From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

But at the last moment, he gained power and became addicted to the illusory power it brought, which is both regrettable and lamentable.

After this brief interlude, the group descended the spiral stone steps once more.

Zhang Chulan, Wang Zhenqiu, Xia Liuqing, Mei Jinfeng, Balun, and the others did not notice any changes in the cave. They only watched as Jiang Liu entered the "Nine-Bend Cave" and sat cross-legged behind the stone table, seemingly practicing Qi cultivation, which left them somewhat puzzled.

Are they really that stupid?

Until Feng Baobao spoke up, saying, "The aura has changed."

"Qi? The Qi in the river has changed?" Zhang Chulan asked.

“No, it’s air, the airflow.” Feng Baobao’s senses were extremely sharp, and she noticed that the airflow inside the cave had changed.

"Airflow? There's airflow in this cave?"

Xia Liuqing was shocked.

Mei Jinfeng was also hearing about this for the first time.

But Wang Zhenqiu clapped his hands and affirmed, "There is indeed airflow, but it is so faint that we cannot even perceive it."

"If you can't sense it, how can you be sure the airflow exists?" Xia Liuqing asked hurriedly. "You're not trying to fool us with this girl, are you?"

"He is right, there is indeed airflow."

It was Baron who spoke up to explain, "The key is that this place gives people a refreshing feeling. If it were a confined space, even in the dead of winter, it would feel stuffy and hot."

"Now that you mention it, it's actually true." Xia Liuqing didn't feel the stuffiness, and after thinking about it, she agreed with this statement.

"This must be the aura."

Wang Zhenqiu explained, "The airflow closure formed under certain special natural environments is equivalent to a cultivator who can circulate Qi through the Zhou Tian (a system of internal energy circulation).

There is no doubt about one thing right now—

As the river flow disrupted the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Valley, it must have affected the local energy pattern, causing some changes. This resulted in the "Nine-Bend Winding Cave" containing information that ordinary people, or even those with low cultivation levels, could neither hear nor see.

While they were discussing, Feng Baobao, like Jiang Liu, entered the "Nine-Bend Cave," sat cross-legged, and entered a state of cultivation.

Seeing this, Wang Zhenqiu immediately sat down and began circulating his qi throughout his body—even if he couldn't sense any information, what if he could?

Zhang Chulan glanced at Xia Liuqing and Mei Jinfeng, gritted his teeth, and sat cross-legged, circulating his Qi throughout his body, hoping that this place could bring him some important information.

Xia Liuqing and Mei Jinfeng looked at each other and then entered a meditative state.

However, apart from Feng Baobao, the cultivation levels of the others were not up to par, the external energy had already been altered by Jiang Liu, and there were no more written guides in the cave. Unless one was a person of extraordinary ability, it was impossible to comprehend even the slightest principle from it.

Jiang Liu's consciousness sank into his mind's eye, using the Eight-Nine Mysterious Techniques to sense this world, and in the darkness, he obtained a message left behind by Zhang Boduan:

All the scriptures on alchemy speak the same language; the golden boat is the very root of all teachings. It is formed in the Kun position and its essence is cultivated within the Qian family, where senses and perceptions interact.

Don't be surprised that heavenly secrets have been revealed; it's just that scholars are all ignorant. If you can understand the meaning of the poem, you will immediately see the Three Pure Ones and the Supreme Elder.

Then, a flash of insight illuminated the scene, and I saw:

A crane's cry soars solemnly to the sky, gracefully arriving before us. Auspicious light swirls around it, and auspicious vapors dance in the air. Clad in brown robes and straw sandals, it is a rare sight indeed. Holding a dragon-whisker fly whisk, a silk sash is wrapped around its waist. It forges connections with people everywhere under heaven, freely roaming the earth.

He was none other than Zhang Boduan, the celestial immortal of the Great Luo Purple Cloud and the founder of the Southern School of Alchemy.

"Zhang Boduan, the humble Taoist, will begin his attack here."

This man was Zhang Boduan. He gently flicked the whisk in his hand, bowed to Jiang Liu, and said homage.

Jiang Liu also bowed and said, "This junior returns the greeting."

"Don't return the courtesy, don't return the courtesy."

Zhang Boduan chuckled and said, "The cultivators are all the same person."

"Then what's your starting point?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Liu also set aside formalities and asked with a smile, "May I ask, senior, did you ascend to the Heavenly Realm? Or, like Xuanzang, did you leave behind only a wisp of your spirit to exist forever?"

"What is the Celestial Realm? Since you already know, why ask again?"

Zhang Boduan smiled slightly and said, "As for spiritual light, it will last forever, but immortality comes with tribulations and it is difficult to be free. Without proving the limitless, it is ultimately empty."

The ultimate truth lies in the boundless.

Hunyuan—

Only during cultivation!

Upon hearing this, Jiang Liu seemed to be deep in thought, and bowed, saying, "Senior, what brings you here to teach me?"

"My cultivation is shallow, and I am already dead. How can a dead person teach a living person? I cannot teach you! I cannot teach you!" Master Ziyang stroked his beard and laughed. "If I were still alive, I would have to call you senior, hahaha! Go and realize it on your own! Go and realize it on your own!"

Seeing that Zhang Boduan was unwilling to reveal anything, Jiang Liu did not ask any further questions. Instead, he conjured up a tea table and tea in Xin Jing and invited Zhang Boduan to drink with him.

"I have appeared for this very reason."

Zhang Boduan smiled.

Jiang Liu smiled and stopped asking about cultivation methods and the principles of the Great Dao. He simply drank tea with Master Ziyang and played chess leisurely, not caring about winning or losing, but only seeking pleasure in his leisure time.

After seeing Zhang Boduan off, Jiang Liu truly entered a state of cultivation, comprehending the universe within his body, holding the Dharma Image Seal, practicing the Eight-Nine Mysterious Technique, and gathering the essence of the sun and moon.

Looking into the mind's eye, one sees layers of pagodas on Mount Sumeru, with flower buds blooming and exotic fragrances spreading, penetrating the spine and supporting the twenty-four heavens, making the human body's three-realm cycle system increasingly perfect.

The three techniques—Eight-Nine Arcane Arts, Dharma Image Talisman Seals, and Sun and Moon Refining Form—have achieved a complete and preliminary harmonization with the Primordial Chaos Qi Method, resulting in four words:

Manifest! Dense! Perfect! Thorough!

"Manifestation" means to verify it externally, and it is achieved through the application of the principle of strength.

"Secret" means to keep it within, and to use gentleness;

"Roundness" means impartiality and moderation;

"Tong" means to be flexible and unrestrained, and to exercise power and reason.

Jiang Liu's cultivation is in perfect harmony with these four words. Now, by taking advantage of the feng shui and energy of this place, he has integrated his cultivation and finally grasped the wonder of these four words, practicing the path of refining the false into the true, and achieving the true and wonderful secret!

Subsequently, Jiang Liu cultivated his own profound and subtle method of integrating esoteric and exoteric teachings, circulating his Qi throughout the body with his breath. This not only nurtured the elixir of life within his body but also cultivated the innate ape-like spirit within his mind. His Qi connected with acupoints and nerve nodes throughout his body, both vertically and horizontally, corresponding to the movement of the stars in the celestial sphere. He sought to transform the alchemical array patterns constructed from the "Forbidden Fruit of God - Modified" into a true body array, rather than merely a spiritual array capable of blocking the intrusion of external Yin spirits and Yang spirits…

However, because Jiang Liu only controlled the fire of the sun and moon, but not the fire of the celestial bodies, he could only grasp a vague outline and could not truly create something new...

# Chapter 633 The True and Wonderful Secret of the Perfect Integration of Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings (Part 2)

There is a vast universe outside the body, which is real, objective, in accordance with nature, and constitutes the way of heaven.

Within the body lies the Small Heavenly Circuit of the Three Realms, which is emptiness, a matter of idealism, a path of reversal, leading to the path of humanity.

To harmonize one's inner and outer self through the practice of refining Qi is cultivation; reaching the sacred realm is the unity of heaven and man.

Therefore.

Countless stars revolve around the body, and countless more revolve within it. By verifying the internal workings from the external, one can obtain a vast array covering the entire body—top, bottom, front, back, left, right, inside, and outside.

The Great Array of the Celestial Stars!

The Zhou Tian refers to the circulation of Qi within the human body.

The stars and constellations are the acupoints and nerve nodes throughout the human body.

The Zhou Tian Star Array is a system that uses magic circuits and alchemical patterns to connect the acupoints and nerve nodes of a person's body in accordance with the movement of stars to form a Twenty-Eight Constellations diagram.

Zhang Chulan, Wang Zhenqiu, Xia Liuqing, Mei Jinfeng, Balun, and others couldn't gain any real insight from their practice, and their meridians became swollen and painful, so they gave up.

As soon as the five people opened their eyes, they saw that Jiang Liu's acupoints were sparkling with stars, seemingly real yet illusory, covering his body inside and out, and forming an array of stars.

Just as I was about to take a closer look, I saw that the starlight around it had disappeared without a trace.

After all, Jiang Liu has not truly mastered the power of the stars, so the Zhou Tian Star Array cannot be completed yet.

But it wasn't all without gains.

Simply by harmonizing and unifying the entire system of spiritual practice within a person, achieving a perfect and profound understanding of both exoteric and esoteric teachings, the trip itself was already worthwhile. And through this process of analysis, Jiang Liu also gained more insights into the methods for creating a "postnatal child destiny"...

"Brother Jiang, have you mastered any extraordinary skills?"

Zhang Chulan couldn't help but ask.

"Special skills? Which of the techniques I control can't be considered a special skill?"

Jiang Liu countered, "I merely used this place to organize what I've learned, to review what I've learned and gain new insights."

To advance further at my level, I must master the laws governing the movement of the stars in the heavens and understand the deeper levels of the art of tempering, so as to refine the body externally to forge the golden elixir and refine the mind internally to create a sacred embryo.

Tsk—

Learning has no end; I need to thoroughly understand astronomy, quantum mechanics, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines.

At this point, Jiang Liu grinned and chuckled, "The only benefit of immortality is that it allows me to make up for my lack of talent with time, constantly explore new knowledge, integrate it into myself, and propel me forward, thereby changing my own fortune and taking control of it."

This realm—

Zhang Chulan and the others were still unable to understand.

Actually.

Jiang Liu is only talking about it now. He may have really traveled to another parallel universe under this person a long time ago and experienced several times of rejuvenation, but as of now, his current consciousness has not truly experienced the vicissitudes of life.

This statement was merely to conform to Zhang Chulan and others' understanding that Jiang Liu was an "immortal".

Then.

Jiang Liu stood up, looked at the five large characters "Nine-Bend Winding Cave," reached out and stroked them, his Qi energy passing over them in a way that Zhang Chulan and the others couldn't perceive, erasing the five characters. Then, he used Qi energy to carve two more large, flamboyant characters on them:

Wukong.

Originally there was nothing, so where could dust settle?

Jiang Liu smiled, then reached out and brushed across another wall, completely erasing the remaining text of the Wuzhen Pian, and inscribed another poem on it:

Difficult, difficult, difficult! The Tao is most profound; do not take the elixir of immortality lightly. Without encountering a sage to impart the secret formula, empty words will only leave your mouth weary and tongue dry!

Then, a formula for alchemy was attached to the side:

The true and wondrous secret of the perfect integration of exoteric and esoteric teachings lies in the cultivation of one's nature and life force, for there is no other way. It all comes down to essence, energy, and spirit; carefully guard and firmly store them, lest they leak away.

Do not let anything leak out; keep it within your body. When you see your true nature and understand your mind, the Way will naturally flourish. A smooth circulation throughout the body is very beneficial; eliminate evil desires and you will find peace and coolness.

Cool and refreshing, the moon shines brightly, perfect for admiring the moon from the Dantai Terrace. The moon hides the jade rabbit, the sun hides the crow, and the tortoise and snake intertwine.