Tapping the Electronic Wooden Fish

Hu Mang returned home with a relaxed and happy expression, but soon got busy again. After the loan from the Four Heavenly Kings arrived, he quickly began a large-scale purchase, both online and offline, buying all kinds of spiritual energy pipelines, spiritual pressure devices, control switches, spiritual electricity converters, spiritual energy materials, and array materials. He was extremely busy.

There are too many things, and they're too varied; there's simply not enough room in the house.

Fortunately, Uncle Ma across the street had an old warehouse, which Hu Mang borrowed temporarily after making a call.

"Good lad, you're going to start your own construction business? Construction isn't easy these days."

Uncle Ma said, puffing on his pipe.

"It's nothing, I just landed a good job: old town renovation."

"Alright, as long as you know what you're doing. By the way, why haven't I seen Auntie Hu these past few days?"

My mom went back to her hometown for a trip; she'll probably be back next month.

"Then you go ahead with your work, I'm going to play chess."

Hu Mang was busy until evening, during which he received a phone call from an unknown number. The person on the other end of the line was crying.

"Give me the thing, waaaaah~"

When he answered the phone, Hu Mang was wondering if scammers were now targeting children.

But I quickly realized it was Duanmu, a guy I had just met.

This guy is really honest; even after getting beaten up, he was still willing to translate the Cultivation Method for him.

Hu Mang originally thought that since he knew the font of this "Cultivation Method", it would be easy to handle, after all, Heavenly Gate had more than one archaeologist.

He can always find someone who can translate by using his connections.

After all, there's a certain connection between civil engineers and archaeologists.

But since the other party was so principled, Hu Mang didn't want to let the beating go unpunished, so he took a picture of the "Cultivation Method" and sent it over when he had a spare moment.

They also increased the amount of spicy strips they were paid to include to one hundred packs.

Upon hearing this, the person on the other end immediately stopped crying and became full of energy.

Hu Mang didn't doubt the other party's "professional level," after all, if he really didn't know how, he had his professional father to help him.

But the question is, with this guy's preschool level of education, can he even write?

He won't receive a translation full of pinyin and typos, will he?

Hu Mang calculated that he would need to be busy for at least three more days before he could find some time to return to the Azure Mysterious Realm.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Heavenly Gate First-Class Academy and Mysterious Materials Academy...

A handsome young man wearing a white lab coat and black-rimmed glasses was calmly beckoning a group of younger students over, his hands in his pockets.

"What's wrong, senior brother? Does the teacher have another task to pass on?" a junior asked curiously.

"It's alright. The school announced that the labs will be inspected this afternoon, so you're getting half a day off."

"And what about you, senior brother?"

"Of course I have to cooperate with the inspection."

"Then I'll go with you, Senior Brother!" a round-faced junior sister exclaimed, her eyes immediately lighting up.

"Damn, you just want to be alone with Senior Brother, don't you?" another junior brother quipped.

"No need. Everyone go home and find their own mothers."

After shooing everyone out, the handsome guy with black-rimmed glasses immediately let out a sigh of relief and took out the prepared takeout bags.

The Old Fifth, or rather, Lu Chen, the top student in Professor Zhou Yun's research group and the number one writer of mediocre papers, is preparing to reunite with his beloved second brother.

Although Lu Chen always complained that he only saw his supervisor a few times a year, he also had to admit that no supervisor would be so trusting as to hand over their research group to someone without some real skills.

Hu Mang was busy until late at night before returning home, while his "cheap old man" sat on the sofa, this time without drinking tea.

Instead, he was playing on his phone.

And he was even using his own old phone!

This guy even knows how to use the internet?!

Hu Mang has been so busy these past few days that he's completely overwhelmed and forgot to talk to his mother about this.

How did they get this thing? How did they train it? I have to say, my mom can be pretty amazing sometimes. For example, she encouraged me to go overseas to dig up graves. Most parents wouldn't do that.

Hu Mang cursed inwardly, but Father Hu, seeing him looking over, smiled and said:

"So, do you need me to explain the Nine-Character Great Hand Seal to you?"

"OK."

Hu Mang washed his hands first, then sat down opposite "Father Hu." He was genuinely curious about how the other party planned to overcome the three trials of the Form Realm Monk's cultivation.

Upholding precepts, accumulating merit, and purifying karma

"Father Hu" recounted the story in detail.

"The so-called observance of precepts means shaving one's head and wearing formal robes, strictly observing the ten precepts of a novice monk and even the great precepts of a Bodhisattva, exchanging worldly status for a 'Pure Body' in exchange for the sacrifice of body, speech and mind."

"Accumulating blessings means using real money to donate to build temples and beg for alms to accumulate merit, thus transforming good fortune into Body-Protecting Buddha Light."

"The so-called purification of karma requires prostrating oneself hundreds of thousands of times and reciting millions of scriptures before an ancient Buddha statue, in order to cleanse oneself of the evil karma accumulated over lifetimes and attain a 'Immaculate Body'."

"The prerequisite for these three methods is a large-scale cultivation system that masters the 'circulation of blessings and virtues.' Without mastering such a system, it is impossible to complete this level of Spirit Root transformation in cultivation."

"But according to my deduction, 'Pure Body' does not necessarily require practicing the major precepts, 'accumulating merit' does not necessarily require giving alms, and 'purifying karma' does not necessarily require reciting scriptures and mantras."

"We can have more reasonable methods of spiritual practice."

"Then what is a more reasonable way to cultivate oneself?" Hu Mang chimed in, playing the straight man.

"Father Hu" handed over the phone; on the bright screen was an open app.

Electronic Wooden Fish!?

Hu Mang was taken aback.

He actually knew about this thing; it was a popular app that had been trending for a period of time.

Striking the Electronic Wooden Fish accumulates merit in the clouds, cultivating Cyber Dharma.

That slogan was quite popular back then.

Of course, just like all once-popular trendy apps, this thing was quickly abandoned by the public after its hype died down.

After all, it's just clicking the screen and tapping the wooden fish, which isn't really that interesting.

It's said that the developers did try some innovations and activities, such as managing the community and developing mini-games, and even invited some "masters" to promote the project, but they clearly couldn't turn the tide.

"Father Hu" pointed to a new test icon above—"Divine Sense Internet Access Function"

"The so-called Pure Body can be achieved by using Divine Sense to connect to the internet and temporarily detach from the physical body."

"The so-called 'accumulating blessings' can be achieved by 'brushing up' data to eliminate bad karma from past lives."

"A so-called 'Immaculate Body' can be iterated through system-level updates."

"I've already spoken with the developer, and he's willing to assist us in completing this 'update.' Because if it's proven that Buddhist Cultivation Method can be completed through the 'Electronic Wooden Fish,' then this software could very well become popular a second time."

"In return, we will hand over the data generated during our cultivation to the other party for version updates."

"..."

When "Father Hu" opened the customer service page, he saw a dense collection of chat logs.

"Father Hu" explained his arrangements in detail, from the customer service representative's initial skepticism to their eventual persuasion, and then to the customer service representative sending someone to bring over a software developer who called himself "Brother Sun." "Father Hu," with his extensive "experience," engaged in a professional-level discussion with the other party.

In this discussion, the advantages and disadvantages of "Divine Sense internet access" were discussed, along with the future prospects of the software, new talisman codes, how to upload, modify, and store Cultivation Method data in the cloud, and how to expand its reach and cultivation to more users.

Then you successfully convince the other person that you are a professional.

And ultimately agreed to this "spiritual practice software test" guided by outsiders.

"..."

The Hu Mang opened its mouth, hesitated, and ultimately remained silent.

"Okay, let's give it a try."

According to Old Chen's previous explanations, the biggest advantage of Buddhist Cultivation Method is that even if you fail to cultivate them, there are no side effects.

In this respect, it is completely opposite to demonic Cultivation Method.

Because if you fail to cultivate demonic Cultivation Method, you're basically doomed.

Hu Mang quickly found the software using Spirit Pivot No. 1, completed the download, and had "Father Hu" continue to communicate with the other party.

In a cramped office in a startup center in Demon Metropolis, a dozen or so people sat listlessly, occasionally channeling their magical Law Power to type in some talisman code or perform some software testing.

Among them, male monks made up the majority, and their hair was mostly sparse.

One of the monks, a man in his thirties with the thinnest hair, was walking back and forth.

This is the developer of the "Electronic Wooden Fish," also known as Brother Sun by others.

"Brother Sun, stop spinning me, it's giving me a headache."

A person spoke weakly and listlessly.

"What do you know? Developing this 'Divine Sense internet access' function is our only chance to turn things around. If we succeed, we succeed; if we fail, we're done. Tell me, am I nervous or not!" Brother Sun scratched his greasy hair, his face full of excitement.

"Then you don't need to trust them so much. Maybe they're a competitor trying to sabotage you."

"Brother, back when we had over two hundred people, I'd believe you if your competitors came after us. But now we're just stray dogs on the street. Who would just come along and kick you? Don't they find that disgusting?"

Another female cultivator with thinning hair complained.

"Old Sun, didn't we consider collaborating with some Cultivation Method creators to develop some targeted Cultivation Method to adapt to our software? Why didn't you do that in the end?" another middle-aged programmer asked.

"Old Bai, do you know how much a consultant who can write Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivation Method costs? We're almost out of money to pay next month's salaries, how can we afford to hire one?"

"Furthermore, our Heavenly Gate has no Buddhist Cultivation Method passed down. If we want to modify them, we can't find any ancient methods. To create something from scratch, you can't just look for a master; you have to look for the National Preceptor. No, you should go directly to the Ten Lords."

The others chatted casually, mostly expressing pessimism.

"It's online! It's online! That competitor is online!"

"Foundation Establishment Late Stage's Divine Sense? This Brother Hu is quite willing to spend money to find an experimental cultivator of this level. How much did he pay for it?" Old Sun exclaimed.

Although Heavenly Gate is now advocating online cultivation and virtual realms, and even requiring each family to develop cultivation software and related Cultivation Method, there are actually not many people willing to actually conduct related cultivation experiments.

A Golden Core cultivator is out of the question. Even the worst Golden Core cultivator would be considered middle-class or above in the Heavenly Gate. Who would risk damaging their foundation to be a guinea pig? Are they out of their mind or just plain stupid?

Below the Golden Core, the highest level is the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

Hu Mang, being in the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, became a test cultivator for the development of the new method without knowing anything about it.