Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 76: Chapter 53: Harvest (Summary, Data Flow)_2

Translator: 549690339

Xu Yang could use this skill trait to guide a soul, accurately speaking, the soul of a living being through transcendence, assisting its reincarnation, rebirth, and transmigration, while also protecting its true spirit from extinguishment. He could penetrate the mystery of the womb, maintain or revive past life memories as early as possible, and prevent the “true self” from being lost.

This was very important. Based on the effect of this trait, although reincarnation could be seen as rebirth, in reality, it was not much different from being killed; both memories and self would be erased. After such reincarnation, whether the reborn you was still you was unclear to anyone.

But with this trait, one could protect the true spirit from extinction, shelter it from the cleansing of reincarnation. Once the mystery of the womb was solved, the true self-consciousness would recover and take absolute control, truly living out a “second life”.

From this, one could see the terror of this skill trait; theoretically, it could even achieve a hundred lifetimes of re-cultivation.

Thus, possessing a golden light effect, alongside Zhuanzhou Mengdie, was absolutely unproblematic.

Following the dream was the much-discussed skill of teaching and martial arts practice.

The teacher gained a new trait called “All Age Mentor”.

Martial arts practice gained “Heaven rewards hardwork” and “Unity of Heaven and Man”.

All Age Mentor was, quite simply, exactly what it sounds like — becoming a mentor for all ages. As long as one cultivated the Martial Arts Scriptures, they would automatically be considered Xu Yang’s disciple, influenced by his “teaching” skill, bringing him insights and feedback from the teaching.

Though the effects of this teaching couldn’t compare to hands-on personal instruction, its advantage was in the numbers. Anyone who practiced the Martial Arts Scripture or any cultivation technique created by Xu Yang would, willy-nilly, be considered his disciple. With such numbers, the impact was self-evident.

After the Great Tang had stabilized the world for eight hundred years, hundreds of millions of martial artists worldwide were Xu Yang’s indirect disciples, all providing him with feedback on their insights, significantly speeding up his extrapolation of the Martial Arts Scripture and even increasing his cultivation, the benefits of which were evident.

This was All Age Mentor.

As for “Heaven rewards hardwork” and “Unity of Heaven and Man”.

“Unity of Heaven and Man” needs no further explanation, having been introduced before.

“Heaven rewards hardwork” was an upgraded version of the original “Diligence Makes Up Sabotage”.

The original “Diligence Makes Up Sabotage” was just about compensating for talent through hard work, and the effect was… reasonable, sufficiently satisfactory.

But compared to “Heaven rewards hardwork”, they were not at the same level. With “Heaven rewards hardwork”, as long as you diligently pursued your goal, you would definitely be rewarded and progress.

Of course, that was the theory. In practice, it was still challenging, since it only guaranteed a reward, not a “huge” reward. Without the support of conditions like laws, wealth, companions, and location, advancements were still fraught with difficulty.

But this didn’t detract from its value, especially for Xu Yang, who had ample time and could easily procure laws, wealth, companions, and locations. The “Heaven rewards hardwork” trait could help him break through many bottlenecks and even carve a new path.

With the additional traits explained, let’s look at the new skills acquired.

There weren’t many, but they were all quality skills.

Taoist Skills, its full name being the Five Skills of Taoism, namely: Mountain, Medicine, Destiny, Physiognomy, and Divination.

Having stabilized the world for over eight hundred years in the Great Tang, Xu Yang’s cultivation in the martial arts field had reached perfection.

Therefore, Xu Yang began to explore other areas, especially those “mystical” and “supernatural” fields, such as Buddhism and Taoism, Haoran Confucianism.

But…

Though the Great Tang could achieve ascension, breaking through the void to enter the Upper Realm, it was essentially a world dominated by martial arts. There were no such entities as immortals, demons, gods, or Buddhas, at least not in the Great Tang. Everything, aside from the mysterious and unfathomable Temple of War God, could be explained and achieved through martial arts.

As a result, all these things that Xu Yang dabbled in were ultimately classified under the category of “martial arts practice”, unable to generate corresponding skill traits.

In the end, he had to switch his approach, not using Gang Yuan or martial arts, just purely “performing” these tasks, becoming someone who divines fortunes, reads faces, practices Feng Shui, or works as an Array Master…

And so, after fooling around for several hundred years, he finally developed some related skill traits.

For example, in the Formation skill, with the Blend False with True trait, one could use rocks to arrange formations, alter the environment, Deceive perception, and achieve an “Illusion Array” effect.

The same was true for the Taoist Skills like Whim, Divination with grassroots, Watching people and looking at qi, and Dragon seeking and acupuncture.

Whim meant occasionally having precognitive twinges on a whim. It wasn’t always accurate, nor was it always inaccurate.

Divination with grassroots allowed one to use grassroots for divination to predict fortunes and misfortunes, but it still couldn’t guarantee accuracy, sometimes being effective and other times not.

Watching people and looking at qi was a bit better; one could observe a person’s demeanor and facial features, judge their status and potential, even discern their cultivation level, but this was contingent upon not too great a disparity in “rank” between the two parties. If an ordinary fortuneteller tried to discern the supreme destiny of the emperor, they would likely discern nothing.

Dragon seeking and acupuncture followed the same principle, allowing one to locate auspicious Feng Shui sites, but also depending on the rank disparity. Don’t expect an average Feng Shui master with mediocre cultivation to find an imperial tomb.

All in all, they were all mediocre.

But Xu Yang did not despise them.

Through experimentation, it was proven that these “mystical” skill traits were extremely hard to develop, as such abilities could potentially involve ‘heavenly secrets.

To be able to develop such high-level things was already quite an achievement, so why be picky and dissatisfied?

Xu Yang was a content and happy man, so he was never picky or disdainful.

The last of his medical and cultivation skills were just as they sounded.

The magic hand rejuvenates, enhancing the effect of “techniques.”

The medicine cures the disease, enhancing the effect of “medications.”

Golden needle crossing acupoints involved acupuncture, pushing qi through the palace was about massage, and Yanluo returns life was about temporarily boosting a patient’s vitality during treatment.

As for the wondrous flowers and exotic herbs, favorable weather for crops, abundant harvests, and robust growth with few pests and diseases, there’s no need to say more; the meaning is clear on the face of it.

Thus, the results of over eight hundred years in the Great Tang were fully accounted for.

Items, the Heshi Jade!

Cultivation Technique, Five Realms Martial Arts Scripture!

Skill Traits, all sorts of new additions!

His gains were abundant, with almost no regrets…

Regrets?

Xu Yang sat on the bed board, looking at the Heshi Jade in his hand, and fell silent.

He could say that he lived a life with a clear conscience.

But he couldn’t say that he lived a life without any regrets.

There are always regrets in life.

Even he was no exception.

Shi Feixuan…

Over two hundred years of companionship, many things had been left unsaid.

The reason their relationship hadn’t advanced further was because both parties had their own concerns.

Her concerns were Fan Qinghui, the Mercy Sailing Silent Temple and the deathbed entrustment of her master.

Although Xu Yang wanted her and she wouldn’t refuse, the barrier in her heart, that guilt and burden, ultimately could not be dissolved.

And Xu Yang had his own concerns.

He didn’t want to be moved or to feel.

To walk the Martial Path alone meant to be heartless and solitary by nature.

If he could hardly take care of himself, how could he take care of others?

Thus, he had always avoided matters of the heart.

But some things, you can’t avoid just because you want to.

Who among us is emotionless as grass and trees?

Under the Bodhi Tree, that final farewell, still vivid in his mind, the passing of hundreds of years had not washed it away.

This was his only regret in the Great Tang world, apart from the Temple of War God, and also the greatest regret of this lifetime.

Is there still a chance to mend this regret, a hope to reclaim it?

Xu Yang didn’t know.

Though in the end, through reincarnation, he could protect her true spirit from extinction, ensuring her rebirth, and she would definitely be reborn in the same world as him, since this cycle of life and death was rooted in him.

But… with the vastness of the world and the boundlessness of humanity, even if she could be reborn and come to this world, whether they could renew their past relationship, Xu Yang could not guarantee.

“Let’s leave it to fate then!”

In the end, he sighed lightly and accepted the outcome..