Chapter 104

“Jin Shi Foundation Establishment Pill?”

“It looks like it could be preserved for a long time, but I have no idea who’s trying to lure in.”

Jiang Ding muttered.

This is too obvious—who’s even baiting? What kind of fish would be this stupid?

As for the Foundation Establishment Pill, he doesn’t need it.

If one could forge a foundation worthy of a Dao Son of the Nine Immortal Sects, yet still requires a pill to break through Foundation Establishment, that would be an insult.

Along the way, Jiang Ding suppressed his aura and traveled at a steady pace, his internal force cycling through the twelve regular meridians, surging into the already opened Ren and Du meridians, continuously warming and refining all major and minor meridians.

“The Qing Ling He Tian Method: Requirements for cultivation—spiritual soul at least twice as strong as an ordinary person’s, supreme comprehension, internal force fully perfected; after cultivation, one can perceive the state of ‘Unity with Heaven and Earth,’ where every movement and gesture gains the power of heaven and earth, greatly enhancing its strength…”

“The power of heaven and earth: high ground rises, low ground flows against the current—effort doubles, results halve; high ground flows with the current—effort halves, results double…”

Jiang Ding crushed the wooden book in his hand, letting wood shavings fall bit by bit, his thoughts unceasing.

His spiritual soul strength doesn’t reach the requirement—it’s no different from an ordinary person’s. The rest are manageable: his internal force far exceeds the Jianghu definition of ‘perfect internal energy,’ and he has some confidence in his comprehension.

“...Unity with Heaven and Earth...”

“Is this about adjusting one’s spiritual soul frequency to match the ambient spiritual energy’s frequency, thereby drawing in resonant spiritual energy with every movement? Is that the meaning?...”

“The power of heaven and earth—spiritual energy within heaven and earth is constantly in motion. When many spiritual energy particles move in unison, they form a ‘current.’ If one strikes in alignment with this current, perhaps one gains greater amplification...”

Many mysterious Qingniu Palace terms, accessible only to elders and high-ranking sect members, appeared in his mind in an entirely different light.

“Is there such a technique in the library? There should be.”

Jiang Ding traveled while thinking, continuing for another seven or eight hours until darkness fell, then returned home.

Outside, it was eleven or twelve in the morning; Lin Wanyi had already gone to work.

“Didn’t go out with classmates?”

Jiang Ding went to the kitchen, washing the potatoes, tomatoes, and scallions he’d bought that morning, and asked Jiang Yuan, who was watching cartoons, casually.

“Who has the mood?!”

Jiang Yuan slumped on the sofa, weakly: “Just thinking about having to go to cram school after the Lantern Festival makes my life feel utterly dark, with no hope left.”

“Then keep being dark.”

Jiang Ding gripped the hilt of his sword.

Clang!

The sword drew—three randomly placed potatoes and tomatoes instantly sliced into threads, pieces became thin slices; a few more strikes, and the beef turned into thin cuts, the scallions into segments.

Today’s dishes were braised beef with potatoes and tomato scrambled eggs.

Oil poured, pan tossed, rich aroma spread everywhere.

After eating, Jiang Ding organized his sword, talisman sword, pistol, and other items, then stepped out the door.

“Wait,”

Jiang Yuan, who was washing dishes, suddenly perked up: “You’re rushing out like this—are you going to meet your girlfriend? Take me with you!”

“Girlfriend? You’ll never see one in your life.”

Jiang Ding paused, then asked: “I’m going to the library. Do you want to come? Reading martial and immortal cultivation texts, and understanding them, helps your academic performance.”

“Then forget it. Go ahead.”

Jiang Yuan rolled her eyes and went back to washing dishes.

Rongcheng Library.

The Shenmu Futian banyan tree, housing Rongcheng’s Chanling computer mainframe, remained lush and vibrant; time had left no trace of yellowing. Kingfisher couriers chirped on its branches, occasionally flying off in flocks—on-duty couriers.

Jiang Ding chose an empty reading room and typed “Unity with Heaven and Earth,” “Power of Heaven and Earth,” and other terms into the computer.

Row after row of results refreshed—similar to the Hundred Steps Flying Sword—and even at page 99, it hadn’t ended.

He clicked the first result: a doctoral thesis from Qianling University’s Dao Studies Department, “Exploring the Concept and Principles of Unity with Heaven and Earth.”

"...The spiritual energy of every world possesses a 'spectrum' and 'frequency.' When subdivided into individual regions—lakes, forests, deserts, etc.—each has its own unique spiritual energy 'frequency.'"

“If a cultivator or martial artist can adjust their spiritual soul’s ‘frequency’ to match the environment’s, they can trigger varying degrees of spiritual energy resonance, thereby borrowing power...”

“...Specific methods mostly involve hypnosis, visualization, etc., to adjust spiritual soul frequency. The most crucial step is first measuring the environment’s ‘spiritual energy frequency,’ then making targeted adjustments...”

“...Immortal sects are severely lacking in this area. It seems martial cultivators using cold weapons find it easier to achieve this—even among high-level cultivators. The reason is unknown; perhaps exploration is insufficient, and the fundamental principles have not been studied deeply enough...”

Jiang Ding browsed through many books, most conveying similar principles, with many details even more thorough.

In short, nearly all books were research based on captured external realm cultivators’ and martial artists’ techniques, with no breakthrough progress.

Jiang Ding noted down the most cited and most-read book: “Unity with Heaven and Earth and the Visualization Method for Spiritual Soul Frequency Adjustment.”

One cannot cultivate it unless the spiritual soul reaches at least twice the strength of an ordinary person.

But if he forges his Dao foundation sword using Taiqing Shen Tie as the base material, his spiritual soul will surge rapidly within a short time, meeting the requirement.

Additionally, he could use instruments to measure the precise spiritual energy frequency of this region, accelerating cultivation somewhat.

Of course, this ‘acceleration’ is relative—it remains a domain accessible only to prodigies.

“The Qing Ling He Tian Method...”

Jiang Ding’s fingers flew across the keyboard, typing lines of spirit script into the text. Soon, seven or eight minutes passed, and a complete secret manual of Unity with Heaven and Earth was successfully uploaded.

The Chanling quickly completed its judgment.

“Ding! You have uploaded new knowledge: ‘251 Interface—Unity with Heaven and Earth Method—Qing Ling He Tian Method.’ Reward: 352 points.”

These points indicate the Qing Ling He Tian Method contains some unique knowledge, but its value is low.

Jiang Ding was delighted.

After freely accessing so much immortal cultivation knowledge in the library, he had finally added a single tile to its foundation.

He imagined countless previous immortal sect elders must have felt this same joy.

Back home, after eating, Jiang Ding returned once more to the deep woods beside the official road.

He replaced the drone’s battery, confirmed direction, then stepped forward, continuing at his steady pace toward Yuejing, his internal force constantly refining and warming his meridians.

Seven days later,

Jiang Ding glanced toward Yuejing but did not head there; instead, he walked straight toward a small hill to the east.

Unlike immortal cultivators,

martial sects heavily rely on densely populated areas as their foundation, to gather the vast quantities of meat, herbs, and talented disciples they need for training.

Any sect far from bustling regions will rapidly decline within a decade or two.

Around Yuejing, numerous martial sects are scattered.

The most famous among them is naturally the mountain gate of the Golden Knife Sect, one of the Six Great Sects.

Golden Knife Mountain!

This place is where he stored the Taiqing Shen Tie.