Chapter 96: Blind, in These Mountains, to Calendared Days

　　Even though Gu Caiwei did not know how powerful those with supernatural powers were, she was convinced that they would not be weaker than a Huandan cultivator. It was likely that they were part of land immortals, which meant that they would be someone like an immortal Zhenren.

　　There were many different and varying techniques of cultivation. It could be that one was restrained by the other simply due to the difference of the Dao path that they took. However, if one could defeat a lot of top cultivators, it would mean that one was near to the summit of cultivation, and there was no flaw at all, which would be close to the attainment of Dao.

　　Such a character would not be able to be constrained by the heaven and the earth.

　　“Senior Apprentice-Sister, you still have yet to say how the mystical use of Taixu Strategy came from,” Shen Lian queried.

　　“Junior Apprentice-Brother, what are your thoughts about your Qi of vitality when you are meditating and cultivating your Qi?” Gu Caiwei’s vision flowed like water, and it fell on Shen Lian as she enquired gently.

　　“Senior Apprentice-Sister, are you asking about the eight powers of nature? They manifested in our world as the sky, earth, mountain, swamp, water, fire, wind, and lightning; they formed part of the world that we see now,” Shen Lian replied naturally. These eight powers were felt by him back when he had just entered Qing Xuan and was meditating and cultivating his Qi at the bamboo hut. When he was learning the Dao of Talisman, the Talismans were about tapping into these eight types of powers with the Qi of vitality to show its power.

　　The Talismans that he used earlier were all connected to these eight powers, or rather, most of the techniques or supernatural powers used by the cultivators and made them so special were all based on these eight powers.

　　“It is normal that you understood it that way as you are at the entry level of Dao of Talisman. However, the first step of Taixu Strategy was to cultivate these eight Qi into one’s body in order for one to understand a strand of the Taixu Dao meaning. That would form part of your foundation for Huandan, and would allow for you to enter into the state of “Ruhua”,” Gu Caiwei spoke.

　　The ones who entered into Ruhua, they were the ones who understood the spirit. Their techniques were activated by their spirit, which was why they could use any technique whenever they wanted to, without any blockage.

　　This was how Yan Bugui could form a Talisman with nothingness and could light it without any smoke or fire.

　　However, when the usage of technique was concerned, even if they were using the same Talisman, before Shen Lian had even completed one, Yan Bugui might already have used three or four of the Talismans.

　　Those who entered into Ruhua could use spells and supernatural powers as and when they wanted to and had the flair of Celestials.

　　******

　　Blind, in these mountains, to calendared days; Care not, as the cold wanes, what year it be!

　　Fifteen years had passed, and the Daoist assessment that took place once every five years had seen the same result ever since then. The top three were always Gu Caiwei, Yan Bugui, and Shen Lian.

　　Albeit unintentionally, Shen Lian became the most famed disciple who still had not attain the state of Huandan. His good character was the reason behind this. So long as he was not cultivating in solitary retreat, any of his fellow cultivators who approached him with cultivation-related questions would be met with open arms.

　　As those in the upper house were mostly related to the doyens, and were born with extremely favorable cultivation conditions, initially they were jealous about the rise of Shen Lian who appeared out of nowhere. However, even though Shen Lian was not the most diplomatic person ever, not even once did he look down on anyone, nor was he biased for or against anyone.

　　Some of the disciples had challenged him in secret but were easily defeated by him. However, Shen Lian had never spoken of these battle results in front of anyone.

　　If anything, it was the challenger disciples who felt ashamed by their action and had spilled the beans.

　　For that, they even faced punishment from the Disciplinary Hall.

　　The man in white, Zhao Siming had lost in his gamble against Lu Shouyi. Lu Shouyi reached a new understanding overnight and had sped up the growth of his spirit. He had now attained the state of Chushen, and was only one step away from being at Ruhua. He was not as good as Chen Jianmei was back then, but no one dared to question his eligibility as the disciple of the headmaster.

　　As for the young person who became Ge Yuan’s disciple, his Daoist name was “Zhao Wuji.” Though he had never joined the Dao assessment, and it would seem that the martial exercises he was cultivating did not belong to one of the one hundred and eight techniques of Qing Xuan. Ge Yuan too explicitly told him not to demonstrate his Dao technique in front of anyone.

　　Because of this, three of the senior disciples from Tianyuan Peak got into a fight with him. However, the outcome was shocking. Not only that Zhao Wuji emerged unscathed, those three almost had their Dao foundation destroyed. Two of the doyens approached Ge Yuan for that, and this showed the disciples how powerful Ge Yuan was.

　　Without anyone knowing, he entered into “Buxu” without relying on any instrument or spells. He could stand on nothingness and defied Earth’s gravity. Between breaths, he defeated the two Huandan doyens effortlessly.

　　Even though both the doyens entered into “Huandan” through the help of external alchemy, this still showed how unpredictably powerful Ge Yuan’s supernatural powers were.

　　Fifteen years had passed, and Chen Jianmei did not return. However, a new Cultivator of the Sword appeared on the faraway land of the West. After killing all of the demons and monsters in that mountain, he built a Daoist temple.

　　It was known as the “Temple of Killings”, and the world was shocked by this.

　　Zhang Ruoxu admitted that the “Temple of Killings” was a supplementary branch of Qing Xuan.

　　Even though a lot had happened, but none of it had much to do with Shen Lian.

　　He did not face any bottleneck on his path of spiritual enhancement at all. In fact, he managed to form a spiritual consciousness after attaining Chushen.

　　This was actually something that could only be formed after Huandan, and the cultivator would need the nourishment of Huandan to strengthen their Yin Spirit before its formation. However, he managed to accomplish it earlier with the help of the Art of Spiritual Enhancement.

　　This gave him an advantage when he was faced with cultivators who had yet attained the state of Huandan.

　　However, none of these made him happy. After fifteen years, he was still unable to accomplish the first step of the Taixu Strategy, which was the cultivation of eight Qi in his body. Sky, earth, mountain, swamp, water, fire, wind and lightning, these eight Qi once instilled into the body and combined with the mana, there would be eight different types of mana within the body. There would be conflicts with even two or three types of mana within the body, lest eight types.

　　If it was not for the strength of Shen Lian’s Yin Spirit and the fact that it triumphed over the mana within him, there were a few times where he insisted to instill the eight Qi into his body and almost sustained serious injuries.

　　This was when Shen Lian realized why there were not many who cultivated the Taixu Strategy.

　　Moreover, the eight Qi were segregated into Yin and Yang, and these were two different states of mind. Every clash left him feeling like his bier was on fire, and he felt extremely irritable. Even with the visualization technique from The Mastery of Senses, it would take him quite some time to recover some peace. Even so, he felt like he was not as carefree as he once was.

　　He also understood why Gu Caiwei had to be so gentle all of the time, it was to recover some peace in her mind. It would affect the cultivation process negatively if the mana within the body was triggered.

　　He was not tired of giving cultivation advice to others, as it was a way to train the mind. Moreover, he was hoping that he could be enlightened from other’s cultivation process, which might lead to the discovery of the key to the instillation of Qi into his body.

　　Gu Caiwei was not trying to withhold information from him. The instillation of Qi was a discovery that one needs to make and to experience for oneself. If he was told about the method of another person, he would be focusing too much on the mechanics and lost out of the true essence of the instillation of Qi.

　　Zhang Ruoxu was right when he said that this martial exercise was suitable for Shen Lian.

　　Those of Taixu, their Qi, their Dao, they could encapsulate anything and everything; they were beyond this world.

　　Shen Lian had the best Art of Spiritual Enhancement, and he had an advantage in terms of understanding the way of heaven and earth and the Dao meaning.

　　The River of Spirits flew quietly as usual, and yet Shen Lian had placed himself in it. That was because the pain caused by the River of Spirits to his Yin Spirit helped him to forget about the troubles of being stuck at a bottleneck.

　　He looked at the shadow on the shore. “Senior Apprentice-Sister, even though you are very old, but I’m after all a man, and you are a woman, could you not look for me when I’m naked? Don’t you think that it is awkward?” Said Shen Lian.

　　Gu Caiwei laughed cheerfully. “You can come take a look the next time I’m taking a shower,” she said.

　　“You must promise not to kill me then,” replied Shen Lian.

　　“I can’t promise that, however, it has been fifteen years and I’m surprised that you are still sane,” Gu Caiwei exclaimed.