Cultivation

The talk of defensive qi and nutritive qi left Li Qi utterly bewildered.

What was all this? He couldn't understand any of it...

All he understood was that she had destroyed her own cultivation foundation, which was why all her cultivation had vanished.

No wonder she was so weak. So that was the reason.

However, Shen Shuibi saw the confusion in Li Qi's eyes and explained, "The Spiritual Pivot says: 'That which receives water and grain and transforms them into substances. Its qi enters the Five Viscera within and spreads through the limbs and joints without. The floating qi that does not travel through the meridians is defensive qi; the Essence qi that travels through the meridians is nutritive qi. Yin and yang follow one another, joining outside and within, like a ring without end. So orderly, so pure—who can fully fathom it?'"

"What this means is that the refined substances transformed from food and drink enter the Five Viscera internally and spread through the limbs and joints externally. Among them, the qi that floats outside and does not travel through the meridians is defensive qi, while the qi that travels through the meridians is nutritive qi. Defensive qi, which belongs to yang, and nutritive qi, which belongs to yin, follow one another and connect within and without. They circulate through the body like an endless ring."

"The final line—'So orderly, so pure—who can fully fathom it?'—means: how can one ever thoroughly understand exactly how nutritive qi and defensive qi move?"

"Neither the Medical School nor the Daoist sects know the laws governing the movement of nutritive qi and defensive qi, which is why they left behind only the words, 'Who can fully fathom it?'" Shen Shuibi explained. "So once my defensive qi had been implanted with those things, apart from destroying my own cultivation foundation, there was no other way."

"I was afraid they would find me and obtain clues about Lady Luofu from me, so I simply crippled my cultivation foundation, expelled all my defensive and nutritive qi, and reconstructed the cycle. Only then could I cast those things out."

But just then, the rabbit suddenly slapped her forehead. As though enlightenment had struck her like a divine infusion, she abruptly remembered something. "Right! After that, you people caught me! That Great Shaman!"

Li Qi had never expected this turn of events.

How could she remember that at a time like this?!

"But wouldn't that mean Lady Luofu is safe?" Li Qi hurriedly said.

"Why?" Shen Shuibi's expression turned wary.

"You know Wushen Mountain is an enemy of the Tang Kingdom. We wouldn't possibly capture Lady Luofu and hand her over to the Tang Kingdom, would we? On the contrary, Lady Luofu could take refuge in Wushen Mountain, and the Tang Kingdom couldn't possibly attack Wushen Mountain, right?"

"If we go find Lady Luofu, then Lady Luofu will definitely be safe!" Li Qi said. "Miss Shen, isn't that the logic?"

"That... seems right." Shen Shuibi considered it carefully. It did seem to make sense.

"So, we'll rest for the night and set out tomorrow to find Lady Luofu. The sooner we find her, the sooner she'll be safe." Li Qi kept hammering this point into Shen Shuibi.

After their earlier idle chat, coupled with her initial impression of him, Shen Shuibi was no longer quite so resolute.

Li Qi immediately kept talking, continuing to spin nonsense.

Time slowly passed, and the moon gradually rose.

In short, by the time the moon was about to hang over the treetops, Shen Shuibi had finally been talked into traveling with him.

Though this rabbit was learned and had memorized many things, she was still rather foolish and easy to fool.

And for Li Qi, there was another piece of good news.

Seeing that Li Qi had nowhere to sleep, Shen Shuibi took him back to the inn.

It was Li Qi's first time staying at an inn in his life.

He had to say—

It was amazing.

The next day.

Before dawn, while the sky was still filled with stars, Li Qi woke up.

It wasn't because he was eager to set out, nor because he wanted to mooch another meal off Ba Kui. Rather, it was because the cultivation method of the Zhu people recorded in the book "Zhu" within his mind required cultivation at this hour every day.

That book truly was nothing more than a book in his mind. Other than not needing to hold it in his hands to read it and not needing to worry about losing it, it was exactly like an ordinary book in every other respect.

It wasn't a memory, nor was it some database with a search function. It was simply, plainly, an utterly ordinary book.

Wanted to know the knowledge inside?

Fine. Then open it yourself, read it slowly, and memorize it slowly.

Li Qi felt that he probably wouldn't finish reading it all within five years.

Fortunately, the cultivation method itself was quite short and contained nothing too complicated. In summary, it involved drawing out the many different kinds of qi between Heaven and Earth, gathering them into the little Heaven-and-Earth of the human body, nurturing Inner Gods, and then offering sacrifice to oneself.

Depending on the path one followed, the primary direction of worship also differed.

There were still the three broad categories: Heavenly Gods, Earthly Deities, and Human-Ghosts. These were three different emphases in worshipping the Inner Gods within the little Heaven-and-Earth of the human body.

Because of Mr. Zhu, Li Qi naturally entered the branch of Earthly Deities.

Still, this was merely a matter of emphasis. In truth, all three branches had to be cultivated; only the amount of effort invested in each differed.

And the cultivation method was rather fantastical.

Since it was spring, he ought to worship the Azure Dragon among the Twenty-Eight Mansions at this moment.

The "Twenty-Eight Mansions" were divided into four great groups according to east, west, south, and north, forming the "Four Symbols": the Azure Dragon of the East, the White Tiger of the West, the Vermilion Bird of the South, and the Black Tortoise of the North.

Among the Twenty-Eight Mansions, the seven mansions of Horn, Neck, Root, Room, Heart, Tail, and Winnowing Basket formed a dragon-shaped constellation known as the Azure Dragon of the East. Horn Mansion represented the dragon's horns, Neck Mansion its throat, Root Mansion its claws, Heart Mansion its heart, and Tail Mansion and Winnowing Basket Mansion its tail.

The records saying that a dragon "could be hidden or revealed, tiny or immense, short or long; at the spring equinox it ascended to Heaven, and at the autumn equinox it plunged into the abyss" were in fact describing the changes in the Azure Dragon constellation.

The Azure Dragon stars rose in the eastern night sky in spring and set in the west in autumn. Their cycle of appearance and position coincided exactly with the yearly cycle of farming seasons. When spring plowing began, the Azure Dragon stars started rising in the eastern night sky, revealing their bright dragon head. In summer, when crops grew, the Azure Dragon stars hung in the southern night sky. In autumn, when the harvest came, the Azure Dragon stars began to fall in the west. In winter, when all things lay hidden away, the Azure Dragon stars likewise concealed themselves below the northern horizon.

At this very time, at the turning of winter into spring, the Azure Dragon stars began to show themselves in the east. Horn Mansion, representing the dragon's horns, began to emerge above the eastern horizon.

When the Azure Dragon stars appeared fully in the sky, it would be the time for spring plowing to officially begin.

Commonly known as "On the second day of the second month, the dragon raises its head."

This was the time to worship one of the heavenly gods, the "Eastern Azure Dragon," also known as the Azure Dragon.

"Among the noble heavenly gods, none is nobler than the Azure Dragon." The Azure Dragon itself stood first among the Four Symbols. By worshipping the Azure Dragon at this time, one could obtain the qi of the east, filling the little heaven and earth within the human body and storing the spirit within oneself.

That was why Li Qi had crawled out of bed at three or four in the morning, struggling free from his warm blankets.

How could sleeping compare to cultivation?

This was cultivation!

The path to becoming someone above others, the path that meant he would no longer have to be a towman!

So he immediately arranged the ritual and worshipped the Azure Dragon.

This was the worship of a heavenly god.

Afterward, he would still need to worship the Earthly Deity.

Once everything was finished, this day's cultivation would finally be complete, and he would officially step into the ranks of cultivators!

At last, he let out a breath of relief.

As he watched his progress bar, that was what he thought.

But as he watched, Li Qi suddenly realized something.

After becoming accustomed to progress bars appearing anytime and anywhere, Young Master Zhu... seemed never to have had a progress bar appear on him.