Mulberry Maiden Seeks the Dao

"This... really does seem to be her!"

Li Jun was stunned, then absolutely certain.

That day, Mystic Swan had carried him to Cangwu Mountain, where he had seen a woman quietly breathing and cultivating in the Spirit River.

Later, after Mystic Swan verified it, it seemed that only living beings tainted by the mire could see that Spirit River Phantom.

Now, the Mulberry Maiden on the mural was exactly the same as the one revealed within the Spirit River Phantom.

Moreover, that Yao Yuzhi was also one of the living beings tainted by the mire.

"That day, the Spirit River Phantom changed. At the end of the Spirit River, there seemed to be a phantom sitting cross-legged. It does match this picture."

Li Jun looked at the mural and felt that the scene displayed by the Spirit River Phantom was undoubtedly this very painting.

"Don't tell me I've come into that grave?"

He and Mystic Swan had already determined before that the source of the Spirit River Phantom was a vast illusory grave.

That Yao Yuzhi had even measured that vast grave and used a formation to cordon it off.

"Forget it. That Spirit River Phantom is very sinister. Better not get involved."

Li Jun firmly engraved this painting in his mind, then began searching for the place where the breeze was coming through.

This place did not have only one exit. The clear breeze constantly surging in proved that there had to be another way out.

"Found it!"

At the lower right corner of the mural, there was a section of stone wall that was comparatively soft. The endless clear breeze was surging out from here.

"Huh? It actually won't budge?"

Li Jun was surprised. He immediately mobilized the spiritual energy in his body and smashed a fist directly into that section of stone wall.

Bang!

However, the wall that had absorbed the spiritual energy suddenly rippled with lines of waves.

A powerful rebound force erupted and directly sent Li Jun flying.

"What's going on?"

Li Jun looked utterly puzzled.

Immediately after, he discovered in shock that the ripple kept spreading. Starting from the wall on the mural's side, it actually swept through the entire cave!

The ripples undulated, and the jade stones overhead gave off a faint glow.

Then, the other three walls began to change.

The gray earthen walls faded away, lines wove together, and on the other three walls, murals actually appeared as well!

"This is... a cultivation diagram?"

Li Jun looked through them one by one and discovered that these seemed to be cultivation diagrams of the Mulberry Maiden practicing breathing and cultivation.

As for the original stone wall where gusts of clear breeze had been coming from, there was a human-shaped outline there, but the paths of the meridians and the acupoints within it were completely empty.

"This wants me to deduce the cultivation diagram?"

Li Jun felt his head swell.

If what the mural said was true, then this Mulberry Maiden's breathing method was probably the fundamental scripture of the spiritual energy revival era.

Trying to deduce this cultivation method would probably be no easy task.

"No matter what, I have to try. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll be trapped here until I die."

Li Jun took a deep breath and stood directly in front of the first cultivation diagram.

He looked at those meridian routes and acupoints, then circulated his spiritual energy according to the path on the mural.

However, after he completed one circuit, nothing unexpected happened.

Those meridians and acupoints seemed very ordinary, and they did not make the [Entry] appear.

Li Jun refused to believe it was that simple. He then sat cross-legged in front of the second mural and circulated his spiritual energy according to the meridian path shown on the mural.

After circulating it once, there was likewise no result...

Li Jun rose and went to the third, the fourth... until after the thirty-sixth diagram, there was still not the slightest reaction.

The meridian paths displayed in these thirty-six circulation diagrams were all the most basic meridian routes in the present day, with nothing special about them.

What puzzled Li Jun even more was that when he cultivated according to these murals, it actually did not activate the [Entry].

This was, in any case, a breathing method from the spiritual energy revival era. Since it was a fundamental scripture, why could it not activate the [Entry]?

"There shouldn't be any problem with the [Entry]. Could it be that these circulation diagrams aren't complete? Or is the order wrong?"

Li Jun sank into thought.

Seven days flashed by.

During this time, Li Jun tried many combinations, but still found nothing abnormal.

"The ancients said the Great Dao is simplicity itself. Perhaps I've overcomplicated it."

Li Jun sat cross-legged in the center of the cave. He slowly looked from the first image to the last, and the execution diagrams surfaced in his mind one after another.

He circled around once, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Could it be... three-dimensional?"

He circled around again. As those execution diagrams flashed rapidly through his mind, some of the meridian paths seemed to gain points of intersection.

"That's right! These circulation diagrams are three-dimensional! No wonder it was impossible to cultivate successfully!"

Li Jun's eyes grew brighter and brighter. He had discovered where the problem lay.

To put it simply, if these circulation diagrams were drawn on thirty-six sheets of paper, and the axes of symmetry of those thirty-six sheets were aligned, then evenly distributed to form a circle...

At that moment, some meridians and acupoints would become connected, and only then would an entirely new circulation diagram form!

This was the true breathing method!

No sooner said than done!

Li Jun silently deduced it in his mind, then began to mobilize the spiritual power within his body.

[Missing fulcrum]

Bang!

A soft sound rang out inside his body, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Li Jun did not take it to heart. On the contrary, he grew more and more excited.

"The [Entry] appeared. That means I'm on the right path!"

He wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth, held a pill in his mouth, and continued cultivating.

For the next half month, Li Jun kept vomiting blood, while explosions kept going off inside his body.

This scene was simply even more miserable than when he had cultivated the "Star-Shattering Finger" and opened hidden acupoints!

However, Li Jun did not care in the slightest.

As a breathing method from the era of spiritual energy revival, if it truly were that easy to cultivate, how could it live up to being called a "fundamental scripture"?

By the end, Li Jun no longer knew how much blood he had vomited, nor how many times his body had exploded.

At this moment, he sat cross-legged on the ground, the spiritual power within him constantly roaming through his body.

If an expert had been at his side, they would have been shocked to discover that Li Jun's breathing rhythm had changed.

The speed at which the spiritual power inside him circulated was increasing, and a peculiar aura began to emerge.

"The fulcrum... so it was here."

The corners of Li Jun's mouth lifted, and the spiritual power within him suddenly dove downward, striking straight at a certain hidden acupoint above his dantian!

Boom!

He felt a roar ring out inside his body, and blood gushed from his ears, eyes, and everywhere else.

Li Jun ignored it all, gritting his teeth through the agony as he continued launching assaults on that hidden acupoint!

Who knew how much time passed before Li Jun felt as though his body was about to shatter.

Just as he was about to be unable to hold on, the [Entry] before his eyes finally changed.

[Supreme Dawn Breathing Method: Progress 100%]

The next instant, Li Jun felt a soft sound come from his dantian, and immediately afterward, he passed out cold.

Li Jun had a long, drawn-out dream. He dreamed that he was in an enormous ice cavern.

The cold wind was like knives, and that chill seemed capable of tearing him apart.

He hugged himself and kept walking across the ice field.

Who knew how much time passed before a flicker of fire seemed to appear ahead. When he drew close and looked, it was a red Sun Flower burning with flame.

He did not hesitate. He picked up the Sun Flower and swallowed it directly.

"Hiss! So hot!"

Li Jun suddenly woke with a start, only to realize that his entire body was burning like a branding iron.

"My dantian... why is there an extra flame?"

He stared blankly as he sensed his own dantian. At the place where he had previously searched for the fulcrum, there was actually an extra flame?!