Hu Min was taken aback; he had never heard such a peculiar request. But just then, another knock sounded at the door. It was a messenger sent by Captain Xiao Maoliang of the Gale Army, informing Hu Min that their squad had been assigned an urgent suburban patrol duty and had to set out immediately.
The Emperor's Flowing Dew had fallen all night, and several creatures across the Chipa Plateau had had their wisdom awakened by the celestial baptism, inevitably causing restlessness. The Gale Army needed to patrol outside the city to prevent newly evolved demons from threatening the fields and farmsteads.
Military orders were as unyielding as mountains, so Hu Min did not give it another thought. He casually produced some medicinal powder. It was a bright yellow, of far better quality than anything He Lingchuan had refined himself. He Lingchuan scooped out a portion the size of a mung bean. "Thank you."
In exchange, he poured out a few drops of the Emperor's Flowing Dew. Hu Min said at once, "I have to go. Make yourself at home." With that, he hurriedly changed and went out the door.
He Lingchuan waited half an hour after taking the medicine, yet his body showed no reaction whatsoever, as if he had swallowed nothing but thin air.
The experiment had failed; long-term enhancement medicines had no effect on him.
Sure enough, no such good fortune existed in this world. Even though he had anticipated this outcome, he still sighed with regret. He then left Hu Min's house and headed straight for the Ministry of Merits.
Since it was confirmed that the Emperor's Flowing Dew was useless to him, he might as well exchange it for military merits without delay.
Merit Officer Liu was on duty at the Pengcheng Office today as well, as busy as ever. Hearing that He Lingchuan wanted to hand over Emperor's Flowing Dew, he simply beckoned with his hand. "Bring it here."
As wonderful as the Emperor's Flowing Dew was, in a place as vast as Panlong City, there would always be people who chose not to consume it themselves for various reasons.
Merit Officer Liu picked up a tiny droplet of the liquid from the flagon with the tip of a needle, looked at it, sniffed it, and then said to He Lingchuan, "It has impurities. Lower-medium grade. Accepted."
By his calculation, the merits credited for this flagon of Emperor's Flowing Dew exceeded what He Lingchuan had earned last time by covering the retreat and rescuing people in Xiqing Valley. After all, rescue missions were frequent for the Gale Army, whereas Emperor's Flowing Dew was something one could only encounter by luck, never by demand.
The reward this time was similar to the last, with a few extra wound medicines added, both for oral use and external application.
He Lingchuan smiled. "If everyone turned it in, wouldn't everyone be able to exchange it for another wood-grade house?"
Merit Officer Liu replied matter-of-factly, "Not many people would choose to hand over something like this."
He Lingchuan looked at him and let out a long "Oh."
Of course. Aside from personal consumption and submitting it to the authorities, it could also be bought and sold among the common folk.
Merits had to be accumulated bit by bit; without enough, one could not exchange them for what one truly wanted.
"My house is big enough for me. Could you exchange it for a handy weapon instead?" At least in this dream, He Lingchuan had no grand demands for his lodging. Back when he played games in his past life, while others topped up money to buy cosmetic skins and props, he had never spent a single copper on such things.
"What kind?"
"A saber." He had arrived in Panlong City empty-handed and sorely needed a weapon to bolster his sense of security.
Merit Officer Liu went into the back room and soon emerged carrying a ring-pommel saber and a whetstone.
The blade gleamed cold and sharp, though there were two small notches along the spine. The hilt was somewhat worn, and the ring pommel at the end was missing.
"This saber's former master fell at Mount Baimo last year," Liu said solemnly. "It's a fine blade. I hope you put it to good use."
He Lingchuan took it in hand and twirled it through a flourish, finding it had substantial heft and handled quite comfortably.
"Thank you! I'd also like to use my military merits to redeem a few divine abilities. Hm, I heard basic cultivation formulas are free?"
Merit Officer Liu sat back down at his desk and waved toward the door. "Head out and find the Tizhen Office across the street."
...
The Tizhen Office stood by the river.
Strictly speaking, half of the building was erected over the river. The moment He Lingchuan stepped inside, he saw a waterside pavilion where two old men sat—one clad in black and the other in white, their faces completely identical.
It was now the second quarter of the Dragon Hour, still early, and because of the sudden appearance of the Emperor's Flowing Dew last night, few visitors trickled into the Tizhen Office. With his sharp hearing, He Lingchuan overheard the two old men muttering about the news trickling in from inside and outside the city: someone had gathered a large mass of Emperor's Flowing Dew paste, sparking an armed brawl between neighbors; demonic beasts near the mines had grown restless, injuring miners; and so forth.
He Lingchuan stepped forward, bowed in greeting, and stated that he needed a basic cultivation formula.
The old man sized him up from head to toe. "You aren't a native of Panlong City, are you?"
"I come from Tusu City, but I have already registered my residency here."
"No wonder," the old man said. "Then we must have Master Zhang test you first." With that, he shook a bell suspended above the water.
The bell hung very close to the water, barely two feet above it, and its crisp chime echoed throughout the waterside pavilion.
"Go down and stand ready." A ramp inside the pavilion led straight down into the water. The river's surface was half-covered by emerald lotus leaves, their budding blossoms pinched with just a hint of pink at the tips, drawing several dragonflies that rested motionless upon them.
As soon as He Lingchuan took his stand by the water's edge, the dragonflies darted away in a hurry.
With a sudden splash of river water, several things resembling serpents or whips shot out from beneath the surface and coiled toward him.
Startled, He Lingchuan instinctively leaped back.
"What are you running for? Go over and stand still!" the old man snapped impatiently. "Would Master Zhang ever harm you?"
Only then did He Lingchuan see clearly: these were actually several long, thick tentacles. Their bases were thicker than his waist, tapering to fine, sharp tips covered in suckers.
Behind the tentacles rose a large oval head, not smooth at all, but bristling with clusters of sharp, backward-pointing ridges.
Its eyes were round and pitch-black, larger than grapefruits.
"Zhang..." What an enormous tentacle monster! So the old man had meant Master Zhang as in octopus, not the surname Zhang.
He Lingchuan heard a voice rumble, "Come here. Let me feel."
A human's fear of tentacles was carved deep into the bone. Yet knowing he had no power to resist, he could only brace himself and stand by the water's edge.
Several tentacles reached out again and rested on his body. The icy, clammy slickness characteristic of mollusks wrapped around He Lingchuan, sending a shiver through him. They were more nimble than human hands, latching their suckers onto several of his crucial acupoints one after another.
He Lingchuan felt a chilly power inject itself into him. In response, the true qi in his dantian surged, coursing rapidly through his entire body.
"The foundation is fairly solid, and impurities have been purged. Not bad," Master Zhang evaluated while probing and prodding him all over. "Mmm—bones and sinews are sturdy."
"Ah—qi and blood are abundant and vigorous, his primordial essence naturally intact. Decent, quite decent."
Its tone was exceedingly bizarre. Thick-skinned though He Lingchuan was, he could barely maintain his composure. The two old men, however, took it entirely in stride. "Oh, so his primordial essence hasn't been spent."
Master Zhang pressed firmly on various spots all over He Lingchuan's body before sluggishly retracting its tentacles.
The two old men walked over, and the three bald heads huddled together, whispering.
He Lingchuan had heard Hu Min mention that the Tizhen Office issued cultivation formulas tailored to each practitioner. But he never imagined that the examiner would be an aquatic demon.
Of course. Panlong City was not inhabited solely by humans.
Still, a freshwater octopus living up on a plateau—wonders truly never ceased in this world.
Yet the monster's eight arms could tend to nearly all meridians and acupoints across a human body simultaneously, grasping the exact flow of true power with a thoroughness no human could match.
The only lingering consequence was the several dozen red marks left behind by the suction cups.
Before long, their discussion concluded. The old men spoke with one voice: "The three of us have unanimously decided: the Ziwu Formula."
Panlong City had five publicly available cultivation formulas, and they had chosen the Ziwu Formula for He Lingchuan.
He Lingchuan gave a light cough. "May I borrow the other four formulas to take a look?"
The pair answered in unison again: "No."
"..."
"With your limited discernment, how could you know which is best for you?"
"Mixing cultivation formulas brings harm and no benefit."
"What shouldn't be yours is best left entirely untouched."
"We have chosen formulas for over nine thousand people, without a single error."
The two old men took turns speaking sentence by sentence, their tone, pace, and pitch completely identical. If one closed one's eyes to listen, it sounded as if only one person were speaking.
Master Zhang slipped back into the river and vanished from sight. One of the old men retrieved a jade slip from a wooden cabinet and thrust it into He Lingchuan's hands. "The formula is here. Just probe inside with your spiritual sense."
He Lingchuan could not help turning it over in his hands. He had entered an immortal's cave dwelling beneath Xianling Lake and found several jade slips there as well, but every single one had been blank, carrying no information whatsoever.
He had not expected Panlong City to use jade slips as well.
Probing inside with his spiritual sense, he found a complete formula within. Although the script differed vastly from contemporary writing, he could understand every single character without missing a word.
Even more miraculously, after letting go of the jade slip, the formula remained deeply etched into the recesses of his sea of consciousness, clear as day, with not a single word forgotten!
There was no need to memorize it at all; this imprinted memory was immune to error.
He Lingchuan marveled inwardly. Was this an invention of the ancient immortals?
The old man briefed him on several precautions before extending a hand. "All right, return it to me. Others need to use it too."
He Lingchuan said hurriedly, "Aside from the basic cultivation formula, I'd also like to use my military merits to redeem divine abilities."
"Divine abilities are divided into two sections: 'Arts' and 'Martial,'" the white-robed old man said, pointing to himself. "I am Mr. Ying, in charge of the Martial section."
He then pointed to the black-robed old man. "He is Mr. Man, in charge of the Arts section."
"Divine abilities are neither good nor bad, only suitable or unsuitable," Mr. Ying said. "Practicing the Ziwu Formula makes it suitable for you to enter the Dao through martial arts. Once you achieve mastery later on, it won't be too late to learn some spell arts."
Mr. Man nodded and added, "Provided you live long enough."
Mr. Ying then laid out a long catalog of scrolls before He Lingchuan. Dazzled by the list, the young man felt this one looked excellent and that one seemed practical, only for Mr. Ying to state, "Your accumulated military merits are only enough to redeem two divine abilities."
Then what was the point of laying out a hundred manuals before me in a neat row? He Lingchuan smiled humbly. "Please guide me, Mr. Ying."
"Combat boils down to two fundamentals: being able to fight, and being able to run," Mr. Ying pondered briefly. "I will select a movement technique for you called 'Returning Swallow.' If you can practice it until you are as light and agile as a swallow, the technique will be near mastery."
Mr. Man also chimed in, "Introductory techniques emphasize solidity; only with a sound foundation can one stand undefeated. Don't scoff at its simplicity—General Red is also adept in the Returning Swallow technique."
He Lingchuan's eyes lit up. "General Red practices this too?"
"Of course. He transcribed it by his own hand and recorded it into the jade slip."
"I'll take it!"
Then, thinking back, He Lingchuan pointed at the catalog. "So, how many divine abilities did General Red record in total?"
"Eighteen," Mr. Man answered without concealment. "As for the rest, you can't afford them."
He Lingchuan felt even more yearning. "Then I must trouble Mr. Ying to find me another divine ability for fighting."
Mr. Ying looked at the saber at his hip, consulted with Mr. Man for a few moments, and then said, "Then let's go with 'Wave Slash.'"
The old man stood up and rummaged through the inner chamber for quite a while before emerging with two jade slips in hand.
He Lingchuan took them, calmed his mind to memorize them, and respectfully returned them. Mr. Man remarked from the side, "Once you have mastered these two, come back to me. Combining spell arts with martial arts can achieve miraculous feats."
"By the way, Commander Zhong requires the Hall of Immortal Inquiries to regularly invite experts to hold lectures and teach; listening often will always yield gains," Mr. Ying added. "As good as divine abilities and spells are, they remain external strength. The key that decides victory or defeat often lies in the two aspects of mind."
He Lingchuan straightened solemnly. "Please instruct me, sir."
"Cultivation formula, and state of mind," Mr. Ying said. "A cultivation formula requires diligent study and hard practice; a state of mind requires passing through life and death."
Having survived several battles both large and small, He Lingchuan resonated deeply with these words. He thanked them with deference and turned to leave the Tizhen Office.
Stepping over the threshold of the Ministry of Merits, he could not help taking a deep breath.
The verse left behind by the old turtle demon instructed him to hide his edge and remain unassuming in reality. In that case, let his first step toward mastery begin in this dream!
(End of the "Xianling" Volume; a new volume begins in the next chapter.)
Chapter 163