Chapter 186: Performance of Magic

Inside the wooden house.

Chen Mobai opened the puppet's head, inserted a spirit stone, and then activated the *Everlasting Scripture* simulation.

A string of code flashed across the screen embedded in its forehead, then transformed into a data stream flowing from the main controller throughout its body.

With a sense of trepidation, Chen Mobai began to observe the simulation puppet's entire body as it started to turn transparent.

Wisps of spiritual energy poured down from the spirit stone, simulating the scene of him cultivating the *Everlasting Scripture* and absorbing spiritual energy. It then passed through the Twelve-Story Pagoda, descended into his Dantian Qi Sea, and subsequently flowed along the Twelve Main Meridians towards the acupoints and energy channels throughout his body.

When it reached the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, the spiritual energy suddenly stuttered.

Chen Mobai immediately began to observe closely. After about five minutes, the spiritual energy finally squeezed out of this meridian with difficulty, but he noticed that compared to its previous abundance, a full third of the spiritual energy was missing.

"What's going on?"

He pressed the pause button, marked that spot, and planned to review it after the simulation was complete.

Then the spiritual energy reached the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, encountering the same situation as before: it stuttered for another five minutes. By the time it circulated out, another third of the spiritual energy was gone.

Chen Mobai frowned, immediately paused again, and made a new mark. This was the advantage of having his own device: he could stop it whenever he wished.

The spiritual energy flowed along the Twelve Main Meridians in his body to the Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian and the Foot Taiyin Spleen Meridian. Here, it circulated very smoothly, even subtly increasing in volume after passing through.

Seeing this, Chen Mobai vaguely began to understand.

According to the Five Elements Spirit Root theory, the intestines and lungs are associated with Metal. The wood-attribute spiritual energy cultivated by the *Everlasting Scripture*, when passing through the meridians of these two organs, might have been partially intercepted by his hidden Metal spirit root.

Conversely, the stomach and spleen nourish Earth, and Earth can nourish Wood. The Everlasting spiritual energy, passing through the Stomach and Spleen Meridians, was nourished by the Earth spirit root, hence its growth.

To verify his hypothesis, Chen Mobai pressed the simulation button again.

As expected, when the Everlasting spiritual energy passed through the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian, it seemed to be burned by the Fire spirit root, decreasing by another fifth, but the energy itself became even more refined.

Subsequently, passing through the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian and the Foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian, the wood spiritual energy was nourished by the Water spirit root, and the portion of energy lost due to the Fire spirit root's burning effect was replenished.

Finally, the spiritual energy entered the Foot Jueyin Liver Meridian and the Foot Shaoyang Gallbladder Meridian, which are associated with the Wood spirit root. While there was no increase or decrease in energy there, Chen Mobai felt that the Everlasting spiritual energy, originally formed from the initial refining of spiritual qi, now truly began to transform into his own power.

Upon re-entering the Dantian Qi Sea, the spiritual energy formed a small vortex.

This indicated the completion of one grand circulation of the *Everlasting Scripture*.

After one full simulation, Chen Mobai didn't stop. He pressed the fast-forward button, instructing the simulation puppet to run through all nine levels of the *Everlasting Scripture*.

He could only conclude that expensive things are expensive for a reason.

During this complete simulation, Chen Mobai discovered numerous minor issues that he would never have noticed if he had been cultivating directly.

These small issues, however, turned out to be crucial obstacles hindering his progress in cultivation.

He couldn't tell whether the *Everlasting Scripture* Liu Wenbai gave him had problems, or if his spirit root constitution was simply unsuitable for this cultivation method.

Compared to the *Pure Yang Scroll*, which circulated slowly but very smoothly, cultivating according to the *Everlasting Scripture*'s standard route would likely yield half the results for twice the effort.

Essentially, adjustments were needed for almost every minor realm. For the early, middle, and late stages, many circulation routes would require modification to best suit Chen Mobai's own physique and spirit root.

Chen Mobai was cautious. To verify his thoughts, he returned to the Heavenly River Realm.

After showing his presence at the New Sprout Hall, he went to the library, spending spirit stones without hesitation to purchase the Divine Wood Sect's *Everlasting Scripture*.

However, he had misunderstood Liu Wenbai. The content of both *Everlasting Scriptures* was identical; the Divine Wood Sect's version simply included more annotations and examples to make it easier for new disciples to understand.

Back in his wooden house, Chen Mobai looked at the results displayed by the simulation puppet and fell into deep thought.

After the deduction, nearly a tenth of the *Everlasting Scripture*'s content had been altered to perfectly adapt it to Chen Mobai's physique and spirit root cultivation.

He was tempted to begin cultivating according to these results, but he also felt that a cultivation method passed down for over a hundred years by the Divine Wood Sect, inheriting from the Five Elements Sect, surely couldn't be wrong.

The simulation puppet's deduced changes were quite extensive, which made Chen Mobai feel uncertain.

He didn't sleep that night.

When Chen Mobai woke up the next day, he had already made a decision.

Scarlet City Mountain, Building No. 1.

Che Yucheng stared, somewhat stunned, at the simulation puppet Chen Mobai carried into his office.

"You're saying you accidentally found two ancient texts in a cave back home, found them interesting, and then tested them using a simulation puppet modeled after yourself?"

Chen Mobai nodded repeatedly. As a student, when encountering a difficult decision, he naturally had to consult his teacher.

Moreover, Professor Che Yucheng, who specialized in puppets, had been very kind to him, a young puppet prodigy, these past few days.

Chai Lun had even said that if he maintained this rate of progress and successfully established his foundation, Che Yucheng would surely agree to take him as a disciple if he formally requested it.

It was perfectly reasonable to consult his future teacher on these matters.

As for potentially exposing the Heavenly River Realm, Chen Mobai had considered it.

But he had fabricated a story about finding treasures in a cave anyway, as such fortuitous encounters had occurred in the Immortal Sect before.

Primarily, what he had learned and witnessed during his time at the Martial Arts Academy was the best of his life.

He was willing to trust the teachers here.

Che Yucheng took out a blank USB drive, skillfully copied the simulation results from the puppet's memory that Chen Mobai had brought, inserted it into his computer, and began to review them.

Initially, he was somewhat nonchalant, but after reading two pages, a look of interest appeared on his aged face.

After finishing, he closed his eyes, and only slowly opened them again about ten minutes later.

"These two cultivation methods seem like a blend of the ancient evil orthodoxies, the 'Palace of Life and Death' and the 'Flower Blossom Courtyard.' Where did you get them?"

"From the Grand Void Mountain Range's..."

Chen Mobai casually made up a story about a cave he had accidentally fallen into as a child. Che Yucheng nodded after listening.

"Professor Che, what are ancient evil orthodoxies?"

This was the second time Chen Mobai had heard this term. He had seen this keyword marked in the Immortal Sect's National Library when he was previously researching the "Devouring Spirit Art."

The "Devouring Spirit Art" was a forbidden art!

Could it be that all forbidden arts originated from ancient evil orthodoxies?

Or rather, were they labeled as forbidden arts by the Immortal Sect precisely because they originated from ancient evil orthodoxies?

"Have you cultivated the Liminal Method?"

Che Yucheng did not directly answer Chen Mobai's question, instead asking an unrelated one.