The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 28 Winter Cultivation
Cultivation must proceed step by step. No matter how devoted Li Qing is to practicing Qi cultivation, he still needs to follow the proper order of ruler and minister, and the sequence of actions.

"Let's switch to cultivating the Southern Dipper Life-Extending Technique first. It should be much more efficient than the Taiyi Zhou Tian Qi Circulation Manual from the outer academy, right?"

As for the spells in the first volume of the Southern Dipper Longevity Book, the Demon Star Life-Slaying Spell is nothing more than a series of strange and incantations that shorten lifespan and steal life. Since Li Qing does not need to fight against the person in the distance, he can put it aside for now.
The Heavenly Mansion Profound Origin Qi, a single breath covering the body like a star wall, protects the body by absorbing other energies and strengthening oneself. It is invulnerable to weapons and magic, truly a superior protective supernatural power. However, it can only be cultivated after one has perfected the highest level of True Qi.

At this moment, Li Qing only wanted to cultivate the Fire in the Stone as soon as possible and then master the Crimson Radiance Southern Bright Path.

One is true fire, the other is a killing fire technique. If you cultivate both, you will surely achieve twice the result with half the effort!
Fire in stone ranks below Samadhi.

What is fire in stone? Fire in stone, a dreamlike existence, vanishes in an instant like a fleeting moment.

This is a real fire that is like a flint that burns out in an instant. The original owner of the "Fire in Stone" bamboo slips obtained the essence of gunpowder and flint from a flint mine and refined it into a "Fire in Stone".

The flint that shot out was almost unstoppable; even rattan shields and iron shields melted into molten iron in an instant!
However, when Li Qing saw the original owner's scribbles and self-righteous annotations on the bamboo slips, she thought it was utter nonsense...

He summoned his true energy, and with a flick of his sleeve, he was about to erase the chaotic interpretations of the former lord that misled the younger generation.

"What kind of cultivation is this? If future generations find it and can't distinguish it, wouldn't that be a waste of a supreme Dharma?"

The original method clearly uses the essence of fire from the fire path outside the Heavenly Capital Realm and in the Boundless Heavenly River as aerial fire, which is born from the void, neither burning nor burning out; this is aerial fire.

Fire in wood is often formed by lightning striking wood, a fire that lands without roots. It uniquely possesses the qualities of purity and etherealness, and should be called the fire of purity and etherealness.
That fire in the stone must be the essence of turbid evil and the spirit of the earth veins, yet it is completely different from earth fire, just like phosphorescent fire.

"When preparing for the ritual, one should test the method with cinnabar. True fire is formed by refining lead and mercury with cinnabar; this is the proper way. How can one act like those sorcerers... True fire is the internal fire of the universe; how can one arbitrarily absorb fire energy into the lungs and combine it?"

Such reckless behavior disrupts the balance of the five internal organs; if one practices in that way, one's cultivation will likely come to a standstill.

Then look at the Crimson Obsidian Southern Bright Path again.

This technique is definitely one of the best spells in the Qi Refining Realm!

The Southern Dipper is located in the Li Palace, sharing the same name as the Sun and is in charge of Yang officials. The Chiyao Southern Bright Path mainly cultivates the essence of the Sun and is a rare spell that can borrow the power of the Sun.

One wisp of Qi drives the true fire, transports the sun's light, and transforms it into fifty-two crimson rays of the Southern Dipper. Each ray of light is like a dark red compressed incandescent point, resembling the sun and stars in the deep night... The fifty-two rays of the Southern Dipper, once formed, are like the fifty-two luminaries of the Antarctic night sky falling to earth, enough to destroy a mountain forest!
"Indeed, if one wants to cultivate fire techniques, one must either cultivate a fire energy by first cultivating the five internal organs that govern the Jueyin meridian, or one must cultivate a true fire."

Li Qing's original fire-corrosion technique was merely a trick to manipulate flames, which only had a little power by slightly borrowing phosphorescent fire.

To master a true fire magic technique, one must start from the very basics.

So Li Qing stayed at the mountain gate for a long time, observing the white bones, distinguishing the six qi, observing the paper-carving madman, and constantly practicing fire magic.

Throughout the winter, Li Qing rarely left the courtyard, staying cooped up in the mansion area.

In addition to the usual practice, fellow disciples from the same year would bring mulberry leaves and sandalwood for Li Qing to dry and refine into spirit paper.

Each time a gift was delivered, Li Qing would give him and the others one hundred Dao Zhu (a unit of weight). For these Daoist children who had not yet cultivated their innate Qi, this was undoubtedly a huge sum of money. They also prepared very carefully, and there were never any defective products.

After seventeen processes, including dry cleaning and sun drying, the paper is formed in the courtyard. Then, the six-crowned dragon will respond to the call and carry the spiritual paper back to the left wing of the mansion for storage.

This skill in making spirit paper was the foundation that allowed Li Qing to survive the three years of his cultivation journey. He had also studied the art of talismans before.

As the saying goes, "If you don't know the secret to drawing talismans, you'll only invite ridicule from ghosts and gods." Some people simply don't have the talent to make talismans, and there's nothing that can be done about it.

The only option left is to cultivate along the path of paper spirits and paper demons!

The rest of the time was spent cultivating the True Fire Technique, but the resources consumed in this fire technique cultivation were by no means small.

The cinnabar, round and lustrous, fiery red, costs 1000 zhu per hu; the phosphorus, resembling jade bones, ignites spontaneously upon contact with water, producing cloud-like smoke, costs 880 zhu and eight liang...

Fortunately, the more than 20,000 Dao merits were exchanged for Dao techniques that day, but the Dao coins that were awarded along with the Dao merits were still in hand, enough to support Li Qing's rapid cultivation at any cost.

Until, after spending countless bushels of cinnabar and inhaling countless amounts of phosphorus and cloud smoke, Li Qing finally comprehended the true meaning of the fire in the stone.

When cinnabar is refined through a process of intense heat, it solidifies into the form of metal and stone. Cinnabar transforms into mercury, and mercury into lead. It does not retain the physical form, but rather uses the primordial Qi to capture its essence. This essence is both acquired Qi and primordial Yang essence. This essence of the three Yangs is absorbed into the abdomen and is called "true lead," which is the parent of heaven and earth and the foundation of Yin and Yang.

However, the finest and most exquisite of all, Cloud Smoke Phosphorus, is the essence of natural phosphorescent fire refined through alchemy. It uses the "true lead" in the dantian as a warming bed and the pure essence of water, phosphorus, cloud smoke, and mist to ignite a wisp of true fire in the dantian.

The "fire in the stone" that had tormented Li Qing all winter was finally forged!

Li Qing focused his mind and looked inward, only to see a true fire burning in his dantian. It was a pale white flame with a hint of blue-green, the most authentic fire from the stone.

"This 'fire in stone' is actually one of the three kinds of elixir fire in alchemy? The key points of cultivation are really too obscure: yin and yang essence, the exchange of elixir and mercury..."

With a slight twitch of his fingertips, a faint flame of stone ignited from them, and Li Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This real fire is really hard to forge!

Once the True Fire was formed, the cultivation of the Crimson Radiance Southern Bright Path followed closely behind. As the first killing spell in the Southern Dipper Life Extension Technique, this was undoubtedly the spell that Li Qing had put the most effort into...

Regardless of the changes in the mountains, who entered the Dao Hall in which year, who entered the Qi Refining stage, or who won the Great Merit, Li Qing turned a deaf ear and focused solely on cultivation.

Not a single Huangya Dan (a type of medicinal pill) was left at the Foreign Affairs Hall, and the five golden mushrooms, each the size of a palm-leaf fan, had also been completely consumed.

His more than 20,000 Dao Zhu coins shrank drastically. However, it was normal for Dao Zhu coins to be so cheap, since the purchasing power of Dao Zhu coins was always far less than that of Dao Gong (Daoist cultivation) within the Daoist temple. The few cups of Yang-type Mountain Lord blood he had obtained in the past would be worth at least two or three thousand Dao Zhu coins if placed outside.

Resources are useless in themselves; their true value is only revealed when they are used in spiritual practice!
Until the spring of the following year.

That year, Li Qing was not yet twenty years old, and had been a Taoist priest in the southwest for four and a half years.

The cycle of Qi has reached 296 units, and he is only 64 units away from the top level of Qi Refining! In the Niwan Palace, beneath the white bone lotus seat, countless skeletons cover a thirty-three-zhang area of ​​Youming Square. He can now condense two hundred strands of thought in an instant, which can be considered as a small success in refining the spirit.

Li Qing's talent was actually quite high, but without that ghost marriage, he might not have embarked on this path to immortality. Is every whim a matter of fate?
Since April, Li Qing has gathered true fire in his dantian, and the fifty-two rays of the Southern Bright Red Star have been formed.

The spirit paper that had been used extensively during the Corpse Cave trip was fully replenished.

Unfortunately, the price was the complete squandering of the supplies he had risked his life to obtain in the mass grave...

If he were to go to the outskirts of Western Mang again, he might not be able to find another branch that was so easy to conquer. After suddenly spending all his accumulated resources, he would certainly feel a little empty, but the progress of his cultivation would naturally give him something to look forward to.

"Hmph! The Yellow Sprout Pill is hailed as a source of vital energy, but it seems to develop resistance after the seventh pill? After taking one pill, one's true energy only increases slightly!"

"Only the golden fungus supplied to the Southern Kingdom's court is truly a rare and precious treasure, more than enough for our needs."

"Perhaps, I can travel to the western Sichuan region in the future, as I have heard that there are many spiritual treasures there."

After finishing her winter training, Li Qing opened the window and exhaled a long breath.

The chill of the mountains was biting, but snow had never fallen in this southwestern region. Li Qing still missed the snow scenes of Jiangnan, where the water and sky merged into one color, all covered in silver, so beautiful, so beautiful!

ding ding...

The bells hanging on the curtain were suddenly struck and rang.

But the giant dragon, which had been coiled in the hall, turned around and lay down at a different angle beside the stove in the center of the hall. It liked the warm charcoal stove, so Li Qing satisfied it, adding charcoal to the stove day after day, burning it solely for its use.

Since winter began, this guy has been sleeping most of the time, much like any other dragon or snake.

It wasn't until early spring that I managed to perk up a little.

In its eyes, Li Qing's winter cultivation was probably nothing more than a nap...

(End of this chapter)