After finishing writing "Chen Chong's Inner Spiritual Essence Doctrine," Chen Yun went to bed early.
He was preparing to practice cultivation according to the time set by his mentor, and would awaken to practice at the midnight hour.
Chen Yun did fall asleep.
However, Zhong Lifeng quietly entered the room.
The first thing he saw was the paper on the desk beside the window.
Zhong Lifeng went forward to take a look.
Even though it was pitch black at this time, he was a cultivator of such high level that he could see everything clearly.
Zhong Lifeng saw the words "Chen Chong's Inner Spiritual Essence Doctrine" at first glance.
He couldn't help but laugh in silence and thought to himself: "The kid just had an insight, and wrote the 'Inner Spiritual Essence Doctrine'. It seems that he still has a high spirit. Of course, temperament needs to be refined, not a few days can change it. I will continue to gradually assimilate it when the opportunity arises."
Thinking so, Zhong Lifeng continued to gaze at "Chen Chong's Inner Spiritual Essence Doctrine". As the legitimate disciple and future inheritor of his teachings, Chen Yun had gained some insights into the art of longevity. Zhong Lifeng was determined to scrutinize it closely to prevent his disciple from taking a wrong path and accidentally wasting his body.
The first line read: "Yin and Yang harmony, condensed into great medicine."
Zhong Lifeng nodded slightly and thought to himself: "This disciple is indeed clever, and has indeed grasped the profound essence of it."
He continued to read.
Soon, Zhong Lifeng finished reading the theoretical part.
He was surprised and exclaimed, "This cultivation method, apart from some minor flaws, is almost entirely feasible. However, those flaws do not affect the cultivation process. They only affect the generation of qi and essence. If he follows this method to cultivate, it may be intermittent."
Zhong Lifeng picked up the brush intuitively, wanting to fix the flaws for Chen Yun.
He paused and thought, "The cultivation of immortality is itself an insight."
Today, he solved Chen Yun's flaws in cultivation. What would he do when encountering problems again?
Zhong Lifeng forced himself to suppress his urge to guide and continued to read the methods below.
Only to see the paper on which it was written: At the beginning of putting it into practice, one must first nourish the five internal organs with food, and not be hungry or overfull. The heart should be calm, without worry or trouble, then only can one enter the path... Sit cross-legged, close your eyes and cultivate your spirit. Wait for the breath to enter and exit evenly... Use your tongue to roll back and plug both openings at the root of your tongue. Close your breath... Gradually collect your spirit and return it to your body.
Completely feasible!
Zhong Lifeng's surprised look in his eyes became increasingly intense. He had seen some intelligent people, such as Lv Dongbin, who took 14 years to understand the method and finally gained enlightenment in the art of immortality after being pointed out by him. However, like Chen Yun, who had gained the art of immortality in just a few months, there were only minor flaws. Zhong Lifeng had truly never seen anything like this.
For a moment, he recalled that Zheng Wen Shu had once said that Chen Yun might have what the Buddhists call "previous wisdom". A shadow of doubt gradually formed in his heart.
With such great wisdom, could it be that this youth is truly a reincarnation of some immortal?
Zhong Lifeng held the brush for a long time, suddenly smiling, and ultimately extended the pen point to modify the paper.
However, he was not modifying the content of Chen Yun's enlightenment on immortality, but modifying the "title".
Zhong Lifeng waved his hand, and the characters "Chong (Chen Chong) Use" vanished into thin air. He then used the brush to add "Mr." (Sheng Ren).
"Chen Chong's Inner Spiritual Essence Doctrine" was changed to "Chen Mr. Inner Dan Doctrine".
Zhong Lifeng put down the brush after modifying it, thinking that Chen Yun deserved to be called "Mr." by the world since he had gained such insight into the art of immortality.
"Mr." often refers to someone older than oneself, but it also has the meaning of being the first to encounter unfamiliar things, implying someone who is among the first to encounter new things.
Therefore, in ancient times, calling someone "Mr." meant that one was learning from the other person.
Indeed, "the person who reaches a high level is the pioneer, and the teacher's intention."
Zhong Lifeng naturally had no need to learn from Chen Yun, but he felt that if the minor flaw in Chen Yun's enlightenment of the art of immortality were resolved, it could form a distinct school of thought for other cultivators to refer to and learn from. Hence, he inscribed the title "Mr." to acknowledge this.
This is Zhong Lifeng's best recognition of Chen Yun's understanding of the art of immortality.
...
It was nearing midnight, in the dead of night.
Chen Yun woke up from his dream.
He first allowed his body to recover and then balanced his emotions.
Only when his body's functions and emotions were as normal as during the day did Chen Yun begin to prepare for cultivation.
Why is the practice chosen at the time of Zi?
Because at Zi time, it's late at night and everything is quiet, so during the cultivation period, there won't be any disturbance from humans or animals.
In modern society, it's hard to say for sure. After all, there are the Ghost Fire Boys.
Chen Yun first washed himself clean, which could help him calm his emotions.
Then, he burned three incense sticks to aid in focusing his mind and centering his breath.
"It's time to practice cultivation."
After finishing these, Chen Yun sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and cultivated his spirit.
He adjusted his breath and thoughts according to the meditation method of "building foundation in 100 days" and "refining the grains into essence."
When his breath entered and exited evenly, Chen Yun used his tongue to roll back and plug both openings at the root of his tongue, then closed his breath.
Next, it's time for true fire to burn the body and refine the true water.
Chen Yun attempted to control the heart fire with his spirit.
Although he had experimented with controlling the heart fire with his spirit during the design of the inner energy cultivation method, he had only tried it a few times and wasn't very familiar with it yet, knowing that he could control the heart fire with his spirit to refine the true water.
Because he wasn't very familiar with it, at first he actually failed to invoke the heart fire.
Fortunately, he had the foundation of "building foundation in 100 days" and "refining the grains into essence," as well as the experience from previous attempts.
After a while of trying, he gradually felt the warmth spreading throughout his body.
The heart fire seemed to be awakened.
The fire seemed to be insufficient, unable to stir the true water into transformation.
Chen Yun wasn't in a hurry, continued to stir the heart fire, allowing it to burn even more vigorously.
In the process, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
Following this, a sweet saliva was produced under his tongue.
Chen Yun knew that the true qi would be generated when the dantian qi rises along the spine to the Jillui acupoint at the top of the head and then descends to the gumline of the upper jaw, where it would be transformed into "Jin Jin". The other part of it would rise along the Ren channel to the Chengjing acupoint at the bottom of the lower jaw, where it would be transformed into "Yu L" The "Jin Jin" and "Yu L" mixed together in his mouth became saliva.
The saliva is clear and sweet, commonly known as "sweet dew."
There is a poem by Lv Dongbin to prove it: "White clouds rise to the top of my head, sweet dew falls like rain on Mount Sumeru."
The sweet dew represents the generation of true qi, a sweet-tasting liquid that drops from the pituitary gland, coming down from the top of the head.
At this moment, one should use the "swallowing law" to swallow the sweet dew into the abdomen.
That is, keep the tongue on the upper palate without moving, suck up the saliva to the root of the tongue. Wait until it's about to choke before swallowing with the neck.
A mouthful of sweet dew can generate a channel of true qi.
Chen Yun was about to swallow the sweet dew according to the swallowing law.
Suddenly, he felt that the sweet dew in his mouth had turned bitter and cloudy.
"Hmm? What's happening?"
Chen Yun stopped practicing cultivation and sat there in deep thought.
The fact that sweet dew had been produced in his mouth represented that the cultivation method he had refined was correct and could generate true qi.
But why had the true qi been generated, and why had the sweet dew suddenly become bitter and cloudy?
Chen Yun thought for a moment and suddenly understood why.
Of course, it's the fire problem.
"I reckon the fire has gone too far, so not only has the true essence not transformed into qi, but it has also been lost due to this."
Understanding the reason is a good start to solving the problem.
Chen Yun once again entered the state of meditation and practice.
This time, he was more cautious than before, carefully stirring the heart fire one drop at a time.
After about three minutes, Chen Yun felt that his whole body was hot without being dry, which was similar to the state when true qi was generated just now.
However, a new problem had arisen.
This time, Chen Yun did not feel the birth of the golden essence and jade liquid in his mouth transforming into sweet dew.
Despite not understanding what was going on, he still continued to practice according to the cultivation method he had refined himself.
One round.
Three rounds.
Five rounds.
Finally, on the ninth round, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth again, and then the golden essence and jade liquid began to slowly rise.
This time, the sensation was especially distinct.
Chen Yun felt that his heart fire had become "warm" to a certain extent, which stirred the kidney water, and then two channels of qi were born in the two solar meridians.
It's clear that the heart fire is refining the kidney water to generate "true qi".
The solar meridians are not the channels near the solar plexus; rather, they refer to the hand Taiyang Small Intestine Meridian and the foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian.
These two channels of qi started at the root of the big tooth and went straight up, reaching the position at the level of the solar plexus, entered through the top door, and reached the Nanyuan Palace.
Then, this channel of qi flowed into the brain and headed down to the heavy tower with twelve loops, through the spine, passed through the base of the spine to above, and then entered the heart and penetrated through the gallbladder.
Chen Yun felt a warm and comfortable sensation in his chest.
Along with the movement of qi, his heart faintly moved, and this qi slowly flowed down to the lower abdomen.
At this moment, Chen Yun felt his body gradually expand, and his spirit soared. He even saw the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers were all within his own body, as if he had his head in the sky and his feet on the ground. He couldn't even feel where his hands and feet were.
He thought he had "strayed into the path of demons," so he quickly reached out and pressed forward.
The next moment, Chen Yun wasn't sure if it was an illusion.
He actually felt as if he had "seen" a patch of brightness in his heart, round and bright like the sun, suddenly falling and truly descending to the lower dantian.
It hovered for a moment, then this patch of light, like dewdrops, lay dormant within it.
This dewdrop-like ball of light was exactly the shape of the golden pill that he had imagined.
This doesn't mean that he has actually refined a golden pill, but when controlling the qi with one's spirit, there needs to be a reference point. In fact, there are no real dewdrops, and therefore no golden pill exists.
This ball of light is just an imagined visualization, but it is true qi.
So this is the success of turning essence into qi?
Chen Yun found it quite astonishing because it was too simple.
Or for other so-called longevity techniques, the cultivation method he refined himself can be said to be absolutely simple.
Although it's hard to believe, true qi has indeed settled in the lower dantian.
Chen Yun knew this couldn't be fake. "I'll continue to try again."
He began to practice once again.
However, this time he wasn't as fortunate. He tried several dozen times to practice, but still couldn't make the true qi emerge.
He stopped once again involuntarily.
"The method is correct, but it can't always produce true qi, so must there be some oversight?"
Chen Yun tried again and again.
And indeed, with continued attempts, he really did discover a knack.
He discovered that before the true qi emerged, there would be a slight bitterness in his mouth, and then sweetness would come naturally, the sweet dew was born naturally.
Could this "bitterness" be the key to generating true qi?
Chen Yun thought deeply for a while but couldn't figure out why there was bitterness.
"After all, this is my first time trying to understand and refine my own longevity technique. I think it's not possible for me to control the fire every time and generate true qi."
He thought it might be a fire issue.
Chen Yun confirmed that the cultivation method was fine and once again entered the state of cultivation.
Time passed one second at a time.
Finally, Chen Yun felt tired, so he stopped practicing.
He didn't immediately finish his practice. Instead, following the method of practicing "Building Foundation in 100 Days" and "Refining Grains into Essence" that he had done before, he first gathered his spirit.
Feeling that his four limbs and hands were back to normal, he slowly opened his eyes.
Chen Yun recalled his practice, "Today I generated three channels of true qi. Although I don't know how it compares to others, at least I've generated true qi, which means I'm on the right path. It's a great piece of news."
He was quite pleased in his heart.
However, Chen Yun felt that practicing for only half a night had resulted in only three channels of true qi, which seemed a bit insufficient.
Hmm!
Ah!
Jade Bead!
Chen Yun suddenly remembered the jade bead he had received with Lin Chen and the others when they went down the mountain to drive away ghosts.
If I remember correctly, when refining grains into essence the last time, the jade bead turned the essence into true qi.
He pondered if he could generate true qi every time he practiced while wearing the jade bead.
