When we returned to the foot of the mountain from the Discarded Artifact Pavilion, it was already dusk.
Qin Tiexin was so hungry that his chest pressed against his back, and his stomach seemed to be scratched by a hand. Following the memory of the day, he found behind the row of wooden houses at the foot of the mountain - there was a big house there, with smoke coming from the roof, and a wooden sign hanging on the door with the word "dining hall" written on it.
Many people have gathered in the room.
It is said to be a dining hall, but it is actually a large hall. There are several rows of long tables and benches, and several large wooden buckets are placed against the wall. Two handyman disciples are serving rice to people with large spoons. The smell is mixed with the smell of rice and meat, mixed with the smell of sweat and mud. It is unclear what the smell is, but for Qin Tiexin, who has been hungry all day, the smell is extremely tempting.
When he walked to the door, a middle-aged steward stopped him. "Identity tag."
Qin Tiexin took out the wooden sign.
The steward took a look and said, "Body Refining Outer Courtyard? Do you know the rules? Five tablets of Spirit Crystal a day, two meals a day, one at every hour and one at every hour. Don't wait until after."
Spirit Crystal?
Qin Tiexin was stunned, there were less than fifty Spirit Crystal pills left in his hand.
"Can I pay on credit?" A thin young man next to me asked softly.
"Credit?" The manager smiled, "Where do you think this place is? Without Spirit Crystal, I'd be hungry."
Qin Tiexin silently counted ten pills and Spirit Crystal handed them over.
The steward took it away and handed him a large stoneware bowl. "The rice is enough. But there is a limit on the amount of meat. A maximum of three pieces per person."
Qin Tiexin took the bowl and walked to the barrel.
The first bucket contains rice, but it is not ordinary white rice. The rice grains are slightly green in color, glowing with light fluorescence after being steamed, and exuding a sweet aroma - this is Linggu.
The handyman who was preparing rice glanced at him, scooped up a big spoonful of rice and put it into the bowl. Qin Tiexin's bowl was already big, so when he took one spoonful of rice, it piled up like a hill.
In the second bucket was stewed meat. Large pieces of animal meat were floating in the brown soup, with a rich meat aroma. The handyman scooped three pieces into the bowl. The meat pieces were as big as fists and were stewed until they were crispy and tender.
Qin Tiexin took the bowl and found a corner to sit down.
He first tasted the spiritual rice. The rice grains were soft and glutinous and melted in the mouth. A warm current slid down his throat, and the hunger in his belly suddenly eased a little. He took another bite of the animal meat. The meat was so stewed that it was almost unnecessary to chew, and there was a faint hint of Spiritual Qi in the meat juice.
Good stuff.
He ate heartily.
Someone at the next table was talking.
"I'm so exhausted today. I spent a whole day weeding and bending over at Lingtian... and I was given 10 Spirit Crystal pills. I only used half of them for dinner."
"Just be satisfied. I'm in the mine, and that's not a human job."
"I heard that there was a Heaven Spirit Root today, and it was sent directly to Shangzong?"
"No, let's never think about it in this life..."
Qin Tiexin buried his head in eating. He ate quickly, but he didn't look rude, just at an alarming speed. A large bowl of rice quickly reached the bottom, and he went to add another bowl - the rule is to keep it full, but most people would be embarrassed to ask for less when they add rice. Qin Tiexin handed the bowl over and said, "It's full."
The handyman who was fetching food looked at him twice and then piled a hill for him.
Someone at the table next to me whispered:
"Who is this person? He has such a big appetite... Is this the middle of Body Refining Stage?"
"It seems to be the new one, Discarded Artifact Pavilion."
"Discarded Artifact Pavilion? That's a shabby place... but the appetite is really scary."
Qin Tiexin turned a deaf ear and concentrated on eating. After eating two bowls of spiritual rice, he also ate three pieces of animal meat, even the broth was mixed with rice. The warmth in his belly became more and more obvious, the fatigue dissipated a lot, and most of the physical energy consumed during the day at the Discarded Artifact Pavilion was restored.
He put down the bowl, stood up and left.
When we walked out of the dining hall, it was completely dark. Mist was rising in the mountains, and there were lights in the distance in the direction of the mountain gate, which was the residence of the outer disciples.
***
After dinner, Qin Tiexin followed everyone to the outer door Dharma Lecture Hall to listen to the class.
Dharma Lecture Hall On a platform on the mountainside, there is a bluestone hall. There is an open space in front of the hall with dozens of futons. Most of the people attending the class are handyman disciples, and occasionally a few outer disciples come to review the basics.
The senior lecturer's surname is Li. He is in his twenties, has a Qi Refining Sixth Layer cultivation level, and is quite kind.
The first class is about "Spiritual Qi Sensing and Qi Drawing Instruction".
Senior Brother Li sat cross-legged in front of him and said in a clear voice, "The heaven and earth have spirits, and everything has energy. As a monk, the first thing to do is to sense Spiritual Qi. Spirit Root Those who are good at sensing are sensitive and can draw air into the body like a fish in water; those who are not good at Spirit Root are like looking at flowers through a fog, getting half the result with twice the effort..."
He spoke for half an hour, and then began to teach the most basic Qi-entraining techniques.
Qin Tiexin Try following the method, close your eyes and meditate, and sense your surroundings.
At first he couldn't feel anything. But gradually, he vaguely noticed that there seemed to be some weak "flow" around him - like wind, but not like wind, invisible and qualityless, but it did exist.
Is this Spiritual Qi?
He tried to follow the guidance of the method, but the "flow" did not move at all. Five Spirit Roots, each attribute is equal to two, Spiritual Qi is scattered among the five attributes, and it is extremely vague to sense, let alone induce.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the faces of several handyman disciples beside him looking happy, obviously they had gained something.
"Brother Qin, have you sensed it?" Ma Chi asked in a low voice. He chose the job of the zoo, with grass clippings still on his hands.
Qin Tiexin shook his head.
"Neither did I..." Ma Chi smiled bitterly, "I am Four Spirit Root, Sum Jiu. It is reasonable to say that it is better than you, but the feeling is also very vague. Sun Daniu actually said that he has some feelings."
Qin Tiexin looked at Sun Daniu. The man was frowning with his eyes closed, and there was sweat on his forehead.
The second class is "A Brief Introduction to the Realm of Cultivation".
There were even more people coming to listen in this class. There were not even enough futons to sit on, so many people stood and listened.
Senior Brother Li explained in detail:
"Cultivation is divided into two major systems. One is Qi cultivation, which is the mainstream of Qi Refining practitioners; the second is physical cultivation, which is the helpless choice for those who are not good at Spirit Root. Today we will talk about Qi cultivation first."
"Qi cultivation takes Dantian as the center and Spirit Root as the bridge. Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is introduced into the body and refined into Law Power. Its realm is clearly divided--"
He made imaginary strokes in the air, and Spiritual Qi condensed into a few lines of light characters:
"Qi Refinement Realm: Introduce air into the body and form a cyclone in Dantian. This is the basis, divided into levels one to nine. After you have completed it, you can try Foundation Establishment."
"Foundation Establishment Realm: The cyclone compresses and liquefies, building the foundation of the road. At this point, the lifespan can reach two hundred years, Law Power has greatly increased, and it can fly with the weapon."
"Golden Core Realm: Law Power is further compressed and condensed, forming Golden Core from Dantian. Golden Core monk can initially mobilize a trace of the power of heaven and earth, and I, Flowing Cloud Sect, am already the elder."
"As for Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation who are further up..." Senior Brother Li paused, "That level is beyond our ability to guess. I only know that I, Flowing Cloud Sect, belong to the sect, and my ancestor Nascent Soul is in charge."
There were low exclamations from the audience.
Nascent Soul ancestor!
Qin Tiexin wrote it down silently. Flowing Cloud Sect has Golden Core monks, and the Shangzong has Nascent Soul - the pinnacle of this world is still far away.
Senior Brother Li continued, "The advantage of Qi cultivation lies in the variety of Law Technique, the elegant and unrestrained imperial weapons, and the infinite uses of Divine Sense. Our sect's core inheritance "Flowing Cloud Sword Qi Instruction", you can directly reach the realm of Golden Core. In battles at the same level, Qi cultivators often have the upper hand by virtue of the distance between Law Technique and Law Artifact."
"But Qi cultivators also have weaknesses." He changed the subject, "The physical body is fragile. Once a physical cultivator gets close to you and the protective body Spiritual Qi is broken, your life will be in danger. And in a forbidden spirit formation or a Spiritual Qi thin place, your strength will be greatly reduced."
Someone raised their hand. "Brother, what about physical training?"
Senior Brother Li glanced at the man. "Physical cultivation? That's another way."
The third class is dedicated to "Body Refining Summary".
Almost all of the people who came to listen to this class were disciples of Body Refining Outer Courtyard.
Senior Brother Li spoke much more briefly this time:
"Physical cultivation uses the body as a tool and Qi and Blood as power. It does not rely on the merits of Spirit Root, but only focuses on the talent of the muscles and bones and the endurance of the will. The core is to transform the Spiritual Qi into pure Qi and Blood power to temper one's body."
He also condensed the words of light:
"Body Refining Stage: Use Spiritual Qi to temper the skin, meat, tendons, and bones to eliminate impurities. This state is divided into ten levels. After cultivation to perfection, the strength is as strong as a kilogram, and you can fight a tiger with your bare hands."
"Qi and Blood Realm: Qi and Blood in the body is like a furnace, nourishing the internal organs and healing from trauma very quickly. In this state... our sect only has fragments, and can only be cultivated to the middle stage."
There was a sudden commotion in the audience.
"Only the fragments?"
"What about after you reach Qi and Blood Middle Stage?"
Senior Brother Li raised his hand and suppressed the discussion. "After Qi and Blood Middle Stage, there are Meridian Opening Realm, Golden Body Realm, Dharma Aspect Realm. But then Cultivation Method, only those who specialize in Body Refining can inherit it. I Flowing Cloud Sect is mainly Qi Refining, and the Body Refining lineage... is actually a supplement."
He said it tactfully, but everyone understood it.
The road to body repair is broken.
Qin Tiexin's heart sank slightly. He had known that Body Refining would be difficult, but he didn't expect that even Cultivation Method would be incomplete.
"The advantage of physical training is that the physical body is strong and the power is pure. High-level physical training can break mountains with one punch. Qi and Blood has a keen sense of murderous malice." Senior Brother Li continued, "But its disadvantages are also obvious: the attack range is limited and there is no large-scale method; it consumes a lot of food and medicine to support; and... the soul defense is relatively weak and is easily defeated by Curse illusions."
After class, everyone gathered outside the hall to discuss.
"It turns out physical training is so miserable..."
"Let me tell you, if you are good at physical training, why don't those Aristocratic Clan disciples go to Body Refining?"
"Not necessarily." An older handyman disciple interjected, "I heard that some sects specialize in Body Refining, and their disciples are so powerful that even Qi cultivators of the same level dare not get close to them."
"But our sect has no follow-up Cultivation Method!" Ma Chi said anxiously, "If it breaks after repairing to Qi and Blood Middle Stage, wouldn't that mean the end of your life?"
"So you have to practice it at the same time." The handyman disciple said, "You also have to practice Qi cultivation Cultivation Method in physical cultivation, otherwise you won't even be able to use Law Artifact. There are many physical cultivation brothers in our sect who major in Qi Refining and minor in Body Refining - after all, Body Refining is helpful for close combat."
Qin Tiexin listened silently.
Concurrently?
In other words, even if you take the Body Refining route, you still have to practice Qi.
He remembered what he heard in the dining hall - physical training cannot control spiritual power in a fine way, and Body Refining Stage can only use mortal weapons or Semi-Law Artifact, which greatly reduces its combat power. If you want to use the real Law Artifact, you must have Law Power support.
No wonder.
***
Later, Qin Tiexin also listened to "Basics of Spiritual Material Identification" and "Common Spirit Rune Illustrations (1)".
He listened particularly carefully to these two classes. In the spiritual material identification class, Senior Brother Li showed dozens of common spiritual minerals, spiritual trees, and spiritual herbs, and explained their characteristics and uses. Qin Tiexin wrote them down one by one, and mutually confirmed them with the information in Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts.
Spirit Rune class is even more critical.
Senior Brother Li was sketched in the air with spiritual power, and simple Spirit Rune appeared one after another - Sharpness Rune, Firmness Rune, Light Body Rune, Gathering Spirit Rune...
"Spirit Rune is the soul of Law Artifact. Low-level Law Artifact often only engraves one or two Spirit Rune; mid-level Law Artifact, Spirit Rune combine to form an array; high-level Law Treasure, which involves the more profound rune Principle." Senior Brother Li explained, "Today we will only talk about the nine most basic Spirit Rune. If you can master it, it will not be difficult to identify and use low-level Law Artifact in the future."
Qin Tiexin stared at those Spirit Rune without blinking.
He had seen similar patterns on the scrapped Law Artifact that Discarded Artifact Pavilion dismantled. Some were incomplete and some were blurry, but they roughly matched.
After class, he took the initiative to find Senior Brother Li.
"Senior brother, if you want to learn more about Spirit Rune, where should you go?"
Senior Brother Li glanced at him and saw that he was wearing gray clothes as a handyman, and his tone became gentler: "There are "Introduction to Spirit Rune", "One Hundred Common Spirit Rune" and other classics on the first floor of the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion. You can use Merit Points Redeem and read. But..." He paused, "The way of Spirit Rune is profound and requires the support of Qi Refining cultivation. Right now, your priority is to sense Spiritual Qi."
Qin Tiexin Thank you and leave.
He understood the meaning of Senior Brother Li - without Law Power, he couldn't even outline Spirit Rune. No matter how much he learned, it was just talk on paper.