From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

During each performance, Jacques would laugh and apologize to Jax, creating a truly comical scene.

three days later.

The group finally arrived at Atal. Led by the rescued girl, they came to the market where agricultural and livestock products were traded. After crossing the streets, they arrived at a manor that was quite unique to the area.

"Miss!"

"You're back!"

# Chapter 738 Fish-Dragon Seal

"Thank you for saving my daughter."

Inside the manor.

To thank Jiang Liu and his group for saving his daughter and for wiping out the bandits at Green Wave Pool, Murkdo held a grand banquet.

During the banquet, Jiang Liu learned that Murdoch and his men had long suffered at the hands of the bandits at Green Wave Pool.

The problem lies with the local security personnel, who are mostly incompetent, resentful of the wealthy, and hold their positions without doing any real work.

The French who occupied the area, needless to say, followed the principle of "the less trouble, the better" as long as no one died. They also believed that the presence of bandits outside would make local merchants like Murdoch rely on them more.

It wasn't until Jiang Liu and his group eliminated Green Wave Pool that they felt at ease and reassured, and realized they could finally do business properly.

But Jiang Liu knew that as long as the French occupied this land, it would be impossible for the people to live and work in peace...

···

"Are you all heading west?"

Murdoch chuckled and asked, "Searching for the legendary ruins of Atlantis? That's all a hoax, not to be believed."

"Do you know anything about Atlantis?" Jiang Liu asked.

"know."

Murdoch made no attempt to hide it, saying, "The ruins of Atlantis lie nearly two hundred kilometers west of Attar. It's a secret passed down through generations of my Murdoch family, and no one else knows about it."

However, if you hear from others that there is treasure in Atlantis, you are definitely being deceived. It is a barren wasteland, with only a little greenery appearing during the rainy season. At other times, it is completely bare. Even if there was treasure, it was taken away thousands of years ago.

"You saved my daughter and wiped out the bandits at Green Wave Pool. I can't let you go empty-handed. I'm willing to give you half of my family's assets."

"That won't do."

Jiang Liu refused, saying, "We cultivators don't value money. All you need is some camels and dry rations for us. As for the ordinary people in our group, you can pay them the same fees as local mercenaries."

Cultivators do not value material possessions, but their ranks include ordinary people. They are not true immortals or Buddhas; they still need to eat, drink, and relieve themselves, and thus also require worldly things. However, they cannot take advantage of others' kindness to ask for more; they should only take as much as others give them.

Furthermore, if the other party acts impulsively and offers to give away their family property, you cannot actually accept it, otherwise they will regret it later, causing unnecessary trouble.

Seeing Jiang Liu's insistence, Murdoch calmed down, slapped his forehead, and stopped insisting. However, he still felt a little guilty, so he went inside the house.

When he reappeared, he held a palm-sized, dark blue-green disc-shaped object in his hand. The front of the disc depicted a strange symbol that resembled a fish, a human, and a dragon, while the back was engraved with three circles.

"This is a family heirloom called the Fish-Dragon Seal, which is said to be the key to entering Atlantis."

Murdoch gave it to Jiang Liu, saying, "I've been to Atlantis, and there's really nothing there. If you insist on going there, please take this with you. It can be used as a talisman to keep you safe."

Seeing that Murdoch insisted, Jiang Liu stopped refusing and took the fish-dragon talisman. After touching it for a while, he felt that the object could guide the flow of Qi. He was slightly surprised, but thanked Murdoch without making a sound.

Brother Jiang, what's the pattern on this talisman—

Lu Jin recalled the pattern she had drawn in the square where the Robin's "recruitment fair" was located, and it was almost identical to the one she had drawn.

I haven't forgotten.

Jiang Liu responded, "Perhaps Atlantis truly possesses an aura similar to the ghostly realms of Lanruo, Kunpeng's return to the void, and Serket that we have experienced, forming its own space that ordinary people cannot enter..."

There are quite a few peculiar auras in the world.

Duanmu Ying interjected, "If it's truly as you've previously speculated, how powerful would the Earth's 'great' energy be if it revolved in a cycle similar to that of cultivators?"

If one truly operates like a cultivator, opening the "three gates and nine orifices" and the "eight extraordinary meridians," then restarting the earth, fire, water, and wind in a single thought and recreating the universe is not impossible.

Who knows, this could be used to create a real world of gods and demons!

Similar to our inner mental landscape, or mental landscape, except that everything in our mental world is illusory, the inner landscape of the Earth—its vast size—is also illusory, yet perhaps no different from reality to us.

At this point, Jiang Liu seemed to be deep in thought, realizing that the ultimate realm in Qi Refining cultivation was...

By cultivating oneself internally, one can continuously control the energy field of the human body, from the overall life cycle energy field to the cellular energy field of the basic components of life.

By comprehending the Dao externally, one can observe the flow of Qi in the universe and actively assist the flow of Qi in the universe from chaos and disorder to order and order.

When the inner and outer are in harmony, one can reach the heavens.

Perhaps a more accurate term could be used: harmony between humanity and nature.

The practice of cultivating Qi and circulating it throughout the body is to imitate the cyclical nature of heaven and earth. Therefore, the human race is very fortunate. From the moment of birth, the natural rules and the order of the circulation of Qi in the world have already taken shape on a macroscopic scale. Cultivation only requires constantly imitating the circulation path of Qi in the world until the limit of imitating heaven and earth is reached. After that, one can actively control the direction of the order of heaven and earth, and even create an order that is more suitable for humans.

And now, even earlier—

Jiang Liu gained some insight into the Great Zhou Weather Bureau, which governed the cyclical flow of primordial energy between heaven and earth:

It's incomplete!

Perhaps in the distant past, the celestial energy system was complete and self-contained, but later, due to certain events, a gap was formed in this energy system.

Recalling the myths and legends, the story of Gonggong angrily striking Buzhou Mountain and Nuwa mending the sky, besides referring to the postnatal replenishment of the innate in the practice of Qi cultivation, could it be that the ancient "Buzhou Mountain" really existed, and was the key "innate acupoint" that maintained the circulation of the primordial energy of the entire planet? It was later struck by Gonggong in anger, thus becoming Buzhou, which required Nuwa to make up for it with postnatal means so that the primordial energy could circulate again.

No one knows what Buzhou Mountain was called before it was struck by Gonggong. Ancient texts often refer to it as "Tianzhu" (pillar of heaven). When Gonggong angrily struck it, Tianzhu broke, and it became Buzhou.

If the story of Nuwa mending the sky truly existed in ancient times, it was probably that Nuwa, or a member of a tribe, after Gonggong, or a member of a tribe, destroyed the "pillar of heaven," went to forge super-large magical artifacts or set up large-scale formations to maintain the leaked circulation system of the primordial energy of heaven and earth.

However, if one uses acquired methods to supplement the foundation of one's innate constitution, it is necessary to maintain it at all times and not to slack off for even a day.

In the primitive era, the social system of "tribal chiefs" and "monarchical autocracy" could be maintained from generation to generation without end. However, if the ideas of the current ruler and the previous chief are different, the inheritance of this system will be affected by their ideas, or even be cut off.

Once it cannot be maintained, the cyclical energy of heaven and earth will dissipate slowly, just like a cultivator who has lost their vital energy.

However, given the immense size of the planet and the collective primordial energy of all living beings participating in this cycle, it would take hundreds of millions of years for Earth to completely deplete its energy.

Cultivation allows one to supplement their innate constitution with acquired qualities.

Or perhaps, it will recreate the universe!

Alright, enough of the small talk. It's banquet time now, so let's not discuss cultivation.

With this thought in mind, Jiang Liu sent his distracting thoughts into the cycle of reincarnation, ending the conversation.

Spiritual practice also requires a balance between work and rest. One should work hard when it is time to exert oneself and relax when it is time to have leisure. One can also experience the balance between tension and relaxation in order to achieve physical and mental health and a broad mind.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin stopped asking questions and focused on enjoying the local delicacies.

Although Duanmu Ying's cultivation was still relatively shallow, after nearly a year of experimenting with Qi, she was able to suppress her curiosity...

# Chapter 739 Midnight Raid (Part 1)

The banquet didn't end until the wee hours of the morning.

Murdoch prepared excellent rooms for everyone to rest in.

That night.

Jiang Liu was sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing the open window, practicing his breathing exercises and focusing his mind on the moonlight.

call--

A breeze was blowing.

This wind is slight; it is not a wind from any direction, nor is it the wind from a furnace, nor is it the breath from breathing through the mouth and nose. Rather, it is a small whirlwind of dust stirred up by a person walking.

It is invisible to ordinary people and difficult for extraordinary people to hear.

Jiang Liu could sense the changes in the heavens. Not to mention such a small whirlwind, even if the newcomer possessed the power of heaven and earth and could hide in another space, he could still detect it and find it.

Jiang Liu had already recognized the person outside the window, but he did not make any move. His breathing remained steady. With each breath, he inhaled and exhaled the moonlight, cultivated the Yin and Yang Qi of the Nine Apertures, and used the four-character method of exoteric and esoteric integration to perform the wonderful method of circulating Qi throughout the body. He wanted to use his life force as lead and mercury to refine the Primordial Qi Embryo.

The person outside the window peeked out and saw Jiang Liu sitting cross-legged on the bed. He quickly shrank back and waited for about ten seconds. When he heard no movement, he peeked out again and saw Jiang Liu still soundly asleep. He shrank back again and thought to himself, "He also sat cross-legged all night a few days ago. Could this be his sleeping posture?"

A few days ago, she also saw Lu Jin sitting cross-legged at night, but he couldn't stay up all night and would lie down and fall into a deep sleep at midnight. Only Jiang Liu did the same every night, as if he didn't need to sleep.

Or perhaps this is his dormant state?

When she looked up again and saw that Jiang Liu was still motionless, she jumped in through the window, landing silently. She tiptoed around the bed as if searching for something, and then her gaze fell on the fish-dragon talisman on the bedside table. She thought to herself, "It wasn't put in that alchemical item that can store things?"

Without thinking much, he reached out to take it.

But as soon as her finger touched the talisman, she found herself frozen in place. The power within her body seemed to have changed from a "gas" and "liquid" state to a "solid" state. No matter how she tried to activate it, it could no longer flow. A sense of fear inexplicably arose in her heart.

This is a method to freeze the body.

Using the method of transforming Yin and Yang with one breath, one can quietly blow a breath of Qi into another person's heart, disrupting the Yin and Yang Qi in their nine orifices, causing them to be in balance within their body. This will not harm their life, but it will make it difficult for them to control their physical body and cause them to feel uneasy.

When ordinary people stay up late or have irregular sleep patterns, they may experience a condition called "sleep paralysis," in which they are fully conscious, but no matter how hard they try, their body feels as if it is being pressed down by a boulder that is exactly the same size as their body, and they are unable to move.

This is caused by an imbalance of Yin and Yang within the human body.

Now that Jiang Liu has suppressed the nine insects within the nine orifices of his body and understands the essence of the Yin Qi of the nine orifices, he can simulate it in his mind and deduce it with the help of the Jade Emperor of the Golden Palace of the Azure Heaven. He can then create a certain movement technique based on this.

The principle of "understanding one aperture leads to understanding all apertures" is exactly like this. Once you understand the fundamentals, you can cultivate the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams of the body and gather the Five Qi of the mind. Although you have not yet reached the state of "one thought can generate all laws", for Jiang Liu, all kinds of magic spells, as long as he has seen them or can imagine them, can be used at will.

Unlocking this technique isn't difficult. Aside from the caster releasing themselves, those affected only need to calm their minds, complete a full cycle of Qi circulation, and harmonize the Yin and Yang of the nine orifices to fully recover.

Ordinary people cannot undo this technique on their own; they can only recover when they are exhausted and fall into a deep sleep, when their strength is completely depleted.

And the practitioners of the Western alchemy lineage—

Without understanding the nine orifices and the distinction between yin and yang, even if one possesses an energy circulation system based on alchemy within the body, it is still difficult to harmonize the yin and yang energies of the nine orifices.

therefore.

How can an intruder who has been immobilized by a spell break free?

Jiang Liu reached out and took the fish-dragon talisman from the bedside table. Looking at the girl with red hair and pigtails who was standing stiffly in place, he asked with a smile, "Are you going to warm my bed tonight, Ailiwang?"

Alywan's eyes trembled and his cheeks shook, but he couldn't utter a word.

"Snapped!"