Chapter 573: Blood Corpse Invasion

Watching it being held up before his eyes, sticky and bloody, the pituitary gland.

Xiong Hanzi's face was a dark, bluish-black.

He wasn't afraid of this thing, but it really ruined his appetite!!

"Lin Dui, what do you mean they feel great?"

He only knew that Lin Dui seemed to be looking for something special about these ascetic practitioners, but he really couldn't understand what Lin An meant by that sentence.

Without directly answering Zhang Hanhan's question, Lin An put away his smile and seriously asked him:

"Xiong Hanzi, have you ever run a marathon?"

"What?"

Zhang Tie rubbed his head, skeptically shaking his head:

"No..."

"Moving cargo at work is already tiring enough; I don't have the energy to run that thing... after eating, running is fine, it's just to fill time."

He couldn't figure out why Lin Dui would suddenly ask that, so he could only look over hopefully.

"Hmm."

Lin An pondered for a moment, then placed the severed pituitary gland piece he was holding onto the table.

"That's how it is."

"When the human body suffers pain or reaches its limits, it naturally secretes a substance: endorphins."

"This substance can give people an intense excitement and pleasure comparable to heroin."

"It feels extraordinarily wonderful and even has a strong addictive quality."

"That's why so many people love extreme fitness, marathons and other self‑punishing exercises."

"In pain, the human body, to relieve that pain, naturally secretes endorphins."

"Putting it another way..."

Lin An pointed at the pituitary gland on the table, his eyes flickering:

"The ascetic practitioners of the Secret Realm are not using pain to temper their beliefs and strengthen their will at all."

"They are enjoying the pain!"

"As we can see, they even burst into hearty laughter while self‑harming!"

A cold chuckle.

Lin An looked toward the courtyard outside, and in a daze he seemed to see through the wall the ascetic practitioners who followed the self‑harm, together with the humans who also enjoyed the pain.

"They have no will to speak of!"

"These guys are nothing but utter addicts!"

"It's quite obvious."

"Relying on their unusually developed pituitary glands, while self‑harming they secrete large amounts of endorphins, thus causing them to enjoy the pain."

"When pleasure overshadows suffering, everything makes sense."

"Just like addiction, they will incessantly self‑abuse to obtain pleasure, thereby strengthening their so‑called belief."

"Moreover, due to this world's rule, as if believing something makes it come true, they thereby gain extraordinary power."

"Therefore, the new‑era ascetic practitioners are not ascetics at all."

"They are immersed in ecstasy."

"That's also why, not understanding this principle, the old‑era ascetic practitioners instinctively regard them as heretical."

Upon discovering this point, Lin An's earlier speculation instantly held true.

His heart eased.

For the first time he felt that completing the task was so smooth, almost only needing verification.

Of course, this also benefited from the questions he had asked Huang Shaohua before entering the Secret Realm.

Gene Lock... what exactly is it?

Under mortal danger, opening the Gene Lock grants power.

This is remarkably similar to the ascetic practitioners of the Secret Realm.

Following this line of thought, Lin An realized there might be some connection between the two.

If the Gene Lock erupts potential in the face of death, secreting large amounts of DMT and adrenaline.

Then ascetic practice is the secretion of large amounts of endorphins, driving people to a perverse frenzy.

The two worlds have different rules.

"In this world, if belief—or obsession—is strong enough, one can borrow power from the future."

This is equivalent to opening the Gene Lock.

After hearing his explanation, Zhang Tie couldn't help but gape.

He had never thought of it from that angle; he only felt these people were perverts.

Just.

"Lin Dui, that's not right."

"I understand what you mean."

"These new‑era ascetic practitioners are actually just addicts; the more they torture themselves, the better they feel, and the stronger they become."

"In fact, they have no belief at all, which is why they act like madmen."

"What about the old‑era ascetic practitioners, then?"

"I see they are truly suffering... they really are slowly practicing asceticism, repeating the same thing over decades."

"This seems... not the same..."

Lin An smiled after hearing that, and gave an approving glance at Zhang Tie.

Xiong Hanzi being able to think of that after listening is quite good.

"That's right, your doubt is correct."

"The ascetic practitioners of the old era did not rely entirely on endorphins for cultivation, but on DMT."

"Of course, I'm just guessing; I haven't fully confirmed it."

"Going to the Origin Land might fill in the last clue and completely solve the mystery of the ascetic practitioners' power."

"As for DMT..."

Lin An raised his eyebrows and slowly said:

"The so-called DMT is actually a substance similar to endorphins."

"I don't know if you've heard of near-death experiences, soul departure, or in other words, real-world cultivation and meditation..."

"These special things that existed before the Apocalypse, before spiritual energy appeared, actually do exist."

It left a deep impression.

He remembered it very clearly.

After the Past Life Apocalypse erupted, a spiritual Awakened One, by relying on long-term meditation before the Apocalypse, gained a mental attribute of 13 points before becoming an Awakened One after the Apocalypse.

Comparable to a mental mutant, or simply is one.

Unthinkable, but actually not a means of immortal cultivation nor unscientific.

"When a person dies, the brain also secretes large amounts of DMT, ensuring they are not so painful at the brink of death."

"Under the influence of this substance, human senses, the world seen in the eyes undergoes great distortion, perceiving and experiencing mental feelings in abnormal states."

"Thus, religious believers often say they can communicate with spirits..."

"But it's just hallucinations... Of course, maybe they really do."

"Likewise, in states of oxygen deprivation, extreme cold heat loss, or even meditation, one can likewise self-secrete DMT to achieve a near-death experience."

"This is also why, in the real world, there are so many monks; religious practitioners can sit in meditation day after day."

"It's not that they can resist temptation, nor that their faith is exceptionally strong, nor that they possess superhuman perseverance."

"But rather... it's enjoyable."

"Very enjoyable."

"Meditation, cultivation, sitting cross-legged, self-hypnosis truly bring about an experience beyond cognition."

"Speaking digressively, practices like Zen concentration, Tantric breathing, and Daoist breathing methods are actually the same principle."

"A dream of millet... becoming a god in hallucination..."

"They force their bodies to secrete DMT themselves, freeing the cerebral cortex's power consumption, thereby gaining an extraordinary experience."

"People need 'joy' to persist."

"The ascetic practitioners of the old era are the same."

"They, in a state of secreting small amounts of endorphins and large amounts of DMT, self-hypnotize to escape the boredom of asceticism."

"Firm belief."

"Thus, to conform to the Secret Realm's rules and gain power..."

After hearing Lin An's words, Xiong Hanzi was dazed, with a pleased expression.

"Captain Lin, have we completed the mission!?"

Just as the words fell, a sudden chorus of roars came from outside the courtyard.

"City-wide alert!"

"Blood corpses attack!!"

"Go to battle!"

"Boom!!!"

Firelight shot into the sky, illuminating half the city.

In the high sky, hundreds of strangely shaped, scarlet technological objects resembling sea bats fell from the heavens.