Chapter 254: Heaven and Earth Furnace

As he studied at a rapid learning speed, Lin Yao also understood something. His LV4 was different from that of a character in a certain comic.

The level of the thunder ability of Misaka Mikoto had always been fairly low, probably at LV2 or LV3. She could display prowess equivalent to a LV5 ability because of her super arithmetic ability, not chemistry in combination with thunderbolts. However, Lin Yao was still lacking in this aspect. Ever since he’d unlocked the brain domain limiter, his arithmetic ability had only reached LV3.

‘Misaka Mikoto has a strong arithmetic ability, while I have strong talent. If I combine my Heavenly Thunder LV4 and LV3 arithmetic ability, my prowess is not any lesser than hers. Besides, martial artists have stronger bodies, so I am able to withstand and carry a greater force. Therefore, my powers might be even stronger.’

His studying session in the morning and body development afterward went on as usual. Lin Yao’s physical strength would increase by 5.5% after the first physical development. After the second development, the total daily increase in his physical strength would be 11%. This was extremely fast progress. Although Lin Yao’s limit was 1,500%, this meant that he would be able to completely temper his body and advance to a silver warlord in about four months.

‘If I can maintain my current speed, I will be able to meet the other requirements of the Chinese military in just four months. In fact, the actual duration might be shorter. The foundation is already in operation, and the large sum of money pumped in is being converted into energy. It will take at most 10 days for me to accumulate enough energy to advance the Celestial Tree. When the tree is upgraded, I will be able to withstand a longer development session per day.

‘I wonder how much improvement the next upgrade will bring me. Will it be 20% or 30%?’

Lin Yao was pondering his future. What he didn’t know was that the advancement of the Celestial Tree would bring him more benefits than he could imagine.

After the first physical development, Lin Yao simply consumed the No. 7 Holy Water. He quickly absorbed the light energy in the holy water and regained his mobility in half an hour. During this half an hour, under the protection of Sha Feng, he had already left the University of Monster Science and Technology and arrived at the Heaven and Earth Dojo.

“You must be Junior Brother Lin Yao? Elder Wei has been waiting for you.”

“Thank you.”

After responding politely, Lin Yao headed inside the dojo. Now that he had some understanding, he knew that the Heaven and Earth Dojo was very powerful. However, after arriving at this place, Lin Yao noticed that it didn’t have that many members.

The senior brother who received Lin Yao and led him into the dojo premises was about 28 or 29 years old. As though he had read Lin Yao’s mind, he said with a bitter smile, “The Heaven and Earth Dojo is very powerful. However, it’s not easy to learn strong techniques. It’s not that we don’t want to teach them, but only those who are extremely talented can comprehend these techniques. If we give the techniques to ordinary people, they won’t be able to practice them. By spending a lot of time researching and learning, they are only wasting their time…”

Boom!

While the senior brother was speaking, Lin Yao heard a deafening sound. The sudden, loud noise stunned Lin Yao’s consciousness for a moment.

He regained his senses only after a long time and was dumbstruck the moment he recovered.

‘What is happening? Is someone stirring up trouble? No way. Am I so unlucky that an accident would occur on the very day of my visit?’

With this thought in mind, he soon realized that something was amiss. It seemed that he was the only one who had heard the loud noise. Yan Yu’er, Qin Xue, Qin Ya, Qi Qing, and the rest hadn’t noticed a thing. At the moment, they were staring at Lin Yao, who had halted in his tracks, with a strange look on their faces.

At the same time, he also discovered that the loud noise didn’t seem to have occurred in reality but in the sky. It was heard in his heart, as it had been perceived by the Bodhi Tree, the Celestial Tree, and the Tree of Heaven Punishment.

“Ah Yao, did anything happen?”

He wasn’t in the right state of mind to reply to Qin Xue’s question. Instead, he looked up at the sky immediately. Soon, Lin Yao was stunned by what occurred. A massive amount of spirit energy appeared in the sky. There was a constant flow of abundant spirit energy. When it scattered down from the sky, the spirit energy in the surroundings actually turned richer.

‘This… What is happening?’

As Lin Yao was feeling puzzled, lights and shadows flashed beside him and an old man appeared. He was none other than Elder Wei, whom he was paying a visit to.

Staring at Lin Yao, who was looking up at the sky, he felt somewhat consoled. However, he immediately glanced at the sky with a face filled with worry.

“Did you also feel it?”

“Yes.” After nodding in response, Lin Yao also voiced the doubts in his heart. “What is happening?”

“What is happening? It’s nothing more than history repeating itself. The last time this happened was 12 years ago.”

“History repeating itself? 12 years ago? Spirit Energy Revival… Fourth… No, this is the fifth spirit energy tide!”

To reiterate, the world that Lin Yao currently lived in was not a world that had been stable for hundreds of years after the Spirit Energy Revival. This was an era in the midst of the Spirit Energy Revival. Although it was not the initial phase, it had not been long—only about 50 years—since the Spirit Energy Revival.

During this time, the spirit energy tide had not reached its limit and was still increasing. However, the increase in spirit energy was very gradual, and most of the time, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to notice it. Nevertheless, there were also times when the spirit energy would increase sharply, and this was called a ‘spirit energy tide’.

The spirit energy tide had first appeared 50 years ago at the beginning of the Spirit Energy Revival. The second and third times had taken place within 10 years after the Spirit Energy Revival. The fourth time was 12 years ago, and this was the fifth spirit energy tide.

The benefits of spirit energy tides were obvious. The huge amount of spirit energy would increase the spirit energy in the world and allow people to cultivate more easily. It would also relax the upper limit of the cultivation level, which was a good thing.

However, the Blue Planet, whose spirit energy had increased again, was like a beacon in the dark night. It would attract a large number of ghosts and spirits as well. This was also the reason why Elder Wei was frowning so hard. The spirit energy tide was a gift of nature, but it was also a test for the living beings on the Blue Planet.

After furrowing his brows and staring at the sky for a long time, he noticed Lin Yao looking worried as well. Elder Wei quickly collected himself. “Okay, don’t worry. When the sky falls, there is a tall man there to catch it. The higher-ups have certainly made some preparations, and the world will not turn into chaos. Now, you should focus on improving yourself without worrying so much.”

After pausing for a moment, he continued to speak. “Don’t go into seclusion during this period. Many mystic realms will appear after the Spirit Energy Revival. There will be numerous fortuitous encounters there, which will provide you guys with the best opportunities to advance. You must not miss them.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

As he sensed the constant increase in spirit energy around him, Lin Yao collected himself and walked toward the inner premises of the Heaven and Earth Dojo with Elder Wei.

He didn’t dawdle in the common area for a long time. After a simple tea ceremony to acknowledge Elder Wei as his master, Lin Yao became a direct disciple of the Heaven and Earth Dojo. Following that, leaving the ladies behind, he entered the core area. There was a piece of jade slip suspended in mid air, waiting for Lin Yao to read and receive it.

After turning his gaze to Elder Wei and getting his approval, Lin Yao placed the jade slip on his glabella. In an instant, a large amount of information entered Lin Yao’s mind. After reading it carefully, Lin Yao discovered that this was the ultimate technique and profound meaning of the Heaven and Earth Dojo.

The first step was the body-tempering technique—Heaven and Earth Furnace.

This method was very abstract. Heaven and earth were a furnace stoked by nature, with the yin and yang as fuel. The purpose of this technique was to temper one’s body, aura, blood, and soul.

Unfortunately, it was also very difficult to cultivate. Although the Heaven and Earth Dojo had thought of various training aids, some of the geniuses could only practice the first level successfully.

Lin Yao carefully studied the information recorded on the jade slip and discovered that the Heaven and Earth Dojo had adopted a quick solution. As the first step to using the spirit energy of heaven and earth as a furnace, they had built a pill furnace in reality and then filled it with various high-temperature nutrient drinks that contained spirit energy. Then, they got their disciples to practice the techniques and temper themselves in the furnace.

This method would enable them to practice the Heaven and Earth Furnace, but the consumption was too high.

However, the first step to gathering the spirit energy of heaven and earth, turning it into a furnace, and generating high heat to temper one’s body was not something that ordinary people could achieve. Although some fire geniuses had achieved it with some quick fixes, it didn’t work as well. With the Yin and Yang as fuel, one also had to heal oneself during the body-tempering process with the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

‘The first step is already very difficult. The second step is transforming the inner body into a small world corresponding to the outside world, and then using the earth of the outside world to temper the inner small world. Is this something that low-level cultivators can toy with?’

After taking note of the Heaven and Earth Furnace, Lin Yao simply stopped reading. Instead, he turned his attention to the Heaven and Earth Dojo’s meditation technique—Heaven and Earth Visualization.

This meditation technique was also very abstract. It was derived from an extract of Tao Te Ching[1]: Man emulates the earth; the earth emulates the universe; the universe emulates the Tao[2]; the Tao follows only itself.

Heaven and Earth Visualization and comprehending the Way of Nature, combined with the Heaven and Earth Furnace, meant that cultivators would conform to the will of heaven, travel to the North Sea, and tour Surabaya, using the heaven and earth as a furnace to temper themselves. They would worship heaven and earth as a master, fathom the yin and yang, comprehend nature, transform the five elements, gain insight into heaven, earth, and the void, as well as understand life, death, and destiny!

These words sounded great and amazing, but it was extremely difficult in practice. In order to cultivate Heaven and Earth Visualization completely, the first step was to harmonize oneself with nature, which was meant to maintain Heaven-and-Human Oneness.

However, this was extremely difficult. Even Lin Yao could only achieve Heaven-and-Human Oneness only once a month for 10 seconds at a time. If he wanted to pull off Heaven and Earth Visualization, he needed to maintain the state of Heaven-and-Human Oneness at all times. This was the only way he would be able to acknowledge heaven and earth as his master, comprehend nature, and understand destiny.

‘These two techniques are not something that a martial artist can cultivate. Even in the world of cultivating immortals, only people with the heavenly spirit root can learn them.’

[1] Tao Te Ching is a Chinese classic text traditionally credited to the 6th-century BC sage Laozi, also known as Lao Tzu or Lao-Tze. It is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism.

[2] Tao is a Chinese word signifying the “way”, “path”, “route” or “road”. In the context of East Asian religions, Tao is the natural order of the universe whose character one’s human intuition must discern in order to realize the potential for individual wisdom.