Traditional self-cultivation emphasizes a pure mind and few desires, and absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. However, in this parallel world where spiritual energy is exhausted, cultivators have to "eat filth and drink filth" - absorbing human negative emotions and pollutants as the source of Taoism. The protagonist Lin Chen, as a time traveler, has a physique of "transforming disasters through merit and virtue", and can directly refine the negative emotions such as malice, curses, and abuses that others have towards him into his own spiritual power. He must obtain cultivation resources by provoking others' anger against him. This contrast of "you can become stronger by scolding" completely subverts the conventional routine of urban cultivation.
