Making Up a Cultivation Technique, Xu Yan Gained Enlightenment

When Xu Yan saw his master beckon, his spirits immediately lifted, and he hurried over excitedly.

Master must have seen that I'm only one step away from Golden Bone and have hit a bottleneck. He's going to guide me in breaking through to Golden Bone!

He came excitedly before Li Xuan and bowed respectfully. "Master!"

"Mm. You've maintained your passion and cultivated diligently. Very good!"

Seeing Xu Yan's excited face, Li Xuan nodded, acknowledging his hard work in cultivation.

Yet inwardly, he sighed. People whose brains don't work too well really are persistent. Even when they can't cultivate anything, they stay single-minded and diligent. That truly is rare!

"I have to say, this disciple is actually... pretty good. It's just that I'm not some great master!"

Though Xu Yan was single-minded, not terribly quick-witted, and easily deceived, his pursuit of cultivation, his persistence—such steadfastness was truly precious.

"You've cultivated for some time now, and you've held your horse stance for quite a while. Today, your master will teach you something stronger."

Li Xuan spoke with the air of a strict master.

"Thank you, Master!"

Xu Yan was thrilled. As expected, Master had noticed that he had encountered a Golden Bone bottleneck and was passing on a more powerful tempering method.

"Watch carefully!"

As Li Xuan spoke, he turned sideways and bent his knees. His feet stood one before the other as he sank slightly into a squat, his hands one high and one low, one forward and one back. His left hand was held before his lower abdomen, palm facing down, while his right elbow bent as he raised his hand to shoulder height, palm facing up.

Once he had assumed the posture, he looked at Xu Yan and said, "From now on, hold this horse stance. Do you understand?"

Xu Yan copied his posture and settled into the horse stance, nodding. "Master, I understand!"

Li Xuan relaxed his stance, clasped one hand behind his back, and said, "This is the foundational posture. There are two lines of cultivation technique. Contemplate them carefully. How much you comprehend will depend on your fortune."

Teaching only a new horse stance would be too dull. I'll make up a cultivation technique too.

With that thought, Li Xuan slowly said, "Remember well. The cultivation technique is: 'Clarify the heart, observe the self, nurture true intent; blood and qi like a dragon forge a golden body.' Contemplate it carefully. If you can grasp the cultivation technique, you will experience its wonders."

After saying that, Li Xuan strolled away with both hands behind his back, every bit the bearing of an eminent master.

Xu Yan, meanwhile, was beside himself with excitement. He murmured, "Clarify the heart, observe the self, nurture true intent; blood and qi like a dragon forge a golden body... It truly is profound and extraordinary. I must contemplate it in detail!"

"This must be a marvelous formula for tempering Golden Bone and even Jade Bone. If I comprehend its mysteries, I will surely be able to temper Golden Bone!"

At that moment, Xu Yan was wholly immersed in the "cultivation technique," forgetting himself entirely.

His mind was filled with the cultivation technique. He recited it over and over, silently repeated it again and again, trying to glean some insight from it.

Yet even when the night had grown deep, he still had not gained any understanding from it!

"It is too profound. I consider myself to have already gained extremely deep insight and understanding of Bone Refining, yet I still cannot grasp its depths in such a short time."

"Just as Master said, if I can comprehend the cultivation technique, I will be able to experience its wonders."

"Xu Yan, you can do it! You can definitely comprehend the cultivation technique and temper Golden Bone!"

Xu Yan continually encouraged himself.

His gaze was firm, without the slightest trace of discouragement.

Not even a day had passed. For such a marvelous cultivation technique, taking three to five days to comprehend it was only natural.

Before going to bed, Li Xuan came outside to take a look. That foolish boy Xu Yan was still standing there, muttering the cultivation technique he had made up.

This foolish kid hasn't gone mad, has he?

His brain had better not develop a problem.

So he called out, "It's late. Time to go back and sleep!"

Xu Yan came back to his senses in a daze and hurriedly bowed. "Yes, Master!"

Li Xuan nodded. Though his foolish disciple seemed a little obsessed, he still listened to his master, so it was not a major problem.

If he truly wandered into a dead end, Li Xuan could always spend a little breath talking him through it.

With that thought, Li Xuan returned to his room to sleep.

Xu Yan took a deep breath. Insight depends on timing and inspiration. The more I force it, the farther away it becomes. I nearly became trapped in it and threw my mind into disarray.

Fortunately, Master awakened me!

Rest, conserve my strength, restore my mind, then continue tomorrow.

Such a profound cultivation technique cannot be comprehended in a single day. Three to five days should be enough for me to grasp it. My talent can't be that poor!

Having thought it through, Xu Yan went to rest.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

As usual, Xu Yan cultivated, planted vegetables and pulled weeds, fed the chickens, raised rabbits, cooked, and so on. His schedule had not changed in the slightest.

The only change was his horse stance posture.

And the fact that he remained stuck at Perfected Copper Bone, unable to take another step forward.

Every day while cultivating, he contemplated the two lines of "cultivation technique," yet he was never able to understand their mysteries.

Three days had passed, and he had gained nothing.

"If I cannot even comprehend two lines of a cultivation technique, how can I temper Golden Bone? How can I enter the sect?"

"This is only a cultivation technique of the Foundation Realm. The cultivation techniques after entering the sect will surely be even more profound and unfathomable. How will I continue cultivating then?"

"Calm my heart and settle my qi. I cannot be impatient! Master often says not to be impatient, not to aim too high, but to keep my feet on the ground... I must have overlooked something."

Xu Yan calmed his heart and settled his qi, allowing his mind to quiet down.

"Master said, 'With no woman in the heart, cultivation is like being possessed by a god.' This is a state of mind, a way to cast off the greatest distractions in one's heart... Men in the vigor of their blood and qi are always easily attracted by women, which disrupts their minds.

"Master used women as a metaphor for the greatest distractions in cultivation. There must be a deeper meaning. This means Master is reminding me not to become immersed in distracting thoughts.

"What are my distracting thoughts?"

Xu Yan spun an entire chain of profound meanings from the words "With no woman in the heart, cultivation is like being possessed by a god," then fell into deep thought.

If Li Xuan knew Xu Yan was so good at filling in the blanks, he would definitely cry out that this was not a case of his brain working poorly—his imagination was simply too fucking wild!

"My distracting thoughts... are cultivation itself. Every thought in my heart is about cultivation, but does that count as a distracting thought?

"I understand!"

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Xu Yan's mind, and he gained enlightenment once more.

"Cultivation is a pursuit, a belief, a will. Yet I have merely remained fixated on persistence, turning it into a distracting thought!

"I should cast aside my obsession with cultivation itself and focus on the present. Forget external things, forget superfluous perceptions... no objects, no self, devote my entire body and mind to carefully experiencing the cultivation technique..."

At that moment, it was as though Xu Yan had opened a skylight in his mind. Inspiration burst forth, and endless realizations surfaced.

The true meaning of the two lines of cultivation technique seemed to be veiled in a thin gauze. All he needed was a light poke to pierce it and see the true meaning concealed beneath!

"Clarify the heart, observe the self, nurture true intent. Clarifying the heart means seeing oneself, means making the mind lucid. Observing the self means experiencing blood and qi, observing blood and qi, closely examining the changes within oneself. Nurturing true intent... means blood and qi nourishing the bones, nourishing the marrow, causing blood and qi to transform, causing the marrow to ascend...

"I understand!"

Xu Yan's eyes shone brilliantly, his face filled with excitement.

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