Chapter 7

"When the cultivation of the Qi Pulse stage is completed, the eight extraordinary meridians and the middle and lower dantians in the body are thoroughly unblocked, providing an opportunity to advance further and become a Divine Wanderer cultivator."

"Once at the Divine Wanderer stage, one can already live without eating or drinking, relying on the absorption of the elemental energy of heaven and earth, reaching the level of辟谷 (abstaining from grains). Additionally, the most significant feature of the Divine Wanderer stage is the ability to project one's divine consciousness outside the body, controlling objects from a distance and flying with a sword!"

"The Divine Wanderer stage is not the end of cultivation. Above it, there are the Dharma Image stage and the True Body stage. Those senior cultivators can manifest a Dharma Image using their own magical power, possessing great and incomprehensible abilities. As for the True Body stage, it involves using one's essence, energy, and spirit to refine a true body, which can be called a 'True Person'!"

Qingfengzi's words captivated the disciples, the mystery and power of the "Dharma Image" and "True Body" truly being something to aspire to.

"Is reaching the True Body stage the same as becoming an immortal?" a young boy asked.

Qingfengzi shook his head: "Not at all! Enlightenment, Qi Pulse, Divine Wanderer, Dharma Image, and True Body are merely the first of the three major stages of cultivation!"

"The first of the three major stages of cultivation, also known as True Cultivation, means refining the true body by removing impurities and using the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit. This is just laying the foundation for future cultivation."

"Just the first stage?" The disciples couldn't help but draw in a breath of cold air. Their seniors were only Divine Wanderer cultivators, and even if they advanced two more major stages, they would only have completed the first stage of cultivation! The path to immortality is long and endless, and this statement seems to be no exaggeration.

"What are the second and third stages of the three major stages of cultivation?" Li Muran was very interested.

Qingfengzi smiled bitterly and said, "This poor Daoist does not know. The higher levels of cultivation are beyond our reach. The information about these three major stages, this poor Daoist has only read in some books in the library."

"However, one thing is certain," Qingfengzi raised his voice a bit, "the higher the cultivation realm, the stronger the abilities and the longer the lifespan. It is said that the founder of our sect, Master Fusheng, lived for a thousand years as a True Body cultivator!"

"Besides these major stages, each stage can be further divided into early, middle, and late sub-stages. For example, this poor Daoist is a late-stage Qi Pulse cultivator, and once you start cultivating, you will be early-stage Qi Pulse cultivators."

"Brother Qingfeng, quickly teach us the cultivation methods!" Some of the young boys were already impatient.

Qingfengzi nodded and smiled, "Alright, alright! This poor Daoist will now teach you the basic breathing and cultivation techniques. However, I must say beforehand that although we all pursue the path to immortality, each person is different, and the cultivation techniques must be tailored to the individual. Each person has the most suitable technique for them. The techniques I teach are just the basic ones used by the Daoist sect. Whether you will find the most suitable techniques for yourselves in the future depends on your own destiny and opportunities!"

Before introducing the techniques, Qingfengzi briefly summarized the various methods of cultivation, saying, "Cultivation can generally be divided into three methods: static cultivation, dynamic cultivation, and external cultivation. Static cultivation includes methods such as sitting meditation, listening to the breath, observing light, and meditation. Dynamic cultivation includes methods such as breathing, routines, mental wandering, and combat. External cultivation includes methods such as diet, elixirs, empowerment, and energy absorption. I will explain these in detail later. Of course, the best method is to combine static and dynamic cultivation and make good use of external cultivation, which will increase the speed of cultivation..."

As Qingfengzi began to explain the specific steps and methods of cultivation, the disciples listened carefully, not speaking much, only occasionally asking questions when they encountered difficult concepts.

...

After returning from Kaiyuan Peak, Li Muran remained in his room, not leaving.

He closed his eyes slightly, sitting on a cushion about an inch thick, with his legs crossed, his spine straight, his chest slightly concave, his back relaxed, his shoulders relaxed, his head centered, his chin slightly tucked, and his palms placed one on top of the other, facing upward, about an inch below his navel. His body was relaxed but very stable.

This is the posture of sitting meditation, one of the basic methods of static cultivation, and the most commonly used cultivation posture. At the same time, he inhaled through his nose and exhaled slowly through his mouth, with a slow and continuous breath, which is one of the methods of dynamic cultivation called breathing.

This combination of static and dynamic cultivation is the most basic method of Daoist cultivation. With each breath, a stream of energy enters the five organs and six腑 (viscera) through the nose, circulates slowly, and then turns into impure energy, which is exhaled through the mouth.

After ninety-nine breaths, the energy flows throughout the body, and all the impure energy is expelled once, which is called a small cycle. After each small cycle, a thread of cool energy remains in Li Muran's meridians, which is the elemental energy he has refined.

After nine small cycles of sitting and breathing, Li Muran finally gathered a fine thread of energy in his meridians, running through his arms. This fine thread of energy is the magical power he has cultivated.

"My talent is indeed so poor!" Li Muran stopped his cultivation, somewhat disappointed.

According to Brother Qingfeng, after nine small cycles, disciples with slightly better talent can gather a stream of energy in their bodies; those with even better talent can even connect the energy through their arms and chest. Li Muran only had a faint thread of energy, which could only connect through his arms, indicating that his talent was poor. When Mo Yunzi said his talent was too poor, it was indeed not baseless.

However, Li Muran did not become disheartened. He said to himself, "If my talent is poor, I can only make up for it with hard work! If others cultivate for three hours a day, I will cultivate for six or nine hours, putting in two or three times the effort, and I will surely catch up!"

Li Muran continued to sit and breathe, cultivating for two hours. His entire meridians were sore, and he was very tired. At this point, forcing himself to continue would be harmful, and he needed to rest and adjust.

Li Muran fell into a deep sleep, not knowing how long he had slept until he was awakened by a knock on the door.

"Brother Zhao, you missed dinner again!" It turned out that Mu Li had brought him food again.

It was already night, and after eating, Li Muran chatted with Mu Li for a while, exchanging cultivation experiences. Both of them had poor talent and poor cultivation results, so they could empathize with each other.

After sending Mu Li away, Li Muran calmed his mind and sat down to cultivate again.

Closing his eyes, he felt the brilliant star and moonlight in his ancestral aperture, and his spirit was instantly invigorated.

He continued to breathe slowly, refining the elemental energy of heaven and earth bit by bit, but this time, the situation changed dramatically!

After one small cycle, Li Muran opened his eyes, overjoyed, almost disbelieving.

In his arms, a dense stream of energy was flowing rapidly, like a mighty river, which was a far cry from his daytime cultivation!

Moreover, with a thought, this stream of energy easily rushed into his chest and abdomen, nourishing his organs, and in a short time, the entire upper body was filled with energy.

The ability to connect energy through half the body is a sign of entering the cultivation stage. Generally, ordinary disciples need three to five days of cultivation to achieve this; in Li Muran's case, it was not only rare but also a sign of exceptional talent!

If other disciples encountered this situation, they would be overjoyed and eager to spread the news throughout the sect. However, Li Muran could remain calm amidst his joy and continue to cultivate.

Li Muran cultivated for another hour, and the results were much better than several hours of daytime cultivation! However, since he had just started, his eight extraordinary meridians were not yet unblocked, and his body could only contain a limited amount of elemental energy. By this point, his body was already saturated and could not continue.

Being able to saturate his body with elemental energy on the first day of cultivation, if this were known, no one would believe it!

Li Muran took a deep breath. With this talent, staying in the sect would definitely not be a problem; just showing a little, the Daoists would surely vie to take him as a disciple!

"I always suspected that the enlightenment talisman drawn with the mirror's runes was not a useless talisman!" Li Muran took out the bronze mirror, becoming even more fond of it.

His ancestral aperture's divine light was dim during the day but shone like stars and the moon at night; his cultivation speed was slow during the day but made rapid progress at night. These must be related to the mysterious runes in the mirror.

Li Muran studied the bronze mirror for a while but still could not figure it out. Gradually, he closed his eyes and had a good sleep holding the mirror.

The next morning, Li Muran stretched and began to practice, experiencing the results of his night's cultivation—then his face changed dramatically!

"What's going on?" Li Muran's face turned pale. In his body, only a faint thread of elemental energy was wandering, which should be the magical power he cultivated during the day, while the dense stream of energy he cultivated at night was almost gone!

"What happened? Where did the energy go?" Li Muran was extremely anxious, carefully sensing the energy in his body.

In theory, once energy is cultivated in the body, it does not easily dissipate on its own. Even if one does not cultivate for a long time, only a small part of it would dissipate. How could such a large amount of energy disappear overnight?

He thought he was free from cultivation worries, but when the day came, everything was gone. The night's experiences, the mysterious and radiant divine light in his ancestral aperture, and the superior cultivation talent, all seemed like a dream. But once the day came, everything returned to its original state!

Such a dramatic change, even with Li Muran's strong mental fortitude, left him somewhat disheartened.

"No matter what, even if I stay up all night, I must find out why the hard-earned energy disappeared for no reason!"

Li Muran muttered to himself, deciding to try again that night.