I will be stronger after the remake

The group exchanged glances. Although they trusted He Fengsheng's judgment, they also wanted to see what the so-called absorption of spiritual energy actually looked like, so they all used their spiritual techniques to attack the rock.

In an instant, a series of spiritual spells of different attributes, including gales, raging flames, thunder, and holy light, bombarded the rock, but all of them ceased their attack and disappeared without a trace the moment they touched the rock surface.

"Pure energy-based spiritual arts won't work, what about spiritual arts with a physical form?"

Tang Ping used wood-based magic to summon a thick tree trunk to push against the rock, but he lost control upon touching it and was forcibly severed from his connection with the summoned creature.

Zhou Canglan was not surprised by this result, saying, "The water I control also has a physical form, and the result is the same."

Tang Ping shook his head, pointing to the branches wrapped around the surface of the rock, and said, "Water is a liquid and will disintegrate if it is out of control, but wood is a solid and will still exist even if it is out of control. This rock can only absorb spiritual energy and cannot neutralize physical impacts. Therefore, as long as we summon a huge rock, give it enough kinetic energy, and smash it hard, even if the spiritual energy is absorbed and the connection is broken when we touch it, the kinetic energy will not disappear into thin air. In the end, under the action of physical laws, the rock will be knocked away."

Everyone's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and they all felt that Tang Ping's method was useful. However, their excitement came and went quickly because they discovered a problem—no one was proficient in earth-based spiritual arts.

"Six people, and not one of them knows earth-based magic!"

Tang Ping was speechless. There were only five types in total, and one for each person should have covered them all, but they missed the earth type.

Lin Xi raised her hand and said, "Actually, besides the light element, my highest affinity is the earth element, but I only know a few earth element spells and I don't know how to summon a big rock."

No one felt regretful, because even if Lin Xi knew the magic to summon stones, it would be useless. As a mere first-level spiritualist, she simply couldn't summon a boulder that met the requirements.

Moreover, unlike martial arts, psychics do not have the concept of transferring power. It is impossible for one person to transfer spiritual power to another to help the other person perform stronger spiritual arts, unless they happen to possess this kind of spiritual power or the two people have the same spiritual type.

Zhou Canglan suddenly said, "It doesn't necessarily have to be an earth-based spiritual technique. The key is to use a large rock to smash it and forcefully move the boulder using physical means."

Tang Ping said, "That's right."

"That's easy."

Zhou Canglan then manipulated the water flow to condense it into a giant hand, inserted its five fingers into the riverbed, grabbed a handful of soil, squeezed it firmly, and finally, in a manner similar to throwing a baseball, slammed the compacted soil ball hard against the rock.

With a loud thud, the clay ball shattered into pieces upon impact, while the rock only wobbled slightly.

Zhou Canglan was slightly embarrassed. He cast the spell again, this time without being lazy and using the riverbed soil. He carried a rock back from the bank and smashed it against the rock with great force.

Boom!

The two boulders collided with a dull thud. This time, the thrown rock did not shatter into pieces; only a corner was broken off, but it still could not push the boulder aside.

Even under strong physical impact, the rock only swayed slightly before returning to its steady state, illustrating what it means to be "as stable as a rock."

This time, even Lin Xi realized something was wrong: "Is this rock really that heavy? Could it be iron inside? Is it disguised as a rock, but actually just a rock filled with iron?"

"Even if it's gold inside, it should have been shaken by the impact. The laws of physics aren't so easily shaken."

Feng Xiu quickly ran forward, observed it carefully for a while, and finally used his spiritual energy "item identification" to realize what was going on. He then said to everyone, "Lin Xi guessed right. It really is a 'stone-encased iron'. The outside is a rock layer, the center is a special alloy, and there is a strong magnetic force at the bottom that holds it in place."

Lin Xi revealed a smug expression: "See? I guessed right!"

The crowd ignored it, because the core of the problem was not the stone encasing the iron, but the magnetic force.

Tang Ping had originally planned that if there was really no other way, he would go up and use his listening skills to find the balance point. When Zhou Canglan threw the stone to hit him again, he would use the technique of using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds, borrowing the force to strike back, cleverly impacting the balance force, shaking the rock and causing it to move away on its own.

But if it's magnetically attracted, there's nothing you can do. No matter how much Tai Chi can neutralize force, it can't break through magnetic force. Even martial arts masters can't do it unless they master the ultimate Bombardment King Fist—in the spiritual world, he knew that this martial art was particularly good at splitting mountains and breaking through soil.

Zhou Canglan frowned and pondered for a while, but still couldn't come up with a good solution. He couldn't help but laugh at himself, "I can easily defeat a dragon, but I'm helpless against a stone wrapped in iron. Is there anything more ironic in the world?"

Feng Xiu hurriedly said, "The biggest obstacle is not the stone itself, nor the magnetism at the bottom, but the array that absorbs spiritual energy. This is the real priceless treasure. Without this array, we could easily come up with ten thousand ways to destroy the stone. In my opinion, even if we could find the Nine Provinces Cauldron, its value might not be comparable to this array. It's a pity that it's embedded in the stone, so we don't even have the chance to learn a little bit about it."

In the end, he couldn't help but sigh with regret, clearly feeling from the bottom of his heart that the formation was more precious than the treasure.

Zhou Canglan, not being a technician, dismissed the idea and turned to look at the second-in-command of the team whom he admired.

Tang Ping said, "If it's just about moving this rock, I have an idea. We can start digging from other parts of the riverbed, then go around a bend, dig down to the bottom of the rock, destroy the base, and then it will be easy."

Lin Xi's eyes lit up, and she said, "This method is good. What's it called again? I remember now, it's called 'drawing firewood from under the pot,' right?"

“It’s a radical solution,” Tang Ping first corrected, then rejected it himself, “but this method is not feasible.”

"Why?" Lin Xi felt like her brain couldn't keep up with her thoughts.

"Because our goal is not to move the stone, but to enter the place where the Pan Chi is hiding. According to the common setting, the Pan Chi should have entered some kind of blessed land or small world, in short, another world. And to reach another world, a node is needed. This node is undoubtedly under this stone. Using the method I just used, we can move the stone, but there is also a high probability that we will destroy the node, and then all our efforts will be in vain."

After a moment's thought, Zhou Canglan said, "We should not use this method unless absolutely necessary. I would rather keep this stone and go back to find a powerful weapon to split it in two."

Feng Xiu sighed, "It seems that this is the only way."

Tang Ping glanced at Zhou Canglan. He remembered that Zhou Canglan possessed a spiritual ability called "Shaking Mountains and Breaking Pillars," which could destroy objects with the concept of pillars. Now was undoubtedly the best opportunity to use it.

Did Zhou Canglan think that the rock in front of him was not a pillar, or was he intentionally hiding this information and unwilling to expose it in front of everyone?

Considering the fleeting lie the other party had just told, he was more inclined to believe the latter.

If the Nine Provinces Cauldron, a divine artifact, were lying under the stone, Zhou Canglan would never care about revealing his trump card. However, since there is only a possibility at present, it is understandable that he would choose to play it safe after weighing the pros and cons.

He Fengsheng, who had shown no interest from beginning to end, finally spoke up: "Are we going back?"

“No, I’m going to try one last time.” Zhou Canglan stepped forward. “Theoretically, as long as your strength is greater than the weight and magnetism of the stone, you can move it.”

He Fengsheng instantly guessed his intention: "You plan to enter the deep spiritual resonance and use Gonggong's body to move the stone?"

Upon hearing this, the others immediately realized that it was indeed a good method.

As an ancient and powerful god who could break Buzhou Mountain, no one would think that Gonggong's true form was the size of an ordinary person. He must have been a colossal god who could support the sky and stomp the earth. Even if he was only at the level of a third-level spiritual energy user and could only exert one-tenth of his physical strength, it should not have been a problem for him to move a stone against the magnetic force.

Just as Zhou Canglan took a deep breath and prepared to act, Liu Lingling suddenly said, "Let me do it."

Chapter 204 The Temple of Yu the Great

Zhou Canglan and Liu Lingling exchanged a glance, immediately understanding each other's meaning. After a moment's thought, they nodded in agreement.

Deep resonance is a matter of utmost caution for unique psychics, as it can drastically increase the influence of the spiritual personality on the psychic.

If the effect of an ordinary spirit avatar on a psychic is equivalent to changing their living environment, then a unique spirit avatar is equivalent to having a teacher giving them detailed instruction, while spirit avatar resonance increases the duration of the effect.

If a person has established a sound set of values, even if they immigrate abroad and live there for a long time, they can still maintain their original values. At most, their lifestyle will change. For example, when they hear a "pop pop pop" sound, they will not think it is firecrackers, but gunshots and subconsciously look for cover. But these changes are unrelated to cognition.

However, if someone keeps giving you their opinions, and you can only accept them unilaterally without being able to refute them, over time, even the most determined person will gradually soften their attitude, first accepting the parts they agree with, then the parts that don't conflict, and finally accepting even the parts they completely oppose, which is equivalent to completely changing their personality.

Therefore, ordinary psychics treat spirit resonance as a routine method, similar to a burst of physical energy, which can be recovered after a period of rest. However, unique psychics treat it as a desperate means, similar to overdrawing their lifespan, and the price paid is irreversible.

Of course, it depends on the individual.

Some people are terrified of this, feeling that changing one's personality is no less than killing one's original self, and would never use it unless absolutely necessary.

Some people take this in stride and accept it calmly, feeling that changing one's views is a common occurrence. No one can maintain the same views from childhood to adulthood. For example, hating the country can turn into loving the country, longing for love can turn into being a single person, and being a big-game advocate can turn into being a pill advocate. Such things happen all the time. You can't say that a person is no longer the same person just because their views and stances have changed.

Zhou Canglan's attitude was somewhere in between. If the spirit he awakened was a wise figure like Zhuge Liang or Sima Yi, he wouldn't mind deepening the influence. However, Gonggong's performance in the mythology didn't seem very intelligent, so it was best to be less affected.

The reason he was willing to use deep resonance was simply because he felt that moving the stone wouldn't take much time. He could just grab it with both hands, move it if he could, and give up if he couldn't. There was no room for pulling or tugging, and the whole process would take no more than five seconds, so the impact would be minimal.

Since Liu Lingling was willing to do it, he had no reason to object.

But He Fengsheng said, "Even if you achieve a deep spiritual resonance and manifest a snake form, you still can't move this stone, can you?"

Zhou Canglan laughed and said, "She can't do it alone, but it's different if I'm included."

After he finished speaking, a faint blue light emanated from his body, transforming into wisps of water that covered Liu Lingling's body.

At the same time, Liu Lingling entered a state of deep spiritual resonance, her eyes turned into snake-head pupils, fine blue patterns appeared on the surface of her skin, scales grew rapidly, and her legs gradually merged together.

Suddenly, she raised her head and let out a non-human roar. Her body expanded as if being inflated, and the water film covering her body seeped into her body. In the blink of an eye, she transformed into a giant python twenty feet long.

The giant python's body was as thick as a millstone, and its blue scales shimmered with an eerie light in the water. With each flick of its tongue, it exuded a chilling aura. Then it moved its body and tightly coiled around the rock, the scales rubbing against the stone with a piercing sound.

"rise!"

Zhou Canglan's voice came from inside the giant python. Liu Lingling twisted her body, and all her scales lit up, bursting out with amazing power to resist the magnetic force below.

Pulled by the giant python, the boulder slowly began to move, the friction against the riverbed producing a deafening roar. The surrounding water was churned into chaos, with silt churning and obscuring everyone's view.

The strength of the magnetic force is related to the distance. Initially, the boulder could only be moved little by little. The further away it went, the easier it was to move. After it had moved nearly a meter away, the giant python erupted again, flung its body, and threw the boulder away.

Everyone stared intently and saw a dark vortex beneath the rock, exuding an ancient and magical aura. Faint glimmers of light could be seen shimmering within, as if it contained endless secrets.

On the other side, Liu Lingling transformed back into human form and collapsed to the ground, her face pale. Zhou Canglan also reformed his form, his aura also weakened considerably, but his condition was undoubtedly much better than Liu Lingling's.

The two were exhausted not because of moving stones, but because a large amount of their spiritual energy had been drained. If it weren't for Zhou Canglan's support, Liu Lingling might not have been able to hold on until the end.

Tang Ping arrived in front of the dark vortex and observed, "According to the common settings in cultivation novels, this should be the eye of the river."

He could feel a suction force emanating from the vortex, but it wasn't strong enough for an average adult to withstand.

Feng Xiu used his spiritual energy to verify the information and said, "There is no mistake. This is the entrance to another dimension. There are no traps set. Just go in directly."

Tang Ping stopped him, saying, "We still need to be careful. Just because there's no danger at the entrance doesn't mean there won't be danger inside. Let's catch a fish or a turtle to help us scout the way."

He Fengsheng chimed in, "Better safe than sorry. Tang Ping's approach is the right one."

He channeled his spiritual energy into a wind blade, plunged into the river, and hooked a half-meter-long carp out of the water.

Lin Xi reached out her hands to catch it, but the fish scales were too slippery and covered with a layer of mucus, so she couldn't grab it.

Seeing this, Tang Ping reached out with one hand to catch the carp. His movements were light and graceful, like a butterfly passing a flower. The carp instinctively swung its tail, trying to break free, but it was as if it had encountered soft clouds. It was not supported at all and could not shake off the carp. It quickly ran out of strength.

Lin Xi's eyes lit up: "That's so cool! How did you do that?"

Feng Xiu asked curiously, "The 'Sparrow Doesn't Fly' in Tai Chi?"

Tang Ping shook his head: "The ox-tongue strength from Baguazhang."

"Ox tongue strength? Never heard of it, it doesn't seem that powerful." Lin Xi spoke her mind, saying whatever came to mind.

He Fengsheng suddenly said, "The Ox Tongue Force is the highest level of Baguazhang. The palm is like an ox tongue curling up grass. No matter how many serrations the grass leaves have, they cannot hurt the ox tongue in the slightest. Instead, the palm itself will be curled and crushed. It is said to have the ability to curl gold and cut iron. It is very effective when facing a blade with bare hands. It can instantly cut the opponent's weapon. Of course, these are all written in books. In reality, I have never seen anyone do it."

He looked Tang Ping up and down with curiosity: "Putting aside whether the Ox Tongue Palm technique is really that powerful, as far as I know, there's only one person in your age group who can reach this level, so if you're not lying..."

Tang Ping never expected that his identity would be exposed because of a single statement. However, his achievements in the martial arts world were insignificant in the world of spiritual energy. He had never intended to hide it; he just felt there was no need to deliberately mention it to others, making it seem like he was showing off. Now that he was exposed, so be it. It was no big deal.

He readily admitted, "It's probably the identity you guessed."

He Fengsheng never liked to communicate with others. In fact, he was not interested in anything except Liu Lingling. He usually acted very coldly, but when he encountered something that interested him, he couldn't help but gossip: "Back then, you made a huge name for yourself in Southeast Asia. Many companies wanted to sign you and train you to participate in fighting competitions. But then you suddenly disappeared. Some people speculated that you were shot to silence you, while others said that you were captured and used for human experiments."

"The general consensus in the psychic community is that you awakened your psychic powers and entered a wider world, losing interest in martial arts and combat. I initially leaned towards this assumption as well, but since you only became a psychic a few months ago, this assumption doesn't hold true. So what exactly happened?"

Tang Ping truthfully replied, "Because I want to go back and take the college entrance examination, it doesn't matter if I skip elementary and middle school classes, but it's too difficult to learn high school knowledge on my own, so I went back to school."

He doesn't have the ability to remember everything he sees. Even if he had the foundation from his previous life, after being reborn, he had long since forgotten all the knowledge he had learned from his high school teachers.

Upon hearing this, He Fengsheng, unusually, lost his composure: "College entrance exam! You, this..."

He subconsciously thought the other person was talking nonsense, but considering the other person's age and the time when they disappeared, it seemed to fit perfectly. Moreover, he couldn't think of any other reasonable explanation. Thinking about it again, the other person had no reason to lie to him, which seemed to be the answer.

"...This is absurd, I can't understand your thinking at all."

Lin Xi's gaze lingered between the two of them, and she couldn't help but ask, "What riddles are you talking about? Why can't I understand a word of it?"

Feng Xiu pushed up his glasses, seemingly trying to imitate the action of a certain elementary school student from the Detective Conan, and pointed his finger, saying, "The truth is obvious. Tang Ping used to be a celebrity in some field. Considering his fish-catching action just now, as well as the evaluation of 'the highest level of Baguazhang,' it is clear that he should be a celebrity in the martial arts world, and his fame is mainly concentrated in Southeast Asia. Suddenly one day, Tang Ping withdrew from the martial arts world, disappeared, and went back to high school."

Lin Xi's eyes lit up as she stared at Tang Ping and said, "So you're this amazing? When I first saw you, I thought you were the kind of bookworm I hate the most. I never imagined you were such a master when you were young. You've really been hiding your true abilities!"

He Fengsheng corrected, "His fame is not limited to Southeast Asia; he is well-known all over the world, especially in Chinese communities. It's just that in mainland China, due to various restrictions, his fame hasn't spread much... No wonder no one can find you."

After a pause, he couldn't help but ask, "I still don't understand, is the college entrance exam really that important? With your skills, you could easily earn more money than an average white-collar worker in a lifetime by participating in a world-class fighting competition."

Tang Ping was too embarrassed to reveal her reasons for seeking out the dark martial arts world, so she could only pretend to be an expert: "You can think of it this way: for me at the time, the martial arts world was no longer challenging. In comparison, the college entrance examination was much more difficult."

Lin Xi asked excitedly, "And then you got into Tsinghua or Peking University?"

"No, I only got into Zhejiang University, so you see, the college entrance exam is still more challenging than martial arts."

Feng Xiu sighed, "When I used to discuss Japanese animation with people on forums, I always thought the plot of the protagonist gaining superpowers and then having to go back to school was ridiculous. I never expected it to have a basis in reality! I will never complain about this again."

He Fengsheng still found it somewhat unbelievable, but since the person involved had said so, he could only accept it.

He used to be involved in the assassin circle and had some connections with the martial arts world. He even received a job from "Taiyue Madman". However, at that time, he had already awakened as a psionicist, and the people in Southeast Asia were quite stingy and offered very low prices, so he didn't take it seriously.

At this moment, Zhou Canglan helped Liu Lingling over and asked curiously, "What are you discussing? Is there a problem with this entrance?"

Lin Xi said impatiently, "It has nothing to do with the river eye. We discovered that Tang Ping used to be a martial arts master..."

He Fengsheng and Feng Xiu were somewhat mindful of etiquette. Although Tang Ping seemed indifferent, they were too embarrassed to reveal the information to others in front of her since she hadn't expressed her opinion. Lin Xi, on the other hand, obviously didn't have such concerns and rattled off the discussion from earlier.

Zhou Canglan was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting Tang Ping to have such a background.

However, just as Tang Ping had predicted, psionicists didn't think much of ordinary martial artists, and even martial arts masters were not taken seriously by third-level psionicists. Therefore, after hearing this, Zhou Canglan just smiled and said, "I never thought I would have the insight to recognize people. I just casually dug up a hidden gem."

Tang Ping thought to herself, "You have no discernment when it comes to people. You clearly had your eye on Ma Yiming back then. I was just a background character."

But he wasn't Lin Xi, so naturally he wouldn't contradict his leader on the spot; he simply kept quiet.

Zhou Canglan continued, "Alright, we can discuss this when we get back. Let's deal with the important matter first. How's the entrance? Is there any danger?"

"I'm planning to send a fish as a guinea pig."

As Tang Ping spoke, he peeled a scale off the carp to use as a medium for divination, and then threw the fish into the dark vortex.