Herb Cleansing Scripture (2)

After Military Advisor Ji left, Li Yan immediately felt his breath flow more smoothly, and couldn't help but smile wryly. As long as his teacher was by his side, he would feel his breathing stagnate.

Right then, he calmed his mind and stopped thinking about it. The copper furnace could burn for about an hour each time, allowing him to cultivate, and he couldn't waste any time. He went to the copper furnace, adopted a stance, and then stretched his hands into the Azure-Black Qi above the copper basin. He silently recited the incantation and mantra, and immediately the Azure-Black Qi enveloping his hands seemed to be drawn, splitting into ten strands of black silk that drilled into his fingertips. Li Yan immediately felt as if red-hot needles were suddenly prying open his fingernails, as if peeling them off alive. The pain stabbed directly into his heart and brain.

Even though Li Yan was mentally prepared, he didn't expect such pain. He grunted, his stance faltered a few times, and his body retreated two steps. Strangely, the Azure-Black Qi that had already been drawn by the technique didn't dissipate on its own. It stretched out as he retreated, still drilling into his body along the cracks of his fingernails.

Li Yan's Black Robe was already soaked with sweat. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to focus, moving forward two steps and regaining his stance. He circulated the technique again, and the strands of Azure-Black Qi were like red-hot silver needles, piercing and advancing through his meridians. With every inch forward, his whole body trembled involuntarily, and sweat flowed out layer upon layer like a torrent.

He didn't know how long he could persist in cultivating, but he was naturally tenacious, and he always tried his best to do whatever he set his mind to, even if he couldn't do it perfectly. Time passed bit by bit, and later his nerves were already numb. Only his mind was still mechanically circulating the technique, urging the Azure-Black Qi to travel through his body.

Outside the room, Military Advisor Ji, who was sitting cross-legged on the stone table, occasionally twitched his eyelids despite his closed eyes, revealing his unease. More than half an hour later, he suddenly opened his eyes and disappeared from the stone table. The stone door of Li Yan's residence opened as if by an invisible force.

Inside the room, Li Yan's face was now Azure-Black, and his hands and arms were covered with a layer of black Qi. He was now unconscious, unable to even mechanically circulate the technique. His body was leaning backward, but the Azure-Black Qi was still tightly connected to his ten fingers, forming arcs as his body fell backward, looking very strange. Just as he was about to fall straight to the ground, a figure suddenly appeared behind him, and with a wave of a large sleeve, he was lifted up. The other large sleeve shook towards the ten strands of Azure-Black Qi, and with a few soft "po po" sounds, the Azure-Black Qi was severed from Li Yan's ten fingers. However, Li Yan's body seemed to still have suction, and the severed Azure-Black Qi writhed in the air like venomous snakes, swaying and spitting towards Li Yan's body, appearing extremely terrifying and bizarre.

Military Advisor Ji didn't even glance at the Azure-Black Qi. He shook the large sleeve wrapping Li Yan, and a peaceful force lifted Li Yan and flew him to the wooden bed, then gently placed him on the bed. Then he took a few steps to the bed, his hands flying in front of his chest, forming a few seemingly complex hand seals. A few points of azure starlight flew from his fingertips and landed on Li Yan's abdomen.

Li Yan felt as if he was in a Volcano, feeling unbearable burning pain. He wanted to scream but couldn't, suffering endlessly. Countless red lava surrounded him, burning him thoroughly.

He felt like he was going to die in this Volcano when suddenly a cool sensation rose in his abdomen. He immediately felt the Volcano and the boundless lava slowly recede, and his mind began to clear. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying flat on the bed, with his teacher in Black Robe standing by the bed. He struggled to sit up, but a sharp, burning pain in his chest and abdomen made him groan and lie down again. He felt sparks flashing before his eyes, and the Volcano in his body seemed to be about to erupt again.

Lying on the bed, he calmed himself and turned his head to look at his teacher, forcing a smile. "Teacher... teacher, disciple is incompetent, and I have failed your expectations."

"Hehe, you don't need to blame yourself. It's already a surprise to me that you were able to persist for more than half an hour on your first try. You did very well." Military Advisor Ji smiled gently at him.

"So... so, disciple can cultivate the sect's Martial Arts?" Li Yan's face was a little distorted, and he said with difficulty.

"That's natural. However, although you're uncomfortable now, you still have to refine the Herb Cleansing Scripture you just absorbed. Otherwise, these medicinal powers will stay in your body and be harmful without any benefit. And only after refining it will these medicinal powers belong to you, and only then will you have completed a cultivation session."

Li Yan naturally knew this. His teacher had said this before. Each day's cultivation was divided into two steps: absorbing the medicinal power of herbs and then refining it for one's own use. After forty-nine days, one could enter the first level and generate internal force. From then on, the body would use this as a foundation and no longer need to absorb the medicinal power of herbs, but could cultivate continuously.

Li Yan took a breath and slowly sat up, enduring the burning pain in his body. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to circulate the mantra to refine the medicinal power in his body.

Seeing this, Military Advisor Ji turned around and quietly retreated, sitting cross-legged on the stone table outside the house again. After sitting down, he muttered to himself in a low voice, "This child is indeed tenacious, but it's hard to say whether he can maintain a calm and peaceful mind after refining the medicinal power." After saying this nonsensical sentence, he seemed to fall into deep thought.

From this day on, Li Yan began a painful journey of cultivating, day after day, guiding medicinal power into his body and refining it to strengthen his meridians. But the time he could stay awake while guiding medicinal power into his body became longer and longer. As time went on, although the medicinal power increased by nearly double every seven days, the pain of guiding medicinal power into his body slowly decreased a lot. Military Advisor Ji only helped him resolve it a few times in the beginning. In the later stages, he could completely cultivate on his own. This was due to his meridians becoming stronger and stronger. The previous meridians were like thin tubes, and it was naturally extremely painful when the medicinal power forcibly tore them open and expanded them. As the medicinal power was refined and entered his body, his large and small meridians slowly grew and expanded. Several main meridians had begun to become thick and tough, naturally greatly reducing the pain.

"Phew," Li Yan exhaled a long breath, ending today's cultivation. He didn't get up, but remained sitting cross-legged. After opening his eyes, he frowned, feeling a burst of irritability rising in his heart. He had to take another deep breath. As his daily cultivation progressed, he found that his mood was becoming more and more irritable, as if a ball of fire was scurrying up and down in his body, making him upset.

He had also asked his teacher, and Military Advisor Ji told him that this was caused by the medicinal power cleansing his body. Strong medicinal power was needed to create strong meridians. Only with such a physique could he wield the sect's fierce Martial Arts. After entering the first level in forty-nine days, this situation would improve, and later, as his cultivation deepened, this situation would completely disappear.

After listening, Li Yan thought that his teacher's world-renowned Martial Arts made sense, but he still had a kind of inexplicable unease in his heart, but he had no clue no matter how he thought about it.

Putting aside these thoughts, Li Yan felt another burst of irritability in his heart. This irritability had begun to make him unable to guard his mind and return to its origin every time he cultivated.

Li Yan stood up and pushed the door open and walked out. It was already night. He felt so upset that he walked aimlessly in the valley. Since he started cultivating, he had basically been busy with cultivation every day, and he had no time to relax. But today's irritability made him just want to vent it out, and he couldn't stay in the room any longer.

He walked aimlessly in the valley. The autumn wind in the dark night blew on his face, and the bursts of coolness brushed against his face. He felt that the irritability in his chest had disappeared a lot, and he couldn't help but take a few deep breaths of the coolness in the wind. He walked slowly in the valley. The valley was not very big. After turning half a circle, he walked to the Water Pool. A burst of coldness came over him, and his heart turned cold. He immediately felt his breath flow smoothly and his spirits were greatly lifted. He walked a few steps quickly to the Water Pool, and the coldness became even stronger. His chest was extremely comfortable. Li Yan was overjoyed, so he sat down by the Water Pool. He sat for half an hour. When he stood up, the heat in his body had completely disappeared, and then a burst of drowsiness surged up. He returned to his room, fell head over heels, and fell asleep.

Dawn came, and Li Yan woke up from his dream, feeling refreshed. In the twenty-odd days of cultivation, with the changes in his body, he had not fallen asleep like last night for a long time.

After waking up, Li Yan stood at the table, looking at the misty mist swirling around the Water Pool outside the window. His eyes became brighter and brighter, and then he walked quickly to his teacher's stone house. When he came to the stone house, Military Advisor Ji's familiar and gentle voice had already come out. "You're here, then come in."

Since Li Yan started cultivating, he had rarely come to his teacher's place. Basically, his teacher would prepare medicine every day and protect him outside his house.

"Yes, teacher," Li Yan's expression froze, and he walked in quickly. When he entered the house, he found that his teacher was still sitting cross-legged behind the table as always, holding the book that was like gold but not gold, and like jade but not jade, looking up at him with a smile. But he also knew why, every time he saw his teacher, he always felt that his breath was not smooth.

"Hehe, your complexion is not bad today. It seems that you have discovered some situations in the valley." Military Advisor Ji looked at Li Yan in front of him and said with a smile.

"Does teacher know what disciple is here for?" Li Yan asked strangely.

"You should have discovered that the Water Pool can relieve the heat in your body, right?" Military Advisor Ji said with a smile.

"Yes, teacher, so teacher knew about the effect of the Water Pool long ago." Li Yan couldn't help but ask.

"Of course I know. One of the reasons why I chose this valley as my residence was because the water in this Water Pool has some strangely cold effects."

"Then, teacher, why don't you let disciple cultivate there?" Li Yan asked hesitantly.

"Hehe, the sect's entry method is indeed a bit overbearing, so the sect's disciples will have this situation during their cultivation at the beginning. There are many general solutions. Such as immersing yourself in your own hobbies to restore peace of mind, such as playing the qin, playing music, calligraphy, etc.; another is to use external forces to directly offset the fire in the body, such as ice stones, snow mountains, cold pools, etc." Speaking of this, Military Advisor Ji paused and glanced at Li Yan.

Li Yan didn't ask further. He knew that his teacher would give him the answer soon.

Military Advisor Ji couldn't help but sigh in his heart when he saw Li Yan's calm appearance after being calm. "This child is more quiet and likes to think."

Then, he said, "The reason why I didn't let you cultivate by the Water Pool now is because you should use your own endurance to contend with it at the beginning of cultivation, so that you can temper your mind even more; if you rely on external objects from the beginning, then as you cultivate later, this effect will become lower and lower, and it will mislead your own cultivation. Therefore, I didn't tell you these things, for fear that you would not be able to resist the temptation and give up your own tempering."

After listening, Li Yan thought, "So there is such a reason, and these many solutions cannot be used easily." Then he bowed and said, "Disciple knows his mistake."

Military Advisor Ji waved his hand. "This is not your fault, it's just that I didn't say it clearly." Then, he pondered slightly and said, "Well, watching these few days of cultivation, you should have reached a certain bottleneck, but you should not go to the Water Pool to cultivate for the time being. I will use other methods to relieve the abnormalities that occur during your cultivation. When you sprint to the first level in forty-nine days, it will be best to cultivate by the Water Pool at that time. If you enter the first level, you can cultivate there for a long time."

Li Yan was overjoyed when he heard this. "Then what method will teacher use?"

"You will know when you cultivate today." Military Advisor Ji smiled slightly, but did not explain.

Li Yan smiled bitterly in his heart and had to say goodbye and leave.

Several hours later, after Li Yan guided the medicine into his body, he began to sit cross-legged and refine the medicinal power. Soon, the heat was already tumbling in his body. Li Yan suppressed it a few times, but then he slowly couldn't suppress it, and his mind couldn't be calm. The irritability became more and more turbulent.

At this moment, a burst of zither music suddenly floated in from the window, like the autumn moon on a calm lake, like the jade rabbit rising in the east, and like a breeze blowing through the branches and leaves in the forest, and like a girl whispering, and like the morning dew enlightening the heart. Li Yan immediately felt a cool feeling in his heart, and the irritability gradually disappeared, and his spiritual platform slowly became clear.

He immediately understood what method his teacher was using. It turned out that his teacher's zither skills were so profound that he could transform sound into a realm, making people's spiritual platform clear. Right now, he didn't dare to think too much, concentrated his mind, and slowly entered a state of selflessness.