Testing and the Meditation Chamber
Sitting upright in the "quiet room," Tang Yuyang was in a meditation posture, focusing his energy and keeping his five centers facing the sky. He was carefully controlling the "warmth" around his body, suppressing the "familiar route" of strengthening his basic internal energy, and instead following a specific new method of circulating his energy throughout his body.
This man had recently survived his fourth mission, which involved helping an elderly Native American man escape from a deadly hunt by gold prospectors in a desolate wilderness.
Following the advice of the experts at the previous base, the young man who had obtained a brand new set of documents from the Autonomous God has now been transferred to a new, secret location—to participate in a highly confidential project!
Even with some prior "foundation," having already passed the stage of sensing internal energy and developing inner strength, one still possesses a certain foundation.
But now, having left behind the familiar experience directly provided by the Main God during the first exchange, an experience that was even deeply engraved in his mind and body, and embarking on his own journey, he realized just how difficult it was to truly cultivate from nothing!
Even though a hint of regret arose in his heart, he couldn't help but show the same expression as that of the old Indian chief, "Bitter." Now, there was no turning back.
"Concentrate your mind, clench your teeth, sit upright and breathe deeply, close your eyes and focus your thoughts, observing the Dipper as before. Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, forming a golden bridge. Five streams of five-colored essence emerge from your five internal organs, descending across the bridge. Your spirit descends into the Dipper, and the clouds enter the Yellow Court—"
Silently recite the text, visualize the body, regulate the Inner Breath energy, focus the mind on the dantian, and forcefully push the tiny bit of Inner Breath that was constantly trying to follow the body's memory and almost straying back to the old path back onto the new "right path" of the body's meridians.
It's like trying desperately to catch a single, unruly hair, letting it veer off course time and time again, then forcing yourself to guide it back onto the right path, gritting your teeth and "dragging" that faint stream of energy through your body in a repetitive, grinding process—
This was undoubtedly an extremely mentally taxing process. Soon, sweat began to soak Tang Yuyang's forehead.
At the same time, with each breath, a subtle, cool, and elusive sensation, which was difficult to truly grasp, gradually seeped into the pores of the body as the breath traveled through the limbs and bones.
It was as if countless mouths and noses had suddenly appeared on the person, breathing in and out greedily, absorbing the refreshing coolness that invigorated the spirit!
Tang Yuyang's mind cleared up a bit in an instant.
"Nourish the body with pure breath, respond to the four seasons, elevate the spirit to a single wisp, and return to the central yellow—"
In this arduous yet vivid process, filled with pain yet also a touch of satisfaction, everything else seems to become insignificant.
He simply endured the extreme dizziness in his head and the deep fatigue that felt like his temples were throbbing, single-mindedly gritting his teeth and wrestling with that "hair," truly locked in a battle of wills, persisting, persisting, and persisting again—
This continued until a certain moment -
A soft "hum" sound, like the premonition of tinnitus, accompanied by an extremely faint, almost imperceptible, cool sensation, slowly rose up from his dantian and spine!
Tang Yuyang, who was struggling to hold on and had almost stopped moving, suddenly perked up and his mind was filled with distracting thoughts.
Yes, that's the feeling!
The energy circulates throughout the body!
As stated in the "Big Dipper Primordial Astral Force" chapter of the valuable book "True Method of Nourishing the Origin and Returning to the Fetal Breathing Technique," one must circulate the Qi throughout the body, return the Qi to the Dantian, and return to nourish the fetal breathing in order to achieve an effective "one-turn" meditation.
Having prior experience, he immediately assessed the current situation.
But in his excitement, what this guy didn't know was that in a corner outside the quiet room, someone was lowering their voice, their excitement almost more uncontrollable than his own!
"Recorded on file, during the sixth test of cultivation techniques in an artificial Spiritual Energy environment for Tang Yuyang, test subject T-01, at 3:17 PM Upper Capital time, the instrument first observed a subtle trace of energy flow in the spinal region of the human body----"
After meditating for a while, Tang Yuyang, who was drenched in sweat and almost showing signs of exhaustion, opened the locked door of the "quiet room" and slowly walked out.
Unexpectedly, this time, he was greeted with thunderous applause, as if a hero had returned home!
"Look, our hero has emerged!"
"It's really not easy."
"Xiao Tang, you did a great job! You did a fantastic job!!!"
Among the group of researchers applauding and celebrating, an elderly man in a white coat was even more agile than the young staff members next to him. He suddenly rushed forward, his face flushed with fervor, and supported Tang Yuyang with one hand.
"Xiao Tang, how are you feeling now? You should have succeeded, right?"
"Professor Pan, don't be in such a hurry. Let Xiao Tang rest on the recliner for a bit, and we can do a quick physical exam while we're at it—"
Without a second thought, as soon as Tang Yuyang stepped out, someone quickly swiped the card to verify his identity and swiftly locked the extremely important "quiet room."
Someone immediately tried to dissuade the agitated old man, and, with ulterior motives, suggested a physical examination, which infuriated him. "What do you know? We're all complete novices in this area. Only Xiao Tang himself has some experience, and only he can make a preliminary confirmation of whether it's successful. What can that little bit of energy reaction prove?"
"We are now conducting experiments using the most important resources provided by the country, and there is absolutely no room for carelessness."
"If even Xiao Tang himself cannot confirm whether this is a successful case, then the results of this exercise cannot be used as a reference group, but can only be categorized as a questionable data group, and even more so—"
"Professor Pan, please don't worry. This time is different from before. Based on my experience, it should be a real success—this technique is indeed working."
Seeing the old man beside him still rambling on and on, Tang Yuyang had no choice but to interrupt him, feeling quite exhausted.
Especially after lingering in that low-concentration "Spiritual Energy" environment for a long time, the contrast between the two is like that between an air-conditioned room and the outside. Although it is not as significant as the difference between the Main God Platform and reality, it still makes people feel weak as if something has been suddenly pulled out of their bodies, and they just want to turn around and throw themselves back into it.
He glanced back longingly at the seemingly "ordinary" room behind him.
Tang Yuyang knew very well that this room, which seemed to have no lighting at all, was actually an "artificial Spiritual Energy environment" created by Fifth Tier treasure called the "Lilong Jaw Pearl" on the roof, which illuminated the interior like daylight and could continuously and stably produce a small amount of Spiritual Energy, along with a set of equally rare "array" type artifacts, which restrained the rate of dissipation within the room.
For a cultivator like him, this is a priceless treasure!
If it weren't for the resources Tang Yuyang possessed, which far exceeded those of other normal users;
If he hadn't chosen "body cultivation inheritance" this time, but instead exchanged it for "experience manuals" to obtain the set of three volumes containing one method within each other, which were independent yet interconnected, the orthodox Daoist cultivation method of "True Power Nourishing Origin and Returning to the Embryo Breathing Method," and hadn't "selflessly" shared it with the authorities;
If it weren't for the fact that he happened to be a novice "internal energy" exchanger who inherited this cultivation method, he would logically and emotionally perfectly fit the primary personnel standard for this kind of test.
Even he himself knew very well that he would never have had the opportunity to enter such a "treasure land" for cultivation and testing, and in fact, he would not have been qualified to come into contact with such important secrets.
Wealth is indeed tempting—compared to those vulgar possessions and money, this seemingly simple yet vast and quiet room is the truly rare place to cultivate a "hidden dragon"!