After Wu Xingyun arrived in Kaifeng, Xu Xiao also began a deeper level of cultivation under the guidance of the Three Elders of Carefree.
Every morning, he would follow Wu Xingyun to the highest point of the Imperial Palace to breathe in the nascent purple energy and practice the Heaven-and-Earth-Eternal Ageless Everlasting Spring Art.
At noon, Professor Li Qiushui instructed him on the essence of the Lesser Minor Formless Art, which involves the ever-changing Internal Energy, and also demonstrated various martial arts moves.
In the evening, Wuyazi, combining various Daoist Canon and the experiences of the young Xiaoyaozi, explained to him the general principles of the Carefree Wind Riding and speculated on the cultivation steps.
Originally, there was another step: observing the stars to comprehend the Dao and cultivating Divine Sense and spirit. However, Wuyazi fell silent after just one night.
Divine Sense Divine Sense, to put it simply, is mental strength and willpower. Xu Xiao's strongest point is that invisible Superpower Telekinesis, which he doesn't need to strengthen by observing the stars and comprehending the Dao.
Having diligently entered a month-long intensive training program, Xu Xiao made rapid progress due to his profound foundation in Internal Energy.
On the 75th day after he arrived in the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils World, everything was ready.
His internal Internal Energy had been accumulated and compressed within his body to the point of near liquefaction, meeting the standards for cultivating the Carefree Wind Riding. During this period, he also absorbed the essence of the Ageless Everlasting Spring Art and the Minor Formless Art, refining and perfecting them.
Therefore, Xu Xiao left the women behind and led the Three Elders of Carefree to the Mount Kunlun Range.
This is also the place where Master Wuyazi said the Spiritual Energy in the world is most abundant.
Although the world's Spiritual Energy has long been depleted, there are still wisps of it here, which would be perfect for cultivating Carefree Wind Riding.
At the Kunlun Mountain, thousands of meters above the mountainside, heavy snow and howling winds swept through the area.
Although Xu Xiao had carved a cave in the mountain to shelter them from the wind and cold, the Three Elders of Carefree still had to exert all their Internal Energy to stay in this harsh natural environment for long.
It's not that their martial arts skills are insufficient, but rather that this place is simply not fit for human habitation!
Lack of oxygen, cold, and strong winds—each of these could be fatal. More importantly, they had been there for a full hour.
They naturally watched Xu Xiao practice his skills, ready to offer guidance when necessary.
However, after Xu Xiao entered a meditative state, he sat alone at the entrance of the cave, enduring the cold wind, in order to comprehend the true meaning of Carefree Wind Riding.
The martial arts of the Carefree Sect are based on Daoist thought, emphasizing lightness, elegance, and freedom, and their inspiration comes from the natural winds.
[Riding the righteousness of Heaven and Earth, governing the differentiation of the six qi]
[His spirit roams the eight extremes, his breath controls wind and thunder; he walks the steps of the Big Dipper, his body merges with the Great Void]
This is the general outline of the Carefree Wind Riding. Cultivators must comprehend the power of the Wind Spirit of heaven and earth, and then, with supreme perseverance and opportunity, absorb the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth into their bodies before they can cultivate.
Of course, this was a method chosen by Xiaoyaozi himself and his predecessors when the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth was abundant.
In this era of depleted Spiritual Energy, even having arrived at the Kunlun Mountain, a place almost untouched by humans, Xu Xiao still couldn't sense any Spiritual Energy.
He could only sit alone in the wind, enduring the biting cold, trying to experience the so-called power of the Wind Spirit.
The Three Elders of Carefree had never personally practiced the Carefree Wind Riding. Their understanding of it, apart from their master Xiaoyaozi's explanations in his youth, consisted only of their own insights into martial arts.
Xu Xiao's training is also in an experimental stage; whether he succeeds or not remains to be seen.
After sitting in meditation for an hour, one's mind is initially cluttered with various delusions, and one's internal energy spontaneously circulates to resist the harshness of wind and frost.
But as time went on, Xu Xiao's restless heart seemed to be cooled by the cold wind, and the circulation of the Northern Darkness True Qi also began to slow down in the extreme environment.
Xu Xiao's thoughts slowly returned, and he focused on maintaining his inner strength, silently circulating his internal Internal Energy throughout his body.
Again and again, round and round, Xu Xiao gradually discovered that something seemed to have appeared in his Internal Energy.
At the same time, in addition to his usual internal vision, he could now feel an invisible force penetrating his body from all around, even with his eyes closed.
'Could it be Spiritual Energy?'
The moment this thought crossed Xu Xiao's mind, he became somewhat flustered and almost stopped the moving operation that he had finally begun.
Startled, he immediately stopped thinking and silently recited the General Principles of Carefree Wind Riding, while continuously circulating his internal Internal Energy throughout his body.
The true energy circulated in the meridians, and as strands of what appeared to be Spiritual Energy energy from the outside world mixed in, the speed of the true energy circulation suddenly accelerated.
From the Ren and Du meridians leading the eight extraordinary meridians to the twelve regular meridians encompassing the entire body, the Northern Darkness True Qi surged like a tide, washing over every meridian and acupoint on Xu Xiao's body again and again.
The hidden injuries and accumulated problems in the body were also taken away and repaired by the Northern Darkness True Qi in this process.
Xu Xiao's body is undergoing a complete transformation, as if he were reborn.
Meanwhile, the Three Elders of Carefree outside also noticed the changes in Xu Xiao. He began to emit a faint stench, and at the same time, wisps of internal energy emerged from the Baihui point on the top of his head, but did not dissipate.
Instead, under the blowing of the cold wind, flower-like shapes began to faintly condense on Xu Xiao's head and three inches above his shoulders.
"Wash your tendons and marrow!"
"Three Flowers Gather at the Top!"
" Return from Acquired to Innate!"
The three exchanged glances, their eyes revealing barely suppressed joy.
Success! This extraordinary phenomenon indicates that Xu Xiao has reached the edge of the birth of Innate Qi. Once this step is completed, the Carefree Wind Riding will be a certainty.
The three of them stayed with Xu Xiao on the mountaintop, enduring hardship together, all to witness the mastery of the legendary martial arts of the Carefree Sect. Each of them was even happier than if they had succeeded in mastering it themselves.
Xu Xiao, immersed in his cultivation, was completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world.
At this moment, he was completely immersed in a state of forgetting himself and the world around him.
He even forgot to recite the mantra for cultivating the Carefree Wind Riding, his mind becoming ethereal, as if he had truly transformed into a gentle breeze.
Only the body silently and spontaneously circulates the Carefree Wind Riding Technique, drawing in the extremely scarce Spiritual Energy in the air.
As the true energy circulated, this Spiritual Energy eventually settled in Xu Xiao's dantian, where it slowly accumulated.
It felt like a long time had passed, yet it also felt like only a blink of an eye.
Within Xu Xiao's dantian, a faint, ethereal white Shimmer suddenly appeared, materializing within Xu Xiao body.
As soon as this white light appeared, all the true energy flowing within Xu Xiao's body began to accelerate and surge towards his dantian, like a great river flowing into the sea, rushing to pour into it.
The true energy that entered the dantian only circulated within the white light for a moment before flowing back into the meridians. However, it was no longer in a gaseous state but had completely solidified and turned into a liquid state.
This point of white light is precisely the Innate Qi that Wuyazi spoke of!
With it, Xu Xiao was no longer an ordinary martial arts practitioner, but had officially embarked on the path of cultivating immortality, or rather, entering the Dao through martial arts.