Chapter 345: A ray of hope, another breakthrough
The immortal has been here for a hundred years.
In the nameless mountains, looking at the freshly dug pit in front of him, Gu Dan's expression looked unhappy.
They say there is no time in the mountains, and you don’t know the years until the cold ends.
In the blink of an eye, eleven years had passed since he left the Buzhou Mountains, and a full hundred years had passed since he witnessed the falling stars from the night sky.
During this period, he tried to refine Qi more than a hundred times, flattened several hilltops, and blew up many large pits, but there was no fluctuation in the progress of refining Qi.
Even if the method of refining Qi is derived from the Qi Refiners, it shouldn't be so difficult, right?
Although what he lacked the least was time, such continuous failures without any progress would undoubtedly make it difficult for him to be happy.
"Why did it fail?"
Looking at the horrific pit in front of him, Gu Dan was puzzled.
The method of refining Qi was passed down by ancient Qi cultivators. Compared to the mass graves used to refine the bloody Qi in "Refining Qi", he used his own blood to replace the original with the real thing and refine the blood Qi. The strength of the material should be higher, or even purer.
Logically speaking, the method should be at least one level better than the refining method for mass graves, right?
But over the years, the blood he had shed was more than enough to fill a large lake, and he never saw any hope of success. The best result would be to make the pit bigger.
No matter how humble he was, Gu Dan couldn't help frowning.
Either your method is wrong, or there may be some problems with "Qi Refining" itself.
If he just didn't make much progress, it wouldn't make Gu Dan too depressed. The more important thing is that it has been a full hundred years since the Night Star Fell.
A hundred years is really a long time for an immortal, right?
Even for a Jindan-level warrior, it's hard to say that it was just a blink of an eye, right?
When will the immortal who suddenly left this world come back? Could it be that after smashing down the stars, he just stopped caring about anything? But the fact is, there is no news from him.
It seemed that when he threw the star down, he just did it casually, and forgot about it after throwing it away.
In addition, with the passage of time, the overall strength of the Buzhou Mountains is undoubtedly increasing very rapidly.
He didn't make any significant progress, but Huang Chao and others were still climbing up.
It was inevitable that Gu Dan felt a rare sense of anxiety.
This time, Gu Dan did not choose to return to Ping'an Town to rest after failure, but started bleeding again.
He wanted to try to refine blood qi non-stop to see if it would be effective.
If you really don’t have any new insights, then just make up for it with quantity!
Things have been particularly unpeaceful recently in the nameless mountains of Zhenchuan.
Every once in a while, there will be an earthquake.
All the animals were frightened and fled in panic.
All the animals that originally lived deep in the mountains and forests fled out.
The people of Ping'an Village were quite happy at first. The prey that was originally difficult to find was now easy to find.
But if this kind of situation goes on for too long, it is inevitable that a few ferocious beasts will suddenly jump out and almost kill people.
After a careful inspection, the new village chief Zhuang Sheng told the villagers that this was just a temporary change and there was no need to worry, as it would be over soon.
Then he went deep into the mountains and found Gu Dan with bloodshot eyes.
"Brother Kong, why are you so anxious?"
After seeing Gu Dan, Zhuang Sheng raised his eyebrows slightly. At this moment, Gu Dan seemed to be a little bit abnormal, as if he had found himself in a dead end.
“Nothing ever works out.”
Gu Dan put down his hand, which was turning a little pale, and his face looked a little haggard.
The innate realm, after so many years, is almost becoming his inner demon.
Every time I feel that I have hope, various difficulties always emerge. Even if I endure the years, I can't make any progress.
His intelligence is considered to be above that of an ordinary person, but he still couldn't help being anxious and restless. An ordinary person would have given up long ago.
“Some things can be done by humans; some things still need to rely on the right time; and some things cannot be accomplished by individual efforts alone, and they require the right time, right place, and right people to accomplish.”
Zhuang Sheng comforted him, "Brother Kong has always been peaceful, why are you so anxious about this?"
“.”
There were too many words to express at once, and Gu Dan could only sigh.
Naturally, he hoped that he could reach the innate realm before the immortals arrived and before any changes occurred in the Buzhou Mountains. Only then would he feel at peace.
But some things may not go according to your wishes.
It is now one hundred and three years since I came to the Immortal Realm. I have been frantically refining blood energy for three years. It cannot be said that I have gained nothing, but I can only say that I have accomplished nothing.
His spirit was also somewhat exhausted.
"If you can't accomplish something even if you try hard, you might as well wait a little longer. Maybe a turning point will appear before you know it."
Zhuang Sheng pulled Gu Dan up and said, "Go back, go back to Ping'an Village to recuperate for a while. In a few days, the time we agreed on will come, so why not go and relax a little."
"What was the agreed time?"
Gu Dan was slightly startled. Although his condition was not very good, he was far from the stage of "old and blurry eyes". How could he not remember what he had promised? "Brother Kong, have you forgotten? When the carp jumped over the dragon gate, before leaving, the little girl promised to meet again this time."
Zhuang Sheng said casually.
"Has it been fourteen years?"
Gu Dan suddenly realized.
The scene of carp leaping over the Dragon Gate occurs once every fifteen years.
It seemed like only a few days ago that he last read it, but in the blink of an eye, it was time for him to make the leap.
For fourteen years, he worked hard for only one thing.
But unfortunately, nothing was achieved.
Returning to Ping'an Village, fourteen years have passed, and compared to when I first came here, there doesn't seem to be much change.
Perhaps it was because Gu Dan was not familiar with the people in this village, and he simply replaced them with a group of unfamiliar faces.
Instead, Zhuang Sheng said casually, "The old village chief who welcomed us passed away two years ago at the age of seventy-three. In the past two years, I was elected as the village chief."
Although he is the village chief, he actually has no special rights.
It's nothing more than a few words like 'highly respected', and being able to mediate conflicts between neighbors is considered qualified.
Although Zhuang Sheng has not been in Ping'an Village for a long time and is not even a native of the village, he is extremely capable and knowledgeable and never favors anyone over anyone.
No matter whether it was fishing, hunting or planting, he was very knowledgeable about them. Naturally, he was loved by the people of Ping'an Village, and it was not surprising that he was elected as the village chief.
When he returned to the thatched hut, Gu Dan was surprised to find that next to his and Zhuang Sheng's two thatched huts, the ground was covered with a layer of thatch. A little guy who looked only about one year old was crawling around happily on the thatched grass.
After seeing Zhuang Sheng, the little one tried even harder to climb up from the ground using both his hands and feet, calling out in a baby voice, "Daddy!"
For a moment, it felt like a dream.
Gu Dan turned around to look at Zhuang Sheng, only to see that Zhuang Sheng looked calm. He leaned down and held the little guy in his arms, smiling and saying, "Hey."
“Is this your child?”
Gu Dan was extremely surprised.
A few years ago, Zhuang Sheng and his wife did not have children, so he thought Zhuang Sheng no longer had such thoughts.
Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, the child could already call daddy.
"Yes, his name is Zhuang Yun, Yun as in Clouds."
Zhuang Sheng raised the little guy's hands above his head. His ears could hear the little guy's excited, incoherent cries, and a hint of kindness flashed in his eyes.
It was at this moment that Gu Dan suddenly realized that most of Zhuang Sheng's hair had turned white - he should not have ignored these things, but deep in his heart, he seemed to have deliberately ignored the passage of time itself.
For him, fourteen years passed in the blink of an eye, which was enough time for many, many things to happen in the secular world.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
There were so many that he couldn't react quickly enough.
".A very nice name."
Gu Dan didn't know what expression he should make. He wanted to reach out and pinch the little guy's round, chubby face full of baby fat, but he had some concerns.
It was Zhuang Sheng who stuffed Zhuang Yun, who could barely utter a word, into Gu Dan's arms, and only then did Gu Dan hug the little guy somewhat at a loss.
Logically, he shouldn't be so flustered.
Because a long time ago, as long as a hundred years ago, he also held a little one in his arms and watched them grow up.
This matter should not be so unfamiliar to him.
But he hadn't been so close to anyone in a long time.
The little one rubbed his tender skin against Gu Dan's body, and stretched out his restless little hands to pull Gu Dan's beard. The little guy knew nothing, so naturally he seemed particularly arrogant and domineering. He stepped on Gu Dan's palm with his little feet, trying hard to climb up.
He grabbed Gu Dan's beard with one hand and groped his face with the other, as if trying to get some extra help. His short legs and feet were waving together, and he was making an incomprehensible humming sound. There was only curiosity in his pure eyes.
This newborn creature is so pure, ignorant, and yet full of enthusiasm.
Full of curiosity and ignorance about everything.
The anxiety in Gu's worry faded a lot without him noticing.
"This child is very healthy and energetic."
After calming down, Gu Dan finally held the little guy, who was just over one year old, in a position that was more comfortable for children, and then said.
"Ha, ever since Brother Kong came here, the people in Ping'an Village haven't been sick for many years. Not to mention serious illnesses, even minor illnesses have never appeared."
Zhuang Sheng said with a hint of meaning.
"Maybe it's because you are their lucky star?"
Gu Dan answered very naturally.
Curing diseases and saving lives, this phrase seems far away from him, but in fact he has always been doing it, but when he does it, it is just like the warm spring breeze, and it has reached the level of moistening things silently.
A true miracle doctor does not even need the patient to know who he is, as he can cure the disease without taking any medicine.
Although he cannot be the sun on earth, there is no problem for him to be a campfire in the dark to warm those who occasionally come to him.
"If so, isn't it a good thing?"
Zhuang Sheng laughed, "Come, have a drink."
For Gu Dan, life in the mountains is very peaceful.
Ping'an Village is located among the mountains of Zhenchuan. It is rarely visited and has not seen outsiders for many years.
Life here is truly 'work from sunrise to sunset' every day. In the whole village, you can hardly see a few households using oil lamps.
In order to calm down, Gu Dan followed Zhuang Sheng and watched a part of his life.
They are really no different from the people in Ping'an Village.
The same work from sunrise to sunset, the same wife and children, the same warm bed, the same busyness and leisure.
He is so ordinary that no one can even tell that Zhuang Sheng is actually a master, and he is even practicing Taoism at a lower level - his Taoism level has plummeted in recent years and there is no need to talk about it.
Every day when dusk approaches, many people in Ping'an Village would gather under the big trees next to the village to enjoy the cool air or even chat. Children could also run around freely, occasionally hearing the scolding and reprimands from their parents.
Occasionally, Zhuang Sheng was of use, for example, when a group of children wanted to hear a story and would gather around him and refuse to leave.
Zhuang Sheng never turned away anyone, no matter how many children there were, as long as they wanted to listen to him, he would talk.
Moreover, he told the story with great passion and emotion, without any slackness or perfunctoriness just because the other person was a little kid.
Occasionally, adults would come over and ask him about planting and hunting methods. Zhuang Sheng would roll up his sleeves and get started, carrying the stinking manure and spreading it in the fields with a calm expression.
Gu Dan has known many masters, and has also met many masters who are quite kind to the grassroots.
For example, Mo Qiu, Xun Ke, and Qin Lisheng.
But Zhuang Sheng is different from all of them.
Those people - they are kind to others, but they want to do too many things and they are too difficult. They rush along the way, and although they are still warm, they are like the scorching sun in the sky.
It nourishes everything, yet is difficult to approach.
But Zhuang Sheng is not like that.
If he is not the sun above everyone's head, he is just among the people.
People who are farther away cannot see him. Only when they are close can they sense the slightest bit of power in him.
When telling stories, he is a storyteller; when planting, he is a farmer; when hunting, he is a hunter; when educating villagers, he is the village chief; when facing children, he is a father; when chatting with Gu Dan, he is a Taoist friend Gu Dan thought about it and there were probably only six words that could appropriately describe what he saw in Zhuang Sheng.
Their combined light is the same as dust.
Zhuangzi could "enjoy himself" in everything.
In this world, Gu Dan has never seen anyone with a more open-minded and casual state of mind than Zhuangzi, and he himself is no match for him.
As the days passed, Gu Dan's mood gradually calmed down.
One day, when he was contemplating the "White Lotus Visualization Diagram" as usual, the sixth petal of the thirty-six lotus petals that had been silent for a long time slowly opened.
In an instant, it was as if a hurricane swept through Gu Dan's sea of consciousness. It was the first time that he perceived his sea of consciousness so clearly.
His vision instantly detached from himself and continued to spread out in all directions, ten feet, a hundred feet. Everything was now in his sight, every detail visible.
After fourteen years of hard work in refining blood qi, there has been almost no progress.
On the contrary, during the daily routine, which had become almost instinctive, the lotus in the White Lotus Visualization Picture finally opened its sixth petal.
His soul had once again achieved a breakthrough! As the sixth lotus leaf stretched out, a mysterious feeling entered Gu's mind, and he gradually realized something.
(End of this chapter)