Inside Huayu Peak, little Mu Xue was meditating indoors.
Half a month ago, she had a serious illness. After she recovered, she felt that her Qi and blood flowed more freely and her meridians were smoother every time she circulated Qi. This illness drove away the evil spirits in all the orifices and cleansed the filth in the five internal organs. Not only did she not become depressed due to the illness, but she felt much more relaxed.
However, due to her delay, many of the disciples who had entered the sect at the same time had easily reached the level of observing the mind and stopping thoughts, and maintaining a state of concentration. Several talented people even broke through the realm of the Qi Refining Stage.
After school, I often see several young disciples walking together, exchanging their experiences in cultivation.
"The teacher said before that I don't need to think about it deliberately. I will naturally know what is going on when I reach that level. I seemed to suddenly understand it last night."
"Me too. I was just following the master's instructions to calm my breath, and then I suddenly saw that thing that day. It's really indescribable. No wonder the master said it was so mysterious that it couldn't be explained in words."
All kinds of cultivation methods are widely circulated in the world. What Mu Xue had learned before, such as meditation, qigong, and calming the mind, can only be regarded as ways for ordinary people to exercise.
Even ordinary people can master it as long as they practice diligently. A smart person only needs ten days, while a dull person needs a year or two, and eight out of ten people can master it. The period of drawing Qi into the body before a practitioner enters the door is called the Qi training period.
The disciples of Huayu Hall were selected from among thousands of people through the Golden Butterfly Questioning System, and each of them has extraordinary talents.
In addition, they are all young children, with no distracting thoughts in their minds. It is easier for them to clear their minds and retreat, and focus their minds on Dantian than adults. This allows them to reach a state where they can know the constant without deliberately regulating their breathing. Some have even faintly broken through the state and touched the threshold of the foundation-building period.
In his previous life, Mu Xue completed the process of drawing Qi into his body on the first day of his entry into the sect, and reached the threshold of building his foundation within a week. He was truly gifted.
But this time, after more than two months of initiation, she was still stuck in the Qi Refining Stage, not even in initiation, which was too slow. Seeing that those kids who were much younger than her were progressing faster than her, she couldn't help but secretly ask a lot of people for advice.
In the morning exercise square, Ye Hangzhou smiled and said, "Don't worry, don't worry. I was the slowest among the disciples back then. Now none of them can match me."
In the cafeteria, Ding Lanlan gave Mu Xue a chicken drumstick while eating. "My family has some introductory mental methods, but you have just recovered from a serious illness, so you should recuperate for a while. I will teach you later."
After the school was over, Su Xingting, who was holding the Mingdeng Haimitai, laughed and reached out to touch the two little tufts on Mu Xue's head. "Your aptitude is the best among all the disciples. You don't have to worry at all. Your only problem is that you worry too much in your mind. The most urgent thing is to cultivate your mind first. Don't be impatient, take it slow, and it will come naturally."
How could such a dull man comfort himself that he is the best among all the disciples
Mu Xue squatted helplessly on the top of the mountain, looking at the leisurely mist in the mountains and the naughty kids who were laughing and boxing in the square.
Suddenly I felt that there was really nothing to be anxious about. All those urgent things that were chasing me in my previous life were gone, and there was no one to take care of. It would be better to let go of some things, relax a little, and live a leisurely life in this life.
She followed the most basic breathing method taught by Su Xingting, practiced the Nine Palaces Grasping Hands with Ye Hangzhou in the morning, and meditated at night. During the breathing, the vital energy gradually passed through the spine, penetrated the chaos, and reached the life palace, where the son and mother met.1 This cycle repeated, calmed down and practiced solidly, and she felt that the meridians in her body gradually expanded, the vital energy was filled, and her body and mind felt strong.
On this day, Mu Xue was meditating and practicing Qi as usual. She felt that the Qi in her body was flowing smoothly and smoothly, and she felt extremely comfortable. Suddenly, in a very quiet and subtle moment, she seemed to have a pair of eyes inside her body.
The eyes suddenly opened, as if they were inside the body, yet as if they were in the distant outside world. It was high above, coming from the darkness, yet it could clearly see everything inside the body.
In the world within the body, the colorful spiritual energy is flowing along the meridians in an orderly manner.
A space appeared in the darkness, which seemed to be in the void, but was lingering, secret and airless, vague, colorless and imageless. It seemed to be empty and boundless, but also seemed to be just a tiny place.
Mu Xue opened her eyes with joy.
The young disciples who were just beginning to learn didn’t know this, but she was very clear about this realm in her heart.
There are tens of thousands of ways to cultivate in the world, and each school has its own name for this space, some call it "the unique way", "the empty storehouse", "the pure land", or "the divine room", "the yellow court", "the ancestral cave", "the mysterious female". Although the names are different, they all refer to the most important foundation of the cultivator.
No matter whether one is cultivating the Buddhist meditation and contemplation, the Taoist alchemy or the Confucianism's holding on to it, the innate nature of the devil's way cannot be separated from this space.
Now she has joined Guiyuan Sect to practice alchemy. In the future, she will have intercourse. The fire and furnace are here. She will need to rely on this to warm the golden elixir and even to form a baby and become a god.
For all practitioners, only when they open their inner eyes and find this space can they be considered to have built the foundation for practice and can they say that they are a member of the Xuanmen, which is commonly known as entering the "foundation-building period."
Mu Xue maintained this state of mind for several days and happily told his senior brother Ye Hangzhou about it during morning exercise.
"Not bad, you've opened the Huangting and found the ancestral acupoint. I told you not to worry." Ye Hangzhou asked her, "Except for the last time you were sick, you haven't felt any discomfort elsewhere recently, right?"
"There is one strange thing." Mu Xue recalled a strange thing that happened when she was practicing the day before yesterday. "When I was looking inward the day before yesterday, I heard a bell sound, like the sound of a bell. It seemed to come from far away, but it seemed to be right next to my ear and I could hear it very clearly. I asked other sisters, but they all said they had never heard it. I don't know what the reason is?"
"The sound of a chime? How could there be such a sound?" Ye Hangzhou blinked. He didn't quite understand. "Could it be that I accidentally cultivated the Buddhist ear communication?"
He said with some distress: "Unfortunately, the cultivation world has discovered some incredible secret realm in the past few days, and all the major sects have been alarmed. Master and the head of the sect went out to check. You should pay attention. If it is not more serious, wait for Master to come back and I will ask for you in detail."
Mu Xue nodded. Although the voice came out of nowhere, it sounded calming and didn't sound like a demon. She also felt that there was no need to be too nervous.
At night, Mu Xue lay on the bunk bed, with her hands resting on her head, looking at the snow light coming in through the window, and thought in a daze,
"I have finally stepped into the threshold of cultivation again. If I can achieve the Golden Elixir in the future, I wonder if I will have the opportunity to visit the Demonic Spirit Realm. Alas, that place is probably no longer the same as it used to be."
I didn't know how long I slept in a daze, when suddenly an extremely clear ding sound rang in my ears.
Mu Xue felt dazed for a moment and found herself standing in front of the bed.
She looked around in confusion and saw six children sleeping quietly on the bunk bed. Yuanzi and Xia Tong were sleeping soundly, and she was sleeping beside Xia Tong with her hands under her head and her eyes closed.
It turned out that what was standing on the ground was not her physical body, but her soul that was led out in her dream.
On the first day when he came to Huayu Hall, Mu Xue was affected by the spiritual power on the top of the mountain and his soul traveled out in his dream. At that time, his spiritual palace was not open and his soul was in a state of confusion. He did not know that he was in a dream. He walked out of the courtyard in a daze and was frightened by his senior brother who was on duty on the roof.
But now, she had just entered the threshold of cultivation, and her consciousness was stable. She could clearly know that she was in a dream and her consciousness had left her body.
It was influenced by the sound of the chimes!
Clear bell tones rang out one after another, as if they were the delicate and divine sounds coming from eternity, or as if someone was calling her from her distant hometown, with every voice calling out to her and every word urging her.
Mu Xue was hesitant in her heart, but her soul had already floated up uncontrollably and slowly floated out of the window.
It was snowing lightly tonight, and the person on duty on the roof was a strange senior sister. She was sitting on the rooftop wearing a bamboo hat, leisurely eating a bag of broad beans in her hand.
Mu Xue floated past her and wanted to call out, but no sound came out.
The senior sister couldn't see her soul and just ate broad beans by herself, letting her pass by in front of her. The sound of the chimes pulled her to an unknown place.
Mu Xue flew higher and higher. Looking down from the sky, the Jiulian Mountains on the ground beneath his feet were rolling and undulating, like a huge lotus formation. A winding river on the south of the mountain was like a bright silver chain surrounding the lotus.
Fine snowflakes were flying between heaven and earth, and overhead was a dark, gloomy cloud.
Mu Xue flew into the clouds and became confused about time, space and direction.
When her mind regained clarity, she found herself standing in a yard where heavy snow was falling.
She was very familiar with this yard, yet it felt very strange to her.
This was the home where she had spent countless years. In her perception, just a few years ago, this was her cozy little nest and comfortable residence.
But now, it seems as if hundreds of years have been stolen in an instant. The yard that was full of vitality yesterday has suddenly become so old and dilapidated. Those lush and green trees are now gnarled and decayed. The brick walls that were once polished and shiny are now weathered and cracked, with a thick patina.
On the faded paint threshold of the big house, a man was sitting, his long legs resting on the bluestone steps. He lowered his head slightly, and was slowly bandaging his injured arm with a bandage. He seemed unaware of the arrival of Mu Xue's "spirit".
It's a small hill.
He has really grown into such a tall man.
Mu Xue walked to his side and bent down to look at him.
Xiao Shan sat motionless, his heavy cloak and messy bangs covering his eyebrows and eyes. The faint snow light reflected the smooth skin of his nose, and under the shadow of the cloak, only a small part of his pale jaw and his tightly pursed lips could be seen.
"How come you've become so thin? Master clearly made you plump and white when he left."
Mu Xue sighed softly, lowered her eyes, and saw the bloody arm wrapped in a white bandage.
The fingers were long and strong, with distinct joints. They were no longer the hands of the boy in my memory.
"You're injured again. You need to be careful. Now that your master is gone, you need to take better care of yourself."
Mu Xue was talking to herself and felt her eyes a little sore.
There is bitterness in my eyes and a sense of blockage in my heart.
What was this bitter feeling in her heart? Mu Xue touched her nonexistent chest, where she felt an emotion she was extremely unfamiliar with.
From her childhood to now, after two lifetimes, she has almost forgotten what it feels like to cry.
In order to calm herself down, Mu Xue looked up at the roof, stood up straight and walked into the house.
Everything in the room was exactly the same as when he left, rows of bookshelves and containers piled with bottles and jars, small mattresses and pillows, complicated chemical arrays, a burning furnace, and a floating bed hanging in the air.
There were countless instruments of various shapes on the familiar workbench, and the magic weapon that he had made halfway before he left was still placed on the table as it was.
Mu Xue couldn't help but sit down at the table. Although she had just started practicing and couldn't use her soul to move physical objects, she couldn't help but touch her usual pointed tweezers with her left hand and touch various types of pliers with her right hand.
The unfinished magic weapon was a necklace-shaped Qiankun bag. My apprentice Xiaoshan needed a good storage magic weapon, so I wanted to give it to him after I finished it.
Now it seems there will never be a chance to complete it.
The creaking sound of a door hinge turning suddenly sounded in the silent space.
Mu Xue turned her head.
A tall figure stood at the threshold. The man was facing away from the light, holding the door tightly with one arm. Only a pair of eyes could be seen in the dark silhouette, which seemed to be glowing brightly.
This is, did you see me
When this thought flashed through Mu Xue's mind, her body suddenly felt a strong sense of weightlessness.
The next moment she sat up from the bed, and Xia Tong was rubbing her eyes and shaking her.
"Xiaoxue, what's wrong with you today? The roosters have crowed several times, why don't you get up and practice boxing?" Xia Tong said as she sat on the bunk bed and put on her cotton jacket.
Yuanzi was sitting on the edge of the bed, yawning and putting on her shoes sleepily.
Everyone in the room has gotten up and washed up.
"It's snowing again. There's a lot of snow on the mountain. It's so cold today." Xia Tong sniffed and looked out the window.
Mu Xue, who had not yet recovered from her shock, looked in the direction she was looking.
The sky was slightly bright and fine snowflakes were floating in the courtyard.
Somewhere out of reach, there was another yard covered in snow.
I left in such a hurry that I didn't even know if Xiaoshan felt me at the end.