MTLNOVEL Ch. 6
Chapter 6: Spirit Beast Planning
The next morning...
Chen Beiwu opened his eyes, got up, and pulled open the curtains, letting the morning light spill into his bedroom.
He sat cross-legged on the bed and began his daily morning cultivation, meditating with the foundational visualization diagram vigorously promoted by the Immortal Alliance, the \[Tai Xuan Guarding the One].
This visualization diagram seemed basic and was available for all Immortal Alliance students to cultivate, but it actually had an extraordinary origin, originating from the Pure Yang Grotto-Heaven, one of the Five Great Grotto-Heavens.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that if one could comprehend this visualization method deeply enough, a cultivator could transform from a worm into a dragon and defy fate!
The principal of Shouhe No.2 High School was a renowned Golden Core true cultivator in Yuan Kong County.
He had once said during the freshman assembly that the Tai Xuan Guarding the One visualization was the number one foundational method for spiritual root cultivation in the Immortal Alliance.
This marvelous method allowed cultivators to preserve the pure yang energy within their bodies.
Even by merely practicing the introductory stage, it could subtly enhance one’s spiritual root aptitude during regular cultivation.
If a cultivator could train this visualization method to the minor success stage, regardless of age or whether their Qi Refining had succeeded, they could be exceptionally admitted into the Pure Yang Grotto-Heaven—leaping over the dragon gate.
However, this method was difficult to cultivate.
Chen Beiwu had cultivated the Tai Xuan Guarding the One visualization for a full eleven years and still had not managed to reach the introductory stage.
Even so, years of cultivation had raised the purity of his five-element spiritual roots slightly.
"Failing to find the right entrance—it really is hard to enhance one’s spiritual root."
After finishing his habitual morning cultivation, Chen Beiwu went downstairs, had the breakfast prepared by his mother, and headed to school.
"Morning."
Seeing Chen Beiwu enter the classroom, Xu Lingling waved and greeted him, "The test results are out. Your rank dropped quite a bit—didn’t even make the top five."
Chen Beiwu smiled, sat down in his seat, and said, "Do you think I’d believe that?"
"If you don’t believe me, take a look." Xu Lingling handed over her phone.
Chen Beiwu didn’t even raise his head. "Xu Ziqing, please control your bestie. She’s spouting nonsense first thing in the morning."
"Lingling, you lost the bet, pay up." Xu Ziqing extended her palm to her deskmate.
"Ugh! Why can’t I ever fool you!" Xu Lingling glared at Chen Beiwu angrily.
"Because you can’t even lie properly." Chen Beiwu replied calmly, "In the entire second-year division, only Xu Ziqing’s grades can edge past mine, and you’re trying to say I didn’t even make the top five?"
Xu Ziqing was not only the top of the class, but had also held the top spot in the grade for years.
With her naturally youthful face and graceful figure, she was extremely popular at school.
However, Chen Beiwu never judged friends by background, cultivation, or appearance—he only looked at character and fortune.
Xu Ziqing and Xu Lingling were both cultivators with good character and high fortune in the class.
The former had what seemed to be third-tier light-orange fortune, while the latter had a dim blue-black second-tier fortune, indicating a potential calamity in her fate.
Mentioning the test scores sparked Chen Beiwu’s interest.
He took out his phone, opened the Shouhe No.2 High School website, and entered his student ID to check.
Name: Chen Beiwu
\[Spiritual Root Aptitude (Full Score 100)]
Five-Element Spiritual Root: 79+ (Water, Wood Earth-Grade Root)
\[Beast-Taming Department (Full Score 150)]
Exotic Beast: 145
Beast Rearing: 139
Beast Taming: 135
\[Immortal Cultivation Arts - Electives (Full Score 100)]
Alchemy: 89
Tool Refining: 93
Array: 95
Talismans: 92
\[Qi Refining Cultivation: Sixth Level]
Total Score: 867 (Ranked Second in Second-Year)
"What a pity—even though my academic score passes the threshold for the Five Great Grotto-Heavens, I still can’t apply for them." Chen Beiwu thought to himself.
There were many cultivation sects within the Immortal Alliance.
But the ones remembered and praised by countless cultivators as overlords were only the Five Great Grotto-Heavens.
They were the true rulers of the Immortal Alliance, possessing absolute power to suppress all other sects.
Precisely because of this, the entrance threshold for Pure Yang, Tai Yin, Xuanyuan, Zhouhua, and Yuyu—the Five Great Grotto-Heavens—was unimaginably high.
When Chen Beiwu first learned from his teacher about their admission criteria, he had been shocked: Only those with Heavenly Roots, or those who break through the Qi Refining limit and establish their Foundation within a hundred days, could take the Immortal Exam.
Chen Beiwu’s spiritual root aptitude was lacking and didn’t even meet the threshold.
His goal for the Immortal Entrance Exam was the Thirteen Immortal Sects, just beneath the Five Great Grotto-Heavens, or the slightly inferior Seven-Nine Upper Sects.
"What’s wrong?" Chen Beiwu suddenly looked up.
"Once you reach the Seventh Level of Qi Refining, you can buy a spirit beast from the Immortal Alliance. Do you have a target yet?" Xu Ziqing asked.
"I’m tentatively going with the Azureblue Spirit Salamander." Chen Beiwu replied casually.
For a cultivator to cultivate with beasts, they had to choose a beast creature compatible with their spiritual root.
The higher the compatibility, the more feedback the cultivator would receive, and the faster the cultivation progress.
Conversely, if compatibility was too low, not only would cultivation be inefficient, but the cultivator’s own spiritual root might be eroded—or even suffer backlash—from the companion beast.
The Azureblue Spirit Salamander had a gentle temperament and transparent fin-wings on its back.
It excelled in enhancing plant vitality and healing.
As a rare water-wood dual-element spirit beast, it could even glide short distances through the air when out of water.
It was highly compatible with his spiritual root attributes.
Moreover, gentle-natured spirit beasts rarely turned on their masters.
"Azureblue Spirit Salamander, huh?" Xu Ziqing’s eyes lit up. "That’s actually a pretty good choice."
"What about you—what companion beast are you planning to choose?" Chen Beiwu pulled out a copy of the \[Ten-Year Array Diagram Explanations] from his drawer.
Xu Ziqing had a fire-attribute Earth-Grade Root.
Her spiritual root purity, like his water root, was 79—just one point short of a Heavenly Root.
She had already broken through to the Seventh Level of Qi Refining half a month ago and was eligible to purchase a spirit beast from the Immortal Alliance.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don’t ignore me, you two!" Xu Lingling interrupted.
Among the three of them, she had the lowest cultivation, only at the Sixth Level of Qi Refining.
However, she was the only mid-grade Tier-One alchemist in the class.
Chen Beiwu looked up at her and said, "Alright then, Lingling, stop turning your back on us."
At those words, Lingling grew furious.
She looked down at her rather flat chest and gave Chen Beiwu a playful shove.
"You get lost! Who’s turning their back on you!"
Just then, the class bell rang.
An old man in Daoist robes entered the classroom.
The noisy class instantly fell silent.
As the class representative for the Alchemy Department, Xu Lingling immediately stood up and led the class in greeting the teacher.
Teacher Li nodded slightly, handed the test papers to the front row, and motioned for them to pass them back.
"The first three questions were easy, so we won’t go over them."
"The middle three are of moderate difficulty—if you don’t understand, ask your classmates."
"As for the last three long-answer questions, they’re classics. Everyone must remember them clearly."
"The difference between water-based and fire-based alchemy is..."
Listening to Teacher Li’s hypnotic lecture, Chen Beiwu began to feel sleepy, shifting his attention back to contemplating Tai Xuan Guarding the One.
Alchemy emphasized practical operation and required consuming a lot of resources—it was very costly.
He didn’t plan to delve deeply into this path.
He just needed to memorize the textbook well enough to avoid dragging down his Alchemy score in the entrance exam.
The rest of his time could be used to comprehend the visualization diagram.
If he could luckily enter the introductory stage of Tai Xuan Guarding the One—or even reach minor success—his water spiritual root might improve slightly in purity, transforming into a Heavenly Root.
However, Teacher Li’s next sentence instantly jolted Chen Beiwu awake.