chsdbacks Chapter 786 The Answer Written on the Surface
Chapter 786 The Answer Written on the Surface
More than ten years have passed since then.
Inside the laboratory, a projected light screen continuously scrolled through lines of data under cool blue lighting.
Jemin sat in front of the experiment, resting his chin on his hand, looking at the last derivation report in front of him, and gently exhaled.
"Finally... I figured it out."
For the past ten years or so, he has devoted almost all his energy to the fundamental analysis of the blood sacrifice method.
He had already read through all the jade slips in the Great Dao Library containing similar methods countless times.
He meticulously organized and summarized all sorts of magical techniques, orthodox scriptures, and even fragmentary cultivation notes related to aptitude. At the same time, he also incorporated the wizarding civilization's theories on spiritual power, soul structure, and the essence of life into his analytical model. And now, the final piece of the puzzle has finally been completed.
Jemin reached out his hand, stared at the conclusion on the screen for a long time, and then suddenly smiled.
"I see."
The answer has always been right there in the riddle itself.
The "spiritual aptitude" in the cultivation physique refers to the "spirituality" of living beings.
Yes, from the very beginning, this word has already told everyone what qualifications are really like.
Why is spiritual energy used in the cultivation system?
Why is the power cultivated called spiritual power?
Why is cultivation talent also called spiritual aptitude?
The answer has always been there.
Because all three are simply different manifestations of the same thing.
Spirituality, in this context, refers to life's ability to perceive and receive external knowledge and rules... or, in other words, the Great Way.
It is also the medium through which life and spirit establish a connection.
The stronger one's spirituality, the easier it is to perceive spiritual energy.
The easier it is to manipulate spiritual power, the easier it is to understand the Great Dao.
Jemin leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the table.
"In other words... what we call spiritual roots are actually just the outward manifestation of spirituality."
"Or rather, it is a concrete representation of spirituality."
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shake his head again.
I used to think that the cultivation system liked to make many concepts seem mysterious and esoteric.
Now that I truly understand the underlying logic, I realize it's not mysterious at all; in fact, it's overly simple in its naming and description. Thinking about this, Jemin suddenly thought of something else.
"In other words... humans, as beings born with intelligence, are essentially born with spiritual roots."
His eyes brightened slightly.
Ordinary mortals cannot cultivate, not because they lack spiritual roots, but because their spirituality is too weak—weak enough to actively perceive the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Only those with exceptionally strong spirituality exhibit what is known as cultivation aptitude.
As for those beings that truly lack spirituality... there are actually records of them in the Great Dao Book Pavilion.
For example, there are puppets that have completely lost their self-awareness, or certain beings with congenitally incomplete spirituality and whose souls cannot be fully born. Those beings are the ones who truly lack spiritual roots.
Immediately afterwards, Jemin turned his attention to the blood sacrifice ritual.
Having grasped the essence of aptitude, this demonic cultivation technique finally lost its last layer of mystery.
The blood sacrifice ritual does not actually sacrifice flesh and blood, much less life force.
What has truly been taken away is spirituality.
After the sacrifice dies, its spirit is extracted and then merged into the body of the recipient.
To avoid spiritual conflicts between different beings, the blood sacrifice ritual employs an extremely complex selection mechanism.
Through extensive purification and refinement, the spirituality acquired by the recipient is ensured to be sufficiently compatible, and the entire process eliminates almost all parts that are incompatible with the recipient.
Ultimately, less than one percent of the spiritual essence truly remains.
"No wonder it requires a close relative to make the sacrifice. If it were someone else with no blood relation, or even someone whose living environment is completely different, I'm afraid it wouldn't be possible to extract even a little bit of the same spiritual essence."
Jemin shook his head slightly: "But even with the sacrifice of a close relative, the improvement is very limited."
The closer the blood relation, the higher the spiritual compatibility, and the higher the proportion that is retained.
Even so, under normal circumstances, it would only be around one percent.
The cost is enormous, and the benefits are limited.
More importantly, even if a close relative is used for sacrifice, and even if this type of ritual has a large number of filtering processes, it will still pose a huge hidden danger to the user.
According to the records in the Great Dao Library, the vast majority of cultivators who rely on such external forces to improve their aptitude eventually stop at the Nascent Soul stage.
Almost no one succeeded in the subsequent Refinement of Emptiness and Integration of the Dao, let alone climbing to the Immortal Ascension stage.
Of course, those who are born with extraordinary comprehension, even if their cultivation aptitude is ordinary, can still comprehend the Great Dao directly before reaching the Nascent Soul stage and ascend to immortality in one step.
But this existence...
Jemin thought about it for a moment, then smiled and shook his head.
"If someone truly possessed such insight, who would still bother studying blood sacrifice rituals?"
At this point, he was finally able to confirm one thing completely.
My own line of thinking is perfectly sound.
Clones, especially those created using one's own flesh and soul, are essentially identical in spirit to the original. After being sacrificed, they do not cause any rejection, leave any hidden dangers, or pollute one's own foundation.
It sounds like the same conclusion as before, but this time Jemin understands the underlying reasons.
Rather than simply relying on a large number of experimental observations to obtain results.
This is the significance of understanding the essence.
If the goal is simply to localize the blood sacrifice method, there's no need to research it to this extent.
We can simply disassemble the various modules that run the blood sacrifice ritual and then reconstruct them using the existing technology of the wizard civilization.
As for spiritual aptitude... it can be completely replaced by the mature talent enhancement system of wizarding civilization.
They can also create a set of advanced aptitude enhancement techniques.
But... besides being a cultivator, Jemin is also a wizard, and his thirst for knowledge has always been more important than efficiency.
"Although it was a bit of a detour, once we understand the essence, modifying various cultivation techniques should be much easier in the future."
Jemin stood up and walked to the other side of the laboratory door.
As the heavy metal door slowly opened, a dense, almost liquefied, spiritual energy rushed out.
Looking around, hundreds of culture chambers were neatly arranged throughout the hall.
Inside each culture chamber, a body exactly like his floats silently.
Through the continuous investment of resources purchased with the military merits earned by Jieming over the years, they are no longer the mortals they once were.
Each one has been accelerated to the Dao Integration Realm cultivation level.
Of course, this only refers to cultivation level; let alone combat power, these clones can't even enter the Dao Integration state.
Their sole purpose is as sacrificial offerings.
Looking at the incubation chamber in front of him, Jemin finally showed a long-lost smile.
"The resources we've accumulated over the past decade have finally paid off."
He couldn't help but rub his hands together: "Then... let's begin!"
The entire hall had already been set up, with a blood sacrifice array covering the entire room.
As Jemin gave the order, crimson lines intertwined, forming a massive magic circle large enough to accommodate hundreds of sacrifices at once.
As soon as Jemin stepped into the center of the magic circle, the entire hall lit up simultaneously.
boom!!!
A dark red light slowly rose, and more than 600 incubation chambers were activated simultaneously, with dormant clones slowly floating up.
As countless crimson runes emerged from the void, these clones began to slowly decompose.
Countless crimson streams of light, like rivers flowing into the sea, converged from all directions and eventually entered Jemin's body.
The whole process lasted a full day.
The hall fell silent once the last incubation chamber was completely empty.
"call……"
With a long sigh, Jemin slowly opened his eyes.
The completion of the qualification upgrade was not accompanied by any earth-shattering phenomena or a sudden surge in aura.
Jemin stood there quietly, feeling as if the whole world... had undergone a subtle change.
But it seems like nothing has changed.
It was an extremely mysterious feeling.
He slowly raised his hand, and a wisp of spiritual energy naturally appeared in his palm.
Previously, spiritual power felt to Jemin like a group of soldiers who needed constant command.
Now, they look more like my own fingers.
Once a thought arises, it naturally flows.
Feeling the smooth and satisfying control, Jemin's eyes lit up.
"Is this what it feels like to have a spiritual uplift?"
He didn't even consciously control it; he just subconsciously thought of the things that had troubled him before after completing the improvement of his aptitude, so his spiritual power automatically started to operate the method of "Mustard Seed True Body Technique".
Spiritual energy flowed, Daoist principles resonated, and the inner sanctuary within the body slowly trembled.
Those once obscure and troublesome spiritual energy circulation paths are now as natural as breathing.
The whole process was excessively smooth and fluid, as if it were meant to be this way.
Suddenly, Jemin disappeared from the laboratory.
Without any trace of spellcasting or spatial fluctuations, he simply vanished from the laboratory into thin air.
at the same time.
The inner world within the body.
A consciousness slowly "opened" its eyes.
After realizing his own state, Jemin was stunned.
He subconsciously wanted to look down at his body, but he only "saw" a vast and boundless cave world.
Jemin could clearly feel that the entire cave had become his body, and he could move about at will according to his thoughts.
After a long while, Jemin slowly exhaled, "I... I succeeded?"
Dharma disintegrates.
Forged in a grotto.
The first two steps of the "Mustard Seed True Body Technique" were completed instinctively in that instant.
He didn't even consciously control it; it was entirely done instinctively.
After a long silence, Jemin couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.
"So this is what the jade slip meant by... 'naturally occurring,' 'the water flows into the channel'!"
He used to think the author was exaggerating when he first saw those two words.
Now that I've experienced it firsthand, I realize it's not an exaggeration at all.
Once one's spiritual aptitude truly meets the requirements, the problem that had troubled them for a century becomes as simple as drinking water.
Those previously obscure and difficult-to-understand spiritual energy transformations now seem ridiculously naive.
He even suspected that if he were to cultivate again now, he could traverse the path of the past hundreds of years in just a few breaths.
However, Jemin soon discovered another problem.
He can't get out now...
To be precise, his true form has completely sunk into the inner sanctum of his body.
However, he hadn't yet comprehended the third step of the "Mustard Seed True Body Technique": projection, let alone the method to undo it after completing these three steps. Therefore, at this stage, he was simply unable to project his new body, which had merged the power of the cave heaven and the true body, into the outside world.
The entire consciousness can only remain inside the cave.
Jemin paused for a moment, then sighed helplessly.
"Okay, I admit I was being a bit too demanding."
His original purpose was to use this method to solve the problem of his body being too large, and now it has actually been solved.
As for the increase in combat power that comes with this method, it's a completely unexpected bonus.
He waved his hand, and in a corner of the cave, a pre-prepared alchemical puppet slowly opened its eyes.
Jemin's consciousness, following the soul connection, descended directly into the puppet's body.
In the laboratory.
In the previously deserted area, a puppet that looked exactly like Jemin suddenly appeared. The puppet slowly raised its head, and a human-like expression appeared in its eyes.
Jemin stretched his body, a satisfied smile on his face.
"It seems that I should also put the third step of comprehending the Mustard Seed Dao True Body Technique on the agenda as soon as possible."