**Chapter 82: The Foundational Law of the World**
Creation from nothing.
Also known as a perpetual motion machine.
In Jie Ming’s previous life, claiming to have discovered a perpetual motion machine would brand one a lunatic.
After discovering the peculiarity of his internal space, Jie Ming conducted multiple experiments, even spending substantial points to acquire an isolation system crafted by a sixth-level wizard.
He finally confirmed that his internal space didn’t draw energy from vacuum zero-point energy or external sources—it genuinely produced spiritual energy from nothing.
Such a discovery would have shaken his previous world, but now, Jie Ming remained remarkably calm.
Though initially surprised, it was only mild astonishment.
After all…
“This is probably the third thing I’ve encountered that creates something from nothing, isn’t it?”Gazing at the steadily increasing spiritual energy in his space, Jie Ming’s expression was odd.
“This cultivation trope is truly impressive…”
Indeed, this was the third time he’d encountered creation from nothing, all stemming from the cultivation civilization.
His earlier encounters had been less clear due to his limited understanding of the world and transcendent powers, only becoming evident after prolonged study.
Besides this space that spontaneously generated spiritual energy, the second instance of creation from nothing was one he frequently used: the cultivation world’s “concept materialization.”
Things like the Purple Qi from the East, Refined Gold, and his Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror all relied on this ability.
Turning abstract concepts into usable matter and energy was itself creation from nothing.
While concepts like Refined Gold consumed matter and energy during creation, others, like the Purple Qi, not only avoided consumption but also generated energy from nothing.
The first instance, and the earliest he’d encountered, was spiritual energy itself.
The wizard world had no spiritual energy.
Jie Ming had known this early on.
Lacking external spiritual energy, he chose the Refining Essence into Qi technique, generating spiritual energy by refining his own essence to cultivate…
It seemed a logical and reasonable process… or so he thought!
Upon deeper scrutiny, this seemingly rational process was utterly absurd.
Initially, Jie Ming hadn’t realized this, but as his Alchemy Technique deepened and his understanding of the world clarified, he recognized the gravity of the issue.
To understand this, one must first answer: What is spiritual energy?
A special type of energy?
A force imbued with spiritual concepts?
Only after learning about the wizard world’s microscopic structure did Jie Ming grasp the issue.
Fortunately, the Great Dao Book Pavilion lived up to its name, providing answers through a few books:
Spiritual energy was the foundational particle of the cultivation world!
Jie Ming knew of three worlds: the wizard world he inhabited, the technological world of his past life, and the cultivation world described in the pavilion.
At the microscopic level, these worlds were remarkably similar, all composed of tiny particles forming matter.
But differences existed.
For instance, the cultivation and wizard worlds had tangible “time” and “space” as entities, unlike his technological world, where they were mere concepts describing particle trajectories and ranges.
This difference was minor. The true distinction lay in the worlds’ foundational particles.
In his technological world, despite not yet identifying a gravity particle, strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces were described by fundamental particles—the Standard Model.
This model comprised 61 fundamental particles: 32 quarks and 12 leptons forming matter, plus bosons mediating interactions.
Of the three particles forming most matter—protons, neutrons, and electrons—only electrons were fundamental; protons and neutrons were quark composites.
The wizard world followed a similar structure, its foundational particles being elements.
Specifically, the four elemental categories: earth, fire, wind, and water.
Earth elements formed matter, fire elements formed energy, wind elements formed space, and water elements formed time, each category containing dozens of variants.
Other elements were combinations of these four in specific ratios.
In the cultivation world, the foundational particle was naturally spiritual energy.
The term “spiritual energy” was misleading; based on Jie Ming’s current understanding, “spiritons” would be more apt.
According to the pavilion, spiritual energy was divided into just two types: yin and yang.
Fewer particle types didn’t mean a simpler world.
His technological world had many fundamental particles, yet protons and neutrons were formed by just three quarks each.
Wizard world matter and energy particles typically comprised four to five elemental particles.
In the cultivation world, matter particles were formed by two to nine yin-yang combinations.
While macroscopically and at basic microscopic levels they were similar, the deepest microscopic structures of the three worlds were entirely different.
The wizard and cultivation worlds’ supernatural powers arose because their foundational particles were more active than those in the technological world.
Wizards manipulated relatively active environmental elemental particles, with higher-tier wizards accessing particles of lower activity thresholds.
Understanding what spiritual energy was, the original question resurfaced: How could one cultivate using cultivation techniques without spiritual energy?
The answer was, it was impossible!
The worlds’ fundamental compositions were incompatible!
The Great Dao Book Pavilion offered near-infinite cultivation methods, from basic Refining Essence into Qi and breathing techniques to esoteric ones like harnessing starlight, refining astral forces, absorbing sun-moon essences, fate, yang spirit visualization, yin-yang harmony, or even sinister methods like death energy, malevolent forces, emotions, or flesh…
Regardless of the method, their essence remained: using specific techniques to “decompose” these entities into spiritual energy usable by cultivators.
Whether used for body refining, qi refining, or spirit refining depended on the technique and the cultivator’s intent.
Thus, using the basic Refining Essence into Qi to produce spiritual energy was, to Jie Ming now, utterly absurd.
The wizard world had *no spiritual energy*!
It was like trying to extract water from gold—impossible!