The Origins of the Maoshan Qi Refining Technique

Late at night, all was still. Shadows of trees swayed outside the mortuary, and the occasional howl of a wolf came from the distant mountain forest, mingled with the occasional "Coo-coo~" of an unidentified bird.

Having finished cultivating, Lin Yu slowly opened his eyes and breathed out a mouthful of turbid Qi.

"Whew, cultivating feels so good. Being able to feel myself getting stronger bit by bit is really captivating. No wonder those big shots spend hundreds of years in seclusion." Feeling the spiritual power circulating through his meridians, Lin Yu was full of a sense of accomplishment.

If Lin Yu's cultivation weren't so low that cultivating couldn't yet replace sleep, he would still have been meditating.

"After cultivating for half the night, the spiritual power in my body has grown a little stronger. I should be able to enter the Dao Child Realm before long, right?" Lin Yu took stock of his condition, his eyes full of fighting spirit.

"Mm, time for bed."

"Good morning, Master." Lin Yu yawned as he stepped out of his room and immediately spotted Uncle Nine practicing a boxing routine in the courtyard.

"Mm, Xiao Yu, come here. Although you're not at the right age for body tempering, these Seven Star Steps are just right for exercising your body. Watch carefully."

"Yes, Master." Lin Yu immediately pulled himself together.

"Xiao Yu, I'll teach you these Seven Star Steps. When you practice, remember to recite the accompanying incantation silently." Uncle Nine gave the instruction after steadying his breathing.

"First step: primeval Qi of chaos, pour into my form."

Uncle Nine performed the corresponding movements as he recited the incantation.

"Second step: Yu's steps propel one another, ascending to the bright yang."

As Lin Yu watched Uncle Nine's demonstration, he entered a state of comprehending the Dao.

[Ding~ You watched an expert demonstrate the Seven Star Steps and comprehended the Daoist body-tempering and health-preserving technique, Seven Star Steps.]

Uncle Nine finished the routine and turned to see Lin Yu standing there in a daze. Thinking it had been too difficult for him to remember, he was about to ask when he saw Lin Yu start to move.

"This... this is an epiphany?!"

"Heaven truly blesses our Maoshan. I, Lin Jiu, finally have a successor." Uncle Nine couldn't contain his joy.

For a moment, Lin Jiu even felt that Lin Yu was an immortal reincarnated; his talent was already beyond comparison with that of ordinary people.

"Master, I think I've learned it." Seeing Uncle Nine standing there in a daze, Lin Yu felt a little at a loss.

"Good, good, there's nothing wrong. You've mastered this technique, but remember, it's best to practice it at night. Qi is born in the kidneys at the hour of the rat, and that's when practicing the Seven Star Steps is most effective." Uncle Nine happily patted Lin Yu's little head.

"Yes, I'll remember, Master." Lin Yu was still a complete novice at cultivation, so he carefully committed everything Uncle Nine said to memory, afraid that one day he might cripple himself through careless practice.

"Get familiar with the basic movements first. I'll go wake your senior brother." Uncle Nine spoke gently, then picked up the cane in the corner and walked into Wen Cai's room.

"Senior Brother Wen Cai, you're done for."

"Ow, ow! Master, stop hitting me! I'm up, I'm up!" Before long, Wen Cai's miserable cries reached Lin Yu's ears.

"Hmph, look at your junior brother. He's only eight, and he cultivates so diligently. Now look at yourself. Day after day, you're just like a pig-all you do is eat and sleep."

With the cane in hand, Uncle Nine chased Wen Cai out into the courtyard.

"How is Junior Brother cultivating? Why does he look just like that bunch of old men at the village entrance, moving so slowly?" Seeing Lin Yu practice, Wen Cai just had to court death by making a snide remark.

"Hm! What did you say?" Uncle Nine's face instantly darkened, and he grabbed Wen Cai by the back of his collar.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"Hmph, look at you. You can't even remember the Seven Star Steps I taught you. Sigh." Uncle Nine walked over to the side and sat down helplessly.

"Master, don't be angry. I... I'll go make breakfast." As Wen Cai ran off, he cast Lin Yu a pleading look, hoping he would help.

"Master, don't be angry with Senior Brother Wen Cai either. Senior Brother, he... he..." Lin Yu tried to comfort Uncle Nine, but as he spoke, he found he couldn't think of any good points to list for Wen Cai.

"Sigh, Xiao Yu, you're the most talented person of your generation I've seen. You mustn't follow your two senior brothers' example." Uncle Nine patted Lin Yu's head as he spoke.

"Mm, Master, don't worry." Lin Yu thought that was completely impossible. Ever heard of a golden finger? Besides, as someone from Earth, he had dreamed all kinds of dreams of cultivating to immortality since childhood. How could he possibly waste his time now?

"By the way, Master, when I cultivated that Maoshan Qi Refining Technique you gave me yesterday, I wondered if I was practicing it wrong. I keep feeling uncomfortable when it circulates through a few of my meridians." Seeing that Uncle Nine was feeling down, Lin Yu found a topic to divert his attention.

"Hm? How could that be? Give me your hand; let me have a look." Uncle Nine hurriedly sat up and grabbed Lin Yu's arm. He had finally managed to take him in as a disciple; he couldn't let him carelessly cripple himself through practice.

"It's all right. Your meridians are perfectly normal. Before long, you'll be able to enter the Dao Child Realm." Uncle Nine examined him with spiritual Qi and found everything normal.

"But I keep feeling that the way it circulates through the meridians in a few parts of the incantation shouldn't be like that." Lin Yu scratched his head in puzzlement.

"What! You can really sense that?"

Uncle Nine had just found that Lin Yu was fine and about to break through to the next realm. He was about to lean back in his reclining chair in relief when Lin Yu's question made him leap to his feet.

"This... this is truly the blessing of our founding ancestor! Sigh, what a pity, what a pity." Uncle Nine was excited at first, but gradually grew regretful.

"Master, what's wrong?" Looking at Uncle Nine, whose expression had changed like a Sichuan opera mask, Lin Yu tugged at the hem of his clothes.

"Sigh, Xiao Yu, the technique you're cultivating wasn't originally called the Maoshan Qi Refining Technique." Uncle Nine carried Lin Yu over to the portrait of the founding ancestor, lit a stick of incense, and paid his respects.

"This technique is actually only for the early stages; it's just one part of the whole. After you become an immortal and reach the Heavenly Court, an ancestor will naturally teach you how to continue cultivating.

"Unfortunately, in this day and age, no one can become an immortal anymore, so Maoshan's inheritance has naturally been cut off as well.

"You could also say it's been cut off in the mortal world, while the big shots in heaven still sit and watch the winds and clouds of the mortal world shift.

"Sigh, the Maoshan Qi Refining Technique you have was actually known in ancient times as the Jade Maiden and Joy God Technique. Legend has it that it drew on the powers of the Jade Maiden and the Joy God, but ever since the Heavenly Court severed contact with the mortal world, only an incomplete version has remained."

"Then, Master, there's nothing wrong with me cultivating it, right?" Lin Yu asked curiously as he sat on Uncle Nine's lap.

"Cultivate without worry. This was perfected and completed by the successive sages of Maoshan. There won't be any problems before you become an immortal." Uncle Nine patted Lin Yu's little head, reassuring him.

There was something else Uncle Nine left unsaid: the technique had actually only been perfected up to the Heavenly Master Realm. After that, because the technique was incomplete and the Heavenly Court no longer showed itself, yet the heavenly rules still stood, secret techniques could not be passed on to those who had not become immortals.

This also meant that very few people from Maoshan became immortals.

They could continue cultivating after going down below, but that meant cultivating the path of a ghost immortal, which was already vastly different from the way humans cultivated. The founders of Maoshan could only say they were willing to help but unable.

If you didn't become an immortal, they couldn't pass on the subsequent techniques to you either.

So many sages of Maoshan had all ended up going down below. This accursed Dharma-ending world, that accursed Liu Bowen.

"But the world today is nothing like it was in ancient times. Spiritual Qi is thin, and the Heavenly Court no longer shows itself. Becoming a Heavenly Master already makes one a top existence in the mortal world; becoming an immortal is impossible." As Uncle Nine spoke, he sighed over Lin Yu having been born at the wrong time.

But Lin Yu was different. He had a golden finger. If he couldn't even become an immortal, he would be letting down the myriad heavens and worlds.

Lin Yu also heard the implication in Uncle Nine's words, but what could he do? He could only blame himself for being born at the wrong time. Fortunately, he had Heaven-Defying Comprehension. As long as he had enough knowledge, he refused to believe he couldn't forge a path of his own.

"Sigh, to think our Maoshan actually enjoyed a period of glory in ancient times."

Perhaps Uncle Nine had opened the floodgates, for he held Lin Yu and chatted with a look of deep feeling.

"During the Song dynasty, a powerful mutated zombie appeared. It was said to be a demon formed from the union of a blue-skinned ghost and an imperishable-bone zombie.

"That demon brought calamity upon people everywhere, and at one point turned half the southwest into a kingdom of zombies.

"Because the demon appeared so suddenly, the Maoshan founding ancestor of that time set out without preparation, taking more than half of Maoshan's accumulated resources to subdue it and prevent further slaughter.

"The outcome was only to be expected. Very few returned, and Maoshan suffered such a grievous blow that it had no choice but to close its mountain gates.

"From then on, our Maoshan never recovered. Many sages fell in that era."

The more Uncle Nine spoke, the more desolate his face became. He hated his own talent, and he hated this era in which no one could become an immortal.