Striving to Not Strive

"..." Wuchen was speechless. Although he didn't quite understand Bulma's words, he grasped the core idea: she wanted to take a shortcut and didn't want to put in the effort to cultivate.

Furthermore, judging by her tone, it seemed she had already tried. Because she didn't want to work hard, she had worked hard to invent these devices.

Forcibly injecting spiritual energy directly into the meridians without the guidance of one's own qi and blood was nothing short of suicide!

It was fortunate that the medicinal pills he refined were of extremely high purity, primarily focused on strengthening the foundation, and possessed the effect of warming the meridians and nourishing the vessels. Moreover, the herbs used were of low age, the spiritual energy was insufficient, and the medicinal potency was not strong.

Otherwise, if Bulma had done this, even if she didn't die, she would have ended up with shattered meridians!

Besides, the reason Bulma's cultivation progress was so slow was likely because she spent all her time tinkering with these things.

"Don't even think about it, it's impossible!" Facing Bulma's expectant gaze, Wuchen spoke ruthlessly:

"Setting aside whether one can refine spiritual energy in advance, even if it were possible, everyone's constitution is different." Seeing Bulma so reckless, Wuchen decided to review the basic courses of immortal cultivation with her.

"If you do not use your own qi and blood as a guide to circulate through the various meridians and acupoints, you cannot tame its nature or harmonize it with your own body. Forcibly introducing it into the dantian will, at best, destroy your cultivation path, and at worst, cause your abdomen to explode and kill you!"

As he spoke, Wuchen injected a wisp of pure spiritual power into the meridians of Bulma's arm.

In an instant, Bulma felt her entire arm go limp, followed by a slight swelling and numbness, which gradually turned into a stinging pain, as if pricked by needles.

"Hiss~, it hurts, stop, I know I was wrong..." Bulma begged for mercy, and Wuchen stopped immediately.

Shaking her arm vigorously, Bulma looked a bit dejected: "So, you mean I've been busy for nothing?"

"You can't say that. You're very lucky; you picked up a life for free." Wuchen spoke bluntly, then began to carefully examine Bulma's meticulously crafted 'self-cultivation device'.

"I know I was wrong." Bulma lowered her head, but still muttered softly: "Is it really that serious~"

Although he heard the muttering, Wuchen didn't say anything, instead pointing to the device and saying: "Actually, it's not entirely useless."

"Hm? You have a way to help me improve it?" Bulma was overjoyed, but Wuchen poured a bucket of cold water on her.

"Don't even think about cultivation; it must be done step by step, there are no shortcuts. However, as for combat strength, perhaps we can find another way."

"Uh, then forget it. I don't like fighting and killing. It was you who said before that if I reached a certain level in my training, I could stay young forever, that's why I practiced." Hearing Wuchen's words, Bulma lost interest.

Wuchen acted as if he hadn't heard her and continued on his own: "There was an explosion here, right?"

"Yeah, the materials before were problematic. After melting the pills, I couldn't lock in the spiritual energy, and then it exploded. The original device was also destroyed."

Bulma answered truthfully, feeling a lingering fear. Although it wasn't a particularly large explosion, it was too sudden. There was no warning at all; it just exploded, leaving one completely defenseless.

"Is the destroyed device still here?" Wuchen asked again.

"The destroyed one is gone, but there are a few unused ones. Because of the accident, I put them all away and haven't had time to destroy them yet. Wait a moment, I'll go find them for you."

Soon, Bulma dug out a Hoi-Poi Capsule and threw it on the ground, revealing several brand-new pillar-shaped devices used for melting pills.

Wuchen also took out a Hoi-Poi Capsule and conjured a small box. Inside were a dozen or so milky-white crystal blocks, quite rich in spiritual charm.

"What is this?" Picking up a crystal, Bulma was filled with curiosity. She could already sense spiritual energy, and this crystal was full of it!

"Spirit Stone." Yes, these crystals were Spirit Stones. Of course, they weren't naturally formed, but condensed by Wuchen when he had some spare time. He had originally intended to store some for setting up arrays in the future.

The kind of array he set up at Mount Fry-Pan last time was constructed with specially made array flags and could not last long. They were generally temporary arrays for facing enemies, and once the spiritual power stored in the flags was exhausted, the array was useless.

Therefore, specific arrays such as mountain-protecting arrays, spirit-gathering arrays, and sealing arrays required the use of Spirit Stones.

"Open them up and put the Spirit Stones in." Yes, Wuchen was prepared to use Bulma's device to set up an array and see how it worked.

"It will explode!" Bulma was naturally startled. About a month ago, she had personally experienced an explosion. Fortunately, it wasn't serious, and just yesterday, a similar small accident had occurred.

This time, the Spirit Stones Wuchen brought out had such dense spiritual energy. If something went wrong again, she didn't know what would happen.

"Don't worry, just stand behind me for a moment." Wuchen signaled for Bulma to relax, which actually made her feel much more at ease.

"You shouldn't be a reckless person, right?" Thus, Bulma helped Wuchen install the Spirit Stones. Afterward, Wuchen began to adjust the placement of the devices.

There were seven pillar-shaped devices in total. Wuchen took five to form a ring, presenting two opposing triangles. He then added one pillar to each of the left and right gaps to serve as the array base.

"Step back a bit, stand behind me, and start the device." Once the setup was complete, the two began the test.

Bulma pressed the remote control, and the seven pillar-shaped devices started simultaneously, then emitted a mist of spiritual energy one after another.

Seeing this, Bulma, who had just been at ease, became uneasy again. This was exactly what happened before: first smoke, then an explosion!

Admittedly, she was standing behind Wuchen. But Wuchen was two or three heads shorter than her, and he couldn't even block her line of sight, which really made her unable to feel at ease.

Fortunately, no explosion occurred.

The spiritual mist spread out, but it seemed to have a certain order, eventually forming a hemispherical light shield. The light was very faint, yellowish in color, and later even faded into invisibility.

"Hm? Where did it go?" Bulma was naturally full of curiosity. She walked forward, only to touch an invisible barrier that blocked her.

Light patterns appeared and spread, vaguely outlining the silhouette of the previous hemispherical shield.

Seeing this, Wuchen smiled. His hypothesis was indeed feasible; Bulma's device could really be used to set up arrays.

Although it might weaken the power of the array, it could reduce labor costs, and ordinary people could easily set up arrays. It also didn't require cultivators who were experts in arrays to maintain them, saving a lot of trouble.

Moreover, in terms of the power of the array, once this method was perfected, it was hard to say which would be stronger or weaker.

"How amazing, what is the principle behind this?" Following the outline and experiencing a sensation of touch she had never felt before, Bulma was truly fascinated.

Regarding this, Wuchen didn't hide anything and gave a rough explanation of what an array was.

Under Bulma's persistent questioning, Wuchen patiently answered her one by one.

He even asked Bulma for pen and paper, sketching two simple, unvaried formation diagrams for her with detailed annotations.

Of the two diagrams, one matched the exact layout of the devices before them.

It was named Jia, meaning the junction between two mountains; it could form a formation on its own, though it didn't count as a true formation. It was mostly used as a "formation element" within earth-attribute defensive grand formations, similar to a term in an equation. (If one views the expression "1+2+3" as a formation, Jia is equivalent to the "1", "2", or "3".)

The other was named Kun, which could not form a formation on its own. It was mostly used as a "formation axis" in earth-attribute defensive grand formations to establish connections between "formation elements," similar to the operators in an equation. (If one views the expression "1+2+3" as a formation, Kun is equivalent to the "+".)

After explaining the diagrams, Wuchen took out a Hoi-Poi Capsule and retrieved the Dragon Radar from his pocket.

"Bulma, Goku and I came here specifically to return the Dragon Radar. Inside this Hoi-Poi Capsule are some medicinal pills; the ones in the round bottles are for assisting cultivation, while the ones in the prismatic bottles are for maintaining beauty and extending life."

"Do not use these for experiments anymore. Wait until you have achieved success in your cultivation and have a deeper understanding of spiritual energy and primordial power before attempting anything."

"Maintaining beauty?" Sure enough, upon hearing those words, Bulma, who had been staring intently at the diagrams in her hands, kept her gaze fixed, but her focus shifted to the capsule: "This... thank you, Wuchen."

Wasn't all her fussing and tinkering precisely for this effect—beauty and rejuvenation?

With the purpose of his visit fulfilled, Wuchen prepared to leave; he still had important matters to discuss with Master Roshi.