“The Great Dao is formless, yet it gives birth to Heaven and Earth. The Great Dao is dispassionate, yet it governs the sun and moon. The Great Dao is nameless, yet it nurtures all creation.”
“I do not know its name, so I call it the Dao.”
“………………”
After reciting the Scripture of Purity and Tranquility, the Daoist, who had been sitting cross-legged on a futon, adjusted his internal energy like an old monk in deep meditation, then slowly rose.
This Daoist wore a light blue Daoist robe, like a flowing cloud in the sky, without any complicated patterns. Only the cuffs and collar were adorned with some pale golden patterns, like twinkling stars in the night sky.
Though his appearance could not be called handsome and dashing, this Daoist had well-defined features, like a finely carved piece of jade, very refined.
He exuded a unique immortal aura of blending with the light and harmonizing with nature, as if he were an immortal transcending the mundane world.
“I, a young Daoist, have already spent eighteen long years in this world. In this dilapidated Daoist temple, I am now all alone.
This is outrageous! Everyone says that after transmigration, there will be a golden finger, a system to help me show off and slap faces, and from then on, I’ll reach the peak of my life. But this is simply nonsense! All of it is deceitful lies!
“Immeasurable Heavenly Venerate, Ancestor Master above, I, a young Daoist, did not intend to curse.”
Indeed, this Daoist, originally named Wang Chen, was an ordinary office worker on Earth.
That day, after working continuously for nearly three days and three nights, he dragged his exhausted body home from work and lay on his bed, ready to fall asleep.
Suddenly, he remembered seeing some deep sleep and meditation methods while browsing videos before, so he decided to give it a try with a 'what if' attitude.
To his surprise, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself transformed into a wailing infant, abandoned in a desolate mountain gully.
Fortunately, he was adopted by the Old Daoist of the Tai Xu Temple in these mountains; otherwise, he probably wouldn't know how he would have tragically died.
Wang Chen was an adult after all, and even though he was reborn as an infant and grew up again, he was more intelligent and composed than other children.
As he grew older day by day, the Old Daoist who adopted him, a man obsessed with immortal cultivation culture, looked at him with great joy.
He even firmly believed that Wang Chen had great wisdom and innate intelligence, so he meticulously cultivated Wang Chen in various Daoist immortal cultivation cultures from a young age, such as reciting scriptures, practicing martial arts, swordplay, and even alchemy.
What was particularly important was that the elixirs he refined were the kind specifically for emperors, made from lead, mercury, cinnabar, and other ingredients.
However, when Wang Chen was 16 years old, the Old Daoist, while preparing to give him a Daoist name, died after consuming an elixir. He only managed to utter a single character, “Yuan.” As for which “Yuan” it was, no one knew.
Wang Chen had no choice but to name himself “Yuan” from “A new beginning” (The beginning of a new year), calling himself Yuan Chen Daoist.
After burying his nominal master (here meaning 'father' rather than 'teacher'), Wang Chen lived alone in the Daoist temple for another two years.
Each day, he would simply recite Daoist scriptures, diligently practice martial arts, occasionally delve into alchemy, and other than that, he would go down the mountain to perform some rituals for the village to earn a meager living.
Just as Yuan Chen finished sighing and was about to go offer incense to the Ancestor Master, a thunderous explosion suddenly reverberated in his mind.
It felt as if something swiftly drilled into him, and his brain, unable to withstand the impact, instantly became incredibly dizzy. His vision turned completely black, and his body involuntarily tilted forward, ultimately causing him to fall unconscious.
After a couple of groans, Yuan Chen slowly opened his eyes. Suddenly, a mysterious, profound yellow screen appeared before him.
The screen was like a giant vortex, constantly spinning, seemingly wanting to draw his soul into it. With a soft tremor, the screen emitted a crisp “ding” sound, followed by a mechanical synthesized voice, as if from beyond the heavens, ringing out:
“Self-check in progress, one percent, ten percent, fifty percent…” A progress bar appeared on the screen, advancing at an astonishing speed. In less than a minute, it had already reached one hundred percent.
Another “ding” sounded, and the mechanical synthesized voice echoed in his mind again: “Self-check complete. The Deduction System has been loaded.”
Hearing this, Yuan Chen's eyes widened suddenly like copper bells.
“System? My goodness! Is it real or fake?” Yuan Chen stood stunned like a statue for a while before slowly getting up, sitting cross-legged, and silently reciting the Heart-Cleansing Incantation:
“A clear heart is like water, clear water is the heart. No breeze arises, no ripples disturb.”
After finishing the recitation, Yuan Chen slowly opened his eyes as if waking from a deep dream. His gaze was as calm as deep water, yet a hint of solemnity could vaguely be seen shimmering within it.
“System.” Yuan Chen spoke softly.
“I am here. Host can call me Xiao Zhu.”
Hearing this, Yuan Chen couldn't help but feel a strange sensation, as if the system's mechanical voice contained a hint of human warmth.
“Were you artificially created or naturally born?”
“The Host can understand it this way: I am both a masterpiece of human creation and a gift from the grand cosmos.”
Yuan Chen paused, then pressed on, “Can you describe it in more detail?”
“Permission restricted, unable to disclose.”
The concept of permission is not difficult to understand. However, how does one increase permission?
“Permission restricted, unable to disclose.”
Yuan Chen pondered for a moment, then said with a calm expression, “Where do you come from? What abilities do you possess? Why are you bound to me?”
“One. Xiao Zhu originates from chaos. Two. Currently, I can only perform deductions based on my own cognition, knowledge, fantasies, possibilities, etc., to provide the Host with answers I approve of. Three. Only because you are the Host.”
Chaos, this is another broad and vague concept. Could you be the Chaos Pearl, or some kind of innate supreme treasure, a common golden finger in novels?
The ability of deduction should be quite powerful, capable of deducing even fantasies and possibilities. The last question seems unanswered. Could it be from my future self?
Forget it, as a mere mortal, with this golden finger, what more is there to complain about?
After a moment of thought, Yuan Chen dismissed the idea. After all, he was just a mortal; no matter how much he racked his brain to ponder conspiracy theories, it would only be in vain.
It would be better to swallow this candy first. When he gained strength in the future, even if he encountered any problems, he would be able to handle them calmly.
“Xiao Zhu, help me deduce a cultivation method that will allow me to cultivate into an immortal on Earth. Use all the knowledge in my mind, as well as the Daoist scriptures and novels I have read, and integrate them to perform the deduction.”
“Ding, deducing… Integrating mathematics, mechanics, biology, genetics, Dao De Jing, Huang Ting Jing, Battle Through the Heavens, A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality, Shrouding the Heavens, Primordial Chaos…”
“One. Fighter deduction in progress… Unable to deduce. Like water without a source, lacking Battle Qi, Source Qi, Spiritual Qi.”
“Two. Qi Refining stage deduction in progress… Unable to deduce. Like a tree without roots, lacking spiritual roots, spiritual qi, primal qi.”
“Three. Bitter Sea deduction in progress… Unable to deduce. Like a castle in the air, lacking seeds, primal qi, essence qi.”
………………
In Yuan Chen's mind, countless data streams flashed wildly like a galaxy inverted, and dense runes and formulas intertwined into a chaotic ocean.
However, every deduction trajectory abruptly broke at a crucial point, as if violently extinguished by an invisible hand of rules.
His temples throbbed, and a sharp, piercing pain like steel needles stabbed into his brain. Even eerie bloody light spots appeared before his eyes.
“Stop the deduction! Stop immediately!” He clutched his head and roared, his voice distorted by pain.
“Deduction process terminated.” The cold female voice echoed in the depths of his consciousness.
“This deduction accumulated twelve thousand three hundred attempts, with a 100% failure rate.
Warning: The basic database is missing core parameters such as ‘spiritual qi’ and ‘laws,’ making it impossible to construct an immortal cultivation model. The Host needs to supplement knowledge of high-level energy systems.”
Yuan Chen stumbled and knelt on the ground, cold sweat drenching his back. Only now did he suddenly realize that he had been as arrogant as a child with a new toy!
Those scenes in novels where protagonists casually pick up the “Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir Art” or level up by soaking in a Pangu blood pool were merely fairy tales concocted by authors to deceive readers. The true path to transcendence had always been a dead end, fraught with thorns.
Suddenly, a faint light flickered in the depths of his memory. He remembered “Dragon-Snake Romance,” which he had devoured late into the night before transmigration; the description of Wang Chao splitting the rain with a single punch had once made his blood boil.
There was also the profound mystery in “Black Mountain Old Demon” where a master of national martial arts could shatter glass from a distance with his fist intent…
The power systems in those stories were completely different—they didn't rely on spiritual qi from heaven and earth, but rather viewed the human body as a universe, using scientific precision to temper muscles and bones, condense will, and ultimately even predict bullet trajectories through intuition!
“Since the immortal path is a castle in the air…”
He wiped away the bloodstains seeping from the corners of his mouth due to mental backlash, and a persistent flame ignited in his eyes, “Then I will first conquer the limits of the mortal flesh!”
“Xiao Zhu!” he rasped, “Retrieve all my brain domain data—modern biomechanics, gene expression maps, special forces combat techniques, Shaolin Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic, Daoist scriptures, and some fantasy novels…
Especially the martial arts descriptions from “Dragon-Snake Romance,” “Nine Cauldrons,” and “Black Mountain Old Demon”!
Synthesize and deduce a complete path from Ming Jin (Manifest Strength) to the state of seeing the divine and being indestructible, including mental tempering methods from deep sleep to the state of ‘sitting and forgetting.’ Integrate them to create my unique ladder to transcendence!”
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