Chapter 55: Soft and Gentle, yet Used with Diligence

  Confucians use literature to disrupt the law, while knights-errant use martial arts to violate prohibitions!

  This is a famous saying of Han Feizi in the Warring States period, but unfortunately, the person who said this was eventually harmed by his classmates and master, and did not end up with a good outcome.

  Life is a play, and everyone has their own role. The choice of role depends on the skills and abilities one possesses. As the saying goes, "not in his position, not plotting his politics". The greater the ability, the more troubles will naturally arise! Otherwise, look at those ordinary people who are busy with life every day, what kind of big "trouble" would fall on their own body without reason?

  In ancient times, those who could be called "chivalrous" were generally upholding justice and despising personal gain. They kept a certain distance from the ruling class, neither getting too close nor too far away, with a typical attitude of "non-violent non-cooperation". There were also many people who secretly resisted the government, occasionally doing things like killing the rich to help the poor, cutting down the powerful and helping the weak, and assassinating corrupt officials. This brought a lot of trouble to many people, so this kind of "chivalry" has always been more popular among the lower-class common people from ancient times to the present. In the eyes of those in power, it can even be seen as an unstable factor that threatens social stability.

  People who are truly capable usually don't settle for the status quo and aren't ordinary. Once they take action, the consequences that follow are much greater than those of ordinary people. Therefore, martial artists generally emphasize "martial virtue". Only after tempering themselves and putting on several sets of shackles do they dare to discuss the two words "fist method".

  The simplest example is that in the past, many old masters would rather let their own martial arts decline and be lost than teach someone who was reckless, arrogant, and without martial virtue, fearing that they would bring disaster upon themselves and harm others, ultimately leading to a bad end.

  Troubles arise from speaking too much, and worries come from being overly assertive.

  On this short night, a heavy rain had not yet completely dissipated, and Wang Chan was already wreaking havoc in the Golden Sea Building, from start to finish, more than a dozen lives were clenched in his hands. The reason for this was still due to the entrustment of Lei Xing's will, a matter of loyalty, if he didn't have this skill, he wouldn't have had any dealings with Lei Xing, perhaps just like everyone else, finding a wife in the mountains, having children, and living a life facing the yellow earth and backing the sky.

  Although ordinary, also carefree.

  Once someone has talent, they will no longer be content with being lonely!

  Although he killed so many people in one breath and also killed Liu Lao San, the most famous errand boy in the provincial capital, Wang Chan did not have a hint of surprise or guilt in his heart. Those people were either hired thugs who assisted the tiger or officials who harmed one party, and dying at his hands was exactly what they deserved.

  As for the serious consequences brought about by this matter, they were completely beyond Wang Zhen's consideration.

  Like a noble son like Lei Xing, since he dared to ask himself to come out and kill for him, he naturally had a set of proper handling methods. Moreover, with the power and status of the Lei family, a few lives would not be taken seriously, although it is now called a society ruled by law, everything allows for exceptions, and the privileged class has never been a rare thing in any era, this should be a common sense that everyone knows.

  Wang Chan still didn't quite adapt to the world outside the mountains, and the law of the jungle was the only principle he followed. Killing people couldn't be rampant, but when it was time to kill, he wouldn't hesitate either. It didn't matter if it was right or wrong, as long as his heart was clear. Moreover, a warrior practicing martial arts is like a knife in its sheath - if you're always worried about everything, afraid of this and that, then over time you'll lose the sharp spirit in your chest, and won't be able to make progress with courage and vigor, becoming disheartened and frustrated, and ultimately amounting to nothing.

  At this time, the Jin Hai Building was in a mess, with police and security guards at the entrance, some rushing in and others running out, looking very flustered. A Mercedes-Benz car that had been speeding over suddenly stopped beside him, and Lei Xing's smiling face appeared in the window. Wang Chan nodded slightly and opened the door to get in.

  At midnight, on the rooftop of Qingniao Building, an open-air balcony.

  The rain that had been pouring down in the evening had stopped for a while, and the sky of the city, which was once filled with noise and disturbance, was now washed clean and bright. In this night scene, even the moon, which was usually shrouded by dust and haze, became clearer and brighter. Countless stars twinkled around it, and as I looked up at them, I suddenly felt the vastness of the universe, its profound mystery and elegance.

  "I've always thought that the internal alchemy of Taoism was just about guiding and circulating energy, a branch of mysticism. I never expected it to be connected to martial arts as well, with some parts being almost identical to internal fist techniques, hardly any different at all." Wang Chan stood under the starry sky, holding a copy of the "Yellow Court Scripture", after reading a passage he let out a long sigh, feeling that Patriarch Wang Chongyang was truly extraordinary, able to create the Quanzhen sect with his own hands, indeed not an ordinary person.

  The Quanzhen School flourished during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, it is the largest and most important sect of Taoism since the Song and Yuan dynasties. Since the Yuan dynasty, it has been one of the two major Taoist schools along with the Southern Orthodox Unity Sect (Zhengyi) founded by Zhang Ziyang, continuing to this day. Its influence was so great that even the founder of Wudang Internal Martial Arts, Zhang Sanfeng, can be considered a branch of Quanzhen Taoism.

  Since returning, he simply explained two sentences and Wang Chan directly came to the highest point of Qingniao Building. He casually took a small package of tea leaves from Lei Ting, brewed it, and sat under the starry sky with a cup of fragrant tea to read Huangting. After carefully reading Wang Chongyang's annotations in the scriptures, he gradually gained some insights into this special three-volume "Huangting Jing". When verifying it with his own practiced fist method, horizontal smelting method, he felt that the Taoist nine-turns elixir method recorded in "Huangting Jing" is roughly similar to the internal family fist method. The first step of gongfu is to open up the body's meridians, so that the twelve regular meridians and eight extraordinary meridians are unobstructed throughout the body, circulating repeatedly, and only then can one refine the essence into energy, condense the energy into elixir, and achieve the great goal of golden elixir.

  It's just that in the various schools of martial arts, apart from finally refining and transforming the energy to form the elixir, whether it's internal or external family, they all have to take care of both the inside and outside of the body, skin, hair, tendons, bones, five organs, and bone marrow. Either they emphasize starting from the outside, going through the skin, hair, tendons, and bones, transforming and transporting the energy and blood, directly reaching the five organs; or they start directly from the five organs, working internally to externally, focusing on softening with energy, practicing every day, before finally giving birth to true energy that flows through the meridians.

  It's a tempered "tenacity" like water accumulating behind a high dam, only when the water level reaches a certain limit can the gate be opened to release it, and naturally, wherever it goes, whether it's a ditch or a canal, it flows through in one go. This is the foundation of gradual and progressive kung fu.

  Unlike the internal alchemy method of Taoism recorded in the "Huangting Jing", it almost immediately abandoned external objects and directly pointed to the center, starting with guiding Qi into the body, cultivating wisdom in stillness, and refining essence into Qi. This is the shortcut to the ultimate truth.

  However, the "shortcut" is fast, but it has extremely high requirements for the cultivator's physical constitution. If one is not of excellent root and bone, even if they practice the Nine Turns Reverted Elixir Method and hear its secrets, they will still only be able to wander halfway up the mountain for their entire life, unable to reach the top. This is also the fundamental reason why Daoist seekers of immortality have always emphasized good fortune and predestined connections. The Zhongnan shortcut may lead to heaven, but the road is difficult to walk, and it's hard to ascend to the blue sky.

  Not like martial arts boxing methods, the foundation is relatively low, everyone can practice, everyone can cultivate, although also emphasizing talent, but overall hoping to be a bit bigger.

  The Neidan method of Taoism, also known as the process of driving out yin energy and impurities with the true qi inside the human body to refine a pure yang body. Because in its cultivation, it is necessary to go through nine extremely subtle changes from refining essence into qi, condensing qi into dan, which can be represented by the "Qian Gua" (乾卦) of the I Ching, where Qian represents metal and 9 is also a metal number. After nine cycles, the Great Dan is achieved. Through cultivation, the practitioner refines this yang energy back into their body, possessing a strong and healthy physique, hence it is called Nine Cycles Returning to Dan.

  Also known as "Nine-Turn Golden Elixir".

  After forming the internal elixir, the human body becomes transparent inside and out, shedding its old skin and bones, mysteriously communicating with heaven and earth, using the world's surplus to make up for one's own deficiency, cutting off excess and supplementing shortage, stealing from heaven and changing the day, and the human body is a single entity that only advances and does not retreat. At this level, it is already what the Taoist school calls "human immortal" and what the Buddhist school calls "arhat".

  The golden is indestructible, without leakage and thorough, six symptoms appear, the light radiates in all directions, the external kidney does not lift, the yang guan closes once, life is long.

  As for the martial arts, when practiced to the highest level, washing the marrow and changing the blood, reversing the prenatal, it is also in the abdomen that a golden elixir is formed. There is no difference between the two, but in this "Huang Ting Jing" there are other records, only saying that the great Tao has no boundaries, above the internal elixir there is still the fetal stage of the Tao, and the mysterious pearl has two levels of attainment.

  When the inner elixir is warmed and nurtured to form the Daoist embryo, one has already entered Great Stability, becoming an earthly immortal or a Bodhisattva, possessing the four attributes of non-being. One can practice Bigu (avoiding grains), embryonic breathing, and has no six pulses in the hands, white hair turns black again, and fallen teeth regrow.

  After obtaining the Xuan Pearl, one becomes a celestial immortal. There is a body outside of the body, and heaven and man are united. One possesses the ability to change with complete spiritual transformation.

  Let's not discuss whether this statement is an illusory and mysterious fairy tale or a strange and supernatural phenomenon. The fact that there are skies beyond the sky and scenery beyond the scenery is enough to make Wang Chan feel as if he has reached a point where the road ahead seems uncertain, like a village hidden behind a screen of willows and flowers. It's as if one has walked to the end of a path only to discover that it was a dead end, but after crashing through the mountain wall, another world is revealed, suddenly becoming vast and open.

  Generally, the martial arts skills that form the inner elixir and achieve the prenatal have already reached the end. From ancient times to the present, no one has ever heard of anyone who can rely on boxing to take another step forward. As for Wang Chan, who lives in seclusion deep in the mountains, undistracted by worldly thoughts, he practices for twenty or thirty years, and at the age of 26 or 27, he can barely touch the boundary of martial arts. This is extremely rare since ancient times.

  However, in the "Huangting Jing", there is a method that allows one to refine their essence and transform it into energy within 100 days, forming an internal elixir that can penetrate all the meridians of the body, equivalent to several decades of hard work, known as "Building the Foundation in 100 Days".

  However, this statement should also be different from person to person, just like what was said before. The Taoist school attaches great importance to innate qualities and roots, blessings, fate, and wisdom, none of which can be missing. Forming the internal elixir within 100 days is only a purely theoretical statement, an ideal state. Otherwise, if forming the internal elixir were so easy, wouldn't all the Taoist priests in the world be top-notch internal martial artists? Zhang Daocheng, the old Taoist who died miserably at Jinhai Building, would not have spent decades studying these three volumes of scriptures day after day without forming the internal elixir.

  Today's moon is exceptionally round, its clear light spreading across the nine provinces. At exactly midnight, at that moment when day and night are first divided, Wang Zhen slowly put down the scripture in his hand, stood under the starry sky, looked up at the vast and distant heavens, gazed down at the worldly hustle and bustle, took a long breath into his chest, soft and unbroken, like fine threads entwining, light yet not weak, gentle yet unceasing. Suddenly, he felt his mind become clear and refreshed.

  According to the first part of Wang Zhenyang's annotation, Wang Chan slowly lifted his feet and knees, with his arms inwardly embracing, containing his chest and pulling out his back, carrying yin and hugging yang. The whole person is like an empty mountain valley, opening his arms to the entire heaven and earth, having capacity is great, embracing all under heaven.

  "The Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things..."

  "The spirit of the valley never dies, it is called the mysterious female. The gate of the mysterious female is called the root of heaven and earth."

  The posture that Wang Zhen has just set up is the overall decision of the various cultivation methods in the Taiching chapter of this "Huang Ting Jing", the foundation of all Taoist alchemy, and is referred to as the "Heavenly Root" method in Wang Chongyang's annotations. It is also taken from a passage in Laozi's "Tao Te Ching".

  Soft and gentle as it is, if not used diligently, it will be wasted. Too much indulgence, and I will lose myself!

  With both hands clasped together in front of his chest, as if embracing a baby, Wang Chan faced the bright moon in the sky. Suddenly, he puckered up and took a deep breath, and between his mouth and nose, a sharp whistling sound burst forth, like a whistle. The airflow moved rapidly, almost forming a white line that could be clearly seen with the naked eye.

  Then, this breath continued for three or four minutes, faintly and continuously. Wang Chan closed his eyes, remained still, and stood like a tree, with only the area between his chest and abdomen rising and falling slightly. It seemed as if there was a small mouse the size of a fist moving rapidly under his clothes. His head was raised high, his neck stretched long, like an old turtle that had crawled up to the riverbank at midnight to spit out the moon.

  Taoist cultivation often involves quiet practices, seeking to let go of everything, entering stillness and giving birth to wisdom. From nothing comes something. With this kind of Zen state, the whole person seems to have become a wooden or clay sculpture, except for the almost imperceptible breathing, all bodily functions slow down, including the heart, breathing, and even thoughts.

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