Chapter 76: One Yuan True Lord

After Yan Bingxuan finished her demonstration, she casually took a cup of coffee and left.

Chen Mobai walked her to the entrance of the cultivation gym. Thinking that two hours shouldn't be wasted, he returned to the spell practice area and began practicing the Ice Spell according to the key points she had explained.

With Yan Bingxuan's spiritual energy transfer and his firsthand experience, he now understood how to convert Five Elements Art spiritual energy into ice spiritual energy. The only remaining challenge was to grasp the precise moment when the ice spiritual energy fully formed.

Even though he understood the crucial points, mastering the subtle timing to unleash the Frost Breath just before it fully materialized still required continuous diligent practice. Releasing it too quickly would cause frostbite to his internal pathways; too slowly, and it wouldn't achieve the freezing effect.

After over an hour of intense practice, Chen Mobai returned home feeling hoarse and almost unable to speak. On his way home, he bought a supply of pear syrup from a large pharmacy. After mixing half a bottle with warm water, he drank it all in one go. The next day, his throat felt a little better.

When he went outside, sure enough, there was a huge package. The owner of the Wood Spirit Talisman Shop had sent it via same-city express delivery. When Chen Mobai opened it, he saw four to five hundred talismans, neatly sorted by type into transparent plastic boxes, which made him admire the shopkeeper's meticulousness.

He placed the mid- and low-tier talismans into his backpack, then carefully put the eleven high-grade Tier 1 talismans into the inner chest pocket of his ancient-style outfit. Finally, Chen Mobai's gaze fell upon the single sealed talisman.

It was a low-grade Tier 2 Yimu Divine Thunder Talisman!

This single talisman was worth 50,000 Merit Points, making it the most expensive item he had purchased since becoming wealthy.

Opening the instruction manual the shopkeeper had included, Chen Mobai read it carefully, word by word. The "Yimu Divine Thunder Talisman" was activated like any other talisman, though it required slightly more spiritual energy for Qi Cultivators. The shopkeeper had conducted tests, showing that a Qi Cultivator at the seventh level would expend nearly half of their spiritual energy to activate it.

Chen Mobai was already aware of this, as it had been mentioned in the product description. To be safe, he had also purchased five Recovery Talismans, ensuring he wouldn't run out of spiritual energy during combat and be left vulnerable. Carefully placing the sealed "Yimu Divine Thunder Talisman" into a pocket inside his sleeve, Chen Mobai felt a significant increase in his sense of security.

He called his mother and told her he had bought a monthly pass for the cultivation gym. He explained that for the foreseeable future, he would be spending every day there with some ambitious classmates, honing his spellcasting skills. Tang Pancui knew that this year's entrance exam for the Daoist Academy would involve combat, so she naturally strongly supported her son's decision. She even transferred 1,000 Merit Points to him, telling him not to be frugal. Chen Mobai immediately declined the transfer, knowing that his family was currently struggling financially. He told his mother that the gym's monthly pass covered food, accommodation, and showers, so no extra Merit Points were needed.

Once everything was prepared, he carried his backpack, filled with talismans and spirit medicines, and teleported to the Celestial River Realm. Amidst a flash of silver light, Chen Mobai opened his eyes, saw the familiar wooden walls of the cabin, and let out a soft sigh of relief. The Turtle Treasure, as he had previously tested, indeed anchored the return point for his next teleportation to wherever he had returned to the city from. Although the rule was simple, this was Chen Mobai's first time teleporting back in a populated area, so he was still a bit nervous, fearing he might draw attention. He stepped out and looked around. His cheapest, low-lying feng shui treasure land was still only occupied by him, which put his mind at ease.

In the following days, Chen Mobai simultaneously practiced the Ice Spell, set up a stall on Qingguang Island to sell talismans, and inquired about which directional beast in Yunmeng Marsh would be best for him to practice against. Thanks to the cultivators' discerning appreciation for talismans here, his business was excellent. Low-grade Tier 1 talismans, which cost 200 taels of gold in Nanxi Market, sold for 300 taels here. Mid-grade Tier 1 Green Arrow Talismans and Wood Armor Talismans also sold for 2,000 taels of gold.

As for the high-grade Tier 1 talismans, he decided not to sell them for now. After all, his booming business was already attracting attention from competitors in the market. He intended to first focus on the mid- and low-tier market, as these talismans were traded with gold, and most Qi Cultivators with significant backgrounds rarely bothered with such small earnings.

While at his stall, Chen Mobai wrote the name and price of each talisman on a piece of cloth, then sat on a small stool he had made from a wooden block. When customers came to ask about prices, he would simply point to the cloth, then gesture to his throat and cough twice, indicating that his voice was injured and he couldn't speak.

In this way, he simultaneously drank pear syrup to soothe his frostbitten throat and read the "Record of the Dragon Tamer of Yunmeng Great River, True Monarch Yiyuan," a small book Lu Shu had given him. It was a palm-sized book, specifically meant for passing the time. It recounted the story of True Monarch Yiyuan, the last perfected Soul Transformation cultivator in the Celestial River Realm to ascend to the upper realms in the past ten thousand years. The cultivation world of the Celestial River Realm now used the Yiyuan Era as its calendar. The year True Monarch Yiyuan ascended was designated as the first year of the Yiyuan Era, and it had been exactly 6,478 years since then. Before this True Monarch, Yunmeng Marsh was not the vast expanse of water it is today; it was a continuous range of mountains known as the "Yunmeng Great River," a spirit land nearly at Tier 6.

At that time, the Yunmeng Great River was occupied by a Tier 5 Yellow Dragon demonic beast. This demonic beast not only possessed true dragon bloodline but was also at the Soul Transformation level. Even if a Soul Transformation cultivator of the same realm fought it, they would almost certainly lose. During his Qi Cultivation stage, True Monarch Yiyuan was training in the Yunmeng Great River. Witnessing humans being ravaged by demonic beast slaves, he angrily intervened but was gravely wounded. Fortunately, he stumbled into an ancient cultivator's ruins and gained an immense fortuitous opportunity.

A millennium later, True Monarch Yiyuan, having perfected his Soul Transformation cultivation, single-handedly wielded his sword and entered the Yunmeng Great River before his tribulation and ascension. After slaying eighteen Tier 4 Nascent Soul demonic beasts, he battled the Yellow Dragon Demonic Lord for seven days and seven nights, shattering the Yunmeng Great River into a vast expanse of water. He then, at great personal cost to his vital energy, performed a heaven-defying immortal technique to subdue the Tier 5 demonic beast, finally ascending to the upper realms while riding the dragon.

The small book Lu Shu gave Chen Mobai recounted this very story. After reading it, Chen Mobai had only one thought. He absolutely could not let the Celestial River Realm know about the existence of the Terrestrial Star.

Throughout the history of the Terrestrial Star, while many Soul Transformation Patriarchs had appeared, none had ever had a detailed record of ascension. At most, they cultivated to the extreme and went to explore the boundless, vast starry void. In comparison, although the Immortal Sect had two Soul Transformation Patriarchs presiding over it, its overall strength might be inferior to that of the Celestial River Realm.

Unfortunately, there were no books sold in the market introducing cultivation worlds beyond the Eastern Wilderness. It was said that such information was only available among the Seven Great Sects and major merchant associations. Chen Mobai could only lament how backward information dissemination was in this world. If he were on the Terrestrial Star, he could simply move a finger and know how high the sky was, how thick the earth was, and the full territorial extent of the Immortal Sect.