Chapter 5: Cultivation Experiences and Qi Absorption Techniques

  Under the dark earthen wall, an oil lamp flickered with a faint light.

  Wang Chen was dragged to the old man's woodshed, and the old man didn't beat around the bush, thick-skinnedly looking for antiques. Underneath the dry firewood on top, there was a wooden chest, which was covered in dust and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

  The dark red varnish on the wooden box occasionally falls off, revealing purple wood underneath.

  Wang Chen said that as a member of the gang, he had seen some scenes. This purple sandalwood is top-notch material, and just a small piece can cost tens of taels of silver. If this box were new, it would be worth over 1,000 taels! Wang Chen's previous joking expression disappeared, and he stared at the wooden box. The old man's face also became serious, and after dusting off the top of the box a few times, he and Wang Chen carried it out of the woodshed together.

  There were very few things in the box, just a few books with yellowed covers, exuding an ancient charm. The old man solemnly picked up several books and said somewhat despondently: "The other things left by our ancestors are all gone, now only these few ancient books remain."

  Wang Chen gazed at the ancient book with an interested expression. The old man continued, "I also asked Mr. to take a look, but except for a few articles, it's just a record of mythological anecdotes." As he spoke, the old man showed a helpless expression, extremely despondent, and the glory of his ancestors had all disappeared by his generation.

  Wang Chen didn't disappoint, but was very interested. Since he started his wandering life, Wang Chen had rarely read books, and the memories of reading in his childhood were still a beautiful memory in his heart. So, with a bow, he said: "Old man, may I take a look at this book?" The old man's life was saved by Wang Chen, and he didn't know how to repay him, so he agreed.

  At night, the insect sounds were endless, and the bright moonlight also hung in the sky. The night was quiet, next to a lamp, Wang Chen flipped through the ancient books borrowed from the old man. At first, two books didn't have much interest, he had read them when he was young. It wasn't until he opened the last book that Wang Chen became interested.

  The old book fragrance wafted, the yellowish color of the pages was like withered leaves. Wang Chen secretly thought that this book was even older than the previous two. As he opened the first page, the few words on it stunned him - "Xian Xian Jian Wen" (Immortal Chronicles). Wang Chen's face showed curiosity, and he slowly turned the pages to finish reading this ancient book.

  A brand new world opened up for Wang Chen.

  This book tells the story of a loose cultivator's experience in cultivating immortality. The book says that he himself is a loose cultivator without any sect or school. Cultivators refer to those who constantly absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to pursue longevity and power. To become a cultivator, one must at least possess a spiritual root.

  Wang Chen still remembered Jian Chi's three regrets here. He had obtained a heavenly affinity but lacked a spiritual root, which was indeed quite frustrating.

  The origin of the spiritual root is unclear even to the cultivators themselves. Spiritual roots are mainly divided into five ordinary spiritual roots: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, as well as the variant spiritual roots: lightning, wind, ice, and change. The type of spiritual root directly affects a cultivator's achievements. A person with a single spiritual root will cultivate at a rate 2-3 times slower than someone with two spiritual roots, 6-8 times slower than someone with three spiritual roots, 14-16 times slower than someone with four spiritual roots, and 28-30 times slower than someone with five spiritual roots. It's easy to imagine the difference in difficulty between cultivating with different numbers of spiritual roots. At the same time, those with fewer spiritual roots tend to have purer spiritual energy, and their released spells are also more powerful.

  Cultivation is divided into coming to practice, building foundation, forming elixir, and the part after golden elixir is not mentioned in the book. The author of the book has been cultivating for a lifetime, but only reached the middle period of practicing qi, and lived for over 100 years before turning into a handful of yellow earth.

  The book mentions that the techniques of cultivation are diverse and complex, with some common ones including alchemy, talisman-making, and artifact refinement. Alchemy refers to the refining of various types of elixirs that can increase one's cultivation or heal injuries, while talisman-making involves creating symbols that can be instantly released. Artifact refinement refers to the creation of weapons used by cultivators, such as magical instruments. As for what lies beyond artifacts, the book does not say.

  However, the book mentions that the law enforcement can be different from ordinary human weapons. Ordinary human weapons are divided into several levels: ordinary, ten refinements, hundred refinements and divine soldiers. The materials of the cultivator's weapon are even more precious, forged by the strong flames of the cultivator, and at the same time, with the addition of array methods, it can be said without exaggeration that even the most ordinary law enforcement is more powerful than the divine soldier.

  This person is skilled in the art of talisman-making, but what he calls "skilled" is only relative to those who don't know how. This person's mid-stage cultivation can only produce a limited number of talismans, and they usually only make a few. At the end of the book, there are also three methods for making talismans and the Naqi Decree.

  However, the talisman is at least a cultivator who exists in the dantian with spiritual energy. Then, combining the spiritual power in one's own body, it induces the external spiritual power to seal the spell on the talisman paper. The Naqi Decree is not a Xianfa Decree at all, but rather a method for cultivators to start practicing and feel the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and judge their own spiritual roots. There is no route or method for running after absorbing spiritual energy into the body. This means that Wang Chen cannot use the Naqi Decree to cultivate Xianfa.

  But Wang Chen was not very sad, if there is a way to cultivate immortality, would he easily get it? But Wang Chen still tried to practice the Qi-gathering technique, even if he couldn't cultivate immortality, he could see if he had the spiritual roots needed for cultivation.

  Naqi decision, is to put oneself in a fetal breathing state, feeling the external spiritual energy. Wang Chen had experience with practicing Dali Gong, but it was clear that finding qi and feeling spiritual energy were two different things. He busied himself for an entire night but didn't feel even a bit of spiritual energy. Could it be that he didn't have a spiritual root? Wang Chen couldn't help but feel a little panicked and uncertain in his heart. However, the book said that generally, it takes more than half a month to feel spiritual energy, so he wasn't in a hurry. Wang Chen secretly comforted himself.

  The next day, Wang Chen returned the book to the old man. The content of the book had been memorized overnight. Enduring a night's fatigue, Wang Chen bid farewell to the old man. As he was about to leave, the old man told Wang Chen that the Naqi Decree in the book was fake. At least hundreds of people had tried this decree, but none of them felt the spiritual energy mentioned above.

  Wang Chen thanked the old man for his hospitality and then turned around and left.

  Nameless desolate mountain near the mine.

  A giant sword, chopping, picking, stabbing, cutting. This is just the basic usage of a sword, but in Wang Fan's hands, it has been greatly developed. The huge sword body weighs as much as 200 kilograms, and each sword is extremely powerful, chopping onto stone will make the stone shatter.

  However, this giant sword in Wang Chen's hands does not appear clumsy, but rather somewhat light. After a while, Wang Chen put away his sword and sat down to continue practicing his inner strength exercises. After finishing his inner strength exercises, he continued to practice boxing while wearing clothes with an additional 100 jin of iron filings.

  Every morning, Wang Chen gets up early to practice Qigong, but it seems to have no effect. Then he practices swordplay and boxing, with bursts of energetic footwork in between. Every day is like this, and as he feels himself constantly improving, Wang Chen doesn't feel tired at all. As usual, he devotes himself to his bitter training, and since he doesn't need to worry about the mine, he only goes there occasionally to take a look.

  One month later, in the morning.

  Wang Chen sat on a rock, practicing his Naqi Jue as usual. As he practiced, Wang Chen seemed to lose himself, and the surrounding forest was no longer perceptible. The sky and earth were vast and empty, with nothing to be felt anywhere.

  After an unknown period of time, the surroundings suddenly appeared with five-colored mist, including red, blue, green, yellow, and gold. It seemed as if the mist was attracted to Wang Chen, and it pounced towards him. Wang Chen let out a comfortable sigh, his entire body feeling extremely refreshed, as if every single pore on his skin had been gently blown by a gentle breeze.

  Outside, the forest seemed to have whipped up a whirlwind, with the surrounding faint and elusive spiritual energy surging towards Wang Chen. At first, Wang Chen felt very comfortable, but later on, too much spiritual energy surged in, causing Wang Chen to suddenly wake up with a start. At this moment, Wang Fan's body began to swell, and his skin started to seep out fresh blood.

  In the blink of an eye, Wang Chen turned into a bloody man, and the situation became critical!

  Inside the meridians, the thin and rare spiritual energy is negligible compared to the powerful internal force. However, once they come into contact, the spiritual energy cuts off and tears apart the internal force like a knife. If only a thread of spiritual energy is absorbed, it won't be a problem, but as more spiritual energy enters, conflicts arise between the spiritual energy and internal force. The internal force is what Wang Fan has painstakingly cultivated, with a large quantity, but the spiritual energy is clearly more refined and of better quality.

  Two energies were in conflict within Wang Chen's body, his skin constantly oozing fresh blood, and the internal meridians also breaking one by one. This is going to be big trouble, this was Wang Chen's only thought before he fainted, along with a hint of bitter smile.

  The forest was quiet, with only a young man covered in blood lying motionless on the stone. At this time, if there were any wild beasts coming to forage, Wang Chen would be in danger!