Under the tiger's gaze, a faint aura of light emerged around Qi Wuhuo. The young man closed his eyes slightly, and under the guidance of the orthodox methods, his spirit controlled his vital energy and circulated it throughout his body.
With the help of this spiritual liquid, even a slightly spiritual mountain fox could enter into meditation, enter a state of obscure mystery, and practice according to instinct. What's more, Qi Wuhuo could easily enter such a state.
In this state, one can vaguely feel the mysterious existence within the limbs and bones.
It is difficult to describe in words, but one can feel its inestimable preciousness.
Qi Wuhuo subconsciously followed the method taught by Menghu to gather and refine these invisible and intangible [primary energy of all things].
The speed was slow, but the progress was real. However, at this moment, Qi Wuhuo's vitality naturally flowed through his flesh and blood, and the method that the old man had previously described suddenly rose in his heart -
When the mind is empty, the spirit is focused; when the spirit is focused, the qi gathers; when the qi gathers, essence is produced.
The so-called Tao.
It is between action and inaction.
Collecting and refining is action, while gathering Qi and generating essence is inaction.
There is no need to distinguish between the two.
At this moment, Qi Wuhuo suddenly had an epiphany, as if the Yin and Yang fish had come together. The process of refining the essence suddenly sped up a lot. Although it was accelerated, it was still in a balanced state, neither fast nor slow, like the wind blowing over lotus flowers. Qi Wuhuo's spirit was above it, and he understood what the old man meant by the mystery of using spirit to control qi.
I was in a daze, not knowing where I was or how much time had passed.
Eventually, the mysterious feeling from all the limbs and bones condenses in the lower dantian, faintly forming a point of spiritual light.
It's like opening up a river channel.
The essence in the body began to gather naturally.
The essence is in the lower dantian, the qi is in the middle dantian, and the spirit is in the mudwan between the eyebrows. The three form a subtle cycle. The essence is the basis of life, the qi is the integration of flesh and blood, and the spirit is why I am me.
At the moment when the three treasures appeared, Qi Wuhuo finally felt a sense of difference as he embarked on a spiritual practice. It was as if he had been looking at the world and himself in the past, but was just seeing flowers in the fog. Now, although it cannot be said that the fog has dissipated all at once and what he saw before his eyes was no longer obscured, it was slightly dispersed. Suddenly, he felt something, his essence sank, his energy rose, his soul responded and moved, and the young man instinctively tilted his head.
At this moment, there was actually just a dead leaf fallen from the end of Qi Wuhuo's hair. A white monkey curiously reached out to touch Qi Wuhuo, wanting to help him take the leaf off, but the monkey was so quick and agile that it failed to touch him.
Qi Wuhuo tilted his head slightly and passed by just right.
It was all stunned.
Then the young man opened his eyes with a calm expression.
The body is covered with morning dew.
The monkey just reacted and his eyes widened.
Being avoided?!
It wasn't an avoidance, it was as if he knew in advance that he was going to extend his claws, and he made the move in advance...
The ape was confused and looked at his paw.
I clearly already have a hint of spiritual charm. I swallowed the elixir with my essence as the core. Later, by chance, I obtained a trace of evil spirit from the three hundred year old Gengjin iron and cultivated the Gengjin magic power. However, this human being is still ordinary. How could he predict the future and avoid me?
The tiger, which was over ten feet long and extremely ferocious, stood up and looked at Qi Wuhuo, wondering:
"...Is this your first time to collect essence?"
Qi Wuhuo nodded: "I also want to thank the mountain god for clearing up my doubts."
"No, that's not necessary..."
The tiger shook his head.
He looked at Qi Wuhuo with amber eyes and said in a low voice:
"What a talent...what a talent..."
Seeing that Qi Wuhuo didn't seem to understand where his emotion came from, he sighed, walked back to the large flat bluestone, lay down there, and said:
"Primordial Essence is the treasure of all life, and it must be retrieved if one is to embark on the Great Way."
After thinking for a long time, he said, "How do you think I practice?"
Qi Wuhuo looked at the white-browed tiger with hanging eyes, which was more than ten feet long, and thought of his big cauldron, which was refined by fire for nine times, as if the whole mountain was drunk. He also recalled the monsters he had seen in his childhood and said, "It is very powerful."
The tiger accepted the compliment and said with emotion: "I have cultivated to this point, occupying the land veins of sixteen mountains to nourish my vitality and refine my supernatural powers. All those who come and go are mountain gods and earth gods. The gods of the land and the city call me the Lord of the Mountain. The monsters and true spirits avoid me when they see me. The true cultivators who come and go respect me, and the ghosts and spirits are afraid of me."
"If you occupy a piece of land, you will live 500 years."
"However, I was able to cultivate Yuan Jing because I swallowed 1500-year-old Huang Jing when I was young. By chance, I then cultivated for 30 years. Yuan Jing was formed, Yuan Qi was born, and the essence and Qi combined to form the Xiantian Qi."
"But I am far inferior to you."
The tiger sighed and said, "Should we say that humans are more spiritual than animals, or should we say that you are not an ordinary person?"
Qi Wuhuo suddenly asked, "Five hundred years old Huangjing?"
The tiger smiled and replied, "It is the thousand-year-old Huangjing you found. When I was young, I devoured half of it and almost ruined his cultivation. Later, I traveled through the eighteen states and promised him that I would protect him and support his cultivation for a thousand years."
"Because you didn't do anything to him, I invited you to come here to listen to the sermon."
This five-hundred-year-old tiger stared at Qi Wuhuo.
This person's aptitude is so strong. Although there are obstacles at every step in the practice of Taoism, this person has the potential to cultivate the innate Qi in the future. Furthermore, he can reach the state of three flowers gathering at the top of the head. At that level, he can be called a real person by the Taoist sect, and practitioners from other sects must show respect when they meet him. In terms of overall strength, he is at the level of finding a place with beautiful mountains and rivers and opening a Taoist sect.
Therefore, compared with the cheerful and heroic attitude at the beginning, the tiger unconsciously became calmer and more relaxed, showing equality. The mountain spirit beasts who had tasted this a little bit were all a little surprised and astonished, wondering why this mortal who had not even cultivated magical powers could be valued so much by a mountain god?
Qi Wuhuo discussed with the Tiger Mountain God the methods of collecting, refining and cultivating the Yuan Jing Ming Bao.
They didn't stop until the sun was high in the sky. The mountain god saw that Qi Wuhuo was about to leave, so he asked with a smile, "Wuhuo, I see you came up with a basket on your back. Are you here to look for medicinal herbs? Tell me what you need. As long as it's available on these mountains, we can give it to you."
Qi Wuhuo saw that the deer spirit's body stiffened, and even its tail stopped swinging.
Seeing the green snake stop sticking out its tongue, the fox spirit lowered its head, knowing that they were growing spiritual herbs and that the mountain god had given them the grace of enlightenment and preaching. These mountain larks would not refuse his request, but even so, they were afraid that Qi Wuhuo would ask for too much and take away all the spiritual herbs they had accumulated with great difficulty.
The young man blinked his right eye at the fawn, then lifted the backpack and replied with a smile:
"It's noon, and there are old people at home. I came to the mountain to pick some mountain products."
"If possible, it would be nice to have winter bamboo shoots."
"I'm going to visit a friend tomorrow and bring some gifts."
After hearing the reason why Qi Wuhuo came here, the mountain god laughed heartily and said, "There are no other good things in the mountains, but there are a lot of mountain products for winter. We have as many as you want. Come, give my guest a farewell gift!"
So the many spiritual beasts in the mountains took action.
The bowl-sized snake had a scarlet fruit on its head, the fox held a ginseng in its mouth, and the monkey that had cultivated the power of Gengjin was holding a gourd of wine. In addition, there were countless winter bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, and kudzu roots. Qi Wuhuo was stunned:
"This is……"
The boy reacted and said, "Too many."
The tiger laughed loudly and said, "You treated us as friends and did not blackmail us for the elixir."
"So I consider you a friend too!"
"How can I go back empty-handed if my friend comes to meet me for the first time?"
The tiger claws controlled the wind, preventing Qi Wuhuo from stopping.
He smiled and explained:
"Don't worry, these are all my own accumulation from traveling around the world. I won't take them. You're welcome!"
Before Qi Wuhuo could refuse, the small backpack was already filled with all kinds of mountain products, including aged elixirs, ginseng, polygonatum, angelica sinensis, and a gourd of wine brewed from a variety of flowers and fruits. The familiar deer spirit also gave him a rather large piece of polygonatum. Qi Wuhuo reached out and touched its head, which made the deer spirit squint its eyes very comfortably and rub his palm.
The mountain god tiger escorted Qi Wuhuo all the way to the mountainside, then stopped and instructed:
"There is nothing to do in the mountains. If you have time, you can come up to the mountains and discuss the Dao."
He watched Qi Wuhuo leave before turning around and going back to the mountain.
Qi Wuhuo walked briskly down the mountain and returned home. He opened the door and saw the old man still making tea, waiting for him to cook. Qi Wuhuo put the things in the backpack into the storeroom, took out ten coins, and went to buy a pound of bacon and some vegetables. After coming back, he sliced the winter bamboo shoots and stewed the Polygonatum odoratum that Xiaolu Ling had given him.
The staple food is still yellow rice and a plate of crispy side dishes.
The old man raised his eyes while making tea, and when he saw Qi Wuhuo, his eyes slightly raised and his movements paused.
"Your essence..."
Qi Wuhuo knew that the old man was unfathomable.
Put the things down and think about it.
He clasped his hands and replied:
“I have accomplished it.”