Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 490 - 441 Bizzare Tower

Chapter 490: Chapter 441 Bizzare Tower
What exactly is the Heavenly Person Five Decays?
In the descriptions found in the existing archives of the Academic Palace, when Great Practitioners approach the end of their lifetimes, their bodies weaken, emit foul odors, and they grow wearied and intolerant. Simultaneously, their Qi Sea depletes, their Spirit Veins wither, and an overwhelming Spiritual Energy leaks out from within their bodies. This leakage can cause phenomena like the sun and moon shining together, mirage-like cities, and blue lotuses descending to earth.
Eventually, after they pass away in meditation, Spiritual Energy disperses into the world, an event also known as "Great Return."
Logically speaking, the higher a Cultivator’s Cultivation is, the stronger their control over their body should be. Martial Arts Grandmasters can precisely sense and control every strand of muscle in their body, and Telekinesis Masters can ’see’ their own bodily organs at work. Even I can make cell-level adjustments with the aid of Mo Si.
Cultivators from the Near-Cliff Realm throughout the ages have been akin to Gods and Buddhas, yet even they have not been able to overcome the Heavenly Person Five Decays.
The Emperors of Former Sui, with the resources of an entire empire at their disposal and their obsession with immortality, would have definitely taken covert actions to seek help from Mutated Objects.
But even they could not achieve immortality,
Li Ang thought silently.
The aging of biological organisms, especially mammals, has nine characteristics. They are genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, nutrient-sensing dysregulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication.
These nine characteristics are both the hallmarks and the causes of aging, like the chicken and the egg, the egg and the chicken.
They occur simultaneously and are interconnected, forming a complex and tight network. Solving one or several of these could potentially achieve the ultimate goal that generations of Emperors and Fangshi have pursued for countless years—immortality.
Take epigenetics as an example; it’s a sub-discipline of genetics that studies gene expression level changes caused by non-genetic sequence changes.
In simple terms, it’s how environmental factors acquired later in life (diet, temperature, smoking, etc.) alter the genetic expression in an organism. They silence or awaken certain specific genes.
For instance, most female bees can only consume Royal Jelly in the early days of their larval stage. Thereafter, they switch to feeding on regular honey. Consequently, their reproductive capabilities remain underdeveloped, and they become worker bees.
However, if female bees could continue to ingest Royal Jelly, which contains specific active protein components, they would keep developing and transform into Queen Bees, fundamentally different in physiology from worker bees.
In other words, there theoretically could exist an "Elixir of Immortality" that changes genetic expression after consumption.
Similarly, restricted diets and reduced caloric intake can also extend the lifespan of many organisms, including mammals. Hunger triggers and induces the expression of specific genes, activating them and promoting the repair of damaged cells, thereby delaying the aging process.
This rule applies universally, from nematodes to mice, to monkeys, and to humans.
This coincides precisely with the "Grain Avoidance Longevity Technique" that some Sects during the Pre-Sui Period had invented.
Thousands of Spells, infinite Dao Paths, just ask one question, can one achieve immortality?
This phrase flashed through Li Ang’s mind. He smiled faintly, listening to the cheerful hums of Chai Chai, observing the constantly receding busy street scene outside the window, his mood serene.
The path to immortality is far too distant and full of obstacles; even figures such as Buddha and Haotian Prophet cannot live past a century. It’s better to live each day to the fullest, to cherish the people before you.
The summer heat receded and the autumn breeze began to rise, marking the start of Li Ang’s fourth academic year at the Academic Palace.
With the new term, there had been no small adjustments to the curriculum.
The Military Studies course became elective, so students not on the Body Refining Path no longer had to attend Body Studies classes. The extra time was now occupied by Yu Law, national history, and a new Alien Study course.
Alien Study, similar to Hundred Beasts Studies, covered a broader scope.
Its textbook chronicled numerous previously forbidden records of alien creatures, along with the processes and personal experiences of predecessors in suppressing and Sealing these entities. Sometimes, the course even invited retired soldiers from the garrison or veteran supervisors from the Supervision Department to share their legendary experiences with the students.
For instance, there was a masked predecessor from the Supervision Department who had been tasked with pursuing a Demon Cultivator. His partner had been injured and stayed behind while he continued the chase, ultimately slaying the Demon Cultivator in a remote location on He Xi Road but also sustaining severe injuries himself. He was swept away by a mountain flood to an isolated village cut off from the world.
All the villagers of that village worshipped a nefarious Mushroom God and periodically kidnapped merchants, travelers, and beggars from the outside world as sacrifices to receive the deity’s "Extreme Bliss Powder."
(In reality, it was a potent hallucinogenic substance; when mixed with water and consumed, it induced visions of bizarre and extraordinary sights and physical pleasure.)
The Supervision Department predecessor’s spine was damaged, rendering him temporarily paralyzed, and his Spiritual Energy was suppressed, making him unable to use any Magic.
As the day of the sacrifice approached and the other two prisoners confined with him were executed, the predecessor lay in a corner of his cell. He used persuasive words to delude the villager guarding him, spreading rumors through this villager that the village chief’s family intended to monopolize the gifts from the Mushroom God. This successfully sowed discord and incited conflict among several families in the village, resulting in a violent clash on the day of the sacrifice.
He also, amidst the chaos, convinced the villager guarding him to carry him away from the village. Once his injuries healed, he returned with reinforcements to eradicate the so-called Mushroom God, capturing the villagers responsible and confining the rest.
Another senior from the garrison recounted how he and his companion accidentally entered a haunted circular building while pursuing a criminal.
Inside the building were over thirty residents, who claimed the building had consciousness and periodically pulled in selected individuals from the outside.
Lurking within were malevolent Evil Spirits, each with unique survival rules; breaking any rules would provoke slaughter by the Evil Spirits.
(For instance, upon sighting an Evil Spirit with red shoes, one must close their eyes. At night, if a dog’s barking is heard outside the door, one must hide under the bed and fall asleep within 15 minutes.)
These rules contradicted each other; some Evil Spirits would even masquerade as others to lure and kill residents.
The residents who were killed then became new Evil Spirits, further increasing the difficulty of survival.
According to notes left in the rooms by predecessors, a new cycle would begin once all residents were killed by the Evil Spirits.
The Bizzare Tower had existed for at least three to four hundred years, absorbing many Cultivators during that time, yet not a single one had managed to escape, nor had any messages made it out.
The predecessor’s companion, an ordinary Government Official without Cultivation Talent, decided to fight back after witnessing the residents being killed one by one. Knowing the cycle was about to restart, he tricked the Evil Spirits into violating their own rules, thereby causing them to kill each other and postponing the Bizzare Tower’s cycle.
In the end, he sacrificed his life for the greater good, willingly allowing himself to be killed by an Evil Spirit and becoming a new Ghost. Using the power of a Ghost, he managed to get the remaining survivors out of the Bizzare Tower.
Afterward, the garrison jointly with the Academic Palace investigated the site but failed to find any trace of the Bizzare Tower. They could only erect a tombstone at the original address in memory of the sacrificial Government Official.