I Cultivate Immortality With Scientific Thinking

Chapter 18: Research on the Method of Soul Refining

Within the Azure Cloud Sect, Cloud Sun Peak, in the Cave Mansion.

Although he was responsible for the work in the medicinal garden, the transportation of medicinal materials only occurred once every month for a period of three months. During the other times, while there were requirements to be on duty, there were no cultivators checking on him. Therefore, one could say that he was slacking off, if you know what I mean.

"In this day and age, it's not easy to find a job that is both lucrative and leisurely..." Lin Chen sighed, then shifted his attention to what was in front of him.

In front of him, a bronze cauldron was placed in the center of the room. Next to the bronze cauldron was a miniature formation, with three Low Grade Spirit Stones placed at the junctions of several lines.

This was a fire control formation described in the "Foundations of Alchemy." It could use a special technique to stimulate the spiritual power within the Spirit Stones, transforming it into a high-temperature flame. This could shorten the time required for alchemy, and the flames produced by the formation were very stable, which helped improve the success rate of alchemy.

Although Lin Chen was not an alchemist, he still refined Spirit Medicine, and the flame was one of the key factors determining success. Its importance goes without saying.

Although he could use his own True Qi to ignite the flame, the consumption was too great and unstable, which had a certain impact on the success rate.

In fact, whether it was an alchemist or a pharmacist, they both used earth fire for alchemy. Earth fire had a higher temperature, was more stable, and extremely long-lasting, making it an excellent choice.

But after estimating the amount of Spirit Stones in his wallet, Lin Chen suddenly felt that using a formation to refine medicine was also a good choice.

"To burn away over a thousand Spirit Stones like this..." Lin Chen's face twitched.

Even though he had minimized various forms of waste as much as possible, the consumption was still astonishing.

"Scientific research really burns money..." Lin Chen couldn't help but grit his teeth.

He was only replacing and modifying the medicinal materials in the basic prescription.

Just by repeatedly experimenting dozens of times, he had burned through at least two thousand Spirit Stones. And this was still under the circumstances where he had secretly deducted a considerable amount of Spirit Medicine from the medicinal garden. Otherwise, the consumption would have been even more astonishing.

In his previous life, Lin Chen had heard that scientific laboratories burned a lot of money, and he thought there was something fishy going on. But now it seemed that he had misunderstood.

Shaking his head, Lin Chen cleared his chaotic thoughts from his mind and focused his attention on what was in front of him.

Ignition, preheating, adding the Spirit Medicine, refining the essence, merging the essence... Soon, a familiar medicinal fragrance emanated from the bronze cauldron.

Is it done?

Lin Chen's face showed no joy or sorrow, and his movements were not slow. However, just as he was about to proceed to the next step, the medicinal fragrance changed and emitted a burnt smell.

"Another failure. It seems the heat was too high... It's fine, it's only nearly a hundred Spirit Stones. I have plenty of money."

Lin Chen's face remained calm, but the veins on his hand suddenly bulged.

Ignite, preheat, add the Entering Spirit medicine, extract the essence, fuse the essence... The small cauldron emitted a familiar medicinal fragrance.

However, after a while, Lin Chen poured out the remnants of the medicinal materials from the cauldron with a numb expression.

"Continue..."

The third attempt at refining the medicine failed. The fourth attempt succeeded. The fifth attempt...

After three quarters of an hour, Lin Chen's pale face appeared slightly tired, his long hair scattered on his shoulders, but his eyes were exceptionally bright, with deep and distant black pupils.

The powdered medicine was mixed with spiritual liquid by Lin Chen and made into incense sticks, which were placed in front of him.

"The improved version 3.0 of the Soul Nurturing Incense is finally complete..."

Even on Lin Chen's calm face, a rare smile appeared.

In this world, if the physical body is the boat to cross the mortal realm, then the soul is the foundation for becoming an immortal!

A powerful soul can not only accelerate cultivation speed and compensate for innate aptitude deficiencies, but also possess various unpredictable powers.

There are even rumors that in ancient times, there were high-level cultivators who specialized in soul cultivation, abandoning their physical bodies and preserving their [Primordial Spirit] to exist in the world. They not only had the ability to travel to the North Sea and the Twilight Cangwu, but also possessed soul-capturing spells, name-calling, and seven arrows piercing the head, among other extremely feared Divine Abilities.

Even in the Immortal Cultivation World, which currently advocates the Qi Refining path, the soul is still a very important existence.

Whether it is the Gold Core stage where "three flowers bloom on the crown, and the Gold Core is born," or the Soul Formation Stage where "internal thoughts do not arise, external thoughts do not enter, I am independent, without any worries, without any awareness, seeing that the five aggregates are empty, and the four bodies are false, while I have the true self," the soul is closely related and can be said to be the foundation of everything.

However, in the resource-scarce Lingnan Immortal Cultivation World, methods and pills for soul growth can be considered extremely precious.

As far as Lin Chen knows, he has never heard of any cultivation methods for the soul. Although he assumes that Azure Cloud Sect should have them, it is ultimately something he cannot access at his level.

As for pills that promote soul growth, to his knowledge, there is currently only one type, the Soul Nurturing Pill, and it is not available on the market. Even if he could afford it, he wouldn't know where to find it!

Unfortunately, all of Lin Chen's research on cultivation points to the importance of the soul in cultivation.

If he were to neglect this aspect and fall behind other cultivators, then step by step, it would eventually affect his path to immortality.

This problem had troubled Lin Chen for a while.

After killing nearly a hundred Demonic Cultivators, searching through the bodies of numerous cultivators, and exploring the treasure streets of the four districts of Azure Cloud Sect, Lin Chen finally realized that he truly did not have the treatment of a protagonist.

After much contemplation, Lin Chen felt that instead of relying on luck to find what he needed, it would be better to create it himself!

And the Soul Nurturing Incense is one of Lin Chen's achievements in the study of souls.

Lin Chen discovered that the Nurturing Spirit medicine in the mortal world has an effect on mortals. So he had a sudden idea: if the ordinary herbs in the Nurturing Spirit prescription in the mortal world were replaced with Spirit Medicine, would it have an effect on cultivators?

Originally, Lin Chen thought that other cultivators would have thought of such a simple method. But now, there is no such situation in the Immortal Cultivation World. There may be some kind of problem.

But if mortals can nurture their spirits with this prescription, there is no reason why replacing it with a stronger medicine like Spirit Medicine would not have an effect on cultivators.

After hesitating for a while, Lin Chen felt that he should experiment to find out the truth, so he went ahead with it.

So he spent a lot of time researching and experimenting, and finally, the first version of the Soul Nurturing Incense was successfully made.

Through experiments, its effect is only one-thousandth of the Soul Nurturing Pill at the Qi Refining Stage. Without a comparative observation experiment, the subtle differences cannot be discerned at all.

Lin Chen speculated that this imperceptible effect should be the reason why cultivators failed to continue improving the prescription from the mortal world.

But for him, no matter how weak the effect is, as long as it is useful, not to mention that he can use it in large quantities.

Lin Chen uses at least nine sticks of Soul Nurturing Incense every day, which is equivalent to one percent of the effect of a Soul Nurturing Pill.

Over time, Lin Chen takes a Soul Nurturing Pill every three months!

It may seem pitiful to only take one every three months, but in the resource-scarce Lingnan Immortal Cultivation World, a pill that can enhance the soul is extremely rare.

Being able to take one every three months is already the treatment of a core disciple of a sect or a direct descendant of a prominent family.

Not to mention, Lin Chen can also upgrade the Soul Nurturing Incense to have a stronger effect.

The 2.0 version of the Soul Nurturing Incense is an advanced version developed by Lin Chen by finding prescriptions in the mortal world that require various precious herbs and replacing them with various spiritual objects.

However, just like long-term use of the same medicine can lead to drug resistance, even if Lin Chen turns it into Soul Nurturing Incense to avoid direct consumption, resistance gradually develops in the body, resulting in complete ineffectiveness in the later stages.

So Lin Chen has to continue developing a new generation of Soul Nurturing Incense. Although this process is very troublesome, the effect is also very significant.

With the help of the Soul Nurturing Incense, Lin Chen's soul has far surpassed cultivators of the same level.

Not only that, Lin Chen has also developed a simple method of Soul Refining.

Although Lin Chen is not clear about the nature of the soul, through observation and research, he has found that the soul, like the body, becomes stronger with more training.

Based on this concept, referring to the methods of the Daoists in his previous life, after exhausting his divine soul, Lin Chen calms his mind and meditates to nurture his spirit.

At this time, just like replenishing nutrition after exercising the body, Lin Chen ignites the Soul Nurturing Incense to nourish his soul. With the combination of these two, he makes rapid progress in the aspect of the soul.

And Lin Chen combined this simple Soul Refining method with the production method of Soul Nurturing Incense, creating what is currently known as one of the three major forces in the Lingnan Immortal Cultivation World, the only Soul Refining method of the Azure Cloud Sect - the "Spirit Nurturing Scripture"!

Thinking of this, a smile flashed across Lin Chen's face.

To create something that doesn't exist, that's what real ability is!

The "Spirit Nurturing Scripture" is part of his three spiritual paths, belonging to the divine path of "Nurturing Spirit Technique".

It is also a Soul Refining method that he has developed over the past ten years with the existing resources, without any peerless techniques or Spirit Medicine in his Immortal Mansion.

This method is extremely precious. Lin Chen can be sure that once he exposes any information related to this method, it will definitely cause a huge wave in the Lingnan Immortal Cultivation World, and even the lofty Gold Core Perfected Beings will personally come forward to compete for it.

Perhaps it won't have much effect on high-level cultivators, but compared to Soul Nurturing Pills, it has lower costs and greater safety, which can greatly change the strength and potential of a lower-level cultivator in a force, thus profoundly affecting the situation in Lingnan.

"Alas, it's a pity. If I had enough strength, I could completely bear the backlash of exposing this scripture and reap enough benefits..."

Fame is feared by people, just as strength is feared by pigs. If Lin Chen exposes this scripture, it will definitely push him to the forefront and cause a lot of trouble.

Even though the Azure Cloud Sect will do its best to protect him, Lin Chen really doesn't want to leave his fate in the hands of others.

Moreover, even within the Azure Cloud Sect, it may not be safe.

Handing over this scripture will definitely receive generous rewards, but he doesn't have the corresponding strength to hold onto it.

Not to mention, in this Immortal Cultivation World, once one possesses huge benefits that don't match their own strength, it is extremely easy to invite disaster upon oneself.

"Forget it, don't even think about these things until I have enough strength..." Lin Chen shook his head and then looked at the Soul Nurturing Incense on the table, lost in thought.

"The improved version of Soul Nurturing Incense 3.0 has just been developed. It still needs to be tested to determine its efficacy and whether there are any hidden dangers. And also, the experiment on the breakthrough of the soul in the Foundation Building Stage..."

Seemingly thinking of something, Lin Chen's gaze flickered.

He originally thought that being a person in two lifetimes, his soul should far surpass others, and his cultivation efficiency should be higher. But in reality, his cultivation speed and talent are no different from those who are the same.

From this perspective, the soul mentioned in this world is not just consciousness and memory recorded in the previous life. Perhaps, it represents something else as well.

"And interestingly, in the previous life, the Taoists referred to it as 'soul', 'divine soul', and 'spirit soul', while in this world it is called 'spirit soul'..."

"Combining this with the law of spiritual energy that I have summarized, which states that all things in the world are composed of spiritual energy, it seems that the word 'soul' is just a different term, or does the 'spirit' in 'spirit soul' refer to... spiritual energy?"

(End of this chapter)