Exhausted, Ji Yuan unknowingly leaned against the stone table and fell asleep. As he rested, his body was like a tree putting forth new branches in spring; his bones, meridians, and internal organs all stretched, while the excess Spiritual Qi beyond what he could bear drifted from his body like smoke wisps, returning Ji Yuan to comfort.
"Mister Ji, I've brought you the book!"
A faint voice came from outside the courtyard. Half-asleep, Ji Yuan squinted toward the courtyard gate.
"Is that Liu Day Patrol? Come in. I'm a little tired, so I won't be coming out to open the gate."
They were all Ghost Bodies anyway—what difference did it make how they entered? Besides, Ji Yuan felt that he and "Old Liu" had become fairly familiar.
Outside the courtyard, the two Day Patrol Emissaries and four Yin Cha holding great black umbrellas looked at one another. Then they slowed their steps and passed through the gate of Ju'an Pavilion. Lord City God had personally ordered that the Yin Cha of this county were not to disturb the tranquility of Ju'an Pavilion, and that they must treat its master with respect.
Ji Yuan sat up and watched the group of Yin Cha enter the small courtyard. So many had come!
Looking at the sun in the sky, the two Day Patrol Emissaries must have had some ability in their line of work. The others probably owed their presence to those large umbrellas.
The four Yin Cha beneath the umbrellas each carried a bamboo case on their backs. As they entered, the small courtyard clearly became much more gloomy and cold.
"Mister Ji, these are the books Lord City God ordered us to deliver. Where would you like them placed?"
Ji Yuan was somewhat impatient. He pointed to the side of the stone table.
"Just put them here."
But those book cases and books had passed through the gate along with the Yin Cha. They couldn't be incorporeal, could they?
Fortunately, the truth proved that Ji Yuan had worried too much. The four Yin Cha removed the book cases from their backs, while the two Day Patrol Emissaries reached beneath the umbrella canopies, seized the cases, and gently set them down beside the table.
Ji Yuan could hear the sound of the cases striking the ground. That was absolutely the sound only solid objects could make. What had happened earlier must have been something like the ghostly transportation arts rumored about in his previous life.
"Mister Ji, the books have been delivered. We shall take our leave!"
"Ah, all right. Thank you, everyone!"
Ji Yuan pulled his attention away from the books and cupped his hands in a courteous salute to the Yin Cha. Naturally, they did not dare slight him and promptly returned the salute before passing through the gate and leaving.
They were ghosts, after all. Even if they had been people, Ji Yuan had no intention of politely asking them to stay.
Once all the Yin Cha had left, Ji Yuan relaxed and looked at the four cases of books. The first thing he did was carry one of the bamboo cases onto the stone table.
It felt slightly heavy in his hands, yet Ji Yuan felt its weight was insufficient. Such a large bamboo book case ought to have been very heavy if it were packed full of books.
When he opened it, he did not see the stacks of books he had imagined through his blurry vision. Instead, there were several cylindrical objects.
The moment he reached out to touch one, he understood.
Bamboo slips!
Ji Yuan took out one bundle of bamboo slips and weighed it in his hand before slowly unrolling it.
Old City God had truly been thoughtful!
Unlike ordinary books written with brush and ink, all the words on these bamboo slips had been carved. Ji Yuan only needed to lightly run his fingers over the slips to "read" their contents naturally.
Whether Old City God had done it deliberately or not, Ji Yuan accepted the kindness.
Looks like I won't need to find someone to help me after all!
It was already deep into the night, yet Ji Yuan had no trace of sleepiness.
As someone whose eyesight was equally poor in daylight and darkness, he naturally had no need to light candles. From the afternoon until now, Ji Yuan had been "reading" in the courtyard.
Sometimes he held the bamboo slips in his hands; sometimes he spread them over the stone table and carefully traced every word with his index finger.
The characters carved into the bamboo slips were fine and tiny, allowing each slip to hold quite a lot of text. Ji Yuan read slowly and carefully as well.
The contents concerned a field Ji Yuan had never encountered before, one that would make any young man from a technological age burn with envy.
At that moment, Ji Yuan was so excited that he could barely contain himself.
Damn, I really am a genius. My comprehension is this strong?!
Ji Yuan discovered that he could understand all of the obscure and difficult language.
When the Azure Spiritual Qi he had absorbed on several previous occasions darted through his body, he had also sensed all the meridians and acupoints with perfect clarity. What he lacked was only their names and an understanding of them, and all that could be learned from these books.
Ji Yuan read very slowly, unwilling to misunderstand even the slightest meaning. Whenever he reached a later passage, he would repeatedly flip back to the earlier parts and combine them for understanding.
Yin and Yang, Five Elements; Eight Wastes and Six Directions. Sense the vitality of mountains and waters, of all things beneath heaven; draw in the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, cleanse and temper oneself, and cultivate the true!
The book in Ji Yuan's hands was a copy of the Qi Guiding Technique. Its name was simple, and it truly was an ordinary item. In the Cultivation World, it was a thoroughly common foundational cultivation art. There were many of the same type, along with more advanced versions specifically focused on Yin and Yang or the Five Elements in greater detail.
Yet to ordinary people, and even to the powerful and wealthy of the mortal world, it was still an unreachable miraculous tome, a book from heaven.
To Ji Yuan, this was also the most precious treasure of all—the book that would enlighten him as he stepped onto the path of cultivation!
Since he had come to this world, who would not want to stand apart from the crowd? Who would not want Longevity and Eternal Sight?
So the landscape of mountains and rivers I saw within my body at the inn wasn't because I was especially unique. It was an Anomalous Phenomenon that those drawing Spiritual Qi into the body for the first time had a chance of seeing.
The inner scenes people saw varied. Some saw their meridians as rivers, while others saw them as raging fires. This was related both to one's aptitude and one's state of mind.
Those who could see such anomalous phenomena within their bodies were not many. Some would often be regarded more highly by their masters and elders, who would place greater expectations upon them. Though it was not absolute, such people often had more promising achievements ahead of them.
I really am a genius!
Ji Yuan could not help smiling when he read that, but a few seconds later, his smile vanished. The book said that the purer the strange scene one saw, the better. Seeing white snow drifts or blazing fires was excellent, for example. The more mixed and varied the vision, the worse it was.
Ji Yuan thought about it. He seemed to have seen heaven and earth, mountains and rivers, and beautiful scenery. That was mixed beyond all bounds, wasn't it...
Forget it, forget it. No point thinking about that!
By the middle of the night, Ji Yuan had more or less thoroughly grasped the contents of the "Qi Guiding Technique." Apart from a scroll titled "Essentials of Spellcraft," which summarized some common spellcraft and recorded several minor spells, there were no other cultivation books in the cases. The remaining bamboo slips were Martial Arts Manuals and chess manuals.
"Let's give it a try!"
Muttering softly to himself, Ji Yuan straightened his posture on the stone stool and relaxed his body and mind.
Outside lay the Great Heaven and Earth; within the body lay the Inner World. Every minute meridian and acupoint, every organ in the human body, corresponded to mysteries such as Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the stars of the heavens. So-called cultivation was also about comprehending the vastness of heaven and earth, grasping the power of the great Dao and the cosmos.
Ji Yuan breathed out lightly and inhaled slowly. His breath entered his chest and abdomen, rolling through his body and extending into his limbs and bones. His awareness was there and not there, as though it flowed through his body with his breath, and as though it followed his breath out beyond his body, spreading through the vast heaven and earth surrounding him, using this to sense the lively qi between heaven and earth.
Qi Guiding Art secret method—Heaven and Earth Transformation!
No matter what cultivation art one practiced, no matter whether one was in an immortal abode or wondrous realm, or in ordinary mountains and wilderness, how many people yearning for Longevity and Eternal Sight had been trapped to death at this very first barrier!
Yet Ji Yuan unknowingly entered a fine state, without feeling the slightest difficulty of this stage.
Ji Yuan felt that this sensation was actually very close to the wondrous feeling from the first time he had drawn Spiritual Energy into the body. Only then, the endlessly expanding body and heaven and earth had been an inner scene of his body, whereas now, the spreading flow of consciousness transformed into a real scene.
It seemed present and absent, yet also everywhere at once. The state in which Spiritual Qi wandered through heaven and earth could be "seen" by Ji Yuan.
It was as if, with a single thought, he had turned into a magnet. Specks of Spiritual Qi were drawn in and gathered together, finally converging around Ji Yuan and seeping into his body through the skin surface all over him.
There was no numbness and itching, no soreness or pain. Like spring rain falling upon the earth, moistening all things without a sound, it brought Ji Yuan nothing but comfort and freshness.
The amount was not as great as when he had drawn qi with the Seal of Holding, but it was exceptionally comfortable and exceptionally compatible—perhaps even purer. Ji Yuan vaguely felt that this was the proper path for absorbing Spiritual Qi!
However, the existence of the Seal of Holding, which Ji Yuan had named himself, gave him confidence in improving his cultivation efficiency.
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