Chapter 352 – Spiritual Power

After Fairy Feng Ling explained the “Cloud Moon Spirit Method” to Su Hao word by word, she said to him, “The purpose of the Catalyst Qi realm is to accumulate as much Spiritual Power as possible. However, the methods for accumulating Spiritual Power vary depending on the Cultivation Spirit Method practiced, and some are superior to others. The “Cloud Moon Spirit Method” you hold is one of the best among many Spirit Methods, no less effective than others. You can confidently practice according to its methods.”

Su Hao said, “Thank you, Master, I understand!”

Fairy Feng Ling glanced back at Feng Cheng, who looked bewildered, and said, “That’s all for today. I will wait for you here in six days.”

With that, she floated away.

Su Hao let out a long sigh, put away the book in his hand, and jumped off the mountain peak to leave. Feng Cheng, however, reached out to stop him: “…”

But in the end, he didn’t say anything. He dejectedly withdrew his hand and answered his own question: “Feng Cheng, what did you learn today? Hmm, you learned to ‘keep practicing the Mind Technique’!”

He picked up two small stools and slowly climbed down Mountain Peak.

Su Hao returned to his room, sat cross-legged on the bed, and slowly sorted out his gains for the day: “Although my master said that cultivation is goal-oriented and any method can be used as long as the cultivation goal is achieved, I think my master’s intention is not for me to find a shortcut, but rather to hope that I won’t be limited by the inherent modes of cultivation in my thinking.”

I have the ability to find my own path, but I shouldn’t rush into it. Rushing not only won’t help me complete my cultivation studies, but it might also lead me down the wrong path, which would be harmful and unhelpful. I should still follow the established pattern of the ‘Cloud Moon Spirit Method’ for cultivation. After I fully grasp the theories and methods of others and thoroughly understand the principles, then I can think about other things.”

All Su Hao’s progress so far has been on the path of learning. He has always understood one principle: before thoroughly comprehending the classics passed down by others, presumptuously modifying or commenting on them is a sign of arrogance. Not only will one fail to learn, but one will also stray into error.

Reaching the end of this state will inevitably lead to stubbornly believing that one is right, that the knowledge one possesses is the truth of this world, thus looking down on others’ ideas and negating all knowledge that contradicts one’s own cognition.

This is the greatest obstacle for a scholar, and it is a state that Su Hao strives to avoid happening to himself.

“When facing knowledge, regardless of right or wrong, one must humbly understand the logic behind it and the hidden deeper meaning, understand the environment and origin of the knowledge. Only after clarifying the entire process can one judge whether it is useful or not!”

After reaffirming his commitment to learning, Su Hao turned his attention to the “Cloud Moon Spirit Method.” He flipped through it again from the beginning, recalling Fairy Feng Ling’s explanation, and muttered his summary: “Catalyst Qi Realm is about accumulating Spiritual Power. The ‘Cloud Moon Spirit Method’ is actually a method for accumulating Spiritual Power. According to my master’s words, the Spiritual Power accumulated by this method is more abundant and solid, more than enough for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm.”

After another round of thought, Su Hao put down the book, sat in Tranquil Meditation, and began to attempt the first conversion of Spiritual Power!

Su Hao’s ‘mind thought-power’ illuminated his own body, sinking completely into the vast world within himself, gently roaming with the rhythm of his body. When Su Hao’s mind thought-power permeated his entire body, he followed the instructions in the ‘Cloud Moon Spirit Method’: ‘Let the spirit reach the sea of consciousness, and let the clouds settle quietly.’ He gathered all his mental focus and visualized the ‘Cloud Moon Diagram.’

To put it simply, it’s about spreading your mind thought-power throughout your body and then staring blankly at a mental image.

Simple, right!

It was indeed simple. Su Hao quickly found the balance point and maintained the state.

After an unknown amount of time, within Su Hao’s ‘mind thought-power’ perception, the misty areas of his body began to light up with scattered golden specks of light. The lights grew more numerous, like the stars in the night sky.

Su Hao knew that this was ‘Spiritual Power’! He had successfully converted Spiritual Power!

After maintaining the state for an unknown period, when the golden light stopped increasing, Su Hao slowly withdrew his ‘mind thought-power’ and exited the cultivation state. The first question that came to his mind as he opened his eyes was: “What is the principle behind converting Spiritual Power?”

Su Hao’s ‘mind thought-power’ swept over his body, perceiving the scattered ‘Spiritual Power’ distributed throughout his body. It hadn’t disappeared, nor was it increasing.

This Spiritual Power, which appeared as golden light spots in the ‘mind thought-power’ perception, simply stayed quietly within Su Hao’s body, as if it had grown there naturally.

“This must be the Spiritual Power my master spoke of. To use Spiritual Power, one needs to mobilize it with specific methods, but there’s no rush. I need to investigate clearly first, what exactly is the principle behind the generation of this Spiritual Power!” For cultivators in this world, understanding how Spiritual Power is generated is almost impossible. But for Su Hao, it’s extremely simple; he just needs to enter the Pinball Space and retrieve the data to check.

A moment later, Su Hao emerged from the Pinball Space with an expression of “So that’s how it is.”

‘Spiritual Energy,’ ‘Talent,’ and ‘Mind Technique’ are all indispensable! ‘Spiritual Energy waves’ are the environmental foundation, the proteins produced by ‘Talent’ are the material basis, and the ‘mind thought-power’ trained by the ‘Mind Technique’ is the catalyst.

The proteins transcribed from special gene sequences do not react under the radiation of ‘Spiritual Energy waves’ under normal circumstances. However, when the magical catalyst ‘mind thought-power’ is added, the proteins undergo structural changes under the radiation of ‘Spiritual Energy waves,’ reorganizing into high-energy particles. These high-energy particles are the golden light perceived by Su Hao’s ‘mind thought-power,’ also known as ‘Spiritual Power.’

And this is what cultivators call cultivation. The principles are simpler than I thought, yet also beyond my imagination! The cultivation in this world is truly marvelous!

As soon as Su Hao touched the conversion of Spiritual Power, he immediately grasped its essence. However, for the cultivators of this world, even after reaching the Body Integration stage, they cannot perceive the source.

Cultivators only know that there is Spiritual Power between heaven and earth. Those with a Spirit Root can, according to the methods in cultivation manuals, ‘absorb’ the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, thereby converting it into Spiritual Power and gaining strength.

Then, the so-called upper-level cultivation manuals are the result of countless cultivators unconsciously participating in updates and iterations over a long period, deducing better ways to convert Spiritual Power.

As for what ‘Spiritual Energy’ actually is, and what ‘Spirit Root’ is, it doesn’t matter to them. Because not everyone in every world adheres to scientific principles and logical consistency.

This is the limitation of the era. It would be too one-sided to assume that because the people around you follow science, everyone in the universe follows science.

Su Hao slowly fell into deep thought: “Since proteins, under the influence of ‘Spiritual Power waves’ and catalyzed by ‘thought-power,’ transform into Spiritual Power, then as long as I create specific conditions, I can also artificially produce large amounts of Spiritual Power. For example…”

Su Hao entered the Pinball Space, materialized a notebook and a pen, and began to draw and write on the paper.

The conversion process of Spiritual Power reminded Su Hao of the simple experiment of ‘preparing oxygen in a laboratory.’

“For example, first, I can use runes to artificially create a special ‘Force Field,’ which is ‘Spiritual Energy,’ just as I create ‘Space Waves.’ This way, my extraction of Spiritual Energy will no longer be limited to areas with dense Spiritual Energy, or even limited to this world. I can still create Spiritual Energy in another world.”

“Second, I can use Genetic Technology to modify plants or animals, enabling them to produce the proteins I need anytime and anywhere. Then, I can directly extract them using Extraction technology and convert them into Spiritual Power, similar to what cultivators often refer to as Spirit Beasts, Spirit Grass, Blood Spirits, and so on. This project will be entrusted to Yashan in the future.”

“Third, the catalytic effect of thought-power can be referenced from the catalytic effect of manganese dioxide. ‘Thought-power’ participates in the Spiritual Power conversion reaction, but it is not the most crucial element. Perhaps other substances can replace this ‘catalytic’ role.”

“Fourth, the process of cultivation is presumed to be accumulating a large amount of Spiritual Power, and then using that Spiritual Power to gradually construct a new ‘life system’ within the body, thereby freeing the spirit from the constraints of the physical body and extending lifespan. According to the cultivation theories of this world, as long as the human body is entirely composed of Spiritual Power, true immortality will be achieved…”

Su Hao’s pen paused here, and he then thought of another problem: “According to my master’s explanation, the current highest stage of cultivation is the Body Integration stage. The Body Integration stage only extends lifespan by more than a thousand years, far from achieving immortality. This means that even cultivators at the current highest stage have not managed to completely replace their bodies with a Spiritual Power system.”

“The path of cultivation is blocked, and it’s blocked at the most critical step…”

Happy New Year, any votes?ヾ^_^

(End of Chapter)