SWDnovel Chapter 30: A Mixed Bag
Chapter 30: A Mixed Bag
Three days after the successful experiment, Shen Moqi finally calmed down from her euphoria and began to seriously examine the new problem before her.
The absorption problem was solved—no, it should be said that a solution was found. By simply using Earth Shield Technique to condense an arc-shaped channel and blowing a breath towards the opening, the surrounding spiritual energy would be drawn in by an invisible hand, rushing wildly into the Baihui acupoint and instantly filling the meridians. The entire process took less than two breaths, many times faster than the spiritual energy he used to absorb while meditating.
However, over the past three days, he has been spitting out blood every time he absorbs spiritual energy, a warning from his meridians. Furthermore, even if his meridians can withstand it, spitting out blood like this for a long time will deplete his blood and energy.
Moreover, the problem of slow spiritual energy refining still exists.
A spiritual root possessing all five elements requires refining spiritual energy five times to differentiate it into five attributes. Previously, absorption and refinement were slow, so the entire process was balanced. Now, absorption is faster, but refinement can't keep up. If refinement can't keep up, the spiritual energy remains in the meridians, which will damage the meridians over time.
Now, the spiritual energy absorbed by him in one "blow" takes him seven or eight hours to refine and convert into his own use.
Seven or eight hours. There are only twelve hours in a day.
He calculated that, excluding sleep, he needed to continuously refine spiritual energy throughout the day. Fortunately, refining spiritual energy did not require entering a meditative state; he only needed to devote a portion of his mind to it. Therefore, he could refine spiritual energy while on duty in the Scripture Pavilion, practicing swordsmanship, footwork, and spells. Otherwise, he would not be able to do anything.
So he adjusted his strategy—absorbing spiritual energy once a day after waking up, then devoting part of his mind to refining the spiritual energy, and otherwise doing the same thing as usual: going to the Scripture Pavilion to be on duty, photographing the contents of the books, returning to his residence to charge his phone, having Xiao Jiu organize the data, and practicing swordsmanship, footwork, and magic.
This way, the cultivation speed is more than three times faster than before—after all, the absorption was slow before, but now there's no need to worry about absorption; you can just keep refining. Before, you would absorb spiritual energy and then refine it, but absorbing spiritual energy required entering a meditative state first, so after deducting time for sleeping, duty, and practicing swordsmanship, you could only use one or two hours a day for cultivation. Now, you can spend seven or eight hours cultivating.
But the cost is also considerable.
---
That morning, Shen Moqi looked in the mirror and was startled by her own complexion.
Pale. Not just ordinary pale, but the waxy white of someone who has lost too much blood; her lips were almost bloodless, and her eye sockets were slightly sunken.
"Is it that serious?" he muttered to himself.
For the past ten days or so since the experiment was successful, he has been spitting out a mouthful of blood every time he exhales to absorb it. Although the amount is small, after ten days, even an iron body can't withstand it. This morning, he absorbed it again, and this is what he looked like when he looked in the mirror.
He had long since figured out the reason for vomiting blood: the spiritual energy surged into his meridians too quickly, putting excessive pressure on the meridian walls and causing capillaries to rupture. It wasn't the tearing damage of a spiritual energy surge, but rather like a balloon being inflated too much, causing tiny cracks on its surface.
Fortunately, his meridians themselves were not damaged, and the tiny cracks healed quickly. But each time he vomited blood, he still felt like a part of his body had been hollowed out.
Although he knew that this method of improving cultivation by damaging his body was definitely wrong and unsustainable, the temptation to rapidly increase his cultivation was simply too great. He felt that these ten days or so were equivalent to more than a month of cultivation in the past. He felt that he had already advanced a third of the way to the second level of Qi Refining. This temptation was simply irresistible!
"I need to find a way to strengthen my meridians," he thought as he wiped his face. "If this continues, I'll vomit blood and die before I even break through to the third level of Qi Refining."
However, strengthening the meridians requires spiritual herbs—he's already run out of Purple Leaf Golden Thread Lotus, and he has none of the Cloud Bamboo Shoots, Nine-Hole Spirit Lotus, or Stone Milk. Ji Yao had mentioned before that these things are hard to find, and they might not even be available in the market.
"Let's hold on for a while and then figure out a solution." He sighed, patted his face to make himself look better, and then went out to the library.
---
The library remains deserted.
Shen Moqi was secretly photographing the contents of the books when he suddenly sensed someone entering the library. He immediately hid his phone and pretended to tidy up the bookshelves. He heard a familiar voice coming from the doorway.
"Junior Brother Shen!"
He turned around and saw Chen Ping stride in.
It had been almost two months since I last saw Chen Ping, and he looked quite different. His skin was a bit tanned, and he had a faint scar on his face, stretching from his left eyebrow to his cheekbone. Although it had healed, the mark was still there. He looked much more capable than before, and his eyes were more composed.
"Senior Brother Chen!" Shen Moqi went up to greet him, and the two looked each other over.
Then, almost simultaneously, they asked, "Where did you go after the second round of the competition?" "Where have you been for the past two months?"
As soon as they finished speaking, they both paused for a moment, then looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"Senior brother, you go first," Shen Moqi said with a smile, stepping aside.
Chen Ping didn't refuse and casually sat down on the chair next to him, asking first, "Why did you disappear after the second round of the competition? You didn't come to watch the third round either, and we couldn't find you in the Scripture Pavilion later. I thought something had happened to you."
Shen Moqi sat down opposite him and briefly recounted her experiences over the past few days—of course, omitting the part about solving the absorption problem using Bernoulli's principle. She only said that she had gone with Senior Lin to take care of some business, and because she left in a hurry, she didn't have time to tell him. After finishing the business, she encountered some problems while practicing the new cultivation technique, and it took her more than a month to recover from her injuries. She only recovered a few days ago.
After listening, Chen Ping's expression was somewhat complicated: "A mistake occurred during your cultivation? Your meridians were damaged? Are you better now?"
"It's all healed now." Shen Moqi waved her hand. "Let's not talk about me anymore. What about you, Senior Brother? What happened to this scar on you?"
Chen Ping touched the scar on his face and grinned, "I took on a sect mission and almost died out there."
Shen Moqi was taken aback: "What mission?"
"A demonic cultivator has appeared in Liang Kingdom, using the flesh and blood of mortals to refine blood pills." Chen Ping's face darkened. "The sect issued a mission with a reward of two hundred spirit stones. I accepted, along with three outer sect disciples and Senior Brother Xie from Liang Kingdom. Our mission is to intercept and kill this demonic cultivator and stop him from harming mortals."
Shen Moqi nodded and listened patiently to Chen Ping's narration.
"The five of us chased that demonic cultivator on the border of Liang Kingdom for over a month," Chen Ping said, his eyes darkening. "That demonic cultivator was also at the eighth level of Qi Refining, but his cultivation method was extremely wicked. He had a strong physique, strange techniques, was fast, and was also good at stealth. We surrounded him several times, but he always escaped. Finally, we intercepted him just before he entered the territory of the Demonic Sect."
"and then?"
"It was a tough battle," Chen Ping's voice lowered. "The five of us surrounded him, and he still managed to injure two of us. One of them was too badly wounded and couldn't hold on..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but Shen Moqi understood.
One person was lost.
"What did the sect say?" Shen Moqi asked after a moment of silence.
"Dead is dead. Every year, a sect loses a few people." Chen Ping took a deep breath. "The four of us who are left each received a reward of fifty spirit stones."
Fifty spirit stones! Shen Moqi thought of her monthly allowance of two spirit stones. Chen Ping's trip alone exceeded her allowance for two years, but this was earned at the cost of her life.
"It's just the death of a disciple, and the sect isn't saying anything at all?" Shen Moqi asked. "The sect isn't saying anything at all about the death of a disciple?"
"What explanation can there be? I accepted the mission myself, and I should have known there was a risk of death when I accepted it." Chen Ping's tone was somewhat low. "Besides, even if the sect wanted to give an explanation, where and to whom could they give an explanation? We disciples without families have no relatives or friends in the sect."
"Why did it take so long to chase them?" Shen Moqi could understand what Chen Ping was saying, but she also had a completely new understanding of the cruel reality of the cultivation world. However, it wasn't a good time to discuss it further, so she changed the subject. "More than a month, from Liang Kingdom to the border?"
Chen Ping glanced at him, seemingly considering how to answer. After a moment, he stood up, walked to the bookshelf next to him, casually picked up a book, flipped through it, and then turned back to say, "Why do you think I often come to the library to read these miscellaneous books?"
Shen Moqi did not respond.
"That's to understand these things." Chen Ping put the book back on the shelf. "The western border of Liang Kingdom is no longer suitable for mortals to live in. That's the domain of ferocious beasts, demonic beasts, and rogue cultivators. Further west is the territory of demonic cultivators. You wouldn't know these things without reading the book. That demonic cultivator took advantage of our unfamiliarity with the terrain and fled westward, hoping to drag us out until we couldn't catch up anymore."
He walked back, sat down again, and looked at Shen Moqi seriously: "While you're on duty in this Scripture Pavilion, don't just focus on cultivation. Read these books more often. Geography, customs, the distribution of power in different regions, the habits of demonic beasts, the origins of spiritual herbs—these things might save your life someday. Why do you think I was able to complete the mission? It's because I read a travelogue about the Liang Kingdom's border in the Scripture Pavilion beforehand. I knew there was a canyon to the west that was a necessary route, so I set up an ambush in advance."
Shen Moqi felt somewhat ashamed upon hearing this.
He hadn't actually read the books Chen Ping mentioned. But he had Xiao Jiu—his phone already contained information on thousands of books, mostly on identifying medicinal herbs and cultivation knowledge; he hadn't really paid much attention to geographical travelogues. But once he collected all the books on the first floor, he could ask Xiao Jiu anytime.
"Thank you for the reminder, senior brother." He cupped his hands in a gesture of respect. "I will pay more attention in the future."
Chen Ping nodded and said nothing more.
---
"By the way," Shen Moqi remembered what Chen Ping had mentioned about the sect's missions and asked, "Could you tell me about accepting missions, Senior Brother? I'm currently at the second level of Qi Refining, can I accept them?"
Chen Ping thought for a moment: "I can accept them, but very few. The missions in the Mission Hall are divided into levels, from low to high, corresponding to different cultivation levels. Most of the missions that can be accepted at the second level of Qi Refining are low-level missions such as gathering spirit herbs and patrolling the outer perimeter of the sect. The rewards are not high, only one or two spirit stones, so they are not very interesting."
"What cultivation level is most commonly accepted?"
"You've reached the fourth or fifth level of Qi Refining," Chen Ping said. "At this level, you can take on more missions—clearing out demonic beasts, escorting supplies, tracking down evil cultivators, and the rewards are higher. You should focus on your cultivation and raise your level. Then I'll take you on a few simple missions to familiarize yourself with the process."
"Then thank you in advance, Senior Brother."
"Don't mention it." Chen Ping stood up, patted his clothes, and said, "I have to go now. I just came to see you today. Take good care of your injuries and don't rush into cultivation. Your health is the most important thing."
Shen Moqi saw him to the door and watched him stride away.
Back in the library, he sat behind the counter, his mind racing with various thoughts.
The slow refining process hasn't been resolved yet, and the daily vomiting of blood problem must be addressed as soon as possible. Xiao Jiu definitely needs to memorize more of the geographical knowledge Chen Ping mentioned. But we still need to check out the Mission Hall; what if there are any suitable missions for us?
"The road ahead is still long." He sighed, picked up a book, and continued to photograph it.