Chapter 8: The Three Great Spiritual Orifices

  That day during the daytime, Li Muran diligently cultivated, but his progress was still extremely slow.

  At night, when the moonlight poured into the house, Li Muran practiced again - indeed, everything was like a fish in water, advancing rapidly; every time he breathed out and in, there was a wisp of yuanqi that was refined into his body; an hour later, the yuanqi inside Li Muran's body was surging and overflowing, once again reaching a state of saturation.

  Li Muran tried to mobilize this yuanqi, and the result was very smooth. As long as he thought about it, the yuanqi flowed like a clear spring through his arms, chest, and abdomen, nourishing his internal organs, with an indescribable comfort.

  "It seems that these primordial energies are indeed ordinary heavenly and earthly primordial energies, and there's nothing wrong with them!" Li Muran thought to himself.

  But where is the problem? Why did these elements suddenly disappear overnight?

  With such doubts, Li Muran did not sleep all night, paying close attention to the changes in his body's yuanqi at all times.

  The whole night, the vital energy did not change, and it was also smooth and unobstructed when mobilized, looking very normal.

  But as the sky brightened and the moonlight faded, with each breath, this vital energy slowly dissipated from his body.

  Li Muran personally experienced this process and was naturally extremely nervous. He tried every means to stop it, but it had no effect.

  Even if he holds his breath, the vital energy can still emanate from his skin pores; even if he practices meditation and breathing exercises according to the rules, the refined vital energy cannot keep up with the speed at which it naturally escapes.

  Just like that, when the sun rises and the first ray of sunlight shines on the earth, Li Muran's yuanqi from last night's hard practice is almost gone, just like yesterday.

  "Why is it like this!" Li Muran felt somewhat disheartened. If things continued like this, wouldn't his cultivation be in vain!

  Unfortunately, I don't have a mentor or a master to guide me, so everything can only be explored by myself.

  Li Muran sighed lightly: "If only he were a formal disciple! As a formal disciple, he could go to the Book Pavilion to consult more classics, and maybe find some clues!"

  He is now a bystander disciple and cannot enter the library to browse all the classics.

  Several more days passed, and Li Muran practiced diligently day and night, with very short breaks; however, every time it was daytime, the yuanqi in his body would automatically dissipate, leaving only a tiny portion remaining.

  On the seventh day, it was time for lectures and teaching; the disciples gathered in the Grand Hall of Kaiyuan Peak, waiting for Qingfengzi Shixiong to come and explain.

  Before long, Qingfengzi appeared on time, with a smile he inquired about the cultivation situation of the disciples, and the disciples replied enthusiastically, quite excited.

  The qualifications for cultivation have already been demonstrated at this time. Disciples with good qualifications and diligence have already cultivated their primordial energy to perfection within seven days, and can now attempt to impact the various meridians, open up the eight extraordinary meridians, and unblock the body's acupoints; slightly inferior disciples have also cultivated more than half of their primordial energy, and will reach perfection in just a few more days.

  And someone like Li Muran, although diligent and hardworking, still only has a faint wisp of yuanqi in his body, which is also considered to be one of the rare inferior types.

  Li Muran did not have any inferiority complex, he knew that he was not so bad, it's just that he hadn't found the right method yet.

  If he could find the right way to keep the yuanqi cultivated at night within his body, then his cultivation speed would be enough to make these disciples gasp in amazement and applaud wildly!

  "Actually, every person has three major spiritual apertures. Except for the extremely rare congenital aperture opener, everyone needs to open them one by one. Among them, the ancestral aperture is the lock of the divine soul and is the first step in cultivation, which you have already opened; the Zhongzhong is the gate of essence and spirit, located at the center of the body, **connected with the spine**; The Dan Tian is located three inches below the navel, it's the hole where Qi is stored."

  "Ancestral orifice, fragrant center, and elixir field are also known as the three major spiritual orifices of upper, middle, and lower. They respectively correspond to the three treasures of spirit, essence, and energy, which are the foundation of cultivation!"

  "After opening the ancestral orifice and seeing the divine light, he stepped into the gate of cultivation. Next, he will use the refined heaven and earth yuanqi to open up the Zhongqiao and open up the Dan Tian."

  "There are eight extraordinary meridians in the human body, including Qizhong and Dantian, which are all located within these eight extraordinary meridians. The eight extraordinary meridians are Du Mai, Ren Mai, Chong Mai, Dai Mai, Yin Wei Mai, Yang Wei Mai, Yin Qiao Mai, and Yang Qiao Mai. There are eight major acupoints: Gong Sun, Nei Guan, Lin Qi, Wai Guan, Shen Mai, Hou Xi, Lie Que, and Zhao Hai, each corresponding to one of the extraordinary meridians."

  "When one can use the primordial energy of heaven and earth to open up the eight extraordinary meridians, it is a sign that their cultivation has been successful. The more abundant the primordial energy of heaven and earth in one's cultivation, the stronger one's own magical powers will be, and the more remarkable the effects will be. Opening up the spiritual orifice in the center of the chest is a sign of minor completion and advancing to the intermediate stage of qi meridian cultivation; further opening up the elixir field is a characteristic of reaching the later stage of qi meridian cultivation."

  "Next, I will teach you all the brothers the mantra of operating Gong Chong Xue, Tong Mai Kai Qiao. If there is anything unclear, please ask."

  Qingfengzi elaborated on the method of Chongguan Tongxue, and all the disciples listened intently. At this moment, no one dared to be careless or miss the opportunity.

  Li Muran remembered every word and sentence of Qingfengzi, not daring to miss a single character. Qingfengzi said that this set of Daoist basic Qigong method is called "Dao Xin Tong Mai Jue", which is divided into nine layers, and he teaches one layer every month, then lets the disciples practice and comprehend by themselves.

  The first layer of the technique was relatively simple. However, the disciples' comprehension varied from high to low, and it took half a day's effort to complete the transmission of this technique, with no one asking questions anymore.

  Qingfengzi continued, "My Yuanshu Sect is the sect of symbols, with the main focus on controlling and driving symbols. Apart from daily cultivation, symbol control techniques are also a required skill to master. Now, I will teach you all the key points in creating the 'Yuanyi Symbol'. All of you have a certain foundation in symbol control, having trained your hands, eyes, and mental state, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you!"

  "Seal symbol!" The disciples heard the words and immediately lifted their spirits. The various mysterious techniques of our school are mostly completed in the form of talismans, and now they have the opportunity to truly come into contact with the seal symbol, naturally, they are quite looking forward to it.

  "Yuán qì fú," said Qingfēngzi with a light cough, "As the name suggests, it is a talisman that stores the primordial energy of heaven and earth. The Yuán qì fú is divided into different grades based on the amount of primordial energy it contains. The most basic one-star Yuán qì fú only requires a single character, seal, and incantation to create. If you all are willing to work hard and practice diligently, I believe you will be able to produce one soon."

  "Is it just a word, a seal and an incantation?" Li Muran's heart moved: "It doesn't seem to be very difficult!"

  Qingfengzi continued, "Actually, the key to making yuanqi symbols is not in the technique of making symbols, but rather in the source of the yuanqi. The yuanqi used to make yuanqi symbols is the heavenly yuanqi cultivated by the symbol maker themselves, or their own magical power. Every time a yuanqi symbol is made, it consumes a considerable amount of one's own magical power. For you, it's best to have sufficient confidence before starting to make symbols, lest you waste your magical power."

  "The Yuanqi symbol, although the most basic of talismans, has a very wide range of applications. The greatest effect of the Yuanqi symbol is to supplement the yuanqi of various other talismans. The sect has rules that all disciples, according to their cultivation level, can receive some talisman paper and ink every month, and at the same time must hand over a certain number of Yuanqi symbols to the sect. If the quantity is not enough, they will be subject to a certain punishment."

  "For you, the first year does not require submitting yuanqi symbols, but from the second year onwards, five one-star yuanqi symbols must be submitted every month."

  "Qingfeng Shixiong, what about you? Do you also need to hand over your talisman?" a disciple curiously asked.

  Qingfengzi smiled bitterly and said, "As a late-stage disciple of the Qi Mai sect, I have to hand in three 2-star Yuanqi symbols every month, which is equivalent to thirty 1-star Yuanqi symbols. This is not an easy task."

  Because they had all made talismans before, the disciples all had a certain foundation in making talismans. Qingfengzi simply explained some key points about making yuanqi talismans and then instructed the disciples to go to the warehouse to fetch talisman paper, talisman brushes, and talisman ink.

  A group of disciples immediately rushed to the warehouse, according to the rules, each of them could receive ten sheets of first-class paper, a lower-grade pen and two taels of ink.

  The process of receiving was very simple, just register your name and press the handprint, everything went smoothly. However, when it came to Li Muran and Mu Li, they encountered trouble.

  "Why don't you give me a red envelope too?" Mu Li frowned.

  Li Muran said: "According to the rules of our sect, all new disciples can get ten talismans and other items for free in their first year. Why didn't Wu Shixiong give them to us?"

  "Not bad," said the steward in charge of the warehouse, a man in his forties with the surname Wu, whose cultivation was not too high, only at the middle stage of Qi Mo.

  "Wu Zhi said, 'If you are formal disciples, then there is no problem. However, since you have not formally entered the sect and are only auditing disciples, whether or not you qualify to receive the symbol papers is not clearly stated in the sect's rules. As Wu is in charge of managing the storage room and distributing supplies, he naturally has to strictly follow the sect's rules!'"

  "Well, Wu will go ask to see the Master Uncle, and ask for his opinion. However, the Master Uncle is very busy, Wu is afraid that you won't be able to see him for a while, so you can only wait a bit longer!"

  "What's going on!" Li Muran and Mu Li were at a loss, looking at each other in dismay, feeling quite anxious for the time being.

  Mu Li pulled on Zhao's sleeve and whispered in his ear, "I heard that Wu is a man who likes to take advantage of small benefits. If you give him some benefits, he will take care of you when distributing goods, otherwise he will only give you inferior goods."

  "What do you mean?" Li Muran was taken aback. The few disciples exchanged a glance, then nodded in agreement one after another.

  These few people handed over their silver to Mu Li, who held a pile of whole or broken silver and smiled at Wu Shixiong: "Wu Shixiong, this small matter, why bother Master Shibo, you can make the decision yourself. After all, we are not outsiders. This little heart, not enough to show respect, please accept it with a smile."

  Wu Zhi Shi merely glanced at the silver and said with a scornful face: "Hmph, gold and silver are just worldly things. What use do I have for them? If you really have good intentions, then take out two pieces of spiritual stone!"