Chapter 72: Blackwater System

Inside the wooden house, Chen Mobai gazed at the Blackwater he had purchased, which had cost him all his savings, and was filled with emotion. If he hadn't needed it urgently, he would never have spent so many spirit stones. He hoped the results would be satisfactory. He opened the bottle. A cool mist rose, and looking inside, he saw that despite its name, "Blackwater," it was remarkably clear and had a faint medicinal scent. As a major sect in the Eastern Desolation, the Divine Wood Sect's products were at least guaranteed in terms of quality.

Chen Mobai activated "Water Manipulation Art," and the Blackwater in the bottle began to form a thin stream, like a string of pearls, descending above his palm. After his conversation with Lu Shu, he understood the origin of the Blackwater Cultivation Method. It was one of the seven Qi cultivation methods of the Five Elements Sect's Water Vein, capable of being cultivated up to the Core Formation realm. While not the most powerful cultivation method of the Water Vein, it was still one of the well-known water-element cultivation methods in the Eastern Desolation. The core of this method lay in the refinement of "Blackwater." Subsequent spell advancements, and even the creation of a Natal Artifact, all involved the continuous progression of this "Blackwater."

Chen Mobai naturally had no intention of switching to this cultivation method, but he found its spell system construction quite fascinating. In the Heavenly River Realm, due to the collapse of propriety and music and the widespread chaos, cultivators frequently engaged in combat. Therefore, the cultivation methods here primarily focused on breaking through realms and establishing spell and artifact systems that could enhance combat abilities. The Blackwater Cultivation Method was a typical Heavenly River Realm method: "Water Manipulation Art" served as its foundation, followed by the core "Blackwater." Once the Blackwater was refined, it led to the defensive "Water Elemental Shield," then the offensive "Ice Manipulation Art," and finally the "Yang Water Lightning Art," which could advance to a third-tier spell. All these spells were developed based on Blackwater.

Chen Mobai began to activate the "Water Elemental Shield." The Blackwater in his palm spread out and, according to his will, floated into the middle of the room, forming a water wall as thin as a cicada's wing. Compared to the Immortal Sect's basic "Spiritual Energy Shield" spell, the Water Elemental Shield was far more flexible. The Spiritual Energy Shield involved releasing all of one's spiritual energy at once, forming an impenetrable protective barrier around the entire body. However, this spell had obvious drawbacks: after use, all spiritual energy was depleted, making it very wasteful. This was a defensive spell mandated by the Immortal Sect for everyone to cultivate, primarily to save lives in emergencies like accidents. The Spiritual Energy Shield's pros and cons were very clear. The Water Elemental Shield, on the other hand, worked differently. It involved manipulating the Blackwater in the bottle; by simply directing his thoughts and discerning the opponent's attack method, he could preemptively position all defensive power along the incoming attack's path. If the "Spiritual Energy Shield" was a full-body, no-brainer defense, then the "Water Elemental Shield" was a pre-emptive, predictive defense, and its spiritual energy consumption was only one percent of the former.

This meant that to effectively use the "Water Elemental Shield," Chen Mobai still needed to improve his combat skills. He took out his needle case, preparing to test the Water Elemental Shield's defensive power. Fortunately, he had cultivated divine sense, allowing him to easily multitask. With a "whoosh," a yellow flying needle, propelled by the needle case's magnetic repulsion, shot out like a bullet and pierced the Water Elemental Shield that Chen Mobai had deployed in front of a wooden house pillar. The faint, semi-transparent water wall, under the sharp impact of the flying needle, behaved like an elastic gel. It yielded to form the needle's sharp shape but, with his continuous spiritual energy infusion, never ruptured. Instead, it trapped the flying needle within the water wall. *Clink!* Once the magnetic force on the flying needle was exhausted, it lost all momentum and dropped to the ground with a crisp sound. Chen Mobai nodded in satisfaction, looking at the water wall, which was perfectly intact, merely deformed into the shape of the needle tip.

Now with the needle case for offense and the Water Elemental Shield for defense, he figured exploring the fringes of the Cloud Dream Marsh shouldn't pose much danger. With this thought, he proceeded to test the Water Elemental Shield's defensive limits while also pushing the needle case's offensive capabilities. After reaching the late Qi Cultivation stage, this artifact was now effortless for him to fully control. Half an hour later, Chen Mobai, now fully aware of the needle case's and Water Elemental Shield's power, put both items away. The twelve flying needles scattered throughout the wooden house, like swallows returning to their nest, clinked and clattered back into the case's internal space, drawn by its magnetic pull. The Blackwater, manipulated by the Water Manipulation Art, flowed back into the jade bottle like a string of water beads.

According to Liu Zengpei's cultivation notes, "Blackwater" also had usage limitations. Typically, after the Water Elemental Shield was used over a hundred times, the medicinal spiritual energy infused within it would be excessively consumed, requiring re-refinement, extraction, and blending; otherwise, its effectiveness would become unreliable. After meditating for a while and recovering his depleted spiritual energy, Chen Mobai began practicing "Ice Manipulation Art." This spell also required Blackwater. Using Water Manipulation Art, he could shape the Blackwater into any desired form, then condense his spiritual energy into a breath of ice, freezing the Blackwater. This could be used to form an ice wall for defense, an ice blade for attack, or even ice arrows for shooting, making it very versatile.

However, this spell consumed "Blackwater" much faster than the Water Elemental Shield. Generally, after about twenty cycles of freezing and melting, the Blackwater would need to be re-blended. Chen Mobai had just bought this bottle of Blackwater, and using it for Ice Manipulation Art practice felt a bit wasteful. Nevertheless, to improve his combat proficiency, mastering this spell was essential. At worst, he would just have to work harder and sell some more talismans here later.

Following Liu Zengpei's cultivation notes, he drew spiritual energy from his dantian and began to exhale from the Twelve-Story Pagoda region. With a "whoosh," a stream of air shot from his mouth, landing on the Blackwater that he had shaped into a rod using Water Manipulation Art. Then, nothing happened! He had failed. With a sigh, Chen Mobai felt he truly had no talent for spells. He had been practicing this breath of ice ever since breaking through to the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation, but it had consistently yielded no results. Forget about solidifying water into ice; he hadn't even seen a hint of frost.

However, he also complained that the spell descriptions in the Heavenly River Realm weren't detailed enough. If only they were like the teachers at the Earth Star school, who not only provided diagrams and illustrated spiritual energy flow lines through meridians but also offered detailed video explanations, would he still be unable to master this Ice Manipulation Art? Just then, his phone alarm rang, reminding Chen Mobai that it was time to return home. He turned off the alarm and, from the wooden house on Qingguang Island in Cloud Dream Marsh, clicked "return to city." "I still need to buy more talismans. Luckily, I have some money now. It's a shame I missed out on that 'Profound Yang Purple Fire Talisman' last time; the Pure Yang Academy is too stingy, only releasing a hundred of them." Back in his room, Chen Mobai muttered to himself as he began to wash up and change clothes. Today was the class farewell dinner.