Although Emperor Lord Xuan Yuan hadn't been very honorable, one thing had to be admitted: when he'd lectured in the illusion, his explanation of the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method had been thorough and crystal clear. Even someone like Huang Huai, with hardly any foundation in cultivation, had understood it at once.
Xuan Yuan meant qi and blood, and spirit!
Though it was a cultivation method, it encompassed two paths.
The first was to temper one's spirit through visualization, refining and strengthening it. Once the visualization bore fruit, one could use that powerful spirit to open the Divine Court in the Sea of Consciousness and invite a god into the body.
The second was to strengthen the physical body and temper its Qi and Blood Power. Once the body was robust and its qi and blood abundant, one could open the Divine Palace in the Dantian and invite a god into the body.
Those with strong spiritual aptitude could follow the path of strengthening their spirit and opening the Divine Court in the Sea of Consciousness. Those with powerful bodies could instead build up their qi and blood and open the Divine Palace in the Dantian.
A powerful spirit could nourish the body, and a powerful body could likewise nourish the spirit. The two paths were not opposed; in truth, they complemented each other.
Because Huang Huai had been born prematurely, he was frail from birth. Fortunately, years of careful recuperation had kept his congenital weakness from causing any serious problems.
Although he had previously received the blessing of the Great River Sect's Seventh Elder, replenishing some of what his body lacked, his congenital frailty remained an unchangeable fact.
Perhaps someday he might obtain some heavenly treasure that could remake him from the inside out, cleanse his meridians and marrow, and change his Root Bone. But for now, the best choice for Huang Huai was clearly to strengthen his spirit and open the Divine Court in the Sea of Consciousness.
As it happened, Huang Huai had gone up the mountain as a child and entered Xunzhen Temple. Xunzhen Temple belonged to the Daoist tradition, and Great Daoist Master was learned and talented. He had guided Huang Huai in meditation, breathing exercises, and visualization from an early age.
After years of meditation and visualization, Huang Huai's spiritual power was considerably stronger than an ordinary person's. The clearest proof was that he spent nearly half of every year at Xunzhen Temple, leaving him relatively little time to study at school.
Yet even so, Huang Huai's grades had always ranked near the top. Whatever he studied, he picked up at once.
In the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method, the first step on the path of opening the Divine Court in the Sea of Consciousness was to strengthen the spirit with a Visualization Method, then condense the True Spirit Primordial Spirit and settle it in the Sea of Consciousness. Only then, after inviting a god into the body, could the True Spirit Primordial Spirit suppress the Sea of Consciousness and prevent the influence of gods and devils from disturbing the mind and causing cultivation deviation. This was the first step of cultivation, known as Foundation Establishment.
Huang Huai had practiced Daoist Visualization Methods before, such as the Pagoda Visualization Method, the Lotus Visualization Method, and the Taiji Diagram Visualization Method. They were all supreme visualization methods commonly practiced by eminent Buddhist and Daoist masters.
The methods Huang Huai had practiced under Great Daoist Master's guidance were the Internal Landscape Visualization Method and the Taiji Diagram Visualization Method. The Internal Landscape Visualization Method comprised the Five Viscera Visualization Method and the Bone Visualization Method. Both involved visualizing one's own bones and internal organs to expel illness from the body, nourish qi and blood, and strengthen the organs. They focused more on bodily health.
As for the Taiji Diagram Visualization Method, it involved contemplating the Taiji Diagram and the flow of yin and yang, and focused more on tempering the spirit.
Given Huang Huai's congenital frailty, he had naturally made the Internal Landscape Visualization Method his primary practice and the Taiji Diagram Visualization Method his secondary one. After more than ten years, he was no beginner at visualization; he knew it like the back of his hand and could settle down to practice at any time.
Now that he had obtained the White Bone Visualization Method included in the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method, Huang Huai instinctively compared it with the Internal Landscape Visualization Method and Taiji Diagram Visualization Method he practiced. In his eyes, the White Bone Visualization Method fell far short of those supreme Daoist methods, both in its underlying idea and in its conception.
Now that he had learned the method of condensing the True Spirit Primordial Spirit from the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method, Huang Huai didn't even need anyone to teach him. He could practice it on his own.
Even in another world, newly initiated disciples needed at least several years to complete Foundation Establishment successfully. Of course, those freaks born with extraordinary gifts couldn't be judged by ordinary standards.
To be safe, Huang Huai didn't dare take any chances on his first attempt. Instead, he followed the White Bone Visualization Method in the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method to the letter.
It had to be said that Huang Huai's ten years of life at the Daoist temple hadn't been for nothing. Now its benefits showed at once. In no more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the figure of a White Bone Skeleton gradually took shape in his mind. At first, because he wasn't used to it, the skeleton formed rather slowly. But once Huang Huai found the same feeling he had when practicing the Internal Landscape Visualization Method and Taiji Diagram Visualization Method, the White Bone Skeleton quickly took shape.
At this point, Huang Huai couldn't help feeling tense and expectant. According to the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method, he had already set one foot on the threshold of condensing the True Spirit Primordial Spirit. He only had to take the final step: make the visualized White Bone Skeleton leap, pass straight from his thoughts into the Sea of Consciousness, and transform from a White Bone Skeleton into his own True Spirit Primordial Spirit. That would mean Foundation Establishment had succeeded, and he would join the ranks of the transcendent.
Feeling the White Bone Skeleton he had visualized in his mind, Huang Huai couldn't help thinking, This Visualization Method doesn't seem difficult at all!
But Huang Huai knew that the final leap—sending the White Bone Skeleton into the Sea of Consciousness to give rise to the True Spirit—was the crucial step. Without the proper method, he would only have visualized a White Bone Skeleton, something he had been able to do with ease for years.
With a thought, he followed the method for the final leap described in the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method. The White Bone Skeleton in his mind suddenly sprang into the Sea of Consciousness. But just then, a series of phantom chains abruptly appeared around it. He could almost hear them rattling. The White Bone Skeleton struck the chains, as if hit by lightning, and shattered in an instant.
At the same time, Huang Huai's mind jolted violently. He gave a muffled groan and slowly opened his eyes. His eyes, usually bright with spirit, were now dull and lifeless; the blow to his spirit had clearly been immense.
It took a long while for the spinning world, drowsiness, and splitting headache to gradually fade. By sheer force of will, Huang Huai steadied his mind. Recalling what had happened in that brief instant, he couldn't help lifting his head to look toward the night sky beyond the side hall.
The stars were fading from the night sky. On the horizon, a red sun was about to burst forth and break the night, bringing light to the world. A new day was about to begin. Yet at that moment, Huang Huai felt an inexplicable pressure, as if he were bound and restrained.
Could those chains that appeared out of nowhere be the very reason the present world has no transcendent power?
The Xuan Yuan Casting God Method had never mentioned that chains would appear during the final leap. It said that as long as one could visualize the White Bone Skeleton perfectly, the final leap would follow naturally.
Since the problem wasn't with the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method he had practiced, there was only one possibility: the present world he lived in had locked away the path to transcendence, forbidding anyone from gaining transcendent power through cultivation.
Huang Huai exhaled his frustration, but he wasn't discouraged. If it wouldn't work in the present world, there was still the other world. He wanted to see who could stop him from stepping into transcendence once he had recovered his spirit and made his breakthrough there.
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