Chapter 56: Dare to Ask Where the Road Lies

  Wang Chan's breath was truly long and slow, as if he were casting a long line to catch big fish in the depths of the ocean. A wisp of white air entered his mouth and nose, soft and gentle, like silk or a thread, flowing through his heart and lungs, passing through his blood vessels, reaching every part of his body.

  Then, with eyes closed and spirit stored, wait for the breath to enter and exit evenly. Next, use the tongue to curl up and fix the root of the tongue, closing off the breath. Not long after, you will only feel that there are two fine, thread-like internal true energies in the left and right Taiyang channels, stirring and wanting to move. They then directly pour into the two Taiyang holes, next entering the Tianmen (top of the head), feeling the two energies meeting at the Mudan Palace. Suddenly, thunder enters the brain, with a loud rumbling sound.

  Wang Chan only felt his head bursting, his scalp numb, as if struck by electricity, and all the hairs on his body stood up. Under the heavenly spirit cover, in the mud ball palace, a fierce flame suddenly burst forth, stirring the heavenly spirit cover, which rose and fell slightly, like a heartbeat.

  At the same time, his ears were filled with a constant rumbling noise, as if the sound of thunder was reverberating endlessly. Suddenly, flashes of light appeared before his eyes, and then he felt the air rushing in like a tide. He gradually became aware that the entire universe, including all the stars and space, had entered his mind. His whole being was slowly drifting away, merging into nothingness. Except for his thoughts and consciousness, his limbs were no longer present, as if they had completely disappeared.

  Sweat burst out of the body like raindrops, covering the entire body, staining the close-fitting clothes, as if washed by water, dripping and flowing all over the floor.

  In this family's internal alchemy method, "lowering the elixir" doesn't rely on external objects, but directly points to the center, seeking the origin. As soon as you start practicing, you work from the top of your head down, directly forcing the essence into the Mud Pellet Palace.

  It is essential to understand that this step is the foundation of the Nine-Turns Reverted Elixir, and it is crucial for everything that follows. Whether it's the small vehicle's matching of yin and yang, gathering and dispersing of water and fire, dragon and tiger burning and refining elixirs, or the middle vehicle's Jade Liquid Small Reverted Elixir, Golden Liquid Great Reverted Elixir, or even the great vehicle's Morning Origin Refining Qi, Internal Observation Exchanging, and Transcending Shape Separation, all are based on this foundational step.

  Once you've passed the threshold, you'll formally enter the gate of Taoist cultivation. Those who can't pass will likely be stuck at this stage, and if they're lucky, they might just go mad or become paralyzed; if not, they'll die in the process.

  Since ancient times, countless people have sought to live forever and ask about the Tao. However, even this one pass of descending into the elixir is something they cannot get through. Therefore, in the Taoist school, this pass has another name: "Ghost Gate Pass".

  Fortunately, Wang Chan had been practicing the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Cultivation for over twenty years, and his innate talent was extraordinary. His boxing skills and martial arts had already reached the level of breaking through the body and rushing through the passes. His whole body's energy and blood were flowing smoothly, and his meridians were strong and resilient, far surpassing ordinary people by tens of times. However, now that he started practicing the Descending Elixir from the Mud Pellet Palace, the brain's neural network was the most complex, governing all changes in the entire body. If he was slightly careless, all his previous efforts would be wasted, and he would harm himself. Compared to any of his past practices, this was a hundred times, a thousand times more perilous.

  At this moment, Wang Chan's mind was calm and his true energy had just entered his brain when suddenly a multitude of illusions arose, thunderous sounds rolled in, and countless figures, scenes, and visions burst forth before his eyes like a revolving lantern, all of which seemed eerily familiar, as if he were about to experience the suffering of thousands of reincarnations, witnessing everything from past lives, accompanied by unbearable feelings of headache, acid itchiness, numbness, and swelling, more agonizing than death itself.

  Being in it, as long as the mind is slightly shaken, life will immediately collapse, and thoughts will leave the body. It's like walking on thin ice that has not yet frozen, any distraction can lead to Wang Chan falling into an irreparable situation.

  It is precisely this point that Wang Chan is stronger than others. He has been far away from the crowd since he was a child, living in seclusion in the deep mountains, cultivating martial arts, and tempering his will. He is not surrounded by worldly desires, with a heart as transparent as crystal diamonds.

  No illusion can ever shake his conviction, no matter how great the suffering, it is only as gentle as a breeze on the face, a bright moon in the sky, natural and effortless, like an immovable rock, unwavering.

  His many years of boxing and martial arts skills were not cultivated in vain.

  With his whole attention focused inward, Wang Chan suddenly felt a great brightness in front of him, and gradually sensed the true energy in his body slowly returning to a single line, flowing into his brain, then passing through his throat and spine, circulating throughout his body, penetrating his gallbladder, dan tian, and chest. In an instant, his heart and chest felt warm and slightly moving, like a gentle warmth spreading throughout. All pain had disappeared. He knew that this was a sign that the internal elixir was about to descend.

  Cultivating the inner elixir, the first priority is to have a pure and upright intention, with no waves in the mind. It emphasizes "the unity of heart and breath, without any distracting thoughts". Even breathing seems to cease to exist, which is quite different from the sitting meditation in martial arts.

  "To attain the elixir of immortality, one must rely on the mysterious feminine to establish a foundation. The true essence will return to the golden chamber, and a single spark of spiritual light will never depart."

  With one more breath, the whole person seemed to float up from the ground, and the soul also left the body. A warm feeling rose from the heart, passed through the throat, entered the tongue, and a slight bitterness was emitted from the mouth. However, it was the gallbladder energy rising, yin and yang harmonizing, and the spirit just gathered, suddenly seeing that on top of his ancestral aperture, there were threads of white light emanating outward.

  At first, it's just a few dots, drifting and uncertain, its light is weak, thousands of millions of billions, as if it's seeping in from outside the body. In an instant, the bright lights gradually gather into pieces, piece by piece, coming from the outside to the inside, slowly gathering together. Then, from dots to pieces, it gradually forms a sheet, and then it gathers and disperses at times, making it difficult to fix, finally without any wave of movement.

  "Gulp" - with a sudden shiver, Wang Chan's whole body shook, and a stream of air rushed up from below to the entrance, followed by large amounts of saliva filling his mouth. At first it was clear and bright, then warm, next rich and fragrant, sweet and delicious, surpassing even the sweetness of ambrosia. Immediately this large amount of saliva coagulated into a ball, "gulp gulp gulp" three times in succession, falling into his abdomen, passing through his chest to reach his lower abdomen, just like a bright light at the crown of his head, round and shining like the sun sinking below his belly, with a ringing sound, fragrance was born from his mouth and nose.

  However, he finally succeeded in descending the elixir and practiced the first step of the Taoist nine-turn still elixir secret method as described in the "Huangting Jing". The mouthful of saliva he had just spat out was what the Taoists called "Yu Ye", which was born from the transformation of true energy within his body, and was fundamentally different from the ordinary saliva and mouth water.

  It can be swallowed into the abdomen, irrigating the internal organs, and can supplement the essence of Qi. It is considered to have the effect of forming a spiritual elixir, with great nourishing effects, surpassing all medicines in the world. Therefore, it is called Jade Fluid, indicating its preciousness.

  King Chan felt a warmth in his lower abdomen, like a bonfire had been lit in his dan tian, and within three to five breaths, it spread throughout his body, causing his face to flush red, heat radiating from the top of his head, surrounded by a white mist.

  It seems that a passage has been opened from the top of his head to his lower abdomen, and strange phenomena have emerged in the three dan Tian inside his upper, middle and lower body. However, his back du mai is icy cold at this time, as if the entire spine has become an ice block, with heat in front and cold behind, combining fire and ice into one.

  "The mouth is a jade tooth temple, rinsing the throat with spiritual liquid that never dries up. The body produces radiant light and fragrant orchids, extinguishing all evil and refining the jade face." Wang Chan silently recited a passage from the Huang Ting Jing, focusing his spirit entirely on his inner body, ignoring the strange sensations on his skin.

  Close the lips, knock the teeth thirty-six times, do this six times. Then, as before, move the work nine more times, each time like pearls clicking, moving through the chest and abdomen, finally rushing to the bottom of the sea, from below rising straight up into the back spine column. Pass through the strong gate, life gate, great hammer, wind pass, finally passing over the hundred meetings, gathering on the face, stopping at the gum intersection, from this point the Ren and Du two meridians are completely connected.

  More than half an hour passed, Wang Chan let out a loud breath, and felt a slight movement inside his left ribcage, with a faint sound. A hot air current swept across his lower abdomen and into the bottom of his right ribcage, its heat like fire, shaking for a long time before disappearing. As he sat quietly observing inwardly, he saw below his left ribcage "a bright pearl, like a fiery wheel" slowly rotating, with complete harmony and stillness between heaven and earth.

  This Jiajiu Zhuan Dan method directly acts on the human body's five organs and meridians, although it is powerful, but cultivating it is fraught with danger. Unlike Wang Chan's previous martial arts training, which relied solely on dynamic movement to drive the body's various parts, stimulating the innate essence, breaking it down into internal true energy, and using it to condense the inner elixir. It may be fast, but once there is some achievement, a hundred days of work can rival his twenty years of bitter practice and hardship. However, only those who have personally experienced it can understand the danger involved.

  It was fortunate that Wang Chan's fist method was excellent, and he had already practiced the circulation of qi and blood. His skin, hair, tendons, and bones were all connected as one, and most of the meridians on his body had been opened up by him at Tiger Head Ridge. Otherwise, if it were someone else, even if they succeeded in descending the elixir, they would have to go through nine deaths and one life, not to mention later successfully opening up the du meridian behind their back with one effort.

  The "Nine Turns Reverting Elixir Method" in this scripture has three steps. The first is the "Hundred Days Building Foundation", which requires one to descend the elixir, cultivate and nourish the yang energy, and connect the two most important meridians in front of and behind the body as a conduit within a hundred days.

  The next step is called "Lian Ji Du Tai", which is the work of nourishing yin energy, changing bones and flesh, similar to the method of tempering tendons, bones and blood vessels in boxing. Zhang Daocheng had also practiced to this level, but he only practiced the pre-heavenly Xuan Gong Quan from the scriptures and stopped there without being able to progress further.

  It is not until the third step that it belongs to the method of refining one's destiny, which is called "returning to simplicity and restoring truth". First, we must start with the five organs and six viscera, seeking out all the subtle places where the true energy cannot be cultivated in everyday life. Then, the elixir fire will sprout, refining the true essence, making the water and fire between the heart and kidney harmonious and balanced. After that, one can wash away the mundane and return from the acquired to the innate, ultimately reaching the state of "swallowing a grain of golden elixir into the belly, only then do I know that my destiny is not determined by heaven".

  The highest realm of the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir Method is to form an internal elixir, refining essence and transforming it into energy. Beyond this, there are even more profound realms, which in Daoist terms are called spiritual penetration. Although I do not know whether this is true or false, the intention has already surpassed that of ordinary martial arts by who-knows-how-much.

  But whether it's tempering the nature or refining the elixir, the cultivation in Taoism always starts with nourishing life and practicing Qi. Even if an inner elixir is formed and a pre-heavenly realm is achieved, if one doesn't understand the way of combat, its power may not be as dominant as that of martial arts. Only someone like Wang Zhen, a great master of boxing, can combine the mysterious aspects of Taoist internal elixir techniques with in-depth research on martial arts, complementing each other and greatly shortening the steps to enter the pre-heavenly realm.

  It's just that the path of immortality is uncertain, and the road ahead is still long and unclear, I don't know where the way out is!!!!!

  Thank you all the big shots for your support, old Lu is here to pay his respects!! This chapter belongs to purely describing the process of Daoist elixir refinement, it looks a bit tedious, but there's still some significance in it, and also paved the way for some future plot, written very inadequately, if there are any high-level cultivators present, I hope you won't scrutinize too much!!