The Way of Man: Deplete the Insufficient, Serve the Abundant

Seeing the price of the item, Lin Tuo's slightly heated mind instantly cooled down.

Although the Aether within his body had broken past five hundred points for the first time, it was still nothing compared to that steep price.

"Then wait a bit longer? Wait until the Aether in the sandbox recovers, absorb it, and scrape together a thousand points?"

Lin Tuo turned his head to look at the sandbox continent, its light and shadows shifting.

The Azure White Qi had already begun to recover slowly, and he immediately started calculating.

Through his observations over this period, he had realized that hoarding too much Aether in his body wasn't cost-effective.

First, although Aether could temper the body, the process was slow. Even practicing martial arts daily and honing his physique could only speed it up slightly.

In other words, tempering the body and advancing life's evolution couldn't be rushed.

Additionally, he had also discovered that using the Martial Ancestor Manifestation Fist consumed Aether to a certain extent.

For example, when he tried to gather the Azure White Qi, condense it into a phantom weapon, and release it, it depleted the Aether within his body.

Earlier, on the rooftop in the city center, he had lost a bit. But in this peaceful era, there was simply no opportunity to use it up—he couldn't deliberately waste it.

Under these circumstances, spending the absorbed points as soon as possible, investing them, was the wise move.

Right now, the Store only had this one item, and he seemed to have no other choice.

"No, I can also release this Aether to raise the concentration in a specific area!" A sudden flash of inspiration struck Lin Tuo's mind.

Aether, as a form of energy, could be absorbed, and naturally, it could also be released.

In fact, the Qi-Eating Method contained related techniques.

Normally, there was no reason to expel what was so hard-won, but this time was different.

Lin Tuo just so happened to have this need!

The technique had already been spread. Presumably, soon, people in Yangcheng City would try to cultivate it. But the problem was that, due to Lin Tuo's previous harvesting, the Aether concentration over Yangcheng still hadn't recovered.

It remained in a "low" state.

In other words, the Aether in the Yangcheng area was dry and depleted.

This clearly wasn't conducive to people's cultivation.

Even if the Aether environment in Yangcheng were normal, ordinary people attempting to cultivate would still progress very slowly.

According to the information provided by the Evolution Sandbox, Lin Tuo knew that under normal circumstances, sitting in meditation, breathing, and spending long hours absorbing Aether from heaven and earth was a highly inefficient process.

Aside from a few gifted individuals, most people wouldn't see any improvement without persisting for a month or two.

For the majority, just sensing the existence of "Aether" was already a high threshold.

Let alone the fact that Yangcheng's Aether was currently below normal levels.

Even more so.

Thus, if left alone, most people, out of curiosity, might try it once or twice, stick with it for a few days, find no results, and give up.

If that happened, Lin Tuo's plan to create a pilot site and push forward the evolution of all humanity would fail.

"At the very least, in the early stages, I need to find a way to make people quickly realize that the Azure Spirit Breath Technique is real and effective."

Lin Tuo muttered to himself.

And the simplest, most direct way to achieve that was to forcibly raise the Aether concentration in the Yangcheng area!

"If I pour Aether back into Yangcheng through the sandbox, will there be any loss?"

Lin Tuo asked softly.

The next second, a piece of information automatically flooded into his mind.

The gist was that reverse pouring would still incur some loss, but compared to harvesting, the loss was much smaller.

With this answer, Lin Tuo felt reassured and grew even more confident that this idea was a good one.

"Feed these five hundred points back to Yangcheng, forcibly boost the local concentration, then quickly catalyze it, so people recognize the value of the Breath Technique. That way, even if I stop the catalysis later, it won't be a big problem."

As for the other option—saving up a thousand points to purchase the observation range—Lin Tuo mulled it over and felt it wasn't necessary for now.

A thousand points could only exchange for ten thousand square kilometers.

That meant he could include the neighboring city area into the sandbox.

But in the "promote universal human cultivation" plan, Lin Tuo wouldn't be harvesting Aether from outside the sandbox for a long time to come.

Under those circumstances, simply expanding the observation range had little value.

"Hmm, the only benefit is probably that if I go play in the neighboring city later, I can teleport directly instead of taking a bus..."

Thinking this, he even chuckled to himself.

Decision made.

Closing the Store page, Lin Tuo switched the sandbox back to "Observation Mode."

Then, gazing at the modern city running like a massive machine, he reversed the operation of the Qi-Eating Method, puffed out his cheeks, and slowly breathed wisps of Azure White Qi back into the sandbox.

Evening.

As the sun slowly sank westward, strands of warm light spreading from the western horizon, the streets of Yangcheng gradually grew busier with cars and people.

Inside the department of the company Lin Tuo had recently resigned from.

It was also time to clock out.

"Brother Li, heading out together?"

"Nah, I still have some things to finish up. You guys go ahead."

"...Alright, have a good weekend."

"You too."

After exchanging greetings, Li Tai let out a breath and watched his colleagues leave.

Once the office was empty, he slowly stood up, double-checked that no one was around, then crept back to his desk like a thief and opened a saved image in his browser bookmarks.

As a department manager, Li Tai had a fairly gentle personality.

Coupled with the relaxed atmosphere in the company, he never put on airs and got along well with his colleagues—otherwise, the company group chat wouldn't have been so lively.

But after years of high-intensity work, his body had inevitably accumulated ailments.

His cervical spine alone was slightly misaligned, and he could only manage it with medication.

That morning, when a group of young colleagues in the company discussed the morning's events and considered trying cultivation, he didn't chime in, but he silently took note and grew curious.

After all, the idea of martial training strengthening the body was deeply ingrained.

If that technique really worked, maybe practicing it could benefit his own health.

"Just give it a try. It can't cause any problems, right..."

Muttering softly, Li Tai adjusted his glasses and carefully read the photo displayed on the computer screen:

"Azure Spirit Breath Technique"

"Step one... adjust your sitting posture to..."

To make it easy for people to learn, Lin Tuo had written it as concisely as possible, and since the technique itself wasn't complicated, Li Tai memorized it after reading it twice.

Casually placing the cushion from his chair on the floor, Li Tai faced the window and awkwardly assumed a cross-legged sitting posture.

Then he closed his eyes and began to visualize his mind according to the breathing technique, slowly adjusting the rhythm of his breath.

"Inhale... exhale... inhale... exhale..."

At first, he found it hard to adapt.

After all, adjusting the human breathing rhythm wasn't easy, but gradually, he got used to it.

The glow of the setting sun slowly dimmed.

The office was completely silent.

A breeze rustled the potted plants, and Li Tai's breathing gradually fell into a certain rhythm, his entire being sinking into an indescribable state.

Meanwhile.

In a certain residential complex in Yangcheng, inside a certain room.

Zhou Mo's best friend, the girl named Jiang Yishan, pulled open the bathroom door.

While drying her hair with a towel, she walked into the bedroom, picked up her phone, and let her gaze fall on the wildly shared technique.

"Give it a try?"

With a flicker of thought, Jiang Yishan twisted her hair up, sniffled, skimmed the content a few times, then casually plopped down onto the yoga mat on the floor.

Adjusting her breathing, she quickly managed to calm her mind.

Then, strands of a cyan-white aura, imperceptible to ordinary people, slowly descended from the sky like long, continuous threads, pouring into her mouth and nose.

"Inhale... exhale... inhale... exhale..."

The red sun sank, the sky gradually darkened, and the entire city of Yangcheng lit up with brilliant lights, stepping into the night.

It seemed no different from usual.

But in countless corners of the city, and even in the villages on its outskirts.

There were some people who, away from prying eyes, sat cross-legged on the ground and, as if by unspoken agreement, began to practice the "Azure Spirit Breath Technique."

Lishan Martial Arts School, study.

Lin Tuo quietly overlooked the city in the sandbox. With the power of the "Evolution Sandbox," he could clearly see the floating Aether.

At this moment, through his active feedback, the Aether above the entire city had nearly gathered into a cloud.

If one looked closely, they would notice extremely fine strands of Azure White Qi slowly descending, crossing space to connect to various points within the city.

Like countless silk threads.

One end was the Aether Cloud, the other end were ordinary people sunk deep in cultivation.

"Oh?"

After observing for a while, Lin Tuo suddenly noticed that among these countless threads, a small number were noticeably thicker and sturdier.

"Could this be the difference in talent? Different talents yield different cultivation efficiency. The thicker the thread, the higher the talent of the individual it connects to."

A realization dawned in Lin Tuo's heart. After a moment's hesitation, he reached out to disturb the "Aether Cloud," intervening in its concentration distribution, forcibly raising the density around the areas where the talented individuals were located.

Since he needed to make people realize the value of the Breath Technique as quickly as possible and attract more to cultivate, the most practical method was to rapidly establish a few "examples."

And these higher-talent individuals were clearly the most suitable.

"The Way of Heaven is like drawing a bow—what is high is brought low, what is low is raised up. What is excessive is reduced, what is insufficient is supplemented. The Way of Heaven reduces the excessive and supplements the insufficient.

But the human way is not so—it reduces the insufficient to serve the excessive. Who can take from the excessive to give to the world? Only one who possesses the Way."

Lin Tuo let out a soft sigh, silently reciting a classic passage from Laozi, and mocked himself:

"The ancients did not deceive me."