Gu Chengming stared at the line of floating text before him, and found himself genuinely surprised.
That fast?
He steadied himself and focused his gaze on the translucent system panel hovering in front of him. The interface rippled faintly in response to his thoughts, and a new series of descriptions materialized before his eyes.
[CG Status Update]
[Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method CG / Myriad Wonders Assembly: A special spirit-soul domain constructed by the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method. Drawing on the concept you provided, it combined the method's innate spirit-soul resonance and psychological suggestion properties, and was rebuilt through multiple rounds of deduction and reconstruction.]
[Effect (Active): Once activated, the Host will act as the "Lord of Myriad Wonders," constructing and sustaining an independent spiritual realm of consciousness separate from the mortal world. Any cultivator who has practiced this method may project a thread of their spirit-sense into it and take up residence. Within this realm, the appearance, aura, and cultivation level of all members are concealed behind the "Myriad Wonders Mist," enforcing absolute anonymity. Members may communicate, post commissions, or exchange intelligence by leaving imprints of their spirit-sense.]
[Current Coverage: 327 persons]
[Current Activity Level: Low]
Gu Chengming rubbed his chin, quietly stunned.
Reading that description, something felt a little off from what he'd had in mind...
But the platform was already up and running, so he might as well go inside and see how it actually worked.
He settled into a cross-legged position, stirred his thoughts, and began circulating the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method.
A faint hum resonated from somewhere deep in his mind.
The scene before him didn't transform dramatically. It was subtler than that — at the very edge of his spirit-sea, a grey, hazy region had appeared where none had existed before.
It was a space woven from countless drifting grey mists, chaotic and indistinct, with no sense of up or down, no cardinal directions at all.
And scattered throughout that grey mist, suspended like the faint glow of fireflies, were countless tiny points of light. Each one represented a disciple currently practicing the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method.
This, then, was the opening screen of the "Myriad Wonders Assembly."
Gu Chengming reached his spirit-sense in experimentally. The scattered, disorganized points of light instantly snapped into focus.
He could see it now — drifting loosely through the grey void were a few sparse lines of text, like graffiti someone had idly scratched onto a wall.
[Is anyone there? What in the world is this place?]
[Am I experiencing qi deviation?]
[Shh. Say nothing. For all we know, this is an Enforcement Hall honeypot.]
[Something feels very wrong to me too, fellow martial brothers. I'm out. Not worth practicing today.]
The disciples on this "proto-forum" were remarkably cautious. Barely anyone was talking. Even under full anonymity, they seemed to be tiptoeing around one another, probing this strange new thing called the Myriad Wonders Assembly with the utmost suspicion.
Gu Chengming thought: not bad, little Miao — I just suggested you set up an anonymous chat group, and you went and built a whole forum.
The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method, however, was not impressed.
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method surveyed the bleak and desolate scene, and felt deeply crushed.]
As Gu Chengming could clearly see, though the Myriad Wonders Assembly was live and had already reached over three hundred disciples, the atmosphere was not merely inactive — it was suffocating. An almost oppressive stillness hung over everything.
The overwhelming majority had chosen to lurk in silence.
In principle, the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method was a cultivation art built on psychological suggestion at its very core, with its central philosophy being "shared depths, shared joy." Those who practiced it should, gradually and imperceptibly, develop a natural sense of warmth and kinship toward their fellow practitioners.
That, after all, was exactly why Jiang Lu had been so easy to bring into the fold back then.
But the problem was that the Myriad Wonders Assembly had spread itself far too wide, far too fast.
Jiang Lu and the original core believers had numbered just a few dozen, all told.
But among these three-hundred-plus members, the vast majority had only tried it casually. Some were curious dabblers. Some had practiced once or twice, decided it was useless, and tossed it aside entirely. A few were even sect elders.
The composition was far too messy.
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method wondered: had something gone wrong somewhere?]
Gu Chengming let out a sigh and patiently explained:
"You set the entry bar too low. Among these few hundred people, you've got disciples in the early first realm and disciples in the late first realm — even second-realm cultivators. The higher the cultivation, the more stable the spirit-soul, and the stronger the resistance to your psychological suggestion.
"Especially the second-realm cultivators. They may have practiced the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method, but they treat it with contempt."
He continued his analysis:
"And ironically, the complete anonymity is only making the distrust worse. Because nobody knows if the person on the other side is a friend, a ghost, a fellow disciple, or a sect elder."
"If you leave them to thaw on their own, it'll take months — maybe longer. Only once they're certain there's no danger here, certain there's something to be gained, will they start to let their guard down."
He paused, then added: "And given the divide between first-realm and second-realm disciples, it could take even longer than that.
"After all, second-realm cultivators have already started breaking free of the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method's psychological influence, while first-realm disciples still take it at face value.
"Over time, the first-realm disciples will cluster together into their own little cliques, and everyone else will find it impossible to integrate — and the whole thing regresses back to the original pattern."
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method listened to all of this, stared out at that dead and grey expanse of mist, and felt its dream of being a shadowy puppet-master crumbling to dust.]
[It asked despondently: so what do we do?]
"Don't worry," Gu Chengming said with a sigh. "I've got a plan."
Anonymity, for all that it cranked up wariness to the extreme, could — if used cleverly — also generate a different kind of solidarity through another angle entirely.
After a brief moment of thought, he closed his eyes and let his spirit-sense sink back down into that grey mist.
Without warning, he posted a thread.
[Hypothetical: your sect has suddenly lost its mind and is offering you one million spirit stones — but you must choose one of the following three caves to live in for exactly one full year. No leaving. Only physical tempering cultivation methods permitted. Which do you pick?]
[Option One — The Frigid Hollow: Spiritual energy here surges like the tide, ten times denser than the outside world. However, bone-biting cold permeates every inch of the place, harsh and relentless. You are allotted one Fasting Pill per day to sustain yourself. You must circulate your blood and qi at all times to ward off the freeze — one moment of mental lapse and you risk being frozen to death. But endure a full year of bitter cold, and you will forge a body of ice-tempered jade, impervious to a hundred poisons.]
[Option Two — Elysian Heights: There is no spiritual energy benefit here whatsoever; in fact, the ambient qi is thinner than the outside world. However, exquisite wines, rare delicacies, and pleasures of every variety are available without limit. The sole cost: for every month that passes, your cultivation will drop by one random sub-realm — unless you manage to claw it back through sheer effort within that same month.]
[Option Three — Mount Chongyue: Within this place, every movement is a struggle, as though you carry ten-thousand-fathom peaks upon your back, and even drawing breath feels like lifting a mountain. The cave is lightless and silent. Yet it is, in truth, an unsurpassed crucible for tempering the Dao-heart and force of will — endure a full year of this torment, and both your spirit-sense and physical body will undergo a transformation so complete it will feel like rebirth.]
[Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method: ???]
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉