The Dao of Magnetic Force

Once Xuan Ya’s figure disappeared at the end of the bamboo forest path, Lu Qiancha immediately gathered her mind, immersing herself once again in the repetitive practice of “Dual Pieces Returning to Origin.”

Her thoughts moved slightly, summoning the Heaven and Earth Chessboard, which contained the Dao resonance of chess. It hovered beside her as she attempted to borrow its rhythm to deepen her comprehension of this newly acquired technique.

Once, twice, thrice…

Amidst the repeated traction of intent, outlining of trajectories, and annihilation of returning to origin, deep within the lake of Lu Qiancha’s heart, that wondrous Dao resonance—elusive as mist—was finally gradually perceived clearly, touched, and then firmly captured by her.

That feeling was like a dormant seed breaking through the hard crust of the earth, its tender sprout of vitality just blooming. Or like an invisible harp string, plucked quietly by the fingers of fate, causing ripples to spread circle after circle in the heart’s lake.

It caused her emotions to surge, eager to try, its wonder as vast as the starry sky, dazzling the eyes and captivating the mind.

However, this enlightenment was also like flowing sand between fingers, fleeting and ephemeral, making her anxious. She could only exert all her effort within these thousands of tempered trials to carve it deep into her divine soul.

Finally.

After experiencing an unknown number of failures and fine adjustments, under the dual enhancement of the Guiyuan Manual’s mental cultivation method and the Heaven and Earth Chessboard’s Dao rhythm, Lu Qiancha’s mind and spirit united.

She successfully peeled and condensed that wisp of pure Dao resonance from the ethereal realization.

Without hesitation, she carefully guided out this newly captured Dao resonance and swiftly stuffed it into the Trickery Cube she carried with her.

Uncontrollable excitement surged in Lu Qiancha’s heart. Her Chess Dao was finally about to welcome a substantial strengthening. This would be a combat method with true lethality, adding another trump card for saving her life.

However, the expected anomaly of the Chess Dao did not appear.

Just as the thought flashed through her mind, the cube in her hand flowed with brilliance, its form changing abruptly.

In an instant, it transformed into three cards with an ancient texture and a brownish-yellow background.

Lu Qiancha saw at a glance that the style of these cards was exactly the same as the Doom-shroom cards she had obtained previously.

Her gaze was instantly attracted by the peculiar patterns on the cards.

On the first card was painted a peculiarly shaped mushroom—its main body looked like a giant U-shaped magnet, with a grey-white stalk. At the curved connection of the U-shaped magnet, it was embellished with an eye-catching purple, bowtie-like protrusion.

This was a Magnet-shroom.

Lu Qiancha recognized this classic image at a glance.

At the same time, she couldn’t help but mutter in her heart: So the Dao resonance captured this time was not of the Chess Dao, but the laws concerning gravity or magnetism.

She helplessly scratched the small ears atop her head, moving her gaze down to carefully read the fly-sized characters inscribed below the card:

[Magnet-shroom]

[Magnetism: Will sleep during the day. When awake, can attract metal products within a certain range.]

[Decomposition: Can slowly decompose attracted metal products. The higher the item’s quality/grade, the longer the decomposition time required. During the decomposition process, the original properties of the metal product will be temporarily eliminated.]

[Cooldown: Half an hour.]

[Description: “I declare! I’m really not eating ironware! I just keep getting knocked out by those guys flying over blindly…” —As stated by a Magnet-shroom who wished to remain anonymous.]

Lu Qiancha blinked her large aqua-blue eyes, carrying a trace of expectation as she slowly injected spiritual power into the first Magnet-shroom card.

Poof.

A mushroom, topping a massive U-shaped magnet hat and possessing a rather spectacular physique, appeared instantly on the ground before her.

Unlike the previous petite Doom-shroom infant, this Magnet-shroom was sleeping soundly.

Its anthropomorphic mushroom cap expression had become a standard “-_-“, and there were even several small “Zzz” bubbles floating very graphically above its head, rising and falling gently with its breathing.

Lu Qiancha took out a small iron sword and placed it gently beside the sleeping Magnet-shroom.

No reaction whatsoever.

Sure enough, there was absolutely no magnetism while sleeping.

Lu Qiancha pursed her small mouth, unable to resist extending a small claw to poke curiously at the Magnet-shroom’s giant magnet hat.

The tactile sensation was a bit unexpected. It wasn’t the anticipated cold, hard texture of metal, but rather a soft, bouncy, wondrous feeling—quite interesting.

This peculiar touch made her subconsciously put her finger into her mouth again, biting lightly, her small head spinning fast: In a few days, I have to look for those Hu merchants from afar to buy some coffee beans to try. Maybe that can solve the problem of mushrooms sleeping during the day…

Just as the thought arose, Lu Qiancha was suddenly startled awake.

Panic seized her heart. She hurriedly pulled her finger out of her mouth, swiftly took out a clean handkerchief, and meticulously wiped the finger stained with saliva clean.

Immediately after, she nervously pricked up her two small ears, turning her small head vigilantly to look around, her powerful spiritual consciousness spreading out quietly.

Only after confirming that Master Xuan Ya’s aura was indeed not nearby did the little wolf cub let out a long sigh of relief, her tense small shoulders relaxing.

“Phew—thankfully Master isn’t here, otherwise I’d get beaten.”

“Gulp-ooh~”

Thinking of the force Master used when hitting people, Lu Qiancha couldn’t help but shiver slightly, a low whimper of lingering fear issuing from her throat.

She shook her head vigorously, as if to shake out those terrifying thoughts.

After adjusting her mindset, the little wolf cub cast her gaze toward the remaining two brand-new cards.

The pattern on the second card was even more peculiar: the main body resembled a clover, but its three leaves were unexpectedly replaced by three robust magnet blocks, black on top and red on the bottom. The whole thing looked remarkably like a miniature wind turbine.

Lu Qiancha looked at the small characters below.

[Tri-leaf Magnet]

[Strong Magnetic Field Outbreak: After planting, generates an extremely powerful magnetic field, instantly attracting all metal products within a huge range. Effect lasts for one minute.]

[Cooldown: Fifteen minutes.]

[Description: “Everyone loves to call me ‘Magneto,’ and ‘Expelliarmus!’ is my loudest slogan. But honestly, I don’t understand myself how exactly I turn the ‘whoosh-whoosh’ spinning wind energy into ‘swish-swish’ sucking magnetic force…” —A message from a confused Tri-leaf Magnet.]

It seems this plant sacrificed the decomposition trait and shortened the duration in exchange for a more domineering, wider-range magnetic force.

Lu Qiancha twitched her sensitive ears, quickly analyzing the characteristics.

With a thought, she injected spiritual power into the second card.

Poof.

A Tri-leaf Magnet appeared instantly on the ground.

Almost the instant it finished taking root, the blades composed of three magnet blocks at the top immediately began to rotate at high speed, emitting a “whoosh-whoosh” wind sound.

A powerful suction force emerged instantly.

The small iron sword Lu Qiancha had just thrown aside was sucked over with a swish, sticking firmly to one of the rotating magnet blades with a snap, spinning rapidly along with it.

It actually doesn’t sleep during the day?!

Lu Qiancha felt slightly surprised. She scratched her small ears, pondering: It seems these mutant or derivative forms of mushrooms basically don’t have the restriction of daytime dormancy; only the most primitive prototype mushrooms are lethargic.