Mortal Cultivation: Starting from Hiding in the Cultivation Techniques Pavilion

The night is already deep.

Inside the Nine Mysteries Sect's cultivation technique pavilion, a young man was proofreading a low-level cultivation technique by candlelight.

This low-level Qi Refining cultivation manual was only about thirty pages long, but he spent more than ten days proofreading it.

It's not that the content is profound, but rather that it's riddled with errors and omissions.

"The Qi flows through the Lesser Yang, converging at... converging at what? This handwriting looks like an earthworm crawling." The young man muttered under his breath, neatly writing on the collation notes beside him:

The original text mistakenly reads "汇于膻中" as "汇于旦中," likely due to the author's lack of medical knowledge and the similarity in the characters.

He put down his pen, stretched out a big yawn, and his bones made a slight "crackling" sound.

"I never expected... that coming to this world of cultivation would mean working like a beast of burden..."

The young man's name was Su Xiaoyuan. Eleven years ago, he transmigrated into the body of an outer disciple of the Nine Profound Sect who died unexpectedly.

His predecessor had decent aptitude, possessing a water-attribute spiritual root, but his downfall was due to a fight eleven years ago where his opponent accidentally killed him.

Although Su Xiaoyuan transmigrated and possessed a body to be reborn, her spiritual root had suffered irreversible damage and she was almost unable to gather energy.

This has caused him to remain stuck at the second level of Qi Refining for the past eleven years, without making any progress.

He almost got expelled from the sect after failing the sect's assessment a few years ago, but he seized an opportunity.

Although this is a world of cultivation, illiteracy is still rampant.

Su Xiaoyuan's previous life's worthless major, Chinese Language and Literature, unexpectedly became an advantage. His understanding of cultivation manuals was much stronger than that of ordinary people, which allowed him to smoothly enter the Cultivation Manual Pavilion and be responsible for proofreading low-level cultivation manuals.

To put it simply, it's reading comprehension...

Su Xiaoyuan was surprised to find that the world's ancient books contained an astonishing number of errors and omissions.

Many cultivation techniques have even resulted in human deaths.

No wonder, spiritual practice emphasizes starting early, and too many practitioners go up the mountain to seek the Tao without having studied for more than a few years.

Those who were lucky enough to succeed wrote books to leave a legacy. Due to their limited education, many of the techniques were simply impossible for them to practice.

Su Xiaoyuan suspected that some of the cultivation techniques would baffle even the original author.

He worked there for eleven years.

"Junior Brother Su, still proofreading?" A slightly mocking voice came from behind the bookshelf.

Su Xiaoyuan looked up and saw Zhao Ming, a disciple of the Cultivation Techniques Pavilion, with a cultivation level of the sixth level of Qi Refining.

This person is of average talent, but is good at scheming. He got this easy job in the Cultivation Techniques Pavilion by giving gifts to the manager.

"Senior Brother Zhao." Su Xiaoyuan stood up and bowed respectfully.

Zhao Ming strolled over and casually flipped through the "Qingfeng Jue" he had just finished proofreading: "Junior brother, you're not good at cultivation, but you're diligent in your work. It's a pity that in the cultivation world, what matters is cultivation level, not how many words you know."

Su Xiaoyuan didn't say anything.

"Oh, right." Zhao Ming seemed to remember something: "Next month is the sect assessment, which is held every five years. You've been in the sect for almost thirteen years, haven't you? If you still can't pass the third level of Qi Refining this time, the sect rules won't tolerate you."

After saying that, he patted Su Xiaoyuan's shoulder with considerable force.

"Take care of yourself, Junior Brother Su. The mortal realm isn't so bad; at least there's not much pressure living here, hahaha..."

Zhao Ming laughed loudly and left.

Su Xiaoyuan sat down, lost in thought.

He's been worrying about this lately, since the sect doesn't support ordinary people.

Although he was somewhat literate, the cultivation world was ultimately ruled by the strong. If his teachers could not see any hope of improvement in this assessment, his cultivation career would come to an end.

What should I do? Am I really going to spend the rest of my life in the mortal world?

After all the hard work of time travel, I ended up with a humiliating end?

His fingers unconsciously stroked the nearly worn-out "Basic Qi Induction Techniques" on the table.

This is the most basic cultivation technique that every disciple of the Nine Mysteries Sect receives upon entering the sect, and theoretically it is sufficient to support cultivation up to the fifth level of Qi Refining.

He unconsciously turned to the first page.

The paper was yellowed and the edges were worn; on it were words he had read countless times:

"Sit cross-legged, with your palms facing upwards, close your eyes and concentrate, sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. At first, it will be like looking at flowers through mist or trying to catch the moon's reflection in water; don't force it. Once your mind and spirit are completely calm, you will gradually feel a faint, continuous breath; this is a sign that spiritual energy is entering your body..."

Su Xiaoyuan suddenly smiled. He vaguely remembered the original owner's ecstatic joy when he first sensed spiritual energy. At that time, spiritual energy surged into his body in clumps, and that feeling... Huh?!

His gaze returned to the eight characters: "breathless as a thread, continuous as if still present."

Why didn't I have this feeling when I sensed Qi in my previous life?

Is it that everyone's perception of qi is different, or is it only him who is different?

Are there any errors or omissions in these eight characters? No! This is a basic Qi-inducing technique that has been verified by countless predecessors, so it can't be wrong. But why is his experience different from that in the book?

If these eight characters are incorrect, will deleting them have any impact?

As he was thinking this, a sudden change occurred!

A line of semi-transparent text appeared before Su Xiaoyuan's eyes without warning:

[Deep deconstruction intent detected. Target: "Basic Qi-Inducing Techniques". Optimization simulation initiated...]

Su Xiaoyuan was jolted and almost fell off the prayer mat!

He forced himself to calm down, and then he saw new content appear below that line of text:

[Current version optimization assessment: -10%]

System? Cheat Code?

Su Xiaoyuan's heart was pounding like a drum!

After more than a decade of time travel, this thing has finally arrived! Ha! I told you I couldn't just time travel like this to laze around and wait to die!

But what does this negative number mean? Can optimization be negative?

He forced himself to calm down.

Does this mean that his changes not only failed to optimize the technique, but actually reduced its effectiveness?

What if those eight characters were added back? He wondered to himself.

The text reappeared: 【Current Version Optimization Assessment: 0%】

really!

Su Xiaoyuan's eyes lit up. The phrase "breathing only as a thread, faintly present" was not useless, but there was definitely something wrong with it!

The -10% given by the system means that completely deleting them is wrong, but 0% also indicates that the original text is not optimal!

"Then... how do we optimize it?" He fell into deep thought.

Su Xiaoyuan re-examined these eight words. Where was the problem?

In ancient writing, especially in ancient literature, many writers liked to use vague and implicit expressions to create artistic conception, and their word choice was sometimes not precise!

This is an advantage in poetry and prose, but in cultivation methods that require precise guidance...

"I get it!" Su Xiaoyuan slapped her thigh. "The 'subtle presence' is a subjective description of feeling; everyone's understanding is different. Beginners who read this either overemphasize that subtle feeling of 'subtle presence' or they simply can't understand it and get stuck right there!"

He stood up excitedly and paced around the small proofreading room.

"It needs to be changed! But not deleted! Instead, it needs to be replaced with a more accurate and actionable description!"

Su Xiaoyuan muttered to herself, walked to the table, spread out a blank sheet of Xuan paper, and picked up her brush.

The pen tip hovered above the paper, not falling for a long time.

How should it be revised? It needs to retain the original meaning while also being clearer and more explicit...

He suddenly recalled a sentence from a Taoist classic he had read in his previous life: "When the spirit and form unite, the Qi naturally returns to its origin."

Got it!

He took a deep breath, and the pen fell to the paper: Spirit and form in harmony, breath naturally returns to its origin!

The moment he put down his pen, the transparent text reappeared before his eyes!

[Current version optimization level assessment: 15%]

"!" Su Xiaoyuan was stunned.