Taoist Myth: I am the last true immortal in the world

Chapter 440: Trying to Make the Golden Pill

Finally, I have reached the stage of condensing the golden elixir.

Chen Yun was filled with emotion and couldn't help but recall his decades of monastic life.

I remember that I was as thin as a child when I entered the Ningyang Cave in Zhongnan Mountain. Later, by chance, I became a disciple of a master. It has been more than 30 years now.

An ordinary person might still be at the level of a lower-level wizard after more than thirty years, but he himself was trying to become an immortal.

Especially when it comes to the practice of inner alchemy, generally speaking, the speed is not particularly fast.

Having spent more than thirty years trying to become an immortal is definitely something to be proud of.

Chen Yun was slightly pleased with himself for a moment, and began to focus on how to condense the golden elixir.

He carefully recalled the core of inner alchemy practice.

Internal alchemy is different from other spiritual practices in that it uses certain parts of the human body as the "furnace", the essence and qi as the "medicine", the primordial spirit as the "fire", and the combined operation and refining of the primordial spirit and the essence and qi as the "temperature".

The furnace, medicine and fire are the three basic elements of inner alchemy.

The practice of inner alchemy can be roughly divided into four stages, namely, building the foundation, refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, and refining spirit into emptiness.

As for achieving unity with the Tao, which is the ultimate goal of all spiritual practice, it does not simply belong to internal alchemy, so it is not forced into it.

If we have to count it, there is a special term for being in harmony with the Tao in the practice of inner alchemy, which is called "Lianxu Hedao".

Chen Yun has gone through the process of building the foundation, refining essence into qi, and is now about to enter the stage of refining qi into spirit.

Naturally, he knew everything about building the foundation and refining essence into qi.

There is no need to say much about foundation building. This is the preparatory stage for practicing inner alchemy, which requires filling the deficiencies and refining one's own three treasures of essence, qi and spirit. They must be refined and nourished to reach the "three-complete" state of sufficient essence, full qi and strong spirit.

Just like building a high-rise building, you must first lay a solid foundation.

It usually takes a hundred days, so it is called "a hundred days of foundation building."

In fact, not everyone needs a hundred days. Some may take longer, and some may take shorter.

The key to building a foundation is to "refined oneself", which means to remove all distracting thoughts and dust from one's mind.

Wu Chongxu of the Ming Dynasty wrote in "The Heart Method of Internal Alchemy. Refining Self": "Self is my true nature in stillness and my true intention in motion. It is also another name for the primordial spirit."

The method of self-cultivation is to cut off sound and color, skip social engagements, make your ears and eyes pure, and eliminate distracting thoughts before they arise.

The process of self-cultivation is the process of building a foundation.

Only by paying attention and listening carefully, and keeping the mind clear and desires few, can one cultivate primordial essence, primordial energy, and primordial spirit, and reach the three complete states.

Chen Yun recalled the situation when he was building his foundation for a hundred days.

"At the time, I was sixteen or seventeen years old, and I had no distractions. With the help of the Daluo Ling Tang, I was cured in less than a hundred days."

As for refining essence into qi, it is also called small circulation or the hundred-day barrier.

That is to combine essence and qi to become qi, achieving "three into two".

The initial method is to open up the Ren and Du meridians and open up the "small circulation".

That is, use the power of thought to transform essence into qi, and then make the qi go up from the perineum and coccyx to the Niwan, and then go down to the Dantian, and repeat this cycle, which is called "Hechetong".

Refining essence into qi is also known as the "first level".

Because the small circulation of refining essence into Qi is guided by the mind, it is related to the postnatal Bagua.

The post-natal Eight Trigrams use Kan and Li to represent the heart and kidneys, water and fire in the human body. They are Zi and Wu in the twelve Earthly Branches and north and south in the directions.

Therefore, the "small circulation" is also known as "the intersection of Kan and Li", "taking Kan to fill Li", "the harmony of water and fire", and "the interaction between the heart and the kidney".

The small circulation is also called the "Ziwu circulation".

The Xiao Zhoutian Gong is to open up the Ren and Du meridians through the Ziwu circulation, fill the Li with Kan and form Qian and Kun, and restore the original vitality of the Eight Trigrams.

During this stage, the process is generally divided into several steps, including adjusting the body, adjusting medicine, producing medicine, collecting medicine, sealing the furnace, refining, controlling the fire, bathing, and stopping the fire.

The nine levels of Xiao Zhou Tian Gong can be simply summarized into the four processes of "gathering", "sealing", "refining" and "stopping".

According to the theory of Neidan, it takes at least 100 days to complete the small Zhoutian Gong of refining essence into Qi, so it is called the "100-day barrier".

Chen Yun recalled this information carefully, and then his thoughts gradually shifted to refining Qi and transforming it into a spirit.

"The stage of refining essence into qi is to make the essence and qi unite. I have reached this point after entering the late stage of the leader realm."

Chen Yun thought secretly, "What I need to do now is to combine Qi and Shen, so that Qi can return to Shen and achieve the unity of the two."

Refining Qi and transforming it into Spirit is also known as the Great Circulation, the Middle Pass, and the Ten-Month Pass.

According to the alchemy classics, the Great Circulation belongs to the "Qian-Kun Intersection" and the "Mao-You Circulation". After the post-natal Bagua took Kan to fill Li, it changed from Li in the south and Kan in the north to Qian in the south and Kun in the north. The original Kan and Li hexagrams of the post-natal Bagua have been transferred to the directions of east Mao and west You respectively. Since alchemy attaches importance to the Kan and Li hexagrams, the Great Circulation is called "Mao-You Circulation" based on this position, and the Small Circulation is called "Zi-Wu Circulation".

In contrast to the small circulation which uses the acquired Bagua, the large circulation uses the innate Bagua diagram.

The small Zhoutian is an active stage. During the refining process, true intention must be used as a medium to make the two and five combine and the lead and mercury form the elixir.

The Great Circulation is the transition from the active stage to the passive stage, transforming Qi into spirit, making the two become one, so that the pure Yang of the original spirit can appear.

This stage of the Great Circulation is also referred to as nourishing the fetus. After entering the tenth month, the practice of the Great Circulation is actually the practice of entering into meditation.

The Qi changes from slight movement to stillness and then completely changes. The true intention is used from observation with the eyes to no perception. At this time, wisdom is born from concentration, and one enters the realm of six spiritual communication. If one can be wise without using it, and turn consciousness into wisdom, then the fetus can be completed and the Yang spirit can be achieved. After Chen Yun sorted out these thoughts, he roughly knew how to refine Qi and transform the spirit, and refine the holy fetus golden elixir.

"First, let's try to see if I can combine my divine energy and spirit to produce a holy fetus. If not, it means I haven't reached the level of nurturing a holy fetus yet, and I need to strengthen my own Dan Qi."

Chen Yun thought that there was still some immortal energy left by the Thunderbolt Immortal in his body.

Even if I fail in this attempt, it’s okay.

After all, I don't need to pass three levels, and there is no dangerous situation.

He habitually sat cross-legged.

After sitting down, Chen Yun adjusted his conscious activities, moving them from the left front of the human body to the navel chakra, trying to combine the spirit and the qi, so that the elixir qi would flow into the dantian, from small to large, and from large to small, constantly refining it.

If you have enough skills, you can do this step easily.

Chen Yun tried for a while but failed.

"I can't make the divine energy merge. Which step went wrong?"

He stopped practicing and sat there, thinking hard.

When he tried to integrate his spirit and Qi just now, he could feel that his Qi was full, and it was obviously not due to lack of strength.

After a long while, Chen Yun roughly figured it out.

"I was thinking wrongly. This stage is usually prepared for those who haven't refined Dan Qi. I have already refined Dan Qi, which means I can already achieve the unity of spirit and qi. Now I want to make the spirit and Dan Qi merge. How is it possible?"

Chen Yun seemed to be thinking about something.

I didn't care what to do at this stage.

He didn't even care what to do next.

The normal next step should be: guide the spirit, energy and spirit under the guidance of the mind, up to the Xuanji point, and then down to the left arm, to the Quchi point, through the Neiguan point, the palm and the fingertips, out of the arm to the Waiguan point, up the elbow, over the Jianjing point, up the Dazhui point and down to the coccyx point. From the bottom up again, pass the Yuzhen point, reach the Kunlun Niwan point to the face, pass the Queqiao point, go down to the Chonglou point, pass the Weikou point, pass the navel, to the Yuzhu point, and then back to the Qihai point, go to the right leg, pass the knee point, pass the dorsum of the foot, go to the toes, turn to the Yongquan point, and then go up to the Yin Valley point, through the coccyx point, and back to the Dingmen point. Go down the Queqiao point as before, and go to the left leg in turn. Just like following the meridians of the right leg, go down to the Yongquan point, pass the Weicang point, and go down to the Yuanhai point.

As above, the true Qi circulates through the meridians for one cycle.

The Great Circulation of Qi and Spirit is to send the elixir refined in the Small Circulation of Qi into the twelve meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians, and refine it into a "great medicine" that combines the three treasures of essence, Qi and spirit into one, with immense energy.

"I haven't refined the mother of the elixir, but I have refined the elixir of life, which is a great medicine. It seems that the normal method is not suitable for me."

Chen Yun decided to change his policy and directly adopt the "big medicine".

The timing of taking the medicine is very important.

You need to know when it is time to collect the big medicine and then collect it.

Otherwise, it would not be suitable to collect the medicine if it is too early or too late.

So when should we collect herbs?

This is clearly written in "The Union of Immortals and Buddhas". It is important to know that when the great medicine is born, the six roots will vibrate first. At this time, the fire in the dantian is blazing, the two kidneys are boiling, the eyes are emitting golden light, the ears are blowing, the brain is crying, the body is surging, and the nose is twitching. This is the scene of obtaining the medicine, and what is obtained is the great medicine.

This moment is called "midnight".

"Zheng Zi Shi" is an internal alchemy term that is opposite to "Huo Zi Shi" in the small Zhoutian exercises.

The "furnace and cauldron" in "Zero Hour" is different from the "furnace and cauldron" in the small Zhoutian.

The lower Dantian of the Xiao Zhoutian is the "furnace", and the upper Dantian is the "cauldron".
The dantian below the big circle is called the "furnace" and the dantian in the middle is called the "cauldron".

When the herbs are collected and put into the furnace at midnight during the Great Zhoutian Circulation, the temperature and temperature used should be adjusted according to the best practice of "Continuous and Silent Illumination".

The method, in terms of the mind, is to observe quietly in the heart, to be always calm and aware, and to let the "big medicine" in the cauldron and furnace of the middle and lower dantian float up and down, floating and flexible;

As for breathing, you must let it flow naturally, frequently and finely, deeply and evenly, without any roughness or haste.

In this way, one's skills will become deeper over time, and when the spirit and energy condense into a "holy fetus", one can then transition to the final stage of "the upper level of refining the spirit and returning to emptiness".

Chen Yun began to practice according to the method.

He wanted to use the lower dantian as a furnace and the middle dantian as a cauldron, and try to achieve the unity of spirit and qi.

But just as he was about to try, he ran into trouble again.

"Now that I have refined Dan Qi, this method is obviously no longer suitable."

This won't work, and that won't work either.

Then how should I make the golden elixir?
Chen Yun felt that the situation was difficult. "If my teacher was by my side, I could ask him about the situation. But now my teacher is in custody and I don't understand it very well. How can I find out?"

He knew that he couldn't just dwell on himself, otherwise if something went wrong in his practice, it could be a big problem.

Chen Yun looked towards Beiqi Mountain involuntarily. "I must find a great master of alchemy to understand the situation. Currently, there are only two people who can be called true great masters of inner alchemy, namely my teacher and Senior Brother Lv Dongbin. It seems that I have to go to Beiqi Mountain to find Senior Brother Lv to learn from him."

Thinking about it, he reached out and pushed the window, and it opened automatically.

Chen Yun turned into a ray of golden light and shot out, flying towards the direction of Beiqi Mountain.

He must seek in-depth study from Lu Dongbin and figure out the specific situation before he can try to refine the elixir.

(End of this chapter)