Giving a Public Lesson Before the Boss (Thanks to the Great "SUPER_PEKKA" for Becoming an Alliance Leader)

It was late at night. The Daoist was still awake, and so was the cat.

Chen Du was leafing through books, looking for information.

He had a feeling he had seen something about the essence fire and qi sea Yunzhi mentioned in an ancient book at the temple, and now he wanted to find it and read it again.

The cat, meanwhile, was playing wildly on the rafters.

It usually had more energy than it knew what to do with, and after eating the spirit fruit, it had even more.

The difference was that it usually ran around on the floor. Now it was up on the rafters, fighting its own tail. It was just short of climbing onto the roof and tearing off the tiles.

Dust came raining down.

Chen Du waved a hand in front of his face.

Whoosh! The cat missed a move, lost the fight against its own tail, and was sent tumbling head over heels by it. It fell straight off the rafter and landed on Chen Du's desk.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Chen Du put down his book and grabbed it. Remembering a trick he had seen online, he dipped his hand in a cup beside him and smeared water over it, mussing up all its fur in an attempt to get it to settle down and lick itself clean.

To his surprise, the cat looked down at itself, immediately jumped into his lap, and began rubbing against him, intending to dry itself off on him.

"Clever, aren't you!"

Chen Du had no choice but to use his ultimate move-

He picked up a cheap garment beside him and rubbed his other hand furiously against it a few times, then slowly moved his finger toward the tip of the cat's nose.

"Pop..."

With a soft snap, a tiny arc of electricity blossomed between his finger and the cat's nose.

The cat finally behaved itself. It tucked in its neck, shook itself, and ran to the side to lick its fur.

Chen Du continued searching.

"Found it!"

A passage stood out on the yellowed pages:

In the ancient path of immortality, all things were connected. Nourish life and temper the body; from the body, produce essence. Make essence into fire, gather the fire to refine qi, make qi into water, and gather the water into a sea. Once magical power is abundant, nourish the primordial spirit. In time, return to the self and return to the true; only then attain spiritual clarity and become one with the Dao, and thus become immortal.

The book's author was Chen Tuan.

Chen Du had heard of him. He had heard that Chen Tuan was a great hermit born in the late Tang dynasty, who lived through the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and only passed away in seated meditation in the Song dynasty. Some later generations believed that Shao Yong's study of the pre-heavenly Changes, Zhou Dunyi's Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate, and even the transmission of the Yellow River Diagram and Luo River Writing were connected to him. He was most famous for making a wager with an earthly emperor and winning the whole of Mount Hua from him.

The book in his hands was a miscellaneous work that could not be found online. It mostly discussed philosophy, but Chen Tuan himself was a Daoist scholar and a cultivator who practiced breath cultivation and grain abstinence. He was also one of the representative figures of the Daoist Elixir Cauldron School, so passages about cultivation could occasionally be found in his books.

Unfortunately, there was nothing else.

By now, his cat had finished licking its fur and tired itself out. It was already asleep beside him, its head resting against his leg as it lay flat on its back like a person, breathing evenly, its belly rising and falling slightly.

Chen Du put down the book and picked it up. It felt light and soft.

From inside to out, from flesh and bone to skin and fur, it was soft all over.

He remembered when he had first picked it up. It had been barely half the size of his palm. When Chen Du held it in his hand, it could only cover the base of his palm lying crosswise, leaving his four fingers empty. Before he knew it, it had grown this big.

Chen Du carried it back to his sleeping quarters.

Before bed, he searched on his phone as usual to see whether anyone else had noticed the resurgence of spiritual qi or been affected by it. But aside from some people putting on a show of mystery, he found nothing that truly matched what he had seen and felt.

He had even followed a few pet bloggers online. Though their pets were also very clever on camera, he could not rule out editing, training, and repeated takes, and he could not determine the spiritual light around those pets through a screen. In the end, it was impossible to be sure.

Early the next morning, he opened his eyes, and everything seemed normal.

Chen Du saw that his cat had pulled the curtain open a little and was sitting on the windowsill with its back to him, facing outside, seemingly staring blankly at the view.

At the slightest sound, it turned its head.

"You're awake? Any changes?"

Still bleary-eyed, Chen Du asked casually.

But the cat stared straight at him, deadly serious, and repeated his words, one at a time:

"Are! Awake!"

Its voice and tone were both light and delicate, much like a cat's.

"?"

Chen Du was instantly wide awake.

He had woken up to find his cat learning to talk?

"You can talk now?"

The cat remained solemn and serious, repeating him like a recording:

"Can! Talk!"

"..."

For a moment, Chen Du could not tell whether it was simply mimicking him or had an awareness of language of its own. He thought for a moment:

"You can only say two words?"

"Two! Words!"

"Huh? You can say three words?"

"Say! Three! Words!"

Its voice was clear and crisp, while the solemn seriousness on its face seemed to be mocking him.

It seemed to have an awareness of language of its own.

Though it was acting strangely.

"Then do you know what your name is?"

"Side-Swept! Bangs! Come! Here!"

After saying that, it could not help licking its paw. Its name was a little long, and saying it had tired it out.

It seemed it really did have an awareness of language.

That was not hard to understand. Even before today, it had already been able to fully understand what Chen Du said. The reason it could not speak for itself might have been the limitations of its physiology. Now that it had eaten a spirit fruit and gained enlightenment, it could naturally try to turn what it heard into speech.

It just needed practice.

"Very good. Study hard and cultivate well. I'll be counting on you to protect me in the future."

Chen Du smiled as he said this to it.

He said it casually, with nothing hidden behind it. Such words were meant for children; no one but a child would take them seriously.

Only the cat looked increasingly serious.

"According to humans, essence source is the foundation of essence qi and exists permanently in our bodies, while essence qi is ever-shifting. In ancient times, people often visualized essence source and essence qi as elevated platforms and divine fire. At the same time, because things in the realm of consciousness change with one's thoughts during visualization, they really can 'become' elevated platforms and divine fire.

"All paths to immortality are connected."

The temple was as quiet and secluded as ever that morning, making it a fine time for study and lectures on the Dao.

A woman of breathtaking beauty sat on a meditation cushion.

A cat sat upright on the wooden table opposite her. It had carried an insect in its mouth and hidden it behind itself, intending it as a gift for Yunzhi when it took her as its master. It had not brought it out yet, for fear the Daoist would confiscate it.

Yunzhi, meanwhile, was nervous and uneasy. She glanced to the side from time to time, her voice echoing through the temple:

"Ordinary people have three essence platforms, and small beasts like cats and foxes have the same number, differing only in size. The stronger the physique, the larger the essence platforms. So if people want to increase their essence platforms, they must either be nourished by the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, consume a treasure rarely found in the world, or continually temper their physiques."

Chen Du sat silently to the side.

Was tempering the physique to increase essence source what "nourish life and temper the body; from the body, produce essence" meant?

In that case, when monks and Daoists joined a monastery or temple in ancient times, the martial arts practice or heavy physical labor they did for the first few years had not been just the elders exploiting and oppressing the newcomers?

Yunzhi glanced at him again.

Sure enough, she thought, even though the immortal master believed in letting nature take its course, he still could not stop worrying about Senior Side-Swept and had come here especially to listen in.

That put her under a great deal of pressure as a teacher.

Fortunately, he showed no particular expression.

"I've heard that ancient cultivators tempered their physiques to increase their essence platforms from three to five. Then they could try to ignite their essence fire and begin refining qi."

Make essence into fire, gather the fire to refine qi?

Once again, it matched the contents of the ancient book.

"Some cultivators, however, had greater ambitions. Rather than rush to ignite their essence fire, they continued accumulating essence source and building essence platforms, reaching six or seven, even eight or nine, before igniting the fire. At that point, not only could they refine qi with half the effort and twice the result, but their physiques would also be stronger. Oh, 'half the effort and twice the result' means spending less effort for a better outcome.

"After beginning to refine qi, one can still build more essence platforms and thereby ignite more essence fires. But by then, a cultivator has already transcended the mundane. The spiritual qi of heaven and earth they absorb and the treasures they consume no longer act solely on their essence platforms. Instead, a large portion is refined into magical power by their essence fire. So when it comes to building essence platforms, it takes twice the effort for half the result.

"That means spending more effort..."

At that point, the solemn cat interrupted her:

"Side-Swept Bangs! Smart!"

"My mistake."

Yunzhi wiped away her sweat before continuing:

"In any case, once you begin refining qi, you would have counted as a qi refiner in ancient times, and as a cultivator in later times. You can refine magical power and use spells.

"The magical power you refine flows like water and can gather into a sea. That is why it is called a qi sea."

Refine qi into water, gather the water into a sea.

That passage was said to come from Patriarch Chen Tuan, and Patriarch Chen Tuan was a real Daoist master, scholar of the Changes, and grandmaster of inner alchemy whose existence could be verified in historical records.

Now the first half of it had all matched up.

All things truly were connected! This was an unexpected gain.

It suggested that the book had very likely been written by Chen Tuan.

Moreover, this cultivation method was clearly similar to the great Dao of the golden elixir practiced by the later Elixir Cauldron School. Given that one came before the other, there was very likely some borrowing between them. With Chen Tuan's status and insight as a grandmaster of inner alchemy, Chen Du felt that the second half was most likely correct as well.

The immortal master still showed no particular expression.

It seems I was right.

Or perhaps the immortal master only appears to be sitting here listening. In fact, he isn't listening at all, but practicing his own supreme secret art, just as he usually does.

Yunzhi could not guess.

"Little Immortal Master, you have been nourished by the spiritual qi of heaven and earth and have abundant essence source. You have also eaten a spirit fruit, so your essence platforms have long been sufficient. You can ignite your essence fire and refine magical power at any time. After reaching this stage, a yao can also transform from its original form into human form when the right opportunity arises, and learn spells, transformations, and supreme divine abilities.

"Little Immortal Master, close your eyes and follow my visualization."

Fortunately, Chen Du had already closed his eyes.

Since all paths to immortality were connected and Patriarch Chen Tuan's words matched hers, he decided to follow her visualization as well.

Even though Yunzhi herself was a yao and different from a human, and her method was one she had figured out herself-crude and primitive, with no telling whether it would work for him-the stones of another mountain could polish jade. Chen Du felt that he could at least draw on her experience and work things out himself; there was no reason not to try.

"Can you sense them, Little Immortal Master? Imagine them as elevated platforms, and they will gradually take that shape in your imagination."

"Meow!"

"How many are there?"

"Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow..."

"Eight? That's very good."

Yunzhi nodded, feeling deeply envious.

This was the effect of the spirit fruit.

When she had first ignited her essence fire, she had only had five. Even after cultivating further, she had only reached seven. She had eaten the spirit fruit bestowed by the immortal master, but since she was already refining qi, most of its spiritual qi had been refined into magical power by her lit essence fire. Her essence fire had only increased by one, bringing her just level with Senior Side-Swept.

"Although the more of these the better, there's no need to blindly pursue more. For example, I once heard that ancient qi refiners usually had no more than ten essence platforms. Each subsequent platform was taller and larger, but also harder to refine and condense, and its essence fire harder to ignite. Ancient qi refiners focused on refining qi and did not put most of their energy into essence fire. That would have been putting the cart before the horse.

"Those who practiced martial arts did the opposite. Unable to actively detect the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, they continuously tempered their bodies, soaked in medicinal baths, and even swallowed spiritual treasures. In this way, they kept gathering essence source, but did not ignite essence fire, building only essence platforms as their physical strength grew greater and greater. It is said that in ancient times, some martial artists had dozens or hundreds of essence platforms standing tall within their bodies. Their blood and qi were so vigorous that evil could not touch them, and gods and ghosts feared them. Some even entered the Dao through martial arts in this way and became saints in the flesh.

"Yao, on the other hand, vary in all sorts of ways. Some are like qi refiners, placing more importance on the qi sea than essence fire, while others lean somewhat toward tempering the body, placing more importance on essence fire than the qi sea.

"By my time, spiritual qi had dried up, and the ancient paths of cultivation had fallen into decline. Most Daoists in the world had split into two schools: one simply abandoned all of this and worshipped deities, practicing rituals and talismans; the other, because refining qi was simply too difficult, chose a middle path and cultivated both nature and life.

"But I've strayed from the subject.

"Yao like us are weak to begin with, unlike bears and tigers, whose strength lies in their power. Even if we keep gathering essence source and igniting more essence fires, we would only be spending more energy to follow a path we are not suited to. Sharpening the axe may not delay the chopping of wood, but we cannot spend three days sharpening it and two days chopping. It is better to take the best middle course, begin refining qi early, and put our energy into that.

"Only when a human reaches this stage can they be considered to have entered cultivation; only when a yao reaches this stage can they be considered to have truly become a spirit.

"Once you keep refining qi and grow your qi sea, you can be considered a master of your region, even in ancient pre-Qin times. Take another step beyond that, and even in ancient times, you could be called an earthly immortal.

"But Yunzhi has only reached the stage of gathering qi into a sea. Um, I'm ashamed to say I've only gathered a little puddle. As for what to do after that, I have no idea."

Chen Du was also visualizing his own essence platforms.

Although he had not yet eaten a spirit fruit and most likely did not meet the conditions to ignite his essence fire, he was curious how many essence platforms he had now.

"Four!"

Not bad, not bad. One more than an ordinary person, probably because of the abundant spiritual qi in the mountains.

Wait! What are those behind them that I can't see clearly?

Why do they look like essence platforms too?

He counted them roughly...

Over a thousand?

Oh no! I visualized them wrong!