Free Web NovelChapter 92: Chapter 87: South Celestial Gate (Part 2)
"For another example, you could go to the headquarters, secure a spot... and enter the legendary Eden Garden... Yes, I know you have your doubts, but it’s no legend! The Eden Garden is real."
"Hold on a minute!" Chu Bamboo raised a hand, cutting off Zhang Hai. "According to your sect’s tradition, it’s called the Eden Garden. So what do the native factions call it?"
"..." Zhang Hai was left speechless, staring blankly at Chu Bamboo.
Sometimes, he truly didn’t know whether Chu Bamboo was just socially inept or was deliberately trying to give him a hard time.
Silently grinding his teeth, Zhang Hai said, "It’s called the South Celestial Gate!"
Chu Bamboo: "..."
Chu Bamboo pondered for a moment, his gaze drifting subconsciously toward the sky. He had suddenly remembered that the Real World was working on a space program called the South Celestial Gate, wasn’t it?
’Could this South Celestial Gate be...’
"Outer space?!"
"...Huh?" Zhang Hai’s face fell. "How could you possibly kn— Oh. Right. It’s only natural that you’d know that much."
Zhang Hai quickly came to terms with it. In fact, the speed of his acceptance made him feel a little sad for himself.
"But, it’s not actually confirmed that it’s in outer space! We only suspect..." Zhang Hai pinched the bridge of his nose, then his expression flickered and he quickly shook his head. "No, no, that’s not right. I should say, it is a Holy place created by God! Only those who believe in God... Dammit, Mr. Zhu, are you setting me up?"
Seeing the agitated Zhang Hai, Chu Bamboo’s tone was light. "You’re a monk-turned-priest; you shouldn’t get so hung up on this stuff! You say you’re a true believer in God, but go ask your Star Archbishop if he buys it. It’s one thing to fool your brothers, but don’t start fooling yourself!"
Zhang Hai: "..."
"So, if you go to the Outer Heav— oh, no, to the Eden Garden to practice Cultivation, you won’t be affected by the contamination!" Chu Bamboo was now pondering a very serious question.
’Just go to space to cultivate and it’ll be fine... Isn’t that a little too simple?’
’No... it can’t possibly be that simple!’
’If the God Worship Sect really has control over devices from the Real World for space travel... like spaceships, or a space elevator, or even more incredible things...’
’Then the cost of going to outer space shouldn’t be that high!’
’From that perspective, couldn’t they just mass-produce Cultivators?’
Unsurprisingly, Zhang Hai answered, "I’m not sure! I’ve been to the Eden Garden before. The place is surrounded by stars... which is why I suspect it’s the Outer Heaven. But there are extremely strict limits on the number of slots for entry!"
’A limit on the slots... So it’s not simply outer space, just as I thought,’ Chu Bamboo mused. freewebnσvel.cøm
"Furthermore, you need the aptitude for Cultivation to get in... Most importantly, even after all that, the success rate for one’s first attempt at Cultivation is less than forty percent! However, under the supervision of our Sect’s personnel, we use a Spirit-Draining Rod. Before the person loses control, we forcefully strike them with the rod to draw the Spiritual Qi out of their body..."
After a slight pause, Zhang Hai continued, "But after being struck like that for a while, the person is basically ruined... If they can’t succeed at Cultivation within the limited time, they have no choice but to withdraw, wasting the opportunity... These three factors combined can only guarantee an absolute survival rate! Let me be clear: survival rate, not a guaranteed Cultivation success rate!"
Chu Bamboo: "..."
’Why does that description sound so familiar?’
For some reason, Chu Bamboo was reminded of a scene from a certain popular manga, where the blond-haired protagonist is getting beaten into shape by a toad during his cultivation training!
"You’re eligible to go, it’s just that the waiting list for slots is very, ah..." Zhang Hai paused, then said reassuringly, "Don’t worry, the Star Archbishop is pulling some strings for you on that end. He can definitely secure a slot for you next quarter! It’s only three months away..."
"Oh." Chu Bamboo agreed out loud, but inwardly, he immediately dismissed the idea. ’Three months? Heh. If the process couldn’t be finished in a day, then he wouldn’t agree to a damn thing...’
"So, am I supposed to go get baptized first?" Chu Bamboo ventured, feeling a little apprehensive. After all, he had only just confirmed that his aptitude couldn’t be measured by the baptism.
"Oh, no need to worry about that... Generally, once someone succeeds as a Body Cultivator, even if they didn’t have a Spirit Root before, they do now! Of course, people don’t normally train in both... After all," Zhang Hai’s face twisted for a moment, "both Body Cultivation and regular Cultivation involve contamination! Training in both means stacking two sources of contamination, making the risk of losing control far too high!"
"In fact, if you didn’t seem so physically normal... which means your contamination level is low! Even if you wanted to do it, I wouldn’t have agreed."
Chu Bamboo: "...I see!"
’So there’s a hidden requirement, huh.’
’Wait a minute.’
It slowly dawned on Chu Bamboo as he sank into thought. ’Completing Body Cultivation means you gain a Spirit Root even if you didn’t have one... And considering that the resources for both cultivation systems are all nuclear...’
’Is it possible that this so-called Spirit Root is actually a measure of a person’s resistance to radiation?’
His imagination ran wild. ’An ordinary, unprotected person would die instantly from radiation exposure. But some people, even when hit by radiation, might be heavily injured but can still endure it to some extent—’
’After all, everyone’s constitution is different!’
’That would explain why all Body Cultivators have a Spirit Root—their physical bodies have become much stronger, so naturally, their resistance to radiation has also increased dramatically, right?’
"So, where’s the Cultivation Technique?" Chu Bamboo, having figured it out, held out his hand. "Don’t give me that nonsense about a slot being available in three months, or that you’ll tell me when it’s time to enter the Eden Garden..."
"I’ll put it this way: if you don’t tell me today, I’m not joining this God Worship Sect! You should be well aware of the price I’m paying to join the God Worship Sect, right?"
"..." Zhang Hai’s expression stiffened for a moment. He lowered his head and, after a long pause, said, "I can tell you, but given your importance, you must wait until you enter the Eden Garden in three months to begin your first attempt at Cultivation."
Zhang Hai was very concerned for Chu Bamboo’s life!
To put it bluntly, having Chu Bamboo join the God Worship Sect was already extremely dangerous... After all, he had now joined a government organization.
Fortunately, the God Worship Sect was one of the officially recognized Orthodoxy in Daqian, so it wasn’t a case where joining would lead to dismissal from public office!
However, that just meant he wouldn’t be dismissed—as for future promotions, while not entirely hopeless, the difficulty would be at least three to five times greater than for his non-believing peers.
This was the "enormous price" Chu Bamboo had mentioned paying to join the God Worship Sect...
Zhang Hai simply felt that Chu Bamboo was qualified to become a Saint...
Once he became a Saint, or even the Sect Leader in the future, his status would be on par with the titans of the Cabinet! He could even hold his own before the Emperor in the Imperial Capital—it was with this in mind that Zhang Hai had dared to extend the invitation, confident he wasn’t ruining Chu Bamboo’s future.
But the problem was just as significant... If Chu Bamboo were to bypass the Eden Garden route and try to force his Cultivation here under his watch, and died—especially now that he had joined the civil service and been entrusted with great responsibility...
The consequences would be unimaginable!
Forget the Third District!
Even the Cardinal who had painstakingly established a foothold in the First District would likely be driven out by that old administrator—at that point, the God Worship Sect’s twenty years of operations in Jinghai City would completely collapse.
Faced with this...
"I’ll do whatever you say." Sincerity was written all over Chu Bamboo’s face.
