Chapter 14: The Binary

The next day was Sunday. William Jacques, carrying four large snake-skin bags stuffed with newspapers, magazines, comic books, and the like, arrived at Li Mochen's dormitory early in the morning. This man kept his word; having promised Li Mochen the day before to help collect these readings, he completed the task without any discount the following day.

However, Li Mochen declined William's invitation to work part-time at the seafood market. After William left, he did not touch the snake-skin bags for the time being, but continued to sit cross-legged. He still had a crucial matter to attend to and had no time to look at those readings just yet.

Last night, he had been deeply shaken by the cultivation technique that the original owner of the body had primarily practiced. Before he knew it, he had delved into studying it until dawn, nearly missing something important.

This was a supreme technique called the "Binary Mystic Transformation Method," bestowed by the original owner's father, Li Chunchu.

"Mystic transformation" in the Confucian school refers to the transformation through sage-like virtue, while in the Daoist school, it means miraculous change.

In the context of the "Binary Mystic Transformation Method," it naturally takes the latter meaning. As for the "binary," as the name suggests, this technique has two forms of transformation.

It can lean toward the Eastern "Circular Celestial Stem Dual Polarity Formless Scripture" or the Western "Eighty-Eight Constellation Meditation Method."

First, regarding the "Circular Celestial Stem Dual Polarity Formless Scripture": in Daoism, the so-called "circular celestial" refers to a circle. This 'circle' implies cyclical recurrence and unceasing continuity. The minor circular celestial is a small circle; the major circular celestial is a large circle. Whether perfect circles, ellipses, long circles, short circles, the coming and going of straight lines, the back-and-forth of curves, the connection of up and down, the exchange of heaven and man—all can be called circular celestial.

Moreover, this is also a substitute term for the stars of the celestial sphere, including 14,800 secondary stars, 365 main stars, 28 lunar mansions, the Northern and Southern Dippers, Gouchen, Ziwei, and so on.

As for "celestial stem," it is another name for stars. Besides that, it is also a substitute term for New Year's Day, and by extension, it refers to auspicious days.

Daoism also has the Twelve Celestial Stem Spirits, also known as the "Twelve Month Generals." These are deities governing the twelve months, arranged in accordance with the twelve earthly branches.

What the "dual polarities" are need not be explained here. As for the word "formless," it has different interpretations in Daoism and Buddhism. In Daoism, it was originally written as "without form," meaning without trace; without concrete image or concept. Originally, it was a term used by Daoists to describe the mysterious and formless nature of the Dao, later extended to refer to the profound and unfathomable nature of various principles or the principles themselves.

In Buddhism, the absence of all characteristics of ultimate truth is called "formless," as opposed to "having form."

Used here, it should mean having no concrete form, or being interpretable as any form.

Understanding this, one can know what kind of technique this is. It roughly involves borrowing the power of the celestial stars to cultivate true essence, then visualizing the star mansions that resonate with oneself, attracting star spirits into the body, and condensing one's own 'Celestial Stem Spirits' in the sea of consciousness.

These twelve Celestial Stem Spirits correspond to the twelve levels of this technique, and are divided into yin and yang, forming the dual polarities, precisely creating a yin-yang cycle, forming the circle of the circular celestial.

Cultivating this method not only allows one to enhance one's own realm and magical power through the Celestial Stem Spirits, but also to simulate any similar techniques, martial skills, or even cultivation bodies using their power.

However, the upper and lower limits of this technique vary greatly, and its power differs in magnitude from person to person.

If those twelve Celestial Stem Spirits are merely derived from ordinary secondary stars in the circular celestial star chart, then the efficacy of this "Circular Celestial Stem Dual Polarity Mystic Transformation Scripture" would at best rank among the lower-middle tier of various cultivation methods; but if those Celestial Stem Spirits are all from the twelve main stars, then it can rival the most superior immortal sect secret techniques.

If among these Celestial Stem Spirits there are the Great Yin and Great Yang, the Southern and Northern Dippers, Gouchen, Ziwei, Taiwei, Tianshi, as well as Sha, Po, Lang, and so on, then that would be extraordinary. The word 'boundless future' would no longer suffice to describe it. If nothing unexpected happens, attaining the 'Great Vehicle' stage, comparable to legends, would be within easy reach.

—But this possibility is extremely slim, one in ten thousand. For a person's spirit to resonate simultaneously with the most supreme stars like the Great Yin and Great Yang, what incredible luck and talent would that require?

As for the other form of the "Binary Mystic Transformation Method," the "Eighty-Eight Constellation Meditation Method," it also relates to stars.

Constellation, in Latin, is CONSTELLATION, referring to a combination of stars whose projections on the celestial sphere are close in position. The English word is "Constellation," meaning "constellation" or "star group"; in astrology, the term "constellation" means "sign," "mark," or "symbol."

Li Mochen, hailing from the Primordial Vault Realm, knew nothing about Western constellations. He found this information from the original owner's memories, and thus learned that this "Eighty-Eight Constellation Meditation Method" could also use the power of constellations to cultivate oneself and simulate various Western types of battle qi and magic, incredibly wondrous.

Of course, this meditation method also shares the same characteristics as the "Circular Celestial Stem Dual Polarity Formless Scripture": its upper and lower limits vary greatly, and its power differs from person to person.

After all, among the constellations, the status of the twelve zodiac signs is different from other equatorial constellations, southern constellations, northern constellations, and northern circumpolar constellations. Among the eighty-eight constellations, there are also distinctions of gold, silver, and bronze: 12 gold, 24 silver, and 48 bronze, with vastly different power levels.

Of course, among the silver and bronze, there are also a few powerful ones that can rival the gold constellations, such as the southern Phoenix and Peacock, and the northern Draco and Cepheus.

This is somewhat off-topic. In summary, after being disturbed by William and waking up, Li Mochen had five reflections.

First, it turned out that this body of his did possess some magical power and true essence after all.

Second, this "Binary Mystic Transformation Method" was truly formidable—in the terms of this world, it was incredibly awesome.

Third, it still had room for improvement, especially in the utilization of primordial spirit, or magical energy, which could be greatly optimized. For Tao Ran, who hailed from the Primordial Vault Realm and would go to great lengths to use a single unit of primordial spirit as if it were two, the "Binary Mystic Transformation Method" was crudely inefficient in terms of primordial spirit utilization.

Fourth, the identity of Li Chunchu was questionable. What intentions did this man have in crossing east to America with such a miraculous cultivation body?

Unfortunately, the memories and soul of the original owner that he had merged with were incomplete. Li Mochen pondered for a while but could not find the specific reason. However, he could sense that the original owner himself seemed to have considerable obsession in this regard.

Fifth, the original Li Mochen had high aspirations. In the "Circular Celestial Stem Dual Polarity Formless Scripture," he had chosen two Celestial Stem Spirits: the North Pole and the South Pole; and in the "Eighty-Eight Constellation Meditation Method," he had chosen Ursa Minor and Octans—though these are only silver-grade among the eighty-eight constellations, they are powerful constellations comparable to the zodiac signs.

Li Mochen did not know if this was a coincidence or if his luck was extraordinary. The South Pole, North Pole, Ursa Minor, and Octans exactly corresponded to his only remaining magic treasure, the 'Yin-Yang Life-Death Mirror.' But it was precisely because of this that the original owner found cultivation difficult.

Having chosen top-tier stars like the North and South Poles from the very beginning, he had undoubtedly set the difficulty of cultivation to MAX.

Thus, even with the best cultivation talent and the solid foundation laid by his father, the original owner still struggled on the path of cultivation, moving at a snail's pace.

If he had not taken over, the original owner's fate would be predictable. Despite having a body of spiritual bones, it would be questionable whether he could even reach the twelfth level in the future, and he might not even live past sixty.

It must be known that this "Binary Mystic Transformation Method," though a form of Eastern qi cultivation, does not emphasize foundation or nurturing the source. It is more akin to Western cultivation methods, focusing on stimulating one's own potential, with a cultivation method that is swift and violent.

Just looking at the many magical energy professionals in America, one can see that their cultivation speed is usually very fast; outlaws at the age of thirty are common. However, unless these people cross into the legendary realm, they will not live long. Unless they have life potions or similar drugs to greatly extend their lifespan.

But life potions cost tens of millions of gold shields, and the original owner clearly could not afford that sum.