Chapter 3

As the incense burned down, Shen Lian opened his eyes. His gaze was clear and bright, standing out in the dim room, especially clear and spirited.

Only when one is calm can one be tranquil; only when one is tranquil can one be at ease.

Although he could not take measures to nourish and strengthen his soul, there was no hindrance in using the techniques of concentration and mental stability from the *True Explanation of the Supreme Clarity Spirit Treasure’s Natural Heart Locking and Spirit Stabilizing*.

Human thoughts are scattered, the mind is like a monkey, and the will is like a galloping horse. If not restrained, they would merely waste one’s energy and make one more prone to foolish actions, harming oneself.

After calming the chaotic thoughts in his mind, Shen Lian began to think about this matter.

From the memories of his predecessor and the villagers' clothing and behavior, he could judge that this world was similar to ancient China on Earth, except that it did not have the dynasties he was familiar with, such as Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang.

As for the matters of the immortal sects, they were unknown in this remote place.

Shen Lian got up and lit an oil lamp, the flame flickering, casting a dim light in the room.

He reached out to the right wall, found a blue brick, and took it out, revealing a hidden compartment. Inside was a simple, unadorned booklet with the title *True Explanation of the Supreme Clarity Spirit Treasure’s Natural Heart Locking and Spirit Stabilizing*.

This was the cultivation manual left by his predecessor.

The first part was a vivid and lifelike image of a deity, the same deity he had used to calm his mind and enter the state of meditation.

The second part was text and meridian diagrams, roughly explaining how to guide the soul's power, like the legendary inner energy, to flow through the eight extraordinary meridians, devour one's own essence and qi, strengthen the soul, and finally gather all the soul power into the ancestral aperture between the eyebrows.

This cultivation method focused on the upper dantian, the place where the ancients refined the spirit. Although the power of the soul had countless wonders and could leave the body when sufficiently strengthened, the physical body was the fundamental basis for human survival in the world.

The *True Explanation of the Supreme Clarity Spirit Treasure’s Natural Heart Locking and Spirit Stabilizing* only talked about refining the spirit but did not have corresponding methods to strengthen the body, leading to a severe imbalance within the body.

If he continued to strengthen his soul, it might drain his last bit of vital energy.

Shen Lian, with the information explosion of modern society, adult judgment, and some medical knowledge, roughly deduced these points.

His predecessor, however, was just an orphaned teenager with limited knowledge, thinking that he could start practicing with a secret manual, hide in the mountains to cultivate for decades, and then come out invincible.

This was just a plot from a novel; reality was incredibly harsh.

The saying "The master leads you to the door, but cultivation is up to the individual" is true, but without a good master, one might enter the wrong door.

Fortunately, this cultivation method only cultivated the soul. If it were a method to strengthen the body, any mistakes would leave many hidden injuries, making Shen Lian helpless.

Shen Lian had not just been recuperating these days; he had also been thinking and pondering the path of cultivation, unlike his predecessor who had plunged in headfirst and practiced blindly.

Of course, no matter how much he thought, he still needed to understand the cultivation path of this world. The best way would be to find a master, but he couldn't just seek one randomly. If he met someone with ill intentions, he might be sold and still have to be grateful.

Shen Lian was a person who sought stability. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been content with running a small clinic. Although he had not continued to absorb blood and qi to strengthen his soul, he had gradually gained control over this vast soul power through the method of meditation.

The benefits of a powerful soul were unimaginable before, such as an excellent memory. He could remember hundreds or thousands of words at a glance, and the memory was deep.

Even the things he saw in daily life could be recalled in detail, as if he were reliving the scenes in his mind.

Although his body was still weak, his control over it was astonishing.

He had read a novel where the protagonist proposed that the human body was the first-order machine.

With his extremely powerful soul, Shen Lian could make every command of his body perfectly executed.

Despite his current weak and powerless body, he could use his maximum strength perfectly without any waste.

He could even focus his mind to feel the flow of blood in his body, like a river, making a gurgling sound.

This benefit gave Shen Lian some self-defense capabilities. With his knowledge of the human body, if he wanted to, he could react precisely and quickly, like the experts in Gu Long's novels, delivering a fatal blow to the enemy.

However, due to his limited explosive power and stamina, he could not take on a hundred enemies.

Compared to the experts in novels, Shen Lian's destructive power was indeed small. If the opponent had practiced the Golden Bell Cover or Iron Shirt, he would be in an awkward situation if he didn't hit the vital points.

It's like a child, no matter how skilled, would have to run away when facing sumo wrestlers.

Although Shen Lian refused to return with Manager Wu, he did say he would return in a few days. He just needed to make some preparations and have some self-defense capabilities.

However, now Shen Lian picked up the booklet and burned it with the oil lamp. The bright yellow flame illuminated the dark room, and finally, it turned into a pile of ashes on the ground.

Shen Lian squatted down and patted the ashes, finding nothing hidden.

It made sense; if this cultivation method was extremely powerful, his predecessor wouldn't have recorded it on ordinary paper.

Perhaps in those true immortal sects, the *True Explanation of the Supreme Clarity Spirit Treasure’s Natural Heart Locking and Spirit Stabilizing* was just a basic entry-level method.

As for other methods to test whether the cultivation method had hidden content, Shen Lian had already tried them all. He had tried every method he could think of, even those recorded in the novels he had read, but in the end, he only confirmed that there was nothing else besides the incantation.

Shen Lian wasn't too disheartened. After all, he was still lucky. Among the countless people who had been transported to different worlds, many had become animals or women. At least he was still a man, and his luck was much better than those predecessors.

Burning the secret manual was because he remembered it well, and in this world, although he had a significant blood relationship with the Shen family, he had no emotional ties.

He didn't have the bad habit of carrying the secret manual like the villains in novels, nor did he have the habit of leaving it for future generations to discover.

No matter what, letting others know your cultivation method was not a good thing, so he burned it.

He wouldn't keep it as a memento. What if he wasn't the protagonist but the villain, and the protagonist used this secret manual to cultivate the same powerful soul and come to humiliate him?

Shen Lian naturally had no such hobby.

Although this was something left by his predecessor's physical body, Shen Lian had no intention of keeping it to wait for a future recognition of his father.

PS: Thank you to Xisha for the 11888 reward, Shuyan for the 10000 reward, KJKJH for the 8888 reward, and Demon for the 200 reward, Dangfeng, Caiji, and virus_W for the 588 rewards, and GaoYaGuoStewChunNv, QuarkInAtom, DustFlying, and LiuyueBieKu for their rewards.

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