17: Chapter 17 The Laws of Spiritual Energy

June 1st, the eleventh day of the Spiritual Energy Revival.

At 4:00 AM, Chen Mo woke up as usual.

The sky outside the window was still a deep blue, and the birdsong in the mountains was sparse and distant.

He lay on the bed and first summoned the system panel to take a look.

Name: Chen Mo

Ability: Infinite Growth

Punch Force: 917kg

Mental Power: 2.3

It had only been six days since his Mental Power broke through 2.0.

During these six days, the growth rate of his strength had accelerated further due to the continuous increase in his Mental Power attribute and the concentration of Spiritual Qi.

Previously, he improved by about 30 to 40 kilograms per day, but now he could increase by 50 to 60 kilograms daily.

In six days, his punch force increased from 591 kilograms to 917 kilograms, and it was on the verge of breaking one ton.

A week ago, he would not have dared to believe in such a speed.

But now, he felt it was only natural.

He had finally figured out the underlying logic of his ability.

Strength Training intensity determines the growth ceiling, Mental Power attribute determines training efficiency, and Spiritual Qi determines recovery speed.

When these three things are combined, the effect produced is not additive, but multiplicative.

When he washed up, ate breakfast, and set off with his mountaineering backpack, the sky had not yet fully brightened.

Today was a day for summarization.

He had to take a walk in the mountains, go over all the accumulated observation data of Spiritual Qi from the past eleven days in his mind, and make some final confirmations.

The first time he perceived Spiritual Qi was on May 21st.

That morning, he was doing Strength Training when the world suddenly "flickered."

Immediately after, his ability activated automatically, and a faint suction force emerged from deep within his body, pulling something extremely tiny in the air into his body.

That feeling lasted for less than a minute.

But it was that one minute that let him know for the first time that a type of energy particle that could be actively absorbed by his ability had suddenly appeared in this world.

Since that day, he added another task to his daily fixed training: climbing mountains and crossing ridges to find spirit energy particles.

Over these past days, he had traversed every mountain peak, every stream valley, and every dense forest within dozens of kilometers of the back mountain, turning himself into a mobile detector for spirit energy particles.

The hard work was not in vain.

He arrived at the first observation point, an open space under an old pine tree.

He stopped, closed his eyes, and used his ability to sense the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the surrounding air.

It was about half as high again as it was eleven days ago.

He noted a number in his mind and continued walking forward.

Eleven days ago, he could encounter more than thirty spots of spirit energy particles during his two-plus hours of running.

Now, on the same route, he could encounter nearly fifty spots.

From thirty to fifty, the increase was almost fifty percent.

Looking at this number alone, it seemed to have increased quite a bit.

But he was very clear that this "fifty percent" was based on an extremely thin foundation.

It was like sprinkling a grain of salt into a glass of water; now that one and a half grains were sprinkled, the concentration had doubled, but it still tasted like fresh water.

He stopped when he passed a bush and squatted down to carefully examine the leaves.

The leaves were greener than normal bushes, and the surface had more luster, but the difference was extremely subtle.

If he hadn't been observing these plants every day, he would hardly have been able to tell the difference between them and ordinary bushes with the naked eye.

Eleven days of nourishment from Spiritual Qi, and the effect was roughly this much.

It made a bush look "a bit more spirited."

He had encountered squirrels and wild rabbits several times in the mountains, and their fur was also brighter.

But no animal had any obvious changes.

The impact of Spiritual Qi on living organisms was real, but it was far from the level of causing a qualitative change.

Chen Mo stood up, patted the dirt off his knees, and continued walking toward the second observation point.

He was doing a math problem in his head.

Judging from the current nourishing effect of spirit energy particles on plants, to let plants and animals enter a rapid evolution stage, the concentration of Spiritual Qi would likely need to increase by one or two orders of magnitude from the existing foundation.

Converted into a more intuitive standard, it meant letting an ordinary person passively receive an amount of dissipated Spiritual Qi daily that reached the total amount of five spirit energy particles he currently actively absorbed.

And he could currently absorb over 170 spirit energy particles a day.

Once it reached that level, ordinary people would clearly notice their bodies becoming stronger every day, their strength increasing, their Mental Power improving, and chronic illnesses inexplicably getting better.

According to the current growth rate of Spiritual Qi concentration, it would take about one to two years to reach that critical point.

Not ten days or half a month, but one to two years.

Because he discovered that the growth of Spiritual Qi was not exponential.

It was not increasing by 1.5 times every ten days, but steadily increasing by a certain number of spirit energy particles every day.

Today had a few more particles than yesterday, and this place had a few more particles than last week.

The growth was linear, at least that was how it looked for now.

The second observation point was an exposed rocky slope on the mountain ridge.

It was open all around with no trees to block it, making it one of the best locations for him to test the distribution patterns of spirit energy particles.

Standing on the rock, he simultaneously sensed the distribution of spirit energy particles in the surroundings.

The information fed back by his ability was exactly the same as what he had recorded before: the particles were scattered roughly evenly in the space, with no direction being significantly denser or sparser.

But he noticed a detail.

Last week, he had absorbed two spirit energy particles on this rock.

Logically speaking, since the spirit energy particles at those two locations had been absorbed by him, this place should have been less dense than elsewhere.

But the density he sensed now was no different from the surroundings.

In other words, the absorbed particles did not leave a void in their original place.

This void was filled by the dissipated Spiritual Qi released by other particles.

He walked forward about fifty meters and sensed again.

The concentration remained the same.

He walked another fifty meters.

Still the same.

Chen Mo stood on the mountain ridge, the mountain wind blowing up from the valley, making his clothes flap loudly.

He looked at the overlapping mountain ranges in the distance, and a larger picture gradually pieced together in his mind.

After spirit energy particles are absorbed, they do not recover in place but are redistributed throughout the entire area, thereby maintaining a balanced concentration on a large scale.

It is like a communicating vessel; if you draw some water from one end, the entire System will automatically level out, and the water level at all locations will remain consistent.

This explained why he had been running in the mountains for two weeks and had never found an enrichment zone for spirit energy particles.

It was not that he hadn't found it; it was that it simply did not exist.

The distribution mechanism of Spiritual Qi dictates that it will not gather at a single point, but will continuously diffuse and level out until the concentration of the entire area is completely uniform.

He thought of those plants again.

In the open space where he trained, the nearby plants were clearly less nourished by Spiritual Qi than elsewhere.

It was not that the Spiritual Qi concentration was low; the concentration was the same.

It was because he was most active in that area, and whenever he found spirit energy particles, he absorbed them on the spot.

After the particles were absorbed by him, new particles had not yet replenished, so that area experienced a short "window of vacancy."

The plants could not absorb Spiritual Qi during this window of vacancy, so their evolution progress naturally lagged behind by a bit.

Although the Spiritual Qi concentration of the entire area was eventually balanced, the moment he absorbed it was a small "famine" for the plants around him.

Chen Mo looked down at the weeds at his feet.

These grasses were at the edge of his training ground, and every day, the spirit energy particles nearby were absorbed by him, and then they had to wait for new particles to dissipate over before they could "eat" again.

After eleven days, they were slightly duller in color than the same type of grass on the mountain ridge.

A complex feeling surged in his heart.

It was not guilt.

He needed Spiritual Qi to become stronger; this was a necessity for becoming stronger.

But he had indeed influenced these plants unconsciously.

Not just plants, but the insects and small animals in this area, all lives that relied on Spiritual Qi for nourishment, were a step slower because of him.

This is the price of evolution.

If one person runs too fast, they will inevitably leave a blank space behind them.

He noted this down in his notebook and started walking back.

On the way down the mountain, his thoughts turned to another direction: Cultivation Technique.

He had previously tried all the traditional Cultivation Technique he could find: Classic of Muscle Transformation, Eight-Section Qigong, Eight-Section Vajra Qigong, and Taoist Inner Alchemy.

But without exception, the results were all ineffective.

No sensation of Qi, no heat in the Dantian, no opening of any extraordinary meridians.

Those Cultivation Technique that had been passed down for hundreds or thousands of years had not provided even a trace of extra bonus to him.

At that time, his conclusion was: the foundation of these Cultivation Technique is "Qi," but his body could not perceive Qi at all.

His energy source was food and Spiritual Qi, and his body only focused on directly converting these energies into the strengthening of muscles and bones.

Now, the appearance of Spiritual Qi made it necessary to re-examine this issue.

Since Spiritual Qi could be actively absorbed by his ability, could ordinary people also actively absorb Spiritual Qi through some method?

He had also verified this before.

When he stood next to spirit energy particles and absorbed the dissipated Spiritual Qi, he still felt no sensation of Qi while practicing the Cultivation Technique Secret Manual.

Those Cultivation Technique seemed to be merely simple stretching exercises, capable of nothing more than basic physical fitness.

However, he noticed an interesting phenomenon.

While searching for information these past few days, he had come across some discussion posts on forums where people said their sleep quality had improved recently, but most attributed it to their own reasons.

Among those posting, there were martial arts practitioners, runners, and laborers doing physical work every day.

Their common point was having regular physical activity, not necessarily professional sports training, but their bodies were moving every day.

As for those white-collar workers who sat still all day, they replied that they didn't feel any changes, perhaps you all were resting better.

This indicated that people with active bodies and high consumption had higher absorption efficiency for Spiritual Qi.

It was not because they knew any Cultivation Technique, but simply because their bodies had vigorous metabolism, fast blood circulation, and high respiratory volume, so the dissipated Spiritual Qi they passively received was naturally more than those who were sedentary.

As for those Taoist priests and monks—

Chen Mo thought that among these people, there should be many who had been meditating and focusing on Cultivate Mental Power for years.

Although spiritual practice could not directly absorb Spiritual Qi, it could directly train Mental Power and improve Mental Power.

His Mental Power value increased through constant suppression of willpower, and meditation should also have a similar effect.

Of course, this was just a speculation, and it needed to be verified in person.

It was past 9:00 AM when he returned to the old house.

Chen Mo washed his face, sat in the Main Hall, took out his notebook, and wrote down the rules he had summarized today one by one.

After finishing, he leaned back on the chair, put the pen on the table, and let out a long breath.