Chapter 36 Diligent Cultivation and Arduous Practice (Seeking Recommendation Tickets)

  "Who was the first to wake up from a great dream, I have always known myself!" These words were spoken by Zhuge Liang after waking up from sleep. Others sleep and sleep is a state of mind. But Qingyan woke up and said "Ah, comfortable!" Then she stretched many lazy waists, this is sleeping out of spirit.

  I'm feeling refreshed and invigorated, full of energy all over. With just a slight effort, I feel like my body is about to float away. It feels great!

  Qingyan flipped over and jumped off the bed, and in one jump he actually bounced from the bed to the door, a distance of about 6-7 feet. Qingyan was taken aback, as before he had used all his strength to jump and could only manage 2-3 feet at most, and that was with all his might. Was this the phenomenon after building his foundation?!

  Qingyan didn't think much about it, as it was getting late and he still had to go to Qingfeng Cliff for training. Thinking of that treacherous road made him frown involuntarily.

  Look at the Taoist robe that has shrunk a size, and he couldn't help but smile wryly. He thought to himself, "Anyway, I'm practicing in the mountains, so I'll just make do with it for now." After tidying up, he was about to head out.

  As soon as the door was pushed open, he remembered something and turned back to the bedside to pick up the Taiji bag and put it in his arms. He saw the Zixing sword lying on the bed and picked it up casually. He thought to himself, "This trekking over mountains and rivers, just in case I encounter wolves and tigers, it's good to have something for self-defense." He completely forgot that this Zixing sword was a heavy object weighing 500 catties.

  Out of the house, walking out of Songfeng Temple. Seeing that Qingfeng Cliff is located on the half-mountain cliff, Qingyan single-handedly held the Purple Heart Sword, lightly waving the sword in his hand while thinking to himself "First take the small road down the mountain, then find the way to walk towards Qingming Peak, ah! Several mountain peaks, when will I finish walking!" The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became, and the Purple Heart Sword in his hand swung faster.

  "No way! Something's not right!" Qingyan finally realized that something was off. Looking at the Purple Heart Sword in his hand, he suddenly remembered how it had almost severed his wrist when they first met. But now, wielding it felt as natural as a wooden stick - light and effortless, moving with his every whim. Now, the Purple Heart Sword felt like it weighed only five or six catties. What was going on?

  Qingyan remembered what Qingxu had said, "After you've built your foundation, your true energy will flow through all the meridians, and you'll have great strength and lightness of body, with perceptions surpassing those of ordinary people." Qingyan finally understood that after building his foundation, he was no longer the small stone he used to be. Just now, with a slight exertion of effort, he had leapt out two zhang, and the 500-jin Purple Heart Sword in his hand felt like nothing at all; with just a slight concentration of spirit, he could sense even the slightest movements of the wind and grass within a range of over ten zhang.

  It's different now. Qingyan's mind stirred, "Since that's the case, why take the usual route? Let's head straight from Mingyue Peak to Qingfeng Cliff!"

  He focused his attention and arrived at the edge of the mountain peak, which was directly facing Qingfeng Cliff. Qingyan looked down and saw that it wasn't very high, only about 200-300 meters, and not too steep either. He weighed his options carefully, thinking to himself that if he jumped straight down from here, even with his light body and great strength, where he could withstand knives and swords, he would still end up as a pile of minced meat. He wasn't so reckless yet, so he decided to take it one step at a time!

  Qingyan first looked at a protruding rock about two zhang away from him, which was his first foothold. Without hesitation, he took a deep breath and jumped down.

  The true energy ran rapidly inside his body, and Qingyan felt that his body was no different from a cotton ball, light and floating, landing softly on the rock. It was so easy, he still had some strength left, Qingyan was overjoyed! His courage immediately grew, finding the next foothold. This time it was farther away, more than three zhang. He took a deep breath and jumped down, just like before, steadily landing on top. Like this, once again, the distance increased, his movements becoming more agile and smooth. In just over ten jumps, he had already reached the bottom of the mountain. Qingyan looked up, hardly daring to believe that he had actually jumped down from above. This way, his confidence greatly increased, he was truly amazing.

  After coming down from Mingyue Peak, Qingyan felt the changes and benefits brought about by building a foundation. With nothing to worry about anymore, he looked straight ahead and ran towards Clear Wind Cliff.

  The true energy inside his body was running rapidly, and Qingyan's body was also sprinting quickly. With a slight tap of his toes, he had already traversed four or five zhangs in the air. A large tree came face to face with him, but with a slight turn of his body, he dodged it without slowing down. His energy continued to surge, and his true energy seemed endless. Qingyan transformed into a green shadow, rapidly floating over one mountain peak after another. So fast! In just an hour, he arrived at the foot of Qingming Peak. He stopped in mid-air, turned around, and gazed at the distant Mingyue Peak. Qingyan couldn't believe that he could arrive at the foot of Qingming Peak so easily and quickly.

  It's actually that simple, thinking about yesterday when I was still worried and anxious about it, it's really laughable. "Master must have known it would be like this, but didn't tell me! Hmph! When he comes out of his retreat, I'll go find him to settle the score!" Qingyan now understands Qingxu's forced smile expression yesterday, how despicable!

  Now arrived at Qingming Peak, facing a steep cliff like a mirror, the Clear Wind Cliff is in mid-air. What to do, I don't have the skill to run up again. The clear rock is worried and anxious, even if I use all my strength to jump up, I can only reach seven zhang high. Although the true energy inside me is inexhaustible, it cannot be released from my body, truly having power but nowhere to use it. This isn't like going down the mountain where you can jump down step by step. Going up like this, there's no foothold, and I couldn't jump up in one go either.

  No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't come up with a solution. Qingyan suddenly became enraged and swung his sword in one swift motion, striking the mountain rock. With a soft clang, the rock fell away, and Qingyan felt that the blade of his sword had encountered no resistance at all - it was even easier than cutting tofu! What a sharp Purple Heart Sword!

  Qingyan carefully examined the Purple Heart Sword in front of him, but the sword body was still dull and unsharp. He touched it with his hand, and it felt smooth and fine, without any sharpness. Strange, Qingyan thought to himself. He took the sword and slashed at a nearby rock, and the rock split open. Qingyan was amazed and wondered what was going on. After some contemplation, he tried again, slashing at the rock with the Purple Heart Sword. This time, however, the sword only shook violently and bounced back with great force, without splitting the rock. Qingyan suddenly realized that when he first swung the sword, he had naturally infused his true energy into the Purple Heart Sword, making it exceptionally sharp. But when he withdrew his true energy, the sword became a mere wooden stick again. With this understanding, Qingyan came up with a plan to reach the top of the Windy Cliff: since there was no path, he would create one himself!

  Qingyan stood at the foot of the mountain, took a deep breath and leaped up about six zhang high. The Purple Heart Sword quickly swung out, Qingyan didn't infuse any true energy into it, the sword collided with the mountain wall, bounced back with great force, borrowing the power of the rebound, Qingyan changed his breathing to borrow strength and jumped up another six zhang. Then he swung his sword again to borrow strength and jump up. Like this, swinging his sword, borrowing strength, jumping up once after another, from a distance it looked like a green figure was rising step by step on the smooth mountain wall as if it were a mirror, and the speed was extremely fast. However, after a while, the speed gradually slowed down.

  Qingyan continuously swung his sword nearly a hundred times, and in his heart, he secretly cried out in distress. At first, everything seemed to be going smoothly, but when he was over 200 meters away from the ground, problems arose. Qingyan's idea of swinging his sword to borrow force was originally a good one, but he had forgotten one thing - the Purple Heart Sword weighed as much as 500 kilograms, and each time it was swung out, it would have at least 4-5 thousand kilograms of force behind it. The counterforce generated by such a massive power striking the mountain wall would also be around 4-5 thousand kilograms, and the place that had to bear this enormous force was Qingyan's arm.

  Qingyan's arms had long since gone numb, first his right arm, then his left, and eventually both at the same time. From a height of six zhang, he gradually fell to five zhang, four zhang, and finally could only jump three zhang high. With great difficulty, he persisted until he reached a height of nearly 400 zhang, but Qingyan's arms were numb, not to mention his internal organs, which had been shaken to the point of collapse. Looking up at Qingfeng Cliff, which was still over 100 zhang away, Qingyan felt like he couldn't hold on any longer. Thinking about the 400-zhang drop below him, Qingyan's face turned deathly pale. He thought to himself, "It can't end like this!" Now suspended in mid-air with no foothold, unable to jump up again, all that awaited him was a fatal fall, and he would be nothing more than a pile of minced meat.

  He really couldn't hold on any longer, Qingyan was now unable to even grasp the Zixinsword, his arms had long since lost all feeling, it was a miracle he had been able to persevere until now. Just as he thought of giving up, a spark flashed in his mind, he scolded himself for being muddled, his body was numb but the true energy within him was still there, thinking this the true energy once again flowed into the Zixinsword, the sword's blade flashed and pierced straight into the mountain wall, two feet deep. Qingyan's entire person was now suspended in mid-air, his wooden head shaking back and forth from the shock, he could finally catch his breath, looking down he involuntarily sucked in a cold breath, it was too high. Looking up again he saw that he was very close to the Qingfeng Cliff, but this distance of tens of meters was as difficult to overcome as ascending to heaven.

  It's not easy to get up like this, how can I go up? Qingyan secretly operated his true energy to recover his physical strength, and his feet were also randomly kicking on the mountain wall, looking for a place to rest. "Hmm" Qingyan suddenly felt that his right foot was stepping on a soft place, and it actually sank in, seemingly a small cave. Looking down, he found that the place where his right foot stepped was a one-foot square hole, because the outside was full of weeds and he hadn't noticed it earlier. Qingyan tried his foot up and down, left and right, and found that it was a square shape, not like a natural cave, but rather man-made. His heart moved, and looking up, he discovered another similar hole three feet away from this one, and then another one further up, and even more below. Qingyan's discovery made him feel both sad and happy, unable to laugh or cry. Looking at the small holes, they were clearly the road opened by the former disciples of the Cuiwei Sect for going up the Qingfeng Cliff, with one hole every three feet, using the force to go up was both labor-saving and effortless. Because it hadn't been used for a long time, the inside was full of weeds, so he hadn't noticed it earlier. Thinking about how his predecessors had gone up the Qingfeng Cliff with ease, it was truly carefree and effortless! Looking at himself wielding the Purple Heart Sword to forcefully climb the mountain, not only was he exhausted but also almost got himself killed, it was really a world of difference. "Even Master didn't explain clearly, causing me..." Qingyan complained about Qingxu for a while.

  If Qing Yu heard Qing Yan's complaints, he would really be shouting injustice. He was scared by Qing Yan and didn't explain the situation in detail. In his mind, after Qing Yan knew that he had such abilities, he would find those caves when he came to Qing Ming Peak, because there is no other way up Qing Ming Peak except this road. Who would have thought that this little Shidi was so fierce, daring to rely on the recoil force of the Purple Heart Sword to cut through the mountain wall and climb up Qing Ming Peak, really a newborn calf not afraid of tigers!

  The Qingyan hung in the air, and it took more than half a day to recover. Since I found the way up to the Qingfeng Cliff, it was much easier to go up again. I put away the Zixinsword, used a bit of force with my toes, and my body followed the momentum upwards. When I reached the next foothold, I took another step forward, borrowing strength to climb up, which was much smoother. After more than a dozen steps, the Qingyan finally arrived at the Qingfeng Cliff, passing through that invisible air wall to reach the platform above. I let out a long sigh of relief, it wasn't easy, but I finally made it up.

  At the same time that Qingyan let out a long sigh, someone not far from Qingming Peak also let out a sigh of relief. "This foolish kid has been making me nervous. I don't know how Qingxu instructed him to make him come to Qingfeng Cliff like this! Fortunately, he finally knew the way, otherwise I would have had to take action myself!" The person muttered to himself, wearing a loose Daoist robe, with a slender and small body - it was none other than Qingyan's master Guangxian! It's really unknown how this leader of the Kunlun Sect closed his eyes and appeared here.

  Qingyan was unaware that his master had been watching him, and after a brief rest, he began to practice. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused his mind. First, he silently recited the "Multitude of Heart Sutra", waiting for his heart to calm down before starting to use the Taicheng Taoist power to guide the spiritual energy into his body. The聚灵珠 (Spirit Gathering Pearl) inside him also began to stir, and a large amount of spiritual energy surged in. With the experience from last time, Qingyan had long been prepared, using all his might to cultivate the energy, while the Spirit Gathering Pearl seemed to have become more obedient, knowing when to stop, and was very cooperative with Qingyan's practice. Every time it sent out spiritual energy, it waited for Qingyan to fully refine it before sending out the next batch of energy. With the help of the Spirit Gathering Pearl, Qingyan's true energy began to grow exponentially. However, inside Qingyan's body, there were two types of true energy with completely different properties: the blue-colored Taicheng Taoist power and the fiery red Red Sun True Energy. Attracted by the large amount of spiritual energy, these two types of true energy rose up together, each using its own method to absorb the spiritual energy and expand its own influence.

  Qingyan didn't know that practicing two kinds of Daoist inner alchemy at the same time was so shocking and unconventional. Practicing Daoist techniques is most afraid of divided attention, each technique has its own unique method of circulating Qi, and they interact with each other in complex ways. If one can't handle it properly, it will lead to the disaster of "walking fire into magic". Even if it's a technique from the same school, there's no possibility of practicing them together. As the saying goes, "the heart has no second use", while using the heart for two purposes is easy to lose focus and affect cultivation.

  Qingyan knows the truth in this matter, let alone Zhao Wujin said that if there's nothing going on, then there's definitely nothing going on.

  But Zhao Wuji didn't mention this matter at all, and instead encouraged Qingyan to practice two kinds of Taoist methods. Of course, he also taught Qingyan the "Multitude Heart Sutra" to prevent mistakes during cultivation, but at that time, his reason for telling Qingyan was only to help Qingyan untie her heart knot, and the logic behind this probably only Zhao Wuji himself understood.

  Qingyan sat in stillness, cultivating his internal energy, and before he knew it, time had passed quickly. Day after day slipped away, and the true energy within him grew increasingly profound. He didn't know when he would awaken from this sitting meditation again.