Chapter Eleven: Refreshing to the Soul

  The next day, Xuán Qí changed his usual schedule and got up early.

  He couldn't stay in bed any longer. The old rooster's voice had been echoing in his mind since the sky was just beginning to lighten, calling him to get up.

  Xuan Qi didn't make a sound, and after getting dressed, he started running along the small mountain path behind the house. According to Lao Ding's requirements, he had to find a quiet and open space, preferably facing the sun.

  In Xuan Qi's memory, there was indeed such a place, which was a slope on the back mountain, halfway up the mountain, with a relatively flat open space, and it faced east and sat west.

  Xuan Qi walked all the way, climbing mountains and running steps, yet he didn't feel tired at all, as if he was walking on flat ground.

  He knew it was because of the energy transformation in the turtle shell before that had changed his body.

  "Old Turtle, I've arrived."

  Xuan Qi stood in the empty space, looking down at the village below the mountain, feeling refreshed and invigorated, with a broadened heart.

  "Find a place to sit cross-legged facing east and I'll teach you the basic routes of Qi circulation."

  Xuan Qi sat down according to his words, although he had no foundation, but he still knew how to sit cross-legged.

  "Close your eyes and carefully feel the thread of breath in your ancestral aperture."

  Xuan Qi stared blankly and asked: "Where is Zu Qiao?"

  Silence for five seconds.

  The old man asked in a low and mysterious tone: "As a descendant of the Xuan family, don't you even know about your ancestral aperture?"

  "Hmm... there's something strange about this, I didn't learn anything like this before. When I was a kid, my grandfather made me memorize some things, but it's been so many years now, I've long forgotten." Xuan Qi scratched his head with some embarrassment.

  "If Xuan Yangzi knew that his descendants didn't even know the ancestral tomb, I don't know if he would be so angry that he'd crawl out of the underworld." Lao Ding's tone had a hint of "hating iron for not becoming steel", "You little brat doesn't even have these basics down, what's the point of practicing 'Turtle Dragon Transformation'?"

  "Gui Long Bian" is the technique that Lao Gui wants to teach Xuan Qi to cultivate. According to Lao Gui, "Gui Long Bian" is much more advanced than the Xuan family's "Xuan Xin Jue", to the point where it can't even be compared. In short, "Xuan Xin Jue" is a simplified and watered-down version of "Gui Long Bian", which was modified by Xuan Yang Zi for his descendants to cultivate more easily.

  Now that Xuan Qi has the personal guidance of Lao Ding, he naturally no longer needs to cultivate the mountain stronghold version of "Xuan Xin Jue". Moreover, even if Xuan Qi wanted to cultivate "Xuan Xin Jue", it would be unrealistic, because the Xuan family's "Xuan Xin Jue" was also incomplete, leaving only some basic body-refining parts.

  "The Transformation of the Turtle and Dragon" is divided into two parts, the first part being "Returning to the Origin", which mainly consists of three stages: "Gathering at the Ford and Becoming a Spirit", "Refining the Spirit and Transforming it into Qi" and "Refining Qi and Transforming it into Shen".

  "Ji Zhen Cheng Jing" is the most basic foundation-building method, which can be divided into several stages: refining the skin, tempering the bones, opening up the tendons, clearing the pulse and washing the marrow. The main purpose of this practice is to continuously grind and refine one's physical constitution, tempering the flesh to reach a state where further cultivation becomes possible.

  Because Xuan Qi's body had been transformed by the energy contained in the turtle shell, he had actually skipped the "Fa Mai" and "Xi Su" stages, and a large amount of impurities had been eliminated from his body, almost achieving the foundation.

  However, due to the external force transformation, Xuan Qi's foundation realm is not stable enough. At least his skin, flesh and bones have not been tempered and trained, and their strength has not yet reached the required level.

  "Accumulating essence to form spirit" is the most basic stage, but it's also the most difficult stage. As the saying goes, "all things are difficult at the beginning", and the vast majority of Taoist disciples get stuck in this stage for their entire lives, unable to progress further.

  That's why some sects even skip this stage and directly practice the later stages, although on the surface it seems to have no effect, but Laojun despises such practices as "heretical".

  Originally, Xuan Qi had already laid the foundation, and it was extremely easy to polish his body, just like a smooth sailing boat. However, Lao Ding didn't expect that Xuan Qi wouldn't even understand the most basic "common sense" of cultivation, which made him somewhat doubt whether this host was suitable for practicing the "Turtle Dragon Transformation".

  As for Lao Tzu's sarcastic remarks about the mysteries of yin and yang, Xuan Qi didn't take it to heart. He had never studied these things before, so he naturally didn't know anything about them.

  "If it weren't for my unexpected rebirth, the Xuan family might have already become extinct by my generation. I wonder what our ancestors would think if they knew about this."

  He couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart at this thought.

  "Since our Xuan family ancestors were so powerful, did they already calculate the current situation of the Xuan family over a thousand years ago? Could it be that even the turtle shell was arranged by him?"

  After some thought, it's indeed possible that the ancestors of the Xuan family, Xuan Yangzi, studied the harmony between heaven and humanity, even the old turtle in his body praised him highly. If he was really that capable, he must have been able to predict the current situation of the Xuan family descendants. In this case, Xuan Qi also inherited the legacy of his ancestors, and had a reasonable self-explanation for his current circumstances.

  "I'll only say these basics once, so listen carefully. If you can't remember them, figure it out yourself and go learn again, I'm too lazy to teach."

  Lao Ding obviously didn't have much patience for this kind of thing and his tone was very unfriendly.

  "The ancestral aperture is located at the center of the two eyes, at the root of the nose, one inch inward. This is where the spirit is tied. Now you intend to guard the ancestral aperture, empty and quiet, lower your heart and restrain your nature, carefully feel the tiny weak starlight in the ancestral aperture..."

  Due to the previous physical transformation, Xuan Qi's various abilities have been greatly improved, including his brain's intelligence. He has also become somewhat aware that many things he couldn't understand before can now be easily comprehended, and his memory has become unforgettable at a glance.

  Following the old man's instructions, he sat cross-legged on the ground, facing east towards the rising sun, and focused his eyes inwardly at the ancestral aperture. At first, it felt a bit empty, but after persisting for a while, he only felt a slight numbness and warmth in his brow, and then suddenly felt a strong and warm energy pouring down from his brow, as if he had been suddenly drenched with a ladle of warm water on the top of his head.

  He could clearly feel that this power started from the center of his eyebrows, spreading downwards, gathering at his throat, and then rapidly shooting down to the soles of his feet, before returning from the soles back to the center of his eyebrows.

  Xuan Qi only felt a loud noise, his brain seemed to suddenly burst open, and then cool things started coming from all sides, entering from the center of his eyebrows, along the bridge of his nose, and into his mouth. The tip of his tongue trembled slightly, transmitting a numb and tingling sensation, countless droplets of saliva were secreted, he only felt sweet fragrance instantly filling his mouth, his Adam's apple quivered, Xuan Qi gulped, swallowing the sweet saliva into his belly.

  A scorching liquid flowed down his throat, as if a depth charge had been dropped, exploding instantly and spreading rapidly in all directions. Warm and numb, Xuan Qi felt as though countless pores all over his body were expanding and breathing, feeling so comfortable that he almost moaned with pleasure.

  This feeling reminded Xuan Qi of the time he drank the Jade Dew Wine in the Cave Heaven of Yanbo Mountain, although it wasn't as intense, but very similar.

  Just then, Lao Tzu's voice sounded in his ear:

  "Don't be distracted, hold on to the origin and guard the one, sink your mind into the elixir field!"

  Xuan Qi's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately gathered his scattered thoughts, re-focusing his mind. Following Lao Ding's instructions, he gradually condensed a thread of Qi, which grew stronger and stronger, following a specific route, slowly advancing through his body... This process repeated, cycling back to the beginning.

  This process is the method of inhaling and exhaling in "Turtle-Dragon Transformation" to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, with a very grand name called "Qì Tūn Shān Hé".

  This method of exhalation and inhalation is very similar to the "swallowing of air" in Taoism, but the way of "swallowing the mountains and rivers" is much more ingenious than the "swallowing of air" method. Moreover, it does not use the mouth to swallow, but uses the ancestral aperture to directly absorb the spiritual energy in space, with the saliva in the mouth as a medium to assist absorption. In terms of both methods and efficiency, they are not on the same level.

  The back mountain of the Xuān Qí Lǎo Jiā has not suffered much damage due to its steep terrain and numerous scattered rocks, with dense forests and lush trees, and a relatively thicker spiritual energy compared to other places.

  At this moment, if a cultivator with opened heavenly eyes were to see it, they would certainly discover that the spatial spiritual energy gathering at this location was rapidly converging towards Xuan Qi. The thin spiritual energy gathered and formed a relatively dense spiritual energy zone, which slowly rotated and transformed into a funnel-like vortex, slowly sinking down and drilling into Xuan Qi's brow.

  "Huh?"

  Lao Ding also found this situation somewhat strange. He had not expected that Xuan Qi's first attempt at cultivating the "Breath of Mountains and Rivers" technique would have such an effect.

  "Isn't the spiritual energy on the mainland of Huaxia becoming thinner and thinner? How can the spiritual energy in this space be so dense?"

  But the old Taoist didn't know that with the development of global industrialization, the environment and vegetation on Earth had been destroyed to an unbearable extent, the thinness of spiritual energy had dropped to a historical low, almost non-existent, which was also one of the main reasons for the decline of the Xuanmen.

  Xuan Qi was completely unaware of the events unfolding outside, he continued to "swallow mountains and rivers", the vigor in his body also gradually grew from its original hair-like thinness, developing and expanding, several hours later, it had already increased by more than tenfold.

  Xuan Qi finally came back to his senses from his addicted state under Lao Ding's reminder.

  Yes, he is addicted to practicing.

  He had never thought that cultivating would be such a fascinating thing, it was a kind of comfort from the soul, no wonder myths and legends said that those powerful people closed their doors, moving not at all for several months, years, or even tens of years.

  If it weren't for Laojun waking him up, he would definitely continue to sit here and cultivate non-stop.

  When Xuan Qi came back to his senses, he found that the sun had already risen quite high.

  At this time, he found that his body had another layer of greasy dirt on its surface, but this time it was not as much as the last time, nor was it so black. He had to take off his shirt and wipe it randomly.

  Next, the old badger began to instruct him in some physical exercises and training, such as running with a stone on his back, climbing steep slopes, jumping and stretching his muscles, specifically training the strength of each muscle group.

  Doing these things is just physical labor, not only exhausting but also sore all over the body, compared to before it's like heaven and earth.

  However, Xuan Qi gritted his teeth and persisted. He deeply knew that "to eat the bitterest of bitterness is to be a superior man". Being able to get Old Turtle's help was already lucky enough for him. As long as he could extend Grandpa's lifespan, no matter how hard or tiring it was, he would accept it.

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