Chapter Five: The Frost is Three Feet Thick

  Cheng Jun stood on the steep cliff, and at his feet was a long river frozen in ice, like a heavenly jade belt, stretching endlessly into the distance.

  That is the golden water vein of the Great Wei. The northern country is cold, with half a year of icy skies and snowy lands every year. Now it's the coldest season of the year, the river waters that used to flow rapidly have now frozen for thousands of miles, snow falls on the ice, accumulating into thick layers, freezing layer by layer, not just three feet of ice, but possibly even thicker than a yard, or even more.

  On the riverbank, the cold wind was biting, Cheng Jun was as usual, only wearing a thin single-layer garment. The outer jacket had been thrown away by him, and on the white single-layer garment, there were bright red colors crisscrossing, twisting and turning, like a ghostly painting.

  In fact - that was indeed a ghostly talisman. Written with cinnabar and fresh blood, it was a strange gate symbol "Carp Movement Symbol".

  Cultivation is difficult, especially the accumulation in the early stages of entering the immortal gate. Before opening up to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, one can only rely on their own breath to cultivate, except for a small number of elixirs that assist, it's truly a matter of grinding away with hard work. Cheng Jun has been reborn for less than a month, from nothing to something, even he, in a situation where he had nothing, couldn't cultivate anything impressive, using various experiences and techniques, now barely managed to reach the threshold of entering the immortal realm.

  For beginners who have just started practicing Taoism, before formally entering the Tao, they are uniformly referred to as Tai Xi Jing Jie, which corresponds to the Xian Tian Jing Jie in Wulin. What is being cultivated is the one mouthful of fetal breathing that circulates and generates life within the body.

  This boundary only cultivates the inner pulse, not the outer body, does not seek to expand the fetal breath, but seeks to circulate endlessly, starting and stopping, transporting the heavenly cycle, the energy follows the heart. Only after this oral fetal breathing operates at will can it be used to open up the spiritual orifices, communicate with heaven and earth, and formally enter the Tao. At that time, various magical techniques and divine powers, as well as all kinds of miscellaneous arts and sciences, can be applied.

  The Taoist embryonic breathing realm is not difficult to cultivate, and it doesn't require any mental state or enlightenment. As long as you have a bit of immortal bone in you, settle your mind, sit still, and practice the art of exhalation and inhalation. After three to five years, or at least three to five months, you will naturally reach the threshold of entering the Tao. Compared to martial artists who spend decades cultivating their inner energy from the outside in, requiring immense mental endurance, innate talent, and a bit of luck, it's simply not comparable.

  However, those who practice martial arts and reach the prenatal realm must have already cultivated their muscles and bones to the extreme. With just a flick of their wrist or a kick of their foot, they can split mountains and shatter rocks. Adding the assistance of prenatal true energy, they will surely dominate one side.

  In contrast, the fetal breathing realm of Taoism only has this one mouthful of fetal breathing true energy. The body is weak and frail. This true energy is extremely weak and cannot support any profound techniques. Moreover, this true energy is entirely self-generated and cannot borrow from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It's truly a case of using a little less each time, losing a bit each time, and it's not something that can be replenished by several days of hard work.

  Therefore, during this period, practitioners who cultivate the Tao are at most only able to withstand cold and heat, strengthen their physical constitution, and enhance their self-defense capabilities. Apart from being particularly resistant to beating, all orthodox techniques and methods are restricted.

  Nature, entering the door of this threshold, for Cheng Jun, is just a shallow ditch, one jump can pass, but for many people, it's a sky moat. Without a famous teacher pointing the way, limited by innate talent, often a lifetime cannot enter this threshold. Therefore, if one does not have the power to protect oneself for a lifetime, that will not do, so some people pondered out many methods, either borrowing from worldly martial arts or lowering the originally orthodox techniques somewhat, mixing in some mundane means, combining into a special method - minor Taoist technique, also known as the "obstacle-removing method".

  These minor techniques have been passed down for thousands of years, and have become all-encompassing and ever-changing. If one truly studies them, they can be quite interesting. If one can master several hundred to over a thousand of these techniques, they can be considered a master of their generation. Even low-level cultivators who have entered the realm of the Dao, especially loose cultivators with limited abilities, cannot avoid using these minor techniques to retreat from enemies. Therefore, many cultivators are also proficient in these minor techniques.

  But does Cheng Jun have the leisure to study this? These spells, because of the limited strength of the people who use them, are particularly focused on technique and require a lot of time and effort. For someone like Cheng Jun, who considers even entering the Dao stage to be excessive, he would not be obsessed with these things. Entering the Dao is the most important thing, after entering the Dao, how many spells do you want?

  Thus, Cheng Jun had to abandon his defensive power in order to gain speed.

  If he grew up in an ordinary family, it would be fine, but he knew that he would soon encounter another Mr. Ma, so he had to leave some means for himself. This method must be simple, practical and effective.

  Heretical and unorthodox, weird and bizarre.

  Talismans are one of the hundred skills of Taoist cultivation, also known as "the first of a hundred uses". This means that although talismans may not be particularly mysterious, they are extremely practical. Beginners in Taoist cultivation can already harness the power of talismans. However, drawing talismans is not an easy skill to master. One must be in a state of embryonic breathing, with one's breath not leaking outwards. Even if one has a thousand techniques at their disposal, they cannot use their breath to draw even a small flame talisman using orthodox Taoist methods.

  However, folk sorcerers have a somewhat substitutable method, which is ghost painting charms.

  Ghost drawing is a common means used by folk Taoist priests, which can't be called elegant, but uses high-quality cinnabar containing a small amount of spiritual energy, with fresh blood as the lead, to draw out a few simple talismans. These talismans have very limited power, but indeed have some effect, and when combined with other means, can make people dizzy and confused, and willingly hand over their money.

  In the hands of Cheng Jun, this master of talismans, a small ghostly drawing can produce 180 different patterns. The only trouble is that the spiritual energy-infused cinnabar sand is too expensive. One coin can starve a heroic man to death; one coin can also starve Cheng Jun, this former great cultivator, to death. To accumulate these few coins' worth of cinnabar sand, which even his past life's white clothes didn't want, he sold off all his property and only managed to save up a few taels. And today, in order to draw talismans and draw the enlarged "Carp Ascension Talisman" on his own body, he will once again squander all his savings.

  Or perhaps what was thought to be a waste...

  Cheng Jun opened his hand, and in it was a shiny ring. The golden gemstone sparkled brightly under the sunlight.

  Unexpectedly, it was worth the money.

  That was his big fuss in the theater, even if it wasn't the only one, it was the most important reason.

  That's right, the plan has changed.

  Originally, Cheng Jun did not intend to make such a big commotion. He just wanted to teach Ma Gongzi a lesson and leave afterwards, so he prepared the application of the symbol first. Today is a memorable day, walking out of the theater, restarting his own cultivation career, that's all.

  He didn't want to make a big deal out of it, nor did he necessarily want Master Ma's life. To be honest, he couldn't care less about Master Ma's life or death.

  Because he is already 900 years old.

  Fourteen-year-old Cheng Jun was extreme and arrogant, hating to death all those who had bullied him, with a little resentment accumulating in his heart for many years.

  Thirty-year-old Cheng Jun is ruthless and cruel, able to destroy an entire family for a small grudge.

  At the age of one hundred, Cheng Jun's temperament is firm and unyielding. He no longer acts impulsively, but instead keeps everything in his heart, waiting for dozens or even hundreds of years to take revenge one by one.

  Three hundred years old, Cheng Jun is highly intelligent and almost cunning. He takes everything into consideration before acting and never lets emotions cloud his judgment. Everything he thinks about must be useful to him, and what he loves most is to plot and scheme in secret.

  But he is already nine hundred years old, having passed the age of fiery passion, the age of wild abandon, the age of meticulous calculation, and even the age of cunning manipulation.

  Now, Cheng Jun can't say that his mind is clear, but the only thing that can become his obsession is the matter of Tiantai. Apart from this, everything else is just fleeting clouds and smoke, not worth putting in his heart. Ma Gongzi, whether it's a long or short story, it's just an early settled cause and effect, or at most a toad that jumped onto his foot, which can be kicked away with one foot. As for Cheng Jun, the only role he plays is to give him an excuse and opportunity to leave the theater. That's all.

  But things changed in an instant after Cheng Jun entered the house, because he found that the dusty pearl on Master Ma's hand was the one he was holding now.

  Dragon's eyes.

  Dragon's eyes are not really dragon's eyes, but a kind of strange stone. In the mortal world, it only appears as a decorative gemstone, but its value is extremely high, especially for Cheng Jun now. Even if he were given a real dragon, he couldn't exchange it. This is a heavenly opportunity. With this dragon's eye, he can enter the realm of Taoist breath in just one night, and there are also additional benefits.

  The preciousness of the dragon's pupil is not only useful to him, even the true men of the Taoist school will covet it. It's all due to luck that Master Ma can live till today with the dragon's pupil. However, it can't be said that no one remembers the dragon's pupil. If other cultivators have seen it and it was obtained by Cheng Jun, there might be trouble in the future.

  Cheng Jun didn't like trouble, especially when it came to him, so he had to find trouble first. Burning down the opera house and causing a huge commotion had only one purpose - to let Master Ma take all the attention. With everyone dead and the scene in such disarray, would anyone still care about what he had lost?

  After igniting, Cheng Jun didn't go to see the result either, because he simply didn't care. He just pushed open the window and jumped down. Originally, he had prepared a horse under the opera house in order to leave, but when passing by the stable, he found a black horse, which was exactly what he wanted, so he led it out. Now, that horse has been released, and the old horse knows the way back, probably returning to its owner's side.

  However, on the way here, something unexpected happened, he didn't think that on the road he would actually run into...

  "Damn it, I've finally found you..." a loud shout came from behind.

  Cheng Jun was taken aback, turned around, and saw two fast horses galloping towards him. The tall and sturdy man on the left horse had his hair standing on end, looking like a furious Vajra, while the one on the right was a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes.

  Cheng Jun was slightly surprised and thought: So fast, it seems that Ma's family has a capable person.

  The newcomer was Ma Hu, the head of the Ma family's guards. He was a tyrant in the county town, but Cheng Jun didn't recognize him. In his past life, he had been scalded by boiling oil, so Ma Hu wouldn't have sought him out for revenge. Later, when he exterminated the entire Ma family, Ma Hu was still in the Ma residence and was killed along with them. At that time, he was so powerful and intimidating that he wouldn't have remembered this vengeful spirit who had been killed by his sword.

  That horse saw Cheng Jun wearing a white dress, standing alone in the cold wind, looking elegant and refined, transcending the world. In his heart, he secretly thought: It's him! Our young master has high standards, if we want to rob, we must aim for this level.

  Ma Hu held the horse, stretched out his hand from behind and pulled out a knife. After thinking for a moment, he felt that it was not necessary to use this slaughter knife, so he put it back. Holding the whip in his hand, he jumped off the horse and shouted: "You little scoundrel, you have a big dog's gall, daring to offend our young master! You still dare to stay here openly, is this cheating on us that there are no people in Dabing County? Today, I will make you know what it means to be worse off than dead."

  The young man next to him jumped down and pointed at Cheng Jun, scolding: "You stinky brat, didn't think I'd catch up with you here, did you? Let's see how much more nonsense you can spout."

  Cheng Jun looked at him, his mouth twitched slightly, and a yellow paper had already appeared in his hand.

  Ma Hu saw Wu Shao following him, and secretly despised him in his heart. He thought: "You this ignorant rich boy, just now you were kicked under the horse by someone, and now you still dare to come, even walking ahead of me. If he kicks you again, I won't even bother to save you." On the surface, he said: "Wu Shao, do you recognize him? This is the rude little brat."

  Wu Shao said: "Even if he turns into ashes, I'll recognize him. Ma Hu, you go after him, I'll report my revenge for the kick first."

  Ma Hu said in his heart: "You love to death or not", and said with his mouth: "Please invite Wu Shao."

  Wu Shao sneered and swung his whip forward with a loud crack.

  All of a sudden, a whip shadow flashed in the air, and a long whip fell out. A person let out a miserable cry and rolled to the ground.

  The little monk whipped out his arm, grabbed the man's neck and pulled him back. The man had a yellow paper stuck to his face, his whole body stiff as a corpse, looking extremely ridiculous. He lifted his head and cursed: "You stinky little brat, you've stolen the show again."

  Cheng Jun's fingers were pinched between two yellow papers, and he finally revealed a hint of a smile. "Still let me take the lead," he said. "This person was killed by me, it has nothing to do with you." As he spoke, he lightly jumped off the cliff.