Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 15 Notes from Previous Generations
Although Su Chunyi couldn't figure out what Chen Ye was up to, she still nodded and agreed to his request.

As if a thin veil had been gently lifted, Chen Ye suddenly felt his body lighten, only then realizing with a start that an illusion had been quietly cast while the two were talking.

No wonder even a beautiful woman as graceful as Su Chunyi could go unnoticed in a crowd.

As soon as the illusion dissipated, the eyes of the passersby were drawn to them as if by a magnet.

Chen Ye waited for the moment when everyone's eyes were on him, then suddenly stood up, holding the iconic white banner, and strode toward the teahouse counter.

"Shopkeeper, I would like to leave this bundle with you for the time being, and I will come to pick it up in a few days."

Upon hearing Chen Ye's words, the gray-haired shopkeeper couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

"Master, my shop is frequented by many people, and it's really difficult to safeguard customers' belongings. What if something happens..."

Before he could finish uttering his refusal, Chen Ye flicked his arm, and several pieces of silver rolled onto the counter.

"Consider these as storage fees."

After saying that, Chen Ye turned his head and waved to Su Chun.

Under the admiring and envious gazes of the crowd, Su Chun moved gracefully and slowly walked to Chen Ye's side.

In an instant, two silver streaks appeared, like nimble snakes, tightly enveloping Chen Ye and Su Chunyi. Then, with a "whoosh," the two rushed out of the teahouse like shooting stars and shot towards the vast sky.

Such a wondrous sight was something no mortal had ever had the fortune to witness; they were all stunned and speechless, as if they were wooden or clay sculptures.

The shopkeeper, who had just refused Chen Ye's request to store the package, was now like a different person. He hugged the tattered bundle tightly with both arms and thought to himself: This is a treasure left by the gods. It must not be damaged in the slightest!
This was exactly the effect Chen Ye wanted. After today, his reputation as a "little immortal" would be even more deeply ingrained in people's minds.

At dusk, two streaks of silver light flashed across the sky like lightning.

For the first time in his life, Chen Ye soared through the heavens.

Although it wasn't like what I imagined—riding a flying sword on a skateboard—but rather being gently embraced by the sword light and propelled into the air, the thrill was no less intense.

White clouds, like a flock of startled sheep, rushed past, and the city below shrank to the size of ants in the blink of an eye.

I had seen high places in my past life, but back then I was strapped to a seat and could only look out through a small window.

Now, however, I am stepping on sword light and soaring into the sky with human strength, a completely different experience.

With a mortal body, one can defy the gravity of heaven and earth, and freely traverse the sea of ​​clouds like a bird—this is the pursuit of a cultivator.

Chen Ye finally couldn't hold back any longer. Completely disregarding Su Chunyi's presence, he opened his mouth wide and shouted like a child.

Looking at Chen Ye's childish appearance, Su Chunyi showed no disdain. Instead, she smiled slightly and said softly, "When I first flew into the sky with my master, I, like you, shouted until my voice was hoarse. At that time, I felt that the world was vast and boundless, and I always thought that one day I could ride a flying sword on my own, go to the ends of the earth, and see all the wonders of the world."

Chen Ye replied with envy, "Miss Su can now control her flying sword and go wherever she wants, truly free and unrestrained."

Su Chunyi shook his head slightly and sighed, "The path of cultivation is becoming more and more difficult. Although I can now fly on a sword, I spend all my time in seclusion in the deep mountains, meditating and practicing swordsmanship. My daily tasks are heavy, so I have no time to go out and play."

Chen Ye deeply resonated with Su Chunyi's sentiments.

Perhaps only cultivators who feel deeply powerless will have time to relax.

Just like his master Mo Ci, who had possessed too many bodies and had no hope of advancing in this life, he only thought of taking on a disciple when his lifespan was about to end.

Young people like Chen Ye, who have just entered the Qi Awakening Realm and still have over a hundred years of lifespan, diligently cultivate day and night, hoping to advance even further.

Immortality is hard to come by, and becoming an immortal is even harder than ascending to heaven. But even if there is only a sliver of hope, which cultivator would be willing to give it up?

The two fell silent for a moment, until the sword light, like a weary bird returning to its nest, gently landed on a small hill outside the city.

The terrain around Cui County is flat, so it's quite rare to see such a small mountain standing out so abruptly. Su Chunyi led Chen Ye into a cave. He looked around and saw that the rock walls were covered with sharp, crisscrossing sword marks.

Chen Ye suddenly realized that the "quiet room" Su Chun had mentioned was actually like this—a cave ten feet in diameter was carved out of the mountain rocks by using a flying sword.

Chen Ye was secretly shocked. Just how sharp was this Miss Su's sword light to carve out such a huge space?
Although the cave was spacious, it was also very simple, with only a meditation cushion and two oil lamps hanging in the air, which looked like some kind of magical artifact.

"Please make yourself at home, sir. Although I am not skilled in alchemy, our sect has relevant texts that may be of some help in helping you condense your Qi Sea."

Su Chunyi gently raised her jade-like hand and placed several ancient books in front of Chen Ye for his reference.

Chen Ye casually flipped through a few books and immediately recognized that these were not the secret techniques of the Qinghe Sword Sect, but rather something Su Chunyi had collected privately. Two of them were already familiar to Chen Ye, having been taught to him by Mo Ci; they were likely common texts known to everyone in the cultivation world.

However, two other manuals on condensing Qi in the Sea of ​​Qi caught Chen Ye's eye.

One of the books studies how the dantian (lower abdomen) and qi sea (lower abdomen) rotate.

This topic immediately piqued Chen Ye's interest. He had never imagined that the rotation of the Qi Sea could have a positive and negative direction, and that it contained hidden mysteries.

The author of this book has clearly put in a lot of hard work. On the surface, it seems that rotating the Qi Sea clockwise or counterclockwise has little impact on the speed of cultivation. However, through the author's meticulous research, it was discovered that rotating the Qi Sea clockwise is quite efficient in refining spiritual energy, while rotating it counterclockwise makes casting spells smoother and more free.

However, the research data recorded in the book is somewhat crude. It is likely that the author was a lone practitioner from an unorthodox sect, without the support of a powerful sect, and could only rely on inquiries and his own speculations, so the conclusions he drew were naturally not accurate enough.

Besides this book exploring the secrets of Qi Sea rotation, there is another equally novel and interesting one.

The author boldly states at the outset: Why do cultivators only have one dantian/qi sea within their bodies? If they had two, wouldn't their cultivation speed be greatly increased?

This author is also a decisive and action-oriented person, daring to conduct the experiment himself.

The idea of ​​condensing two dantian qi seas sounds like a fantasy at first glance, but the author claims that it is not difficult to do. It is simply a matter of following the steps of condensing qi seas.

However, the experimental results were not satisfactory.

After taking two Qi Condensation Pills, the author successfully condensed two dantian seas of qi. However, before the author could rejoice for long, the two seas of qi attracted each other like magnets and easily merged into one, with a volume only slightly larger than the original.

That would be meaningless, since the purpose of subsequent cultivation is to continuously strengthen the Qi Sea.

Taking the Qi Condensation Pill to open a second Qi Sea not only does not provide any additional benefits after fusion, but its effect is also much worse than taking ordinary pills to strengthen the Qi Sea. The side effects become more and more obvious, and it consumes a huge amount of resources.

It should be noted that Qi Condensation Pills are much more expensive than ordinary pills for strengthening the Qi Sea, so going through all this trouble is really not worth it.

The author was clearly unwilling to give up, so he spent a lot of effort and money to try again.

This time, he meditated for a long time, relying on his strong will to desperately prevent the two Qi Seas from merging, hoping to realize his dream of absorbing twice the spiritual energy.

But reality dealt him a heavy blow, and the final result was not significantly different from a single attempt to condense the Qi Sea.

After a moment's thought, Chen Ye immediately saw the crux of the problem: the experiment was essentially a simple mathematical problem involving exponential growth.

Assuming a single dantian (energy center) grows at a rate doubling every year, it would take thirty years to advance to the next realm. If one were to initially condense two dantians, each doubling in size annually, how many years would it take to reach the next realm?
The answer is twenty-nine years.

Therefore, the difference between one Qi Sea and two Qi Seas is negligible. On the contrary, it is not worthwhile to go to great lengths and consume a lot of precious resources to prevent the Qi Seas from merging.

Having confirmed this, the author ultimately abandoned the research, concluding it was a futile and worthless endeavor. His notes are filled with reflections on how he had wasted many years of his life without achieving anything.

But Chen Ye didn't think so. On the contrary, he thought both authors were wonderful people, capable of having such ingenious ideas. It turned out that the rotation of the Qi Sea could be either forward or reverse, and that it could be condensed multiple times. These were details that Mo Ci had never mentioned.

Although the final conclusion was that the two attempts were not significantly different, in Chen Ye's eyes, cultivating immortality was like an all-encompassing and meticulous discipline. Only by deeply exploring the essence of cultivation could one avoid detours and even open up a unique path to heaven.

After carefully reading the records in the two manuals, Chen Ye suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "What would happen if I simultaneously condensed two dantian qi seas rotating in opposite directions?"

(End of this chapter)