After making the decision, the process of purchasing was surprisingly simple,so simple that Nangong Lingyun didn't even have time to feel the pain of spending.
At the bottom of the image was a rectangular confirmation button, and with a light thought,the account balance immediately dropped from seven figures to six.
At the same time, a very peculiar, ancient book suddenly descended from the sky.
Its size was similar to a laptop, with a thickness of about half a palm,and the entire book, including the gaps in its pages, had an extraordinary dark golden luster, resembling both wood and metal, making it quite heavy in hand.
After spending so much money, plus the various mystical legends surrounding it,Guang Chengzi, who comprehended the God of War Atlas, had it passed down by Su Nv to the Yellow Emperor,who used it to control three thousand women, leaving behind the renowned "Huangdi Neijing" before ascending on a dragon.
Nangong Lingyun couldn't wait to start reading it.
Of course, he wasn't interested in the Yellow Emperor controlling three thousand women or anything like that. He was purely curious about the mighty Guang Chengzi.
However, less than five minutes later, he closed it with a confused expression.
The pages of The Long Life Secret were thick, so there weren't many of them,and in those five minutes, Nangong Lingyun had quickly flipped through the entire book.
However, his only understanding of this book was that it was a book.Nothing more.
Normally, when a book is difficult to understand, we call it obscure. If it's harder, we use the term "difficult to pronounce,"and for something even harder to comprehend, we might call it a "heavenly book."
But The Long Life Secret was so incomprehensible that even calling it a "heavenly book" wouldn't suffice.
If he had to describe it, Nangong Lingyun could only think of three words: abstract, not just any kind of abstract, but the kind that makes your brain feel like it's about to explode.
No wonder the original text said, "The Long Life Secret is profound and hard to understand. Even those with intelligence that surpasses the heavens have failed to comprehend it fully."
Without Diao Chan, if he had bought this skill manual, his 25 million would have essentially gone to waste.
But unfortunately for the book, he had Diao Chan.
"Diao Chan?"
"Master, I am here."
With a call from Nangong Lingyun, a stimulating voice immediately echoed in his mind.
He then said,"Help me decipher this book, and try to explain it in simple terms that I can understand."
As soon as the words were spoken, a virtual version of The Long Life Secret appeared on the virtual screen in front of him.
The speed of this was so fast that Nangong Lingyun was momentarily stunned.After recovering, he was shocked, overjoyed, and a little smug as he thought,"Guang Chengzi, have you ever experienced the fear of being controlled by artificial intelligence?Sweating buckets now, huh?
Big guy, times have changed."
He silently gave a thumbs-up to the action-max Diao Chan,and immediately, Nangong Lingyun used his thoughts to open the virtual Long Life Secret and began studying it seriously.
And in doing so, he finally understood why so many ancient sages had failed to decipher this strange book.
Although the entire book contained only about 7,000 words, each one could be described as extremely profound,and Diao Chan had to use a paper-thin essay of several thousand words just to explain the meaning of a single oracle bone character.
It was like trying to explain why the couplet "Smoke locks the pond, willow" is impressive and the kind of scenery it describes.
In these extremely difficult-to-understand profound words, there were also countless specialized jargons from… oh no, ancient Daoist terms (my bad, my bad).
In addition, one would need to be proficient in a vast array of foundational knowledge related to cultivation, medicine, meridians, the five elements, yin and yang, and more.
Of course, this was only for complete comprehension. The initial practice didn't require such strict prerequisites.
At the end of The Long Life Secret, there were seven diagrams showing the operation of the meridians,and each diagram recorded a complete, top-tier cultivation method.
These represented the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, as well as the two extremes of yang and yin.
The seven diagrams, or rather, the seven cultivation methods, didn't have a hierarchy of nobility; their power, potential, and limits were all quite similar,with only their attributes and effects differing slightly.
According to the guide in the main outline,for the first cultivation, one could choose any of the seven, but afterward, one must follow the order of yin and yang alternation and the generation and decay of the five elements.
For example, if the first cultivation is Fire of the Five Elements,the next one would be Earth produced by Fire, Metal produced by Earth, Water produced by Metal, Wood produced by Water, and then Fire again from Wood.
Nangong Lingyun didn't need to worry too much about this. The Ancient Saint Body and the Chaos Saint Spirit just happened to represent one extreme of yang and yin.
And the Ancient Saint Body was much easier to develop than the Chaos Saint Spirit,so even if a mistake was made, the life attributes would give him another chance. Naturally, he chose the Extreme Yang Diagram.
However, Nangong Lingyun didn't rush to start his cultivation.
This thing was nominally called a cultivation method, and it indeed came from a martial arts world,but in reality, it had nothing to do with martial arts; it was a quasi-immortal cultivation method entering the Dao through martial arts.
It incorporated the profound mysteries of the universe, emphasizing that the human body is a small universe, and the external world is another great universe.It required precise understanding of the operation of these two worlds and their integration,thereby merging the inner and outer worlds into one, a state known as Heaven and Man Unifying.
For ordinary martial artists, the highest pursuit was Heaven and Man Unifying, but here, it was just the foundation for cultivating it.
This was also why The Long Life Secret could directly cultivate innate true qi, while other schools had to first cultivate acquired qi and then reverse it into innate qi.
After spending an entire day studying the main outline and the Extreme Yang Diagram,by the time night fell, Nangong Lingyun focused his consciousness and entered the virtual space.
The Ultimate Winner System, also known as the All-purpose Cultivation Support System,was almost as helpful to cultivation as Diao Chan's artificial intelligence, capable of instantly interpreting The Long Life Secret.
The virtual space, as another key feature of the system, could be used to simulate various scenarios, including combat, training, and special environments.
Previously, when controlling the Saw-Scale Viper to harm Third Son without being detected by Super Douluo Tang Hao,it was this function that played a crucial part.
In the virtual space,as soon as Nangong Lingyun entered, he immediately followed the route indicated on the Extreme Yang Diagram and began his cultivation.
His soul power surged straight ahead, without hesitation or caution, exemplifying a "reckless" approach.But the result of this reckless behavior was just as expected:In only two minutes, he made a wrong turn in the meridian, and true qi clashed, causing a bright hole to form in his lungs that could easily fit a fist through.
On the second try, the route was correct,but as he practiced, his body suddenly became unbearably hot, and his true qi became incredibly violent, as though he was going crazy.
Nangong Lingyun vaguely remembered that the original text had mentionedthat during the cultivation of The Long Life Secret, such situations, resembling going crazy, would occur. Ordinary people would mistake it for madness and stop cultivating. That was why they hadn't succeeded.
So, disregarding the situation, he continued the cultivation, his speed never decreasing.
Finally, after five minutes, he completely turned into a fireball and was burned to ash.
(End of chapter)