Pure Meditative Concentration, Refining Qi into Spirit

Yu Tunzhou hurried back to his room. Not only did he shut the door, he also found some coarse linen to cover the window.

Heed advice, and you would eat your fill.

For the nights ahead, even if Dingguang called for his senior brother to save him outside, Yu Tunzhou would at most lift a corner of the linen and take a couple of looks.

Yu Tunzhou blew out the oil lamp, sat on the bed, and settled into a relatively comfortable position. He regulated his breathing, focused his mind, and began practicing the Qi Ingestion Method.

His breathing gradually grew long and steady, and his mind grew clear and empty with it. Yet he could never move beyond the stillness of his body to another level.

This time, Yu Tunzhou failed to enter Meditative Concentration through stillness.

He noticed it, and disappointment spread through him like a stone dropped into a lake, sending out ripples that disturbed the rhythm of his breathing.

Once he noticed that, he grew calm again.

His entry into Meditative Concentration the previous night had been so sudden that he himself did not know how he had entered that state. It was only natural that he could not repeat it tonight, so there was no need to dwell on it.

Just because he could not enter Meditative Concentration did not mean he had nothing to do.

Yu Tunzhou continued breathing and guiding his Inner Qi through his body.

Without the aid of the inner sight that came with Meditative Concentration, he was like a man blindfolded, and his practice of the breathing method was bound to be bumpy.

He did not grow anxious because of it. The more things went wrong, the more slowly he proceeded. It was like an invisible contest of strength, and he chose to seek victory through steadiness.

A short while later.

The strand of Inner Qi in his Dantian, which had originally been sluggish, got back on track. As he inhaled, he drew the pure Qi of heaven and earth into his body; as he exhaled, he washed away the turbid Qi within.

Everything had largely returned to how it had been the previous night.

As he practiced the breathing method, his Inner Qi circulated without cease and naturally grew stronger. Its rate of progress was noticeably faster than yesterday.

A gentle force was "adding fuel to the fire."

This was the effect of the Dragon Fish.

Everything was becoming orderly, steadily improving one step at a time, just like the life Yu Tunzhou longed for.

His mind grew ever more calm and tranquil. In this state, he actually crossed an invisible boundary little by little.

Entering Meditative Concentration Through Stillness.

He had not deliberately sought it out. It had simply...

Had the water reached the channel?

The water had indeed reached the channel.

A faint joy arose in his heart, but it did not disturb his present state of mind. It was as though he stood on high, looking down at himself.

This Meditative Concentration was like breathing.

Just as people could breathe without needing to know how.

He too had mastered Meditative Concentration without realizing it.

At that moment.

It was as though he were asking himself, What did you just do?

The answer was that he had done nothing. He had simply done what he could in the moment, as he always had, whether practicing his fists or tending the vegetable garden, and worked to do it better. In the end, he had found completeness and fulfillment in those things, and so entered Meditative Concentration through stillness.

Could I enter Meditative Concentration just by being myself?

Curiosity stirred in Yu Tunzhou. He carefully reflected on every detail of what had just happened, and understanding gradually dawned in his heart.

Perhaps Meditative Concentration was not "reaching" a destination, but the process of "peeling away" along the way.

Like an... onion?

People were born pure and unblemished, possessing their true nature from the start. Yet as they grew up, they strayed ever further from that original, natural self, putting on layer after layer of "clothing"-

Connections, jobs, designer clothes, cars, houses...

How many people spent their lives adorning and protecting "themselves," taking joy or suffering over the shape, size, and smell of those layers of clothing?

Wrapped in layer upon layer of clothing and wearing mask after mask, they still sought a better, stronger, more complete self. In the end, they were like onions growing ever thicker.

True Meditative Concentration meant peeling away the things mistaken for the "self" and seeing one's truest self again.

Over the past three years, Yu Tunzhou had never given up practicing Taijiquan, not only because of an offhand remark from Old Mo, but also because it was his tie to his previous life.

He was most relaxed when he practiced Taijiquan. He did not need to worry about the fortunes or misfortunes of the past; he simply practiced his fists, and practiced, and practiced.

His mind was free of distractions, pure and natural.

Thus, the more he practiced, the calmer his heart became.

Just as it was now.

Whether washing away the gaudy adornments.

Or wiping the dust from his heart.

Meditative Concentration was like subtraction. Only by removing, one by one, the disguises donned upon entering the mundane world could one see the purest "self" in tranquility and contentment.

Being oneself was the pursuit of truth, and was also being a True Person: finding one's most fundamental self again amid the red dust of the mundane world.

What Yu Tunzhou did not know at this moment was that Senior Zhang, who admired him, had described him as "someone who has always been himself; whether or not he is a True Person, he is a True Person."

As he entered Meditative Concentration, the black cloth over his eyes fell away, and Yu Tunzhou once again saw the paths along which Inner Qi flowed through his meridians.

At a thought.

His Inner Qi condensed into a single thread and slowly circulated through his meridians. When it passed the Mingmen at his waist, the warmth grew stronger, warming his internal organs like a tiny furnace.

He intended to seize this opportunity to complete the first cycle of the Great Spirit Courtyard while practicing the Qi Ingestion Method.

His Inner Qi followed the Great Spirit Courtyard route, circulating like rushing thunder as it passed through the acupoints and Qi reservoirs he had long since settled on.

With the inner sight of Meditative Concentration, using his Inner Qi as his "eyes," Yu Tunzhou saw the many meridians and acupoints within his body. More than a hundred acupoints and Qi reservoirs were joined by a crisscrossing network of meridians, stretching and rising and falling like mountain ranges, full of unceasing life and majestic in their aspect.

Within the little human body, a vast heaven and earth truly lay hidden!

Yu Tunzhou suddenly opened his eyes, his body tensing-

The thread of Inner Qi plunged straight down like a waterfall, and a peal of spring thunder exploded through the heaven and earth within his body, causing the Blood Qi throughout him to surge and churn without cease.

Yu Tunzhou gritted his teeth, his face pale. The Qi and Blood throughout his body churned with the circulation of his Inner Qi. The sensation was far from pleasant, like tides of Qi and Blood inside his body.

Large patches of his skin had turned a deep red, a truly frightening sight.

At last, the thread of Inner Qi reached the bottom, all the way to the Zhiyin Acupoint, then began to rise again. In a single burst, it was like a hanging waterfall plunging into a gushing spring.

The reverberations that only he could hear were like thunder!

Once the Inner Qi had traveled through his limbs, it began to rise through the rest of his body.

During this descent and ascent, this rise and fall, the churning of his Qi and Blood was beyond description. It was as though his internal organs were shifting out of place, and whenever it reached its peak, Yu Tunzhou felt his vision go black.

It's only the first cycle, and the Blood Qi backlash is already this fierce?!

If he had not been in Meditative Concentration, it would have been no surprise if he had fainted.

Yu Tunzhou took a deep breath, knowing full well that the hardest hurdle was still ahead.

He had to reach the Shenting in one step, without the slightest obstruction, or all his previous efforts would come to nothing.

By this point, the strand of Inner Qi that had once been as fine as a needlepoint had gathered layer upon layer like a rolling snowball. Poised to erupt, it charged wildly through his meridians, battering the dam upstream.

Without much hesitation.

Yu Tunzhou drove the thread of Inner Qi upward.

The Inner Qi passed through the Zhiyang first. Already poised to erupt, it suddenly blazed fiercely, like a fire dragon run amok, charging up his spine as though it would recklessly burst through to the Shenting!

As his Blood Qi churned more violently, a mouthful of blood rose in Yu Tunzhou's throat.

He suddenly understood a little of why Daoist Shouxin had said that the one who created Refining the True stood too high.

In terms of building momentum alone, the force accumulated at the forty-eight preceding acupoints, together with the Zhiyang Acupoint, made reaching the Shenting Acupoint not only easy, but more than manageable. It was even so powerful that it became a burden instead!

This was the exact opposite of what he had initially imagined.

The difficulty of the Great Spirit Courtyard route was not that one could not break through the final hurdle, but that momentum was built up for too long, causing an excessive Blood Qi backlash!

No wonder Xie Linchuan had specifically reminded him to change the route and reduce the number of acupoints if he could not withstand it.

Reducing the number of acupoints used to build momentum by just two would correspondingly lessen the Blood Qi backlash.

But the new route laid out by the golden text added an acupoint rather than removing any.

With no time to think further, Yu Tunzhou forcibly diverted the nearly uncontrollable Inner Qi slightly, sending it through the Shendao Acupoint.

An astonishing sight unfolded.

The turbulent, violent Qi, rushing like a fire dragon, had barely entered the Shendao Acupoint when it seemed to plunge into a deep pool. Its surging momentum turned calm in an instant.

A faint gentleness seemed to spread from deep within his brain, like a spring breeze sweeping over a wasteland, its calmness just right.

The injury to his mind, which had not yet healed from the previous night, was now nourished by a current of warmth, until his mind became clear and tranquil.

Even the turmoil of the surging Blood Qi within his body was partially harmonized at this moment.

After shedding most of its turbulence in the Shendao Acupoint, the Inner Qi became gentler and steadier. It rose at a measured pace, finally reaching the Shenting and settling safely.

Although this step still caused a Blood Qi backlash, it was far less severe than before.

Yu Tunzhou did not continue for the time being. Instead, he brought the practice to a close, ending with the first cycle.

The churning Blood Qi gradually settled, and the deep red faded from his skin, restoring it to normal. A feeling of ease spread through his body.

"Shendao Acupoint, Yang Qi transformed into spirit..."

Yu Tunzhou slowly opened his eyes, his heart clear and bright. A lustrous gleam passed through his eyes. This was no illusion, but proof that his Primordial Spirit was clear and strong.

First through Zhiyang, the hub of Yang Qi, then through Shendao, where Yang Qi transforms into spirit... Does that nourish the soul and Primordial Spirit?

Is this "Spirit Transformation"?

This counts as refining Qi into spirit, doesn't it?

Yu Tunzhou murmured inwardly.

Although he had yet to master a visualization diagram and could not directly sense the existence of his Primordial Spirit, the injury to his mind had just been soothed, leaving it clear and pure. This had to be related to his Primordial Spirit!

After half a day of deductions, the golden text had added the Shendao Acupoint to the Refining the True method. Not only did it ease the problem of excessive Inner Qi buildup and severe Blood Qi backlash, it also had the effect of nourishing the Primordial Spirit!

As for whether adding another acupoint also secretly accorded with the Great Dao as that expert saw it...

Yu Tunzhou chose first to trust his own "Yi."

And even if it did not, so what?

The town had its own immortal fortune.

With the first cycle complete, his Inner Qi settled back into his Dantian.

Yu Tunzhou carefully examined the changes within his body.

Circulating Qi through the Great Spirit Courtyard could indeed be practiced alongside the Qi Ingestion Method, and it brought many benefits.

After one complete circuit of the Great Spirit Courtyard, both the refinement of his Inner Qi and the expansion of his meridians far surpassed what simple breathing practice could achieve.

These were all tangible improvements.

In particular, passing through Shendao had even nourished his Primordial Spirit, an unexpected delight.

However, the side effect of the Refining the True method was also quite pronounced: Blood Qi backlash.

The Blood Qi throughout his body had surged like the tides, piling up in layers and churning through him like floodwaters.

Even though passing through Shendao at the end had softened the final impact, the earlier surges of Blood Qi had still been unpleasant.

Especially as cycle followed cycle, the Blood Qi backlash also built up in layers.

No wonder not even the great martial sects of the world could produce anyone capable of completing forty-nine cycles while in the Qi Ingestion Realm.

After sorting through what he had gained, Yu Tunzhou once again began practicing Qi Ingestion.

Only when daylight slipped through the gaps at the edges of the covered window and spilled into the room did Yu Tunzhou gradually finish.

And at some unknown point, a small cyclone had formed around him.

It was as though the heaven and earth around him had formed a still-faint vortex centered on his body, drawing the surrounding air toward him.

Spark Instruction, second layer.

Now that Yu Tunzhou had entered the second layer, the overbearing nature of this Qi Ingestion Method had finally begun to show its edge.

Once he advanced through the layers of Spark Instruction in the future, this vortex would expand with him, sweeping up the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi with the force of a whale swallowing the sea.

Yu Tunzhou slowly opened his eyes, the clear gleam in them fading, and gently exhaled a breath of turbid Qi.

The white breath condensed without dispersing, stretching two feet long. It lingered in the air for a long time, winding like a flood dragon and coiling before his face.