I Cultivate Immortality With Scientific Thinking

Chapter 52: Morning Gathering Clouds, Evening Refining Pills

The faint light of dawn seeped through the thin mist, gradually illuminating the landscape hidden in the vast night.

Creak!

Creak!

The sound of pushing open the wooden door shook off the dew on the eaves, dripping onto the sleepy faces of many inner disciples.

Perhaps in the eyes of outer disciples, inner disciples were esteemed and mysterious, but in reality, there was not much difference between them in daily life.

After all, everyone was at the Qi Refining Stage, just with different potentials. It didn't mean that their lives were drastically different.

As for the imagined scenes of outer disciples enjoying the morning at Beihai and the evening at Cangwu, wandering among the azure clouds, even Foundation Building Stage cultivators might not be able to achieve such things, let alone them.

"Hmm?!" A well-groomed inner disciple seemed to notice something and exclaimed in confusion.

Because he saw that not far away, facing the sunrise on the cliff, there stood a figure in a white robe, standing tall in the morning light, with the breeze blowing his robe.

"It's already past the time of the eastern sunrise. The amount of spiritual energy he can absorb and refine here is less than what he can do in the Cave Mansion. Why is he standing there doing nothing? Has the wind blown him silly?" The well-groomed disciple was puzzled.

However, after he clearly saw who it was, he dismissed the idea of going up to inquire.

"I didn't expect it to be Junior Brother Lin, who performed brilliantly in the outer disciples' competition... Well, he must have his reasons for doing things. I better not disturb him." He hesitated for a moment before turning around and leaving.

Although they were both inner disciples, the fact that the other had achieved a top three ranking in the outer disciples' competition and then advanced meant that there was a gap between them.

It should be noted that becoming an inner disciple only required reaching the Qi Refining Late Stage before the age of thirty. The outer disciples' competition, on the other hand, seemed unnecessary as it did not involve promotion in status. However, it was not the case.

Having been an inner disciple for many years, he deeply understood that the inner and outer disciples' competitions were currently the fairest promotion channels in the Azure Cloud Sect, where one could showcase their potential and win the favor of higher-ups.

Because in these two competitions, it was not allowed to use talismans, spirit weapons, pills, or any other items made by others. It tested the cultivators' ability to react on the spot and also tested their Dao heart.

This greatly eliminated the advantage of cultivators with backgrounds and gave the lower-level cultivators a chance to stand out.

In both of these major competitions, if one ranks among the top, they will receive the attention of the sect's ancestors. As long as they continue to demonstrate this potential in the future, they will receive a large amount of resources and may even become a true disciple.

A true disciple is someone who is supported by the entire sect, with a noble status. They will not only become a Foundation Building Stage cultivator, but may even become a Gold Core ancestor in future generations!

This method of selecting true disciples and allocating resources through the major competitions not only allows Azure Cloud Sect to identify outstanding talents, but also ensures the flow of social classes and the vitality of competition. Coupled with the regulation by the Gold Core ancestors, it can be said that it achieves fairness and reduces the occurrence of resource monopolies, allowing outstanding talents to go further.

Therefore, this practice not only leads to the prosperity of talents in Azure Cloud Sect from generation to generation, but also strengthens its overall strength, making it the number one cultivation force in Lingnan.

"Although I am an inner disciple like Junior Brother Lin, the gap between us is... sigh, I wish I had worked harder back then." The disciple with a handsome appearance sighed lightly, turned around, and walked down the mountain with some melancholy.

Lin Chen naturally had no idea about the thoughts of the disciple behind him. He just stared blankly at the scene in front of him, lost in thought.

Because in his spiritual perception, the seemingly ordinary world in front of him was quite different.

The sunrise on the horizon was not a flaming celestial body in his eyes, but a golden light emitted by countless strange spiritual energies intersecting and radiating like a dream.

Lin Chen even vaguely saw countless spiritual energies flowing, disturbing and changing each other, and finally surging outwards.

There were noble purple aura of the morning sun, the fierce yet solemn essence of the great sun, and the Nine Heavens clear aura that only existed in the high heavens.

These unique and precious spiritual energies for cultivators were like layers of waves on the Nine Heavens, constantly surging out from the sun, forming a brilliant cloud and mist on the horizon.

Not only that, the sunlight that appeared to be ordinary in the eyes of ordinary people now had a trace of spirituality in Lin Chen's spiritual perception. Occasionally, threads of flowing light fell before his eyes, like a golden light rain.

And all things in the world, especially the plants that covered the mountains, gradually emitted a faint and imperceptible luster under the light rain. The higher the grade of the spiritual plants, the brighter this faint luster became.

"The stars in the previous life emitted light, providing energy to all plants on the planet, nurturing all things..."

"And in this life, the world absorbs chaos from the chaos, which is then transformed into spiritual energy by the sun, moon, and earth's spiritual veins, descending into the world. Plants absorb this extremely small amount of spiritual energy to grow, and finally nurture all things... This world is truly a world composed of spiritual energy!"

Lin Chen reached out and grabbed at the sunrise. As True Qi surged, specks of fluorescence gathered in his hand, finally forming an elusive pale cloud and mist.

This was the spiritual energy that erupted from the sun, forming clouds and mist, and finally descended into the world to nurture all things.

"In the previous life, sunlight provided energy to nurture all things, but in this life, it is the spiritual energy contained in sunlight that nurtures all beings. Moreover, this spiritual energy has just been born, it is attributeless, and has not been influenced by the information of all things. In simple terms, it is gentle and easy to refine!"

Lin Chen continuously analyzed the spiritual energy in his hand, gradually understanding the principles by which this world operates.

In this world, the sun and the moon are not celestial bodies, but symbols of the positive and negative forces between heaven and earth.

The world absorbs energy from chaos and, through the rotation of the sun and moon and the flow of the earth's veins, decomposes the chaotic energy into the original source of spiritual energy. After a decrease in energy levels and external influences, various strange spiritual energies are separated, eventually forming the most basic spiritual energy.

During the dawn, when the rotation of the sun and moon completes a cycle, the world releases the most spiritual energy through refinement and sunrise. Cultivators can even absorb enough spiritual energy from it and have a chance to obtain strange spiritual energies such as the essence of the sun and moon and the purple aura of the sunrise. This is why there are legends in mortal tales about cultivators becoming immortals by drinking the clouds and mist at sunrise.

"However, why do I always feel that the sun and the moon are somewhat similar, not like two separate objects, but rather like one entity with two sides?"

Lin Chen was a bit puzzled, but he didn't dwell on it too much. After all, with his current abilities, it was impossible for him to go to the sun. So he focused his attention on the present.

"I didn't expect that after advancing, the greatest help to me would not be the perception of the autumn wind before it moves or the far superior combat power compared to the same level, but this spiritual perception of observing the world!"

Compared to the Qi Refining Stage, which could only vaguely grasp the overall situation of spiritual energy like a blind person touching an elephant and required the assistance of formations and talismans, the Foundation Building Stage could directly observe it, even if only a part of it!

With such a vision, compared to the past when the Qi Refining Stage could only blindly absorb a small amount of spiritual energy in the morning, he could now do much more!

At this moment, Lin Chen reached out his hand and lightly grabbed into the morning light, shouting, "Gather!"

Hoo! Hoo!

As soon as he spoke, True Qi surged out from his body, continuously intertwining and pulling. Before long, the spiritual energy in the morning light was drawn over.

Threads of flowing light appeared around Lin Chen, spinning and flickering, forming a Qi Cyclone resembling a funnel.

If there were cultivators observing nearby, they would be amazed to find that various spiritual energies such as heavenly spiritual energy, fire essence, and wood essence were all rushing towards this moment, converging on a small cliff!

"Condense!"

In an instant, a mysterious white mist appeared around Lin Chen, like a light veil, like smoke and mist, like clouds. In a short moment, it continued to expand, enveloping the entire cliff, as if rendering this place into a fairyland shrouded in clouds and mist.

"Harvest!"

Suddenly, the wind rose and clouds surged as countless clouds rushed towards Lin Chen's hand. After a while, a white-bodied, gold-edged cloud fungus, still surrounded by clouds and mist, appeared directly in Lin Chen's hand.

It felt as smooth as jade and carried a hint of coolness. The edge of the cloud was mixed with a dazzling golden color, like the clouds and mist at sunrise.

Harvesting the clouds and mist!

Looking at the strange treasure in his hand, even though his True Qi was depleted, a hint of joy appeared on Lin Chen's face.

Such spiritual energy was born from the beginning of heaven and earth. Assimilating it could greatly increase cultivation, and it could even be used for realm advancement. For a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, it was a very precious spiritual object!

Just this small piece alone was worth hundreds of spiritual stones, and it was still at the basic price!

But for Lin Chen, such precious spiritual objects were something he could easily obtain with a little time and effort!

"Although I have reached this point relying on years of research on spiritual energy, the help of spiritual perception is also indispensable. From this perspective, there is not only a difference in combat power between cultivators of different realms, but also a difference in productivity..."

Lin Chen sighed, then looked at the cloud fungus in his hand.

This cloud fungus was formed by the gathering of various spiritual energies and needed to be decomposed and assimilated into spiritual energy that matched one's own spiritual roots before it could be used.

"It just so happens that with the help of spiritual perception, I can try to refine the [Non-Toxic Qi Pill] that I have been researching for years!"

Lin Chen smiled lightly, then leaped down towards the foot of the mountain.

...

As the sun and moon flowed, in the blink of an eye, it went from dawn to dusk.

The setting sun turned golden, casting a warm hue over the mountains.

At this moment, Lin Chen arrived at the foot of the mountain and looked up.

This was the place where the disciples of Azure Cloud Sect refined pills—

Danxia Peak!

(End of this chapter)