Aotian dropped everything he and his avatars were doing and focused on the contents of the jade slip.
The technique was incredibly complex and demanding.
Its complexity stemmed from the fact that it was a taboo technique, capable of being used at any cultivation level, which naturally meant it was anything but simple.
Its demanding nature, on the other hand, fell entirely on the cultivator's mental capacity.
It was well known that as a cultivator refined their realm, their mental processing capacity and memory retention increased exponentially.
'Back on Earth, I remember reading about those cultivators who communicated with the Celestial Dao and comprehended the laws of heaven and earth, or some nonsense like that. In this world, it shouldn't be any different. The mere ability to understand the rules of existence already proves the level of mental processing a high-level cultivator possesses.'
Aotian reflected, continuing in amazement:
'The technique of the Illuminated Mind is terrifying, to say the least. It's not just a way to split the mind to focus on two things at once, but rather a method that allows the cultivator to create a completely separate thought process. It's not about division… but multiplication!'
'The limitation of one Illuminated Mind per realm exists because a cultivator's soul and mind only truly strengthen with each breakthrough. This allows them to withstand the pressure of adding another mind. Generating Illuminated Minds beyond this limit would be the same as courting death, making one's own mind explode. But I am different!'
Aotian became more and more excited.
Unlike other cultivators, who had only a single mind and body to endure the technique, Aotian had his avatars.
His own body was at Qi Refinement, while his avatars were at Foundation Establishment and Golden Core. This meant he could generate eight additional Illuminated Minds, totaling 12 separate thought processes. And this number would only increase with time.
With so many minds, he could rapidly process all his jade slips and learn an absurd amount of knowledge. Furthermore, he could cultivate the five elements simultaneously, exponentially increasing his cultivation speed.
He couldn't contain his excitement.
"Hahaha!"
Then, focusing on mastering the technique, Aotian and his avatars dove into their studies.
…
Two weeks later…
Rihai and Aotian continued to grow closer and flirt, but despite that, Aotian's focus never strayed from the Illuminated Mind technique.
Fortunately, with Tian Zhu's talent and the high cultivation levels of the elders, Aotian soon mastered the technique.
If Rihai found out how quickly he had learned it, she would probably be terrified.
Of course, the technique was taboo because anyone could cultivate it, and logically, it had to be understandable. Otherwise, if only high-level cultivators could comprehend it, it wouldn't be taboo in the first place. That's why, with his avatars, he was able to study it so quickly. It was, in reality, relatively simple.
Aotian and his avatars sat on the ground, closed their eyes, and began the process.
First, Tian Zhu slowly started rotating his energy within his Golden Core and began manipulating it.
Gradually, the spiritual energy rose from his Core in the Dantian to his brain, and through delicate manipulation, he forced it into an abnormal state.
Aotian felt something expand within his mind.
His thought flow became more dynamic, and he realized he now had a new mental process.
It was not a mere subjective feeling. His brain was genuinely processing two streams of thought at the same time.
However, it didn't stop there.
Since Tian Zhu was at Golden Core, he managed to force the creation of two more Illuminated Minds.
But when the third extra thought process emerged, Aotian quickly halted the progress.
He felt that if he tried to add a fourth mind, his brain would not withstand it.
"The limitation of one mind per realm is not arbitrary. A cultivator's brain has a maximum limit, and only a realm breakthrough can expand its potential."
But this didn't matter to Aotian.
Based on the experience gained through the sect leader, he replicated the process for the elders and himself.
Tian Zhu: 3 Illuminated Minds.
Bao Hui: 2 Illuminated Minds.
Lie Zheng: 2 Illuminated Minds.
Aotian: 1 Illuminated Mind.
Additionally to the 4 normal thought processes, in the end, he had 12 distinct thought processes.
"Hehehehe!"
With such immense processing power, he could finally execute the plan he had been devising.
Without further delay, Aotian grabbed several storage pouches and dumped thousands of jade slips onto the ground.
He left the sect leader with only his normal thought process to finally compile the Qi Refinement exercise he was going to use, while the rest of the minds would be put to work.
He picked up the first jade slip and pressed it against his forehead.
Immediately, one of the 7 remaining minds processed its contents, filtering out useless information and keeping only the essential core.
The refined information was then passed on to one of Tian Zhu's 3 Illuminated Minds, which had the talent to synthesize techniques.
The result?
A perfect assembly line.
1 of Tian Zhu's minds → synthesizing techniques.
1 of Aotian's minds → controlling his body and activating jade slips.
7 minds → removing unnecessary information.
3 minds → organizing and compiling the refined content.
This method was so efficient that after 20 hours, Aotian had already processed 40,000 refiner-tier spells.
What would have taken months was now done in hours. The effect was far greater than 1+1=2.
Of course, since he had already processed 5,000 spells before, patterns began to repeat, allowing him to accelerate the analysis of the remaining ones even further. The process of removing unnecessary information also involved discarding already compiled data.
Aotian smiled in satisfaction.
"Everything calculated perfectly!"
At that very moment, Tian Zhu completed the synthesis of a new ultimate technique.
In Bao Hui's eyes, lines of information appeared:
[Celestial Rotation of the Five Elements: Qi Refinement Technique.
Status: Low-quality jade slip (12 uses remaining).
Description: An extraordinary technique for Qi Refiners, capable of generating an elemental cyclone and, through Mutual Generation, nourishing spiritual roots with maximum efficiency.
Requirement: Five simultaneous mental processes.]
Aotian smiled.
'Rihai would never imagine how much this Illuminated Mind technique would help me. She probably thought I could only cultivate one extra element, when in reality, I will be able to cultivate all five simultaneously.'
'They say that intention is what matters… but Rihai's good intentions helped me far more than she realizes. Haah, I have to treat this girl even better… not that I wouldn't. She's already the most precious thing to me.'
Aotian chuckled at his thoughts, but soon, his expression turned serious.
Without hesitation, he sat down with full concentration.
It was time.
For the first time in this world, he would practice true immortal cultivation.
The first step…
…begins now.