The final chapter

  Liu Zhi returned to Ma Jiazhai Elementary School and didn't immediately visit Ali and her mother for the New Year, the gifts were already prepared, but he didn't go because he wanted to surprise Ali. Now that a storage bag was refined, he planned to sell it to Ali in person. Ali was also a cultivator, although she cultivated Gu sorcery, her cultivation shouldn't be lower than Liu Zhi's, of course, she could use the storage bag.

  Liu Zhi arrived at Ali's home, and both Ali and her mother were very happy. They warmly welcomed Liu Zhi, who presented them with gifts, including two women's handbags, one for Ali's mother. Of course, this bag was not a storage bag, as Liu Zhi had only refined one, which he used himself, and would refine another later.

  When Ah Li found out that her bag was actually a storage device, she was so excited that she kissed Liu Zhi's face, fortunately her mother was busy in the kitchen, even so, Ah Li felt a little shy, but soon started experimenting, constantly putting things in and taking them out, curiously asking Liu Zhi how he had refined the storage bag.

  Liu Zhi didn't hide anything and told the whole story. Only then did Ali remember what had happened with Shao Yan that day, which she had already thrown to the back of her mind.

  After Liu Zhi returned to school, the school also started, and everything returned to normal. On Sunday, the special police team sent a car to pick him up. Fortunately, the training base was not far from Mazhai Village. Liu Zhi found that all the special police officers had practiced military boxing, such as capturing enemy fists, which were widely spread in the army, and they also knew some specialized grappling techniques. These were very practical combat skills, obviously modified by a master. Liu Zhi didn't teach them new skills, but only pointed out how to exert force, making their learned skills more effective. These special police officers couldn't be considered martial arts masters, but they were much stronger than ordinary people. Their training was multi-faceted, mainly focusing on firearms, with martial arts as a supplement.

  Liu Zhi didn't encounter any challenges, but this special police training base obviously didn't have any real masters. The strong ones among them couldn't even enter the realm of Mingjin in Liu Zhi's eyes and were easily knocked down by him, allowing Liu Zhi to naturally establish his prestige. After a period of training, the strong ones among the special police made significant progress, with one person even reaching the edge of Mingjin. Liu Zhi didn't hold back much either; he was a modern young man and wasn't like those old masters who were conservative in their thinking.

  Liu Zhi knew also made a trip to the place where he had discovered the Zhu Guo last time, but did not enter because he found that the place was indeed as Yan Bing said, there were some changes, with more buildings, it seemed that special departments also took a fancy to this place and built it into one of their bases.

  This semester, Liu Zhi's life was very calm and peaceful. He rarely returned to Shencheng except for the Qingming Festival when he went back to pay respects to his grandfather. There wasn't much pressure from his superiors at school, but Cao YuYing had become more affectionate towards him. However, Liu Zhi remained as aloof as before, leaving Cao YuYing with pent-up emotions and a hint of resentment towards Liu Zhi for not understanding her feelings.

  However, Cao Yu Ying did not disappoint her family's official background. The things she did often turned out to be beneficial. Seeing that Liu Zhi didn't understand her charm, she gave up on those and changed to another approach, not using emotions but rather taking the route of colleague friendship. She became one of Liu Zhi's friends, although not a close friend, but to some extent, a useful friend. Liu Zhi also felt this way and sighed that this woman would definitely have some achievements in the official circle in the future. From this perspective, Liu Zhi willingly conceded defeat.

  Of course, Liu Zhi didn't mind either, after all, having many friends means having many paths.

  In the blink of an eye, the surprise arrived. After Liu Zhi became proficient in spiritual practice, he often went out for a walk at night with his yin spirit. He remembered that Shao Yan had said that the yin spirit could use visualization techniques to condense protective objects around him. He also experimented with this and visualized a white lotus flower under his feet. Speaking of this white lotus flower, it's necessary to mention the "Sheng Ji Fu Lu" (Sacred Collection of Talismans) by Li Yi that he had obtained. When he was idle, he read through it repeatedly, becoming more familiar with the talismans and incantations. On the first page, a white lotus flower with a vividly depicted saintly mother left an impression on Liu Zhi. Therefore, when visualizing, he naturally thought of the white lotus, and as a result, a white lotus appeared under his feet in the yin spirit realm.

  Liu Zhi discovered that after imagining the white lotus, his yin spirit became much stronger than before. He unknowingly found a way to cultivate his yin spirit through meditation and visualization. The objects of visualization can be Buddha statues, gods, lotus flowers, pagodas, sun, moon, etc. Without anyone's guidance, Liu Zhi unknowingly walked this path, which is rare.

  Liu Zhi discovered a strange phenomenon in this process, the white lotus flower he imagined appeared under his feet, like a satellite dish, and it could reflect some energy information flows from space onto the yin god's body, making the yin god even stronger. Liu Zhi even suspected that this was one of the legendary methods for cultivating by absorbing the essence of the sun, moon, and stars. Since it was useful, Liu Zhi continued to observe and improve, and an idea emerged in his mind - it seemed that Buddhism's reverence for the lotus flower wasn't without reason.

  Liu Zhi didn't know that his idea unconsciously coincided with the principle of investigating things. The lotus is a special plant in nature, and its flowers can indeed absorb the essence of heaven and earth, giving birth to lotus seeds. Among plant seeds, lotus seeds are almost immortal. Many seeds buried underground will rot if they don't sprout within a few years. However, even after thousands of years, lotus seeds still have vitality when buried underground. The national archaeological institution once ground off the outer skin of an ancient lotus seed that was nearly 10,000 years old and planted it, and soon it sprouted. After several years, it grew into a pond of lotus roots and bloomed into a pool of lotus flowers. It's not unreasonable to compare lotus seeds to the relics of the Buddha or Taoist masters, who use the lotus flower as a symbol.

  When the spring thunder started, Liu Zhi prepared to let his yin spirit pass through the thunder tribulation. One night, the sky was dark and cloudy with flashes of lightning from time to time. Liu Zhi's yin spirit emerged from his body and rode on the Lingxu spear, flying straight into the sky. A white lotus appeared under his feet. After these days of cultivation, Liu Zhi thought that his yin spirit had become very solid. With the help of the Lingxu spear, his yin spirit carried a hint of yang energy, and he was confident in his heart to pass through the first thunder tribulation.

  In the sky, a faint purple light met a flash of lightning. Normally, a yin spirit wouldn't leave any traces and at least wouldn't be seen by the naked eye, but Ling Xue was different. However, on this stormy night, no one noticed the sky.

  In the blink of an eye, Liu Zhi knew he had been too arrogant. The power of lightning was far beyond his imagination. In an instant, the pale purple glow of Ling Xue's attack was shattered, and a brilliant white light burst forth, only to fade away. He felt as if he had been completely pulverized, with no pain to speak of - it was a luxury he couldn't afford. His consciousness began to blur, and all he could sense was the vast expanse of the universe, devoid of any chance for regret or remorse. If this continued, Liu Zhi would either become a vegetable or suffer severe brain damage, possibly even becoming an idiot.

  At this critical moment, the white lotus under Liu Zhi's dark spirit suddenly dimmed, and the dark spirit was about to disperse, which was not under Liu Zhi's control. The dark spirit suddenly formed a handprint, and the blurry dark spirit instantly became clear again. In the flashing electric light, the strong vitality quickly filled the dark spirit. Liu Zhi realized in his heart that he was the dark spirit, just an information carrier. Although lightning could disrupt the information, the information would not disappear, and even more so after this time. His own handprint fixed his foundation, and the scattered material energy quickly gathered. At this moment, a strong pain filled the body of the dark spirit.

  Liu Zhi knew that he had been struck by lightning once, and there was no need to continue enduring the pain. The pain reminded him that he had been injured, but the intangible life force would heal his spiritual wounds in a short period of time. However, it was strange that his spiritual body, which was just a collection of energy information, could feel pain, as it didn't have any nerves!

  As soon as he thought of this, the pain quickly disappeared. Liu Zhi knew that he was very familiar with psychology and realized that his yin spirit had been injured. His consciousness thought that it should hurt, even though there were no nerves. The old experience made his subconscious release a painful feeling, which was originally a self-protection mechanism to make him leave the source of harm.

  With that settled, the pain naturally disappeared. Liu Zhi didn't plan on getting struck by lightning in the sky again, and a faint purple glow descended towards the dormitory.

  At this moment, a lightning bolt struck the nearby mountain top, and a dark red glow rose up to meet it, quickly being engulfed by the lightning. A sharp cry seemed to echo through the air. Liu Zhi's yin spirit was taken aback. What had happened over there? But Liu Zhi didn't have time to investigate now, and directly fell into his dormitory, his yin spirit returning to his body.

  Outside, the thunder still rang out from time to time. This kind of weather is generally not suitable for practice, unless practicing Thunder Method. But Liu Zhi felt a wave of fatigue and knew he couldn't sleep. He had to immediately focus his mind on cultivating his spirit, borrowing the power of the thunder to revive his vitality and recover from his injuries. Otherwise, once his vitality dispersed, it would be difficult to restore his spirit.

  Liu Zhi knew that he had eaten a pill of ginseng and divine elixir, immediately sank into his body, imagined the lotus flower, and sat on top of it with his hands clasped together. He now realized that the handprint he had just made came from somewhere - the first page of "The Sacred Collection of Symbols" had a picture of the Holy Mother sitting on a white lotus, her hands clasped in this very same print. Liu Zhi didn't know what kind of print it was, but when he first learned the Five Ghosts' magic, he was familiar with Daoist handprints, not Buddhist ones. In reality, this print was the Unmoving Fundamental Print - once used, no matter what happened outside, it remained unmoving. This was Liu Zhi's subconscious thinking of the print in the book at a critical moment, and using it to get through the ordeal.

  Buddhist hand seals are different from Taoist ones. Taoists generally press the joints of fingers, while Buddhist hand seals start from the little finger to the thumb, representing the "Five Elements": earth, water, fire, space and wind. Moreover, the right hand represents wisdom, the left hand represents concentration, and wisdom and concentration together with the "Five Elements".

  Form various hand seals, the hand seal is like an antenna, can call up all kinds of information energy between heaven and earth. In Buddhist temples, different Buddha statues have different hand seals, and according to the hand seal, it can be judged which Buddha it is.

  Liu Zhi knew that he had formed a seal, but he didn't understand the hand seal at all. He just happened to use it and accidentally succeeded in crossing the tribulation. Liu Zhi's yin spirit condensed into a seal, sitting on top of the white lotus, his yin spirit becoming more and more solid. Now Liu Zhi's yin spirit standard is a one-tribulation yin spirit, which is at least ten times stronger than before.

  The thunder outside gradually stopped, the clouds in the sky slowly dispersed, revealing starlight. After three or four hours, Liu Zhiwu opened his eyes, and it was still dark. His injuries had completely healed, and the rain outside had also stopped, with no more thunder. Liu Zhiwu got up and opened the window to take a look outside. The sky already had starlight, and he felt a stir in his heart. When his yin spirit returned, he saw a bolt of lightning strike the mountain head over there, and dark red light emerged from that mountain head. Was there something? Was there some kind of treasure similar to the Purple Air Lingxu Wood he obtained? He had to go check it out.

  As he thought of this, he closed the window and returned to bed. The yin spirit escaped once again, heading straight for a small hill opposite. Upon arrival, it immediately became clear that it was just a small creature - a tree mouse that had been startled by a loud noise on that day, almost causing Liu Zhi's yin spirit to disperse. However, the tree mouse was now dead, apparently struck by lightning earlier. It seemed that this was the tree mouse's great calamity. Liu Zhi had always wanted to find it and settle scores, but had never been able to locate it. Unexpectedly, it died under the lightning strike, probably becoming a malevolent spirit that triggered the lightning disaster. Liu Zhi couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the tree mouse's misfortune. He himself had narrowly escaped disaster by actively seeking to overcome his tribulation today. Alas, this poor creature had perished under the lightning strike. The path of cultivation was indeed fraught with danger!

  The squirrel's fur was partially burnt, but its skin remained intact. Liu Zhi knew that he had to make a storage bag, and it would be best if he used the skin of a demonic beast. Wasn't this an opportunity that had fallen into his lap?

  Tree mouse brother, sorry about that. Anyway, you're dead, might as well make the most of your remaining heat! Thinking this, the yin spirit rolled up a whirlwind and wrapped it around the tree mouse. Fortunately, Liu Zhi had survived a thunderbolt before, otherwise the yin spirit wouldn't have been able to move the tree mouse.

  Arriving at the dormitory entrance, a gust of wind blew down, and the tree mouse was thrown to the ground. Unlike the yin spirit and lingxu, which could enter through cracks, the yin spirit could even easily pass through walls. The yin spirit returned to its body, and Liu Zhi opened the door, picking up the tree mouse and taking it into the room to skin it. In his mind, he was thinking that after refining the bag during the summer vacation, he would take Ali back to Shencheng for a visit, see his father, and also inform his elders that this semester's volunteer work had ended, and he needed to make plans for the future.

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