46: The first step towards cultivation

Life continued simply like this; every morning, Ning would use the Yin Sound Conversion Art to collect sound energy as much as possible.

Hyesi alone was no longer enough to reach the limit, so he then had Hyesi walk around the dark places in the village to accumulate more energy.

When he said he wanted a new body, the Villagers were very understanding and allowed him to do whatever he wanted. With this freedom, Ning put all his effort every day into preparing to create a body, accumulating enough energy to learn Basic Cultivation Knowledge.

He also helped the Villagers from time to time, going elsewhere to get meat for them, and even staying nearby for a period to ensure his fields were not destroyed.

Besides this, most of his time was spent only thinking about how to improve his body.

He wanted to create one that, at least in terms of talent, would be above average. After more than ten days, Ning's energy value finally exceeded 560 million.

“System, purchase Basic Cultivation Knowledge,” he said.

"<Basic Cultivation Knowledge consumes 560,000,000 energy. Are you sure?>"

“Yes,” he said.

"<Confirmed.>"

At this moment, a large amount of information flooded his mind, and he began to understand the various different knowledges of cultivation. This information was not very detailed. In fact, there was almost nothing. However, there was too much information behind the topic of cultivation, and the basic knowledge he obtained was hundreds of thousands of times vaster than anything he had learned in the shop before.

“I understand…” he thought as he reviewed the knowledge he had just gained.

To him, cultivation was like magic. You could use Qi to do whatever you wanted. But it seemed there was more to it. He realized how vast cultivation itself was.

Cultivation is about making oneself better than yesterday, it is continuous improvement, it is the path to perfection.

Cultivating a seed means letting it grow continuously until it is refined into a perfect form, a great tree. Cultivating oneself means letting oneself comprehend the laws of the universe and grow into a wise being.

Even animals with almost no intelligence can gather enough Qi to gain wisdom and thus begin their true cultivation journey.

There are many things that can be enlightened, but most people are limited by insufficient willpower or environmental constraints. Some people are not good at fighting, so they can never truly learn the universal truth hidden behind striking.

Some people are not good at swordsmanship, so they can never truly understand the universal truth behind swordsmanship; some people are not good at herbs and plants, so they can never understand the universal truth behind alchemy.

Or some people are just timid and dare not fight. Some people have not practiced much with swords, or some people are too lazy to learn herbs. Everything depends on one's talent and training.

“Except for me…” Ning thought. “I can acquire talent at any time. I can acquire experience at any time. Oh, I don’t even need training to be good at anything. As long as I have this shop, I can be the best.” “But what’s the fun in that? If I can’t strive and struggle, what’s the point of living?” he thought. “If there’s nothing worth pursuing in life, I don’t want to live forever. If everything is readily available, what’s the point of living?”

The study of cultivation instantly changed his outlook on life, and he fell into deep thought.

“System, how much will it cost to add the cheapest spiritual root to my main body to reach the peak of cultivation?” he asked.

"<Mortal body will consume 100,000,000 energy>"

"<Five-element spiritual root consumes 369,000,000 energy>"

"<Total 469,000,000 energy>"

“Hmm… The more spiritual root elements, the worse, right? But since it’s not damaged, I guess a damaged one wouldn’t achieve immortality. I guess this is what I need, right?” He thought for a moment, then said, “System, add it to the auto-purchase list.” he said.

"<Confirmed.>"

“Alright, now I just need to wait a few more weeks to get my body,” he thought. Ning resumed his daily routine of collecting energy every morning and helping the village with food from time to time.

He had the Villagers dig a hole in the center of the village, then fill it with seawater, and then purify the water so that it no longer contained salt.

The Villagers were surprised to find that they could finally drink something that was neither salty nor sweet, but just… empty. It was a delicious emptiness.

Ning also spent most of his time teaching the Villagers cultivation, and later he decided that he would leave some cultivation techniques for the Villagers if he could, but for now, he had to accumulate energy first.

After a few days, he finally had enough power, and it was time to create a new body.

Ning had Hyesi go to another place for this event. He had him return to his home, the “Shrine.” He had already broken through the 469 million mark and told his system to wait a few more minutes before creating.

“Okay, System. You can do it.” he said.

"<Confirmed.>"

Suddenly, a huge stream of Qi appeared in front of Hyesi, and particles of light flew out from his necklace, suspending in front of him until they were a little taller than him.

Slowly, the light particles transformed into the shape of a person, and then began to become clearer.

Skin, muscles, bones, hair… more and more details of the body appeared.

It was finally complete.

Ning didn't think much and jumped directly into the new body, and the new body opened its eyes.