Chapter 1 After Careful Consideration

Half an hour later, Ye Chuxiao closed the book. He closed his eyes briefly, concentrating his thoughts, then opened his mouth and said, "I see!"

"A fleeting thought is a window to the mind. Solidifying certain thoughts can lock the mind."

"Of course, it's easier said than done. People's thoughts are complex. The simplest form of mind encryption is to constantly reinforce an ordinary thought, turning it into a fragile mental firewall."

"Only those cultivators who have cultivated mind encryption to an extremely profound level can put a layer of false protection on their true mind, allowing the false mental shell to bear the mental turmoil in their place."

"Although the threat of the Heart Pill is not as unsolvable and overbearing as the flaws of the Great Dao, it is also rooted deep in the heart, close to one's true nature. It seems that at least the level of 'mental shell' must be reached to be able to defend against it."

Speaking of this, Ye Chuxiao paused and looked at Xiong Maomao, who was sitting beside him, supporting her chin with both hands, tilting her head and looking at him.

Xiong Maomao's figure became 'real' again in his eyes.

This was because Ye Chuxiao had frankly accepted this 'hobby'.

"Having such a hobby is not entirely a bad thing for me."

"At least, I can create some memories with Xiong Maomao, and then turn these memories into a mental firewall. To the outside world, Xiong Maomao does not exist, but to me, she exists here."

"With this difference, I can also clearly distinguish what is a mental shell and what is a true mind."

"In a sense, my 'hobby' is naturally beneficial to my cultivation of mind encryption," Ye Chuxiao thought to himself.

Ye Chuyu said, "My third uncle said that mind encryption is like adding a password lock to the mind."

"The more complex the password you set, the stronger the security of the lock will naturally be."

Ye Chuxiao thought it made sense, but he couldn't help but argue, "What if you encounter someone who forcibly breaks the lock?"

Ye Chuyu smiled and stacked a pile of books, this time taking them out of her own storage magic item.

"Mental warning and mental shock are derivative techniques of mind encryption."

"Once someone tries to forcibly break the lock, the mental warning will actively stimulate your mind, putting you in a completely tense state, shrinking your inner self and revealing no flaws."

"And mental shock is when the superimposed mental defense force is quickly converted into impact force after mind encryption is forcibly broken, forming a fierce deterrent to the enemy's mind," Ye Chuyu said.

Then, she added a sentence, blocking Ye Chuxiao's subsequent doubts.

"Of course, it is also possible that neither of these two moves will work. First of all, such an assumption is meaningless, just like insisting on arguing about how to save your life and fight back if you encounter a malicious attack from a Wuding Realm expert. Since the other party has the ability to dissolve all your means of resistance, all attempts are meaningless."

"The premise of everything is that there is no absolute gap in cultivation and ability."

Ye Chuxiao opened his mouth, speechless.

He just felt that Ye Chuyu was being inconsiderate!

Perhaps she had become particularly arrogant after returning to her old home!

"Since you've said so, I have no questions."

"Arrange for me to participate in the competition in five days," Ye Chuxiao said to Ye Chuyu.

Ye Chuyu shook her head, "You have to wait at least seven days. The next round of regular matches will start seven days later."

"And, you'd better not be too confident."

"It's not difficult to get started with mind encryption. It's like a single-digit combination lock, which is easy to make."

"But if you want to complete a relatively comprehensive defense, you still need to spend time and energy."

"How about I show you a collection of embarrassing moments of cultivators whose minds were breached after failing to defend on the field!"

Ye Chuyu's face was filled with a mischievous smile, as if she was looking forward to seeing Ye Chuxiao make a fool of himself later.

Glancing at the listless Xiong Maomao, Ye Chuxiao decided to go all out!

In the following seven days, Ye Chuxiao spent his time accompanying Xiong Maomao and going to the library to find books to clear his doubts.

In just seven days, Ye Chuxiao put aside his concerns and created many memories with Xiong Maomao.

And these memories were like a layer of mental defense, firmly locking Ye Chuxiao's true inner self.

In just seven days, Ye Chuxiao had already completed the first layer of armor for his mind.

And it wasn't just a simple firewall built on the periphery.

"Although my progress is already not bad!"

"But if it's just like this... it still feels a little lacking."

"It just feels... not enough!"

Ye Chuxiao also knew very well that this was greed at play.

The first time he crossed over, he created crowdfunding for immortal cultivation, successfully cultivating the extremely difficult Nine Deaths Demonic Art.

The second time he crossed over, he created shared spiritual roots, achieving an unprecedented Divine Tree Spiritual Root.

And this third time, although he was cultivating mind encryption in a conventional way, there was nothing wrong with it, but it just felt... lacking!

"However, the mind is an extremely private thing."

"It's impossible to share it or crowdfund it."

Ye Chuxiao had no clue.

That was how it was!

If those bold and pioneering ideas could pop up at any time, wouldn't cultivation become easy?

Seven days had passed, and Ye Chuxiao stood on the field.

The Canaan Academy's decryption competition wasn't about placing cultivators in a colosseum-like place, letting both sides collide with their muscles and attack each other directly.

Instead, they had to enter their assigned deep-diving devices in a luxuriously decorated hall.

This device had the effect of amplifying the mind.

Under the effect of this device, the inner world of the cultivator would be presented very directly to the audience.

It had a more direct visual impact.

Otherwise, if two cultivators were engaged in a mental struggle, from a third-person perspective, it would just be two people standing and staring at each other, and then one person winning and breathing a sigh of relief, and the other person losing and starting to talk nonsense... what was so interesting about that?

Even Five Lightning Whips was more interesting than that.

"Welcome everyone to watch this year's twelfth round of the decryption competition's regular season. Let's see which mental warriors have come to participate," the host stood on the stage and said loudly.

In the audience seats to the side, there were already many young people holding light signs and shouting the names of some contestants.

Some people even disregarded the ban and used some harmless light flame spells to write the names of some contestants in the air.

In this world where everyone had a hobby, it was not surprising that 'idol chasers' would appear.

Just like Ye Chuyu said, normal and ordinary hobbies were the norm for most people.

And chasing stars was one of the many ordinary hobbies.

Looking at the fanatical appearance of these idol chasers, Ye Chuxiao thought of the Demonic Heart Art he had obtained from the enchantress Ying Shu.

Ye Chuxiao had gained a total of seven unique skills from Ying Shu, and the Demonic Heart Art was sandwiched among them, seemingly unremarkable.

But after taking the time to carefully study it, Ye Chuxiao suddenly realized that the enchantress Ying Shu had probably been eyeing him for a long time before taking action, wanting to turn him into a cauldron.

Because this Demonic Heart Art also had the effect of tempering the mind and resisting the threat of Heart Pills.

Or rather, this technique was originally taught to the cauldrons by the Immaculate Celestial Maidens of the Original Purpose Sect.

After all, the purpose of the Immaculate Celestial Maidens was never to make the cauldrons collapse and go crazy, but to use the cauldrons to perceive the world, and at the same time let the cauldrons bear the backlash of the seven emotions and six desires in their place.

The stronger the cauldrons, the more satisfied they were.

However, the effect of the Demonic Heart Art was not too strong, and it could not really offset the pressure of the Heart Pill.

And what was needed to cultivate the Demonic Heart Art was the emotions of expectation, yearning, and admiration from the masses.

It belonged to using the hearts of the masses to achieve the purpose of maintaining one's own heart.

This was also one of the reasons why the Immaculate Celestial Maidens of the past always chose the proud and outstanding talents of each generation as their cauldrons.

Because these proud and outstanding talents were the best candidates for cultivating the Demonic Heart Art.

But the Demonic Heart Art carried the word 'demonic', naturally because the technique itself was a 'double-edged sword'.

It took effect quickly, and the effect was not bad, but it was easy to crash.

The thoughts of the masses, good and evil, could change in an instant.

Perhaps the admiration and yearning of the previous second would turn into disgust and dislike in the next second.

In this way, the Demonic Heart Art would sometimes become a death talisman, causing the cauldrons to bear greater emotional pressure at some moment, directly collapsing.

"Let us welcome our star players Zhuang Feiyu, Si Dada, Zhao Zhen'er, and Wu Jie with warm applause. As usual, they will automatically pass the preliminary rounds and enter the third round."

"Contestants participating in this competition, please enter the corresponding deep-diving devices according to the random rankings."

The host's voice pulled Ye Chuxiao's thoughts back.

Looking at the rankings flashing on the big screen.

Song Jiamu - number thirty-three.

Ye Chuxiao walked towards the number thirty-three deep-diving device.

He put the helmet-like device on his head, and pulled over the surrounding shoulder pads and waist protectors to buckle them.

As the device started, magical light reverberated throughout the hall.

Along with the rushing sound of water, Ye Chuxiao felt that his heart seemed to be liberated.

The mind was actually amplified tenfold in an instant.

He even felt that he could directly interfere with external objects with his thoughts.

"Unfortunately! This kind of amplification and interference only exists in specific spaces and networks, and does not really involve the real world," Ye Chuxiao restrained his mind and waited for his opponent to appear.

The first game began!

Ye Chuxiao's opponent slowly appeared in front of him.

And Ye Chuxiao was also 'lucky' enough to draw 'defense' in the first round.

His opponent would use various methods that could attack the mind to dismantle his mental defense and unlock his mental password.

"A newbie?"

"Then I'm sorry!"

"As a veteran, it's necessary to teach you how to behave. Only newbies who have experienced social death can quickly transform into a qualified veteran on the field," Ye Chuxiao's opponent was a somewhat cynical young man, with a cigarette in his mouth, saying such frivolous words.

Ye Chuxiao carefully looked at the other party, and then said, "Hu Kai? Your needlework on the field is indeed quite unforgettable!"

During these days, under the bad guidance of Ye Chuyu, Ye Chuxiao had watched many social death compilations.

Among them, this Hu Kai's social death scene was quite impressive.

Hearing Ye Chuxiao mention that sad past, Hu Kai immediately became angry.

Although he was the attacker, he was now somewhat broken by Ye Chuxiao's words.