233: Chapter 31: I’m Cultivating Immortality and Still Need to Take Medicine 233: Chapter 31: I’m Cultivating Immortality and Still Need to Take Medicine Ancient Immortal Cultivation stressed four essential elements: wealth, partners, righteous methods, and cultivation grounds…
no, it’s wealth, partners, Righteous Method, and Dharma Gate.
Firstly, one needed money, for reasons that go without saying.
Secondly, one needed Dao partners for mutual learning and collective progress.
Then, there was the need for a Righteous Method; without a Dharma Gate, one couldn’t cultivate anything.
Lastly, one required a cultivation ground, which did not solely refer to the Blessed Land of Cavernous Heavens but also implied having a sect dojo.
After joining the Special Service Bureau, Li Mumu quickly felt the organization’s warmth and closeness.
Li Ya was not a good teacher; she couldn’t even manage her own life, let alone educate others.
Apart from tossing books to Li Mumu and making her study and grind through problems on her own, she had no better teaching methods.
The gentle and kind Sister Yaoqin was different; just a few pointers from her would awaken Li Mumu as if from a dream, enlightening her completely.
Self-awareness was most crucial, aligning almost perfectly with her prior hypotheses.
The human technology of this era might not have advanced enough to start exploring “observer effects” or quantum entanglement, with textbooks not even having the periodic table yet.
Thus, the theories researchers came up with were varied and bizarre, lacking a unified theory.
However, Li Mumu judged based on various theories she encountered that, regardless of the changes, the overall direction was consistent.
First, due to the influence of the “Shiyan” disaster, the dimensions of time and space were unstable.
Second, there existed higher-dimensional observers above the dimensions of time and space.
“Strings” or “creator,” observing from a low dimensionality or using “cognition” to describe it, was fine, forming the current world.
Observation, cognition, thought – these were different perspectives describing the same action.
Thought determined the existence of matter, but with a premise.
It was high-dimensional thought that determined the existence of ignorance in lower dimensions.
After clarifying these principles, revisiting the so-called research conclusions, statutes, and hypothesizing in books became immediately clear.
Books are written by humans, and a person’s subjective thoughts inevitably influence the objective text under their pen.
That’s why they say it’s better to have no books than to wholly trust them; one must have the ability to think independently.
The real internal benefit of the Special Service Bureau was not those various Divine Skill Secret Manuals but the guidance Yaoqin provided Li Mumu.
Of course, this was also attributed to Li Mumu’s own merits—as a former professional gamer, no matter how absurd or bizarre the game settings, she could accept them unconditionally in no time.
What about “cannot jump without knees”, “has a mouth but cannot speak”, or “a demolition machine falls in love with an unfinished building”…
These are the game’s settings, don’t meddle with the affairs of the anime world.
This was also the main reason she and Wendy had been together for so long without ever triggering a trust issue.
You’re the teammate I was given at the start, and I don’t trust you, so should I believe you are Emperor Qin Shi Huang?
This kind of personality is actually very rare; after all, most people in this world are ignorant yet full of confidence, gullible yet stubborn, submissive before the bad and aggressive towards the good, primarily embodying a naive yet chaotic thought process.
Of course, it’s not to say this personality type is without flaws.
In fact, the flaw is quite severe—it’s easy to deceive.
However, paired with her inherited Witch’s bloodline and the prophetic talent for highly sensitive perception of malice, this flaw could be virtually disregarded.
The “Beiming Heart Method” is not just a simple Cultivation Method; its content, nearly one hundred thousand words in length, begins by discussing the philosophical ideas of Taoism’s Laozi and Zhuangzi, illustrating the worldview through simple and understandable allegorical stories.
This part is meant to reshape one’s self-perception.
Only then does it present the Cultivation Technique, many terms of which, had Li Mumu not previously endured the hell of grinding through quizzes, would have been incomprehensible.
In fact, if you skip the opening part and jump straight into cultivation, you still won’t understand a thing.
Take this section for example—”Harvest the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, absorb the essence of the sun and moon.” It sounds pretty simple, right?
How exactly do you do that?
The book provides only one answer—lie down!
Oh right, right, that’s exactly how the demons in the novels do it, just lying on a rock, starting to breathe in and out the spiritual energy of the world…
Bullshit!
If you don’t read the earlier content and jump directly to this part to cultivate, Li Mumu would be infuriated by this statement.
Thus, one must start from the beginning, fully understand and grasp their philosophy, and only then can you know what exactly “lying down” involves.
The latter half of the book is various annotations on the methods of cultivation, knowing you probably didn’t pay attention earlier and could patch things up here.
It also covers various issues you might encounter along the way, including elixirs to aid cultivation or treat Qi deviation, and so on.
And the elixirs…
Li Mumu looked at the pill bottle in Yaoqin’s hand and couldn’t curse.
Why does it feel just like when my mom fed me that medicine?
Listen to mom and take your medicine, don’t listen to mom and still take your medicine, is fate’s inertia that strong?
“This is what the book describes as…”
“Wushi Powder.”
“Is it the legendary Wushi Powder that makes you dazed after taking it, causes your body to heat up, and makes you strip off your clothes voluntarily?”
“Of course not.”
“What era are we in now?
It definitely has better effects.”
“Huh?!”
Li Mumu was shocked, what kind of cultivation technique is this!
And it needs to be paired with such an elixir?
What, am I supposed to perform a vigorous show for people after consuming it?
Ah, demon cultivation, then no worries.
No worries my ass!
I need a different book!
I’m not learning this!
“Just kidding, its effects are similar to Wushi Powder, so they named it that.
It’s actually called Foundation Establishment Pill, the latest proprietary Chinese medicine developed for cultivating practitioners to quickly enter a state of cultivation.”
Smiling, Yaoqin explained, “It’s like the old saying ‘revere the dragon but dread the deep.’ Many newcomers to cultivation, although eager to cultivate, don’t completely resonate with the corresponding philosophy.
Just like young people studying these days, even though they know studying is the only chance to change their fate, they can’t get into it and even unconsciously make up excuses…”
“The effect of Wushi Powder is to temporarily suppress the brain’s excitement area, blocking out all the messy thoughts in the brain, like ‘what to eat tonight’, ‘didn’t finish the novel yesterday’, ‘nails are long and erasers are dirty,’ etc., enhancing the cultivator’s attention and focus on cultivation.”
“Long-term use definitely has no benefits and might even cause drug dependence.
But for totally inexperienced rookies, the effects are quite significant.
If you feel you can easily enter the cultivation state yourself, then there’s obviously no need to take it, and this medication is quite expensive too!”
“Ah right, there’s also this.”
Yaoqin handed Li Mumu a metal rod about as long and wide as a finger, “After each cultivation session, take it out and have a look, if a second red line appears on it, that means…”
Pregnant, right?
Or is there something in the stomach?
“It means your cultivation is being disrupted by Echo Erosion and you’re very likely to suffer Qi deviation.
You must come to me quickly to avoid accidents.”