Chapter 3589: Qualitative Transformation

To confirm whether his feeling was a misjudgment, Ye Chen again earnestly repeated the hand seal several times.

The result filled him with immense joy.

Because, with each complete cycle of the hand seal, an extra stream of spiritual energy seemed to appear out of nowhere, like a trickle flowing into his sea of consciousness.

Compared to the spiritual energy originally in his sea of consciousness, this extra energy was indeed pitifully small, yet even so, it filled Ye Chen with wild delight.

Because, this new hand seal overturned Ye Chen's worldview since he began cultivation.

He had always believed the world was in the Dharma-ending age, that natural spiritual energy had almost vanished, and cultivators wishing to increase their cultivation and spiritual energy had only one option: consuming pills.

This could be understood as: although natural, readily available spiritual energy was gone from the world, the art of alchemy could still extract a way to artificially generate spiritual energy from various heavenly treasures and earthly resources, thus sustaining arduous cultivation in the Dharma-ending age.

Based on this premise, spiritual energy was the most precious resource in the world for cultivators.

But now, this hand seal suddenly opened a new world.

Because, it was actually also a way to generate spiritual energy!

Moreover, it required no materials—just performing this hand seal would slowly increase one's own spiritual energy!

With this hand seal, cultivation in the Dharma-ending age would become much easier.

Of course.

This hand seal's efficiency in generating spiritual energy was indeed very low; to replenish all the spiritual energy in one's body would likely require relentless repetition for months, or even longer.

At this moment, Ye Chen finally understood why, in legend, those eminent monks who sat in meditation and contemplated Zen their whole lives could be reborn in Paradise, become gods or buddhas, and possess myriad divine powers—it was because they had contemplated Zen their whole lives, and at the same time, cultivated their whole lives.

A single meditation mat, a bit of sandalwood incense, a person sincerely sitting in meditation before the Buddha for a hundred years—outsiders who likewise cultivated for a hundred years could never match their purity or devotion.

Thinking of this, Ye Chen suddenly felt that the legend in martial arts novels about the sweeping monk might also have some truth to it.

At the same time, Yun Ruge and Song Ruyu beside him also struggled to complete the full set of sixteen hand seals for the first time.

They had never before encountered Buddhist hand seals, so upon first trying, they found them obscure and hard to grasp, and difficult to connect smoothly—naturally, they were not as familiar as Ye Chen, who had been practicing them for a long time.

When they finally completed a full cycle, they still wondered in their hearts what use this hand seal could possibly have—surely it couldn't be an offensive method? If launching a single attack required this much effort, how many lives would they have to sacrifice in actual combat?

But once everything was completed, they also suddenly felt a small stream of unknown-origin spiritual energy appear within their bodies.

At first, both were filled with shock.

Like Ye Chen, they dared not hope that spiritual energy could appear out of thin air.

So, they exchanged a glance, neither daring to confirm whether the suddenly appearing spiritual energy was related to the hand seal they had just struggled to complete.

Thus, they dared not delay, and quickly tried again.

Yun Ruge's comprehension, cultivation, and experience were all far superior to Song Ruyu's, so she completed the sequence much faster; when she again felt a stream of spiritual energy within her body, she instantly understood the secret, and tears of excitement streamed down her face.

This feeling was like someone who had relied all their life on others bestowing water to sustain themselves, finally digging their own first well—even if the well's flow was slow and slow, for her it was also a revolutionary step forward.

Overwhelmed with excitement, she immediately stood up, walked to Ye Chen, and dropped to her knees before him, choking with tears as she said: "Yun Ruge kowtows in gratitude for the supreme opportunity bestowed by you, Mr."

Ye Chen was still savoring the wonder of the hand seal when he heard the voice, opened his eyes, saw Yun Ruge kneeling before him with tears streaming down her face, and knew she too had gained something from the hand seal; he then smiled and said: "No need to thank me—this might be the supreme opportunity bestowed upon us by the Buddhist sect."

Song Ruyu also opened her eyes at this moment, overwhelmed with excitement, stepped forward, and knelt beside Yun Ruge.

She was about to speak her gratitude when Ye Chen reached out to stop her, saying: "The aurora has faded, the sky should soon be light—we must return before dawn, then close up again to deeply contemplate this hand seal; if the aurora still appears tonight, we will come again!"

The two nodded heavily; this astonishing discovery filled their hearts with extreme joy, and they could not wait to settle down and repeatedly practice this hand seal.

Lin Wan'er, seeing the three's expressions all filled with delight, could not help but step forward and ask Ye Chen: "Young Master, what gains did you have from last night's hand seal?"

Ye Chen replied honestly: "This hand seal is completely different from the previous one—the last one drained all the spiritual energy from my body, but this one brings extra spiritual energy; I believe this hand seal should be the foundation of Buddhist cultivation."

Lin Wan'er exclaimed: "If it can bring extra spiritual energy, isn't that similar to the cultivators' breathing and absorption method?"

Ye Chen said firmly: "This hand seal is stronger and more suitable for the present than breathing and absorption! Because breathing and absorption absorb and settle spiritual energy from heaven and earth, continuously refining the spiritual energy within one's body; once heaven and earth lack spiritual energy, this breathing and absorption method loses its greatest meaning—now its only effect is to refine the spiritual energy transformed from pills within the body; but if there are no pills, or insufficient spiritual energy sources, it becomes especially useless."

Saying this, Ye Chen sighed: "But the Buddhist hand seal is different—just by completing its cycle, one can generate spiritual energy out of nowhere; I cannot comprehend where this spiritual energy comes from, but it is truly real."

Yun Ruge also nodded and said: "That spiritual energy truly does seem to appear out of nowhere—it is indeed miraculous..."

Lin Wan'er thought for a moment, then smiled and said: "Perhaps, the Buddhist hand seal's underlying logic is more complex, tending toward a kind of energy conversion—just as cutting magnetic flux lines generates electric energy; a hand-crank generator, as long as it turns, produces current; if one does not understand the principle, it certainly seems miraculous, but essentially, it converts mechanical energy into electrical energy."

Ye Chen's eyes lit up, and he sighed: "What Miss Lin said is very reasonable—the breathing and absorption method is like boosting electrical energy to high or even ultra-high voltage via a step-up circuit, but essentially, it can only boost, not generate extra electrical energy; even during continuous boosting, there is some loss, and once the input electrical energy runs short, it stalls; but the Buddhist hand seal is more like a hand-crank generator—though its power is small, it has the advantage of continuously generating electrical energy; if one persists, the accumulated electrical energy will surely grow stronger; combined with breathing and absorption, constantly boosting and storing the trickle of spiritual energy it generates equals forming an internal circulation that requires no external drive—this cultivation method, compared to before, can be called a qualitative transformation!"

Saying this, Ye Chen again felt some regret and sighed: "But the spiritual energy generated by this hand seal is truly pitifully small; if one uses this method, the cultivation process will be continually prolonged—each retreat would require at least several months, even several years..."

Beside him, Lin Wan'er smiled and said: "Young Master need not sigh; any cultivation method progresses step by step—behind this hand seal, there must surely be deeper, more powerful hand seals; what you need to do is practice diligently and wait patiently."