4 Chapter 4 Two Options

An hour later, Xiao Mu, who was as tired as a dead dog from biking, finally arrived at the Small Commodity Grocery Market.

The only bookstore in the vicinity, enter!

"Tao Te Ching", buy!

"Diamond Sutra", buy!

"Zhuangzi", buy!

"Mencius", buy!

"The Analects", buy!

...

Fruit store, apple, buy! Pear, buy! Dates, buy! Banana, buy! Orange, buy!

Thankfully, he didn't buy much of each kind of fruit, just one of each, or else he would probably be in tears trying to bike home with all these purchases.

Soon after, Xiao Mu stopped at the entrance of a clothing store.

Clothes... It seemed unnecessary to buy, if he wanted to mutate clothes, he could just mutate the ones he was wearing.

However, where can he buy weapons?

After some thought, he ended up buying a watermelon knife, a fruit knife, a kitchen knife, and a pencil knife, one of each.

With bags of various sizes filled with various things, Xiao Mu ducked into the roadside bushes to start his experiment.

The first was the books.

"Tao Te Ching".

There were two options:

1. Inner Energy.

2. Taoist Law.

He didn't need an explanation about what Inner Energy is, and he guessed that Taoist Law should also be a basic cultivation method.

And as for how it's different from Inner Energy, he guessed that Inner Energy likely pertains to the martial arts path, while Taoist Law follows the Immortal Dao path.

Even though both are Taoist cultivation methods, there's obviously a big difference between the two. Xiao Mu believes one is about body refinement, the other about Qi cultivation.

As for whether it's better to refine the body or Qi, Xiao Mu leaned towards cultivating both at the same time.

Of course, that's provided he has enough energy and objective conditions allow for it, but if he had to choose one of the two, he thought there was more than a 90% chance he would choose Taoist Law, and only a slight possibility of choosing Inner Energy.

After all, what's the point in cultivating personality but not life? In the end, everything would be in vain.

What's the use of having high levels of martial arts cultivation?

Can it grant immortality?

Of course, this is the ideal situation. The actual choice depends on the external circumstances at that time.

However, Xiao Mu still didn't rush to use the Mutation Technique on the "Tao Te Ching". He only had a little bit of power, so it needed to be used in the most valuable way possible.

"Zhuangzi".

Xiao Mu placed his finger on the book again.

There were still two options.

1. Mind.

2. Realm.

The options were surprisingly different from the "Tao Te Ching", which left Xiao Mu stunned for a moment. But considering Zhuangzi and Laozi had different values, it kind of made sense.

But with no Taoist Law or Inner Energy to support it, was there any point in cultivating the mind and realm?

He then took out the "Diamond Sutra".

Two more options appeared:

1. Spells.

2. Body Refinement.

The result was different once again, but Xiao Mu thought it made sense. Spells likely meant transforming the "Diamond Sutra" into a series of spells, potentially the "Vajra Mantra", which has exorcism and demon-suppressing effects. If he ran into demons and ghosts, all he would need to do is chant the spell.

Body Refinement, Xiao Mu guessed it could very well be the "Vajra Body Refinement", or at least something similar, since someone on the internet has already mutated their copy of the "Diamond Sutra".

However, upon careful consideration, Xiao Mu realized that whether it was the physical methods from "Zhuangzi", the realms, the incantations or the body refinement, all seemed to be castles in the air without the support of cultivation methods.

For example, with incantations, what use is chanting them if an ordinary person does not have an internal force like true qi? With physical techniques, without inner energy or true qi, can they be used? Even if they were applied, how powerful would they be?

He then tried "Mencius", and the choices remained the same.

1. Qi Cultivation.

2. Momentum Cultivation.

"The Analects".

1. Principles.

2. Status.

Xiao Mu found the contents somewhat difficult to comprehend, but as a Confucian text, it generally covered familiar topics.

This doesn't mean that Confucianism is weak. In fact, Confucianism is very powerful and even surpasses Buddhism and Taoism in some aspects. Otherwise, it wouldn't have ruled the Divine Land for two thousand years.

Taoism cultivates Qi, Buddhism cultivates the body, Confucianism governs the world.

After comparing the mutation results, Xiao Mu felt that if he were to choose, he would first pick Taoist Law's mutation from "Tao Te Ching".

After all, having True Qi as a cultivation foundation makes it easier to cultivate other aspects.

However, the Taoist Law...

According to the results of the previous user's practice of the "Vajra Indestructible Body Divine Power", although the cultivation method of the Secret Manual is similar to that found in online games and can be learned quickly, the key lies in how to improve once learned. If the cultivation speed can't be expedited, the initial stage of cultivation actually doesn't make much difference, at least not in terms of power enhancement.

Especially since there is a Hanging Ghost in his home. This is a Damocles sword hanging over his head, a problem that needs to be solved first.

What's more, the whole world has mutated, so even if he doesn't go home or there's no Hanging Ghost at home, he can't guarantee that he won't encounter other evil absurdities outside.

Especially the final prompt from the system, it filled him with a sense of dread, a sense of urgency. If he doesn't level up his power quickly, he is afraid it won't just be the Hanging Ghost, other transmutations will also come look for him.

Just considering the current situation, the Variant Fruit seems to be a better choice.

He took out the fruits one by one for experimentation.

The results this time were unexpected to Xiao Mu, the mutation effects of all the fruits were the same.

There were still two choices.

1. Mutation.

2. Medicine Change.

Xiao Mu guessed that Mutation means that after eating, he could mutate abilities like Three Heads and Six Arms, but he immediately rejected this ability.

Not because this ability was not strong, but he really couldn't accept mutating into a non-human existence.

It's one thing to mutate some special abilities, but what's scarier is if his appearance mutated as well. If he turned into some sort of lizard man or dog-headed being, Xiao Mu felt that he might even consider dying.

Moreover, considering the mutation of Three Heads and Six Arms, Xiao Mu felt it was intrinsically wrong.

Taoism also has a cultivation method for Three Heads and Six Arms, but that is a divine power, a special ability exhibited after practicing a certain method.

But the Three Heads and Six Arms demonstrated by the man online was clearly a mutation - a grotesque non-human existence resulting from altered genes.

Compared to the divine power of Taoism's Three Heads and Six Arms, Xiao Mu genuinely looked down on this kind of mutation.

Medicine Change, on the other hand, seemed good. It probably turns fruits into medicine. As to what kind of medicine, Xiao Mu had two speculations – one for healing and the other for power enhancement.

Since he wasn't sure which one it would be, Xiao Mu didn't dare to mutate them recklessly. If the Mutation turned out to be healing medicine, it would be useless for him.

Based on his guess, Xiao Mu felt it was more likely for the fruits to mutate into power-enhancing medicine. After all, the basic materials were just fruits, not medicinal herbs. If it were medicinal herbs, like peonies, the likelihood of mutating into medicine would be higher.

An apple, a pear, a jujube, the chances of mutating into medicine were really not high.

However, Xiao Mu didn't dare to take the risk. The chances were slim, but what if?

He would examine the other options first.

Then, his eyes fell upon several knives.

Fruit Knife, Watermelon Knife, Pencil Knife, Kitchen Knife.

When his finger touched the knives, all the knives' mutation effects turned out to be the same.

1. Strengthening.

2. Transmutation.