Chapter 96: Luo Feng, the Proper Disciple (First Update)

The Five Peaks of the Grand Second Sect corresponded in secret to the five elements; the northern Black Tortoise belonged to water.

The northern peak, where the outer disciples lived, was rich in water qi and brimming with spiritual energy, making it well suited to water-based cultivation arts.

The sect rules of the Grand Second Sect were strict and orderly, but even so, word of this could still be learned.

After all, all of them belonged to the Seven Sects of Profound Origin, and some understanding of one another was only natural.

This was one of the pieces of intelligence Luo Feng had gathered.

Because the northern peak belonged to water, and because Luo Feng possessed the talent of Hai Ruyu, the technique he had chosen was the Marvelous Water True Scripture.

Cause and effect could not be reversed.

One step ahead meant every step ahead.

Back in his room, Luo Feng decided to begin secluded cultivation. After tidying up, he carved a long rectangular wooden plaque.

Upon it, he engraved five large words: Cultivating, do not disturb.

After hanging it up, Luo Feng instinctively prepared to lay out a formation, three layers within, three layers without, large rings nested within small rings, small rings nested within large rings.

Just as he was about to channel spiritual energy, his slender, pale fingers paused.

The elaborate rune-and-formation array he had intended to draw was changed into a simple trapping formation.

Runes and formations were interconnected, each the foundation of the other.

If one regarded a single rune as a value, then a formation was a mathematical problem.

Ordinary formation-breaking was a matter of argument and solution, like obediently solving a problem in an exam hall.

What the world often called brute force overcoming all techniques was, here, tearing up the test paper, upending the examination hall, and then, with uncanny understanding, pinning down the teacher who had set the paper, the cultivator presiding over the formation, and grinding him into the ground again and again.

As the friend of the pseudo-Transcendent Talisman Zheng Zibu, the true Pangu Exalted Zheng Zha, Luo Feng had picked up a little talisman knowledge by ear and also knew a little about formations.

In this cold and perilous primordial world, where human hearts were treacherous, only layers upon layers of formations and endless runes could bring Luo Feng a trace of warmth.

But things were different now.

What Luo Feng could do, Luo Tianyi could not.

A slight point of the finger gradually altered the structure of the formation. To make a comparison, it was like simplifying geometry, algebra, and analysis directly into addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Gazing at the crude glass orb of light that protected the surroundings, Luo Feng nodded in satisfaction.

This was the proper level of an ordinary disciple.

I, Luo Feng, am merely a foundation-building novice.

Weak, pitiful, helpless, and still able to eat.

Day after day, year after year.

Aside from the time spent diving for water and chopping firewood, Luo Feng refined his cultivation every day and deepened his understanding of the Marvelous Water True Scripture.

Now and then, he would spare some time to attend gatherings hosted by Daoist Swiftwind, keeping a low profile and never making himself known.

As time passed, more and more disciples stepped onto the path of cultivation.

The advantage once held by the three itinerant cultivators gradually faded.

By then, many disciples knew there was such a person as Luo Feng. When his name was mentioned, they would say with sudden realization, "Oh, him. We have met and spoken before; he counts as a fellow disciple, someone familiar enough."

But if one looked closely, not a single person knew where Luo Feng came from, how old he was, what kind of character he had, and so on.

The only thing that became increasingly obvious was his ever-deepening foundation-building cultivation.

Three years later, Luo Feng sat atop a slab of green stone, gazing at the great golden crow of the sun. As he breathed in and out, violet qi rose in billowing waves.

The violet qi transformed into liquid and flowed into his dantian, becoming a single drop of water in the lake.

Luo Feng lowered his gaze to the bridge of his nose, his mind sinking into the center of the lake, like a water deity summoning power from all directions.

Unlike before, when he would take in a sliver of violet qi and leave at once, Luo Feng remained seated on the green stone at the cliff for several hours, until the sun had climbed directly overhead.

Yang qi was at its peak and beginning to wane; yin qi, though weak, was growing anew.

"Water, come!"

Luo Feng suddenly opened his eyes and gave a low cry.

The water qi of the cliffside lake, the mist-like water qi of the void, and the blood-water qi within the human body all drifted upward. The three colors of profound, yellow, and red merged into one, finally becoming a strand of Marvelous Water True Spirit Profound Qi.

Daoist cultivation was all about refining qi, and the reason the Marvelous Water True Scripture could prolong life was precisely because the qi it produced was profound beyond reckoning, wondrous in its transformative effects.

A single strand of Marvelous Water True Spirit Profound Qi served as the basis for foundation building.

It formed a towering platform to immortality, one step at a time, until he set foot upon the heavenly gate.

The Marvelous Water True Spirit Profound Qi took on the color of dark water. It spun above his head for a long while before finally surging into his spiritual platform, then streaming downward straight into his dantian.

Its many mysteries stirred a reaction in the spiritual energy, and a dense mist enveloped Luo Feng’s surroundings.

At last the profound qi entered his body. Only the sound of breathing remained as the cliff changed color and the clouds and mist dispersed.

Luo Feng looked into the distance and flicked his finger. At once, a water sword shot out, flying seven or eight zhang away.

Seeing this, Luo Feng smiled with delight and said, "After three years of bitter cultivation, I have finally refined my foundation and achieved Marvelous Water Foundation Building!"

"By that count, I should also have a hundred merit points."

He took out the jade tablet issued by the Law Net and swept it with his divine sense. Indeed, there were one hundred merit points.

The Grand Second Sect restricted outer disciples from descending the mountain, and the sources of merit points were limited to only a few channels. One of them was a reward for breakthroughs in cultivation.

Luo Feng’s refinement of his foundation was equivalent to a mortal’s foundation building.

After putting away the jade tablet and carrying his newly completed, light and buoyant body, he strode toward another tall building on the northern peak.

The Miscellaneous Affairs Pavilion collected all kinds of pills, magical tools, and talismans, which could be exchanged for merit points. Conversely, merit points could also be exchanged there.

Few disciples would trade for merit points, because the Miscellaneous Affairs Pavilion was truly dark in its dealings.

One merit point could be exchanged for one Breath-Refining Pill; three Breath-Refining Pills could be exchanged for one merit point.

A full threefold profit.

Unlike the Scripture Library, the Miscellaneous Affairs Pavilion had a disciple stationed to guard it.

Luo Feng stepped through the door and, without further words, bowed. "Greetings, Senior Brother. This junior brother has come to exchange for a Yellow Turban Warrior."

The guarding disciple lifted his head and studied Luo Feng for a while. Seeing the fluctuations of spiritual energy around him and the gathering of water qi, he could not help but suddenly understand.

"So Junior Brother has succeeded in foundation building, then. Congratulations, congratulations indeed."

"Please register, Junior Brother."

Luo Feng nodded and handed over his identity jade tablet.

The guarding disciple placed the tablet upon a piece of colored glaze, where the number one hundred merit points appeared.

After a brief operation, a flash of light passed, and the merit points instantly dropped by half, becoming fifty.

Returning the jade tablet to Luo Feng, the guarding disciple seemed somewhat bored and could not help but chatter on.

"You new disciples have it easy. There are still many senior brothers from a hundred years ago around, so someone can guide you."

"In our batch back then, most of the previous generation of senior brothers were already in secluded cultivation or had passed on. No one guided us."

"We foolishly spent years fetching water and chopping firewood, and only after a chief spirit-soul attendant pointed it out did we learn there was such a thing as Yellow Turban Warriors."

His tone was filled with the weariness of old tales long past telling.

Luo Feng gave him a compliment. "It was all thanks to the senior brothers' generous guidance that we learned the first thing to exchange for after foundation building is a Yellow Turban Warrior."

The guarding disciple nodded in approval. "Not bad, not bad. Fetching water and chopping firewood is good tempering for mortals, but once one steps onto the path of immortality, it becomes a real nuisance and wastes cultivation time."

The two chatted a while longer, and Luo Feng learned quite a bit of intelligence from him.

After bowing once more, Luo Feng drifted away.

With a Yellow Turban Warrior as his tool, this time he intended to go into a long period of seclusion.

After Luo Feng had truly departed, the guarding disciple suddenly stood up and gazed northward, murmuring softly, "Three years now. I took on twenty-four different identities to get close to him, and yet I found not the slightest trace of anything unusual."

"Could it be that I was truly overthinking it?"

After a moment of thought, his eyes flashed with brilliance.

No, it still needed one more test.

What is the very first move of a domineering hero entering a sect to slap faces and show off?

Naturally, it is the classic innocent and sweet little junior sister, and the vicious senior brother.

Back in his room, Luo Feng reviewed the three hundred strands of divine sense hidden within the Miscellaneous Affairs Pavilion.

A cold smile appeared in his heart.

I knew you had a problem!

There are seventy-eight suspects, and twenty-three have already been found.

A recommendation from across the ocean, just off the plane.

I recommend a book called Cultivation Begins with Drilling Wood to Make Fire. It feels pretty good, not the dark-path style of cultivation, more of an old-fashioned flavor, somewhat like a game of rotten chess.

A friendly recommendation: My Master Is Kind of Strong, What Do I Do About How Handsome He Is? and Returning to the Ming Dynasty to Become a Foolish Emperor. They are all full of girls, girl-centric male fiction.

Another friendly recommendation: Chronicle of Survival on a Desert Island.

This chapter ends.