I have a panel that reduces proficiency.

Chapter 72 Intelligence

Fang Shi was not someone who had lost his memory.

These chaotic memories flooded his mind, and besides giving him a rough idea of ​​the cause and effect, their greatest use was to interfere with his actions, allowing Guo Mianmian to do as she pleased.

He and Wu Mianmian were childhood sweethearts, and even lived under the same roof when they were young. Their fates and destinies were naturally intertwined.

But this connection is ultimately not as strong as that of twins born of the morning dew and the evening glow, nor as close as that of blood relatives like Chu Qianfan and Chu Yao.

To take the ceremony a step further, the connection needs to be strengthened, and he may even be given the power of "The True Understanding of the Seven Emotions of the Supreme Being and the Transformation of True Water".

However, this was a method that Fang Shi absolutely could not accept.

Wu Mianmian's voice echoed deep within his consciousness, as gentle as the evening breeze that brushed past his ears when he was a child picking up pebbles under the locust tree.

"Brother, just as morning dew devours the evening glow, you can also devour me."

"If my brother doesn't want to die, then he won't die. I will die in his place."

Fang vowed, "Absolutely not! Mianmian, calm down! This is a trap, a trap set by the sunset!"

Wu Mianmian said, "This is not a trap. Brother, you know in your heart that if it weren't for Senior Wanxia, ​​neither of us would have survived this calamity to this day."

Fang Shi said, "But this calamity was brought about by the sunset itself."

Wu Mianmian said, "What's the use of saying all this now that things have come to this?"

Fang remained silent.

Wu Mianmian said, "Even if it was brought by Senior Wanxia, ​​so what? Our parents ventured deep into the Great Wilderness in search of the Dao, only to be killed by Xuanqing. Brother, tell me—what did our parents do wrong? They did nothing wrong. They were simply weak. If you're weak, you have to accept the fate arranged by the strong."

"Besides, this is already the best possible outcome, isn't it?"

The voice of the evening glow rang out again: "Mianmian, brother, this is not my arrangement, it is destiny—the destiny of the Five Yin Heavenly Demon Summoning Mantra."

Before Fang Shi could even utter a rebuttal, he felt a surge of immense power welling up from the depths of the black mist, pouring into his sea of ​​consciousness without warning, and then flowing from his sea of ​​consciousness into his physical body.

His spirit was changing, and he could more clearly perceive the water-based spiritual energy wandering in the void.

His physical body was changing, and faint blue patterns were gradually emerging from his body. These were the Dao patterns from the "Supreme Seven Emotions Respond to Transformation and Generate True Water to Attain the True Dao".

His magical power was changing. With every gesture, countless Dao patterns emerged and countless water-based spiritual energies gathered. He could also use his magical power to evoke joy, anger, worry, thought, grief, fear, and shock, whether it was others or himself.

[Supreme Seven Emotions Respond to Transformation and Generate True Water: Proficiency in Understanding the Dao +1]

【————】

[Supreme Seven Emotions Respond to Transformation and Generate True Water: Proficiency in Understanding the Dao +1]

[The Supreme Lord's Seven Emotions Respond to Transformation and Generate True Water: A True Understanding of the Dao (Beginner's Guide): 5/100]

This is far from a situation where simply abandoning this knowledge will reduce proficiency.

The powerful cultivation method brings the imprint of "spirit", the immersion of "essence", and the transformation of "qi", which is a reshaping from the root of the practitioner.

Just like dissolving salt in water, there is no way to reverse the process unless the water evaporates and solidifies.

No!

This absolutely cannot happen!

Immortals are those who live a carefree life.

What is freedom and ease?

He attained great freedom.

Birth, old age, sickness, death, being with those you hate, being separated from those you love, and not getting what you want—the seven sufferings of the mortal world—do not befall you.

As the sunset suggested, reaching the summit would reverse the course of fate, erasing all regrets. Parents could be resurrected, Mianmian wouldn't have to die, and all losses would be regained.

Do not!

That's not true freedom.

At least, it wasn't the carefree life he wanted.

Even if all regrets can be made up for and all mistakes can be undone, the regrets that remain in our memories should remain forever, like carvings on stone. The wind may smooth out the marks, but it cannot erase the memory of when the knife was made.

True freedom should be the ability to erase all regrets, even memories. "I'm not happy!"

"But brother, it's destiny."

"Brother, let us become one."

Fang Shi did not refute this further.

He knew that he could no longer persuade Mianmian with words, let alone Wanxia.

The only thing he could do was to fully activate the "Yuanyun Jue" and guide every single change brought about by the "Supreme Seven Emotions Respond to Transformation and Generate True Water to Attain the Dao True Understanding" into the meridian pathways of the "Yuanyun Jue".

This is certainly difficult.

Even if you do it, it may not change the outcome.

But so what?

He couldn't bring himself to accept his fate without even struggling.

The result is—

"The True Understanding of the Seven Emotions of the Supreme Being: The Response and Transformation to Generate True Water" is incredibly powerful.

Even though Fang Shi only absorbed a little of its knowledge and power, the "Yuan Yun Jue" broke through its bottleneck and entered the realm of "refining in the furnace".

[Yuanyun Technique Proficiency +17]

【Yuanyun Technique (Proficient): 200/200】

[Yuanyun Technique Level Up: Proficient → Mastered↑]

At that very moment, Fang Shi suddenly sensed something was different.

The "Yuan" in Yuanyun Jue is taken from the "Yuan" in Lingtai Xinyuan.

His spiritual abyss was originally opened by the "fear" in "The True Understanding of the Seven Emotions of the Supreme Being and Their Transformation into True Water".

When the mind is focused on the abyss, fear arises within it.

At this moment, above that abyss, besides that lingering thought, a seed has appeared.

It hangs quietly in the center of the abyss, about the size of a fingernail, its entire body gleaming with a pale golden luster.

The shell is hard and smooth, with a fine line faintly visible winding down from the top, as if it were enclosing something about to break out.

The tips are slightly white, as if they have been soaked in water for a long time, just waiting for a spring rain to sprout.

This is?

Rice seeds!

Do not!

It is the seed of the Dao!

Do not!

It's rice seed!

Fang suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

He remembered the wild rice he had eaten, and the version of himself that had transformed into a seed in his dream.

Now he understood that the reason why those wild rice plants were magical had nothing to do with the "Taoist Ancestor's Rice" that Li Laosan mentioned, nor with the spiritual energy of the Three Plates Temple that the Qi-guiding pattern had stolen.

It was simply because his parents had once used those two ceramic pots, one large and one small, to grow rice roots.

Although it may only be a lingering trace, it is ultimately related to rice roots.

Since that grain turned into rice, and rice into rice seeds, the Daoist Ancestor has been consuming rice seeds every day.

Once the rice seeds were in my stomach, not only did the cavity feel full, but a surge of energy welled up from between my bones, warm and spreading throughout my entire body.

Every morning he would get up early, first check on the rice, then pluck a grain of rice, crack open the husk, and put it in his mouth.

That energy traveled from my stomach to my arms, to my legs, and to my fingertips.

-

I used to sweat after running three laps, but now I only start sweating after running ten laps.

Every time the rain fell, he would catch it.

The pit was dug too big, and the soil was piled up too high.

The rain pattered into the puddles, filling them with glistening water, and the rice grew even stronger.

As time went by, the Dao Ancestor grew stronger and stronger.

He could run all day without stopping, from barren slopes to dry riverbeds, and from dry riverbeds to gravel beaches.

He can dig holes with his bare hands without breaking his fingernails or getting blisters on his hands.

He picked up a rock as tall as a person and moved it next to the rice to shield it from the wind.

After a few more days, he found that he was no longer so easily hungry.

If you don't eat for a day, the cave will start to cry out.

Even after three days without food, the cave remains quiet.

He tried not eating for seven days, but the hole in his stomach didn't make his legs weak, his hands didn't tremble, and he still had the strength.

Gradually, the Taoist Ancestor stopped eating rice seeds and stopped digging pits to collect rice.

He simply sits beside the rice paddies every day, looking up at the sky.

One day, a ray of light drifted from afar and landed on his shoulder, flickering on and off.

Lingguang asked, "What are you doing?"

The Taoist Ancestor said, "Look at the heavens."

Lingguang said, "What's so interesting about the sky?"

The Daoist Ancestor said, "Qing came from heaven, and I want to see what's up there."

Lingguang said, "The cave has been filled in, the rice has turned into paddy, you're no longer hungry, and you're no longer afraid. Why do you still want to go to the sky to look?"

The Daoist Ancestor said, "It is precisely because the cave has been filled that we want to go to heaven."

The Dao Ancestor stood up and walked to that barren slope.

He looked up at the sky, which was a deep blue. He reached out, but couldn't reach it.

He tried to reach it on tiptoe, but couldn't.

He jumped up to reach it, but still couldn't.

He moved the rock, which was about two people high, stood on it, and stood on tiptoe, but his fingertips were still far, far away from the sky.

He jumped off the rock and walked back and forth on the barren slope.

The Taoist patriarch paced back and forth on the barren slope.

He tried jumping, tried standing on tiptoe, tried standing on the highest rock.

The sky is still so far away.

He sat back down next to the rice, plucked a grain of rice, cracked open the shell, and put it in his mouth.

Strength surged from the cracks in my bones, warm and coursing through my legs.

He stood up and jumped with all his might.

This jump was much higher than before.

When it landed, its feet slammed into the ground, creating two deep craters.

He tore off another pill, swallowed it, and jumped again.

It's gotten a bit higher.

He suddenly understood.

Each grain of rice represents a force that propels it upwards. The more you eat, the higher you jump.

He plucked the rice seeds off the ears of grain one by one and swallowed them one by one.

The hole in my stomach was filled, but the strength was still being poured in, making my bones swell and my skin tighten.

He crouched down and used all his strength to leap upwards.

He pulled himself up.

The barren slope shrank smaller and smaller underfoot, the rice paddies became tiny dots, and the pits became small patches.

But before he could even see what Tian looked like, his strength gave out.

He fell.

The wind whistled past my ears and rushed straight up to me.

He crashed onto the barren slope, his bones feeling like they were falling apart.

A ray of light drifted over and landed in front of him, saying, "It fell down."

The Dao Ancestor spat out the dirt in his mouth, rolled over and lay flat, gazing at the sky.

The sky was still a clear blue, exactly the same as it appeared from the ground.

"Almost."

He got up and went back to the rice paddies.

There were still a few grains of rice left on the ear of rice. He pulled them all off and ate them, then jumped up again.

This time he jumped even higher, but when he fell, he hit the ground harder, and couldn't get up for a long time.

Lingguang said, "Eat one grain at a time, and your strength will come one grain at a time. You can't jump to the sky with strength that comes one grain at a time."

The Dao Ancestor sat on the ground, looking down at the crater he had created.

Strength comes from rice seeds.

A single grain of rice represents a single effort.

After eating, I had no energy left.

Rice can produce rice seeds, and rice seeds can generate strength.

But he cannot produce rice seeds.

He suddenly raised his head and said, "Rice can produce rice seeds, but I cannot. But I can gather the strength of rice seeds."

A thought flashed through his mind, and he asked, "How do I collect them?"

The Daoist Ancestor did not answer.

The next morning, he went to move the stones.

They moved stones, big and small, one by one, onto the barren slope.

A pile of stones was built, taller than ten of him.

He moved again the next day.

The pile of stones was taller than twenty of him.

On the third day, the pile of stones was taller than thirty of him.

He stood up, tiptoed, and reached out to touch the sky.

Still can't reach it.

He moved again.

Moving day by day.

Stones were piled up one by one.

The pile of stones turned into stone pillars, the stone pillars turned into stone mountains, and the stone mountains grew higher and higher each day, piercing straight up from the barren slopes towards the azure sky.

The stone mountain grew higher and higher, and he would climb up and jump down, taking longer and longer to make one round trip.

Sometimes he would stand on top of the stone pillar and look down. The barren slopes would shrink, the rice paddies would become tiny dots, and the dry riverbed would become a thin line.

The wind whistled past my ears, cooler and faster than the ground.

One day, he moved a stone and piled it up.

There was no second stone.

The Taoist patriarch stood atop the stone mountain, tiptoed, and stretched his fingertips upwards with all his might.

The sky remained a deep blue, pressing down on him, forever just a step away.

He stood there for a long time.

Then he turned around and started climbing down.

He walked up to the rice plant, pulled hard, and ripped the rice seed off the ear of the plant. After ripping off one ear of rice, he ripped off the next.

Finally, all the rice seeds were picked clean.

When the Dao Ancestor stood on the mountaintop again, he took out a grain of rice and put it in his mouth.

The rice seed burst open inside its belly, releasing its power.

But this time it was different. What surged forth was not just the strength of the rice seeds, but also the strength of moving stones, the strength of building mountains, and the strength accumulated day by day. All of it was mixed together and pushed upwards, making his joints crack and his soles burn.

He could eat no more than one pill.

And the power of this one grain is greater than that of a belly full of rice seeds before.

A voice of enlightenment rang in his ears: "You moved stones to build a tower, learning to save today's strength for tomorrow. What you save is wisdom. With the blessing of wisdom, a single grain of rice is worth more than ten million grains before."

Then the Dao Ancestor bent his knees.

Leap upwards.

The rocky mountain beneath his feet collapsed the moment he stepped out.

And the Dao Ancestor rose higher and higher.

Finally, he ascended to the heavens.

Fang Shi stopped the operation of the "Yuanyun Technique".

-

The power belonging to the "Seven Emotions of the Supreme Being Respond to Transformation and Generate True Water to Attain the True Understanding of the Dao" still surges within the body.

[Supreme Seven Emotions Respond to Transformation and Generate True Water: Proficiency in Understanding the Dao +1]

【————】

[The Supreme Lord's Seven Emotions Respond to Transformation and Generate True Water: A True Understanding of the Dao (Beginner's Guide): 10/100]

He said, "Sunset Glow, do you know why I disagree with your plan?"

Sunset Glow laughed and said, "Brother, are you giving up?"

Fang Shi said, "Because you are a loser. You killed Chaolu, and you killed yourself. Your entire plan was wrong from beginning to end. Since it was wrong, why should I follow your advice?"

Evening Glow snorted and said, "Brother, things have come to this, what's the use of saying more? No matter how much you struggle, you're still heading towards the same fate as us."

Fang Shi said, "I'm thinking, you keep saying this is destiny. But I know you arranged the fate of Chu Yao and her father, and also the fate of me and Mianmian—is someone else controlling your so-called destiny?"

The sunset asked, "What are you trying to say?"

Fang vowed, "I want to say that I do not accept this arrangement of fate."

After he finished speaking, the rice seed in his heart suddenly shone brightly.

Pale golden light burst forth from its sturdy outer shell, piercing through the entire abyss and illuminating the once dark Heart Abyss as if it were daytime.

The evening glow's voice suddenly rose, filled with incredulous horror, as it cried out, "Rice seeds!"