Chapter 29 Gouchen

The night was deep, and all was silent.

In the cultivation room, Yun Bai sat cross-legged, casting aside all distracting thoughts.

"Gouchen Technique..."

Yun Bai recited silently in his heart. The opening general outline of that profound classic appeared in his Sea of Consciousness. The text was archaic and difficult, yet it contained the supreme principles of the Dao, as if a magnificent heavenly might was hidden between the lines:

"Gouchen is above, ruling over all spirits... Spirit leads the way, Qi follows behind... Nine cycles complete, the Dao body is born..."

These few words at the beginning clearly pointed out the exalted position of the Great Emperor Gouchen in ruling over all spirits (focusing on slaughter and wielding weapons) and presiding over the Thunder Mansion (mastering Thunder Methods). It further emphasized that the core of the technique lay in 'Spirit leads the way, Qi follows behind'—Divine Sense cultivation must be ahead of Spiritual Qi cultivation; it is the Foundation for controlling all power.

Daoist techniques emphasize 'Divine Sense as the Lord, Qi as the Minister,' with Divine Sense being the commander of Spiritual Qi. During the Qi Refining and Spirit Refining stage, which is the First Realm stage, Daoist Cultivators can rapidly accumulate cultivation by absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

As Spiritual Qi accumulates within the Dantian, a Golden Core is formed in the Dantian during the Late Stage of the First Realm!

To advance further, it requires constant warming and incubation through Divine Sense. Predecessors once said: 'The Golden Core is like an egg.' In other words, when the Golden Core gradually hatches, the Nascent Soul will break out of the shell! At this point, the Cultivator will break through to the Second Realm, which is the Realm of Refining Spirit and Returning to Void.

The Early Stage of the Second Realm is called the 'Nascent Soul Stage' by those in the Daoist sects.

To complete the step of the Golden Core turning into a Nascent Soul, the Cultivator needs to achieve a Breakthrough at the level of Divine Sense, namely, the evolution of 'Divine Sense Perception' into 'Telekinesis'.

The cultivation world often speaks of 'a Flying Sword killing enemies from a thousand miles away,' and only when a Cultivator masters the skill of 'Telekinesis' can they be considered to have stepped over the threshold of 'seeking the Dao with a Flying Sword'.

However, Breakthroughs at the level of Divine Sense are extremely difficult.

The three early schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism held surprisingly consistent views on this Divine Sense cultivation—slaying demons and eliminating devils!

Every time one slays demons and eliminates devils, one must endure the impact of Devilish Qi on the Sea of Consciousness. With each slaying of a Devil Head, the Sea of Consciousness is repeatedly forged and tempered, eventually achieving a qualitative transformation.

Later, Cultivators developed various other methods to exercise Divine Sense.

The cultivation world has the 'Nine Arts of Cultivators,' namely, 'Divination, Formation, Alchemy, Talisman, Mechanisms, Qi Refining, Calligraphy and Painting, Music, and Ghost Dao.'

Of course, besides these, there are many miscellaneous paths, such as brewing, gardening, beast taming, corpse refining, witchcraft, and Gu.

But regardless, there is one consensus in the cultivation world: Divine Sense cannot be improved through meditation and breathing exercises like Spiritual Qi.

Yun Bai studied the technique while referring to the vast amount of data Xiao Liu had obtained from the first floor of the State Religion Library.

By cross-referencing them, he gained a deeper understanding of cultivation in this world.

[First Realm Early Stage - Foundation Establishment Stage]

[First Realm Middle Stage - Golden Core Transition Stage]

[First Realm Late Stage - Golden Core Stage]

Xiao Liu faithfully recorded the correspondence between the unified cultivation Rank system of the State Religion and the cultivation Rank system of the Daoist sects.

Yun Bai composed his mind and, according to the technique, began to circulate the 'Gouchen Guidance Formula.' This was not a technique for direct combat, but a method for laying the Foundation, gathering Spiritual Qi, and clearing the Meridians.

[Command: Activating the basic operation module of the 'Gouchen Guidance Formula.' Planning energy circulation path...]

Xiao Liu's cold voice rang out in the Sea of Consciousness, assisting Yun Bai in understanding those profound Meridian routes.

With a slight movement of his mind, Yun Bai felt as if he could 'look inside' himself. The thin Spiritual Qi between Heaven and Earth, like fireflies drawn by an invisible force, gathered toward him in wisps.

It was completely different from the snail-like pace he felt when practicing basic techniques before! The speed at which Spiritual Qi gathered now was many times faster. They flowed into his body from all the acupoints of his body like a trickling stream.

"So fast!" Yun Bai was pleasantly surprised. This 'Gouchen Technique' was truly extraordinary; the Spiritual Qi gathering efficiency alone far exceeded any technique he had come into contact with before.

The Spiritual Qi entering his body was not chaotic. Under the precise guidance of the technique and the profound effects of the technique itself, they flowed along a path that was extremely complex yet secretly in harmony with the Heavenly Dao:

Starting from the Yongquan point on the soles of his feet, it traveled up the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian; passed through the Huiyin point, entered the Ren Meridian, and circled, compressed, and purified in the lower Dantian, turning into more refined Spiritual Qi; it then traveled up the Du Meridian, passing the Mingmen, Jiaji, and Dazhui points; reached the Baihui point on the top of his head, and then descended to the upper Dantian, the Sea of Consciousness.

Finally, a portion of the refined Spiritual Qi sank into the middle Dantian to nourish the Heart Fire, while the rest returned to the lower Dantian, gradually condensing into a spherical Qi mass in the center of the Qi Sea.

This Qi mass was the embryonic form of the Golden Core.

Yun Bai clicked his tongue in admiration. The Advanced techniques of the State Religion were indeed extraordinary; the speed of absorbing and refining Spiritual Qi was simply lightning-fast. In comparison, the breathing exercises of his previous basic techniques were like a snail crawling.

However, the subsequent process was not as clear as he had expected.

As the Guidance Formula continued to run, the speed at which his body absorbed Spiritual Qi did not saturate or slow down; instead, it became faster and faster! The surrounding Spiritual Qi seemed to be crazily snatched by an invisible vortex, pouring into his body endlessly.

"What is going on? This absorption speed... it's simply like a bottomless pit!" Yun Bai felt a trace of confusion.

Ordinary Cultivators drawing Qi into their bodies have limited Meridian capacity and will soon feel bloated, requiring them to stop and refine it.

Yun Bai hurriedly observed the flow of Spiritual Qi within his body carefully.

Although the lower Dantian was filling up rapidly, it was far from reaching its limit.

Yun Bai soon discovered the reason: a large amount of initially purified Spiritual Qi was leaving the Qi Sea without any hesitation, starting to rush straight up to the top of his head along the Du Meridian, clearly heading toward the Niwan Palace!

[Detected Spiritual Qi flowing into the Sea of Consciousness, can be used to improve the computing power of the 'No. 6' auxiliary AI.]

[Detected Spiritual Qi flowing into the Sea of Consciousness, can be used to assist in charging the 'No. 6' auxiliary AI.]

[Beep! Beep! Beep!]

Yun Bai suddenly heard Xiao Liu's urgent prompt.

"Niwan Palace! Sea of Consciousness!" Yun Bai was startled, immediately remembering his peculiar Sea of Consciousness Universe.

He dared not delay and immediately composed his mind, performing deep 'self-reflection.' His consciousness sank into the Niwan Palace, casting itself toward that vast Sea of Consciousness space.

The scene before him shocked him deeply!

He saw that within the Sea of Consciousness, the deep and silent Source Core Black Hole seemed to have smelled a delicious meal, and at this moment, it was emitting gravitational fluctuations stronger than usual!

The stream of refined Spiritual Qi that surged in from the outside, passing through the barrier of the Niwan Palace, was like iron filings attracted by a magnet, being uncontrollably and endlessly swallowed by the rotating Source Core Black Hole!

The source sea, composed of golden Mental Energy particles, seemed to increase its rotation speed slightly under the injection of a large amount of Spiritual Qi, stirring up more brilliant spots of light.

What stunned Yun Bai even more was that the Spiritual Qi swallowed by the Source Core Black Hole did not disappear, nor was it directly converted into Mental Energy.

They... seemed to be infinitely compressed, purified, and transformed by that terrifying gravitational singularity.

Immediately afterward, at the other end of the source core's 'event horizon,' the White Hole singularity that symbolized energy release suddenly brightened! It did not spew out a single stream of silver Mental Energy particles; instead, it was shockingly mixed with wisps of Spiritual Qi that were indescribably pure and carried a faint golden glow!

These newly born Spiritual Qi, like the purest stardust, left the Sea of Consciousness and once again flowed through the Meridians into the lower Dantian Qi Sea.

Yun Bai clearly felt that the 'embryonic Golden Core' in the Qi Sea had become a bit more substantial in its golden surface!

"This...!" The shock in Yun Bai's heart was beyond measure.

He had always thought that the Sea of Consciousness was merely a cradle for storing Divine Sense, and had never imagined that it could actively swallow and convert external Spiritual Qi just like the body absorbs Spiritual Qi.

[Observing and analyzing energy conversion: Spiritual Qi—source core compression/conversion—Golden Core Origin (increment). Conversion efficiency: 0.37% (preliminary estimate)]

Xiao Liu's analysis report sounded at the right time, and the cold data confirmed that Yun Bai's feeling was not an illusion.

"Hoo..." Yun Bai exhaled a long breath of turbid air, forcibly suppressing the stormy waves in his heart.

"'Gouchen Technique,' what a good thing! By absorbing enough Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, I will soon be able to break through to the Golden Core Stage! That is, the Late Stage of the First Realm!" Yun Bai's heartbeat accelerated due to excitement.

"Could this be what was mentioned in that 'Gouchen Technique Annotation,' that the closer the Sea of Consciousness form is to the Universe, the more suitable it is for cultivation?" Yun Bai had an epiphany.

If a Cultivator with an ordinary 'ocean-state' Sea of Consciousness were to practice the 'Gouchen Technique,' they would surely not have such a terrifying cultivation speed.

"Xiao Liu, what is going on with you?" Yun Bai had not forgotten Xiao Liu's urgent prompt just now.

Xiao Liu's abnormal reaction was what made him the most nervous.

[Detected pure energy flowing through, 'No. 6' Quantum AI requests to perform a 'bridge'.]

Xiao Liu said meticulously.

[Regarding computing power: After the 'bridge' is successful, the 'No. 6' Quantum AI will be able to borrow Spiritual Qi from the lower Dantian to perform overload calculations, used for super-large-scale super-speed simulation calculations.]

[Regarding manufacturing black holes: After the 'bridge' is successful, the No. 6 AI charging efficiency increases by: 300%]

Yun Bai was overjoyed; he certainly knew the significance of manufacturing a micro black hole.

Manufacturing a micro black hole was the ultimate individual weapon secretly handed over to everyone on the 'universe shuttle' by Chief 'No. 8' when he was ordered to transmigrate to the cultivation world.

This weapon is installed in everyone's Quantum AI and is a special weapon for adapting to a cultivation environment like the Heavenly Palace in the new Universe.

The purpose of manufacturing a micro black hole is simple and crude: after accumulating enough Spiritual Qi, burst it out in a short period of time!

This kind of outburst is not just the explosion of the Spiritual Qi accumulated by oneself, but by using this part of the Spiritual Qi to trigger the creation of a 'micro black hole,' and then crazily swallowing all the Spiritual Qi within a certain range around it with the black hole singularity as the center.

After reaching a certain level, stop maintaining the black hole, and the black hole will rapidly radiate a large amount of Spiritual Qi, finally exploding!

Yun Bai could not be more familiar with this thing.

The side effects of this thing are extremely obvious. The AI is installed in the quantum microtubules of the brain, and the powerful Spiritual Qi impact will, at best, make a person an idiot, and at worst, cause a person to explode and die directly!

Therefore, only in a life-and-death crisis would Yun Bai dare to open the 'black hole.'

It was precisely by relying on it that Yun Bai escaped death time and time again, and even broke through to the First Realm under the jaws of the Short-snouted Magic Boar.

This is Yun Bai's biggest trump card.