Gou Zai Qingluo Cave Heaven Cultivation

night.

Zhou Baoqing sat cross-legged, focused his energy in his dantian, and smoothly completed a full cycle of breathing exercises, thus concluding his practice for the day.

He opened his eyes, his gaze naturally falling on a corner of the water.

The water rippled slightly, and a blue-scaled fish swam back and forth, making a splashing sound.

Hearing the noise, the water turtle cautiously shrank its head, only to stick it out again in a silly manner once the fish had swum away.

The little guy is quite interesting.

With a thought, Zhou Baoqing reached out and beckoned, and the little turtle fell into his palm.

Nourished by the blessed waters of this sacred land, the baby turtle has completely absorbed the yolk from its eggs, and its carapace has become hard and smooth, beginning to resemble a "mysterious tortoise."

I've heard that the Zhou Clan's main sect is located on Lingxi Island deep in the middle lake, and to get to the main sect's Lingxi Island, one must ride a huge old turtle across the rapids.

This old turtle was originally the overlord of this waterway, but because of its many evil deeds, it often capsized ferries in the river.

Later, an ancestor of the Zhou clan passed by, subdued it, removed its malevolent aura, and made it into the Zhou clan's spirit beast ferry.

Although my own cub is just a cub, it's not impossible for it to grow into such a huge creature.

It is well known that turtles are famous for their longevity; as long as they can survive, anything is possible.

Most importantly, this little guy met his "benefactor" and came to this blessed land.

I put the water turtle back into the water and watched it slowly paddling the raft without swimming away. It seemed a bit dazed, but its little eyes were unusually alert to any movement around it.

Zhou Baoqing smiled.

If this Xuan Shui Turtle can grow into a powerful spirit beast like the immortals, then I can be considered a master beast.

The future looks promising.

Now, the business of exchanging bait for money is taking shape, and my studies and self-cultivation are also on the right track. I just need to wait for the results of the small exams to be released, which will be the perfect ending to this stage.

The best is yet to come.

Zhou Baoqing stretched, escaped from the cave, and fell peacefully asleep.

The following afternoon.

Qingjin Hall.

The talisman assessment is over.

Zhou Baoqing had just finished packing his books and was about to leave when he heard a familiar, sweet voice calling out from behind him.

"Zhou Baoqing, wait for me!"

Zhou Baoqing thought to himself that things were going to get bad, and he was about to be caught by Su Wan again.

After each exam, the girl would take her scratch paper and go over the answers with him one by one, clearly considering him her biggest rival.

Girl, can you please not be so competitive!

Fortunately, he was prepared. He turned his gaze to Zhou Changping, who was standing to the side.

The latter understood immediately, his eyes resolute, and he stepped forward like a wall of flesh, blocking Su Wan.

Zhou Baoqing seized the opportunity and nimbly jumped out of the window, making his escape.

"Hey, don't run away!"

Su Wan stomped her feet in anger, but Zhou Changping blocked her way, so she had no choice but to turn around and look at Zhou Baoqing's desk.

There was still a piece of draft paper left on the table, covered with the solutions to the last three major talisman problems.

She read the draft carefully with delight.

At first, he was puzzled, then nodded, then became excited, then suddenly realized, and finally showed a slightly frustrated expression on his face.

She was indeed mediocre in the art of talismans. No matter how hard she tried, she was still far behind Zhou Baoqing, who was so adept at it!

…………

Having escaped Su Wan's clutches, it felt like the sky was high enough for birds to fly and the sea was wide enough for fish to leap; even the air they breathed felt fresher.

As Zhou Baoqing walked toward the talisman-making workshop, he thought about what happened at the market yesterday.

Yesterday, the fat stall owner used underhanded tactics, but fortunately, he reacted quickly and activated more than twenty Cleansing Talismans at once, neutralizing the weakened version of the Gentle Breeze Technique.

But what truly enabled him to obtain the Xuan Shui Turtle was the tall and imposing figure of Guard Qian.

Otherwise, if the fat stall owner really tries to cheat, he, a kid who hasn't even entered the Qi Refining stage yet, won't get the slightest advantage against the stall owner who is in the Qi Refining stage.

This made him realize that he was extremely lacking in protective measures.

Given that one's own cultivation still needs to be accumulated, there are currently only two ways to gain the ability to protect oneself.

First, one can quickly reach the Transformation Realm, at which point one can undergo a complete transformation like Senior Sister Liu, becoming as light as a swallow and a martial arts master in the eyes of ordinary people, at least able to run faster when encountering danger.

However, on the other hand, this skill is only good for bullying ordinary people. In front of a true Qi Refining cultivator, his martial arts skills are as weak as clay chickens and earthenware dogs, utterly vulnerable.

Unless he cultivates his body!

Zhou Baoqing then recalled the matter of the Green Snail's clone nourishing its bloodline.

Since feeding the snails eggshells every three days, the snails' shells have become visibly harder. This has manifested in Zhou Baoqing as his fingernails becoming stiffer, his hair becoming thicker and blacker, and his eyes becoming brighter and more piercing.

This shows that the path of "returning to nourish the body" is absolutely feasible.

Unfortunately, the little green snail is a carnivore and doesn't like to eat grass. It has no interest in Bingxinping and its progress is too slow by only eating eggshells.

Zhou Baoqing consulted ancient books, and the "Illustrated Compendium of Spiritual Creatures" states that snails and clams are born with the bloodline of the Jiaotu.

Jiaotu is one of the nine sons of the dragon. Although it has the bloodline of a true dragon, it is shaped like a snail and is fond of keeping things closed.

Many wealthy families particularly like to carve their images on the base of the door knocker of their main gate to guard the entrance and ward off evil spirits and disasters.

The other bloodline is the Mirage Dragon bloodline, which allows one to create illusions with their breath, such as mirages, and specializes in illusion magic.

Judging from Qingluo's current state, it has not yet shown any talent for illusion, so it is not currently under Zhou Baoqing's consideration.

If one can refine specific bloodline spiritual foods to help the Green Snail purify its bloodline, one can obtain terrifying physical benefits even without specifically embarking on the path of a body-refining cultivator.

Of course, this is on the premise of having a massive amount of spirit stones to support it.

This is another considerable expense.

Zhou Baoqing sighed. That was still a long way off. In the short term, the most practical thing to protect the Dao was external things, such as precious talismans.

The purification talisman is ultimately just a daily life talisman. Even if it is used in combination, compared with real magic, it is like a "trick" and does not pose any threat.

If the fat stall owner hadn't underestimated the situation and been more cautious, Zhou Baoqing wouldn't have been able to take advantage of him.

To truly have a deterrent effect, we need to create offensive talismans!

Originally, I only regarded this as a task assigned by Master Gan, but now it seems that it is also very necessary to make it a long-term research goal.

Passing through the purple-spotted bamboo forest, Zhou Baoqing pushed open the wooden door of the talisman-making workshop.

Upon entering, I saw Senior Brother Chen Xuan hunched over his desk, sucking on peanuts while furiously writing, his face filled with utter despair.

Clearly, he had gone too far in slacking off last time, and was caught by Master Gan and punished.

Zhou Baoqing put down his book box. Having just finished his exams today, he didn't plan to continue practicing the tedious runes. Instead, he intended to organize his thoughts on offensive runes.

He already understood the principle behind the Cleansing Talisman: it allows the spiritual runes to come into contact with external spiritual energy, creating a gentle breeze.

However, in fact, the natural spiritual energy in the cultivation world also has subtle distinctions of different attributes.

Just like air, there are clear and turbid types, as well as inert and violent types.

If a large quantity of a substance in the air that is extremely prone to reacting with spiritual runes were extracted and locked inside the talisman, could it unleash extremely powerful destructive force instantly once the balance is broken?

This eliminates the time required for interaction with external spiritual energy, as well as the lack of power due to insufficient density!

Zhou Baoqing was thrilled at the thought of this possibility.

However, reality is harsh. He hasn't even managed to draw qi into his body yet, so he has no means to extract single-attribute spiritual energy from the world. This idea is currently impossible to verify.

But it's alright.

Zhou Baoqing decisively abandoned the fire-type and wind-type talismans and turned his attention to another water-type offensive talisman, the water arrow talisman.

The effect of this talisman is to condense water vapor in mid-air, turning it into water arrows to harm the enemy.

Wind is hard to catch, fire is too volatile, but he is very familiar with the flow of water's spiritual energy!

He possesses a mid-grade water elemental root and is nurtured day and night by the blessed land and spiritual water, giving him a perception of water far beyond that of ordinary people.

Of course, before he could create an offensive water arrow talisman, he needed to familiarize himself with a water-based life-related talisman to practice with.

After browsing through the books on the bookshelf, including "Water-Driving Talisman," "Water-Condensing Talisman," and "Water-Purifying Talisman," Zhou Baoqing finally chose "Water-Condensing Talisman," which was of moderate difficulty.

The function of this talisman is to condense water vapor in the air and turn it into a cloud of clear water, which is often used to quench thirst and wash in the wild.

With everything prepared, Zhou Baoqing spread out the talisman paper and began making it.

The talisman paper must be made of green rain paper that can withstand moisture.

Lingmo, on the other hand, chose to use specially made water-based ink.

Zhou Baoqing took a deep breath, picked up his pen, focused his mind, and with a flick of his wrist, gathered water, solidified it, and solidified it. Three water-attribute runes flowed from the tip of his pen, their energy flowing smoothly.

Finally, apply "Spirit-Sting Glue" to the runes to isolate the interaction of spiritual energy from the outside.

Step by step, steadily and surely.

However, with a soft "hiss," the inspiration vanished in an instant.

Zhou Baoqing picked up the talisman and twirled it between his fingertips.

The stinging gel layer dissipated, but no water flow appeared.

Failed.

"The convergence of water flows requires a hub; otherwise, the water pressure will cause a collapse if overloaded. We cannot simply pursue convergence indiscriminately..."

Zhou Baoqing muttered to himself, analyzing the reasons for his failure.

After a moment's thought, he picked up his pen and slightly elongated the end of the "Condensation" rune on a scrap of paper as a buffer.

Try again.

Begin with a stroke, outline, and seal with glue.

This time, when he crushed the stinging gel, the surrounding air became slightly damp, and a clear, transparent water ball instantly condensed in mid-air, hovering for a moment before falling into the basin with a "splash".

It worked!

Looking at the pool of clear water, Zhou Baoqing had a sudden inspiration and modified the water-gathering talisman's flow path so that it could change direction when it condensed.

"Hmm? Junior brother, you actually finished it? Perfect timing, let me wash my hands!"

Chen Xuan came closer, his hands covered in chili oil from fried peanuts.

In fact, Zhou Baoqing didn't like Chen Xuan reading while eating, as it would stain the books with oil. He had reminded him a few times, but this senior brother was incorrigible and wouldn't listen to advice at all.

Today is a good day to teach him a lesson.

Zhou Baoqing smiled slightly and said, "Alright, Senior Brother, here you go."

He then flicked his two fingers together, activating the talisman.

A stream of water almost froze on Chen Xuan's face, startling him so much that he let out a strange cry and tried to dodge.

The water suddenly changed direction and landed precisely in Chen Xuan's hand.

The flowing water washed away the chili oil, leaving not a single drop on the book.

Chen Xuan looked at Zhou Baoqing in surprise, "Hey, Junior Brother, how come your Water Condensation Talisman can curve!"

"It's just a minor change. I added an extremely small 'Wind Circulation' energy at the junction of the 'Form Condensation' and 'Flow Guidance' runes. Water has no fixed form, but by using the wind to guide it, it can naturally hit wherever it's pointed."

Chen Xuan was dumbfounded as he watched Zhou Baoqing speak eloquently.

Holy crap, how come he didn't think of this kind of change?

Is this the difference between a top student and a genius?