Chapter 2: Partitioning

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After three months of study, Chen Xi had more or less grasped the bizarre nature of this world, and likewise understood the marvelous uses of mental energy. It wasn’t that having strong mental energy meant you could do whatever you pleased; truthfully, based on what Chen Xi had learned from history so far, aside from providing decent defense, strong mental energy didn’t actually possess much lethality, even if it could resonate with the heavens and earth.

If you were hoping to strike someone dead with a lightning bolt, you might as well give up on that thought—it just wasn’t possible. While combat prowess was mediocre, there was no denying that mental energy enhanced one’s thought processes. It could be said that the stronger the mental energy, the faster the thinking speed and the more agile the mind. Things that originally took an hour to figure out could be understood in ten minutes; the gap created by this was immense.

If the existence of *Qi* allowed a warrior’s combat power to soar, then the existence of mental energy could be said to allow a wise man’s intellect to skyrocket. It was hard to distinguish whether wisdom or strength was more important, but these two different paths of development determined the road each person would take in the future.

Of course, there was no denying that some people wanted to cultivate both *Qi* and mental energy, hoping to improve their intellect while strengthening their martial prowess. However, those who generally did this only ended up on a dead-end path. It couldn't be denied that there were indeed people in the world who cultivated both and achieved something, but wanting to reach the pinnacle was difficult beyond measure. At least, as far as the history Chen Xi knew, there were none.

After learning this, Chen Xi decisively gave up on cultivating his physical body. The previous Chen Xi had cultivated some *Qi*, but it was very, very little. Still, thanks to his family’s heritage, the cultivation technique was decent after all.

Now that Chen Xi had recovered, he could still manage to toss around small rocks with that tiny bit of *Qi*. In other words, if he worked hard at training and fought a few times on the battlefield, it was probably possible to become a centurion, though advancing any further was likely impossible.

As for reaching the level of Xiang Yu, who could traverse the air, he shouldn't even think about it. That was definitely not a human height. He reckoned that according to the records of martial generals in the *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, at most those twenty-four could reach that level. As for Lu Bu and the like, just thinking about it made Chen Xi feel thrilled—they were practically human warheads!

Since the previous Chen Xi had been a dual cultivator, it meant he had also practiced mental energy a bit, though it was just as weak as his *Qi*. It probably would have been difficult to even defend against the arrows of a child who hadn't cultivated *Qi*...

Fortunately, the fusion of the two souls might have stimulated Chen Xi’s brain, causing his mental energy to grow continuously over these three months. This was also a point of pride for Chen Xi; after all, with his current mental energy strength, relying on those secret arts and Taoist methods, he could already manage to summon fog, bring about rain, and defend against arrows. According to the standards mentioned, he could be considered to have "entered the hall and stepped into the room."

In Chen Xi’s own words, he was now at the level where "a neurotic's mind is vast." His thinking ability had grown significantly, and his learning capacity was constantly rising. If he had possessed this memory and thinking speed back in his previous life, he would have made it into the Chinese Academy of Sciences long ago. Chen Xi himself felt that he had evolved.

"Slap!" Tossing the bamboo slips onto the desk, Chen Xi finally finished reading all the books in his house. He had memorized most of the important ones and had a general impression of the unimportant ones. The growth of his mental energy had also slowed down. He could now be considered a genuine Eastern Han person.

"Young Master, are you not going to practice your mental energy?" Chen Lan asked, looking at Chen Xi, who was sitting under a tree looking bored.

"There is nothing left to practice," Chen Xi said with a bitter smile. He had only recently learned that once mental energy reached his level, there were no more textbooks to imitate. What remained was his own enlightenment. Perhaps he would undergo a transformation in an instant, or perhaps he would remain like this for the rest of his life. Even if he did transform, it would only make his mental energy purer, less susceptible to distracting thoughts, and easier to use.

"Nothing left to practice?" Chen Lan asked, puzzled. She didn't understand what that concept meant.

"The wind is picking up; let's go back. It’s going to rain," Chen Xi said, not explaining, but changing the subject. It was raining again. He had completely mastered this so-called secret art. Combined with his knowledge of how rain forms from later generations, he found it easier to perform than the books described, with a larger range and less consumption.

"The wind is picking up?" Chen Lan looked up at the sun. Before she could argue, the sky turned overcast.

Chen Xi smiled and pulled his only maid back into the house. His masterpiece for the entire morning was this rain. It covered dozens of miles, and with the sufficient water vapor in the sky, it would likely last a long time and be quite heavy. He estimated that no one would guess this was an artificial spell; after all, Chen Xi had only acted as a catalyst in the process.

"What a heavy rain!" Chen Lan said in surprise.

"Yes, a heavy rain indeed," Chen Xi sighed. He had thoroughly mastered the few spells recorded in the books. As for formations, he still didn't understand the principles, and as for the so-called secret arts, he didn't have a single one.

Truth be told, Chen Xi was quite envious of secret arts. After all, in this world, Zhang Jiao had relied on the Yellow Turban secret arts to turn hundreds of thousands of unorganized and undisciplined Yellow Turbans into the invincible Yellow Turban Warriors. The only reason they lost in the end was because Zhang Jiao died; otherwise, who would have won was truly up for debate.

According to what Chen Xi had learned, Zhang Jiao possessed a secret art that could drastically stimulate a person's combat power, and he could buff thousands of people at once. Thousands of fearless Yellow Turban Warriors were enough to beat the so-called elites of the Han Dynasty like dogs. This showed the terror of that move; if used as a trump card, it would absolutely be an unparalleled tool for a comeback when necessary.

As for formations, Chen Xi didn't know much. After all, he hadn't heard of anyone deploying a grand formation to beat an enemy's superior forces like dogs. However, he had seen it mentioned in books that a true formation had the power to reverse the situation of a battle. But since he hadn't seen one, he hadn't seen one; Chen Xi could only say he would wait until he encountered one.

As for whether he could find someone willing to teach him, Chen Xi couldn't guarantee it. In this era, many things were only passed down to inner-circle disciples; for outsiders, it was all about luck. After all, it wasn't easy for people to summarize these things, and it was only right that they didn't pass them on to you. But for the current Chen Xi, those things were too far away. What he needed to do was wait! Wait for one thing to happen.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion had passed. Next would be Dong Zhuo entering Luoyang, followed by the eighteen-route princes campaigning against Dong. And before that, there was one thing: the call to arms against Dong. Whether this call to arms was brought out after Cao Cao attempted to assassinate Dong, or if it was Cao Cao’s forged edict—there was a huge difference between the two.

Although both were forged edicts, the implications were vast. It could be said that it almost determined many things that followed.