Chapter 287: Sister's Dao Seed

Chapter 287: Sister’s Dao Seed

The Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture, due to its requirement to alter the breathing pattern—transforming ordinary respiration into fetal breathing—is a cultivation method notoriously difficult to master initially.

Practitioners often must maintain the circulation of their spiritual power while constantly battling their inherent breathing habits to construct a new fetal breathing system. As a result, it is not uncommon for cultivators to fail to grasp the basics even after ten days or half a month.

But for Zhang Yu, these were not issues.

The Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture involved the pores all over the body and the increasingly complex meridians post-foundation establishment. After spending over thirty minutes, Zhang Yu finally circulated his spiritual power through one complete cycle, traversing the entire meridian pathway outlined by the scripture.

In an instant, he felt a series of images flash through his mind—scenes of himself diligently practicing the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture time and again, ultimately mastering the technique.

Simultaneously, Zhang Yu’s breathing grew increasingly faint, eventually reaching a state near imperceptibility.

Meanwhile, a cool, tingling sensation spread across the skin and hair all over his body, as the spiritual energy in the room continuously poured into his pores, converging into the circulating flow of spiritual power within his meridians.

Zhang Yu could sense that, upon entering the fetal breathing state, every pore on his body incessantly drew in the surrounding spiritual energy, as if it had become his new respiratory instinct.

After a brief period of adaptation, Zhang Yu resumed circulating the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture, embarking on his second cycle of cultivation.

The moment Zhang Yu transformed his breathing into fetal breathing, Zhang Pianpian, who had been meditating with closed eyes, suddenly opened them. A divine light seemed to flash in her gaze as she looked toward Zhang Yu.

"Fetal breathing?"

Zhang Pianpian thought to herself, "It seems my brother has been contemplating fetal breathing techniques since the start of the semester."

"That’s fine. Mastering fetal breathing allows one to draw in spiritual energy day and night, refining spiritual power, which greatly benefits its growth."

With a slight sweep of her eyes, Zhang Pianpian closed them again, visions from the depths of the spirit realm appearing in her mind.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu continued his arduous cultivation of the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture in the following days. He passively circulated it during classes and actively during breaks, never ceasing his diligent practice.

In just three or four days, he elevated the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture to level 10, gaining its level 10 effect: when passively circulating, it achieved the full efficacy of active circulation.

Then, after another ten-plus days, Zhang Yu pushed the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture all the way to level 20. The level 20 effect allowed his fetal breathing technique’s spiritual power circulation to flow smoothly and effortlessly, each breath and exhalation feeling divinely assisted.

Originally, completing one cycle of the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture took Zhang Yu over thirty minutes. Now, he could compress it to within twenty minutes, significantly accelerating his energy absorption efficiency.

His spiritual power also grew steadily during cultivation, reaching 286.2, with its quality at 113%.

But just as Zhang Yu planned to select his next cultivation method, Zhang Pianpian seized an opportunity when Yu Xinghan and Le Mulan were absent to seek out her younger brother.

Back at the end of June, when Zhang Pianpian recognized that Zhang Yu had achieved fetal breathing, she hadn’t found it particularly noteworthy.

However, over the following half-month, upon reviewing the dormitory’s spiritual energy consumption data, she noticed a continuous increase—each day surpassing the last.

Upon realizing this, she paid closer attention to why the spiritual energy consumption was rising so rapidly.

She soon discovered that each acceleration in consumption coincided with Zhang Yu being in the dormitory.

"Is it because Zhang Yu’s energy absorption efficiency has improved?"

Noticing her brother’s enhanced absorption efficiency and faster spiritual power refinement, Zhang Pianpian’s first reaction was not joy but suspicion.

"Such a sharp increase in such a short time—did he spend a lot of spirit coins? Or even... take out loans?"

Zhang Pianpian’s suspicion was not unfounded. After all, Zhang Yu had incurred a debt of 700,000 just three months into his first year of high school.

However, Zhang Pianpian wasn’t worried about Zhang Yu being in debt. Since Zhang Yu had already demonstrated his talent in the immortal path, and as cultivation often involved borrowing, her concern was that he might be spending recklessly.

"The growth of spiritual power is a gradual, day-by-day accumulation."

"Spending large sums daily on this is only suitable for the truly wealthy, not for the poor."

Thus, Zhang Pianpian employed talismanic spells to investigate Zhang Yu’s spending records, loan history, credit information...

To her greater surprise, she found that since arriving at the Ten Thousand Techniques University City a month and a half ago, Zhang Yu had lived frugally. Aside from purchasing several cultivation methods, he had no significant expenditures.

Having ruled out various money-burning possibilities, only one conclusion remained.

"My brother hasn’t changed his spiritual bones, taken any medicines, purchased Dao technique services, or used any costly methods..."

Zhang Pianpian looked at the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture in his purchase records and thought, "Over this short half-month, it’s his breathing technique that has been rapidly advancing, causing the daily increase in spiritual energy consumption."

At this moment, only Zhang Pianpian and Zhang Yu remained in the room.

Zhang Pianpian looked at Zhang Yu and asked, "Brother, tell me honestly, how far have you progressed in the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture?"

Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback, not expecting his sister to immediately identify the technique he was cultivating.

Fuji promptly reminded him, "Zhang Pianpian is aligned with the orthodox deities. You must never confess our affairs to her. Underreport your progress in the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture to avoid drawing unnecessary attention."

Zhang Yu thought, "Reaching level 20 in half a month is indeed rather astonishing."

After a moment’s consideration, Zhang Yu slowly replied, "Level 10."

"Level 10?" Zhang Pianpian’s heart skipped a beat, but she kept her expression unchanged, calmly stating, "Impossible. Level 10 of the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture hasn’t truly reached foundation establishment level."

"I’ve been monitoring the spiritual energy consumption in the room over the past half-month, as well as your spending records. Be honest with me; don’t think about lying."

"What level is your Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture really at?" Zhang Yu hesitated briefly before saying, "Level 15."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Pianpian was inwardly shaken. "Level 15? He reached level 15 in half a month?"

"For the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture, reaching level 15 through self-cultivation normally takes a year or two. Yet my brother achieved it in just half a month."

"If one were to spend spirit coins to accomplish this, how much would it cost? 50 spirit coins? Or 100?"

Zhang Pianpian sighed inwardly, "It seems my brother’s talent is even more astonishing than I initially anticipated."

She recalled the "???" she had seen when using the Heavenly Eye Talisman to observe Zhang Yu during her last visit to the first layer.

"Well, if it weren’t like this, how could he keep up with me in the future?"

With this thought, Zhang Pianpian looked at Zhang Yu earnestly and said, "Zhang Yu, I once told you about the importance of information in Kunxu."

"Mastering more information and possessing sufficient informational disparity is often more useful than sheer strength. It allows you to overcome stronger opponents and outmatch the wealthy despite being poor."

"We know this, and those orthodox deities, Golden Core cultivators, Nascent Soul cultivators, and even higher immortals certainly know it too."

"Thus, with each ascending layer in Kunxu, information surveillance becomes stricter. It’s like layers of spiderwebs enveloping everyone, eager to monitor every bit of data on each person."

"Like the increase in spiritual energy consumption in your dormitory over the past half-month—it can easily be detected by others."

"If you don’t learn to conceal it, as your achievements rise in the future, many will soon scrutinize your various data and information. Before long, numerous people will notice your astounding talent."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu felt a slight stir in his heart. The speed of his technique progression was indeed something he couldn’t plausibly explain.

If a higher existence took a significant interest in him, his future fate would entirely rest in their hands.

Therefore, he had always intended to keep this matter hidden, avoiding overly shocking displays.

This time, however, he hadn’t anticipated that analyzing the room’s spiritual energy consumption data alongside his spending records could deduce the rapid advancement of his breathing technique.

Zhang Pianpian continued, "So, besides mastering informational disparity, creating it is equally important. For us poor, the simplest and most effective way to create informational disparity is to learn to hide our own information."

"You cultivate spiritual power to sell it for money, right? But with your talent, if you rapidly increase and sell large amounts of spiritual power in a short time, you’ll immediately face the trouble of an unexplained massive source of spiritual power."

Zhang Pianpian sighed and said, "So you need to learn to slow down your progression rate."

"For instance, with the Primordial Fetal Breathing Scripture, avoid advancing it further for at least half a month. You can shift your focus to physical strength or the Dao heart direction."

Zhang Yu thought, "But I’m already at level 20."

Fuji reassured him, "Don’t worry, Zhang Yu. With my anti-detection ritual, simply concealing your strength isn’t difficult."

Detection rituals can probe surveillance devices.

Anti-detection rituals, on the other hand, can hide certain data when one’s physical information is being scanned.

Both of these rituals had already been completed by Zhang Yu while he was on the first floor.

Yet, Zhang Yu still sighed inwardly, "Even if I can hide the speed of my progress in magic power, selling too much of it still carries risks."

"It seems that if I want to earn more spirit coins, I’ll have to rely on the construction site after all."

"That means my original cultivation plan will have to be adjusted."

Zhang Pianpian then reminded him, "You also need to be careful with your rankings. Don’t climb too quickly or attract too much attention."

"Many exams at the university are application-based—you take them whenever you apply. Try to delay until the last possible moment to take the exams. That way, even if your improvement is significant, it’ll draw less attention."

"Oh, and for your daily physical cultivation, don’t practice in front of the dormitory anymore. Find a place without surveillance to train."

Zhang Yu asked curiously, "Where is there no surveillance?"

Zhang Pianpian replied calmly, "Below the 100th floor of the university district, the lower you go, the fewer surveillance cameras there are. Go there to practice."

Zhang Yu asked again, "But what about the consumption of dormitory spiritual energy?"

Zhang Pianpian simply pointed a finger, and a talisman book materialized at her fingertip.

As a series of runes flashed briefly, the log of dormitory spiritual energy consumption appeared before Zhang Pianpian. With a swipe of her finger, she altered the data to a different set of numbers.

"Spiritual energy consumption is relatively easy to conceal. I’ll use a Stealing Spirit Talisman to help you hide it, but your own achievements and strength—you’ll need to restrain yourself in that regard."

Zhang Yu asked curiously, "What’s a Stealing Spirit Talisman?"

"It’s a talisman that lets you use a bit more spiritual energy without being detected. Just a little thing I drew myself—nothing to worry about." Zhang Pianpian smiled slightly. "After all, the dormitory on the 125th floor is quite rudimentary. I’ve already cracked the talisman that records spiritual energy data."

Fuji, watching this scene, was startled. "What the hell... Is that even possible? Is she stealing electricity? This Zhang Pianpian... is she even human or a god now?"

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu looked at his sister and suddenly noticed a flash of information about a Dao Seed on her chest.

"The Taiqing Talisman?" Zhang Yu thought to himself. "Is this my sister’s Dao Seed?"

(End of Chapter)