White Pill

White Pill. The moon rose above the willow tips.

Li Chijing suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Li Mutian, who sat beside him drinking tea while holding the cloth scroll that recorded the "Guidance Method."

"Father, I have committed the incantation to heart over these past two months." He paused, then said, "Today is Start of Summer, one of the eight seasonal festivals. Perhaps I can give it a try."

"Go ahead and try."

Li Mutian nodded and replied slowly.

Li Chijing was Overjoyed. His three elder brothers were also full of anticipation, helping him burn incense and bathe before setting up an altar table in the courtyard.

Li Mutian then reverently brought out the Law Mirror and propped it up on the Chi Dragon Pattern Mirror Stand he had carved with his own hands some days ago. Nine sticks of incense were planted before the altar, along with offerings of fruit.

Lu Jiangxian could not help feeling a little ashamed. The altar, incense, and offerings made it seem as though they were worshipping him—a dead man.

Before the altar, Li Chijing kowtowed three times and prostrated himself nine times. Still kneeling, he bowed his head and spoke with utmost respect:

"Li Clan disciple Li Chijing humbly beseeches the Mystic Profound Wonderful Method: govern fate, pacify spirits, adhere to Dao, and cultivate."

"Let merit be weighed by time; let efficacy and faith not be betrayed. Follow the registers into the flames, and offer this body in thanks to Greater Yin."

Having finished, he emptied his mind, activated the incantation, and repeatedly consumed the naturally harmonious qi.

At the same moment, Lu Jiangxian stirred his thoughts. The mirror's surface immediately shimmered with flowing radiance, rippling like water.

"It reacted!"

Li Mutian and the others were wildly excited, staring fixedly at the altar.

The blue-gray Mirror Fragment began to hum. A White Pill leaped from the mirror's surface, round and plump, its light blazing. White radiance flickered forth, bathing the courtyard in a vast whiteness so bright that none of them could open their eyes.

Li Chijing felt his mind turn completely blank as it thundered. Then, a solemn and weighty voice abruptly emerged:

"There is here a child of the Li Clan, who casts away passions and nature, halts and seals transgressions and wrongs, and cuts off Evil Root. The Mystic Profound Wonderful Method is bestowed upon him, that he may give rise to the Daoist path, rise from mortal to sage, and carry it from beginning to end. First receive the precept registers; only then may one ascend to truth. One volume of the 'Great Yin Breathing Nurturing Wheel Scripture' is bestowed, along with one Golden Light Art."

Li Chijing hurriedly climbed to his feet and sat cross-legged. The White Pill sprang up and entered his Niwan Palace. His entire body jolted as he was submerged in the complex flood of information within his mind.

Having bestowed the incantation, the White Pill turned gently within his Niwan Palace, traveled along his meridians, and finally settled in the Qi Sea Acupoint of his Lower Dantian.

Li Mutian and the others watched the Mystic Pearl Talisman Seed enter the crown of Li Chijing's head and immediately grew tense. With their hearts in their throats, they watched him sit cross-legged, eyes closed as he preserved his spirit, remaining that way until dawn.

When Greater Yin sank and the Golden Crow rose, Li Chijing finally shuddered and slowly awakened. Opening his eyes, he saw his brothers encircling him, their Faces filled with anxious unease.

"Father, brothers! I have received the Mystic Pearl Talisman Seed—I have stepped through the gate of cultivation!" Li Chijing leaped up excitedly and threw his arms around his father.

Li Mutian happily embraced Li Chijing and spun him around once. Li Tongya and the others let out long breaths, their expressions turning excited and exhilarated as well.

"I received an incantation called the 'Great Yin Breathing Nurturing Wheel Scripture.'"

Once Li Chijing had said this, he tried to recite the outline of the incantation. Yet the White Pill in his Qi Sea Acupoint gave a gentle leap, and in an instant he lost his voice, unable to utter a single word beyond incoherent babbling.

He blanched in alarm and instinctively covered his mouth, then called out again, "Father!"

Seeing that he could speak once more, Li Chijing breathed a sigh of relief. Refusing to believe it, he again tried to recite the incantation's outline, only to discover that he could neither speak it nor silently formulate it.

"This immortal art can neither be written nor recited. How extraordinary." Li Chijing's expression changed slightly, revealing his embarrassment.

"There is no need to be nervous."

Li Changhu smiled and rubbed Li Chijing's head. Watching their father reverently put the Law Mirror back in its place on the table, he continued, "When Summer Solstice arrives, the rest of us will beseech the method together."

"Eldest Brother." Li Chijing interrupted him, hesitating as he said, "It seems there are only six Talisman Seeds."

"Only six?" Li Tongya had been carefully reading the "Guidance Method" in his hands. At this, he looked over and asked in puzzlement.

"I received the Mystic Pearl Talisman Seed, and in my haze, much information appeared in my mind—things like the Six Realms of Cultivation and Fetal Breathing Nurturing Wheel. This Law Mirror seems able to divide out only six Talisman Seeds," Li Chijing said frankly.

Li Xiangping nodded and comforted him. "Such a miraculous object seizes the creations of Heaven and Earth. Its numbers were never likely to be many."

Eldest Brother Li Changhu yawned and waved a hand at his brothers. "Go back and sleep, all of you. We have waited through the night, and we are tired."

"You are afraid Sister-in-law will worry, aren't you?" Li Xiangping laughed heartily, teasing him.

"You brat!" Li Changhu was perfectly open about it. Smiling, he pointed at Li Xiangping and added in a low voice, "I think that Tian Yun is quite good."

"Eldest Brother, why are you playing matchmaker at random!" Li Xiangping's face stiffened. He turned and left the courtyard, returning to his room.

"Hahaha..." Li Changhu strode into the front courtyard laughing.

There is hope!

Li Mutian stroked his beard and thought to himself.

That night, moonlight flowed like water.

Li Chijing sat cross-legged in the courtyard with his eyes closed, his hands forming seals. He drew out a current of qi from his Qi Sea Acupoint and guided it through his meridians, over the Twelve-Storied Pagoda at his throat and neck, until it emerged from between his brows.

In an instant, Li Chijing's vision brightened. The watery moonlight slowly drifted toward his brow and merged with that thread of spiritual qi.

Before long, Li Chijing formed another hand seal and guided the current, now transformed into milky white, into his brow. It passed over the Twelve-Storied Pagoda and returned to the Qi Sea Acupoint.

Only after repeating this three times did Li Chijing open his eyes and look at the sky. Two hours had already passed.

"This rate of absorbing moonlight is far too slow."

Li Chijing calculated carefully. Eighty-one absorptions of moonlight could refine a single strand of Moonlight Qi, while eighty-one such strands could form the first wheel of the Six Wheels of Fetal Breathing Nurturing Wheel—the Profound Scene Wheel.

Once the Profound Scene Wheel was refined, one would be considered to have entered Fetal Breathing and could wield spells.

"Three rounds take two hours. Eighty-one rounds would take fifty-four hours," Li Chijing calculated inwardly. If I cultivate six hours a day, that will take nine days. Eighty-one strands will take a full two years...

Looking at the moonlight gathered upon the Law Mirror, Li Chijing blinked, inspiration striking him. He sat cross-legged beside the Stone Platform and began cultivating.

Lu Jiangxian was half-asleep in the mirror, passing the time. He had long since absorbed enough moonlight power, and time within the mirror was long and tedious. Like listening to a dull, pointless lecture back in university, Lu Jiangxian would drift off in a haze; sometimes, once he closed his eyes, an entire day would pass.

Li Chijing's spiritual power leaped from between his brows and fell into the halo of moonlight on the mirror, instantly startling Lu Jiangxian awake. Looking at the little boy before him, he could not help chuckling to himself.

Quite clever.

Li Chijing guided the spiritual qi back into his Qi Sea Acupoint and felt an icy chill run through his body. The moonlight power had grown more than tenfold! At this rate, merely five or six cycles would form a strand of Moonlight Qi.

He was greatly invigorated. Forming hand seals with both hands, he continued cultivating. Only when dawn clouds filled the sky and his brothers had all arrived in the Backyard did he reluctantly stop.

When he saw that his brothers and father had arrived, Li Chijing told them what had happened the night before. They were both startled and delighted. Li Mutian sighed, offered another stick of incense to Lu Jiangxian, and led the children out of the dark chamber.