Doing Good Adds Merit! Doing Good Feels Great!

As Lin Xuan tried to follow the method in the general outline, gathering his mind and visualizing himself, he found it incredibly difficult.

The thoughts in his head were like a pack of wild monkeys that had broken loose from their reins, completely beyond control.

All sorts of random thoughts kept popping up.

"What should I have for dinner today? Roasted dinosaur leg or mushroom stew?"

"If this were the Dragon Ball world, Bulma would still be a little kid, right? I wonder if she'd be cute."

"If I ran into the young Son Goku now, should I become sworn brothers with him first?"

His thoughts were in utter chaos. Forget entering a cultivation state—even the most basic "calming the mind" was impossible.

Only then did Lin Xuan realize that he was, after all, merely an ordinary person accustomed to being bombarded by the information age.

He was a hundred thousand miles away from the Taoist ideal of "pure tranquility and non-action."

"Looks like forcing it won't work."

He sighed and looked once more at the long book list on the panel.

"Since merit points can directly grant enlightenment of methods, can they also speed up my understanding of these classics and deepen my comprehension of cultivation techniques?"

It was a very reasonable guess.

These Taoist classics formed the foundation of Nine Tribulations of the Divine Soul.

His gaze swept over the list before finally settling on the foremost of all scriptures, the Tao Te Ching.

He focused his consciousness on the golden "+" symbol after Tao Te Ching.

All in! Buzz!

The merit points in the lower-right corner of the panel instantly dropped from "20" to "0."

His last twenty merit points were completely depleted in an instant.

The next second, a torrent of information flooded into his mind.

He seemed to witness the birth of the universe and the evolution of all things.

He saw the conversion between energy and matter, and the cycle of life and death.

The obscure contents of the general outline that he had struggled to understand before now became crystal clear.

"So that's it. So-called cleansing the dust means washing away all the distracting thoughts acquired after birth, allowing the divine soul to return to its purest innate state."

"Merit points can not only let me instantly learn methods, but also accelerate my understanding of the great path behind cultivation techniques and speed up my cultivation!"

A surge of wild joy rose in Lin Xuan's heart.

This cheat's abilities really were powerful.

But soon, a practical problem presented itself.

His merit points were gone.

Every last one of them.

"Damn it, I'm back to square one."

Lin Xuan cursed under his breath, then rose from the ground.

He first checked his current mental strength—equivalent to two ordinary people—which filled him with delight.

His cultivation session over, he now felt parched, and his stomach was completely empty.

His most urgent priority was solving the problem of survival.

After cultivating, his senses had greatly improved. Even from far away, he could faintly hear the sound of running water.

Following the faint sound, he moved through the woods for over ten minutes before the view suddenly opened up.

A crystal-clear stream flowed gently between the rocks.

Lin Xuan was overjoyed. He hurried to the bank, scooped up the cool stream water, and gulped down several mouthfuls.

The icy water finally washed away the heat and exhaustion in his body.

Just as he was about to drink a few more mouthfuls, a flurry of urgent chirps came from a nearby tree.

Lin Xuan looked up.

On a thick branch of a large tree beside the stream sat a crude bird's nest.

Several fluffy chicks huddled together inside it, chirping in terror.

Before them, a brightly colored venomous snake stared fixedly at the trembling "feast" in the nest.

At the sight, Lin Xuan frowned almost instinctively.

Seeing no danger around him, he bent down, picked up a fist-sized, sharp-edged stone from the stream bank, and weighed it in his hand.

Just the thing to test the changes in his body after cultivation.

He drew his arm back, twisted his waist and abdomen, and snapped his wrist.

Whoosh!

The stone tore through the air, shooting out with pinpoint precision.

That throw had been flawless in both force and accuracy.

It seemed that his recent cultivation had not only greatly strengthened his mind, but had also given him far greater control over his body than before.

"Pfft!"

A dull thud sounded.

The venomous snake, just about to enjoy its feast, was struck in the head as if by a heavy hammer. Its skull burst apart instantly.

Red and white splattered across the ground.

The snake's body twitched weakly a few times before slipping from the branch. With a splash, it fell into the stream and was soon carried away by the current.

A killing vanished without a trace.

The hatchlings in the nest seemed not to have realized what had happened. They remained huddled together, trembling.

Satisfied with the experiment, Lin Xuan smiled and turned to leave, intending to find some wild fruit to fill his stomach.

But at the instant he turned around—

The panel in his mind suddenly gave a hum without warning, bursting with brilliant golden light.

The source of that light was none other than the Scripture of the Supreme's Response in the list of texts, which he had never paid attention to before.

Lin Xuan stopped abruptly.

A powerful premonition surged within him.

Trembling, he sank his consciousness into the panel and stared fixedly at the number in the lower-right corner, which had previously been reset to zero.

It was no longer "0."

Instead, there was a brand-new number emitting a faint glow.

Merit Value: 0.01

Lin Xuan's pupils contracted to their limit in an instant.

It was as though every drop of blood in his body had been set ablaze.

0.01?

His Merit Value had increased?

Why?

Because I killed that snake? Because I saved that nest of birds?

A mad thought—one so unbelievable that even he found it hard to accept—split through all the fog in his mind like lightning.

The Scripture of the Supreme's Response flickered on the panel, and its central teaching thundered through his thoughts.

"Misfortune and fortune have no door; people summon them themselves. The rewards of good and evil follow like a shadow."

That was it.

That was exactly it.

Do good, and gain merit.

Do evil, and generate karmic burden.

And Merit Value was the resource he needed to grow stronger.

"I found it!"

"I found the right way to use my cheat! I found the foundation for surviving in this world!"

Lin Xuan's body began to tremble uncontrollably. It was not fear, but overwhelming excitement.

He suddenly threw back his head and burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Doing good and accumulating virtue makes me stronger? This panel is way too damn righteous!"

His laughter echoed through the empty forest, startling countless birds into flight.