Chapter 167: Activity Knowledge Initiation, Longevity Body Refinement Great Method
Unknowingly, 3 hours had already passed, and the braking sound suddenly rang out. The large passenger bus, which had been traveling at a steady speed, came to a rapid stop, bringing obvious braking inertia that jolted the dazed passengers into alertness.
At this moment, the driver’s voice also sounded inside the bus: “Arrived at the first rest point. Passengers who need to can get off to use the toilet, or replenish food and motion sickness medicine. We depart in 15 minutes.”
With the bus stopping for the first time, Yuan Zhu, who had been sitting for a long time, felt uncomfortable all over and decided to get off to stretch his legs.
After standing up, he noticed that about 1/4 of the passengers in the bus were in poor condition. Among them, 10 people had chosen to tie themselves up, their faces pale and lips bloodless.
“Tsk, these 10 people are clearly rare talents at a glance, with extremely high affinity for certain ‘polluting energy’, the type worth cultivating. Boss, do you think this bus also has a hidden mission to screen for talents?”
“Unclear.”
Yuan Zhu didn’t linger and followed some passengers off the bus to the safety point. Upon arriving outside, he didn’t see the scene of mist-covered mountains; instead, their group of passengers had entered a massive ‘cave space’.
This was a narrow, elongated karst cavity shaped into a commercial pedestrian street. In the middle was a two-way road, with retro buildings on both sides. Every shopfront was brightly lit, with bright streetlights installed along the streets, and not far away, long-distance buses and trucks were also parked.
At this time, a large number of passengers with unpleasant expressions were queuing in the commercial street to use the toilet, or buying food and beverages, or purchasing motion sickness medicine with ‘sedative’ effects from some pharmacies.
Yuan Zhu curiously strolled around and felt that this limited-length karst commercial street was unusual. The entire space was pitch black, relying entirely on lighting, with no trace of mist; every ten meters along the roadside, piles of bonfires were lit, emitting a warm power that dispelled discomfort.
“This feels a bit familiar, what’s going on?” Yuan Zhu looked around, trying to find the source of that familiarity.
Little Spicy Stick shared perception and compared for a long time before realizing: “It’s the darkness outside the light and bonfire illumination. The dark areas in this mountain cavity have faint ‘Yellow Springs Aura’, which is mutated 【Yellow Springs Energy】, hence the familiar feeling.”
Hearing this, Yuan Zhu looked again at the shop clerks and bosses trading with passengers in those shops; they were all dressed in black clothes, expressionless with somewhat stiff features, looking lifeless, indeed having a bit of the flavor of fake dead people.
After wandering the safety point for over 10 minutes without buying any medicine or food, he followed the passengers back to his bus, preparing to depart.
As the vehicle started and slowly drove out the other end of the tunnel, it re-entered the Mist Zone.
This time, the mental influence from outside was even more severe; many passengers near the windows successively fell into hallucinatory states, occasionally letting out strange cries, or weeping confessions, or desperate shouts.
The severe cases had already begun tugging at their seatbelts, shouting: “It’s not safe in the bus, all the silent passengers have been replaced by ‘weird things’, everyone hurry and escape!”
Some desperately smashed their heads against the glass, crying: “Let her in quick, let her in quick, don’t separate us! Let me out, I want to be with her forever.”
Some chose to succumb, but others persisted. Many passengers who had gotten off earlier to buy and take medicine were now enduring the pressure from their neighbors, grimacing silently as they held on, unaffected by the outside interference.
Fortunately, the commotion didn’t last long; the Vajra Barbie female flight attendant, steady as ballast, stood up and patrolled the carriage step by step, swinging softened, skinned willow branches in a chain of whips, beating the afflicted passengers out of their ‘mental pollution state’, force-feeding them 【Mute Devices】, maintaining the stability of the journey.
Yuan Zhu, stuck to the window, was also continuously harassed from outside. Even though he repeatedly used 【Holy Light】 to startle away, dispel, and deeply damage the external ‘mist’.
But because the vehicle was always advancing through the ‘Misty Mountains’, passing one patch of mist after another, the mental harassment was always persistent, coming in relentless waves.
Not only that, after the vehicle entered the second stage, the intensity of the mental pollution rose another level; the external interference he heard was no longer just agonized desperate wails and screams, curses and scolds, enchanting soul-snaring songs, or cries and pleas from loved ones…
After the bus started again and traveled boringly through the mist for half an hour, he finally heard some ‘interesting’ things.
The ‘voices’ transmitted from the mist suddenly gained intelligence, their logic becoming clear and organized. The voice no longer interacted, nor hoped to affect his subjective will; instead, it began reciting all sorts of miscellaneous information on its own.
At first listen, it sounded like some incoherent scripture. Then the content shifted, starting to impart fragmented sacrificial knowledge. Due to excessive fragmentation, these ‘sacrifice rituals’ were completely unusable, headless and tailless, yet seeming to have some value? Quite frustrating.
Soon, the voice began recounting other knowledge. The content was no longer sacrifice, but involved some kind of ‘supernatural ritual’, still fragmented information snippets, but straightforward and easy to understand, quickly making him realize it was a ‘ritual’ even mortals could use.
Yuan Zhu’s eyes lit up; this was unprecedented, free, zero-cost zero-price ‘supernatural knowledge’! Knowing full well it hid traps, he couldn’t stop, growing more engrossed the more he listened.
As a result, the more he entered this state, actively listening and absorbing the knowledge transmitted from the 【mist】, the faster the voice speed in his mind and the speed of knowledge injected via mental pollution.
As a result, in no time, a fragment of incomplete knowledge was poured into his brain, then that ‘voice’ immediately changed content, teaching new garbage knowledge.
The more unfamiliar knowledge harvested, the more fragmented and disconnected they were. Giving him the sense that in this mist, thousands upon thousands of souls had died and been torn into countless pieces.
Each snippet contained a thousandth fragment of some knowledge. He was now, like fishing a needle from the sea, randomly force-fed snippet after snippet.
Seemingly gaining insight, but in reality, his ‘soul memory’ was occupied by massive garbage cache; not only did he learn no valuable knowledge, but was gradually polluted and twisted. Meanwhile, addicted to the endless satisfaction of ‘thirst for knowledge’.
The 【Soul Firewall】 continuously issued alerts; Yuan Zhu’s 【Soul Crystal】 flashed, like collecting and clearing garbage files, wiping clean the newly acquired ‘knowledge’, his mind instantly feeling refreshingly clear.
“This feeling… a bit like scrolling short videos, the more you scroll, the more hooked you get. Each knowledge fragment seems to make some sense? Just listening to that voice narrate allows understanding and comprehension, directly learning it. Too bad, it’s all fake ‘mental distortion illusions’.”
Spicy Stick responded with a strange expression: “Boss, it seems we didn’t fall for it?”
Yuan Zhu: “What do you mean?”
“Those toxic mental pollution garbage messages really seem to hide some systematic supernatural knowledge? Just that 99.9% is incomprehensible, existing in an extremely malicious polluting form, aimed at invading, attacking, and polluting your mental world. But if you actively immerse and embrace, accumulating enough garbage, a small portion of fragments can complement each other, yielding useful knowledge.”
Yuan Zhu asked curiously: “You complemented them?”
“No. But when you deleted that garbage cache, I organized and translated the ‘information’ you heard, recording it in the 【Immortal Scripture】. Then from over two hundred headless snippets, I screened out three mutually complementary ‘ritual knowledge’ pieces.”
“??? What ‘ritual knowledge’, send it to me to see.”
Hearing this, Spicy Stick immediately complied, transmitting the three segments of similar ‘soul data’ to Yuan Zhu. The actively deleted dead memories rapidly resurfaced, quickly bringing him back to that state of ‘enlightenment and understanding’.
But this time, the ‘enlightenment sensation’ was supported by 【Data Soul Program】 technology; no longer from external 【mist】, so Yuan Zhu was unaffected by mental pollution, instead more intuitively and rationally reliving and understanding these ‘knowledge fragments’.
This was a 【Summoning Ritual】 even mortals could use, purpose unknown, ritual content severely incomplete; only knowing that ‘sacrifices’ could be replaced by a simplified ‘special soap’?
Additionally, the other two supernatural knowledge fragments both revolved around this ‘soap’. One explained how to make soap infused with supernatural properties using fresh, robust creatures as raw materials.
The other memory described the functions, uses, and principles of 【Special Soap】. How it became a universal supernatural sacrifice, simplifying and replacing multiple rituals, lowering the difficulty of dangerous rituals.
“【Soap】?”
After organizing this memory, Yuan Zhu first realized that compared to the fragmented, unknown-function ritual, the knowledge about 【Soap】 was actually more valuable.
He now had over 1/2 of the 【?? Soap】 production method; once completed, this item could substitute for several rare or expensive ‘ritual materials’, adapting multiple 【rituals】 as a universal ‘supernatural raw material’. Side effect: weakening the 【ritual】 effect.
This was a genuine ‘supernatural recipe’, low-cost and affordable, specially prepared for mortals without 【Supernatural Inheritance】, zero threshold. Just gather 【ritual + sacrifice + others】 to cast some supernatural spell.
But the next second, this 【?? Soap】 recipe seemed to ‘come alive’, wriggling in his mental world, scurrying everywhere. Trying to burrow into his consciousness and integrate into his spirit?
Yuan Zhu remained calm in the face of danger, slightly mobilizing 【Soul Crystal】 power to forcefully suppress the recipe. Like a kitten pinning a crawling woodlouse with its paw, effortless.
At the instant the 【Recipe】 was suppressed, he seemed to comprehend something else. As long as he chose to consume this 【Recipe】, his mental power would increase, his soul gaining slight growth.
If he continuously listened to the 【Mist Voices】, continuously sifting and refining associated ‘fragments’ from massive garbage information, he could condense more ‘wisdom worms’, then mentally consume them to grow the soul stronger, master more supernatural knowledge… forming positive feedback.
This was the 【Longevity Body Refining Great Method】!
“This thing is really poisonous!”
Yuan Zhu didn’t rashly consume and absorb the 【Recipe. Soap】, but used the Soul Crystal to seal and suppress it, storing it in soul space. Then tried using the 【Immortal Scripture】 to analyze its essence.
“Snake Snake, does this 【Recipe】 belong to ‘soul program’ or the external ‘mist voices’?”
He was certain that earlier, he had successfully used 【Soul Crystal】 to clear the ‘mental pollution’ instilled by the mist sounds. Little Spicy Stick merely shared his soul perception, re-recording the ‘mist’-imparted knowledge in the 【Soul Program】, completing non-polluting translation.
Now, he wasn’t drawing from 【mist】, but extracting ‘clean knowledge’ from his own soul program, recombining to obtain 【Recipe (Active Knowledge)】. But it still had the effect of ‘tempting self-consumption to nourish and grow the soul’, which raised suspicions.
Spicy Stick compared again, somewhat uncertain: “This 【Recipe】’s constituent materials come from data soul program, looking clean and safe. But its soul core, contained knowledge, and operation method still belong to 【mist】. The soul program’s intervention just allows the 【Immortal Scripture】 to share, read, and parse the polluting knowledge transmitted by 【mist】, better refining knowledge fragments, greatly reducing the risk of garbage information pollution. But if choosing to ‘consume and absorb’, you’ll still suffer 【mist】 distortion; suggest not consuming! This thing has deadly poison.”
Per Little Spicy Stick, if mortals indulged in 【Mist Voices】, 99.99% of their souls would be filled with garbage, then twisted, polluted, and mutated. (Cache explosion, soul filled with garbage, scrapped.)
Only the extremely few mortals with compatible pollution affinity, or powerful supernatural beings with strong souls, could pay the price of partially filling soul cache with pollution to refine valuable 【knowledge】.
If consumed, the soul gains slight reinforcement and growth, while mastering ‘supernatural knowledge’. The price is the permanently polluted and twisted ‘soul memory’ remaining unchanged.
The emergence of 【Soul Firewall】 allows replicating garbage information and deleting polluted cache. By 【Great Desolation Immortal Scripture (Little Spicy Stick)】 screening systematic knowledge, one can ‘consume’ to get stronger without pollution cost.
But the post-consumption ‘soul distortion’ cannot be reversed; who knows what hidden dangers it holds?
Yuan Zhu: “Definitely massive hidden dangers! This 【Mist. Active Knowledge Recipe】 came way too easily, practically no cost. Even fragmented, just eat it to grow the soul stronger, and directly master the recipe content. Even missing 1/2, relying on understanding and mastery of the 【Recipe】, quickly find substitutes for other materials, rapidly complete the new recipe. Efficiency too high.”
Little Spicy Stick: “Not entirely no cost; though instant mastery, perfect comprehension and understanding, and soul growth. But absorbing the garbage information before screening out real 【knowledge】, isn’t that the cost?”
Yuan Zhu retorted: “What kind of cost is as addictive and pleasurable as scrolling short videos, the more you scroll, the more hooked?”
The mental pollution from massive garbage mist information essentially fills a person’s thoughts and spirit, directly bursting the soul, twisting and mutating it.
But this process is painless, instead addictive; like rapidly scrolling a year’s worth of garbage short videos, stuffing the brain to burst, slowly with garbage, yet infinitely happy.
Ultimately, if no valuable ‘knowledge’ is screened out, self-destruction or integration into the mist, becoming new ‘garbage information fragments’.
While the few who endure this round get a chance to screen valuable 【knowledge】 from the brain stuffed with garbage, then consume it to elevate soul strength, gain supernatural power (power of knowledge), maintain rationality to absorb more new garbage, starting a new round of screening in the mind, creating more 【knowledge】.
The more garbage a passenger who hasn’t gone mad or died absorbs, the richer the material library. Before death or madness, the more 【knowledge】 that can be refined.
The more complete these 【knowledge】, the stronger the upgrade and expansion effects after consumption, allowing longer persistence. Then absorb more garbage material, forming a positive cycle.
Yuan Zhu was somewhat surprised by the hidden secrets of the Misty Mountains: “This 【mist】 really is poisonous; could it be a variant branch of the 【Knowledge School】? Why is the manifestation form completely different from Meng Xiyue’s 【Skull Server】?”
At this point, he looked back at the passengers in the bus; most were just mildly uncomfortable, not eroded by 【mist】. The few ‘mist polluted’ were merely trapped in realistic terrifying or despairing illusions; no one was ‘hearing knowledge voices’ like him.
Wait!
Yuan Zhu called to Spicy Stick: “Didn’t the driver say before departure, if anyone hears unfamiliar voices during the journey imparting certain knowledge with exceptionally profound clear memories, don’t take chances; need to contact the station immediately after getting off for handling, or go to the hospital yourself? This ‘hearing knowledge voices’ situation exists, just rare.”
Little Spicy Stick: “The issue is you heard not one segment, but segment after segment. The quantity is exaggerated.”
“Hearing one segment of knowledge is the limit of mortal mental state. While I, with condensed 【Soul Crystal】 plus 【Soul Firewall + Mutated Spiritual Root】, have higher perception, higher resistance, larger capacity… naturally hear more pollution information.”
Spicy Stick hesitated: “I think this 【mist】 is a huge trap, enticing cultivators lacking self-control to fall in. Boss, do you still want to continue listening?”
“Of course! Free knowledge, why not listen? Just in moderation, calibrated to human soul strength limit, then use 【Soul Crystal】 to delete. You record everything into the 【Soul Program】 for screening, extracting things like 【Recipe. Soap】, then I seal them into 【Soul Space】. This wave of bulk free supernatural knowledge, don’t miss it! Consult Meng Xi later; worst case, sell to 【Space of Gods】.”
Little Spicy Stick: “Makes sense! Then Boss, start quick; I see this journey won’t last much longer…”
