Spiritual Energy Laws

"First year after transmigrating, May 6th. What is scientific thinking? Scientific thinking does not mean the periodic table of elements, nor does it mean atoms and quantum theory. It is a method of understanding the world.

Although I was only an ordinary university student in my previous life, after more than a decade of being steeped in that kind of education, I still understood some of it... Simply put, it is observation, thought, experimentation, and conclusion."

"For example, Newton noticed an apple falling and, through thought and experimentation, summarized the three laws of mechanics. Darwin traveled across the world, observed countless species, and ultimately summarized the natural law of [natural selection, Survival of the Fittest]..."

"So, if one wants to gain any understanding of this world, observing phenomena is an indispensable condition. Indeed, only after observing the corresponding phenomena can thoughts arise, allowing one to summarize the relevant theories."

"And [Spiritual Energy] itself is Formless and Intangible, impossible to observe. But according to what I currently know, only upon reaching the Qi Refining Stage can one interfere with it. In other words, cultivation is the key right now..."

"First year after transmigrating, May 15th. I heard that the sect arranges for cultivators to lecture disciples like us every Three Months. I had not yet entered the sect during the last lecture, so this time I could finally go listen.

After all, the cultivation methods issued by the sect had left me completely lost. Before awakening my memories from my previous life, this body's original owner had never studied seriously, leaving me genuinely unable to understand the meaning of those cultivation methods. If I rashly cultivated them, something might go wrong."

"First year after transmigrating, May 16th. The Azure Dragon chases the tiger, the tiger follows the dragon; crimson birds meet, their cries harmonious. Regulate qi and guide fire, pursuing the bird palace; cinnabar enters the belly, and the body surges. The Five Elements' profound meaning is hard to know; dragon and tiger hide within Kan and Li..."

"Hmm... Could some fellow Daoist explain what the hell he was talking about?!

Why could I understand every single word, yet once they were put together, I had absolutely no idea what they meant!!!

I, Lin Chen, was at least a university student who had gone through nine years of compulsory education and scored over one hundred and thirty in the Chinese college entrance exam. Sure, my abilities had slipped a little after entering university, but how could I completely fail to understand what he was saying? Couldn't he explain it in simpler terms?"

But I did learn one thing: Qi Refining Stage cultivation in this world differed from what I knew... I had originally assumed it went Qi Refining Level One, Level Two, Level Three, and so on. Who would have thought the fellow Daoist in the neighboring dwelling would roll his eyes at me...

What he meant was that cultivation was the evolution of life's essence, progressing one stage after another, and low-level cultivators could not accurately quantify it.

Coupled With differences in each person's dantian capacity and physical constitution, there were no especially clear divisions in rank within the Qi Refining Stage. Instead, it was more often distinguished by cultivation phases: [Nourishing Qi], [Condensing True Qi], [Qi Vortex]... Uh, by the understanding of us transmigrators, Isn't It Just the early, middle, and late stages of Qi Refining?"

"But that is not important. The important thing is, who can help me interpret this cultivation method? I never imagined that my grand plan of Science Cultivation would get stuck in such a damned place before it had even begun!"

"First year after transmigrating, June 1st. Thanks to that fellow Daoist in the neighboring dwelling, and after reading many more books with his help, I finally understood what the cultivation method meant..."

"However, I unexpectedly learned that he was the top scholar of a Mortal Dynasty. I heard that their region was vast and densely populated, and Coupled With being a Spiritless Land where those with spiritual roots were scarce, the sect would not devote great effort to testing their aptitude. So, to receive a test for cultivation aptitude, one had to pass the provincial examination?"

"Ah, this? For some reason, it felt like poor regions were even more ruthlessly competitive..."

"Forget It, that is not important. What I cared more about now was the meaning of the interpreted cultivation method... I had thought I would understand it once it was interpreted, but who would have known..."

"Wrap the embryonic form of the great medicine in heart-fire, send it straight forth from the cinnabar cauldron, then return through the body's Three Flowers to the scarlet palace heart chamber of the middle dantian. Plant a golden lotus within the fire, causing a wisp of primordial qi to transform into True Qi."

"...No, the human body is a Flesh and Blood Body. Where would fire come from? Where would a cauldron come from? Even this thing called a dantian—I secretly went to the sect's corpse-disposal site and dissected several experimental subjects, yet I had never seen one!"

"Fuck! How did those transmigrator seniors start cultivating the instant they transmigrated? This is not scientific—no, this is not cultivation!"

"First year after transmigrating, September 10th. Whew... These Three Months nearly worked me to death.

To figure out what the cultivation method meant, I waited until disciples from the same intake sleeping nearby had fallen asleep, used sleeping incense to knock them out cold, then sneaked in and groped their bodies all over. Using Internal Observation Talismans bought with Spirit Stones to observe their dantians, I finally understood what the cultivation method was talking about..."

"Things like setting up the furnace and cauldron, breathing in the sun and moon, dragons and tigers, Kan and Li—when all was said and done, it was simply drawing this thing called Spiritual Energy into the body, keeping it there, and making it one's own."

"However, Spiritual Energy itself was Formless and Intangible. Only those with spiritual roots could sense it, yet it could not be touched, so one had to rely on something to retain it within the human body."

"Among the mortals of this world, one could replenish food, strengthen the body, practice breathing exercises, and use other methods to produce genuinely existing substances within the body, such as [Internal Strength] and [primordial qi]."

"By continuously consuming spiritual herbs and medicinal pills, or coming into contact with Spiritual Energy, cultivators caused the Internal Strength, primordial qi, and similar substances in their bodies to react with Spiritual Energy, gradually gaining the characteristics of Spiritual Energy..."

"After undergoing transformation, Internal Strength and primordial qi that possessed the characteristics of Spiritual Energy were collectively called [True Qi]!

And because True Qi could react with Spiritual Energy, cultivators could directly draw Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into their bodies for refinement."

"This process involved continuously bringing the primordial qi in the body into contact with Spiritual Energy, slowly nurturing the body's primordial qi into True Qi with the properties of Spiritual Energy. Nurturing primordial qi into True Qi was also called the Nourishing Yuan Realm."

"And once one possessed this strand of True Qi belonging to one's True Self, one could continuously refine—or rather, infect—ownerless Spiritual Energy. This was the So-called Condensing True Qi: condensing True Qi."

"As for the Qi Vortex? It should be rotating the True Qi inside the body into a vortex, allowing one to store more Spiritual Energy and thereby achieve True Qi Liquefaction to strike at the Foundation Establishment Realm."

"So, Qi Refining Stage, Qi Refining Stage—Whether It Is divided by levels or by phases, at its root, it was merely using all kinds of methods to turn the ownerless Spiritual Energy Between Heaven and Earth into Spiritual Energy that cultivators could control, namely True Qi!"

"...Now these were words a transmigrator could understand! Look at those Daoist texts and cultivation methods—what dwelling, cauldron, scarlet palace, essence... Back in my previous life, who could understand that without ten years of Daoist cultivation experience?"

"Second year after transmigrating, June 12th. This was the [True Qi] that So-called Qi Refining Stage Cultivators could condense?"

"Like light but not light, like water but not water, flowing with a gentle murmur, Xuanmiao beyond compare. It had no physical form, yet could be distinctly sensed..."

"According to the Classics, this True Qi—or True Qi—was a secret human medicine obtained when Daoists nurtured their fleshly bodies, strengthened their Qi and Blood, and Refined Essence into Qi."

"Cultivators could use it to nourish their entire bodies, cultivate themselves and their temperament, and so long as they did not suffer Severe Injury, they could easily live beyond a hundred years!"

"Although I had only just nurtured the True Qi of my True Self and could not yet cultivate techniques and arts or use Qi Controlling Artifact, I could still use True Qi for Drawing Talismans and pill refinement, Internal Observation, regulating and nurturing my vitality, and practicing even higher-level Immortal Dao Techniques and arts!"

"Speaking of which, True Qi, true qi? This Term was rather interesting."

"I remembered that in my previous life, there was also the saying of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, but all explanations concerning qi were mysterious and abstruse."

"[Essence] could refer to the human body or blood—these were substances that truly existed. [Spirit], meanwhile, referred to the human soul, consciousness, and memories. Although they could not be directly observed in my previous life, the birth and development of Human Civilization could indirectly prove their existence..."

"But [qi] was different. Although Daoists said that the human body moved through qi, no one had ever seen it. Even in medicine, it was merely a man-made judgment, with no precise proof available.

And in reality, those So-called qigong masters were frauds as well. Of course, perhaps there truly were fellow Daoists hidden among the common people, refusing to display their holiness before others. But I had only been an Ordinary Person in my previous life, so I had never encountered such things..."

"But this world was different. Not to mention cultivators—even mortals spoke of Qi and Blood and Internal Strength, and these things could even affect reality.

Interesting. With human anatomy largely similar to my previous life, Internal Strength, primordial qi, and True Qi—things that could not be seen yet were real rather than illusory—could be produced. Why was that? And what connection did they have with Spiritual Energy?"

"Since I had already advanced to the Qi Refining Stage, I could begin researching Spiritual Energy. Perfect—I wanted to see exactly what mysteries this thing called Spiritual Energy concealed."

"Second year after transmigrating, July 1st. As everyone knew, combustion required three elements: combustible material, a combustion-supporting agent, and an ignition point.

Although I could not determine through observation whether what I breathed in this Side World was oxygen—that is, the combustion-supporting agent—

there was no doubt that for combustion to occur, combustible material had to exist. This statement had already been verified among mortals."

"Yet through the Spiritual Energy Fireball created by the talisman [Fireball Talisman], I discovered that it did not need combustible material at all. It simply hung in the air out of nowhere! Interesting—combustion that Does Not Need combustible material..."

"Could it be that the fireball used Spiritual Energy as fuel? But combustion entailed consumption. If that were truly the case, then once a Fireball Technique was cast, provided it did not go out, an entire spiritual mountain would be destroyed. Yet nothing like that existed in reality..."

"Whenever a phenomenon existed, it must have its rational basis. Perhaps my conjecture and research direction were mistaken. It seemed I needed to consider this from another angle..."

"Speaking of which, I was using up quite a lot of Spirit Stones... Fuck! Why did money flow away like Flowing Water no matter which world one was in!"

"Second year after transmigrating, September 3rd. After continuous experiments, I finally discovered why Spiritual Energy Fireballs could burn: Spiritual Energy could temporarily become a certain kind of substance, thereby becoming the substance from which the fireball was born."

"However, this transformation seemed temporary. I found that after a large number of fireballs destroyed a target, most of the Original Place was scorched black, with only a small portion still burning. Could it be that the flames formed from Spiritual Energy transformed back into Spiritual Energy?"

"Spiritual Energy Converts to Combustible Material, Combustible Material Gives Birth to Flame, and flame transforms back into Spiritual Energy. Spiritual Energy, matter, and energy—could these three actually transform into one another?!"

"Second year after transmigrating, December 1st. Spiritual Energy truly was a miraculous substance!

No, no—even whether it was a substance at all, I did not dare say for certain.

In any case, after extensive research, I discovered that under the powerful influence of various factors, Spiritual Energy could temporarily, perhaps even permanently, transform into any substance and possess all of that substance's characteristics!"

"Fuck! Wasn't this ability too heaven-defying? It was practically Comparable To the Philosopher's Stone from the Western legends of my previous life! No Wonder Spiritual Energy could give birth to Longevity True Immortals that did not exist in my previous life!"

"Combining my prior research and records with further conjectures and experiments, could I derive a law? That is, [Spiritual Energy can temporarily, perhaps even permanently, transform into a certain substance and possess all of that substance's characteristics]!"

"However, Daoist arts also included Spirit Arts such as the Earth Spike Technique and Entanglement Technique. Unlike the Fireball Technique and Wind Blade Technique, they directly used objects that already existed to attack, and those objects would not dissipate afterward..."

"Spiritual Energy was not a physical entity, yet it could affect substances that genuinely existed. What was going on here?"

"Third year after transmigrating, December 25th. The research progressed extremely smoothly. This was naturally because my direction was correct, but the various records left by predecessors in the Azure Cloud Sect's Scripture Repository had also given me enormous help."

"The Azure Cloud Sect's records of its predecessors' experiences with Spiritual Energy over countless centuries were trash to other disciples, but to me, they were truly priceless treasures!"

"I could absorb and summarize this experience to further improve my theoretical system!"

"Sure enough, only by standing on the shoulders of predecessors could one better understand this world!"

"To return to the point, through research and the records left by predecessors, I discovered that only Spiritual Energy could affect Spiritual Energy. As for why tricks such as the Entanglement Technique and Earth Spike Technique, which interfered with physical entities, existed—it was because All Things Possess Spiritual Energy, and thus they could affect one another!"

"After constant observation and analysis, I even discovered that all things were composed of Spiritual Energy!"

"However, because Spiritual Energy had differing Activity Levels, inert Spiritual Energy became Mundane Objects, while highly active Spiritual Energy became the foundation of cultivators' cultivation."

"And because Spiritual Energy's Activity Level differed among different things and regions, there was a distinction between spiritual veins and barren lands."

"In other words, in this Side World, [active] Spiritual Energy became the foundation for the evolution of cultivators' lives, while [inert] Spiritual Energy became the foundation upon which the world existed!"

"Thus, the existence of this Side World was not built upon [atoms], but upon [Spiritual Energy]!"

"So that was it... The people of my previous life developed a brilliant technological age through Microscopic Particles, while cultivators in This Life built a vast Cultivation Civilization upon Spiritual Energy.

As civilization developed, did it ultimately always lead toward observing nature, understanding nature, and controlling nature?"

"Fourth year after transmigrating, January 1st. Based on my existing discoveries, I had temporarily summarized two Spiritual Energy Laws!"

"First: [All things in the world are composed of Spiritual Energy; Spiritual Energy's Activity Level distinguishes immortals from mortals]!"

"Second: [Spiritual Energy can, due to the influence of certain factors, temporarily, perhaps even permanently, transform into a certain substance and possess all of that substance's characteristics]!"

"Haha, perhaps to cultivators of this world, these two laws were merely nonsense. But for transmigrators like us who possessed Scientific Thinking, only after obtaining foundational theories could we generate corresponding conjectures, investigate and experiment, and ultimately achieve those brilliant results!"

"And through these laws, I could explore the Cultivation System founded upon Spiritual Energy, as well as the soul—which had been illusory and intangible in my previous life, yet genuinely existed in This Life!"

"I have decided. From this day onward, proving the Spiritual Energy Laws, exploring the Cultivation System, and researching the Mysteries of the Soul would become the three great subjects on my path of cultivation, I, Lin Chen!"