Melancholy Cat (Part 1)

  A person can become a divine being, but it must start from awakening the power of both sides. However, I think all the gods conspired to hide this secret and divided the path to immortality into two paths, which are known as spiritual techniques and physical techniques, and neither of these paths has an end.

  Cultivating divine techniques can gain the power bestowed by the gods, and even eventually glimpse the possibility of becoming a god, but it is impossible to take the last step of testing. Cultivating physical techniques can gain strong bloodline power, become a strong person on the mainland, and almost never lose in battle, but cannot obtain eternal existence.

  Some great warriors have undergone a second awakening of power, and can also cultivate certain divine techniques to assist their martial skills, making them even more powerful. For many years, I have focused on studying the stories and legends of these great warriors. The exploration is arduous and complex, with a hundred years of thinking from teachers, as well as countless people's hard work and bloodshed throughout history. I only speak out the final conclusion.

  Waking up the power granted by the gods is difficult, but even more difficult is waking up the power of both sides. In fact, those great warriors who successfully awakened their second power were all possible from the very beginning. Such people are extremely rare, but after all, they do exist, and among the countless masses, there must be many absolute numbers, and some of them simply became warriors because they didn't qualify to learn divine techniques at first.

  Awakening the power of both sides at the same time, also awakens the desire for both sides. Through this trial, one can simultaneously cultivate a first-level divine technique and a first-level physical technique.

  The next trial to be faced is the "Purification of the Body", which should be a test of physical technique, and passing it will make one a second-level warrior. After that, however, one must continue to cultivate divine techniques in order to advance to become a second-level divine technician.

  The third trial faced is the "firmness of faith", which is usually considered a test of divine technique, and passing it can become a third-level divine technique master, but then you need to continue practicing body technique to advance to a third-level martial artist.

  The fourth trial that is faced again is the "Purification of Blood", which should be a physical technique test, passing which can become a 4th-level warrior, after which it is necessary to continue practicing divine techniques to advance to a 4th-level intermediate divine technique master.

  The fifth trial is the "Devil's Temptation", which is usually considered a test of divine technique, passing which can become a 5th-level divine technique master, but then needs to continue practicing body technique to advance to a 5th-level martial artist.

  The sixth trial is "Extreme Breakthrough", which should be a physical technique test, passing it can become a 6th-level warrior, but then you need to continue practicing divine techniques to advance to a 6th-level divine technique master.

  My exploration ends here, and I myself am only a 9th-level divine spellcaster and a 6th-level martial artist, and the content that can be confirmed is just this much.

  Next is just speculation, the next test should be the "fusion of faith" recorded in the divine technique classics, which can become a seventh-level divine technique master. This step is extremely difficult and will block most of the world's divine technique masters at the threshold. As for how to practice the unity of two sides, it is not yet clear, hoping someone can continue to explore this path.

  It must be stated that doing so is much more difficult than practicing physical and spiritual techniques separately, and it becomes increasingly harder as time goes on. There may also be mysteries that I am not aware of, and it's possible that one may not succeed in the end. Even if one tries, there are very few people who can embark on this path, and whether or not they can reach the end and catch a glimpse of the paradise where the gods reside is likely to require not only courage and wisdom but also the luck of being favored by the world.

  If the person who sees this is a teacher I respect, please don't forget the three things I've entrusted to you. They are messages left just for you and I won't write them here. For now, I also can't explain why.

  The information recorded in the Tears of the Gods ends here, and Bell added many small notes as he concluded his story. Amun was completely absorbed in the tale, looking like a fool, but didn't notice that Xian had already fallen asleep with her eyes closed in the distance. The cat came rushing over, only to see everything, but looked very disappointed and even disheartened.

  The golden text that appeared in the void has disappeared, and the tears of the gods are still shining. In the quiet mountainside, only Xue Dingsheng's weak snoring can be heard. Ah Meng stood on the high platform for a long time, immersed in a deep state of contemplation, savoring everything he had just seen, having forgotten where he was.

  Bell summarized the detailed steps of cultivating both internal and external forces, and he himself was obviously a proof of it. A ninth-level divine spellcaster actually also had sixth-level body technique achievements, which was almost unheard of on the Tianheng continent.

  "The Awakening of Desire", "The Consolidation of Faith", "The Temptation of the Devil" and "The Fusion of Faith" are various trials for cultivating divine techniques, from an ordinary person to achieving great success as a divine technique master. These are all recorded in the classics of divine techniques. In Bell's annotations, there is another interpretation of "The Consolidation of Faith", which is Amun's understanding of "The Consolidation of Conviction".

  These two people had never met, separated by decades, yet their understanding was consistent. Armon confirmed his own insights from Bell's annotations.

  However, for the cultivation of Tai Chi, awakening power also awakens another impulsive desire, followed by trials such as "physical purification", "blood purification" and "extreme breakthrough". These are not explicitly recorded in traditional Tai Chi texts. The old madman discovered certain rules that people overlooked and summarized them. Belle apparently went further on the basis of her teacher's work.

  The path laid out before Armon is now clear: first, to awaken the power of duality, and then to proceed through "Awakening of Desire" (Level 1) - "Purification of Body" (Level 2) - "Strengthening of Faith" (Level 3) - "Purification of Bloodline" (Level 4) - "Temptation of the Devil" (Level 5) - "Breaking through the Limit" (Level 6).

  Bell's confirmation went this far, the road ahead requires Armon to explore himself. As far as he knows, no one has ever heard of anyone who can simultaneously become a great magician and a great warrior.

  Although Bell left many annotations, some places are still very concise. For example, the origin of the power to awaken the two sides is just a word, unless it's Old Man himself who comes, otherwise others won't easily understand. Now that it's not Old Man but Ah Mon who has come, he also easily understood it.

  Bell also made a note that anyone may have their own inclinations in terms of abilities, or personal preferences. For example, some people are good at sword fighting, while others prefer to wield magical staffs with flair. These do not affect the cultivation of both aspects. For instance, those who choose to be warriors only need to meet the basic requirements for meditation when cultivating magic, without having to cultivate complex magical techniques; and those who choose to be mages only need to train their bloodline's power when cultivating martial arts, without having to learn various complex combat skills.

  To develop any ability to its ultimate, it may be impossible to achieve even with a lifetime of effort. Since the path itself is so difficult, it's reasonable to first meet the most basic requirements and then focus on specific areas.

  After Amun finished reading Belle's message, he still had two questions. One was that bone, said to be the sacred object of the Isis Temple, Osiris' ribcage. His previous guess turned out to be correct, it really was a divine relic, at least proving one of Nietzsche's crazy sayings, even an immortal god would fall, or maybe Osiris was just a demigod after all.

  Amun only knew that Osiris was the father of Horus, the king god worshipped by the people of Egyu, and there were statues of Isis and Osiris in the temple of Horus in Duqiu Town. As for this rib bone, Amun had no idea what it was all about, but holding it in his hand felt like a dream, yet it was incredibly real.

  The puppet eye detector did not detect the bone, and the puppet eye detector also did not detect Schr?dinger. Is that cat a god too? This is Amun's second question, but Bell didn't mention any information about Schr?dinger at all.

  Amun couldn't help but turn his head to look at Xue Ding'e, only to find that he was already lying on the ground, dozing off with a listless and languid expression, which didn't resemble that of a high-and-mighty deity in the slightest. Amun also found this thought of his own to be somewhat amusing.

  Perhaps in Xue Ding's cat body, a person's soul was sealed, otherwise how could it write words? And what's more, it's writing sacred texts! But this speculation cannot explain how a cat can live through the long thirty years of light and shadow, and still cross the treacherous valleys and forests to reach Douke Town.

  Forget it, if you can't figure it out then don't force yourself to think about it. If Xue Dingyuan was willing to say something, he would have said it himself a long time ago. Even the old madman doesn't know that this cat can write. Ammon seems unable to force it to do anything either. It's as if this cat led him here and obtained all the information left behind by Bell, so he should just go thank it properly.

  The tears of the gods still hang in mid-air, and the top priority is to first put away this precious divine stone. The token left by the old madman can only read the information left on it. Ah Meng thinks that taking the tears of the gods requires using the ribs of the underworld god. How to use it has already been said by Bell, the minimum requirement is a third-level divine technique or magician who has cultivated intermediate space divine techniques, and Ah Meng just happens to be one.

  To be on the safe side, Amun did not first collect the tears of the gods, but instead took various things scattered on the ground for experimentation. The spatial artifact can hold many things, as if it could carry another space, which is a treasure that many divine masters dream of. And Amun already had two in his hand, one was this bone, and the other was the Wind Charm Dance that couldn't be used yet.

  Scattered on the ground were various weapons, armor, staves, and precious ornaments, as well as unused scrolls. Each one was a good item! Some of the weapons and armor had already become fragments, but the materials were still very valuable. Medanzo had carried the steel embryo of Magar from thousands of miles away to Balen's royal city, so wouldn't well-forged Magar steel be even more valuable?

  Amoco never had a habit of wasting things, even if he didn't use them himself, it was good to give to others.

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  PS: Today will continue with double updates, and an additional update of the second half of the chapter before 12 midnight.

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