakening Enlightenment Pill, effective for Foundation Establishment cultivators."

After hearing Qing Nü's words, Chen Mobai, who had originally felt a bit tired of the sparring, instantly perked up. "How long does the Enlightenment Tea's effect last?"

"Three days."

After hearing this, Chen Mobai was already mentally arranging the sequence of cultivation techniques he needed to comprehend. The effect of the last Spirit Awakening Enlightenment Pill was a bit wasted; this time, he would definitely make perfect use of the Enlightenment Tea's three days of enlightened time. The Pure Yang Scroll, the Puppet Factory, the content of a Tier 3 Talisman Master, the Myriad Law Body, and the path beyond 'A Single Sword Creates Myriad Laws'... If arranged like this, perhaps three days would not be enough at all.

"Your Daoist Academy is too stingy," Chen Mobai complained, "can't you give out more of this Enlightenment Tea?"

Chen Mobai's words made Qing Nü roll her eyes, and she began to explain to him how precious the raw materials for Enlightenment Tea were. "It requires the leaves of a Great Toon Tree to be stir-fried using a special method, then cold-brewed with Rejuvenation Dew, and after forty-nine intricate steps, with countless alchemists watching over it day and night, can one pot of Enlightenment Tea be brewed."

"One pot? Just three days?"

"Those three days are definitely for a single sip of tea; do you really think they'd give you a whole pot of Enlightenment Tea? If consumed over a long period, this item can permanently increase one's comprehension. It's usually supplied exclusively to the Immortal Sect's Three Great Hall Masters. Any surplus is reserved by other Venerables."

After hearing Qing Nü's explanation, Chen Mobai realized that Enlightenment Tea was something only Nascent Soul Venerables could drink. As for Foundation Establishment cultivators drinking Enlightenment Tea, it meant they either had profound connections, or profound connections.

"It's said that Senior Wenren comprehended the mysteries of the Evergreen Art and mastered this Soul Transformation Grand Art, only after drinking three sips of Enlightenment Tea. The reason Pei Qingshuang was able to commune with the Qingxiao Sword was also due to Enlightenment Tea." When Qing Nü said this, her tone carried a hint of longing. This item could be said to be one of the most heaven-defying elixirs of Jumang Daoist Academy, and its annual production was limited. After the Immortal Sect's Nascent Soul Venerables took their share, there was basically none left.

"Are there any special precautions to take when consuming Enlightenment Tea?" Chen Mobai had already mentally claimed this prize as his own.

"Just find a quiet, undisturbed place to consume it. Enlightenment Tea also has the effect of enhancing spiritual sense. At that time, pay attention so you don't waste its medicinal power." Qing Nü had also learned about Enlightenment Tea when she had first received the Spirit Awakening Enlightenment Pill.

"Oh, by the way, besides Enlightenment Tea, are there any other rewards?"

"Second place seems to be a Great Toon Flower, and third place is a pot of Rejuvenation Dew." Chen Mobai still didn't understand the effects of these two prizes, so he continued to ask Qing Nü.

"A Great Toon Flower, when refined into one's Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness, can stabilize the mind. It can effectively block spiritual sense backlash and similar issues, and can also suppress inner demons, among other things."

"That's a good item too," Chen Mobai's face was filled with emotion after hearing this.

Rejuvenation Dew was a spiritual liquid that increased spiritual sense. Its effect was similar to Clear-Eyed Bamboo Spirit Dew, but its effect was more focused. Besides cultivators in the late Foundation Establishment stage, it was even effective for cultivators in the early Golden Core stage.

He wanted them all.

With this thought in mind, Chen Mobai spent two days in the alchemy room.

When he arrived at the island in the lake, Pei Qingshuang had surprisingly not yet arrived. Chen Mobai frowned slightly, as he intended to finish the match quickly. However, since it was still early morning, he could only wait. Who knew that he waited until almost evening, but Pei Qingshuang still hadn't arrived.

Without Chen Mobai needing to say anything, the other Foundation Establishment cultivators who had waited all day had already begun to discuss animatedly.

"Today is the last day. Could it be that Senior Sister Pei hasn't yet awakened the Qingxiao Sword?"