Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

He could quickly master the literary skills that others needed years of hard work to comprehend, simply by relying on the automatic analysis function in his equipment inventory.

While others need to repeatedly try and fail to find the direction for improving proficiency, he can accurately pinpoint it based on panel data.

This is not a difference in talent, but a difference in tools.

He never thought using tools was cheating. The cheat codes were meant to be used, otherwise they would just sit there collecting dust. He said, "Let's have a fair competition."

That's just plain ridiculous.

Besides, the panel is his tool, not his master.

Ultimately, how far he goes depends on his own choices and judgments.

When he returned to the Chen residence, Qingluo was waiting for him under the eaves as usual.

She took the outer robe that Chen Zhuo had taken off and said softly, "Young Master, the bath is ready."

Chen Zhuo nodded. Qingluo was still so considerate; she really understood him so well.

But instead of going straight to the bath, he went to his desk.

Seeing this, Qingluo silently withdrew as well.

Chen Zhuo sat at his desk, placed the heirloom jade pendant on the table, and examined it carefully by the light.

The jade pendant is small, only about half the size of a palm, with a warm and smooth texture and a light blue color throughout.

The front is engraved with a mountain-shaped pattern. With just a few strokes, the outline of the mountain peak and the direction of the ridge are depicted with great charm.

Turn it over to look at the back. There is no carving on the back, only a natural stone pattern, or rather, it looks like a stone pattern.

Chen Zhuo concentrated his literary energy at his fingertips and touched the surface of the jade pendant very lightly.

The moment the scholar's energy touched the jade pendant, a suction force emanated from the jade.

This feeling is similar to the one I had when I was studying the stone tablet in front of the Tibetan Pavilion, but it's gentler.

Chen Zhuo did not resist.

He closed his eyes and probed the jade pendant with his spiritual power.

The scene before my eyes suddenly changed.

The study, lamps, and desks have all disappeared.

He now seemed to be standing on a vast plain.

The sky was the color of dusk, half fiery clouds and half dark.

The ground beneath our feet was dry and hard, covered with sparse, withered grass.

In the distance, an army was forming ranks, its banners fluttering in the wind, embroidered with emblems he had never seen before.

The soldiers wore worn-out leather armor, and their weapons were of varying quality, including halberds and swords.

Judging from their appearance, they were neither the county's elite troops nor the imperial guards of the capital, but rather a group of unknown ragtag soldiers.

It's somewhat like a hastily put-together city defense force in a small town.

And opposite them were the demons of the long night.

There was no righteous energy formation like in Qingshan County beside them; they were facing pure demons of the long night.

Countless demons surged from the horizon, like a dark tide washing over withered grass.

But this ragtag group did not retreat; instead, they sang some inexplicable song, their morale soaring.

Chen Zhuo stood in the middle of the field, feeling strangely as neither a soldier nor a bystander.

He could sense the presence of every soldier.

Their breaths, their heartbeats, the sweat on their palms when they gripped their weapons, were like dozens of threads simultaneously connected to him.

Then he heard a sound.

That was the faith that dozens of people silently recited in their hearts at the same time.

"Don't disperse."

Chen Zhuo opened his eyes.

He was still sitting in his study, the candle flame in the lamp only a little shorter.

The wilderness, the army, the long night—all vanished, leaving only the jade pendant in his hand, still retaining a trace of warmth.

The character "群" (group) emerged naturally from his fingertips; it wasn't something he deliberately guided or released.

Rather, it was the wisp of spiritual energy sealed within the jade pendant that completed its final guidance within his body.

The moment the handwriting took shape, he suddenly understood what Song Zhiyuan meant by "mystery".

The art of "group" does not mean splitting your power into many parts to attack different targets; that is "division".

It involves concentrating many forces on the same goal and then unleashing that concentrated power at the same instant.

It looks like a widespread attack, but in reality, all the copied texts are attacking the same target.

However, the scope of this "target" has been expanded to an entire region.

It is not dispersion, but diffusion after concentration to the extreme.

It's like a drop of ink falling on paper; it's not that the ink splits, but that the paper is permeated by the ink.

The reason why "group" can replicate spells is not because it simulates the effect of the spell, but because it simulates the structure of the spell's energy required to release it.

Each copy is an analysis of the original text.

Reconstruct the exact same structure using literary style, and then release them simultaneously.

The "group" itself does not create anything; it simply rearranges and combines what you already have, and then launches it simultaneously in a more efficient way.

[Literature skill mastered: Group (level 1).]

[Article (Group) Effect: Upon activation, the next spell cast will be copied multiple times, simultaneously affecting the target area. The amount of spirit energy consumed is determined by the grade of the copied spell and the number of copies. Upon reaching level 2, the ability to control the number of copies is unlocked.]

Chen Zhuo looked at the message and gently placed the jade pendant on the table.

The panel has become more detailed, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

Moreover, he understood what Song Zhiyuan meant by the 90% probability of comprehension.

He said the 99% chance of comprehension wasn't achieved by forcibly instilling a text into a disciple's mind.

Instead, the jade pendant contained a trace of the true spiritual power imprint of the "group" script.

This spiritual strength is not knowledge, nor skill; it is an experience.

Each disciple who wears the jade pendant will be pulled into the ranks of that ragtag army to experience the feeling of "everyone entrusting their power to the same person".

Once you can understand that feeling, you can understand the essence of the word "group".

You don't need to memorize formulas or comprehend the written language of the universe. All you need to do is sincerely understand one thing: to unite many forces together, not to split them apart, but to converge them.

The remaining 0.1% chance of failure is probably reserved for those who can never understand "why fight for others".

Chen Zhuo carefully put away the bamboo slips of "The Formula of Group Characters," as he knew he had to return them.

He no longer needs to study according to the bamboo slips; the scene in the jade pendant has engraved the meaning of the word "group" deep into his spirit.

The next step is simply to use it repeatedly in actual combat, improve proficiency from mastery to expertise, and then unlock the ability to control the number of copies.

He then took out the fragment of Qian Xiu's notes on talisman making and turned to the page he had read last time.

The seemingly random sentence in the annotation caught my eye again: "If the power of the demon core can be used to unravel the secrets of the source stone, it might be possible to solve it."

He saw this scripture at the last trade fair, and then found source stones and crystal cores at the Bluestone Fair. Finally, he listened to his master's speculation about the ancient ruins.

When Chen Zhuo reread the sentence, a new understanding suddenly came to him.

The demon core is the energy core condensed within a demon's body; the source of the Long Night demon's power is Long Night itself.

Originium is a fragment of an energy source found in ancient ruins, and its energy source differs from that of the Night Demons.

This is a new force that distinguishes it from the other two.