I Materialized the Cultivation Game

Chapter 31: Chapter 28: Is the Scripture Atlas a Spell? Is Reciting Scripture Like Chanting a Spell?

Xiaoyu was filled with confusion at her senior brother’s words; what new array formation had the Chen Family uncovered underground?

She instinctively felt that her senior brother was filming one of those embarrassing and comedic cultivation videos again.

Like mistaking a common dog for a Dog Demon, or this grove of ordinary bamboo as Thunder Bamboo Forest.

Now, what kind of array did he discover, a few trees and some stones arranged in some kind of pattern?

The key was that her senior brother was filming this kind of video and even called her about it.

She had no desire to be part of such an embarrassing video.

She wanted to shoot beautiful sword dance and martial arts videos.

But she was curious about what trick her senior brother was playing at, so after hanging up the phone, she hurried back to the Chen Clan Ancient Building Complex, heading to her senior brother’s courtyard.

...

Chen Han arrived in his courtyard and flipped through the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique.” This scripture didn’t have many pages because the ”Calm Heart Technique” wasn’t lengthy.

However, each phrase was a full page, accompanied by annotations and interpretations of Taoist intent, the text was centered using the ancient circular recording method.

He also looked at the contents of this ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique”:

”When a person is calm, they are at peace; when things are calm, they are smooth; when the heart is calm, it is victorious; the ice-cold remains eternal, and all things are still...”

After a moment, he felt something was off.

Because the content was no different from what the Taoist Sect currently circulated as the ”Calm Heart Technique,” they were identical.

The ”Calm Heart Technique” is also one of the commonly seen and very important foundational Taoist scriptures.

In ancient times, practitioners (who the Taoist Sect first used, and later adopted by the Buddhist Sect) would visit Daoist temples for quiet cultivation, and the Daoist would impart the ”Calm Heart Technique.”

However, in modern times, in many places, this scripture has become entirely marginalized.

Because it’s seen as useless, with the fast pace of modern life and the multitude of pressures and temptations, it’s tough to calm down and comprehend the ”Calm Heart Technique.”

Moreover, people who go to Daoist temples are now tourists, and what tourists want is to take photos and videos with their phones to post on social media, not to listen to or recite something like the ”Calm Heart Technique.”

With fewer people in need, and many contemporary Taoists also being city-dwellers, the ”Calm Heart Technique” has lost its existence ground.

So, the game system offering something identical to reality’s common content, what’s so ”ancient” about this ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique?”

Unconvinced, he took out his phone to search online, compared it word by word, and finally confirmed that they were genuinely identical.

He felt the game system should provide some explanation, but then he turned to the back and saw symbols similar to musical notes, and he realized he had asked too early.

These notes were the scripture atlas of the Taoist Sect.

He recalled the differences between ancient Taoist sutra chanting and modern Taoist sutra chanting.

In ancient Taoist sutra chanting, two points were emphasized:

First, the content of the scripture.

Second, the accuracy of melody and rhythm.

Modern Taoist chanting no longer requires adhering to these two points.

At some point, uniform melody and rhythm for chanting became standard.

Even many Taoist scriptures, when reproduced and published, no longer include the scripture atlas at the end, take the ”Calm Heart Technique,” for example, the Chen Family had several versions without the atlas.

The main point was: Since none of them were effective, having a uniform melody and rhythm meant a straightforward path was sufficient.

The originator of this unified melody and rhythm remains unknown.

Even the ”Tao Te Ching” couldn’t escape being revised every few hundred years, with the reviser’s personal touches added, deviating significantly from the original version.

Given this, it’s not surprising that other scriptures lost their scripture atlas due to the tides of time.

Therefore, the significance of the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique” isn’t its content but the scripture atlas behind it. Only by chanting with the correct melody and rhythm can it be effective?

Like chanting the correct incantation?

Chen Han thought, immediately sitting down cross-legged, calmed his mind, and began to recite in the version with the modern unified melody and rhythm.

”When a person is calm, they are at peace; when things are calm, they are smooth; when the heart is calm, it is victorious; the ice-cold remains eternal, and all things are still...”

Xiaoyu just entered her senior brother’s courtyard and heard him reciting scripture. Even though she didn’t enjoy reading scriptures, and the Chen Family’s library made her sleepy at a glance, she knew of the ”Calm Heart Technique.”

Because her master often instructed her and her senior brother to recite the ”Calm Heart Technique,” telling them they shouldn’t be impatient, that they should calm down first in face of matters, as only with a peaceful mindset could they handle things better and not let imbalanced emotions dictate them.

But why, all of a sudden, was her senior brother reciting this ”Calm Heart Technique”?

After finishing a recitation of the ”Calm Heart Technique,” Chen Han didn’t feel any unusual sensations, meaning it didn’t trigger a +2 Calm Heart attribute.

This showed that the recitation must be done according to the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique’s” scripture atlas to trigger the effect.

This proves the point, he’s in a bind, because he’s just a descendant of a modern Taoist family, and he’s only half-baked with this scripture atlas. It’s like learning half of the alphabet—how do you read pinyin?

Doesn’t he have to spend time self-learning the scripture atlas?

This isn’t so bad, as the Chen Family library does have content on this.

But if tourists have to learn it, that’s tough, since they have no basic knowledge whatsoever.

It’s like asking someone with no musical foundation to learn a song; absolutely 100 people would learn it and 100 people would sing off-key.

Tourists visiting the Chen Clan Ancient Building Complex for fun, and you’re asking them to learn the scripture atlas of the ”Calm Heart Technique”?

Isn’t this a joke!

Wouldn’t fellow practitioners from Taoist or Buddhist sects laugh to death?

Look, there’s an idiot.

He’s offered a chance to make money, but he doesn’t earn it.

Only those truly devoted to the Tao would study and recite seriously, right?

So, having tourists recite is unrealistic; they’ll just have to listen.

However, this limits the Calm Heart attribute of +2; surely he can’t keep reciting for tourists all the time?

Find some family members with musical talent to be professional scripture reciters?

Scripture reciter is also a regular Taoist profession, and coincidentally the Chen Family hasn’t had one yet.

Moreover, listening to the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique,” I wonder if recording it for electronic recitation is feasible?

Isn’t it popular now to have electronic rituals invoking the Tao, with electronic incense and the like being so prevalent, electronic scripture recitation has become normal.

But that’s something for later.

If he wants to keep the original ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique” as the Chen Family’s heritage, he first needs to self-learn and master the scripture atlas in the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique”.

Xiaoyu saw he stopped reciting and frowned as she approached, puzzled: ”Senior brother, what are you up to again? What array?”

Chen Han saw his junior sister arrived and quickly beckoned her over: ”Junior sister, come quickly, I discovered an ancient text in the Chen Family library, take a look at what’s inside.”

Saying this, he pretentiously handed the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique” to her.

Xiaoyu took it with curiosity and immediately saw it was quite an old book, but the Chen Family library is extensive, so it’s not surprising since the Chen Family was once a very prosperous Taoist heritage.

She opened the first page of the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique” and looked; she recognized the clerical script used as she learned it with her senior brother under their master.

The first page reads:

”During the family’s construction process, family elders discovered special underground geomancy in their residence that can eliminate some negative Qi in humans, thus they utilized this geomancy to set up a special Qi management array...”

After seeing this, she looked dumbfounded at her senior brother: ”Senior brother, you read this and think the Chen Family’s underground has an array, and you actually tried reciting the ’Calm Heart Technique’?”

She was really convinced by this unreliable senior brother; he believes it just because it’s casually written in a book?

Where’s there an array? Maybe it was just an untrustworthy ancestor of the family who’s fooling around with future generations, and this senior brother believed it.

Chen Han said pretentiously: ”Since the book records it like this, there’s certainly a reason.”

”Senior brother, did you get any effect when you recited the ’Calm Heart Technique’ just now?” Xiaoyu responded with a question.

Chen Han seriously said: ”The scripture atlas wasn’t correct; you have to recite according to the atlas here. Trust in our Chen Family library, didn’t you see I’ve already figured out miraculous things like medicinal cuisine and Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea?”

Xiaoyu said speechlessly: ”Senior brother, how is that the same? Medicinal cuisine and bamboo tea are real and tangible, but this array is too fantastical. The Chen Family has several versions of the ’Yellow Court Scripture’, with records of cultivation and daylight ascension, can you cultivate to ascend now, senior brother?”

”...” Chen Han didn’t expect his junior sister wouldn’t believe it, so he asked: ”Junior sister, what, if senior brother is truly cultivating now?”

”Dog Demon? Thunder Bamboo Forest? Workshop Hall Elder? Family expert?” Xiaoyu retorted, adding: ”Senior brother, I’m just your junior sister, don’t label me with strange titles.”

”Uh!” Chen Han couldn’t assure this, since it’s up to the gaming system’s mood.

The gaming system hasn’t assigned any identity to the junior sister now, but who knows if one day the plot demands it, the gaming system will add one.

However, seeing that his junior sister doesn’t believe this ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique”, he didn’t bother to explain further.

Just wait until he masters the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique”, then he can impress his junior sister thoroughly.

Thinking of this, he suddenly took out the Spirit Shadow Treasure Mirror, activated its recording function, aimed it at his junior sister holding the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique”, saying: ”As the Patriarch and junior sister were organizing family texts, we discovered a record left by a family elder.

It states that during the construction of the family residence, family elders found special underground geomancy in the residence that can eliminate some negative Qi in humans, thus they used this geomancy to set up a special Qi management array...”

Previously, I didn’t know what video to shoot, didn’t this just become ready-made filming material?

When this video goes out, he believes it will surely be ridiculed by all sorts of Taoist friends and Immortal Venerables again, but he imagines when these Taoist friends and Immortal Venerables actually come to the Chen Clan Ancient Building Complex and find the ”Ancient Calming Heart Technique” really has such magical effect.

The shock would be imaginable.

Xiaoyu saw her senior brother filming with his phone, so she turned away embarrassed, she just knew, senior brother called her here with no good intentions, with array and ancient text just to deceive her into making this silly cultivation video.