In the name of supernatural powers

Chapter 5 Refining Qi into Essence
As the clouds and mist dispersed, everything vanished.

Only the white-browed old Taoist priest turned around and stared at Lu Zhao, smiling gently as he said, "If the three flowers do not gather, how can one know illusion? If one does not rise from the clouds, how can one know reality?"

"This humble Taoist priest, Shao Yuanjie, greets you, layman."

Taoist priest?

Lu Zhao's consciousness gradually cleared. Beneath his feet was clear, dark ink. The surroundings were empty, and an old Taoist priest with an air of otherworldly wisdom stood in the center.

He asked, "Where is this?"

The old Taoist priest replied, "Buddha speaks of the other shore, Taoism speaks of the primordial chaos. In the past five hundred years, you are the only one who has come here."

Lu Zhao retorted, "Then what are you?"

The old Taoist priest counted on his fingers, stroked his long beard, and replied: "I am a person from the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty. I cultivated Qi and transformed it into spirit, and came here to seek immortality. It has been five hundred years since then. I am the only person from five hundred years ago, and you are the only person from five hundred years later."

He then pointed behind Lu Zhao, and following his guidance, Lu Zhao could see starlight faintly appearing in a pitch-black world.

"In this world, those who refine their spirit are few, those who can enter the inner realm are even fewer, and only the layman has stepped into the primordial state."

Lu Zhao understood; this was still a spiritual world.

He had consulted many spiritual mentors, but his condition was relatively rare and there was currently no solution; the only option was to continuously develop his vitality and elevate his spiritual level.

A first-order condensed consciousness of a spiritual transcendent is a physical manifestation in the spiritual world, referred to as the external appearance.

The second-order can, on this basis, simulate the five internal organs in the spiritual world, which is called the inner form.

Third-tier spiritual transcendents can construct inner visions to combat external spiritual pollution.

But he made no further move or asked any questions, and stood there quietly watching the old Taoist priest.

In the spiritual world, all people and things are illusory.

Those who possess spiritual extraordinary abilities will eventually go insane through excessive exploration of the spiritual world, because they become completely trapped in a self-constructed world, and their cognition is completely distorted.

This could be the old Taoist's inner vision, or it could be an illusion generated based on his perception.

Lu Zhao leaned towards the latter.

He was once influenced by Li Shaoqing. Lu Zhao knew all of Li Dongxue's likes and dislikes and could predict her every move. After the age of sixteen, this became a one-sided mind-reading.

In severe cases, Lu Zhao and she share the same dream.

This is a kind of mental overflow, and the side effect on Lu Zhao is that he becomes irritable when he cannot perceive Li Dongxue's presence.

His mental strength was also constantly deflating, like a punctured balloon.

After Lu Zhao passed the imperial examination in Beijing, he proactively cut off contact with his advisor. This was beneficial for both of them; Li Dongxue preserved her right to privacy, and Lu Zhao's mental state would stabilize.

Around the summer break of his sophomore year, Lu Zhao completely broke free from mental extrapolation, using it to travel thousands of miles a day in the mental realm, successfully becoming the top student in his department.

The most effective way to deal with hallucinations is not to deny them, but to observe them quietly.

Humans cannot prove their own existence, nor can the mind prove its own existence against illusions. And illusions are ultimately false; the more they are fabricated, the easier it is for them to reveal their flaws.

Seeing that Lu Zhao had not reacted for a long time, the old Taoist priest asked, "Layman, you don't seem surprised at all?"

Lu Zhao shook his head.

"Nothing else you want to ask?"

Lu Zhao shook his head again.

"It is right for the layperson to be cautious, and it was I who was presumptuous."

The old Taoist priest maintained his kind smile and took out a blue book from his sleeve, handing it to Lu Zhao.

[Refining Essence into Qi and Breathing Techniques]

Lu Zhao didn't answer. The scene before his eyes began to blur until he was completely plunged into darkness. The sound of rain reached his ears, and the smell of cigarette butts filled his nostrils.

Consciousness returned to the body, and it started raining again outside.

Lu Zhao glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table; the time was 5:10.

"I slept for five hours, which is great."

Normally, he can only sleep for two and a half hours a day. If it weren't for his superhuman physical abilities and inhuman willpower, Lu Zhao might have died of a sudden illness long ago.

Sitting up halfway to light a cigarette, Lu Zhao recalled the hallucinations in the mental world.

"Mind and breath depend on each other, spirit returns to nothingness, form returns to nature." A memory that did not belong to him suddenly surfaced; it was about refining Qi into essence. Lu Zhao subconsciously recited the incantation.

My body also began to function as if some kind of mechanism had been activated, and a surge of energy flowed through my meridians.

Focus your mind on your lower abdomen (Dantian), breathe gently and subtly, and let your mind and breath become one.

Visualize the breath as white light entering the dantian, transforming into white energy that circulates throughout the body.

Lu Zhao's breathing suddenly changed; with each breath, he could feel a flow of energy circulating through his body, eventually converging in his abdomen.

Lu Zhao only stopped when he felt dizzy and a strong feeling of hunger surged into his head.

He held onto the table to keep from falling, then opened the refrigerator, grabbed the remaining 300 milliliters of life supplement, and gulped it down.

That still wasn't enough, so Lu Zhao had to open a new bottle. At first, he only took 100 milliliters, but later he simply drank the whole bottle.

Normally, if he doesn't exercise, 100 milliliters would be enough for his daily intake, but now he doesn't feel bloated even after 500 milliliters.

After drinking three bottles in a row, the hunger pangs began to subside, and my brain was finally able to start thinking.

Lu Zhao pinched himself; pain is the least likely to cause hallucinations.

There are also substantial changes affecting the physical body, and the enhancement of vitality exceeds the scope that illusions can simulate. At least in this respect, Lu Zhao can still distinguish between illusion and reality.

But this was beyond his comprehension; an old Taoist priest who had lived in the spiritual world for hundreds of years had never heard of it.

Lu Zhao's thoughts raced. He stopped dwelling on the old Taoist's existence and began to observe the changes in himself: "I drank three bottles and consumed at least 30,000 calories without feeling full. This technique is real, and that old Taoist might also be real."

"But I've never seen the cultivation method before. Is the old Taoist priest giving me some kind of empowerment?"

The essence of life is eating, digesting, and excreting.

Developing vitality involves two key aspects: the energy conversion rate and the calorie requirement per point of vitality. With each point increase in vitality, the conversion rate decreases, while the total energy requirement increases.
一阶是10-50点，二阶是50-200点，三阶是200-600点。

Life Development

Lu Zhao has 35 points of vitality, placing him at the first tier. Ordinary food can no longer be used for life development; it can only maintain metabolism.

With this thought in mind, Lu Zhao pulled out a palm-sized blood analyzer from the drawer.

Similar to a blood glucose meter, it uses a needle to take a drop of blood and waits five minutes to obtain vital signs data.

[Vitality: 35.5]

"It improved by 0.1."

Lu Zhao's eyes widened, and his breathing became heavy.

Maintaining daily metabolism is simple, especially in modern times when there is an abundance of substances; simply replenishing calories is easy.

Developing vitality requires attention to conversion rate, specifically the conversion rate of energy.

Lu Zhao is considered to have exceptional talent, but due to limited resources, it takes him one hundred days to improve even a small amount of life by taking low-level life supplements.

Now that he has the cultivation method, he is no longer limited by scarce resources.

If he increases his vitality by 0.1 every day, he can reach 40 points of vitality in a little over a month, and 50 points in another 100 days.

Upon reaching the second level of transcendence, he will have the right to work in local areas, leaving the Chen family's sphere of influence with his resume and achievements.

There is nothing in the world that cannot be solved by the development of life; if there is, then it is only necessary to use extraordinary power to overthrow it.

The fastest-developing genius in the history of the Yan Federation, with 30 points of life force, only 0.1 points per day.

This man is named Wang Shouzhen. He graduated from the capital city thirty years ago and became the chief of the Wude Hall five years ago, with the title of Tianhou.

My rate of consuming low-level life supplements is the same as the Chief's.

Lu Zhao lit another cigarette to calm himself down for a moment, his hand holding the cigarette trembling slightly involuntarily.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, but he was already at his wit's end.

"Even if there's a nail in the pie, I'll swallow it!"

The hand holding the cigarette stopped trembling.

Lu Zhao was tidying up the scattered items when he saw the broken phone on the ground.

The best course of action now is to borrow money from Lao Zhang to buy a cell phone.

(End of this chapter)