Poor Taoist Qiu Chuji

Chapter 394 The Golden Core is the Path to Immortality, Why Seek the Elixir of Immortality?

Although he had made up his mind, Qiu Chuji did not immediately go into seclusion to cultivate.

Besides some other trivial matters that need to be dealt with, finding a suitable place for seclusion is also crucial.

Returning to his small world for seclusion is not feasible, since although he does not intend to integrate those immortal beings into himself, he still needs to study them in order to achieve the goal of simulating them with the Qi of Creation.

If these immortalities were taken to the small world, the result would likely be either that the small world would be polluted, resulting in more harm than good, or that the small world would completely digest these immortalities, turning their abnormality into normalcy.

In short, Xiaotiandi and Qiu Chuji were so deeply intertwined that their fates were almost entirely intertwined, one prospering and the other suffering. Sometimes this was an advantage, but other times it was a disadvantage.

Cultivating to become a Golden Immortal and achieving immortality can also be considered a process of checking for omissions and filling gaps. In the small world, Qiu Chuji is the world itself, the manifestation of the Dao, the demon god, and the creator of everything. He is perfect and flawless. How can he check for omissions and fill gaps?

In a sense, the Little World is a real, private dream that can be opened to outsiders.

In the world of dreams, the dreamer can make himself perfect, but this perfection is difficult to reflect in reality.

Therefore, when Qiu Chuji cultivated in his small world, he generally practiced some applied techniques and the accumulation of primordial qi, etc.

However, anything involving a breakthrough in one's realm or further refinement of oneself will not take place within the small world.

Three days later, Qiu Chuji, through Yang Jian's introduction, found an abandoned dragon palace at the bottom of a well.

The primordial energy here is not abundant, and it has no direct connection with the surrounding water system. However, its advantage lies in its quiet and secluded location in a dead corner of the network of energy and earth veins. Even if someone uses certain methods of deduction or divination, it would be difficult to find this place.

According to Yang Jian, this well-bottom dragon palace was originally a place where a certain dragon king kept his concubines. Later, the concubines were captured by the first wife, who then skinned and dismembered them. The dragon king also suffered a severe beating, and the well-bottom dragon palace was abandoned.

As the Heavenly God of Justice, Yang Jian was in charge of handling this scandalous case. The Dragon King and Dragon Queen had already perished in their previous infighting. Now, this abandoned Dragon Palace at the bottom of the well has become a hidden place known only to Yang Jian.

After entering the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the well, Qiu Chuji did not clean the place. After making some precautions, he found a quiet room and sat down.

For more than ten days in a row, Qiu Chuji did nothing but calm his mind and spirit, shedding all mental burdens and rejecting certain natural guidance and indoctrinations from the world.

This world has gone mad!

Following the world's 'hints' will most likely lead to a mad ending.

As time passed and he listened to the dripping sound of the well water, Qiu Chuji's heart became increasingly clear.

Thinking is always associated with quiet and solitude.

Through a series of extraordinary encounters, Qiu Chuji found a shortcut to becoming a Golden Immortal, but this does not mean that Qiu Chuji can achieve it easily in one fell swoop.

As for whether there is a deeper meaning behind these series of extraordinary encounters?

Of course, there is such a thing as good fortune. Qiu Chuji never believed that good fortune came from nowhere. It's just that he was already a pawn in the game, and thinking too much was pointless.

The miraculous encounters involving the Sky-Mending Stone and immortality demonstrate that arranging his existence had already increased the investment required.

Whether the investor is Yuanshi Tianzun, Antarctic Immortal, or simply Yang Jian, the Great Luo Immortal above all the heavens, this is a good thing!

After all, before becoming a truly carefree and powerful figure, it is important to know your place and demonstrate your value.

When Qiu Chuji manipulated the fates of Yang Kang, Yang Guo, Jia Baoyu, and Lin Daiyu, wasn't he also using them while simultaneously benefiting from their situation?

Moss hanging from the stone chamber's dome seeped water droplets, which condensed into ice crystals just before touching the Taoist robe.

The cattail mat on which Qiu Chuji sat cross-legged had long been dried and brittle from his body heat. Pale golden particles floated in the winding cracks on the stone bricks, flowing towards his dantian like quicksand drawn by a magnet.

The Qi of Creation has begun to simulate immortality in its initial stages, but this simulation can only be considered an initial, presumptuous attempt.

Sure enough, after the golden light particles swirled around in his dantian a few times, Qiu Chuji actively dispersed them.

His research on immortality is far from complete; the simulation he produced only shows a five- or six-point similarity.

It seems like we're already halfway there, but actually, a small difference can lead to a huge mistake, especially since we're still almost halfway there.

This attempt is simply to take a practical approach, to seriously experience the specific differences, and to combine it with previously collected information and knowledge to further analyze the special features of immortality.

As everyone knows, the special nature of immortality comes from the fact that it originated from another realm, and is the 'divine substance' of the gods of that realm.

However, after these 'divine substances' came to this world, due to differences in rules, laws, civilizations, and so on, they underwent a specific sublimation and became 'immortal'.

Therefore, Qiu Chuji now needs to grasp a certain 'degree', both to analyze it and to retain some mystery, which serves as a buffer.

Qiu Chuji inhaled and exhaled the Qi of creation, constantly transforming it into different versions of 'immortality'.

Thus, the golden, misty (pseudo) immortality gathered and dispersed repeatedly along Qiu Chuji's body.

The body is constantly perceiving and adapting, while consciousness is also touching and recognizing, while maintaining distance.

"How do we define 'perfection' in the so-called Golden Immortal realm?"

“There should never be anything truly perfect in this world, because from a narrow perspective, every intelligent being has a bias in their understanding of perfection, and these biases are destined to be difficult to unify. The perfection of a Golden Immortal is not a narrow self-perception. Of course, if self-perception can be amplified to the point of infecting and influencing everyone, that is indeed a path, but it is a more difficult path to walk, close to the legendary so-called 'proofing the Dao with force.' The concept exists, but it is impossible to truly touch the boundary.”

"From a broader perspective, nothing is truly perfect. We haven't yet noticed the flaws and loopholes; it's just that our understanding is insufficient and our perspective hasn't been elevated to a higher level."

"In other words... self-satisfied perfection is a kind of imperfection. Because it leads to a loss of ambition and blind arrogance."

"The Heavenly Laws established by the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother are not perfect, which is why Yang Jian changed them. Does this mean that the principles set by the Golden Immortals have flaws, and that there is a possibility of fixing those flaws?"

"Retaining a degree of mystery is to retain endless potential for expansion, just as the universe is infinitely vast because it is constantly growing and expanding. In short... perfection appears as imperfection!"

Qiu Chuji understood even more deeply why what was merely a 'divine substance' in a certain alien world became a shortcut to becoming a Golden Immortal in this mythical world.

The availability of information about civilizations is one factor, but the more crucial one is the mystery surrounding this 'immortality'.

It was unknown, mysterious, terrifying, and frightening to the gods, Buddhas, and immortals of this world. It broke the circle that the gods, Buddhas, and immortals had drawn for countless years, forcing them to step out and enter a higher and larger field of vision.

The Victorious Fighting Buddha succeeded halfway because he truly received and understood a portion of the information from the foreign land.

He also became a part of this mystery, and from the circle he stepped out of, he is about to draw an even larger circle of his own.

Now, Qiu Chuji also plans to go out and draw his own circle.

The immortality from another realm has already drawn half of it for him.

The immortal creatures coiled around the mouth of the bronze cauldron like serpents, baring their fangs and claws and emitting an alluring, poisonous fragrance.

Qiu Chuji, however, had long been accustomed to their allure. He released streams of creative energy, mimicking the characteristics of these immortal beings, and then actively merged into them.

Initially, the fusion did not go smoothly, as the immortal beings were clearly very exclusive. However, with Qiu Chuji's repeated fine-tuning, these immortal beings were eventually numbed. Their aggregation properties allowed the immortal beings transformed by Qiu Chuji using the Qi of Creation to penetrate deeply into them as well.

Then, upon Qiu Chuji's summons, these transformed 'immortalities' spontaneously released themselves, transforming into a large amount of information that converged towards Qiu Chuji.

Through these immortalities, Qiu Chuji seemed to see a broken and decaying mythical world, how it gradually declined and perished, and how it broke through the barriers of time and space at the last moment and crashed into this world.

The merging of two worlds, both with positive tendencies, produced extremely negative effects.

Qiu Chuji's Qi of Creation began to carry the chilling cold of a melting ice river, and the wispy flow of Qi ignited a blue flame in his meridians.

A blue flame ignited near the Tanzhong acupoint on his chest, melting the snow-capped mountains of Qi in his sea of ​​Qi. The first wisp of battle Qi was born from this spot and then slowly merged into the ever-flowing True Qi.

This also symbolizes that the foundation of another kind of spiritual civilization was rooted in Qiu Chuji's philosophy of spiritual practice.

Having traversed everything that was deformed, distorted, and demonized, the mysterious remains mysterious, but the unknown is no longer a source of fear.

Qiu Chuji meticulously unraveled the pollution from foreign lands, revealing some of its original nature.

Whether something is considered a god or a demon depends on your perspective.

Under the golden light, Qiu Chuji's translucent internal organs slowly relaxed.

A golden elixir that had been 'ignored' for a long time suddenly appeared from the dantian, the spiritual platform, and all the acupoints of the body.

Not bad!

It appears simultaneously in many parts of the body, but in the perception of the primordial spirit, it is one, not ten thousand.

It is the constant amidst the variables, the reef in the vast sea, the solid ice in the north, and those things that have been forgotten but are still holding on.

Qiu Chuji suddenly had a moment of realization.

He pursued immortality, but in the process, he was blinded by a dazzling array of things.

He even forgot that he could pursue perfection in variables, deconstruct immortality from mystery, or return to the origin, letting everything return to its most basic state.

An old man who has experienced many hardships, understands the ways of the world, is well-versed in scholarship, has a mysterious past, and possesses great wealth and a very high status, is close to perfect.

But equally, a newborn baby who has just been born and has just uttered his first cry to the world is a more perfect fit.

Which is more valuable: a world-famous artwork or a blank sheet of paper?
People all pursue the former, but it is not necessarily impossible to expect the latter.

However, this state of mind of seeing mountains as mountains cannot be viewed in isolation.

Returning to simplicity and natural purity need to be considered together and dialectically.

The manifestations of the Golden Elixir overlap and converge in every corner of the body.

The immortality simulated by the Qi of Creation is like a complex river that washes over this golden elixir, restoring it to its purer form.

Through a combination of various factors, an imperfect perfection was achieved.

The entire process was conducted without any disturbance of wind or thunder, or any change in atmosphere.

However, Qiu Chuji's personal temperament seemed even purer and simpler.

Opening his eyes, Qiu Chuji couldn't help but smile smugly.

The Golden Elixir is the path to immortality, so why seek the elixir of immortality?
In fact, as long as one refines the golden elixir, purifies its golden nature, and cultivates the purity that comes from the passage of time, one can naturally reach the other side and become a Golden Immortal.

However... that would require a considerable amount of time and effort to accumulate.

Now, he is only half a step away from becoming a true Golden Immortal.

Similarly, they lacked the tempering and refinement of time.

True gold fears no fire, and a true immortal is also unafraid of the test of time.

Qiu Chuji concealed his aura, picked up the bronze cauldron, and left the stone chamber.

Outside the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the well, Yang Jian, who had transformed into an old, crooked-necked tree guarding the gate, saw Qiu Chuji emerge with a serene aura. He then reverted to his original form and greeted him with, "Congratulations!"

"Thank you!" Qiu Chuji handed the Heaven-Mending Stone directly to Yang Jian, and also proactively opened a door for Yang Jian so that he could extract the Qi of Creation within it for his own use.

"How did you cultivate your own immortality?" Yang Jian asked, taking the Heaven-Mending Stone.

Qiu Chuji thought for a moment, the words of explanation were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't say them.

The principles are actually understood, and the greatest truths are the simplest. The deeper the path to spiritual cultivation, the more it is known to the general public.

It's easy to know the principle, but difficult to put it into practice.

The so-called "unity of knowledge and action" is nothing more than another empty slogan for the vast majority of people.

At this moment, the clearer and more understandable his explanation of the tricks was, the more likely it was to create a mental block for Yang Jian.

If the path to becoming a Golden Immortal or a Great Luo Immortal is so easy to replicate, then wouldn't those who have already succeeded be able to endlessly promote and accumulate their successful experiences?
This is certainly impossible.

Therefore, in the end, Qiu Chuji only said one sentence: "Believe in yourself and take good care of yourself!"

When Yang Jian saw that Qiu Chuji was willing to give him the Heaven-Mending Stone but did not explain the core of proving the immortality of gold, he knew that there were many things that were difficult to say. So he stopped pressing the matter and just played with the Heaven-Mending Stone in his hand, with undisguised joy in his eyes.

In any case, with the replenishment of a large amount of Creation Qi, his physical body could no longer continue to mutate, which can be considered as resolving the basic worries.

As for how to achieve the path to becoming a Golden Immortal, Yang Jian was confident that just as Qiu Chuji could draw inspiration from 'immortality,' so could he.

"You should cultivate well in this world; I should go to the next world!" Qiu Chuji suddenly said to Yang Jian.

He was quite certain that the five trial worlds arranged by Yang Jian, the Great Luo Immortal above the heavens, were all his own agendas, except for the first one, which was meant to remind Yang Jian and Chen Xiang that the Heavenly Laws should not be modified in a one-size-fits-all manner.

Ostensibly, it was meant to test Yang Jian and Chen Xiang, but in reality, it was meant to guide him.

He spared no expense in using one world after another to drive his progress.

"Since this world has allowed me to understand what the immortality of gold is, then the next world will most likely be one where I undergo the test of time."

"After traversing the five worlds, will I become a Golden Immortal or a Great Luo Immortal?" Qiu Chuji pondered, already taking a step forward and deliberately breaking through the barriers between the worlds.

(End of this chapter)