Chapter 27: Bottleneck

  Li Muran saw the first talisman, which was a very famous flying technique talisman, commonly known as the Paper Crane Talisman.

  When the talisman paper crane is activated, it can transform into a large paper crane about one zhang in size and fly rapidly in mid-air.

  When the Yuanqi of the paper crane is about to be consumed, it cannot continue to fly; however, as long as there is a Yuanqi symbol to supplement the Yuanqi, it can be used again. A high-quality paper crane can be reused hundreds of times.

  Li Muran thought to himself: "This Crane Symbol Paper, even in the marketplaces, would cost at least 150 Spirit Stones. This monk's theft and repair, indeed his family is not poor."

  The talismanic paper crane is convenient to use, requiring only a small amount of magical power to manipulate. Li Muran can now also use it, but with his cultivation and experience, using such an expensive talisman is quite astonishing. Given Li Muran's low-key and cautious style, he naturally keeps it hidden and won't easily use it.

  Apart from this talisman paper crane, the other few talismans are all yuanqi symbols, obviously prepared to supplement the yuanqi for the talisman paper crane.

  Li Muran gazed intently at one of the Yuanqi symbols, and was quite reluctant to part with it.

  This yuanqi symbol has a character, a seal, and an incantation on it, as well as a gathering energy pattern. This is a two-star yuanqi symbol.

  The two-star yuanqi symbol contains about ten times the amount of yuanqi as a one-star yuanqi symbol, and its price is also about ten times that of a one-star yuanqi symbol.

  "What a pity, my current magical power is not deep enough to draw a two-star yuanqi symbol. This two-star yuanqi symbol should have been drawn by some senior brother in the middle or late stage of his cultivation in our sect." Li Muran sighed softly and put away these talismans one by one.

  Li Muran cleaned up the cluttered objects one by one, most of which were used by Buddhist disciples. Li Muran couldn't use them and didn't want to sell them either. He planned to find a time to destroy all these things.

  Apart from this, there were only two bottles of dan pills left, a few pieces of magical equipment, a few books on martial arts techniques and a pile of spiritual stones.

  Those two bottles of Dan pills are all marrow-washing Dan, a kind of very valuable medicine that is not always available. This marrow-washing Dan not only contains extremely rich yuan energy, far surpassing the聚元丹; it also has the extraordinary effect of washing the marrow and transforming the tendons, and is said to improve one's physical constitution, eliminate impurities, and have great benefits for Qi Mo period cultivators who are opening up their meridians.

  Unfortunately, Li Muran's current cultivation is still shallow. He needs to have at least mid-term Qi Mo cultivation before he can truly refine the medicinal properties of the Washing Marrow Pill. Taking it now would not only be a waste but also difficult for his meridians to withstand.

  Li Muran counted and found that there were over two to three hundred spirit stones, most of which were the low-grade spirit stones he commonly used. There were also three spirit stones that were as big as fists, with a more transparent color and even a faint glow, containing an astonishing amount of yuanqi, far surpassing ordinary low-grade spirit stones.

  "These three pieces are mid-grade spirit stones, right?" Li Muran exclaimed with joy. One piece of mid-grade spirit stone was equivalent to one hundred low-grade spirit stones in value, and these three mid-grade spirit stones were a huge sum of money in themselves.

  There were so many gains, and he had spent nearly 200 Ling Stones on the Flame Explosion Symbol, which was also "worth it". Of course, if Li Muran could have foreseen this, he would rather not have gone to the Three Nether Springs tonight.

  Without a spiritual stone, one can slowly earn it through diligent cultivation; without life, everything is empty talk! Those who are thieves in the cultivation world, no matter how many times they succeed, as long as they slip up once, all their previous efforts will be for naught.

  "The 'Thieving Scripture' ultimately says that the purpose of being a thief is not to kill people and steal treasures, but to improve one's own cultivation. This is actually true."

  After tidying up, Li Muran took out a stack of yuanqi symbols and prepared to replenish the golden vajra symbol that had saved his life with full yuanqi.

  The process of replenishing the yuanqi with the yuanqi symbol is also very simple. Li Muran placed a star yuanqi symbol and a diamond symbol face to face, then released a spell to unlock the seals of the two symbols.

  Immediately, the yuanqi slowly flowed from the One-Star Yuanqi Symbol into the Vajra Symbol. After about a quarter of an incense stick's worth of time, the yuanqi in the One-Star Yuanqi Symbol was completely depleted, and the symbol turned into a wisp of green smoke before disappearing. The Vajra Symbol only had its yuanqi slightly replenished, without any other changes.

  Li Muran took out a second Yuanqi symbol and did it again in the same way.

  It took 20 one-star yuanqi symbols to fill up the golden symbol's yuanqi, which cost a lot of time. If two two-star yuanqi symbols were used instead, the effect would be similar but it would save a lot of time.

  For the next period of time, Li Muran did not leave Zixia Peak at all. He secretly inquired about news and didn't hear any rumors related to that night, so he gradually felt at ease.

  However, Li Muran's subsequent cultivation was not smooth sailing. Although he had the help of the Jiyuan Dan, his progress was still extremely slow, and even stagnated for several days in a row.

  Zi Xia Guan's senior brother Qing Feng Zi is a kind and gentle person, Li Mu Ran asked him for advice on this matter, the latter was startled upon hearing it.

  "Qingfeng Shixiong, what's wrong?" Li Muran hastily asked.

  Qingfengzi looked up and down at Li Muran, saying: "There's nothing wrong, it's just that your cultivation progress is somewhat beyond my expectations."

  "Oh? Please, elder brother, enlighten me in detail!" Li Muran listened attentively.

  Qingfengzi coughed lightly and said, "Taking the right elixir to meditate and refine, but with little effect, there are usually two possibilities. One is that you have taken too much of this elixir, elixirs are external skills for cultivation, from outside to inside, although quick, but with some drawbacks; however, one type of elixir generally needs to be taken hundreds or thousands of times before it gradually becomes ineffective, it won't suddenly lose effect, and Shidi is not in this situation. Shidi's situation should be the second possibility, that is, encountering a bottleneck in his cultivation method."

  Li Muran nodded repeatedly, Qingfengzi's words, he had also seen in the classics, but didn't dare to confirm which kind of situation he belonged to.

  "Is Master saying that my cultivation has already reached the peak state of the initial stage of Qi Mo?" Li Muran was both shocked and delighted.

  "It's indeed possible!" Qingfengzi said: "A cultivator like you, who has reached the early stage of Qi Mo in just over a year, is not common. Among your fellow disciples, only three to five people can achieve this cultivation speed, which is considered very talented! Brother, you must seize this opportunity well!"

  "Yes, thank you for your guidance, senior brother!" Li Muran thanked him.

  Information about the bottleneck of Gongfa, Li Muran has seen it countless times in classics. Every Gongfa classic will repeatedly mention this and give various methods that may break through the bottleneck.

  Li Muran knew that the so-called bottleneck of gongfa refers to when the practice of gongfa reaches a certain level, the body or mind, and the power of the law have reached a certain limit, hindering the slow progress of cultivation. To make further progress, one must break through the bottleneck and achieve qualitative change in order to continue cultivating. Therefore, generally speaking, bottlenecks often occur before qualitative changes, that is, before each boundary is promoted.

  Li Muran is currently facing a bottleneck, having cultivated to the early stage of Qi Mo's peak. To take the next step would be to reach the middle stage of Qi Mo's cultivation. However, he has been unable to break through this step for a day, and as a result, his cultivation will not make any further progress, nor will his magical powers become more profound.

  Many methods of breaking through bottlenecks mentioned in the classics have one thing in common: they must follow the circumstances and cannot be forced.

  That night, Li Muran finished flipping through the last page of "The Stolen Classic", feeling a lot of emotions:

  "The world of cultivation in this book is completely different from the worlds of cultivation in other books! I don't know what kind of divine being wrote this 'Thieving Scripture'!"

  He had already made some progress in practicing the Night Concealment Technique and the Lunar Eclipse Technique, and every word and sentence in the book was firmly etched in his mind.

  Li Muran closed the "Thieving Scripture", his palms lightly rubbed together, and a stream of magical energy transformed into a flame that burst out from his palm, instantly burning the book to ashes in a wisp of green smoke.

  "It's time to go out and gain some experience!" Li Muran muttered to himself. Anyway, the task of breaking through the mortal world would have to be carried out sooner or later, so it was better to complete this task ahead of time while his skills were at a bottleneck.

  Li Muran explained his intention to Qingfengzi, who also agreed with Li Muran's idea and gave him a token, allowing him to leave the sect for a period of time.

  Then Li Muran came to the Foreign Affairs House and saw a stout senior fellow in his middle age, and made his intention clear.

  The other party didn't even glance at Li Muran, but pointed outside and said impatiently: "They're all in the outer hall, just pick one yourself!"

  Li Muran didn't get angry either, and with a faint smile, he nodded in agreement before heading out of the main hall.

  It was said to be the outer hall, but in fact it was just a large courtyard of the government office. In the courtyard, there were more than 100 people of all ages and sexes, dressed in tattered clothes, kneeling on the ground.

  These people were originally dull and expressionless, but after Li Muran appeared, they suddenly "woke up" like being electrocuted, crying out loud or begging, one more excited than the other.

  "Wang Shidi, are these all ordinary people who have come to our sect for help? Why do they all need to kneel?" Li Muran furrowed his brow and asked a guarding cultivator standing at the entrance of the courtyard. This guard happened to be from the same batch as Li Muran and was relatively familiar with him.

  "Wang said, 'What's this! These ordinary people, whether rich and noble or poor and destitute, must first kneel in the Windy Sun Valley for 99 days, with a reasonable request, to qualify to enter here. Brother Zhao can ask them about their requests and choose one.'"

  Here is the translation:

  "Speaking of which, a young man with the surname Wang whispered to Li Muran: "In the corner over there, there's a widow who can't speak, she's mute. She was killed along with her whole family after accusing corrupt officials of occupying their land and was also poisoned into muteness. Her request is simple, just revenge. For us, killing a few ordinary people would be as easy as turning our hands over! If Brother Zhao takes on this task, I'm afraid it will be completed in two or three days."

  Li Muran nodded: "Thank you, Junior Brother Wang, for your guidance."

  Li Muran stepped into the courtyard, just about to say something to these ordinary people who kept kowtowing and begging him, when he suddenly heard an old man's hoarse voice in the noisy environment:

  "Nameless, nameless, is it you? I am Old Man Guo!"