Chapter 4: Return to the City

"What should I say when I call the police? That I was brought here by a turtle shell? That I was kidnapped? Or that I'm lost?"

Just as Chen Mobai nervously dialed the Immortal Sect Enforcement Department, something shocking happened.

His phone had no signal!

He couldn't make a call!

Even at the bottom of the deep sea, thousands of meters down on Yuan Star, there was still coverage from the Immortal Sect's Sky Star network.

Chen Mobai had even heard a fifth-rank formation master proudly state on TV that even during the world-founding wars two thousand years ago, Immortal Sect cultivators who ventured into the Abyss could still get a signal from Yuan Star, ensuring constant communication for every cultivator.

Where exactly was he?

Chen Mobai's face was filled with confusion.

He racked his brain, considering all his knowledge, and even explored every safe area of the water mansion, tapping every single brick on the floor.

But in the end, Chen Mobai could only slump onto the floor of the front hall, resigned.

He found no clues for his escape.

Just as he was about to accept his fate and begin meditating, a silver light suddenly illuminated his phone screen, catching his attention.

"Huh?"

He discovered a new app icon on his phone, one he had never downloaded before.

The icon was a dark green little turtle.

Below it was the app's name:

Turtle Treasure!

What was this?

Chen Mobai instinctively moved his finger to the app icon, intending to uninstall it; he didn't allow unknown apps on his phone.

Then, a red message popped up on the screen: "Cannot uninstall."

What was going on?

This phone was out of control!

Chen Mobai was about to angrily shut down and restart his phone when a thought suddenly struck him.

This Turtle Treasure... could it be... that turtle shell?!

He quickly tapped it, opening the app.

The action went smoothly, with no hitches.

It had a very simple homepage with only three function buttons: Teleport, Return to City, and Agent.

Chen Mobai was both surprised and delighted, yet still felt a hint of unease. He closed and reopened the Turtle Treasure app, and only after confirming there were no instructions did he, trembling slightly, tap "Return to City" based on his understanding.

"This process requires an eight-second channeling period. You must not be disturbed during this time. Please find a quiet location." This message appeared on the phone screen as he tapped the "Return to City" button.

As Chen Mobai was still pondering what might constitute a disturbance, a silver light suddenly flared, enveloping him completely. Then, like a helix, it tore open the void, carrying him away and causing him to vanish from the water mansion.

"I'm back already?"

After the silver light faded, Chen Mobai found himself standing in his room again, his hand resting precisely on the turtle shell.

With a whoosh.

He retracted his hand with lightning speed, then backed away to his bed and drew the treasure sword his father had bought him as a child from a scenic cavern attraction, which hung on the wall.

The sword gleamed, but it was a child's toy, only thirty centimeters long, purely for show.

The room remained silent for about two minutes.

Chen Mobai stared at the turtle shell. Just as he was wondering how to deal with it, the sound of the front door opening on the ground floor reached him.

It was his mother, back home.

The familiar sound of the door opening and closing told Chen Mobai who it was.

Since Chen Mobai had a "Cultivating" sign hanging on his door, his mother didn't come up to disturb him, but he still heard her familiar grumbling.

"This child, I told him to cultivate in the training room at the spiritual meridian's entrance, but he still prefers to hide in his own room..."

Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't go downstairs.

He gently sheathed the child-sized Demon-Subduing Sword he held, then used a lightness technique to land in front of the turtle shell, examining it closely.

***

The next day.

Chen Mobai, feeling listless, went downstairs, ate the carefully prepared breakfast amidst his mother's nagging, then hastily grabbed his backpack and caught the bus.

After morning self-study, a plainly dressed old man entered the classroom precisely on time.

"Good morning, Teacher Ding!"

After the students stood up and greeted him, Old Man Ding nodded calmly.

"Today, we will continue our lecture on the solidification of defensive spell forms..."

Immortal Sect textbooks divided all the content cultivators needed to learn into four main subjects.

These were Arts, Elixirs, Tools, and Formations!

These four main subjects were further subdivided into dozens of courses and specializations. For high school seniors, it was already time to choose one of these subjects as their main focus, establishing their future academic direction.

This was akin to the liberal arts and science divisions in high schools on Yuan Star before it entered the cultivation civilization.

However, now there were four cultivation subjects to choose from.

After all, to get into the major Daoist academies, besides the basic scores from the college entrance exam and cultivation level, there was also the final and most crucial element: the academy's own assessment.

Chen Mobai's class, specifically, had all chosen Arts as their main subject.

Chen Mobai didn't know why others chose it, but his own reason for selecting Arts was purely because it was the most economical.

The other subjects, whether Elixirs, Tools, or even Formations, required certain resources and merit points for practice and advancement.

Arts, on the other hand, was the most straightforward.

It boiled down to one word: practice!

Furthermore, Arts allowed for the progression to a Talisman Master, a profession with very promising earning potential among the hundred arts of cultivation in the later stages.

Chen Mobai had aspired to become a Talisman Master since childhood.

He had a familial foundation; his mother worked at a talisman paper factory. Being exposed to it from a young age, he had gained some insight, which would allow him to pick it up more quickly later on, leaving more time for cultivation.

Old Man Ding's name was Ding Jinglue, a cultivator of some renown in Danxia City.

In his youth, his aptitude was decent; he possessed a true spiritual root with three attributes, slightly better than Chen Mobai's.

His college entrance exam scores were average, and he barely managed to get into the local Danzhu Academy. However, his tenacious character led him to study diligently at Danzhu Academy for twenty years. He then passed the Ascension Assessment among the Ten Great Academies and was admitted exceptionally.

But his achievements came too late.

Even after entering Pure Yang Academy, cultivating to the peak of Qi Condensation before his sixty-year limit, and obtaining a Foundation Establishment secret method, he still failed to succeed.

After using up his one chance at Foundation Establishment at Pure Yang Academy, Ding Jinglue endured another twenty years, cultivating back to the peak of Qi Condensation. With great perseverance, he once again attempted to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

Unfortunately, fate was not on his side, and Ding Jinglue failed once more.

After two attempts, with all his potential exhausted, Ding Jinglue returned to his birthplace, Danxia City, and became a teacher.

Before Foundation Establishment, his mind was solely focused on cultivation. However, after settling back in his hometown, he found he had ample time to delve into the hundred arts of cultivation.

Among these, Ding Jinglue achieved profound mastery in the path of Arts, as it required no capital. However, his teaching skills were mediocre, and most students found his lectures tedious.

Usually, Chen Mobai wasn't very attentive either, but today was different.