Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“I know that.”

Li Jialing said, “This is the right hemisphere of the human brain that controls feelings. The left hemisphere and the right hemisphere of the human brain have different functions. The left hemisphere is responsible for memories, logical thinking, and analysis, while the right hemisphere is responsible for feelings, music, painting, and other functions. Since the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere both have abundant bleeding points and abnormal swelling, it means that the man’s memories and feelings are controlled, or at least under the effect of high-intensity stimulation.”

“It’s basically correct, but I need to slightly rectify something.”

Long Yangjun nodded her head and said, “I know that many brain experts and Meditation Healers have proposed the asymmetric functionality of the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere in their masterpieces, and they have divided the brain into many different modules such as ‘memory zone’ and ’emotion zone’, but as a matter of fact, human beings’ memories, feelings, and self-awareness are all very mysterious and unpredictable. ‘Control’ does not even begin to describe their purpose.”

“It must be noted that even if the brain is completely destroyed and the human turns into a ghost, as long as more than 50% of the soul is retained and accommodated by an anti-radiation shell and a high-precision crystal processor, most of the memories and feelings before their death will be kept. Therefore, the theory that the brain tissues have complete control over the soul is not necessarily true.

“In my opinion, the brain is to the soul what the soil is to a tree or even to the fruits on the tree.

“The quality of the soil will certainly decide the quality of the tree and whether the fruits are sweet or sour. However, once the tree grows up and yields abundant fruits, even if the soil is removed, it will be possible to transplant the tree to a certain ‘soilless’ environment or to pick the fruits and preserve them in a vacuum environment with cooling rune arrays. They will not go bad in decades.

“That is to say, the brain is the soil to gather the soul as well as the consciousness. However, once the soul and the consciousness take shape, their demands on the brain tissues will not be as strong.

“We can only say that stimulating this area on the left hemisphere can interfere with the memories to some extent, and stimulating that area on the right hemisphere can briefly alter one’s personality.

“If the two areas are completely wiped out through surgeries, human beings will lose their memories and feelings, turning into numb, emptyheaded machines.”

Li Jialing thought for a moment and asked, “Like the people of the Covenant Alliance?”

“Judging from the density of the bleeding points and the qualitative changes of the brain, he hadn’t reached the point where his feelings were entirely excised. The two areas in the brains of the people of the Covenant Alliance are shrunk but not swollen. This officer must’ve rather intense feelings. However, about to whom his feelings are aimed at, I have no idea.”

Long Yangjun thought for a moment and said, “The changes are similar to the Nepenthe believers who practiced Serenity Arts. The degree is more or less the same although the directions are different.”

Li Jialing was stunned. “Will the Serenity Arts cause qualitative changes to the brains?”

“Even if they hadn’t practiced the Serenity Arts, their brains would still go through qualitative changes given the fact that they lived in extreme fear every second!”

Long Yangjun glanced at Li Jialing and said, “Respect the brain, but don’t imagine the brain to be too enigmatic. Getting to the bottom of it, the brain is just a regular organ on one’s body.

“Consider such an example. If a person grows up in famines and feeds on grasses and rinds eight out of ten days, will his body suffer qualitative changes? Will he be emaciated, skinny, and have all kinds of diseases?”

Li Jialing blurted out, “Of course!”

“Therefore, if it is perfectly normal that your stomach shrinks when there is not enough food, is it something to be surprised at that some areas inside the brain also shrink and mutate?”

Long Yangjun said, “The so-called Serenity Arts merely guided and helped them to adapt to the changes peacefully and safely.”

“Alright, you are both the god and the devil. You have left nothing for me to say.”

Li Yao said, “There’s no need to embroider yourself. We’ll talk about your problem later. Let’s focus on Wuying Qi for now. The cause of this officer’s madness has been found. It seems that he was brainwashed, and he went mad because of the side effects and the sequela of the brainwashing. I wonder what’s the situation with other people. Let’s take a look at the healthy soldiers.”

Li Jialing was rather shocked. “Brother Yao, you are not cutting the heads of the four living soldiers, are you?”

“What are you thinking about?”

Li Yao flicked Li Jialing’s forehead. “Aren’t there quite a few bodies? Here, this body’s skull has been broken in the first place. Not much extra work is needed!”

The two of them carried the second body to the floating disc. Long Yangjun dissected him again and found the target areas accurately.

“He’s the same. There are dense bleeding points on both sides of the brain. Also, the brain tissues had slightly expanded, like the proliferation of body tissues when the same spot is wounded a hundred times.”

Li Jialing observed carefully and drew the conclusion. “However, it seems that the soldier’s conditions were not as serious as the mad officer’s. He was still controllable.”

“It means that all of the officers and soldiers in Wuying Qi’s secret weapon base have been brainwashed by him to different degrees.”

Li Yao summarized, “The damaged areas in the soldiers’ brains are exactly the same areas that Wuying Qi attacked me back in the Seven Seas Grand Market. It is exactly the technology of the Covenant Alliance.

“The short-time, high-intensity ‘hard brainwashing’ causes huge damage to the brain. However, whether or not one is mentally deranged depends on his body quality, his level, and his luck. This officer must’ve had a lot of injuries in his brain during the high-intensity training beforehand. He had been suppressing the injuries by force, but after he was repetitively brainwashed, his cerebral vessels exploded, and his brain cells proliferated, resulting in his death.”

“Such a terrifying brainwashing method!”

Li Jialing was rather shocked. “This is rather unbelievable.”

“Nothing is unbelievable here. Brainwashing is not anything bizarre or mysterious. It is a real thing that can be studied, analyzed, and duplicated.”

Li Yao pointed at Li Jialing’s head and said, “Since Wuying Qi’s ultimate weapon base is more and more related to ‘brainwashing technologies’, we must figure out what the so-called ‘brainwashing’ is first.

“In my opinion, there are two kinds of brainwashing, namely ‘soft brainwashing’ and ‘hard brainwashing’.

“What is ‘soft brainwashing’? Let me give you the simplest example. The two of us have been in each other’s company for a long time. During the time, I preach to you every day and hum like a fly, trying to imprint the beliefs of the Cultivators into your head, and I set up a role model for you by saving the people from disasters often. The mighty and glorious image of the Cultivators is deeply stamped in your heart. As a result, a couple of years later, you are really transformed into a Cultivator. Then, can I say that I performed certain brainwashing on you?

“In my opinion, that is certainly true. However, this is a kind of soft brainwashing whose influence is very insignificant. It’s like the ads you see every once in a while on the Spiritual Nexus, telling you how interesting an item is or how intriguing a game is. They are all the softest brainwashing methods.”

“I understand it now if you put it that way, Brother Yao!”

Li Jialing clapped his hands. “The soft brainwashing is the gentlest and worst brainwashing method that is like the bite of a mosquito. Brother Yao has brainwashed me for such a long time but still cannot set up a glorious image in my head. You can say whatever you want, but I often find you hilarious!”

Li Yao: “… Okay, let’s forget the details. Another example is when children learn the mainstream values and worldviews of the society in school. They are taught with the beliefs of the Cultivators or the Immortal Cultivators over a period of decades. Is that a kind of brainwashing, too?

“I think it is, if we are being strict. It all depends on whether or not everything is told truthfully and nothing is hidden during the education, and whether or not the children are forbidden from accessing different opinions through other channels.

“If the advantages and disadvantages of all beliefs, as well as their serious mistakes and glorious achievements in the past, are all told to the children with an open mind, such brainwashing will be soft. If the facts are twisted or hidden, and the education comes with physical abuse or material stimulation, then such brainwashing will be harder and more violent.

“Think about it. It has been inculcated into the heads of multiple generations of the Imperium that Wuying Qi is supreme and invincible during the past hundreds of years. That definitely counts as brainwashing too. However, we are not very concerned about that, are we?

“The brainwashing methods above have two things in common. First of all, the time cost is too huge. It sometimes takes decades before someone is completely fooled.

“Secondly, those brainwashing methods will not result in qualitative changes in the brain. Or rather, the changes are slow and gradual. During the prolonged brainwashing process, even if the brains had been damaged, they would’ve recovered by themselves.

“Therefore, the ways of brainwashing that I have listed above can all be categorized into ‘soft brainwashing’. In many cases, it is even barely possible to distinguish ‘soft brainwashing’ from ‘education’.

“The Imperial Guards who have been killed miserably before us, on the other hand, are clearly not the victims of ‘soft brainwashing’, but have received high-intensity ‘hard brainwashing’. Some of the areas inside their brains received excessive radiations or were exposed to powerful magnetic fields in only a couple of days or weeks at most, which resulted in serious qualitative changes inside the areas inside their brains. Their memories and feelings were affected, and their self-awareness was twisted. This is the brainwashing of the most narrow sense, and it could even be called the real brainwashing!”