Chapter 1: The Seven-Colored Dragon Boat, Azure Pearl...

  In the world of Luo Bei, there was no such word as "flattery". Before being taken to Luo Fu by Yuan Tianyi, no one would be foolish enough to try to flatter a beggar who might die suddenly from hunger or illness in the wilderness. Even after arriving at Luo Fu, Luo Bei faced only eternal desolation and had no idea what concept a disciple of Luo Fu was to the world's cultivation sects.

  But Luo Bei, who didn't understand what "boot-licking" was, clearly felt that the attitudes of Zi Xuan Valley and Ling Dong Mountain towards him and Fen Hang were completely different. And Luo Bei's nature made him feel that he didn't like this about Zi Xuan Valley and Ling Dong Mountain. Looking at Fen Hang lowering his head in the disdainful gazes of Zi Xuan Valley and Ling Dong Mountain, appearing even more humble and small, Luo Bei suddenly asked, "Fen Hang Shixiong, have you eaten dinner?"

  Lin Hang suddenly lifted his head.

  "Thank you for delivering meals to me these past few days." Under the astonished gazes of Zixuan Valley and Ling Dong Mountain, Luo Bei stood up and said: "If Elder Cui Hang hasn't eaten yet, why don't we eat together?"

  "Lo... Lo North... Master... Younger Brother... You...." Under the shock, Lin Hang's sentence was incomplete, because in the past two years, except for Luo Bei, there were few other fellow disciples who treated him with such kindness and warmth, let alone like a friend, inviting him to eat together at the same table.

  Human feelings are as thin as paper! Although Lin Hang is not old, he has already experienced the coldness and warmth of human relationships. Two years ago, when Lin Hang arrived at Shu Mountain, his stutter was not so severe, nor did he limp. Otherwise, he would not have been selected as a disciple of Shu Mountain. Despite some stuttering, Lin Hang is intelligent and has excellent memory among his fellow disciples, often reciting the day's lessons first or second. One day, in a valley on Shu Mountain, he discovered a plant that looked like the seven-leafed Zhu grass described in the Dan medicine classics, which had an extraordinary effect in dispelling cold poison. He wanted to pick it and show it to Qinglian, who taught the Dan medicine classics, but when he went to pick it, he didn't notice a green snake lurking in the nearby bushes. By the time someone found him, he was unconscious, and although the snake venom was quickly removed by his master, the venom had penetrated deep into his bones and meridians due to the delay, causing some muscle tissue on his right leg to die, leaving it lame.

  The foundation of Shu Mountain, in addition to memorizing scriptures and understanding the principles, also includes strengthening the body and tempering the skin and bones. This practice of strengthening the body and tempering the skin and bones, apart from some daily physical exercises that test one's willpower, mainly consists of some fist techniques and routines that are profound for ordinary people but superficial for cultivators.

  Originally, with Xian Heng's innate talent, his cultivation progress was far ahead of others, but after one of his legs became lame, he found it difficult to perform some simple movements in certain fist techniques, such as flipping his waist, chicken back, and bear stance, which were easy for ordinary disciples.

  As a result, his cultivation progress was far behind all of his fellow disciples.

  When he couldn't even finish his lessons and was still practicing what others had long mastered, he often became the laughing stock of his fellow disciples. Even his stutter, which hadn't been ridiculed by his fellow disciples before, also became a subject of their ridicule.

  The brothers gradually alienated him, and he became more and more self-abased, introverted, and stuttered more severely. The more this happened, the more he became an outcast in the eyes of his brothers... a useless waste!

  For two years, the rest of his fellow disciples were exchanging their experiences in cultivation, but he was lonely and self-abased. After cultivating for two years, the result was that he was not even as good as a disciple who had just entered the sect for three months. Even the master who was responsible for teaching them the foundation-building and entry-level techniques had given up all hope on him, and slowly got used to ordering him around like an apprentice or a servant.

  Even many new disciples of Shu Mountain looked down on him, but now Luo Bei invited him to eat together.

  Moreover, Lin Hang saw that Luo Bei's eyes were very sincere, without any pretence or hypocrisy.

  "Gululu" sound, Lin Hang indeed had not eaten yet, he also heard that Luo Bei was a disciple who was valued by the entire Ge Li, and even the entire Shu Mountain. These past few days, he was afraid of missing Luo Bei's meal time, which would lead to his master's scolding. So, without eating himself, he sent it over first. At this moment, he didn't know what to say, stuttering, but his stomach growled instead.

  "Lin Hang Shixiong, it seems you haven't had dinner yet." Luo Bei heard the sound coming from his stomach and sincerely said, "If Lin Hang Shixiong is willing, I'll bring some next time and we can eat together."

  "Why is Luo Bei being so good to this waste?"

  Some people who have never experienced the hardships of the world often have an innate sense of superiority, just like some even far inferior to the Shu Mountain's Dumenpai, among whom are even cultivators who have been practicing for a long time and should understand many principles. However, when it comes to smaller sects that are far inferior to them, they will always have an unconscious condescending attitude. In fact, the Heavenly Dao rules instilled in Luo Bei by Yuantian are largely correct in the sense that the strong prey on the weak. The Buddha said that all living beings are equal, but when were all living beings ever equal? Even in Shu Mountain, which is considered a blessed land of immortals, fellow disciples Zixuan Valley and Lingdong Mountain have such an innate advantage.

  "No... no need..." Lian Hang couldn't see Luo Bei's sincerity again, and when Luo Bei stood up to ask if he had eaten dinner, he already felt that Luo Bei was special. He also wished he had a friend like Luo Bei, but after glancing at Luo Bei, he still lowered his head, retreated slightly with some trepidation, and said these few words.

  "What an ungrateful weirdo!"

  "No wonder none of his fellow disciples liked to be with him." Upon hearing Lin Hang's refusal, Zi Xuangu and Ling Dongshan let out a cold snort in their hearts once again.

  It was just two people who didn't know each other, and it was because of them that Lin Hang would refuse Luo Bei's kindness!

  It's obvious to everyone that Zixuan Gu and Ling Dongshan look down on him, if he eats with them and Luobei together, the atmosphere will become awkward.

  He refused, just didn't want Luo Bei to be embarrassed!

  The more familiar one is with the warmth and coldness of human relationships, the more they understand the preciousness of true friendship. In the midst of bitter resignation, as some humbly exit this room, Xian Hang quietly says two words to Luo Bei in his heart, "Thank you."

  Although the kind and sincere proposal was rejected, when looking at Lin Hang's somewhat humble exit from the room, Luo Bei's heart did not have any discomfort. He thought of that day when a two-headed mountain swallow gave him a sprig of Zanxi grass, although that two-headed mountain swallow was also a humble existence in front of Yuan Tianyi, but what it did to Luo Bei made him realize that even the humblest things have their own self-respect.

  "Do things without being swayed by personal interests..."

  Luobei suddenly thought of Yu Tianyi's words again. "I'm doing this, should be right, shouldn't I?" Although he clearly saw that Zi Xuangu and Ling Dongshan's eyes had become somewhat awkward due to his attitude, in Luobei's heart, such thoughts still emerged.

  "Cultivation must first cultivate one's own mind, if one's mind is firm and strong, then external demons will not invade."

  After Zixuan Valley and Ling Dongshan left, under the dim yellow light of the oil lamp, Luobei was chewing on the words that Laozhaonan and he had explained about Mahakala's secret method, feeling that his understanding of those words had deepened again.

  "Entering the world... leaving the world... this tempering is truly very beneficial for cultivating the Tao."

  Luobei's gaze stopped unintentionally on that volume of "Nourishing Qi" from Shushan, which he had casually placed to one side.

  As soon as he made up his mind, Luo Bei quickly washed his hands and feet with water, blew out the oil lamp, and lay down on the bed.

  At this time, although it was also the hour of sleep, Luo Bei went to bed at this moment, but not to sleep. Instead, he thought of the "Mystical Longevity Scripture" that Yuan Tianyi had imparted to him.

  Although Luo Bei still doesn't know what the original Tianyi said about the Benming Sword, he vaguely knows that it's related to the Flying Sword Technique. Shu Mountain is the strongest school of flying sword techniques in the world. He also feels that he can enter Shu Mountain because of Yu Tianyi's arrangement, so he studies hard and doesn't think about anything else. For the past three days, he has been studying the lessons taught by Xiao Xiang with all his heart, without any free time. But today, after memorizing all the lessons, he thinks about the reasons that Yu Tianyi and Lao Zhao Nan told him, and he can't wait to practice Luo Fu's set of techniques.

  "Concentrate... introspect... visualize... This is the first step of the Longevity Sutra, and it's roughly similar to the Mahakala Tantra method of guiding energy into the body?"

  Luobei carefully thought about the scriptures in his mind and found that the principles of cultivation at the beginning were not much different, only the visualization was different, and the direction of the meridians for guiding Qi into the body was different.

  Having had experience with the Mahakala mantra, Luobei didn't have that uncontrollable excitement and nervousness at first. After taking a deep breath, Luobei calmed down, stopped thinking about other things, and focused on reciting the scripture silently. He formed a hand seal, and slowly entered a state of stillness like water.

  The Mahavairocana Sutra's visualization of oneself as a golden Buddha is different from the beginning of the Nirvana Sutra, which visualizes non-self.

  Imagine yourself as a piece of chaos, an empty existence, and merge with the universe. At first, this idea of no-self is actually self-existent because it retains the thought of this idea. However, when one reaches great accomplishment later on, they can naturally enter the state of no-self without needing to use such means.

  Under the gaze of Luo Bei, his sea of consciousness was empty and vast, devoid of anything, as if it had merged with the entire universe. Soon, the spiritual energy from the outside world began to pour into this empty sea of consciousness, just like a vacuum zone.

  These surging spiritual energies began to converge into streams, soon flowing naturally through the meridians of Luo Bei, following the secret method of circulating the meridians, circulating nine cycles.

  It's very smooth, the spiritual energy of this Shu Mountain is absolutely not inferior to that of Luo Fu, and the spiritual energy of this Shu Mountain is even more pure than that of Luo Fu, with almost no impurities or miscellaneous energies. Even after nine cycles of circulation, the gathering of spiritual energy seems like a gentle flow in the meridians, and Luo Bei hasn't seen any demonic illusions invading his mind.

  But on the ninth week, when the spiritual energy continued to flow through the meridians, in an instant, Luo Bei only felt a sharp pain like a knife cut and needle stab in the flowing meridians!