32: Chapter 32 Quanzhen Temple

After walking for about twenty minutes, the stone steps branched off into a path leading to Quanzhen Temple.

Quanzhen Temple was an ancient building complex built against the mountain, with red walls and grey tiles. The plaque above the temple gate was inscribed with the four gilded characters: "Quanzhen Ancestral Court."

Inside the temple gate were several courtyards. The main hall enshrined the Three Pure Ones, while the side halls served as the dining halls and alchemy rooms for the Daoist priests.

Ancient cypresses towered in the courtyards, wisps of smoke curled from the incense burner, and a few withered leaves lay on the stone slabs.

When Chen Mo walked through the temple gate, he happened to bump into a few Daoist priests coming out of a side hall.

Walking in front was an old Daoist priest, about sixty years old, with half-white hair and beard, a thin figure, wearing a dark blue Daoist robe and round-mouthed cloth shoes. His pace was unhurried, and his expression was calm and composed.

The moment Chen Mo looked at him, he activated his perception to probe him—there was no Spiritual Qi fluctuation.

The old Daoist's body was that of an ordinary person, and his Mental Energy was not weak, even slightly higher than his own level before obtaining the system panel.

Chen Mo withdrew his gaze and brushed past the old Daoist priest.

The latter paid him no attention at all, merely tilting his head slightly as they passed, and continued walking forward.

Chen Mo wandered around Quanzhen Temple.

The main hall, side halls, alchemy rooms, dining halls, Scripture Pavilion—he paused for a moment at each place.

The result was exactly as he had expected.

The concentration of Spiritual Qi in Quanzhen Temple was no different from that at the foot of the mountain, the hillside, or the Golden Summit.

The Daoist priests' bodies showed no abnormalities either; there were no traces of stored Spiritual Qi, and no Mental Power frequencies different from those of ordinary people.

They were just ordinary people—having cultivated for years, their Heart-Nature was steadier than that of ordinary people, but that was all.

He went to the front of the Scripture Pavilion again and took a look from afar through the door. The doors and windows of the Scripture Pavilion were tightly shut, and a "Visitors Not Allowed" sign stood at the entrance.

Hidden inside were the classics and Cultivation Techniques passed down through generations of the Quanzhen Sect, the Internal Skill and Mind-Cultivation Technique that were endowed with various magical effects in Wuxia novels and folklore.

If any of them were effective, the temple would not be like this—no Inner Vision perception, no Spiritual Qi fluctuations, and no physical characteristics beyond those of ordinary people.

Chen Mo withdrew his gaze and turned to walk out of Quanzhen Temple.

At a small stall selling incense and candles at the temple gate, he stopped to buy a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and looked up at the summit of Taihe Mountain.

Clouds and mist were still churning, and the Golden Summit was faintly visible.

It was not that the mountain was not spiritual; it was that there was no such thing as a "Spiritual Mountain" at all.

Spiritual Qi, this new power that had appeared on Earth, treated all living organisms equally and had no preference for any location.

Cultivation Technique and Secret Manual, Qi sensation and Meridians, Dantian and Inner Vision—these concepts, which had been passed down for hundreds or thousands of years, without exception, all lacked any basis in reality.

This Spiritual Energy Revival was, for the planet beneath his feet, highly likely to be the first.

Chen Mo stood before the gate of Quanzhen Temple and took one last look at that plaque.

Quanzhen Ancestral Court, a thousand-year-old Daoist site.

Before coming here, he still held a last shred of suspense in his heart—if there was no abnormality even here, then he could draw a definitive conclusion.

Now, the conclusion was right before his eyes.

There was no Spiritual Qi gathered on the Golden Summit, none in the Golden Hall, none in the Scripture Pavilion, and none in the bodies of those old Daoist priests who had cultivated for many years.

They were more peaceful and focused than ordinary people, but that was all.

The Cultivation Technique was fake.

Or rather, the "Qi sensation," "Meridians," and "Dantian" described in the Cultivation Technique were never based on the real existence of Spiritual Qi.

They might be the ancients' philosophical interpretations of certain physiological sensations, summaries of health-preservation experiences, or carriers for mental cultivation—but they were not supernatural powers.

And this Spiritual Energy Revival was the first one on this planet.

He was currently the only person who could perceive and absorb it.

This conclusion weighed heavily in his chest, but what it pressed down was not weight, but an unprecedented clarity.

All speculations had been verified or falsified, and all unresolved questions now had answers.

From now on, there was no need to run around to verify anything.

The direction was clear, and only one thing remained to be done.

Chen Mo turned around and walked down the mountain along the stone steps.

His speed going down was much faster than going up—when going up, he had to be distracted by perceiving the surrounding Spiritual Qi concentration, but when going down, he didn't need to.

His steps were light and fast, the stone steps retreated rapidly under his feet, and his figure flashed past in the alternation of tree shadows and sunlight.

Tourists along the way only saw a young man passing by with light steps, as if he were in a hurry.

When he reached the foot of the mountain, he did not look back.

An autonomous taxi was parked not far from the scenic area exit; he pulled open the door, sat in the back seat, and gave his home address.

The car drove out of the Taihe Mountain scenic area and headed along the national highway toward Yi City.

Outside the window, the mountain shadows gradually faded in the afternoon light.

Leaning back in the seat, Chen Mo closed his eyes.

The trip to Taihe Mountain took more than half a day; six-plus hours of driving back and forth plus four-plus hours of climbing, and the conclusion he got in exchange was only four words: No abnormalities found.

But these four words were worth the trip.

It was worth all the time.

From now on, he would never have to be distracted by thinking about any Cultivation Technique, Secret Manual, or Immortal Cave.

His path was the only one—train, become stronger, train again, and become stronger again.

When he got home, it was already past five in the afternoon.

He pushed open the door of the old house; the room had been baked by the afternoon sun all day, and there was a faint smell of wood in the air.

He hung his backpack behind the door, went into the kitchen, and poured a large glass of cold water.

Everything that needed to be understood had been understood.

He had scoured the Shennong Mountain Range, climbed Taihe Mountain, figured out the distribution pattern of Spiritual Qi, and confirmed the truth about the Cultivation Technique.

In the twenty-plus days since obtaining the system panel, he had been exploring, verifying, and searching for answers.

Now he had the answers.

The first phase was over.

Starting tonight, he would enter the second phase—seclusion.

Any unnecessary exploration, investigation, or verification would be completely paused. He would do only one thing every day: train.

He would wait in training for the Spiritual Qi concentration to climb, and wait for everything he had long foreseen to gradually become reality.

The night deepened.

Chen Mo stood barefoot and closed his eyes. He activated the full-body antagonistic mode of his Standing Post training; without any external weights, every muscle simultaneously entered a state of extreme opposing tension. Inside his muscles, they were undergoing extremely intense tearing and repair, sweat emerged from his forehead and dripped down his jaw onto the dry gravel.

Visible white mist rose from his shoulders—that was the water vapor formed when the hot sweat hit the cool night breeze.

Then, as usual, he turned and disappeared into the night to search for surrounding spirit energy particles to repair himself.

Several warm currents surged into his body, the soreness and swelling of his muscles subsided at a perceptible speed, and the torn muscle fibers were rapidly reshaped under the infusion of Spiritual Qi, becoming denser and tougher than before the tearing.

Occasionally, the calls of night birds drifted from the distant mountains.

Chen Mo returned to the backyard to continue standing, completed the last round of training for the night, his body slightly warm, but his mind as calm as water.

When he woke up tomorrow morning, there would be a new set of numbers on the system panel, and by the next time he went out, the world outside should have already changed its appearance.