ASER – Chapter 5

After sending off three groups of people and contributing all her steamed buns, she also received a case registration token from the government officer. She reckoned that the accomplices of those village bandits would soon be taken away for questioning, so at least they wouldn’t bother her for the next few days.

By now, the sky was almost bright.

A’Diao, famished, was very excited. After confirming there were no prying eyes or airships nearby, she ran to the study, selected a pile of documents about Spiritual Energy and the First Generation, and hid in the cellar normally used for storing winter vegetables. She shut the door tightly and then took out the chamber pot.

The chamber pot was still the same chamber pot, but a row of values appeared on its lid.

Mental Energy Value: 125.

Uh, it’s already maxed out? It seems getting Mental Energy isn’t that hard.

A’Diao squatted down, reached out and touched the chamber pot. A prompt immediately popped up: Confirm deduction of 100 Mental Energy to activate and use?

Of course, confirm.

After confirming, the 125 Mental Energy became 25. Then, the chamber pot made a clicking sound, and the lid slowly opened automatically.

It even had a sense of ceremony, but it was a chamber pot, after all. A’Diao felt strangely uncomfortable, so she changed from squatting to standing up.

Mmm, standing felt much better.

She really was a person who valued her dignity.

After it fully opened, the snow-white bottom of the chamber pot came into view.

There was no water or anything else, the opening was bowl-sized. Soon, it released a wisp of curling golden gas, visible to the naked eye.

Is this Spiritual Energy?

My heavens!

How am I supposed to absorb it?

She was truly too inexperienced and ignorant. After all, no one had ever told her that Spiritual Energy would one day waft out from the opening of a chamber pot.

At that moment, in that short period, A’Diao tried several different postures.

Standing, bending over, lying prone, squatting… kneeling.

Yes, she finally knelt. Opening her mouth didn’t seem right, so she tried breathing through her nose…

It still felt very awkward.

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The Spiritual Energy was there, and she had knelt, but she didn’t know how to absorb it. She was just relying on simple breathing. When the first wisp of Spiritual Energy was inhaled,

she felt like a cat that had inhaled the scent of catnip…

Ah, this intoxicating feeling.

She collapsed.

Before collapsing, she snapped the chamber pot lid shut with a click, because the chamber pot had reminded her—it consumed 10 points of Mental Energy per minute.

Damn!

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That was rash.

Too young and naive.

Before, she thought Mental Energy was easy to accumulate. Now it seemed she was naive. With her current 25 points of Mental Energy, she could only absorb Spiritual Energy for 150 seconds.

What could that possibly be enough for?

Oh, one breath had actually made her collapse, weak all over, for ten minutes.

“Although it was only for a short time, the effect of Spiritual Energy on the human body is indeed significant. Mainly because I’ve never encountered Spiritual Energy before. I feel like the wounds on my body don’t hurt as much, and they’re not itchy anymore… If I absorbed more, I’d probably recover from my injuries quickly, not to mention the books also say it can change one’s constitution.”

Spiritual power is about application-type energy and techniques, but the simplest and most direct effect of Spiritual Energy on living beings in the early stages is to change their constitution.

“But it would definitely be best to have a cultivation method, to maximize the efficiency of utilization.”

“But cultivation methods are only possessed by those surviving factions or families with foundations from three hundred years ago, or by top universities and academies. The imperial court definitely has them.”

But a commoner like her had no connection to any of these.

Sigh… To have a Spiritual Vessel chamber pot but not know how to use it effectively.

Simply inhaling it directly is a huge waste; most of the Spiritual Energy would dissipate. Moreover, leaked Spiritual Energy could easily be detected, leading to fatal trouble.

A’Diao had a headache. She decisively retracted the chamber pot into her body.

When faced with something incomprehensible, one could always consult books.

She spent several hours rereading these books, and finally, around noon… she found a record in one of the documents.

“It turns out that during the First Generation when cultivation was prevalent, some people built Spirit-Sealing Chambers at home, and created some Forbidden Items specifically designed to contain Spiritual Energy and aid cultivation. Most bureaucratic families or wealthy households had such means. But this is not feasible for my current situation. This document also mentions a method suitable for commoners.”

A’Diao was very excited when she saw this passage, and eagerly read on.

“A breathing technique? What a rip-off, isn’t this just breathing with my mouth and nose… Huh, it seems a bit different.”

A’Diao continued reading and found there were also illustrated instructions.

A person supports themselves on their left leg, right leg extended straight back and suspended, right hand extended forward and level, palm up, left hand raised vertically and held level, head and neck tilted upwards, mouth and nose maintaining a breathing rhythm consistent with the frequency of Spiritual Energy release.

It didn’t look like much, rather like the fitness poses of those girls in the city. It’s just that, facing a chamber pot… it wasn’t very elegant.

But on second thought—breathing in front of a chamber pot, no posture could possibly be elegant, right?

Anyway, no one would see, A’Diao told herself.

So she reopened the chamber pot, but tried to see if she could freely control its opening and closing.

In other words, she could try to release one wisp of Spiritual Energy each time, and after inhaling and feeling it absorbed, release a second wisp. This way, she could effectively conserve the Spiritual Energy released over a fixed period.

Open, close, open!

It actually worked?! A’Diao was both surprised and delighted. She vaguely felt that this chamber pot was definitely not junk. Although the amount of Spiritual Energy it released didn’t seem very large, and she had no reference point for now, at least she could use her Mental Energy to make it release continuously. This was comparable to a Spirit Gate, wasn’t it? And the most amazing thing was that she could now freely control its opening and closing to coordinate with her breathing technique.

Spiritual Vessels initially released Spiritual Energy continuously. Once it was all released over a period, there would be none left. But to control the opening and closing during the release process, one had to master spiritual power cultivation methods.

This meant that, while not comparable to those favored children of heaven who monopolized vast resources, at least compared to those who controlled mid-to-low-tier resources, she had the advantage of free control to achieve “maximum benefit.”

Oh-ho, she could already envision the wonderful days ahead where she, a salted fish, would turn her life around and make a lot of money through this opportunity.

A’Diao felt delighted inwardly and began her first breathing technique cultivation session.

Exhale… inhale… exhale… inhale…

The opening of the chamber pot was right before her eyes, but A’Diao quickly became as calm as an ancient well, without a ripple. Because she had successfully hypnotized herself into believing it wasn’t a chamber pot, but a cornucopia.

Anyway, she herself believed it.

After opening and closing it more than ten times, her Mental Energy had depleted to only 15 points left. This meant the chamber pot had released Spiritual Energy for a total of one minute.

A’Diao really couldn’t hold on any longer. With a thud, she flopped onto the ground like a salted fish. A wave of drowsiness inexplicably washed over her. When she woke up, it was already noon.

She had slept for three hours?

A’Diao was famished. After retracting the chamber pot, she returned to the house and cooked noodles with pickled vegetables and shredded pork. While cooking the noodles, she noticed the ladle seemed a bit lighter.

Hmm? Spiritual Energy was truly extraordinary. It seemed the injuries on her body didn’t hurt as much, especially the bleeding spot on her forehead.

A’Diao ran to the mirror to look. She found the scar had faded a lot, distinguishable at a glance. Suddenly, at this moment, the chamber pot sent a notification.

From Jiang Guang +3+3+3…

From Jiang Chun +2+2+2…

The two of them continuously sent her a wave of Mental Energy.

A’Diao was somewhat surprised: Jiang Chun and his father? Huh, is this goodwill or ill will?

If it was the former, then it confirmed that the foot-wiping cloth was a Spiritual Vessel. If it was the latter, then it meant…

At this moment, in the Jiang Family’s courtyard in the county town, Jiang Chun and his father were indeed experiencing great emotional fluctuations. Because after appraisal, the foot-wiping cloth before them was not just a foot-wiping cloth.

But it wasn’t a Spiritual Vessel either.

“Illusory Spirit Vessel? What the hell is that? Speak more clearly!” Jiang Chun thought he was hearing things.

The technician in charge of appraisal saw his bad tone and didn’t speak, but Jiang Guang said irritably, “It’s a useless Spiritual Vessel, an illusory one!”

“But it tested green light, doesn’t that mean it contains Spiritual Energy?” Jiang Chun was very unwilling to accept this.

The technician gave a wry smile, “Young Master Jiang, there’s something you don’t know. This Spiritual Energy stuff, it’s quite cunning. But sometimes they get confused themselves. Some Spiritual Energy wants to find a good vessel to attach to and fuse with, but they don’t find the right one, and end up finding trash. The so-called Spiritual Vessel is an existence born after a large amount of Spiritual Energy collectively chooses a vessel and it undergoes mutation. If there’s only a small amount, and the Spiritual Energy content is insufficient, then it’s a legendary ‘Waste Spiritual Vessel’. It doesn’t have the functions of a Spiritual Vessel, but in the future, experts can use it to extract Spiritual Energy.”

What do you mean, ‘didn’t find the right one, found trash’?

He always felt this technician was subtly insulting him.

Jiang Chun’s face darkened, “How is it extracted?”

The technician awkwardly repeated a certain keyword: “Experts.”

Jiang Chun: “…”

If their Jiang Family had experts, would they need to go to all this trouble?

Jiang Chun was about to erupt in anger, but was suppressed by a look from his own father. He could only endure it silently.

Jiang Guang turned his head and asked the technician, “Can a Waste Spiritual Vessel also be detected by the Ding-89432 and trigger a notification?”

“Well, under normal circumstances, no. But if I may be frank, this Ding-89432 is many years old and quite outdated. Its sensitivity isn’t very good.”

Besides, it was the lowest-spec sensor to begin with.

The Jiang father and son understood. Compared to Jiang Chun’s unwillingness, Jiang Guang’s mindset was clearly much better. He asked Jiang Chun, “Are you sure that girl doesn’t have any Spiritual Vessel on her?”

“Definitely not. She had nothing on her, just clothes. We also tested her person, and the Ding-89432 had no reaction to her. It did react to this wiping… this Waste Spiritual Vessel.”

Jiang Guang was old and cunning. After some thought, he consulted the technician about a possibility: “Is it possible that the girl has integrated the Spiritual Vessel into her body?”

The technician was stunned. He thought to himself that these rich people were truly fanciful, willing to make any ethereal and malicious assumptions for the sake of a Spiritual Vessel.

However, Jiang Guang was known for his generosity, and having taken his money, the technician didn’t want to anger the father and son. He genuinely racked his brains and said, “Under normal circumstances, it’s impossible. But if we must say, there is a probability, but three conditions must be met. First, this Spiritual Vessel must be made into a ‘Natal Spiritual Vessel’. Second, this Spiritual Vessel must be very low-grade. Third, if, according to the timeframe Young Master Jiang mentioned, she could integrate the Spiritual Vessel into her body, even if the first two conditions are met, she herself must be special.”

The technician’s expression was very solemn: “It’s very likely that someone in her ancestry was a Forbidden Master. Moreover, this Forbidden Master had once refined many Spiritual Vessels. She has also inherited a certain bloodline aura, making Spiritual Vessels naturally drawn to her, facilitating her fusion. Otherwise, even with a special natal refining method, it would be impossible to fuse it into her body so quickly.”

The so-called Forbidden Masters are those who have mastered spiritual power.

Hearing this, Jiang Chun dismissed the idea.

Forbidden Masters were all figures who could command wind and rain. Even during the First Generation when Spiritual Energy was widespread, there weren’t many Forbidden Masters, let alone such a powerful refining master, who also had to pass down a certain degree of bloodline inheritance after three hundred years.

That little Daoist apprentice?

Jiang Guang seemed to think so too, so he waved the technician away. But once the man left, he asked Jiang Chun, “You said before that she was covered in injuries?”

Jiang Chun paused for a moment, then seemed to understand, “Father, you mean…”

Jiang Guang didn’t speak, fiddling with a string of prayer beads. His gaze drifted to the densely packed buildings of the county town outside the window, his expression inscrutable.

Three hours later, men sent by the Jiang Family stealthily infiltrated Qishan. They approached the dilapidated Daoist temple and saw A’Diao arguing with a group of people in the courtyard.

After listening carefully for a while with an earpiece connected to a listening device, the man immediately picked up the phone and reported to Jiang Chun.

Jiang Chun: “You’re saying that Old Daoist Priest ran away?”

Subordinate: “Yes, the people who came are from an illegal gambling den in the county. No wonder that Old Daoist Priest was extorting money with exorbitant prices. Turns out he liked to gamble and racked up a huge debt. The people from the gambling den just said he owes them fifty thousand Star Coins and they’re looking for the Old Daoist Priest to repay it, but he’s not here.”

Jiang Chun was only slightly surprised by this matter, more concerned about other things. So he interrupted his subordinate’s report and asked, “What about her injuries? Has she recovered much?”

If she had recovered a lot, it would mean she had absorbed Spiritual Energy one hundred percent, indirectly proving she had a Spiritual Vessel and everything yesterday was an act.

The subordinate observed carefully again. He took out a small metal bee from his pocket, pressed a button on its rear, and the little bee flew up. Its tiny eyes had a built-in camera function. He controlled it with his phone, making it fly closer.

It filmed and live-streamed the scene to Jiang Chun. Jiang Chun immediately saw A’Diao’s miserable state, being pressured by a group of people from the gambling den.

Miserable, referring to her situation, and also her appearance.

Whoa! Her face was even more swollen than yesterday. The bruises and blood-red marks looked even more horrifying against the brown color of the medicine.

Clearly, she hadn’t recovered.

Could it be that she really didn’t have a Spiritual Vessel?