The Weird Way of Immortality: My Taoism Progress in One Day a Year

Chapter 69 Bottleneck
Huang Yun pointed the way for Li Yan and said with a smile, "I have heard of Master Yan's reputation in Bozhou. I am very lucky to meet him today. I just don't know why Master Yan came to Zhongzhou? Is he here to watch the sword fight between hundreds of sects?"

Li Yan shook his head and said, "I came to Zhongzhou because I want to see Lingjun for something, so I rushed here."

"I see."

Huang Yun suddenly realized and a look of envy appeared in his eyes.

Only a strong human being at Li Yan's level is qualified to meet the Spirit Lord directly.

A six-spirit practitioner like him could never meet the Spirit Lord except in some special circumstances.

Huang Yun quickly brought Li Yan to the Demon-Subduing Division in Zhongzhou.

Then, Mu Ziqian, the deputy director of the Demon-Subduing Department, met with him.

In a quiet room.

Li Yan sat opposite Mu Ziqian, curiously looking at the right-hand man of Lingjun, the deputy chief of Liang State's Demon-Subduing Department.

He now knows that although Ling Jun is nominally the chief of Liang State's Demon Subduing Department, he has never been concerned with worldly affairs. All matters of the Demon Subduing Department, big or small, are handled by Mu Ziqian.

Mu Ziqian is a middle-aged man wearing a brown robe.

He had a fat face, his eyes narrowed, and he smiled and said to Li Yan: "I heard that Lingjun personally arranged for you to be the chief of Bozhou, so I knew you were very powerful, but I didn't expect you to be a real person. It's a great honor for Liang to have a real person like you!"

Li Yan replied, "You are too polite, my friend. I have only stepped into the Seven Souls Realm by chance. Now that I have encountered difficulties, I have come to seek an audience with the Spirit Lord. I wonder when I can meet the Spirit Lord?"

Mu Ziqian said slowly: "Since Fellow Daoist Yan is so anxious, I won't waste words. Lingjun is on Lingya Mountain, but there are restrictions on the mountain, so ordinary people can't find him or enter. But since Fellow Daoist Yan is the head of Bozhou appointed by Lingjun himself, he is definitely not on this list. Just follow the map and go directly to Lingya Cave on the main peak of Lingya Mountain, and you will be able to meet Lingjun."

"This is the map of Lingya Mountain. Fellow Daoist Yan just needs to follow the map to find the location."

Mu Ziqian took out a golden blueprint one foot long and wide from his storage bag and handed it to Li Yan.

Li Yan took the blueprint from Mu Ziqian and felt it was cold. He looked at the Lingya Mountain on the blueprint and marveled in amazement.

The Lingya Mountain drawn on this map looks extremely large, comparable to the size of a prefecture.

However, it is not too far from the Demon-Subduing Bureau and he can get there in half a day.

“Thank you, fellow seeker.”

Li Yan expressed his gratitude sincerely.

Mu Ziqian smiled and said, "You're welcome. Everything that Daoyou Yan has done for Bozhou is recorded in the Demon Subduing Division. In comparison, this help is nothing."

"If you have some free time, you can use your merits to exchange for something in the Zhongzhou Demon Subduing Division."

Li Yan's heart moved when he heard this.

What he had done in Bozhou before was actually not much. He only killed a demon king and a dozen top old demons.

But in the eyes of the Demon-Subduing Bureau, these are all considerable achievements.

There was nothing in the Bozhou Demon Subduing Division where he worked that interested him, but the Zhongzhou Demon Subduing Division was different. It was the headquarters of the Demon Subduing Division, so there was naturally no shortage of good things.

Whatever the merit can bring should be of great help even to him.

But his main purpose of coming to Zhongzhou was not this, so he got the map and did not stay any longer.

After saying goodbye to Mu Ziqian, he flew directly towards Lingya Mountain, planning to come back to choose after everything was done.

……

Li Yan sped all the way and soon arrived at Lingya Mountain.

As soon as he stepped into Lingya Mountain, he felt something unusual about this place.

Compared with the outside world, Li Yan inexplicably thought of the word "clean" to describe Lingya Mountain.

The life energy in Lingya Mountain gave him a feeling that seemed different from that in the outside world. Following the map, he quickly flew to the top of the main peak of Lingya Mountain on a cloud, landed outside the cave, and respectfully bowed towards the cave, saying, "Junior greets Senior Lingjun."

"I already know your purpose of coming."

"This matter is not difficult for you. You can go into the cave and talk about it."

Lingjun's voice came faintly from the cave.

"Junior, I obey your orders."

Li Yan nodded. He had great respect for Ling Jun, a human elder who had two souls. If Ling Jun had not taken action, he would have been cursed to death with his talent.

He stepped directly into Lingya Cave, and in a flash, he felt as if he had left Lingya Mountain.

Because the scene inside the cave was completely different from what he had originally imagined, it was like another real world.

The sun is high in the sky, but it seems different from the outside world.

At this moment, he was halfway up a high mountain. On one side, he could see a waterfall hanging from the sky and falling directly into the deep pool at the bottom of the mountain.

Li Yan's eyes showed surprise. He didn't expect the situation in the cave to be like this.

The forest is quiet, with a gravel path leading deep into it.

He continued walking along the gravel path up the mountain and soon came to a small courtyard surrounded by bamboo.

Ling Jun was sitting at the stone table in the middle of the yard at this moment, with a cup of spiritual tea placed in front of him, waiting for Li Yan to arrive.

Li Yan looked around curiously. He had a vague feeling that this place did not seem to be in the real world.

Ling Jun saw Li Yan's doubts and smiled slightly, saying: "This is the Lingya Cave Heaven that I opened up. It is not in the same space as the real world, so there is no need to be surprised."

Li Yan was shocked and nodded slightly. He had a new understanding of Ling Jun's strength.

He had heard of the Dongtian, which was equivalent to a small virtual world, but its life energy was not as thin as that of the virtual world. It was the holy place for practice that practitioners dreamed of.

But I didn’t expect that Lingjun could actually open up a cave.

Li Yan walked into the courtyard, sat opposite Ling Jun, and began to ask about the problem of his inability to sense his soul.

"Your cultivation is improving very quickly indeed, but your closed-door approach has caused you to reach the second and third bottlenecks of soul-fixing ahead of time."

"The second and third bottlenecks of the soul-fixing process?"

Li Yan's eyes lit up and he looked at Ling Jun expectantly.

"The soul is always in one's body, but one needs to break through the confusion and see oneself clearly before one can get a glimpse of its true appearance. However, the confusion is only the first bottleneck in settling the soul."

"To calm the soul, in addition to understanding one's own nature, one must also comprehend the heavens and the earth and accept all things in the heart."

"That is to say, see yourself, see the world, and see all living beings."

"The reason why you can't sense your soul right now is because you have touched the next two bottlenecks of soul fixation."

"It's actually like this!"

Li Yan looked surprised, and then he understood the reason behind it.

Ever since he began practicing, he has been either practicing or on the path of practicing.

He wished he could improve his Taoism to the level of Seven Spirits Perfection before coming out, but relatively speaking, he did have less experience.

After practicing for so long, he has only been active within Bozhou.

If he was not unable to sense his soul right now, he would have definitely cultivated to perfection of the seven spirits in the Bozhou Demon-Subduing Division and tried to stabilize his soul, and would not have rushed to Zhongzhou at all.

(End of this chapter)