The Path of Cultivation

Inside the laboratory, an unending stream of spiritual energy poured into Yu Man's body.

Even with the formation's guidance and the restrictions' restraint, the immense spiritual energy still inflicted considerable damage upon his meridians. Blood seeped from countless pores, quickly turning him into a "blood man."

By all rights, the process should have been excruciating. Yet under the effects of the drugs and surgery, Yu Man not only felt no pain, but instead felt his body slowly... sinking.

It was like falling into an abyss. There was nothing beneath him to support him; as his entire body plummeted, he felt increasingly powerless, while the void slowly gnawed away at his heart. The feeling was like... death.

No! No! I don't want to die!

Yu Man instantly snapped awake, desperately guarding the last thread of clarity in his mind while risking his life to use his mental power in tandem with Lin Chen, compressing the spiritual energy within his dantian.

"Thirty seconds..." At this moment, Lin Chen stood in the laboratory, calmly observing.

In his eyes, the milky-white points of light within the Spirit Observation Array flickered between brightness and darkness, vanishing and reappearing in an extremely unstable state.

"A pond is made up of countless drops of water, yet it is still ordinary water. Compressing the spiritual energy within a cave mansion only turns it liquid, while the total quantity does not change in the slightest..."

"But now a siphon effect has occurred. The total amount of spiritual energy has decreased, and Quantitative Change Leads to Qualitative Change has appeared... Does this mean that spiritual energy possesses levels?"

Lin Chen watched coldly from the sidelines, continuously analyzing the situation before him.

"Further phenomena are still needed to make a judgment, but why is it stuck here now?"

Lin Chen's brows furrowed slightly.

"Sentient Beings themselves are the crucial factor for a Spiritual Energy Level leap, but it still requires the catalysis—or perhaps reference—of higher-level spiritual energy?"

At that thought, Lin Chen looked toward the Mid-grade Spirit Stone and Spirit Condensing Liquid on the table.

With his years of research, he could naturally tell that the two were fundamentally the same thing: both were high-level spiritual energy at the Foundation Establishment Realm level.

The former was merely raw material, while the latter had been processed. Like unhusked rice and cooked rice: both were food, but the latter was easier to digest.

"You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child. Just keep one portion of Qi Condensing Liquid for later research. Now..." Thinking this, Lin Chen swept out a hand, and the Spirit Condensing Liquid on the table instantly flew into the Spiritual Energy Vortex.

At once, the vortex's suction surged sharply. The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy in the laboratory grew increasingly violent, and the spiritual light of formation after formation flashed madly. Clearly, even with the formations restraining it, there were faint signs that it could no longer be controlled!

Crack!

Crack!

The spirit stones serving as the formation bases began to shatter one after another!

"This..." Lin Chen's expression changed slightly. He had arranged the formation based on ten times the power of the Late Qi Refining Stage, and even the charging spirit stones had undergone special treatment, making them far easier to control than the free spiritual energy between heaven and earth. Yet they still could not hold on.

"It seems the formations' restraining force must be strengthened. Otherwise, once one breaks through, the difficulty of controlling spiritual energy in the later stage will suddenly increase, and something will go wrong..." This thought had just flashed through Lin Chen's mind when he seemed to sense something and abruptly looked toward the Spirit Observation Array.

At the Same Time, at the center of the Spiritual Energy Vortex in the laboratory, when the compression reached a certain critical point, the invisible spiritual energy suddenly transformed into a patch of Spirit Mist, and For Some Reason, it became stained with a faint layer of blood-red!

Drip!

Drip!

After an unknown length of time, Lin Chen seemed to hear the sound of water droplets falling.

In the Spirit Observation Array's display before him, the milky-white points of light abruptly stabilized. Then, they too slowly became stained with a pale blood-red layer!

"Spiritual energy truly possesses levels. In terms of quality, the spiritual energy represented by these points of light has already surpassed the spiritual energy within Low-grade Spirit Stones by far. It is simply the difference between steel and cotton...

"And interestingly, the initial milky-white points of light were spiritual energy at the Foundation Establishment Realm level, while this faint blood-red layer should have come from the true qi inside this evil cultivator's body. If that is the case..." Seeing This Scene, Lin Chen fell into thought.

According to the Spiritual Energy Law he had summarized, all things in the world were formed from spiritual energy and were identical in essence. The reason they differed from one another was that different things possessed their own unique information.

For example, a person's essence, qi, and spirit, vitality, inner force, and other things generated by the body were all manifestations of information belonging solely to that individual.

Cultivation in the Qi Refining Stage was the continual process of staining Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy with a cultivator's information, thereby turning it to one's own use.

And upon reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm...

"The advancement of a Spiritual Energy Level also requires spiritual energy one level lower as a consumable—the so-called Quantitative Change Leads to Qualitative Change..." Lin Chen's eyes grew ever more profound.

"And the spiritual energy that undergoes the Energy Level Leap comes from the cultivator's own true qi. Cultivators can control true qi, so... can cultivators also control the true essence after the leap?"

"High-level spiritual energy is like the energy from Nuclear Fusion in my previous life: cultivators cannot influence or control it. So they simply changed their approach, gradually making the low-level spiritual energy they could control undergo leaps, thereby gradually grasping the origin of spiritual energy, and even Chaos Qi?"

"Chaos Qi can evolve worlds and create myriad things. Then cultivators who grasp spiritual energy of this level are also called—immortals?"

To See the Big Picture Through a Small Crack, Lin Chen had successfully caught a glimpse of a corner of This Side World's Cultivation System through the advancement to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Everything in this world was composed of spiritual energy. Every object and every individual was a manifestation of spiritual energy possessing its own unique information.

Through their own essence, qi, and spirit, cultivators imprinted their unique information upon ownerless spiritual energy. This stage of cultivation was called Qi Refining.

Then they made the low-level spiritual energy imprinted with their own essence, qi, and spirit undergo Energy Level Leaps step by step, thereby gaining control over high-level spiritual energy, the origin of spiritual energy, and even Chaos Qi!

This process made full use of spiritual energy's three great properties: that it possessed levels, could transform into all things, and carried unique information!

Lin Chen had to admit that although the people of This Side World had always lived by the Law of the Jungle, killing others and seizing treasures, cultivators as a whole were still not to be underestimated in their use and control of spiritual energy!

If he remained stuck in the rut of his previous life's scientific theories and forcibly used the knowledge of his previous life to explain everything in this life, he would surely take a massive fall on the path to immortality!

"Sure enough, how could the Cultivation Civilization formed over millions upon millions of years be so simple that you could forcibly explain it with knowledge from another world?" Lin Chen sighed.

"Still, there is no need for me to belittle myself. Modern civilization has given us not only a diversified perspective, but more importantly, scientific thinking."

"And scientific thinking does not refer to particles or nuclear bombs, but to a logical way of thinking! Science itself is the transformation of every existing phenomenon into a systematic body of knowledge governed by laws!"

"I can completely summarize and formulate simple, verifiable [Spiritual Energy Laws], then establish research topics, explore and study them, and incorporate every achievement of Cultivation Civilization into my own system!"

"At that time... hmm?"

"Ahhh!!!"

A pained howl suddenly rang out, interrupting Lin Chen's train of thought. Only then did he remember that there was still an experiment underway beside him.

It could not be helped—Lin Chen was not to blame for being so easily distracted. Many times, breakthroughs in research relied not only on vast numbers of experiments, but also on that fleeting flash of inspiration in mind.

And at such times, he could often unify the trivial, easily overlooked knowledge he had accumulated into a relatively complete system.

Thus, whenever inspiration struck, once Lin Chen had confirmed the safety of his surroundings, he would directly sink into deep thought.

"What happened? Hadn't he already successfully broken through to Foundation Establishment? Why is he like this? And I already surgically removed or anesthetized his pain nerves—why can he still feel pain... Wait!"

Lin Chen suddenly recalled that Spiritual Energy liquefaction and the Energy Level Leap were merely the second of the Three Passes of Foundation Establishment. What came next was the soul pass.

In other words, the other party was currently undergoing a transformation of the soul!

The souls of Qi Refining Stage Cultivators were scattered and diffuse, able only to possess illusory Mental Power. Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators, however, had condensed souls capable of giving birth to Spiritual Sense that could affect reality!

"I investigated this before. The souls of This Side World are likely not merely consciousness and memories, but also... a conglomeration of spiritual energy!"

With that thought, Lin Chen turned to look at the Spirit Observation Array beside him. At some unknown point, an exceedingly tiny Spiritual Energy Vortex had appeared in Yu Man's brain on the display. At the same time, the true essence in his dantian had begun continuously sending high-energy spiritual energy toward his brain, forming a pale red line.

"The condensation of the soul requires the cultivator's own true essence, yin-aspect spiritual energy, and spiritual energy matching the cultivator's primary spirit root attribute... Not only that, there also seems to be the cultivator's Essence, Qi, and Spirit?" Lin Chen rapidly analyzed the situation before him.

"But the condensation of the soul should be orderly. Haphazardly kneading all kinds of spiritual energy together like this—can there really be no problem?" Lin Chen frowned, thinking without pause.

"No, that's not right! The soul's condensation should not be disorderly and chaotic. It ought to use the cultivator's true qi and true essence as its main body, continuously refining the other spiritual energies into them..."

Watching blood stream from Yu Man's seven orifices and seep incessantly from his entire skull, Lin Chen analyzed the situation calmly.

"But this test subject relied almost entirely on my help during his advancement. More than ninety percent of the true essence he condensed came from external spiritual energy. That means his control over his own true essence is abysmal. If this continues..."

Having finally encountered an experimental subject so close to success, Lin Chen had no desire to give up easily.

So he pondered for a moment, then took out the newly Researched and Developed Soul Nurturing Incense. With a light touch, a spiritual energy flame swiftly burned the incense to ash, and a faint fragrance spread through the Laboratory.

Lin Chen had only just begun to venture into the domain of souls, so he had no better method at present. He could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive.

If it succeeded, even if the result came from a chain of coincidences, he could still gather enough useful data. And if it failed, he could simply start all over again!

As time passed, one stick of Soul Nurturing Incense after another was lit, while the howls in the room gradually weakened. Though Lin Chen had no means of observing the soul, the fact that Yu Man's true essence had not dropped in level meant it had likely succeeded.

A smile could not help appearing on Lin Chen's face. The success of this experiment had pointed out the path for his own advancement to the Foundation Establishment Realm. As long as he made sufficient preparations before advancing, he could achieve Foundation Establishment on his own without relying on spiritual items such as Foundation Establishment Pills!

"Now that I think about it, advancement to Foundation Establishment—the Energy Level Leap—absolutely requires an enormous quantity of spiritual energy. Even if a cultivator stores their entire body full of true qi, it is still far from enough. That is why external Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy must be introduced. Yet external Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy is difficult to control, which is why the Three Passes of Foundation Establishment exist."

"So the key to advancing from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment lies in whether a cultivator can control enough pure true qi—that is, true qi completely imbued with the cultivator's Essence, Qi, and Spirit? Is the Qi Vortex Realm of Late Qi Refining Stage meant to store more true qi? And if I turn the true qi in my body into mist, could I store even more spiritual energy...?"

Looking at the body in the room, countless conjectures flashed through Lin Chen's mind, while his eyes slowly brightened.

Even before he began studying this successful test subject, he had already drawn quite a few useful conclusions.

"The wounds have already begun healing themselves in such a short time? Not only that, his aura is rising too. It really is..." At this point, the smile on Lin Chen's face suddenly froze, as though he had realized something.

Yu Man's body before him was covered in blood, yet strands of granulation tissue emerged from the cracks in his skin. At the same time, the muscles beneath his skin twitched, as though maggots were writhing underneath.

But This Scene naturally could not frighten Lin Chen. He had Witnessed scenes even more horrifying than this, let alone this one.

What truly made him realize something was wrong was that the self-healing ability of a Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator, even the most worthless one, had Exceeded Lin Chen's expectations. If that was the case, would the countermeasures he had left on Yu Man's body still be effective?

"Not good!" At that thought, Lin Chen's expression instantly changed. He swiftly took a talisman from his Storage Bag.

As a Precaution, Lin Chen had not only used drugs to damage Yu Man's nerves, but had also implanted an explosive talisman behind Yu Man's scalp through surgery!

This was one of the methods he used to counter his test subjects!

But at that very moment, the bright light throughout the room suddenly dimmed. From those shadowy corners came rustling sounds, as if countless insects were endlessly wriggling. In the air, an nauseatingly fishy stench quietly began to spread.

Crack!

Crack!

It was like the sound of bones breaking, ringing in Lin Chen's ears.

Even more horrifying, on the experimental table before him, slick flesh-and-blood tentacles dripping with unknown fluid burst out from the body, their surfaces marked with patterns like blood vessels.

Even More, a thin Blood Mist emerged and spread unceasingly, completely swallowing the experimental table, the Formation Base, and even Lin Chen!