Chapter 248: Laying the Foundation
Psychologically, the onlookers naturally wouldn't believe such a flimsy excuse. However, whether they believed it or not, they had to pretend they did, as the two were indeed engaged in "friendly" communication.
The initial idea behind the Hua Gai Split Soul Scripture was born from Hua Taishan's realization that there were simply too few people capable of serving as his whetstone. Thus, he intended to split off impurities from his will, forming a sub-soul that would continuously hone and battle with his main soul within his body, effectively becoming his own whetstone.
But this method had a major problem: he still understood too little about the ethereal soul. Recklessly splitting it could lead to irreversible damage.
So, until the very end, he never attempted this conjecture himself, simply handing it over to Bai Mo.
Bai Mo also felt relatively unfamiliar with this domain and had no intention of personally cultivating it before the method matured. Thus, he made minor improvements, combining it with his knowledge from the Thousand Souls Scripture, and then communicated with some individuals at the Martial Arts Symposium.
Ultimately, only Zhang Xu, the most confident in himself, was willing to give it a try, combining his own understanding and modifications of the method. He then succeeded in one fell swoop, taking that crucial step.
"Even after these modifications, cultivating the Split Soul Scripture still requires a large replenishment of soul-type spirit materials; otherwise, the depletion from constant battling with the sub-soul will hollow out one's soul foundation," Zhang Xu remarked, looking at the Hua Gai Split Soul Scripture, which had been revised after their discussion.
"At least the safety has improved. Reducing consumption is a painstaking process, requiring a long time to gradually perfect," Bai Mo said, unconcerned with resource depletion. Safety and effectiveness were paramount.
"Those who can afford acupoint cultivation shouldn't feel too much pressure, but for the greater number of ordinary people with martial ambitions, millions in annual consumption is still far too high."
"A martial artist's life is one of constant struggle. I cannot emulate your mindset, nor can I comprehend the source of your martial arts accumulation, that it could actually be on par with mine."
After his probing attempt failed, Zhang Xu calmly analyzed the power disparity between them. He knew he was still, in fact, slightly superior to Bai Mo, but there was one problem: this was merely an avatar of the other party...
As the two conversed, Bai Mo's other thoughts were busy processing the myriad ingenious ideas from countless individuals, selecting those with practical significance for experimentation.
The colossal wealth he controlled made it possible for many plans that had previously only existed in people's fantasies to become reality. To accommodate even more experiments, the testing ground once again began its expansion.
Everyone who participated in the combat power assessment felt a profound sense of gratitude for the generosity of the mental power and perception checkpoint, even though deciphering its contents was truly no easy feat.
The stronger one's mental power, the more insights and imprints one could gain in the Mirror World. Yet, this world was like an endless treasure trove of knowledge; at least with their abilities, they would never reach its end.
Each day, the knowledge stored in this Mirror World would increase, as Bai Mo continuously organized the insights he gained from the multitude of people, then encapsulated some of the useful ones and placed them within.
This quickly formed a positive feedback loop. Originally, relying solely on his own accumulation, the insights above would soon be exhausted by the efforts of countless people, because his individual information intake speed could never compare to the combined total of innumerable ability users.
But now, in reality, Bai Mo used the ideas and insights he provided as a catalyst, becoming the primary driving force for the cycle. Subsequently, most of the exchange was actually like messages in a bottle among the test participants, no longer a contest between him alone and all the test subjects.
Perched high above the clouds, he absorbed the essence of countless ability users' thoughts, his power rapidly swelling.
Concurrently, by manifesting in the VR network, he honed himself through endless battles.
Naturally, Bai Mo wasn't the only one with such a plan; many people harbored the idea of "borrowing a chicken to lay eggs."
Because he wanted to find willing volunteers for testing, Bai Mo had shared the Hua Gai Split Soul Scripture with many people at the time, and Shi Huachong, also a member of the Martial Arts Symposium, was one of them.
He likewise made significant modifications to the Split Soul Scripture, fundamentally altering its direction and transforming it into a cultivation method capable of splitting multiple thoughts, similar to the Thousand Souls Scripture.
But the biggest difference was that his thoughts could attach themselves to weaker individuals, simultaneously honing his will through their battles.
For low-tier ability users in the Spirit Animation Stage, who had not yet developed a Life Field, such attachments were completely imperceptible. This cultivation method, created by him, he named the "Yi Shen Jue."
Many powerhouses, in order to grow stronger, began to lay out their pieces in various ways. Of course, the fundamental problem was that this world lacked any true legacy or tradition, leaving the path ahead shrouded in uncertainty, which forced everyone to come up with their own unique strategies.
Those laying out their pieces naturally didn't wish to become mere pawns themselves. To leap off the chessboard, the best method was, naturally, to continuously grow stronger!
"'Reference the Immortal Body, conduct a secondary design, and then cultivate specialized food for oneself?' Bai Mo, fresh from a battle in VR, saw this idea."
This idea came from a mid-rank four-tier ability user, who was only one step away from achieving perfection in the Unmelting Realm and had begun consciously exploring concepts related to the Xuanhua Stage.
After realizing that breaking through to the Xuanhua Stage required an extraordinarily vast accumulation of power, this thought sprouted in his mind, but it was inadvertently leaked to Bai Mo during a combat power assessment.
"Just like the vampires before, artificially cultivating a batch of food specifically designed for oneself has fairly high feasibility. Vampires themselves were originally food designed by Sarcasky for free-range farming."
"But the time cycle seems too long. Designing from now, the first batch of harvest would be at least two or three years away, and whether it would still hold corresponding value by then is another question."
Nevertheless, Bai Mo ultimately decided to invest some effort into thoroughly studying the Immortal Body cultivation method, attempting to design the most suitable "food cultivation" method for himself.
Though it was merely preparing for a rainy day, perhaps if he ever truly needed to make a comeback, he could swiftly accumulate immense strength, just like Sarcasky, serving as a hidden trump card.
With martial might comes transgression. Power naturally breeds ambition. The emergence of Spirit Qi did not bring peace to this planet, where wars had barely ceased for thousands of years; instead, it intensified the ferocity of conflict.
Aside from the Hua-Ya Federation and the American Federation, which possessed powerful governments to suppress dissent, most other places became even more unstable. Ambitious individuals fanned the flames everywhere, while those with power pursued their desires without restraint, acting as they pleased.
The hot war between the Luminous Holy Church and the One-Wheel Cult never ceased. Both sects were monotheistic, and with their differing beliefs, they were destined to be unable to coexist peacefully.
And Africa, stripped of major power interference and plunged into utter chaos, became even more chaotic... with the exception of the experimental utopian land in South Africa, established by Hou Zi, where he maintained order with absolute power, upholding his own justice.
The frequent wars of the new era also caused an ancient profession – the slave trader – to regain its prominence. In lands plagued by conflict, people would inexplicably vanish.
Research into Spirit Qi by various organizations inevitably involved numerous unknown and dangerous experiments. Those willing to sacrifice themselves for research were always a tiny minority, which necessitated acquiring test subjects through certain unsavory means.
And located in northern Tianqing, after expansion, the personal testing ground belonging to Bai Mo, whose area now approached the size of a city, became one of the world's largest input points for experimental subjects.
Naturally, this could not be concealed from the few individuals who governed the entire nation. Yet, in their view, using foreign slaves and domestic death-row inmates to pave the way for Huaxia's cultivation exploration was no big deal—at least it wasn't harming the good people of their own country.
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