Chapter 22 (Part 2)

“Yuanxi, sit in the middle. Just do as you usually do when meditating and cultivating.” True Lord Junhong sent him into the array, then turned and exchanged a look with Daoist Master Fanjian before walking to the northeast corner and taking a seat.

Daoist Master Fanjian sat directly facing Song Yuanxi and began to circulate his own spiritual energy to operate the cultivation method. The two shared the same source, and he quickly guided Song Yuanxi into the same frequency as himself.

“Yuanxi, I will temporarily raise your cultivation to Foundation Establishment. You may thoroughly see all the recorded contents of the Yin-Yang Art. You need only engrave them onto a jade slip.”

“Yes, Master.”

As soon as the words fell, Song Yuanxi felt the spiritual energy in his body begin to change. His meridians, which had originally shown no reaction at all, began to expand on their own. The spiritual energy around him poured in without end, flowing through his limbs and bones in an extremely gentle manner before finally gathering in his dantian.

Drawing energy into the body! First level of Qi Refining, second level of Qi Refining, third level of Qi Refining… sixth level of Qi Refining, seventh level of Qi Refining… great perfection of Qi Refining… Foundation Establishment!

Song Yuanxi found it difficult to describe the subtlety of it. He had smoothly established his foundation without pain. Even if it was only temporary, it still made his heart and mind surge.

He could clearly feel the change in the power within his body and his control over spiritual energy. At the instant of Foundation Establishment, he even felt that he could immediately fly on a sword and roam between heaven and earth!

“Embrace the origin and guard the one. Focus your mind and calm your energy.” Daoist Master Fanjian’s light shout pulled his disciple back from that beautiful illusion into reality.

After Song Yuanxi returned to himself, he quickly circulated the cultivation method. The Yin-Yang Art automatically flipped pages in his sea of consciousness. The book that had originally been empty of a single word was now densely covered in writing.

He took out a jade slip. Without caring what was written on it, he simply copied everything down exactly as he saw it.

True Lord Junhong guarded them from the side. He personally watched Daoist Master Fanjian’s mind become unstable from forcibly helping his disciple temporarily establish his foundation. He had just been about to intervene and help when the other man suddenly opened his eyes.

“True Lord Junhong, wait. I can still hold on.” Daoist Master Fanjian transmitted through divine sense.

True Lord Junhong frowned and wanted to say something, but the other man said, “Fanjian has also felt something. This opening of the cultivation method will benefit me.”

Since that was the case, he would not interfere.

True Lord Junhong sat beside them with the calm air of an old deity, wiping his sword sheath. Occasionally, he lifted his head to glance at the master and disciple pair, both drenched in sweat, and inwardly clicked his tongue again and again. “Everyone says Sword Cultivation is bitter. Those people really should come see this. The bitterness of Body Cultivation is bitterness upon bitterness.”

Looking at the miserable master-disciple duo, especially his eldest grandson, who could endure hardship to this extent with mere five spirit roots, there was no reason other disciples with better spirit roots could not do the same!

True Lord Junhong could not help beginning to think: the Sword Cultivation disciples of Qingtian Peak all had decent aptitude, yet there were only a scant few who could challenge those above their level. Were they still not working hard enough in cultivation?

“It seems Qingtian Peak’s rules should be changed.”

True Lord Junhong suddenly voiced the thought with feeling, and this consequently created Qingtian Peak’s grand spectacle over the next thousand years, where its disciples automatically rolled themselves into twisted fried dough through cultivation. However, at this moment, Song Yuanxi knew absolutely nothing about it.

After he finished engraving the entire Yin-Yang Art, the surging spiritual energy in his body began to gradually disperse, finally returning to nothing.

Having experienced such powerful strength, then looking at his mortal body now, Song Yuanxi’s mood was very complicated. The most terrifying thing in the world was not being unable to obtain something, but having already lost it.

To possess something and then lose it again—what a cruel thing that was.

“Yuanxi, engrave a copy of the cultivation method for me.” Daoist Master Fanjian regulated his breath, opened his eyes, and spoke.

Song Yuanxi made a sound of agreement and engraved another copy of the jade slip before handing it over. “Master, take a look. Is it different from your cultivation method?”

Daoist Master Fanjian compared the two. There were indeed subtle differences everywhere. The conjecture in his heart was verified, and his mood became extremely good.

“It is just as I thought. This cultivation method is not limited to earth-rank. This is a heaven-rank cultivation method.”

“A heaven-rank cultivation method?” Song Yuanxi thought of the contents he had previously read in the Scripture Pavilion. “Master, I saw records in the sect saying that although heaven-rank and earth-rank cultivation methods are only one rank apart, the difference between them is like heaven and earth, because the cultivation method possesses the capacity to grow. What does that mean?”

Daoist Master Fanjian was gratified and said with a smile, “Heaven-rank cultivation methods are naturally born from absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Like artifacts, they possess spirituality. Once cultivated to the realm of great perfection, they can give birth to an art spirit.”

“An art spirit?”

“An art spirit is like an artifact spirit. All things in this world possess spirituality. Once spirituality gives birth to a spirit, it is like life being remade, and the cultivation method leaps to immortal-rank.”

Song Yuanxi was stunned. He was actually cultivating an immortal-rank cultivation method? He was a cannon fodder character. When had he become the darling of the Heavenly Dao?

This doubt was quickly answered. Everything had still been his own wishful thinking. Only after cultivating the Yin-Yang Art again did he discover just how difficult this so-called heaven-rank cultivation method was.

Song Yuanxi spent nearly half a year before he barely managed to read the contents of the first layer fluently. As for the cultivation he had lost, cultivating again allowed him to quickly recover to the third level of Qi Refining. However, this cultivation belonged to the category of empty display. As for his actual Body Cultivation method, he had not even touched the threshold of the first layer.

In other words, he was stuck on the problem. The contents of the Yin-Yang Art were like an entire applied word problem, and he had directly gone stupid at the step of understanding the question.

May one ask: how was someone who could not even understand the question supposed to solve it?

Song Yuanxi hugged his poor, weak little self and cried inwardly: sure enough, his cannon fodder character setting stood firm and unshaken.

He had thought about going to his master for help, but ever since the day the cultivation method had been opened, his master had gone into seclusion. And in a change from his usual habits, he was not in his cave residence but had directly gone to the sect’s secret realm.

Song Yuanxi had no choice. He could only continue reading the question on his own.

…

Jiang Lanyi had been kept by Daoist Master Yunxi’s side for more than half a year and had finally raised her alchemy skills to the second level. She could now proficiently refine second-level mid-grade pills. To the her of the past, this was something she had never dared imagine.

Song Qing was also very satisfied. Jiang Lanyi’s ability was beyond his expectations. Ever since she had refined a first-level high-grade pill during the assessment, he had taught her to refine second-level pills, and she had touched the threshold in only half a year. Not bad, not bad at all.

“You are already able to independently refine second-level pills. What remains is constant repeated practice. Second-level pills have the widest variety and number. You must refine every type of pill once and become proficient in all of them before you may begin refining high-grade pills. You must not seek speed. The second level is the foundation. If the foundation is not solid, your path of alchemy in the future will only grow narrower and narrower.”

Song Qing had already developed the intention to take her as a disciple in the future, so he could not avoid lecturing Jiang Lanyi a few extra sentences.

Jiang Lanyi listened humbly the entire time, without the slightest impatience. She was even a little excited and wanted to take notes on the spot. But she was not familiar with Daoist Master Yunxi, so she did not dare act presumptuously.

When Song Qing finished speaking, he waved a hand and let her go back. “The rest is for you to slowly comprehend on your own.”

“Yes. This disciple takes her leave. Many thanks to Daoist Master for guiding me in alchemy.”

After Jiang Lanyi saw the light of day again, the first thing she did was go find Song Yuanxi. He was the person she most wanted to thank. She wished she could hug this little brother and give him a fierce kiss.

He was simply her family. In the future, she would definitely cherish him like her own little brother!

Jiang Lanyi found Wanhai Peak. Pushing open the little courtyard gate and seeing the person inside, she smiled extremely happily. “Junior Brother Song!”

When Song Yuanxi saw who had come, he tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Oh, it’s Senior Sister Jiang.”

“Junior Brother Song, what’s wrong with you? Have you encountered some difficulty?” Jiang Lanyi asked worriedly.

Song Yuanxi lay sprawled over the stone table, his face full of a look that said life held no joy. “Senior sister, I’m finished.”

“Junior brother…”

“I’m finished, I’m really finished! I only knew that defying the heavens with a cultivation method brought lots of benefits, but I forgot that I myself am trash. I can’t even understand the contents. How am I supposed to begin cultivating?”

It was just understanding text. It clearly should have been a language problem, so why did it feel like a math problem instead?

Song Yuanxi said, “Senior sister, I probably have no hope of Foundation Establishment in this lifetime.”

After Jiang Lanyi understood the cause of the matter, she said directly, “If junior brother trusts me, could you let me study that cultivation method?”

“Senior sister, you?”

“Just like when I explained alchemy to you before, I can also annotate the cultivation method for you. Although I am not a Body Cultivation practitioner, I imagine cultivation methods should mostly share common principles. Perhaps I can understand it?”

Song Yuanxi was not secretive about the cultivation method. The Scripture Pavilion had a backup copy of the Yin-Yang Art, after all. But as for doing something as thankless and exhausting as Body Cultivation, there was no one else in Xuantian Sect except him.

“Senior sister, feel free to look.”

Song Yuanxi actually did not have much hope. Before this, he had already taken this cultivation method and asked many people: his maternal grandfather, the peak master of Redcloud Peak, and even the sect master. The great bosses were all at a loss when facing the Yin-Yang Art.

Their unified statement was, “We can explain the copy of the Yin-Yang Art in the Scripture Pavilion, but the one in your hands cannot be explained.”

It was not that they could not explain it, but that they had no confidence in how to explain the many subtle differences inside. If their understanding was wrong, they would instead delay his cultivation. This matter could not be done.

And the only Daoist Master Fanjian who could explain it had truly and genuinely gone into seclusion. The great bosses felt that, given Fanjian’s temperament, it was impossible for him to enter life-or-death seclusion. At most, he would come out in two or three years. Song Yuanxi, this disciple, was still better left for him to personally teach.

And so, Song Yuanxi temporarily became someone nobody managed.

But Jiang Lanyi did not have this kind of worry. A newborn calf feared no tiger; the less one had experienced, the simpler one’s thoughts were. She simply did things by instinct.

Jiang Lanyi said, “Junior brother, this is how I understand the first section. The Dao of Heaven conforms to yin and yang, and all things begin anew…”

At first, Song Yuanxi only listened casually, but as he listened, he discovered it actually seemed somewhat interesting.

“Senior sister, say it a bit more slowly. I’ll take notes.” Song Yuanxi took out a blank book from his storage bangle that he had not used in ten thousand years and began writing with a brush.

The palest ink was better than the sharpest memory. No matter how convenient jade slips were, in the end, they were still not as good as content one had thought through and then written down personally.

One dared to teach, and one dared to learn.

In a certain little courtyard on Wanhai Peak, two young people gathered together every few days, relying on nothing but a cavity full of hot-blooded passion to research a heaven-rank cultivation method.

After researching the first few short sections, Song Yuanxi felt he could do it again. “Senior sister, I want to start cultivating. I have a feeling that this time, I will definitely succeed!”

Jiang Lanyi was also very excited. “Junior brother, you definitely can. I will guard you.”

Song Yuanxi immediately took out a small Defensive Array and set it up in his courtyard. He filled it with spirit stones before entering the room and beginning to enter meditation.

Cultivating the Yin-Yang Art was already familiar to him. Now that he had roughly understood the question, doing it again was very fast. He mobilized spiritual energy and circulated the first layer of the Yin-Yang Art, gradually cultivating according to his own understanding.

He was not anxious either. He would only cultivate the very beginning of the first layer.

Body Cultivation practitioners initially tempered the skin. But when Song Yuanxi cultivated the Yin-Yang Art again, the first step instead began with refining energy. Not refining energy as a cultivation level, but cultivating his own breath and presence.

He did not really understand what relationship Body Cultivation had with breath and presence. Did breath and presence also count as part of the body?

But the cultivation process was unexpectedly smooth. He had entered the gate.

When he opened his eyes again, several days had passed. He excitedly pushed open the door and ran out, waving at Jiang Lanyi. “Senior sister, I succeeded.”

Jiang Lanyi was very happy to hear it. She felt that she was still somewhat useful and had finally been able to repay her junior brother a little. It seemed that in the future, she would have to free up more time to properly explain things to her junior brother.

“Junior Brother Song, today is a day of great joy. Let me treat you to a meal,” Jiang Lanyi said with a smile. “Let’s go to Zui Xian Tower in the market. I heard the senior sisters say that the spirit beast meat there tastes very good. Shall we go try it together?”

Of course Song Yuanxi agreed. A foodie never refused delicious food.

However, “I should be the one treating senior sister to a meal. This time, it was all thanks to your help that I smoothly passed the first hurdle. I absolutely have to treat you to this meal!”

Next Chapter >