Chapter 285: Elder Sister’s Dao Seed
The Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra was a cultivation art with an exceptionally high entry barrier. It required practitioners to completely alter their breathing patterns, transforming their natural respiration into Fetal Breath.
Cultivators must maintain the circulation of their magic power while constantly battling their ingrained breathing habits to construct a new Fetal Breath system. As a result, many fail to grasp the basics even after ten or fifteen days of relentless practice.
But for Zhang Yu, these challenges posed no obstacle.
The Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra involved every pore in the body and the increasingly complex meridians developed after Foundation Establishment. It took Zhang Yu over thirty minutes to circulate his magic power through one complete cycle, tracing the sutra’s cultivation path.
In that instant, images flashed through his mind, visions of his arduous practice sessions, culminating in his mastery of the sutra.
Simultaneously, Zhang Yu’s breathing grew increasingly faint, eventually becoming almost imperceptible.
A cool sensation swept across his skin as spiritual energy surged through his pores, converging into the magic power circulating within his meridians.
Zhang Yu could feel that upon entering the Fetal Breath state, every pore on his body constantly absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy, as if it had become his new instinctive way of breathing.
After a brief period of adjustment, Zhang Yu resumed practicing the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra, beginning his second cycle of cultivation.
The moment Zhang Yu transformed his breathing into Fetal Breath, Zhang Pianpian, who had been meditating with her eyes closed, suddenly opened her eyes. A divine light flashed in her gaze as she turned to look at Zhang Yu.
“Fetal Breath?” Zhang Pianpian thought to herself. “It seems my brother has been studying Fetal Breath-related cultivation arts since the start of the semester.”
“Good. Mastering the Fetal Breath Method will allow him to absorb spiritual energy day and night, refining it into magic power. This will greatly accelerate the growth of his magic power.”
With a quick glance, Zhang Pianpian closed her eyes again, her Bionic Eye projecting images from the depths of the Spirit Realm.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yu continued to diligently cultivate the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra in the following days. He passively practiced it during classes and actively practiced it after class, never ceasing his arduous training.
In just three or four days, he had advanced the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra to Level 10, unlocking the Level 10 cultivation art effect. This allowed the sutra to operate passively with the effectiveness of 100% active operation.
Another ten days passed, and Zhang Yu raised the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra to Level 20 in one go. The effects of this level allowed his Fetal Breath magic power to circulate smoothly and effortlessly, each breath feeling divinely assisted.
Previously, circulating the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra through one complete cycle had taken him over thirty minutes. Now, he could compress it to under twenty minutes, significantly accelerating his breathing technique efficiency.
During this cultivation process, his magic power steadily increased to 286.2, and his magic power quality reached 113%.
Just as Zhang Yu was about to choose his next cultivation art, Zhang Pianpian seized the opportunity while Yu Xinghan and Le Mulan were away to confront her younger brother.
At the end of June, Zhang Pianpian had recognized that Zhang Yu had mastered the Fetal Breath Method, but she hadn’t initially seen any cause for concern.
However, over the following two weeks, she monitored the dormitory’s spiritual energy consumption data and noticed a continuous, daily increase.
Realizing this, she began to investigate why the spiritual energy consumption was rising so rapidly.
She quickly noticed that the spiritual energy consumption data spiked whenever Zhang Yu was in his dormitory.
“Has Zhang Yu’s breathing technique efficiency improved?”
Upon realizing her younger brother’s breathing technique efficiency had increased and his magic power refinement had accelerated, Zhang Pianpian’s first reaction wasn’t joy, but suspicion.
“Such a rapid increase in such a short time… Did he spend a lot of Spirit Coins? Or even… take out a loan?”
Zhang Pianpian’s suspicion wasn’t unfounded. After all, just three months into his highschool freshman year, Zhang Yu had already racked up a debt of 700,000 yuan.
However, Zhang Pianpian wasn’t worried about Zhang Yu’s debt itself. He had already proven his talent in the Immortal Dao, and borrowing money was practically inevitable in Immortal Dao cultivation. Her real concern was that he might be squandering money recklessly.
“Magic power growth is a gradual process, built up drop by drop over time.”
“Spending vast sums daily on this is only suitable for the truly wealthy, not for someone like us.”
Thus, Zhang Pianpian cast a talisman to investigate Zhang Yu’s spending records, loan history, credit information…
To her further astonishment, Zhang Pianpian discovered that since arriving at Myriad Laws University City a month and a half ago, Zhang Yu had been living frugally. Apart from purchasing several cultivation arts, he had made no other significant expenditures.
Having ruled out various costly possibilities, only one conclusion remained.
“My brother hasn’t replaced his Bionic, taken any medicinal pills, purchased daoist arts services, or used any other means that would cost money…”
Zhang Pianpian gazed at the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra in his shopping history, thinking, “In just half a month, his breathing technique has been advancing rapidly, causing his spiritual energy consumption to increase exponentially.”
At that moment, only Zhang Pianpian and Zhang Yu remained in the room.
Zhang Pianpian looked at Zhang Yu and asked, “Tell me honestly, brother, what stage have you reached in cultivating the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra?”
Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback, surprised that his sister had immediately identified the cultivation art he was practicing.
Fu Ji quickly warned, “Zhang Pianpian is an agent of the Righteous Gods. We must never reveal our secrets to her. Underreport your progress with the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.”
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Reaching Level 20 in just half a month is truly astonishing.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Zhang Yu slowly said, “Level 10.”
“Level 10?” Zhang Pianpian’s heart skipped a beat, but she maintained a perfectly composed expression. “Impossible,” she said coolly. “A Level 10 Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra doesn’t even reach the Foundation Establishment stage.”
“I’ve been monitoring your spiritual energy consumption in our room and your spending records for the past two weeks. Tell me the truth. Don’t try to deceive me.”
“What level is your Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra really at?”
Zhang Yu hesitated again before admitting, “Level 15.”
Zhang Pianpian’s heart jolted. “Level 15? You reached Level 15 in just half a month?”
“Normally, it would take at least a year or two to cultivate the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra to Level 15 through self-practice alone. Yet my brother achieved it in just half a month.”
“How many Spirit Coins would it cost to achieve this? 50? 100?”
Zhang Pianpian sighed inwardly, “My younger brother’s talent is even more astonishing than I initially imagined.”
She recalled the “???” she had seen when using the Heavenly Eye Talisman to observe Zhang Yu on the First Layer.
“Good. If he weren’t this capable, how could he ever keep up with me?”
With this thought, Zhang Pianpian turned to Zhang Yu and said earnestly, “Zhang Yu, I’ve told you before about the importance of information in Kunxu.”
“Mastering more information and possessing a sufficient information advantage is often more valuable than raw power. It allows the weak to defeat the strong and the poor to overcome the wealthy.”
“If we understand this, then the Righteous Gods, Golden Core cultivators, Nascent Soul cultivators, and even higher-ranking Immortals certainly understand it even better.”
“Therefore, with each ascending layer of Kunxu, information surveillance becomes increasingly stringent. It’s like layers upon layers of spiderwebs, enveloping every individual, desperate to monitor every shred of data about them.”
“Your recent surge in spiritual energy consumption in the dormitory over the past half-month will be easily detected.”
“If you don’t learn to conceal your activities, as your achievements grow, people will soon become interested in your various data and information. Before long, many will realize your extraordinary talent.”
Zhang Yu’s heart stirred slightly at her words. The rapid progress of his cultivation art was indeed something he couldn’t explain.
If some higher-level being took a keen interest in him, his future would be entirely at their mercy.
That’s why he had always deliberately concealed this fact, avoiding any displays that might seem too extraordinary.
He never imagined that by analyzing the spiritual energy consumption data of his room, combined with his spending records, someone could deduce the rapid advancement of his breathing technique.
Zhang Pianpian continued, “So, besides mastering information asymmetry, creating it is equally crucial. For us poor people, the simplest and most effective way to create information asymmetry is by learning to conceal our own information.”
“You’re cultivating magic power to sell it for profit, right? But with your talent, if you rapidly increase your magic power and start selling it, you’ll immediately face trouble from an enormous, unexplained source of magic power.”
Zhang Pianpian sighed. “So, you need to learn to slow down your progress a bit.”
“For example, with the Primordial Chaos Fetal Breath Sutra, don’t advance it for at least half a month. Focus on improving your physical strength or cultivating your dao heart instead.”
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “But I’m already Level 20…”
Fu Ji reassured him, “Don’t worry, Zhang Yu. With my Counter-Detection Ritual, hiding your true strength will be easy.”
The Detection Ritual could detect surveillance cameras.
The Counter-Detection Ritual, on the other hand, could conceal portions of his body’s data during scans.
Zhang Yu had mastered both rituals back on the First Layer.
Yet he still sighed inwardly, “Even if I can hide the rate of my magic power’s progress, selling too much of it still carries risks.”
“Looks like I’ll have to rely on construction work to earn more Spirit Coins after all.”
“That means I’ll need to revise my cultivation plan.”
Zhang Pianpian added, “You should also be careful with your rankings. Don’t climb too quickly or draw too much attention.”
“Many university exams are application-based. You can apply whenever you’re ready, so try to delay them until the last possible moment. That way, even if your scores improve significantly, it won’t raise as many eyebrows.”
“Oh, and stop practicing body refinement outside the dormitory. Find a place without surveillance cameras.”
Zhang Yu asked curiously, “Where are places without cameras?”
Zhang Pianpian replied calmly, “Below the 100th floor of University City, the lower you go, the fewer cameras there are. Go practice there.”
Zhang Yu asked, “But what about the spiritual energy consumption in the dormitory?”
Zhang Pianpian extended her hand, and a Talisman Register materialized at her fingertip.
As runes flashed across its surface, the dormitory’s spiritual energy consumption log appeared before her. With a flick of her finger, she modified the data to reflect a different value.
“Concealing spiritual energy consumption is relatively easy. I’ll use a Spirit Concealment Talisman to help you hide it. But your actual performance and strength — that’s something you’ll have to manage yourself.”
Zhang Yu asked curiously, “What’s a Spirit Concealment Talisman?”
“It’s a talisman that lets you secretly use extra spiritual energy without being detected. Just a little thing I made myself. Don’t worry about it,” Zhang Pianpian said with a slight smile. “After all, the 125th floor dormitories are quite rudimentary. I’ve already cracked the talisman that records spiritual energy data here.”
Fu Ji watched this scene, her heart racing. “Holy shit… she can do that? Is she treating this like stealing electricity? This Zhang Pianpian… is she even human anymore?”
As Zhang Yu gazed at his elder sister, he suddenly noticed the faint glow of a Dao Seed flickering briefly on her chest.
“Supreme Clarity Talisman?” Zhang Yu thought to himself. “Is that Elder Sister’s Dao Seed?”