Transmigration

Shi Xuan woke from the darkness, his head splitting with pain. He vaguely remembered the immense agony of being struck by a ten-wheel truck. Sunlight fell across his chest, warm and soothing. Slowly, he became aware of his body again and could not help but marvel at his own luck. He had been flung so far by that truck, yet he had somehow survived. Then countless fragments of memory rose from his mind, making his head swell as large as a bucket.

So he had already died. But the Antique bead he had bought as a protective charm had suddenly blazed with light, wrapped around his soul, torn open a spatial rift, and brought him to this world, where he had possessed this unlucky fellow's body.

This body now belonged to a young Daoist, one with a little magical power. His original name was Du Bai. Ten years ago, Qingzhou had suffered a severe drought. His parents had taken the then eight-year-old him south to flee the famine, only for both of them to collapse dead by the roadside. That kid Du Bai had not been without luck. Before he could starve to death, Old Daoist Xu, who happened to be passing by, had taken a fancy to him and accepted him as a disciple. Du Bai himself had also possessed decent aptitude. In merely ten short years, he had cultivated to the Nourishing Qi and Strengthening Soul realm and earned Old Daoist Xu's high regard.

In his memories, Old Daoist Xu had often said that throughout the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces, there were only a dozen or so people with true magical power. Including those who lived in seclusion, those with power comparable to his could likely be counted on one hand. Yet because he had spent his entire life seeking the immortal Dao, his name was little known across the land.

Daoist Xu had encountered a strange opportunity in his youth and received a true transmission. He had cultivated without cease, his heart for the Dao burning fiercely, and never married. By the age of thirty, he had already reached the realm of Soul Departure. But over the following ten years, though his cultivation grew ever deeper, he found no further direction for a breakthrough in realm. Thus, he traveled far and wide, visiting famous mountains and immortal waters, as well as places steeped in all manner of supernatural legends, in search of immortals. Yet all proved as elusive as dream phantoms and bubbles. By the time he reached a hundred years of age, though a few places remained unvisited, he had finally grown disheartened and decided to return home.

On the road home, he had thought of how, at a hundred years old, he likely had barely a dozen years left to live. Unwilling to let the Daoist lineage he had received and all he had learned vanish without a trace, he had accepted Du Bai as his disciple.

After returning home, Daoist Xu discovered that while his lineage still remained, the familiar relatives of his branch had all grown old and passed away over the past sixty years. He did not know any of the few younger descendants who were still alive, so he simply bought a small courtyard west of the city and settled down, devoting himself to raising Du Bai. While teaching him Daoist magic, he also told him tales of his life roaming north and south, slaying ghosts and eliminating demons. Ten years passed in this way. Then the old daoist's lifespan came to its end. One night, he fell asleep and never woke again.

Du Bai and the old daoist had depended on each other for ten years, so he was naturally overcome with grief. After burying the old daoist, he was unable to banish distracting thoughts during a visualization meditation. His inner demon arose, he suffered Qi Deviation, and both body and soul perished.

Shi Xuan slowly sat up, stood before the bed, and moved his limbs a little. Only after calming himself did he sit cross-legged and follow the methods contained in the memory fragments to circulate his qi. After one full circulation, he opened his eyes. I'm still somewhat lucky. If this kid had suffered Qi Deviation while sitting in meditation and circulating qi rather than during visualization, who knows how badly his meridians would have been damaged? Even if I possessed his body, who knows how long I could have lived? Whether I could transmigrate again then would be another matter entirely. Now, his body's meridians had only suffered minor damage. With medicine and careful conditioning, they would fully recover within half a month.

As for the little bead that had brought him across worlds, he had wanted to inspect it the moment he regained his memories. But he had only just absorbed those memories, his thoughts were still in disarray, and having only just transmigrated, his emotions remained unstable. If he forcibly entered meditation and looked inward now, he might well suffer the same tragic fate as that foolish kid, struck by an inner demon.

Following his memories, Shi Xuan found three incense sticks in the compartment by the bed. They were sandalwood incense capable of calming the mind and settling the qi, made by Old Daoist Xu himself from materials he had gathered. They were exceedingly precious. He placed the incense beside the incense burner on the wooden table, picked up the copper basin, pushed open the door, and drew a basin of water from the Small well in the courtyard. It was also a chance to relive his former experience of drawing water from a well in the countryside.

Carrying the copper basin back to his room, he set it down and locked the door from within. He washed his face with the cool water, then dried it. Shi Xuan immediately felt much more refreshed, and he slowly changed into a new daoist robe. These actions were merely a means to an end. Through such solemn movements, he gradually settled his emotions and brought his mind into unity. This was one reason why so many religions had numerous rituals: to settle the emotions and empty the thoughts. Of course, in religion, when this state was combined with the atmosphere created by many people around him doing the same thing, it became much easier to spread the faith.

Following the methods in his memories, Shi Xuan moved the Qi and Blood through his body, formed hand seals, and chanted an incantation. After roughly ten breaths, a small tongue of flame sprang from his fingertip and lit the three incense sticks. Shi Xuan felt both curious and disappointed. In his previous life, he had been someone deeply fond of Xianxia. Having transmigrated into a world where one could cultivate immortality and wield Daoist magic, curiosity was inevitable. Moreover, his parents in his previous life had toiled hard in their early years and both died before reaching sixty. He had no attachments left behind, so he had been able to accept the fact of transmigration relatively quickly and had grown curious about this world. Yet he was disappointed that even such a feeble Ignition Technique took so long to cast and possessed such pitiful power.

In his memories, Celestial Master Xu had said that during the first stage, the Body Refining and Soul Enriching Stage, one merely gained a strong body and could not yet cast spells. Only upon reaching the second stage, the Qi Nourishing and Soul Strengthening Stage, could one use magic, but its power was weak, its procedures numerous, and its casting time long. In direct combat, such practitioners were not on the same level as Internal Art Masters of the Jianghu, who also counted as being in the Qi Nourishing Stage. Thus, they commonly used talismans, or set up an altar and completed the ritual preparations beforehand before casting spells. Naturally, if they possessed magical artifacts, they would certainly prioritize using them.

Only upon reaching the third stage, Soul Departure, when the soul became wondrous and extraordinary, could one gradually develop a few minor divine abilities. Aside from several basic ones, these minor divine abilities also differed according to each person's soul and cultivation method. This stage and the Jianghu's Subtle Realm grandmasters each had their own strengths. With preparation, it was stronger than a martial arts grandmaster. As for Daoist magic, its power increased, but moving Qi and Blood, forming hand seals, and chanting incantations were all still indispensable. For more powerful spells, one also had to preserve the spirit in visualization and step the Dipper's pattern. It was truly time-consuming. Thus, when fighting others, practitioners generally used talismans, minor divine abilities, magical artifacts, or even fist and foot combat.

Of course, Daoist magic was miraculous. One did not necessarily need to win through direct combat. Given preparation, a daoist priest at the Qi Nourishing and Soul Strengthening Stage could kill an Internal Art Master quite easily. As for the several stages beyond that, even Celestial Master Xu did not understand them very well. He only knew from old accounts that upon reaching the Golden Core Cultivating Spirit Stage, one could cast magic with a mere thought, destroy cities, and sever rivers—only then could one be considered a figure like an immortal.

After gathering his mind, Shi Xuan held the three incense sticks and bowed three times toward the air, as though offering comfort to the soul that had once inhabited this body. He then placed the incense in the burner and sat cross-legged on the bed with his five centers facing heaven. Fortunately, this body had frequently entered meditation before. With the aid of the sandalwood incense, Shi Xuan slowly entered meditation. The instant he did, he discovered that his soul had been drawn to the Purple Prefecture between his brows. The little bead floated there silently, its light dim, but a ray of light shot out from it and delivered a message into Shi Xuan's soul.

It turned out that this little bead was an Acquired Spiritual Object from this world, called the Mountain River Pearl. It had been obtained by the ancient Mighty One Qingyunzi. But after Qingyunzi, as a Golden Immortal of Dao Integration, condensed two flowers, he encountered a slaughter tribulation and perished together with his enemy. Before dying, he thought of how he had always traveled alone, while his master, the Yuyu Daoist, had already seen through the Great Dao, departed this world, and opened up a new heaven and earth. He could not allow their Daoist lineage to be lost in this world, so he left his master's Dao-attaining method and the Fundamental Great Law of his own cultivation, the "Record of Transcending Calamity and Attaining the Dao of the Supreme Clarity Yuyu True Transmission," within the Mountain River Pearl, this Acquired Spiritual Object he had only recently obtained and had not yet refined. With the last of his magical power, he broke the void and sent it away.

Who would have thought that the Mountain River Pearl would encounter spacetime turbulence on its journey and cross into another world—Earth, where Shi Xuan had lived? Over the following million years, it slowly accumulated power. Stimulated first by Shi Xuan's blood after the car accident and then by his soul, it erupted with that power. Guided by the spacetime beacon Qingyunzi had left within the Mountain River Pearl, it brought Shi Xuan to the Great World of Yuyu Heaven, the world the Yuyu Daoist had once opened up to attain the Dao, and Qingyunzi's homeland.

After transmitting this information, it sent an entire volume of a profound and unfathomable Daoist text into Shi Xuan's soul. Its own light then completely faded, seemingly as it began slowly recovering its power.

From Qingyunzi's message at the beginning of the Daoist text, Shi Xuan learned that cultivation in this world was divided into two major levels: Qi Refining and Primordial Spirit. Qi Refining was further divided into seven stages: Soul Nurturing, Soul Strengthening, Soul Departure, Qi Induction, Spirit Soul, Golden Core, and Yin Spirit. The Primordial Spirit level was divided into Primordial Spirit, Yang Spirit, Heavenly Being, Dao Integration, Creation, and Eternal Realm.

Naturally, the names above were merely abbreviations. The full names of the Qi Refining stages were: Body Tempering and Soul Nurturing, Nourishing Qi and Strengthening Soul, Soul Departure, Qi Induction and Soul Tempering, Spirit Soul Union, Golden Core Cultivating Spirit, and Yin Spirit Condensation.

After mastering Body Tempering and Soul Nurturing and Nourishing Qi and Strengthening Soul, one could reach the natural limit of one's lifespan. At Soul Departure, one could live an additional thirty years, to roughly one hundred and twenty. At Qi Induction and Soul Tempering, one's lifespan reached two hundred years. Spirit Soul Union increased it to three hundred years. Golden Core Stage grandmasters could live for six hundred years, while Yin Spirit Venerables could live to twelve hundred.

Beyond the Primordial Spirit level, Qingyunzi only briefly mentioned Primordial Spirit True Persons who had stepped through the mysterious gate of life and death, also known as Ghost Immortal True Persons. They lived as long as heaven and earth, but had to pass through every kind of tribulation. He warned Shi Xuan not to let his physical body suffer destructive damage, or else he would be unable to achieve Primordial Spirit. He also stated that only after achieving Primordial Spirit would the latter half of the Treasure Record—the Primordial Spirit Chapter—appear.

Shi Xuan awoke from meditation. With a slight recollection, he remembered the contents of the first half of the Record of Transcending Calamity and Attaining the Dao. Soul memory truly was far more effective. However, now was not yet the time to practice it. What mattered most was considering his future path and how he should walk it.

As a transmigrator, he had no foundation of his own. If he also had no plans whatsoever for the future, it would be difficult for his heart to settle. Only with a direction, steps, and a goal could he truly feel grounded. To put it in the modern phrase, only then would he have a sense of security. First one must settle the heart; only then could one settle the spirit. Did one not see how, in modern society, so many people with hollow hearts and restless minds lacked either goals, or plans and steps for achieving the goals they did have?

Of course, he did not yet know much, so he could only make a broad plan for now. Once he had seen and learned more, or encountered certain matters, he could revise it.

This was also the logic most familiar to a cautious and meticulous engineering type person like Shi Xuan.