Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 527 - 397: Still Just a Child

Qu Jianlei’s imagination didn’t last long, and the next moment, he couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Fortunately, Steve wasn’t wearing this helmet when he was attacked, otherwise, I’d definitely be done for!

He recalled the situation once again, but unfortunately, there were many gaps in the process.

At that time, his emotions were a bit agitated, and not only did his spiritual power backfire, but even his vision was temporarily lost.

However, after thinking for a long time, he was still convinced of one fact: Steve most likely didn’t have time to take out this broken hairpin!

His attack was continuous at that time, and the opponent immediately fell into a sandbag state, with no opportunity to respond at all.

If Steve knew from beyond, he’d probably regret it so much he’d want to bash his head in.

Holding a life-saving treasure but not having time to use it is definitely a hundred or a thousand times more frustrating than "being gone and the money still there!"

Qu Jianlei shook his head and smiled silently, then thought about the next question: Where did Steve get this thing?

However, he really didn’t dwell on this question for too long.

Thinking about that damaged Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram, it’s clear: Having possession doesn’t mean being the discoverer, idle fantasies are useless.

So, how did this hairpin break? Was it due to careless damage, or did it encounter the Imperial hunt?

The Divine Land script is called the Divine Script, and ordinary people absolutely don’t have the right to touch this taboo!

Then it’s certain that the Imperial government harbors strong desire towards those from the Divine Land.

For a moment, Qu Jianlei impulsively wanted to snap this broken hairpin to see if it could be destroyed.

However, it was just a momentary impulse, such a magical thing couldn’t be carelessly ruined.

With his current physical strength, he could easily snap thirty or forty millimeters of threaded steel, but still chose not to attempt it.

Besides, despite being damaged, this thing could still effectively repel spiritual power attacks, making it a rare protective talisman.

Qu Jianlei was very confident in his spiritual power, but in battles, the greatest fear is the calculated surprise attack.

No matter how overpowering one’s strength is, being ambushed when relaxed can lead to disaster.

Steve is the most obvious example; even with a protective talisman, he was still a tragedy because of an ambush.

Just as Qu Jianlei was about to put away this broken hairpin, his brain slightly swelled, and the Big Head Butterfly appeared in his mind again.

This time, the little lake turned slowly, but its big eyes blinked continuously, seemingly on the verge of tears... brimming?

It couldn’t speak, but its intentions were already very clear: this thing... it wants it!

A bit of a dilemma... Qu Jianlei hesitated for a moment and spoke softly, "It can protect me."

In the little lake’s eyes, it seemed to be covered with a layer of mist, becoming even more brimming.

"Could you please reason? If I die, can you escape unharmed... or do you plan to find another host?"

The mist in those big eyes became even thicker, tears circled in the eye sockets non-stop.

"Fine, here you go!" Qu Jianlei spoke gloomily, "After all, we both came from Blue Star, alas, dependent on each other for survival!"

The mist dissipated in an instant, and the big eyes became clear once again.

"Am I being tricked by artificial intelligence?" Qu Jianlei simply didn’t know what to say.

"Little lake, have you studied ’Actor’s Self-Cultivation’ carefully?"

Although he said this, his heart was still very pleased.

Back on Blue Star, the little lake was highly intelligent, with strong learning ability, only lacking the awakening of autonomous consciousness.

Qu Jianlei designed many plans to cultivate autonomous consciousness, but really didn’t dare to implement them—people can’t be too capricious.

But now that he’s in the empire and doesn’t have strong social identification, if the little lake truly has independent consciousness, he should be glad.

In such an environment, the empire can conduct social experiments on his former self, he doesn’t mind using the entire empire as a social experiment.

People must shame themselves before others shame them! This world is roughly still fair.

Uncertain if the little lake perceived these inner dramas, the next moment, a picture appeared again in his mind.

The image was of a person sitting cross-legged in meditation, precisely Qu Jianlei’s most common cultivation posture, Five Hearts Facing Heaven.

Only the entire image was very blurry, and it wasn’t strictly the Five Hearts Facing Heaven.

In the standard Five Hearts Facing Heaven, both hands should be placed on the knees, palms down.

The non-standard Five Hearts Facing Heaven has both hands intersect at the lower Dantian area.

Since they intersect, regardless of which hand is on top, there’s mutual covering, not truly facing heaven.

But that doesn’t matter, Qu Jianlei knows Five Hearts Facing Heaven is to ensure better internal and external perception, connecting the internal and external universe.

It can even be said that assuming this posture can better absorb unknown energy from the universe.

Anyway, when Qu Jianlei was absorbing crystals for cultivation, his palms were clenched, which wasn’t too inappropriate.

But now, in the image provided by the little lake, both hands intersect at the lower Dantian and were holding a broken hairpin.

Holding it was fine, but the broken hairpin seemed so thick, with a large gourd head at its end...

Qu Jianlei’s mouth twitched slightly, little lake, how many T’s did you watch to imagine such a scene?

But this matter... forget it, after all, it’s just a child.

Qu Jianlei originally intended to take another look at the contents of the file bag, but his head throbbed again.

Clearly, the small lake was getting a bit impatient: Hurry up, hurry up!

"What’s the rush?" Qu Jianlei muttered softly,

Although the small lake didn’t yet have a distinct consciousness, Qu Jianlei preferred to trust it.

Both were novices in cultivation; neither was more authoritative than the other, but the small lake’s calculation ability was far beyond his.

So he composed himself, drank a large cup of water, and sat cross-legged in meditation in that... rather shy pose.

As soon as he began to calm his mind and cultivate, he felt two streams of cool air rising from his palms, running up his arms to reach his head.

Where the cool air flowed, the aching meridians instantly soothed significantly, and the heated areas became exceptionally comfortable.

Once the cool air entered his mind, it vanished without a trace—it was clear that the small lake was "absorbing nourishment".

No one knew how long it lasted, but eventually, the cool air from the hairpin began to weaken bit by bit until it completely disappeared.

Qu Jianlei slowly opened his eyes, checking the time first... still not bad, it’s not yet seven thirty, enough time to get to work.

In other words, it took about two hours for him to absorb the energy within this half-broken hairpin.

He stood up, feeling an unprecedented clarity and comfort all over his body.

The headache caused by the battle two days ago had mostly vanished.

The general body aches had halved—at least the upper body had returned to normal, in an excellent state.

As for the lower body, there was nothing to be done—the small lake was like a Taotie, with the cool air entering and not coming back out!

However, Qu Jianlei had no complaints; the hidden wounds and potential threats in the upper body had been largely eliminated—was that not enough?

Such injuries would normally take two to three months of recuperation to completely heal.

Don’t underestimate the words "completely heal"; without eliminating potential threats, acting again might lead to injuries piling up, ultimately becoming incurable. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Recurrent hidden threats could damage one’s foundation—a condition that can only be remedied through nurturing; even advanced Imperial technology is of no use.

Like the top athletes on Blue Star, who receive top-tier treatment, yet old injuries still destroy their careers.

Anyhow, Qu Jianlei was very satisfied with the effect of this treatment.

The lower body still had lingering injuries, but being half-healed was better than not being healed at all.

He slowly stood up, and casually placed the broken hairpin on the table.

With a soft "puff" sound, he felt a slight vibration in his hand.

Looking off to the side, he found the once broken hairpin had now split into two parts, each covered with cracks.

"Well this is..." Qu Jianlei clicked his tongue, "little lake, what’s happened here?"

The small lake did not react at all, perhaps realizing it had caused trouble.

"Tsk," Qu Jianlei shook his head, this thing hasn’t fully developed consciousness yet but already shows the tendency of a naughty child.

With the hairpin in such a state, it had clearly lost its special properties.

Yet Qu Jianlei did not discard it—instead, he carefully wrapped the two segments in paper and stored them in the storage ring.

It’s not merely sentimental value; he was genuinely curious about the material of this hairpin and planned to gradually find out more.

Having done that, he wanted to open the file bag to see what was inside.

But it was getting late; he hadn’t cleaned the main building for several days, and he definitely had to get there early today.

Mainly he was worried that the file bag contained something worthy of researching, which would make it difficult to curb his curiosity.

Thus, he stored the file bag in the storage ring and drove off to work.

On the way to the library, he thought rather self-deprecatingly: I’m someone who carries all my worldly possessions with me.

Under normal circumstances, how could anyone carry all their belongings around with them?

Those novels claim that one can obtain countless secret manuals and spirit stones by killing someone... such things lack basic understanding!

Would someone with a relatively stable life carry all their valuable items with them?

Most likely, only fugitives wandering the world would do that.

Qu Jianlei had also grown accustomed to establishing Secret Camps on Star No. 2, mainly storing silver notes, essential goods, and cultivation resources there.

For things like a broken hairpin, an Eight Trigrams Map, or a file bag whose contents are unknown, he would only carry them with him—they are irreplaceable resources!

That means, to this day, he truly did not have a relatively stable base.

Traversing for twenty years and still ending up like this... truly embarrassing for the pioneers of travel novels.

Although shameful, life must go on; upon reaching the library, he started his routine tasks of sweeping and cleaning in earnest.

By noon, he wandered over to the Rare Books Tower.

Granny Jia was leaning against the cabinet at the entrance, dozing off, her head nodding continuously, with faint snores emanating.

Looking at the cloudy drool at her mouth, who would imagine she was once a supreme, commanding the winds and deeming all beneath her?

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