Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

The manuscripts are bound in chronological order.

The earliest pages were already brittle, and the ink had faded to a light brown.

The first record is signed "Wang Chongyue," and judging from the tone of the writing and the self-reference, he is an ancestor of the Wang family.

"I once came across a stone deep in the green mountains. Its color was like ink, its texture like jade, and it had ancient characters on it. The characters were strangely shaped and could not be deciphered. At first, I thought it was a fragment of an ancient stele, so I took it back to my residence and placed it on my desk."

That night, I dreamt that a giant beast emerged from a rock, opened its mouth and swallowed the moon, its roar like thunder.

He awoke with a start and saw that the writing on the stone was fluid and lifelike. Touching it with his spiritual energy, he felt a strange force surging from the stone into his meridians, as if it were starving and thirsty, wanting to devour everything. Thus, he named it "Devouring."

—Wang Chongyue, March 2nd, 17th year of Chengping.

"The seventeenth year of Chengping," Chen Zhuoxin calculated, "is at least one hundred and twenty years ago. In other words, the Wang family has been studying this inscription for over a century."

Gu Qing'e had moved closer again at some point.

Chen Zhuo tilted the manuscript slightly toward her and then turned to the next page.

The following dozens of pages contain a variety of repetitive content, mostly Wang Chongyue and his successors' initial exploration of the literary techniques of the character "噬".

Their research methods were very primitive.

That is to imprint the character "噬" (shi) onto carriers of different materials and test their reaction.

Metal, stone, wood, bone fragments, and cloth—each material will produce a different degree of "devouring" reaction when it comes into contact with the "devouring" script.

Metal and stone are the most stable, while cloth and silk are the most volatile.

They concluded that the best medium for the "噬" character was metal or stone, followed by wood, and then cloth.

But during testing, they discovered a fatal problem.

Each time the "Devouring" spell is activated, it requires a large amount of the caster's own vital energy to be consumed.

The caster will feel exhausted after swallowing a fist-sized piece of iron ore.

It can devour larger targets and may even cause them to lose consciousness on the spot.

One of Wang Chongyue's disciples died from a backlash caused by his magical arts while attempting to devour a wounded demon beast, bleeding from all seven orifices.

Wang Chongyue wrote down his confusion in the record:

"This method is extremely powerful, but the cost is also enormous. It seems to be incomplete and does not form a complete system."

It was this confusion that opened the second phase of the century-long study of the Wang family, seeking ways to make up for the losses.

The research records for this stage were written by another person, signed "Wang Zhonghe".

Judging from the generational ranking, he should be Wang Zhongting's grandfather.

Wang Zhonghe's research direction was more systematic than Wang Chongyue's. He was no longer satisfied with simple material testing, but began to try to deconstruct the character "噬" from the perspective of literary theory.

He wrote in the manuscript:

"Judging from the trajectory of this method, it seems to be not a single-word scripture, but rather a part of some complex system."

By applying literary style to the character “噬”, one can perceive three layers of energy flowing between its strokes: one is “sacrifice”, one is “devouring”, and one is “transformation”.

All three are indispensable, but currently only the first two are mastered, and the method of transformation remains elusive.

"Because of the lack of 'transformation,' the depletion of vital energy cannot be compensated, thus this technique becomes a situation of 'no return.'"

The only way to resolve this situation is to use external objects to replace and transform the function.

I have tested various spiritual materials and discovered a pale green mineral found deep in the green mountains, which can neutralize the backlash of the "Devouring" spell. I have tentatively named it "Source Stone."

Chen Zhuo seemed to be deep in thought as he read this.

The Wang family indeed discovered the usefulness of Originium.

However, they did not actively seek it out; rather, it was a stopgap measure they came up with out of desperation.

In Wang Zhonghe's own words, "Using external force to compensate for internal deficiencies is a last resort and not the right way."

"But in the end, they still went down this crooked path to the very end," Gu Qing'e said softly.

Chen Zhuo did not answer. He knew what Gu Qing'e was talking about.

Now that the Wang family understood the importance of Originium, they were bound to control its source. From that moment on, the fate of the Xie family's mines was sealed.

He continued scrolling down.

Wang Zhonghe's research notes spanned approximately thirty pages, with the majority of them detailing the classification, grades, and uses of Originium.

He divided Originium into three grades: low-grade Originium, which is light green and has a rough texture, can offset the energy consumption of the "Devouring" technique about three times.

Mid-grade source stone, dark green in color, with a fine texture, can offset seven uses.

The superior source stone is a deep green to almost black color, and feels warm and smooth to the touch like jade. It can completely offset multiple uses and can even slightly replenish the caster's essence.

Chen Zhuo took out the three source stones he had obtained from the Xie family's study from his sleeve and carefully examined them by candlelight.

One is light green, and two are dark green. None are of superior quality.

"The Wang family is currently using low-grade and mid-grade source stones, and the quantity is not large, otherwise they wouldn't be in such a hurry to take action against the Xie family."

He put the Originium back into his sleeve and opened the third part of the manuscript.

The handwriting in the third part has changed again, and it is signed "Wang Shouyi".

Judging from the marked year, he was the previous head of the Wang family, that is, Wang Zhongting's father.

Wang Shouyi's manuscript was completely different from the previous two generations. It was no longer a simple observation and test, but an attempt to systematically cultivate the "devour" character technique.

He raised a core question:

"Since the character '噬' (shì) is part of a complex system, what exactly is this complex system? What was its original form?"

Wang Shouyi made numerous speculations and verifications regarding this issue. He dissected each of the sixteen strokes of the character "噬" (shì).

It was discovered that the direction of four of the strokes was completely different from that of the other twelve.

Those four strokes don't converge inwards, but extend outwards, like some kind of unreleased pathway pointing to other parts outside the character "噬".

I speculate that the character “噬” was not originally an isolated character, but rather the first character in a certain ancient character system.

Its stroke structure contains four extended strokes that point to four other characters.

If these five characters can be collected, perhaps the complete ancient method can be recreated.

Wang Shouyi drew a sketch in the manuscript.

The five ancient characters are arranged in a circle, with the character "噬" located in the upper left corner of the circle.

In clockwise order, they are "噬", "消", "融", "化", and "归".

Among them, the character “噬” has the most complete strokes, while only some strokes of the characters “消” and “化” have been restored. The characters “融” and “归” are completely blank, with only the three characters “据推演” marked next to them.

"Devour, eliminate, melt, transform, return..."

Chen Zhuo silently recited these five words, then picked up the stone carving again to look at it.

He suddenly understood. It wasn't just five separate literary techniques, but a continuous process.

After devouring its target, it digests it, dissolves it, transforms it into a part of itself, and ultimately returns to its origin.

The cycle of sacrifice, devouring, transformation, and reciprocation corresponds to these five words.

The Wang family only mastered a part of the first character, namely the basic application of the character "噬".

Therefore, all they saw was "devouring" and "sacrifice," not the complete cycle.