Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 640 The Bottleneck of Soul Cultivation Techniques
Over the next few days, Jin Chanzi and the others strolled around the city with Huang Le.

Huang Le and his group arrived early and had already explored all the fun and delicious places in the streets and alleys.

With Huang Le leading the way, Jin Chanzi and his companions had a great time.

From brothels to night markets, from city walls to alleyways.

Since Xiao Ran had already decided to help Huang Le, and would inevitably have to participate in the next battle, the group indulged in eating, drinking, and having fun.

As for Xiao Ran, she specifically asked the inn to find her a cellar, where she secluded herself for cultivation.

Since her last hospital visit, Xiao Ran has not studied soul cultivation techniques for some time.

Taking advantage of her free time, Xiao Ran decided to focus on cultivating her soul technique.

"Returning to the origin of the soul, seizing the opportunity of Yin and Yang, absorbing the essence to nourish life, and reversing the primordial spirit."

He slowly sank his consciousness into his subconscious, as if sinking into the deepest part of a vast ocean, dark and unfathomable.

If an ordinary person were in this situation, they would not only be in danger of losing their life, but might also never wake up again.

Human consciousness is like the Tai Chi symbol in Taoism.

Where there is yang, there must be yin; the circulation of yin and yang is the most normal state for a person.

However, if a person completely sinks their consciousness into their subconscious, there are often two outcomes: one is madness, and the other is that their consciousness cannot be awakened, which is what is medically known as a vegetative state.

People in a vegetative state can hear external sounds and even feel some faint external stimuli, but they just can't wake up because their subconscious is suppressing their consciousness.

Of course, there are exceptions. When a person hears some familiar music, sounds, or stories, their self-awareness is instantly revived, breaking through the shackles of the subconscious.

For example, a recent news report mentioned that a person who had been in a vegetative state for five years woke up on the spot after accidentally hearing the Digimon theme song playing on a nurse's phone.

There was also a woman in a vegetative state who jumped out of bed in anger upon hearing that her husband had found another wife.

Of course, these are all special cases.

Xiao Ran was not afraid at this moment. The ingenuity of the Soul Cultivation Technique lies in this: reversing Yin and Yang and reversing the dissolution of the primordial spirit. He was as if he had returned to the state of a fetus, continuously absorbing the nutrients of the subconscious.

Gradually transform the power of the subconscious into one's own mental strength.

"Seizing the transformations of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, encompassing the numbers of the celestial sphere and the universe, the union of Heaven and Man establishes the foundation for all things. Nature possesses both skill and clumsiness, which can be concealed..."

Xiao Ran's resolve grew stronger and stronger, and before she knew it, she had begun to silently comprehend the third level of the Soul Cultivation Technique.

In an instant, it was as if there were thousands of stars before my eyes. These starlight shimmered and evolved into the Zhou family's Spirit Crossing Scripture, the Fang family's Soul-Slaying Blade, the Corpse-Sewing Record, the Suppression Technique, as well as sword techniques, fist techniques, and even the stitching technique that Plum Blossom Taoist had shown not long ago.

"The path of magic is ever-changing, but no matter how many variations it takes, it is ultimately nothing more than an illusion!"

Xiao Ran recalled the words of the Plum Blossom Taoist in her mind.

A sudden realization flashed through my mind.

"This statement doesn't mean that magic is an illusion, but rather that illusion is magic!"

His mind was jolted, and then a series of secret techniques appeared before Xiao Ran.

These secret techniques were now being revealed to Xiao Ran as if peeling back layers of an onion, fully exposing their mysteries.

Xiao Ran only knew a part of many of the secret techniques, and knew the techniques but not the reasons behind them.

Now, after peeling back the layers, Xiao Ran felt as if she were watching a magician reveal the secret of a magic trick, and suddenly understood.

"So this is ah."

Just as Xiao Ran was immersed in the mysteries of these secret techniques, a strong sense of rejection suddenly struck her. This time, no matter how Xiao Ran tried to resist, her thoughts were still expelled from her subconscious.

Moreover, when Xiao Ran tried to use the Soul Cultivation Technique again, she was unable to access her subconscious.

No, it's not that I can't enter, but rather that my subconscious feels drained. If before it was a bottomless ocean, now it's a shallow stream that only covers my knees.

This startled Xiao Ran, who was also unsure why things had turned out this way.

Logically, a person's subconscious should be inexhaustible.

Xiao Ran checked her mental strength again and found that it was stuck at 199 points, just a little short of 200.

At the same time, a line of blood-red characters appeared before Xiao Ran's eyes.

"Abnormal! Your mental strength has reached a critical point. Please do not attempt to break through this limit lightly, otherwise there will be huge risks!"

"Abnormal!! Your mental strength has reached its current maximum threshold. Forcing a breakthrough will be extremely dangerous. You can start by strengthening your physique to reduce this risk."

Looking at the two lines of information that appeared in front of her, Xiao Ran fell into deep thought.

Having never heard of such a thing, Xiao Ran had no clue what to do.

Ultimately, I didn't have a mentor to guide me, and when I encountered a bottleneck, I could only figure things out on my own.

Just as Xiao Ran was confused, she suddenly remembered something, and after rummaging around in her arms for a while, she woke up the blue raccoon in her arms.

"Wake up, it's time to pay the rent."

Xiao Ran tapped the raccoon's head, forcibly waking it from its slumber.

The raccoon was very unhappy that Xiao Ran had woken it up so rudely. It opened its little paws, jumped onto Xiao Ran's shoulder, and grabbed his hair: "Next time you call me, just say my name silently. Don't hit my head like that."

"You didn't tell me either, so remember this next time."

Xiao Ran grabbed the green raccoon and held it to her chest, asking, "I have a question for you. If I cultivate my spiritual power to a certain level and find that my subconscious has actually dried up, what does that mean?"

"Subconscious atrophy??"

Qinghao scratched his head, clearly not understanding Xiao Ran's words. Seeing this, Xiao Ran could only reorganize his words: "In the matter of life and death, I nourish my life with sex. At this moment, my life is strong but my sex is weak, and it is exhausted. What do you think this situation is?"

Xiao Ran asked Qinghao because Qinghao, as a spirit immortal, was actually closer to the direction Xiao Ran was cultivating, judging from the state shown by Grandpa Zhao Qingming.

The two approaches achieve similar results to some extent.

Upon hearing Xiao Ran's words, Qinghao immediately understood. He climbed onto Xiao Ran's head and sat down on top of her: "Open your mind and let me take a look."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran relaxed, only to feel a chill run down her spine and into her brain.

Before long, the blue raccoon cried out in surprise, "My goodness, what have you done?"

As he spoke, Qinghao suddenly jumped down from his head and stared at Xiao Ran with wide eyes: "What kind of evil cultivation technique have you practiced? Why is it so strange?"

"Is it weird? I don't think so."

"This is too bizarre. Taoism cultivates both body and mind, emphasizing the balance of Yin and Yang. Buddhism uses the physical body to transcend to attain Buddhahood. Neither Buddhism nor Taoism is as bizarre as yours."

Xiao Ran wasn't surprised to hear this. Plum Blossom Taoist was a rather unorthodox person, so it was normal for the cultivation techniques he created to be a bit unorthodox.

"What's wrong with me? Do you have any solutions?"

Xiao Ran didn't talk about her soul cultivation technique, but instead asked Qinghao how to solve her situation.

"you this……"

The raccoon scratched its body with its two furry paws for a while, then paced back and forth in front of Xiao Ran for a long time.

“Your situation is very dangerous. If you continue, there is a risk of your own mental breakdown. Doesn’t your cultivation method explain this? Recite a passage for me and let me hear it.”

Xiao Ran thought about it and realized that this made sense. The one who tied the knot must untie it; there was no reason why the Plum Blossom Taoist would teach her a dead end.

Based on her own situation, Xiao Ran recited the outline of the third level of the Soul Cultivation Technique.

"Seize the changes of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and encompass the numbers of the entire universe."

Heaven unleashes its murderous intent, shifting stars and changing constellations.

A murderous intent arose from the ground; dragons and snakes rose from the land.

When people harbor murderous intent, the world is turned upside down.

When Heaven and Man unite, all things are established.

"One's nature has its cleverness and clumsiness, which can be concealed..."

Upon hearing Xiao Ran's recitation, Qinghao's expression turned strange: "Isn't this the content of the Yin Fu Jing? No! Something's not right."

After pondering for a moment, and considering Xiao Ran's current situation, it seemed to suddenly understand something and exclaimed in surprise, "What a domineering evil technique, what a bizarre method!"

"What??" Xiao Ran looked at Qinghao, confused.

Qinghao explained, "This passage is clearly about breaking down the old and building up the new, and the method of sacrificing oneself to attain enlightenment."

Xiao Ran narrowed her eyes, signaling Qinghao to continue.

"According to this technique, when you reach the extreme, you will sever your nature and become your destiny, which is similar to the state of the Taoist spirit emerging from the yang realm."

However, it is not the manifestation of the Yang spirit, but another form. This form has no solid form, and the means it displays are also arbitrary, or rather, it is your understanding of the various supernatural powers. The stronger the understanding, the more real the transformation.

One second you can be an immortal, the next you can be a ghost or god.

"Seizing the changes of Yin and Yang, the art (numbers) of the Zhou Tian (a system of celestial spheres) refers to this."

Xiao Ran nodded, pondering the various methods displayed by the Plum Blossom Taoist, which seemed to be just as Qinghao had said.

Xiao Ran pressed further, "So what should we do about my current condition?"

"Hmm, four words!"

The blue raccoon raised its furry paws, revealing its pink paw pads: "Strengthening the body."

If Xiao Ran wants to continue cultivating this technique, she must strengthen her physical body.

As the saying goes, the physical body is like a boat, crossing all the suffering in the world.

The physical body is like a barrel, its virtue can bear all things.

Currently, Xiao Ran only has this one path to take: a strong physical body is equivalent to expanding the space within his physical body.

As the space expands, the subconscious mind also begins to strengthen.

There is a possibility that Xiao Ran's path will be successful.

"That's it."

Xiao Ran suddenly realized that her current attributes were actually quite high.

Strength 65, Constitution 70, Agility 75, Spirit 199.

A constitution score of 70 is enough to make many beginners despair, but now it seems that's still too low.

Now that they know where the problem lies, the rest is much easier. However, Xiao Ran doesn't have any cursed items to enhance his physical body for the time being. He'll study them slowly after returning to Ruzhou.

After taking the green raccoon back, Xiao Ran's eyes flashed, and she threw out the pumpkin's corpse.

Take out the [Suppressing Calamity Token - Transporter], activate it, and point the token at the pumpkin's physical form, activating its privilege: "Spiritual Book..."

(End of this chapter)