At the Grand River sect, flanked by the Soul Cliff, lies the 37th cave of gathering corpses.

Xia Ming, dressed in a white-blue robe, holds three incense sticks, offering to the heavens, earth, and people.

Inside the cave, damp and cold, the candlelight flickers, casting distorted shadows.

Gazing at the cold body lying on the central stone bed, Xia Ming sighs deeply.

He recognizes this person.

They entered the mountain together, but the person had spiritual roots and became an outer disciple smoothly.

And now... this person lies coldly here, devoid of any vitality.

Xia Ming squints and carefully examines the body.

Then he picks up a slender bamboo strip hanging from the body's waist and writes:

[Outer disciple, Li Delu: Died from sword wounds, the sword is one inch and six minutes wide, piercing through the heart and lungs, with traces of ice formation on the wound.]

[Grand River sect, Soul Cliff, Cave 37, Xia Ming.]

Describing the cause of death is just a small part of Xia Ming's work; the real task lies ahead.

Xia Ming presses his right hand lightly against Li Delu's dantian and closes his eyes slowly.

As his vision fades, Xia Ming's mind conjures a clear magnetic field induction map.

From his right hand, dark magnetic lines flow like water, outlining Li Delu's body.

At Li Delu's right arm, Xia Ming notices something amiss.

The magnetic lines there appear concave, twisted, and entangled.

It seems... there's a loophole.

This is unreasonable!

Furrowing his brows, Xia Ming directly probes Li Delu's Tianquan and Quze acupoints with a slender blade.

With a slight thrust, he retrieves two small gray stones the size of thumbs.

Looking at the stones in his palm, Xia Ming recalls the descriptions of these soul stones by the cultivators.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

[Soul Stones: Close to the human body, can be stored in the acupoints, enhancing the soul. If used on mortals, they may awaken spiritual awareness and potential spiritual roots.]

...

Finding what these deceased disciples hid in their acupoints is Xia Ming's main task.

And this is the fundamental reason for the existence of Soul Cliff.

Placing the soul stones on the black case beside him, Xia Ming closes his eyes as if in a light slumber.

Outside the cave, a man in black robes glances at Xia Ming's figure and then writes on a bamboo slip from his pocket.

[Winter, 57th month, Cave 37, three corpses found, obtained six soul stones and one talisman.]

As the footsteps of the patrolling guards fade, Xia Ming slowly opens his eyes.

The next task at hand brooks no distraction.

Setting aside all internal turmoil, Xia Ming firmly presses his palm against Li Delu's dantian.

In the next moment, a gleam flashes in Xia Ming's eyes.

Li Delu, your spiritual roots belong to me now!

With a trembling hand, Xia Ming's eyelids flutter, along with Li Delu's.

After a moment, Xia Ming lets out a long sigh.

He slowly closes his eyes and visualizes the term "spiritual roots." In his mind, a diode appears.

Yes!

It's an LED diode.

But the LED in Xia Ming's mind is dim.

As he clenches his fist tightly, the LED in his mind becomes clearer. One pin turns sky blue, while the other follows suit.

Seeing this, Xia Ming tightens his grip and exhales deeply.

"Diligent efforts will be rewarded! I can have spiritual roots! I can cultivate Qi and leave this cursed place!"

Glancing at Li Delu before him, Xia Ming's face contorts into a wry smile of resignation.

Alas...

While others cultivate immortality, he fixes LED diodes?

Is this even scientific?

Even after such unscientific transmigration, are we talking about science here?

Have you ever cultivated?

...

Let's start from the day Xia Ming's soul transmigrated.

The story is quite simple: Xia Ming was an ordinary peasant captured by the Grand River sect.

The original owner was just a mortal who had never experienced such grandeur, so he was thoroughly frightened.

He died, and Xia Ming inherited his body.

After being captured, the Grand River sect conducted a spiritual root test.

Those with spiritual roots became outer disciples of the sect.

Those without became menial disciples, subject to further assignments.

Unfortunately, Xia Ming lacked spiritual roots and became a menial disciple of the Grand River sect.

After becoming a menial disciple, they were given a manual to study diligently, followed by an assessment three days later.

Those who passed the assessment became menial disciples of the Grand River sect.

Those who failed would mine coal at the foot of the mountain.

...

The manual was titled "On How to Awaken Spiritual Awareness."

Yes, the title wasn't very serious.

Spiritual awareness, or sensing spiritual energy, was discussed in the manual.

It's well known that only those with spiritual roots can cultivate Qi.

Many people lack spiritual roots, but there are distinctions among them.

Among them are the so-called sensitives.

[Sensitives: Able to sense fluctuations of spiritual energy but unable to cultivate, suitable for menial tasks, cheap and numerous.]

[Just need a book on awakening spiritual awareness to teach them to focus on sensing.]

When Xia Ming opened the book "On How to Awaken Spiritual Awareness," an accident occurred.

...

Xia Ming saw those words, his ears ringing, his mind trembling.

He found that he didn't recognize those words!

Am I illiterate?

No!

I can recognize the big characters on the cover!

Could it be... I don't recognize the words related to cultivation?

Staring at those leaping and dancing characters, Xia Ming's heart sank deeper into despair.

No! Cultivation world! How can I cultivate without understanding these damn words!

I don't have a system yet!

Isn't this a dead end!

If I can't cultivate that damn spiritual awareness, I'll have to mine coal.

Mining coal in the cultivation world... it's like turning on the light in the toilet!

Looking for death!

I can't give up!

Thinking this, Xia Ming clenched his teeth tightly.

Even if it meant breaking his teeth, he would make sense of these words!

As time passed, Xia Ming found his attention drifting; he couldn't focus on the words at all.

With a heart full of unwillingness, Xia Ming bit his own arm.

He tried to use pain to focus his attention.

Blood dripped slowly from his fingers, frightening those around him.

Just reading a book, why hurt yourself so much?

He's just crazy!

Ignoring the horrified gazes of others, Xia Ming focused on the book.

When his eyes were almost about to bleed.

A miracle happened.

The words that were darting back and forth began to slow down, growing heads, eyes, and limbs.

As Xia Ming looked at them, they looked back at him.

In the astonished gaze of Xia Ming, they held hands and rearranged themselves.