New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 155 I have a friend who proves the Dao through force!

Early the next morning.

Despite burning incense all night, Master Yuan still arrived at [Rain Courtyard] in full energy and high spirits.

On the street lined with breakfast stalls near the college gate, I bought two steaming hot "crispy toad cakes" for only 1 cent. Then I took out my "Thai Huang Holy Church Employee ID" and passed the security guard's check smoothly.

With a satisfying crunch, the crispy pancake bursts with juicy meat, and the rich flavor of Sichuan peppercorns explodes in your mouth – pure bliss!

"I never imagined that the frogs that were burned to ashes last night would taste so delicious?! I feel that as the [Soul Crystal] condenses, my mental state can remain at its peak for a long time, and I might not even need to sleep?"

Despite working through the night, he wasn't exhausted. On the contrary, as the Soul Crystal continued to crystallize and condense, his spirit became increasingly focused, maintaining an excellent state, and he could even sustain himself by replenishing 'Soul Ashes + Holy Light'.

Just like charging a phone. (Smartphone: "Ah! I haven't turned it off in two and a half years!")
Spicy Strips stopped him, saying, "That's not the case! Your current excitement is just an illusion. The Soul Crystal can indeed keep your mental consciousness in a false 'optimal' state for a long time, but your body and brain cannot withstand such torment and still need sleep and rest. Unless you give up your physical body, separate your 'soul consciousness' and rely on the Soul Crystal to become an energy life form."

Yuan Zhu: "Can I learn from dolphins? Separate the left and right hemispheres of my brain, and use [Soul Crystals] to work on only one side while resting the other?"

Spicy Strip hesitated and said, "Then you need to prepare information on the [Knowledge School] for me, especially the extraordinary knowledge of [Skull Servo]. Once I have mastered it, I can try to modify your 'skull'. I estimate that the success rate should be over 99.9%, so it's worth a try."

Yuan Zhu: "It really works? When you have time, you must use our 'goblins' as test subjects. If you can help them get rid of the sleep curse, it will completely unleash the labor potential imprisoned in their bodies, which would be a great deed!"

Little Spicy Strips enthusiastically accepted the task: "Great! Great! When we get to Taixi and see Meng Xiyue, we must ask her for the technology. We'll thoroughly reshape the brains of those dim-witted goblins! Hey, boss, do you think this [Skull Servo] could have a dream collaboration with our [External Brain Eggplant]? We could copy advanced experience and significantly optimize the [Brain Eggplant] architecture..."

Spicy Strips got more and more excited as he talked, saying that the mission of the "Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture" was to infiltrate, invade, steal, plagiarize, and modify it in a low-key manner... and take it for himself.

On the other side, Yuan Zhu quickly found the teaching building where the [Dangerous Botany School] was located. By striking up a conversation with a blushing freshman, he successfully found the senior student who was wearing glasses and reading diligently.

"Sister Chen, I've come to see you! It's Saturday today, I hope it didn't affect your studies?"

The senior student closed her book, took off her glasses, and looked at Yuan Zhu: "It's you, little brother Yuan. Why are you suddenly coming to see me on this weekend? Is there anything I can help you with?"

"How could that be? I came here specifically to thank you. I had a strange encounter these past few days and received a gift, which I brought to you." As he spoke, Yuan Zhu took out a small wooden box and handed it to the other person.

Chen Yi was somewhat surprised when Yuan Zhuzhen took out a gift: "Are you serious? It's just a small favor, and I'll earn my own reward in return. There's really no need for this."

After making a brief, feigned refusal, the senior student stared at the small wooden box without taking it, but still asked, "What's inside? If it's jewelry or ornaments, then you don't need to give it to me."

Yuan Zhu: "Seeds! I guarantee these are extraordinary seeds you've never seen before. They can survive and reproduce normally even in highly polluted environments, and they're even spirit herb seeds from the Kunlun lineage. Tell me, aren't they precious?"

The senior student's eyes lit up as she stared intently at him: "A Kunlun-type contaminated elixir? Are you sure?"

"Hmm. Due to confidentiality agreements, there are many things I can't reveal, but I can give you a hint: the world of bubbles."

"Oh? Then I'll accept this gift. It's definitely of great research value to me." The senior student acted swiftly, snatching the small wooden box from Yuan Zhu's hand and quickly stuffing it into her backpack.

Yuan Zhu: "If you accept a gift, there are conditions."

"Speak, what is it? I knew you didn't come here simply to visit me."

Yuan Zhu stated frankly, "Could you share the research results on these 'seeds' with me? I have witnessed the immortal techniques of the Kunlun system and have become somewhat curious about Dangerous Botany. While I wouldn't go so far as to change the system, I would like to gain a deeper understanding of some common knowledge."

The senior student shook her head: "I'm afraid that won't work. It's not that I'm unwilling. Although you provided the seeds, they entered the college's laboratory, used professional equipment, and consumed the school's experimental resources. Even if I lead everything, the final research results belong to the college and cannot be disclosed to outsiders."

Yuan Zhu: "I've heard of a 'funding model' where outsiders provide money and resources, make demands, collaborate with the college, conduct experiments, and ultimately share the research results."

"Your investment is far too little; it doesn't even meet the standard."

Yuan Zhu: "What if I had even more precious 'seeds'?"

The senior student stopped her, saying, "Don't rush. I'll use this gift to test the waters. If it really has research value, I can conduct research on my own. We can collaborate privately, bypassing the college."

Yuan Zhu was somewhat surprised: "You have this ability? To bypass the academy and conduct research on your own?"

"My sister's family has some money, and I have my own small lab where I can do some simple research. But I lack materials and test subjects, so I still rely on the resources at school. Is that why you came to me?"

Yuan Zhu: "Of course, that's not all. I've accumulated a lot of questions during this time, and I need you, sister, to answer them for me."

Chen Yi: "If you encounter difficulties in your cultivation of [Holy Light], go to the academy's church and ask Mr. Cui."

"No, no, no, these are all common sense questions outside the realm of Holy Light. Sister, you know I'm a complete novice who's just entered the field and lacks basic common sense. That's exactly what I need—a prodigy like you—to answer my questions, clear my doubts, and point me in the right direction."

"Okay, okay, you're very nice. Let's go outside and talk. Let's not disturb other people's studies."

Chen Yi packed up her textbooks and notebooks, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and gestured for Yuan Zhu to follow. The two of them quickly arrived at a scenic island in the middle of a lake and started chatting privately.

Seeing that no one was around, Yuan Zhu hesitated for a moment before tentatively asking, "Senior, are you familiar with the people of the Nightmare School? Do you know anything about the Nightmare World?"

Seeing his furtive expression, Chen Yi said strangely, "My understanding of [Nightmare] is limited to what I've read in textbooks. You said the seeds you gave me came from the [Foam World], and now you're asking about [Nightmare]. Have you gotten involved with something unclean? Are you trying to drag me down with you? Good brother, I've treated you well, haven't I? Please don't harm me." Yuan Zhu thought for a moment and realized that his situation was indeed inconvenient to reveal. He couldn't very well say directly: "I absolutely won't harm you! I've carved out a territory in the [Foam World] and created a private [Dreamland] that directly connects to the [Nightmare Layer]. Now I want to inquire about illegally breaking through the dream realm from reality to connect to this 'private dreamland' and smuggling across the Nightmare dimension, right?"
"Uh... let me organize my thoughts. First of all, I absolutely have no intention of harming you; I simply lack a guide and would like some pointers. I have a friend..."

Before he could finish speaking, the senior student couldn't help but let out an "Uh..." and gave him a pained look that said, "See if I believe you or not."

"Go on, your... friend, right? What's he thinking?"

Yuan Zhu: "He came into contact with the Nightmare Dimension in the Bubble World and discovered a wild 'ownerless dreamland'."

The senior student quickly interrupted, "Stop, stop, stop! You're still saying you tricked me? Just say that your friend's deviation is too high, his mind is polluted, and he has made contact with an 'extraterrestrial evil god' in his dream, instigating him to try to establish a stable 'dream connection' from within the [Nightmare Layer]."

Yuan Zhu suddenly felt a sense of helplessness, unable to defend himself: Your analysis is too normal, too correct, too reasonable. But! Actually, that's not the case.

Seeing Yuan Zhu's extremely helpless expression that almost made her laugh, the senior urged, "Why aren't you saying anything? Hurry up, keep denying and making excuses."

"Hey, it's really not what you think. But I still have to ask, do you know how to create a nightmare path from the 'real world' to the 'nightmare dimension - unknown dreamland'? Or how to log into a dream space like [Huangliang Village] from the real world and then jump?"

The senior student replied, "First of all, I genuinely don't know. But based on my limited understanding of the [Nightmare World], if you want to bypass the regulatory system, the Pale Law, and the suppressive forces of the Spirit Planet to illegally communicate with the unknown polluted world within the [Nightmare Dimension], the best approach is to enter the [Spirit Realm Layer] first. The suppression there is weaker, the pollution is higher, and the order is more chaotic..."

"Secondly, let alone the specific methods, just having such thoughts is already absolutely illegal. Even if you have similar ideas in the future, don't casually reveal them to others. If I hear about it again, I won't be able to resist reporting it. Thirdly, based on my understanding of the Nightmare School, the Nightmare scholars of the Rain Academy also conduct Nightmare Exploration in a specially designed teaching building in the Spirit Realm, under layers of surveillance."

"Exploring Nightmares is an extremely dangerous activity. Therefore, the academy, in cooperation with the Eastern White Barbarians, built a building specifically designed for 'exploring Nightmares' in the old campus of the Spirit Realm. It is equipped with sophisticated disinfection, detection, cleaning, mental testing, and confinement systems. In addition, each university's Nightmare School is subject to joint monitoring by the authorities and multiple parties. Every exploration must be recorded and filed."

"Even if [Rain Academy] has the capability to accomplish what your friend revealed, no one will cooperate under the surveillance of the [Security Bureau]. If your friend is truly unafraid of death, I suggest he enter the [Spirit Realm] and seek connections in the black market. Alternatively, he could go to the barbarian kingdom in the east, where the management of the [Nightmare Realm] is very lax, even deliberately indulgent."

"In fact, their official scholars came to the West Coast to cooperate with major universities to promote the Nightmare School, which may have been partly with the idea of ​​diverting the trouble eastward. Because the cases of 'nightmare pollution getting out of control' are too frequent on the East Coast, they simply use the guise of academic cooperation to move those high-risk but valuable 'experiments' to our West. If something goes wrong, we'll take the blame; if there are benefits, we'll share them."

After listening to this analysis, Yuan Zhu looked slightly disappointed: "Is the Nightmare Layer really that dangerous?"

The senior student shrugged: "How would I know? Anyway, the Nightmare School has the highest student mortality rate. It's said that people often disappear inexplicably in the Spirit Realm. Unlike other schools, where people die clearly and without any explanation."

Although a safe and professional method for constructing a 'nightmare passage' has not been found, the senior student's cautious attitude shows that building a passage connecting to the 'unknown nightmare dimension' in the 'spirit realm' is definitely feasible.

It is only because the risks are high, the risks are easy to get out of control, and the risks are irreversible that they are explicitly prohibited and strictly guarded against, and the authorities step in to crack down on them severely.

But doesn't this just show that while the risks are high, the profits are also very high? As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold... As long as you find a 'professional' willing to cooperate, there is a real possibility of making it work.

"Hmm, Spicy Strips, let's put this on the agenda. On one hand, search for Nightmare Knowledge in the exchange list of the [Gods' Space]; on the other hand, we can filter out 'wanted talents' with relevant skills from the gray circles of the main world."

Spicy strips: "It's already in my notes. It will automatically remind me if I encounter it."

...

Senior student: "Besides helping your friend with their questions, do you have any other doubts?"

Yuan Zhu: "Yes, this is purely out of curiosity. When I consulted about the Extraordinary System last time, you introduced the Frog School. I'd like to know if the entry difficulty of this system is very low? In our Runing underground fighting circle, many martial artists are pursuing the Great Way of Power. Is that related to the Frog School?"

Chen Yi nodded: "You guessed right. The so-called 'Way of Power' is the extraordinary system of the 'Frog School.' The 'Frog God,' the second of the Twelve Fates, is the 'Master of Power,' a deity representing the concept of 'power.' Among all the extraordinary systems, it has the lowest threshold, is easy to learn, very accessible, and has an extremely high cost-performance ratio. Cultivation depends entirely on hard work, with a low lower limit and a high upper limit."

"Furthermore, besides being known as the 'Rain City,' our Running City is also called the 'Frog City,' naturally favored by the 'Frog God.' Although there may not be a substantial connection, it is said that the success rate of learning the 'Path of Power' in Running far exceeds that of other cities. Therefore, every February, fighters from the New World come here on a pilgrimage..."

Yuan Zhu: "Aren't supernatural powers strictly controlled?"

Senior Sister: "The Power School is quite special. First, the Frog God's corruption is relatively mild compared to other corruption systems, making it easier for beginners to maintain their sanity. Second, the Power School is easy to enter but difficult to cultivate, and it doesn't pose much of a threat to the outside world. Third, the Power School requires a kind of body-tempering fluid during cultivation; mastering this allows you to indirectly control these cultivators."

Yuan Zhu: "The [body tempering fluid] circulating in the market?"

“That’s right! It’s from the academy. Our Rain Academy’s Frog School is not like those underground martial artists and fighters who pursue the ‘Way of Power’. The essence of the Frog School is to explore and analyze the mysteries of ‘Frog God Contamination’, summarize and master the laws of the extraordinary system; and extract ‘extraordinary potions’ that are beneficial to cultivation from the bodies of ordinary frogs.”

Yuan Zhu: "Is the Frog School, like other 'pharmaceutical companies' that have settled in Running, using these boxers and fighters to conduct drug research? To quickly and efficiently cultivate 'strength-type ability users' and artificial super soldiers?"

The senior student nodded: "That's definitely a consideration. In recent years, more and more 'medical laboratories' have been settling in Runing, and the [Frog School] has also felt the pressure and joined the competition. Firstly, to accumulate technology, and secondly, to make money. Because the outflow of [Body Tempering Fluid] is limited, the number of true 'Path of Strength practitioners' is limited. As for the other [Body Tempering Fluid], they have all been sold to other cities."

"You keep talking about the 'Way of Power,' but what is the core of this system? How do you make 'power' produce extraordinary effects?"

Senior student: "Frog God Contamination, also known as [Muscle Synthesis]. Any living being with flesh and blood structure, after being subjected to 'Frog God Contamination,' enters a transcendent state of muscle synthesis. Through continuous muscle training, the 'muscle fibers' at the microscopic level synthesize in pairs. Ultimately, the 'total number of fibers' in the whole body remains unchanged, but in reality, it doubles. Therefore, both strength and physical strength increase countless times. This is [Proving the Way through Strength, Achieving Sainthood through the Physical Body]!"

"The two-in-one 'muscle fiber' also carries a permanent 'passive contamination attribute,' with its strength, toughness, durability, resistance, etc. all soaring dramatically. This contamination system is simple and unadorned, only increasing strength and contamination resistance. If one can enter the 'second round of muscle synthesis (2),' where each muscle fiber is synthesized from 4 fibers, then the punches thrown will be imbued with extraordinary [force attribute] enchantment damage. It is also known as [Martial Arts Will], [Fist Intent], [The Ultimate Force, Breaking the Vacuum]."

Yuan Zhu: "So, is there a 'third round'? 2, eight in one?"

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)