Soul Nurturing Incense Experiment

Floating bodies, bizarre organs, and substances that looked beyond description were enough to send a chill crawling down one's spine.

Yet Lin Chen ignored this sight that would fill countless cultivators with fear and walked straight up to a row of glass jars.

Inside the row of glass jars lay Spirit Monkeys—each and every one similar in shape and size, and of the same sex.

They floated in the glass jars, their bodies pierced with tubes large and small. A closer look revealed their chests rising and falling faintly. Clearly, they were not dead.

Lin Chen observed them carefully for a while before taking out ten Spirit Monkeys and heading outside.

Though the origins of humanity in This Side World remained unclear, Lin Chen's observations and research had revealed that Spirit Monkeys resembled Daoists in both bodily structure and their dantian and meridians. Thus, they were the finest experimental subjects.

Over the years, these Spirit Monkeys had rendered immense service to Lin Chen's cultivation experiments. Had this been his previous life, he would definitely have awarded them a Nobel Prize for Experimental Materials.

As for what experiment it was—besides the previous ones, he was naturally now testing the efficacy and side effects of Soul Nurturing Incense.

Using something that had never been tested straight away? Wasn't that like an old birthday star eating arsenic—thinking his life was too long?

Carrying ten unconscious Spirit Monkeys, Lin Chen left the Secret Room. After turning left and right through the passageways, he finally arrived at a unique location.

The surrounding walls were pristine white, with Formation Restrictions inscribed across them. The ceiling employed mechanisms from the Mortal World to prevent Trick detection, while traps and restrictions had been constructed below. This alone showed how much importance Lin Chen placed on this Laboratory.

Flame Talismans were pasted across the floor and in the corners, while vast quantities of Fire Oil had been buried within a protruding section of the wall nearby.

As long as anything seemed amiss, a single fireball could turn this place into a scorched wasteland and erase every trace.

The rooms here were nested one within another. Should an accident occur, they could be sealed off layer upon layer to prevent the affected area from spreading.

Lin Chen was not being overly paranoid. Scientific experiments in the Material World of his previous life carried all kinds of dangers—toxic gas leaks, viral infections, biological mutations, and more. Let alone that this world was a supernatural one.

Lin Chen had no desire to be killed in turn by an experimental subject while carrying out Experiments.

Therefore, no matter how cautious he was, it would never be excessive!

By the time Lin Chen arrived with this batch of unconscious Spirit Monkeys, another batch of experimental subjects was already present in the Laboratory.

They were likewise Spirit Monkeys.

Unlike the monkeys Lin Chen had brought, which had fallen unconscious due to damaged souls, this batch of Spirit Monkeys looked exceedingly healthy, their Dual Eyes bright and alert.

Even trapped inside iron cages, they would leap and scramble about from time to time, ceaselessly gnawing and picking at the iron bars with teeth and fingers in an attempt to escape. Some even kept making faces at Lin Chen, baring their fangs and waving their claws as if trying to intimidate him.

Lin Chen paid this no mind. In his view, this was even better. Only healthy, standardized test subjects could provide him with more accurate judgments, could they not?

After placing the unconscious Spirit Monkeys properly, he directly opened the innermost Laboratory.

Glass walls made from special materials surrounded the room. A roughly two-meter-long experimental table stood in the middle, and fire talismans for sterilization and disinfection were pasted onto the transparent glass ceiling.

Lin Chen checked the experimental apparatus three times. He then placed an unconscious Spirit Monkey on the experimental table, took out an experiment logbook, and stood outside the Laboratory.

"Verification experiment for the revised Soul Nurturing Incense 3.0..." Lin Chen's Gaze sharpened as he focused his attention. "Begin now."

The moment the words fell, his entire aura changed abruptly.

If he had previously seemed like a Daoist—unrestrained and elegant—then now his entire presence became indifferent and pure.

He snapped his fingers, and the Soul Nurturing Incense inside the Laboratory immediately ignited. Beneath specks of firelight, a faint fragrance spread through the room.

Lin Chen stared fixedly at the Spirit Monkey on the experimental table, observing its every movement at all times.

In his previous life, Lin Chen had merely been an ordinary student at an ordinary university, not some renowned scientist. Moreover, he had majored in computer science and had not conducted many experiments, so he truly did not understand those lofty scientific experimental methods.

Still, there were two methods he remembered clearly.

One was to alter only a single factor at a time while keeping the others unchanged, thereby studying the effect that changed factor had on the matter at hand. Each was studied separately before the findings were combined into a solution.

The other was to reveal an object's properties through comparison based on its similarities and differences.

That is, the controlled variable method and comparative experiment method taught in high school textbooks!

Compare the condition of soul-damaged Spirit Monkeys after they absorbed Soul Nurturing Incense to determine whether its medicinal effect was sufficient!

Use the state of healthy Spirit Monkeys after experimentation to determine whether the new Soul Nurturing Incense contained any Hidden Dangers!

And compare the conditions of the two against each other!

Although Lin Chen had no means of observing souls, science also possessed methods of understanding things without directly observing them—for example, the Indirect Observation Method!

The ancients once said: "When essence is full, one does not lust; when qi is full, one does not hunger; when spirit is full, one does not sleep." This meant that those with abundant Essence, Qi, and Spirit would appear lively and nimble in body, radiant and full of vigor.

In other words, "spirit"—that is, the soul—might be intangible and impossible to observe, yet it would manifest through the body. Through these manifestations, Lin Chen could judge the medicinal efficacy of Soul Nurturing Incense!

Just as now. A faint white glow shone from Lin Chen's Dual Eyes, and the unconscious Spirit Monkey on the experimental table was laid bare in his Eyes down to the finest detail.

"Its eyelid seemed to twitch?" Lin Chen's Gaze shifted. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the Soul Nurturing Incense burning in the room. It had already burned away by half.

The Spirit Monkey on the experimental table had its soul damaged by my Mental Power impact. The previous two versions of Soul Nurturing Incense needed at least ten experiments before they showed this effect. It seems the medicinal efficacy has reached what I need? No, one set of data may be biased. I need to conduct several more experiments...

Lin Chen pondered for a moment. Once the incense had burned out, he entered to examine the monkey, then replaced it with another Spirit Monkey and repeated the experiment many times.

Preliminary judgment: the medicinal efficacy of Soul Nurturing Incense is sufficient. Next, begin the side-effect experiment... Lin Chen put a Spirit Monkey with an intact soul, ignorant and innocent, into the Laboratory and lit the Soul Nurturing Incense once more.

Lin Chen widened his eyes as he watched the healthy Spirit Monkey inside the Laboratory, wanting to know whether this Soul Nurturing Incense had side effects—and if it did, what they were.

After all, Soul Nurturing Incense had been modified from a medicinal prescription of the Mortal World. The chances of a Problem Occurs during the process were high. If Lin Chen had not used elimination to screen out most of the unlikely answers, coupled with the fact that it consumed far fewer medicinal ingredients than pill refinement, he truly would not have been able to produce it.

First, after a while, the originally lively and restless Spirit Monkey became somewhat listless, as though it were drowsy and ready to fall asleep.

"Hmm?"

Lin Chen was somewhat puzzled. This situation was not within the scope of his expectations.

Then, with a sudden tap, the Spirit Monkey collapsed straight onto the experiment table.

Lin Chen could not help frowning, but he did not rashly go in. Before a round of experiments was complete, he could not lightly draw conclusions.

After this experiment ended, Lin Chen repeated it several more times, and the results remained the same.

"It seems this isn't an isolated case, but why is this drowsiness happening? Could it be that there's a problem with the product I developed?" Lin Chen frowned deeply, but soon relaxed his brow.

"Rather than blindly guessing like this, I might as well dissect it and take a look." With that thought, Lin Chen picked up the scalpel Without Hesitation.

Though he could not dissect a soul for the time being, he could judge the situation based on the various changes within the body.

After all, in Lin Chen's view, every problem encountered during Experiments could be solved through dissection!

No one knew how much time had passed before Lin Chen washed the blood from his hands.

"So that's how it is... the medicinal effect of the new Soul Nurturing Incense is too strong for a Spirit Monkey. Coupled With the calming effects present in all sorts of spirit herbs, those effects stack during the mixing process, ultimately producing something Similar To hypnosis."

"However, this hypnosis does not harm the body. Rather, it allows the body to absorb more effectively through sleep. In other words..."

For some reason, Lin Chen suddenly thought that this new Soul Nurturing Incense could not only be used to strengthen oneself—it might perhaps also be used in battle.

As long as one wore a sachet made from this Soul Nurturing Incense during battle, if the fight lasted long enough, it would make the enemy feel drowsy.

Even distraction during battle could lead to extremely severe consequences, Let Alone falling asleep In Front Of an enemy.

Moreover, this drowsiness was caused by tonics. Pills such as Detoxification Pills and Rejuvenation Pills would not only be unable to alleviate it—they might even worsen it!

"Of course, perhaps Spirit Monkeys experience this sort of effect, but that may Not Necessarily be the case for cultivators themselves. But through this experiment, I at least understand that Even If it has side effects, they won't be too severe..."

Lin Chen stood in the Original Place, thinking incessantly.

His research into Soul Nurturing Incense was not solely for strengthening his Mental Power; it also concerned Lin Chen's breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment Realm and his research into [souls].

"Through my research on the first two versions, I can confirm that Soul Nurturing Incense contains a certain special spiritual energy capable of strengthening the human soul..."

"But The problem is, the soul—or rather, the divine soul—is something only Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators can observe and possess... So if I want to continue my research now, I first need to understand the Xuanmiao of the Foundation Establishment Realm?"

Lin Chen hesitated for a moment, but ultimately cleaned up everything The Scene Before Him, turned, and headed to another Laboratory.

The monkey experiments had already proven that the new Soul Nurturing Incense's side effects would not be too great, while the upcoming cultivator experiments would be a process of long-term observation, one that could not be finished anytime soon. Thus, he decided to shift his focus elsewhere.

The other Laboratory was covered in a great number of Rune Patterns, and contained quite a few Discarded spirit stones that no longer held any spiritual energy.

He took two items from his Storage Bag and placed them on the experiment table.

They were [Qi Condensing Liquid], purchased from Cloud Arrival Market, and a [Mid-grade Spirit Stone] acquired at great cost.

Lin Chen looked at the things before him. Combining the intelligence he had gathered with the items related to the Foundation Establishment Realm before him, he slowly sank into thought.

"Qi Refining Cultivators possess [true qi], while Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators possess what is called [true essence]. Coupled With the fundamental difference between cultivators of different realms, does this mean that spiritual energy, like particles, has energy levels?"