I created the Bureau of Anomaly Control

Ma En lowered his head and flipped through the "cultivation method" in his hand. The densely packed words instantly crashed into his eyes, along with countless annotations and analyses. Just from these few glances, he could tell that this wasn't something that could be learned easily.

Xiaoyao continued, saying:

"This cultivation method is also a magical treasure. It's much thicker than what you see now. The content within is enough to get you to the Nascent Soul stage. However, once you break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, you can directly reread the cultivation method using a jade slip. At that time, your understanding will naturally be deeper.

"Moreover, after reading this book, you'll only be considered to have just entered the door. The real secrets and诀窍 still need to be taught and imparted by me. And after reading and consulting me about术法, you'll also need to spar with your fellow disciples to become proficient.

"However, your most important task right now is to focus on cultivation and first reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. Although my original Xiaoyao Gong is not restricted by spiritual energy and can be converted from other energy sources in barren lands—this is also the real reason why this cultivation method can eventually allow cultivators to cover an entire city—you need enough contact volume with space to convert spiritual energy here.

"But when I created this cultivation method, I was already at the Nascent Soul stage. Although I later modified it slightly to accept disciples, allowing Golden Core stage cultivators to achieve a very similar effect, you still need to absorb and exhale spiritual energy before reaching the Golden Core stage.

"Fortunately, although the spiritual energy in the barren land is scarce, I have actually solved this problem. The mist I usually disperse contains rich spiritual energy comparable to the blessed lands of the cultivation world. Disciples who have not reached the Golden Core stage can stay here to cultivate.

"But I think you definitely won't want to stay here forever, and I don't plan to restrict your freedom. After you pass the entry stage, you only need to come back to me for clarification when you have questions. Cultivation is not something that can be achieved overnight. Even true geniuses will take at least several years to reach the Nascent Soul stage, and many ambitious cultivators and sects will deliberately lengthen this time to stabilize their foundations.

"And I've noticed that you don't seem to have been idle during this time, and you probably aren't the type to stay still. But this isn't a problem. In our world, there are indeed cultivators who meditate and cultivate all day long, and most of my disciples are like that.

"But a genius like you is more suitable to go out and see the world, and gain enlightenment by combining your own experiences. This will actually make your cultivation smoother. When I was young, I was never idle, and I honed my skills by exploring everywhere.

"So when you're outside, I'll prepare some elixirs that can replace spiritual energy for you.

"But speaking of this, I wonder if you've ever thought about one thing.

"That is, why your world is called the Barren World."

Ma En already had some vague guesses, but he still asked humbly:

"Why?"

Xiaoyao didn't intend to test him and said directly:

"I told you how the Barren World and the cultivation world were born. At that time, the immortals and demons chose to divide the world equally after fighting. But you should know that before the demons left the mountains, the continent you are on was also filled with sufficient spiritual energy.

"But after we joined forces to isolate the two worlds with immortal arts and demonic techniques, the immortals took the opportunity to establish a Spirit Gathering Array in the cultivation world, concentrating all the spiritual energy on this planet into the cultivation world. This is the reason why spiritual energy is exhausted here.

"Of course, when they established the Spirit Gathering Array, the place where you are now was still the territory of the demons. The remaining humans were just food for those demons at that time. The immortals didn't consider that the era of the demons would end after countless years, and that humans would rise again.

"The immortals were also worried that the demons would learn the 通天大道 that we had researched for many years, so they cut off the opportunity for mortals in this world to climb upwards, and cut off your possibility of using术法 and cultivating.

"This is also why your power is so chaotic and strange. A long time ago, there used to be very rich spiritual energy here, and everyone could embark on the path of cultivation. But after we took away the spiritual energy, the experience summed up over countless years became waste paper.

"But this is not the end. According to our intermittent information, the mortals in the Barren World later seemed to have found a way to use the power of the essence of the five elements by imitating and learning from the demons. They bypassed the spiritual energy and directly manipulated the five elements, renaming them elements.

"Because this power came from demons, they also called it magic. However, it seems that due to the excessive plunder of the essence of the five elements, you almost lost this demonic technique at some point. Since then, the Barren World has truly lived up to its name.

"But now this may not be a bad thing for you. Although you have lost the cultivation methods of immortal arts and demonic paths, it has led to the frequent appearance of strange physiques among the mortals here, and it seems that you have faintly found a new path, but it is far from being as mature as immortal arts and demonic paths, and it still needs some time to settle.

"Remember, before you formally became my disciple, I said that the famous and upright sects in the cultivation world are all good people. They call your world a chaotic world where rites have collapsed and music has been ruined, and they think that the mortals here don't understand etiquette, don't know morality, don't understand right and wrong, and don't see the truth.

"This is naturally because they are all truly good people. When these words are said from their mouths, I even feel that they are particularly reasonable, because I have also seen all kinds of evil deeds in your land.

"If a person like Shenxiao were in our cultivation world, she would be a hero praised by every household. As long as she goes to the major famous and upright sects, she will definitely be treated as the most distinguished guest, but the rulers here actually imprisoned her?

"Just this one thing, this so-called Federation will be regarded as an evil sect and suppressed by the major sects. But this matter is not even considered heinous among the crimes committed by the Federation. They are even more disgusting than many of the demonic cultivators I know.

"Moreover, although your cities are denser than ours and can accommodate more mortals in the same area, this not only allows me to easily kill more mortals at the same time, but also seems to make your mortals more indifferent than before.

"Your people don't read, don't study, and the Federation doesn't show you morality and truth, but just lets you drift with the tide. This is almost impossible to happen in our world. If the rulers of that country did this, they would be criticized by the various schools of thought.

"I've said so much, you should have felt the gap between us to some extent, and you can realize that the cultivation world saying that your world is a chaotic world where rites have collapsed and music has been ruined is really not standing and talking without back pain, then have you ever thought about...

"Why don't they return the spiritual energy to you?"