Cultivation Grind: A Top Student’s Metaphysical Makeover Journal

Su Lili, the ultimate rat-race champion, works herself to death the moment she finishes her graduation thesis! When she opens her eyes again, she’s become the famous good-for-nothing of the Xuantian Sect in the cultivation world, the owner of a Five-Element Fake Spirit Root?!

Faced with mystical gaslighting about “comprehending the Heavenly Dao” and “sincerity makes things happen,” Su Lili flips the table and roars, “This isn’t scientific! Where’s the data? Where’s the evidence? This is way too inefficient!”

And so the cultivation world gets the most hardcore scientific overhaul in history:

Alchemy? No, it’s an organic chemistry experiment! Control the variables, run double-blind tests, and strive for the perfect molecular formula. (Though the finished product may come with a surprise “wake-you-up-and-give-you-the-runs” bonus.)

Cultivation? No more meditating and leaving things to fate! She’s got a human spiritual-energy dynamics model and a statistical chart of the golden hours for cultivation, working so hard her fellow disciples question their lives. (The price is dark circles worthy of a national treasure.)

Combat? Using physics to exorcise demons is the way to go! Leverage traps, attacks with irritating powders, and even SWOT analyses based on demonic beasts’ habits… Traditional cultivators have their whole worldview shattered. “Fellow Daoist, are your methods… legal?”

Formations? She optimizes them with geometric topology, striving to use the least spiritual energy to create the most stable formation. (The passing techie senior brother Mo Chen’s eyes light up: “This weird scribble… has something to it!”)

When she brings “contribution-point investment plans” and “standardized production of magical artifacts” to the sect, the elders can’t sit still: This woman is terrifying. She must not be allowed to live! She’s a heretic! A demonic cultivator!

Looking at the cultivation world she’s driven to the brink of collapse with her cutthroat competition, and at the chubby fool behind her who’s been forced to become the “chief taste-tester” along with her techie ally obsessed with “optimizing magical artifacts,” Su Lili calmly declares, “Let mysticism tremble!”