The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 5 Southwest Qi Cultivation Path

"Humans are born from the earth and their lives depend on the heavens. When the energies of heaven and earth combine, they are called human beings."

"Human life is the gathering of vital energy; when it gathers, there is life; when it disperses, there is death."

"The most important thing in cultivation is Qi. The first principle of entering the Dao is to refine essence into Qi, and then to obtain that one breath of primordial Qi. When the true Qi leaves the body, it can split mountains and shatter rocks, and has the strength of a tiger or bear. At this time, one has reached the Qi Refining Realm!"

"This vital energy has entered the body and circulated more than halfway through the body, becoming a mid-level Qi Refining cultivator. At this moment, by fully drawing upon the true Qi, one can generate water, fire, wind, and thunder, and choose to cultivate various Daoist methods."

"When you condense your true Qi and complete the cycle of Qi, it will be like a liquid. At this time, the true Qi is thick and sublimated into a protective aura. It is like a powerful bow in the army. Evil spirits and monsters will find it difficult to break through the aura. This is the highest level of Qi cultivation."

"After reaching the highest level, when the Qi is perfected and cannot be gathered any further, then one will show signs of establishing the Purple Mansion Foundation..."

On the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month, the red-robed true disciples of the four inner courtyards of the temple give lectures and lessons to many lower-level Daoist disciples who have cultivated Qi perception. They can come to listen to the lectures until they advance to the middle level of Qi cultivation. This can be regarded as the support of the Tiannan Inner Court for these newly promoted Daoist disciples.

However, this course consists of only one subject per ten days, and each subject lasts only two hours. There is not much substantial content. Most of the time is spent guiding the many Taoist practitioners who have gone astray in their cultivation. It is truly tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away.

The disciples, having listened to this repetitive, textbook-reading exercise four or five times already, were growing increasingly impatient. However, the head disciple, a red-robed true disciple, was one of only one or two top disciples in each year's academy, and his prestige was approaching that of the Purple Mansion. How could these insignificant figures dare to utter a word?
After the red-robed senior brother finally finished explaining the "Theory of Primordial Qi," and it was time for him to address the concerns of the disciples, Li Qing seized the opportunity, quickly rose from the prayer mat, and asked with clasped hands:
"May I ask, senior brother, we are beginners in Qi cultivation, and our skills are shallow. If we wish to improve our true Qi in a short time and refine magical artifacts as soon as possible, what should we do?"

"Refine your true Qi?" The red-robed disciple on the head seat raised an eyebrow and cast his intimidating gaze down.

The green-robed Taoist who asked the question had true qi that seemed to be a bubbling spring. Although the spring was small, the qi was active and pure, and it did not seem to be acting haphazardly.

The red-robed disciple sternly stopped the reprimand that was about to spill from his lips. Seeing that many people in the room resonated with the same issue, he could only shake his head gently.

"I shouldn't have given you so many suggestions, as they've made you lose some of your diligence and become accustomed to taking shortcuts."

"When I first entered the path of cultivation, I was fond of practicing techniques, magical artifacts, flying and escaping, and making a fuss with fireworks and wind. I was like that back then."

The true master smiled and offered some advice to his fellow disciples.

"Before sunrise, when the morning glow appears in the eastern sky, breathe in and out three inches of the circulatory system. You can refine a wisp of purple qi. Once you have refined forty-nine wisps, you can stop. This will make the qi in the circulatory system active by seven-tenths."

"On every night of the full moon, it is said that the moon flows with the Emperor's nectar. Only when the moon is at its zenith should one absorb a pool of moonlight. If one feels a chill at the Baihui acupoint, one should immediately stop breathing, which can increase one's Qi for a few moments."

"The two methods must be practiced together, and you should not practice them too much. Your true qi is weak. Wait until the morning glow and purple qi have been gathered forty-nine times, then you should stop practicing this method and not practice it again."

"This was originally a simplified method from the Ancient Record of Yin and Yang Qi. I obtained it by chance, but today it's a boon for you little fellows..."

Although Tiannan Temple is located on the southern border, it practices the orthodox Qi cultivation lineage, unlike the witchcraft, ghost, and sorcery lineages of Nanling and Nansi. The atmosphere in the temple has always been good, and the true teachings are sometimes passed down in a way that is truly valuable.

In this lesson, the Daoists have obtained a rather practical method. If one cultivates it for forty-nine days, the improvement in true qi will be considerable.

Qi cultivation is the first stage of spiritual practice. When the Qi reaches the 360th cycle of the body and is counted in the acupoints, it is considered complete and can be called the upper stage of Qi cultivation. When the Qi reaches half of the cycle, 180th, it is enough to cover the whole body and extend several feet away from the body, giving rise to techniques and methods, which is called the middle stage of Qi cultivation.

Although Li Qing had only cultivated true qi for a little over four months, he ate tiger meat and boiled tiger bones to strengthen his essence and nourish his qi. Now he had forty-six units of true qi, which gave him some hope.

Having memorized this method word for word, all the Taoists present rose in unison and bowed to the red-robed true disciple.

True disciples are those whose true qi has reached perfection and who can establish their foundation in the Purple Mansion at any time. Such beings, by spending their energy teaching other disciples, are both giving back to the sect and paving the way for them to take charge of the inner courtyard in the future...

After enduring those two hours of lessons, Li Qing turned and left as always, without any intention of lingering to chat with his fellow Daoists.

However, things in life rarely go as planned. Even the purest and most innocent person will inevitably get tainted by some impurities.

At this moment, three or four Daoist disciples forcefully stood in front of Li Qing. The leader, dressed in brocade robes, crossed his arms and said with a mocking expression:

"Junior Brother Li! I heard you were lucky enough to catch a Tiger Mountain Lord the other day?"

"Since my brother has nothing to say, it's not unreasonable for him to ask for a few servings of tiger bone marrow soup, is it?"

This person comes from the Lin family in Tiannan Prefecture. The Lin family, the local bigwigs of Tiannan, has always had many disciples who have entered Tiannan Temple to cultivate. Although they have never produced a Purple Mansion Daoist or a Red Robe True Disciple, they still have two Blue Robe disciples who are at the upper level of Qi Refining, which can earn them some face no matter where they are.

So many days have passed, and Ma Daotu of the External Affairs Hall has announced that the Yang-quality Tiger Blood is in his hands. No one has made any further moves on Li Qing. Lin Ruhu only wants some tiger bones to make a few doses of blood-strengthening pills.

"Besides, I'm not taking it for free. I can also pay a certain amount." Lin Ruhu thought to himself. His family wasn't forcibly taking it. They were buying it at a fixed price. Whatever the price was, that was the price. Surely Li Qing wouldn't hold a grudge against him?
"no!"

Li Qing didn't even bother to look at those people. With a flick of her willow whip, she casually pushed aside the shoulders of those blocking her way and walked away without pausing for a moment.

Fighting is forbidden in the temple. Even ordinary Taoist boys and servants are not allowed to lay a hand on them. Anyone who violates this rule will be dealt with by the law enforcement hall.

At this level, Taoist disciples have no right to distribute influence. At most, it's just a matter of a few of us brothers working together to isolate and make things difficult for him, nothing more.

But Li Qing... he indiscriminately isolates and bullies everyone!

Besides, if it really came to a fight, these newbies from the Ghost-Raising Altar would be even less worthy of respect in front of Li Qing. It's a wonder they dared to come looking for trouble, like throwing good money after bad. "Damn it, I'm not kidding, I really need that spirit tiger bone. Li Qing!"

"You don't need it."

Lin Ruhu's expression darkened, and his voice rose even louder.

Even in Tiannan Prefecture, the bones of a mountain lord capable of unleashing its foes are a once-in-a-century find, at least at their level. Now that such a rare occurrence has happened, how could he not acquire a share?
However, before Lin Ruhu could finish speaking, that aloof figure had already disappeared around the corner without stopping.

Damn it!
"Brother Lin, this kid is too arrogant."

"Should we teach him a lesson?"

The servants on both sides, their faces filled with righteous indignation, stared at the empty corner, seemingly enraged by being ignored, and made a vicious suggestion.

"Of course we do! Who among you is willing to help Master Dao teach him a lesson?"

As soon as Lin Ruhu said this, the few Daoist followers who were used to eating, drinking, and roaring in the mountains immediately disappeared.

Damn it! What a coward.

Lin Ruhu glared at the group of scoundrels with annoyance, his heart filled with contempt for them.

He genuinely wanted to teach that ghostly man, Li Qing, a lesson he would learn, but he also dared not get involved with the ghostly things behind that guy.

Back then, when Li Qing was escorted by the old female shamans and bodyguards from the six townships and three towns of Guihua Prefecture to come to Yuanshan to worship Taoism, it was said that from Guihua Prefecture to Tiannan, there was a continuous gloomy wind and endless wailing. Weasels lit lanterns to block the road, old corpses in the mountains came out of their cages, and water ghosts in the Yuan River turned over... No one knows exactly what happened. All that is known is that less than three of the female shamans and bodyguards were able to return to Guihua Prefecture alive.

The matter caused quite a stir. It was only thanks to the abbots of the temple performing the Everlasting Lamp ritual that the evil spirits seemed to be completely driven away, allowing him to become a disciple of Tiannan Temple. Anyone who knew the truth would not dare to push that strange fellow to the brink of death...

"And these few good-for-nothings are all talk and no action; when it comes to actual trouble, not a single one of them is of any use!"

"Right now you're eating and drinking at my behest, humph, you'll get what's coming to you sooner or later..."

The Lin family, large and small, is a family that has entered the path of cultivation. The Rong family's descendants support these retainers not just for show. As the saying goes, "He who eats another's food is bound to do his bidding, and he who takes another's money is bound to do his bidding." Such freeloading will eventually lead to paying with one's life.

Lin Ruhou was too lazy to bother with these stupid fools. Right now, he needed to figure out a way to get the tiger bone from Li Qing's hands, combine it with the elixir, and get to the middle stage of Qi Refining as soon as possible.

Li Qing neither knew nor cared what the scoundrel intended to do.

At this moment, he had already picked up a paper lantern with a cold white glow and strolled through the Lin Yuan Mountain. In the late autumn, the dew was heavy and the chill was biting. The cold jade candlelight illuminated several feet around him and made the coldness in the mountain even more profound.

The stone steps were like shimmering green scales, and groups of Taoist disciples in blue robes were coming down the mountain after finishing their lessons. Whether by coincidence or not, they all kept their distance from the ghostly young man who lit lamps in broad daylight!

Fortunately, the journey was uneventful. After returning to his residence, Li Qing resumed his usual practice, using turnip extract to regulate his Qi, and practicing the Eight Trigrams Palm Technique to refine his essence and generate Qi.

The Qi cultivation method of Tiannan Temple was passed down from ancient cultivators in the South. Unlike the methods of refining the spirit and alchemy of other prefectures, it is based on the ancient theory of primordial Qi, with the innate primordial Qi called "Taiyi". Qi is born from change. Taiyi gives rise to Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang transform into Yin and Yang. The opposition of Yin and Yang is the beginning of movement, and the generation, restraint and mutual insult of the Five Elements are the endless changes.

The essence of Qi lies in movement and its purpose is change!

The Taiyi Qi Method also emphasizes the circulation of Qi throughout the body, taking the universe as the Great Circulation and the human body as the Inner Circulation. The circulation of Qi is a process of achieving harmony between heaven and man.

Li Qing sat cross-legged on the platform, his Qi flowing continuously throughout the body. He used his Qi to connect with the spiritual energy of the mountains. As his pulse moved, so did his Qi. The Qi originated from the Dantian, passed through the meridians, and circulated throughout the body. With each movement, changes occurred. It was in this unique rhythm of Qi circulation that he resonated with the Qi of heaven and earth. This is called Qi circulation.

The ancient and pure method of cultivating Qi makes the very first step of generating Qi and cultivating true Qi difficult for the vast majority of people.

Having now received the true teachings of the chief master on the method of absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, Li Qing only needs to absorb forty-nine strands of morning glow purple qi and several rays of moonlight jade light, and his cosmic qi may rise to over sixty ke. Sixty ke of true qi is already enough for him to activate the Fire Erosion Technique five times.

Upon returning to the mountains, Li Qing immediately began to use the energy of turnips to connect with heaven and earth, forgetting the sun and moon, and secluded himself for three months, not even attending his weekly classes...

For ninety days, he practiced diligently from dawn till dusk, circulating his qi without fear. He gathered spiritual wood and herbs, and made spiritual paper. He thoroughly studied the secrets of paper dolls, intending to recreate a paper doll to power the white paper sedan chair he had recently acquired.

For three months, he practiced fasting and Qi cultivation, consuming only seven ounces of three-colored turnip seeds daily. He successfully incorporated the Sun and Moon Qi Cultivation Method into his circulation, cultivating the Qi of the Heavenly Sphere to the sixty-third hour, thus completing one-third of the journey on the path to the lower grade of Qi cultivation.

Once the initial stage of Qi cultivation is achieved, the next step is to practice cultivation methods.

However, Li Qing, who was already familiar with the weaving of spirit paper, was now having a headache over this paper doll spell. The paper doll spell originated from Lingnan paper crafting, was incorporated into witchcraft, and combined with the secret technique of cutting paper into human figures. The core of this paper doll spell is the spirit infusion.

The disciples in the temple focused solely on cultivating Qi, but rarely practiced visualization. As for the techniques of imbuing and activating spirits, which were related to the cultivation of spirit, Li Qing was extremely troubled.

"No wonder no one cares about this Secret Record of Spirits. The art of witchcraft and spirit cultivation is really not compatible with the Qi cultivation lineage I've been studying..."

(End of this chapter)