Enhancement Had Gone a Bit Overboard

While looking through the materials, Zhuang Hong quickly discovered that he was different.

His comprehension and memory had grown stronger!

After turning a page, he could still clearly remember what was on the previous one. Even after moving on to another book, he could still recall a particular passage from the last...

This kind of memory was not as exaggerated as photographic memory, but it was still terrifying.

In the past, after reading a book, he could at most remember its general contents. A few hours later, he would have forgotten most of it, retaining only a few especially memorable fragments.

Now, after closing a book, all he had to do was think back slightly, and its contents would surface in his mind one after another, as though he were opening the book and reading it a second time. There was no sign of forgetting at all.

Does this count as super memory...? Could it be the memory enhancement I gained after opening Secret Awareness?

For now, that was the only explanation.

Zhuang Hong shook his head, clearing away the cluttered thoughts in his mind, then focused on his research. His page-turning speed grew faster and faster.

By the time the sky had darkened, Zhuang Hong left the Scripture Pavilion and headed straight for the Waterside Pavilion where Dancer often stayed.

Sure enough, he found Dancer feeding the fish in the Waterside Pavilion.

Dancer handed Zhuang Hong some fish food. "Want to feed them together?"

Zhuang Hong casually grabbed a handful and scattered it into the lake. Countless fish immediately surged up to fight over the food, making the water's surface lively with activity.

But Zhuang Hong had no interest in watching. He directly asked the question on his mind. "Dancer, after opening Secret Awareness, aside from gaining mental clarity and a huge boost in comprehension, can it also enhance one's memory?"

Dancer nodded. "Of course. After opening Secret Awareness, both the senses and the mind are enhanced, including memory and comprehension. However, the improvements to memory and comprehension are not that great. They are merely secondary benefits brought about by enhanced senses. A person's memory and comprehension depend more on their innate talent. To truly improve them, one needs to break through and become an Earth Treasury Warrior, then forge a spark of divine light."

The problem was that those with poor comprehension and memory usually had very mediocre talent for martial arts. Breaking through to become an Earth Treasury Warrior was basically impossible.

It was a vicious cycle.

Zhuang Hong said, "I see?"

Dancer asked, "Why do you ask?"

Zhuang Hong said, "Nothing. My memory enhancement has gone a bit overboard."

Dancer: "???"

Zhuang Hong said, "It's normal. My constitution is a little special, after all."

Zhuang Hong temporarily remained in the Golden Cloud World. On one hand, he quietly stayed at Eternal Prosperity Gate on Lake Heart Island, reading books. On the other, he consolidated the two Great Secret Treasures he had most recently opened.

He also found time to systematically practice swordsmanship, Blade Technique, and the most basic methods of exerting force with Dancer.

Of course, throughout this period, many people came to visit after hearing of him. At first, he received them very politely and exchanged pleasantries. Later, he discovered that receiving these people did nothing but waste time, so he simply had Dancer reject them all. He would see none of them.

It was far more worthwhile to spend the saved time studying the texts in the Scripture Pavilion.

With that, things immediately became much quieter.

After opening Secret Awareness, Zhuang Hong's comprehension and memory improved by leaps and bounds. Combined with his exceptional physical qualities, this allowed him to learn at an astonishing speed, and his overall strength soared by a huge margin.

Whenever that happened, Dancer, who personally instructed him, would cry out, "Monster!"

Was Zhuang Hong really a monster?

No one knew themselves better than they did. Zhuang Hong knew perfectly well that he was just an ordinary person.

He did not possess extraordinary intelligence. His emotional intelligence was average too, barely enough to get by. Nor did he have any heaven-defying talent for composing poetry or music...

The reason Dancer kept marveling at him was merely because he had taken a shortcut by making use of his own special traits.

Without the ability to travel through space, what would he have left?

Without that ability, he would just be another struggling wage slave in the city.

Therefore, no matter how Dancer praised him, Zhuang Hong remained very clear-headed about himself.

That day, Zhuang Hong found Dancer and asked directly, "Dancer, I've looked through all sorts of materials these past few days and gained a great deal regarding Martial Dao Cultivation, but there is still one matter I don't understand."

"Let's hear it."

"The texts say that qi is a person's vital energy, and that under qi's nourishment, the body's muscles, flesh, and bones grow again and continue to strengthen. Yet the classics never clearly explain what this 'vital energy' actually is.

"The texts say that after opening Secret Awareness, a Divine Lamp is lit deep within the sea of consciousness. Under its illumination, the mind becomes clear and comprehension grows. Yet the texts never clearly explain what the Divine Lamp actually is.

"So what I want to ask is this: what are the true natures of this so-called 'vital energy' and 'Divine Lamp'?

"Dancer, you have immersed yourself in the Martial Dao for many years. I imagine you must have some insights into this. Please enlighten me."

Dancer looked calmly at Zhuang Hong. Suddenly, her entire demeanor became unusually solemn. She said, "I only began to consider this question twenty years after becoming an Earth Treasury Warrior, yet you started thinking about the core question of martial artists after only being exposed to it for such a short time. So, we really are different."

Zhuang Hong smiled awkwardly. "So what are their true natures?"

As a young man of the new era who had been steeped in science, he felt that pursuing the fundamental principles behind things was only natural. He had simply thought of it instinctively. This was different from the "genius" Dancer understood; his perspective was merely a little broader than hers.

Dancer shook her head. "I don't know."

Zhuang Hong asked in surprise, "You don't know?"

"This question was raised by martial artists long ago, and countless extraordinarily gifted martial artists have tried to unravel its mysteries. Yet to this day, no one has been able to explain what vital energy is, nor has anyone been able to explain what the Divine Lamp is. Even if we capture giant demons and dissect their bodies and brains, we cannot see this so-called qi or find the Divine Lamp in their minds. We only know that following certain methods allows us to open the Three Great Secret Treasures and thus gain powerful strength.

Many people speculate that the so-called Divine Lamp and qi are merely forms of self-awareness. They do not exist in reality, only in perception... If you ever find the true answer in the future, please be sure to tell us."

Zhuang Hong said, "...I will."

Still carrying questions about qi and the Divine Lamp, Zhuang Hong once again buried himself in the Scripture Pavilion, searching through all kinds of materials in an attempt to find conjectures related to them.

But most of what he found were vague and mystifying explanations, such as the Divine Lamp being the flame of a person's soul or the true form of consciousness...

Such claims made some sense, but they were not the answers Zhuang Hong wanted.

What he wanted to know was how people sensed the Divine Lamp, and how qi acted upon the physical body to strengthen flesh and blood.

If he could figure that out, perhaps he could uncover part of the mysteries of life. Perhaps he could push the Martial Dao to a higher level and gain even greater power.

Unfortunately, Zhuang Hong's store of knowledge was far too limited. He simply could not reasonably explain this phenomenon.

"There's still so much to learn!"

For some reason, he thought of Earth again—of its mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology—and could not help feeling eager to try.

Back then, his mind had not been capable enough, and learning that theoretical knowledge had been exceptionally difficult. Now that he had opened the Secret Treasures, his memory and comprehension had greatly improved. Going back to study those things should, in theory, be much easier, right?

Zhuang Hong did not ask for much. He did not seek to make any enormous contribution to those bodies of knowledge. He only wanted to learn the knowledge that others had already deduced.

Once he mastered Earth's fundamentals, he could go to Ji Ling Star, where Wu Miaomiao was, and continue learning more advanced knowledge.

After building a solid foundation, when he encountered worlds with even higher levels of technology in the future, learning would become much easier...

The more Zhuang Hong thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

"Looking at it this way, why should I even be a traveler? I might as well become a scholar—an omniscient doctor. Heh, heh, just thinking about it sounds impressive."

"I just wonder whether my comprehension and memory will rise to another level after I break through to become an Earth Treasury Warrior and form a spark of divine light."

Zhuang Hong had loved studying as a child. He had worked hard before, and he had once dreamed of becoming a scientist and creating achievements that would amaze people.

Unfortunately, as he grew older, he gradually saw reality for what it was: he could never become a learned scientist.

The reason was simple. His mental capacity was insufficient.

The theories and knowledge that geniuses found simple took him a long time to puzzle through before he could understand them, and even more effort to remember...

So Zhuang Hong gradually gave up on that path of dreams.

At the same time, he came to understand something: not liking to study did not truly mean one disliked studying. It meant one could not learn...

After coming to the Golden Cloud World and opening the Secret Treasures, he was delighted to discover that his comprehension and memory had actually improved tremendously.

This caused the soul of learning that he had buried away to blaze fiercely once more.

"Next time I go back to Earth, I should get a few advanced mathematics textbooks to read."

When Zhuang Hong emerged from the Scripture Pavilion once more, he turned back to look at the enormous library.

He muttered, "The Scripture Pavilion has many books, but the only useful ones for me are the theories of martial artists, cultivation techniques, and sword arts. As for knowledge related to martial artist theory, I've basically learned it all. It's time to leave this place and hunt Void Spirits to strengthen my source power."

The sooner he advanced to a purple Spirit Ascension Worm, the sooner he would gain stronger means of protecting himself.