Chapter 9: Embarking on the Path of Cultivation

The Refinement of Stone and Wood

There is order in the universe, and Heaven and Earth bear all things.
All things are governed by the five elements, each with its own spirit. Essence accumulates within, and energy nurtures form.
Remove what is harmful, preserve what is good, nourish and repair the body. Harmonize with yin and yang, adapt to the four seasons.
Life endures alongside Heaven and Earth, with no end in sight.

Inquiry of the Pivot

In ancient times, people understood the laws and mastered the Way. They acted in accordance with yin and yang, and their knowledge encompassed the five elements. They lived for thousands of years, ascending to the heavens upon completion.
Immortals would lay a hand upon their heads, granting them longevity. They governed the laws in accordance with the rules, their energy circulating in cycles.
When body and spirit unite, one achieves the Great Dao.

Bright sunlight streamed through the glass, casting its rays over a pile of thick bricks of books.

Luo Yu was buried in research, painstakingly translating the Prefaces of two ancient volumes, word by word. As expected, the content was full of mystical and superstitious claims; according to the text, following these methods could lead to immortality.

To believe, or not to believe? A single Book of Changes suffices to prove that the ancients mastered many mysteries yet to be unraveled by modern people. Even the wise and sagacious Yellow Emperor once said that the ancients possessed immortality, wielding the laws and traveling freely between Heaven and Earth. But who was the Yellow Emperor? The founding ancestor of the Chinese people, the first of the Five Emperors. So who were these "ancients" he spoke of? Yet if it were true, where have all these people gone now?

Luo Yu realized that ever since he encountered that jade token, his mind had been ceaselessly filled with questions. Each question led to more, turning him from an ordinary person into a "bearer of supernatural powers"—the results of which were already beginning to show. Was there any reason left for hesitation?

"Alright, I'll trust you this once!"

Luo Yu quickly made up his mind and enlisted the help of his father and grandfather. The three of them spent a week translating both volumes.

One of the volumes was titled The Refinement of Stone and Wood. It described alchemical methods in dense, tiny script, detailing key points for refining pills and listing several recipes, including ingredients, timing, techniques, and effects, much like a cookbook. Illustrations of the materials accompanied the text, rivaling Luo Yu's own meticulous drawings.

The other volume, Inquiry of the Pivot, was clearly marked as a cultivation manual for "Qi Refining disciples," the foundational knowledge for aspiring immortals. It was divided into twelve stages, from the first to the tenth layer of Qi Refining, followed by "Perfection" and "Foundation Preparation." Once Foundation was established, one could achieve supernatural powers such as flying and traversing the earth. An appendix contained a self-narrative, explaining that cultivating this method would slow aging, nourish the spirit, and prolong life up to a hundred years. The author left the Daoist name "Master Water Mirror," claiming to be a 498-year-old, highly skilled cultivator at the Golden Core stage, who, having reached his lifespan's limit, retreated to the mountains and left behind these two volumes out of boredom while waiting for death. Though written idly, the works contained distilled experience, only lacking in level; so low, in fact, that no one would care to receive them. Thus, he abandoned them here, to await a destined reader.

Reading this self-introduction, Luo Yu found "Master Water Mirror" quite humorous and open-minded, unlikely to have devised any malicious trickery. He sought the approval of his father and grandfather to begin cultivating with Inquiry of the Pivot.

The old man was full of praise for the bronze phoenix lamp, and his optimism extended to the book as well.

Father Chu thought it all sounded a bit fantastical, but given the popularity of qigong and yoga these days, and considering that this method wouldn't yield results overnight anyway, he saw no harm in practicing; they could always stop if anything seemed off.

Thus, the family agreed, and even the old man joined the practice.

Grandfather and grandson rose early each morning, each laying out a cushion in the courtyard and following the breathing methods described in the book. According to Master Water Mirror, one could reach the first level of Qi Refining within two or three months, at which point the first cleansing of the tendons and marrow would occur, gradually shedding the mortal body with continued practice.

For three or four days, they persisted. On the fourth morning, Luo Yu once again relaxed his body, concentrating on every cell, trying to sense the "spiritual energy" in the air. The first level of Qi Refining required one to perceive the presence of spiritual energy and absorb it into the body, channeling it through the meridians and storing it in the dantian.

His mind gradually emptied; all sounds seemed to recede, and Luo Yu felt himself in a void. Suddenly, faint mists began to appear in this emptiness—more in some places, less in others. Luo Yu sensed from these wisps the same feeling as the alchemical furnace... This was spiritual energy! But was there so little?

He couldn't help but reach out with his consciousness to grasp it, but this time, his mental power had no effect. Perhaps spiritual energy and brainwaves couldn't interact? As he pondered this, the spiritual energy inexplicably drifted toward him, as if he had suddenly become a magnet with an active field, attracting them.

Could this be the effect of "innate spiritual roots"? As more energy gathered, Luo Yu felt immense comfort as it seeped in through his pores, swirling under his skin. He guided it into his meridians with his mind. The book called this act of observing one's internal state with mental awareness "internal vision," while "spiritual consciousness" was a technique used by all cultivators. The energy inside formed a thin thread, like a silken strand, crawling like an ant convoy toward the dantian.

The master had said that spiritual energy must be stored in the dantian, or else it would dissipate. The dantian is a mysterious spot in the human body, nurturing vitality, gathering spiritual energy, and harboring the innate root. Those with a good spiritual root could retain more energy, while those with a poor root would lose most of it before it could be absorbed. Luo Yu now encountered this problem: some energy lingered in the dantian, happily circling about, while more simply ignored it, passing by along the meridians and slipping away.

Luo Yu was frustrated: Come on, don't leave, just stay! But he couldn't forcibly reverse the flow and drag them back—that would be asking for trouble, and after his last experience with the jade token, he wasn't about to risk it. All he could do was strive to absorb more to make up for what was lost.

Was his innate root really that poor? Luo Yu grumbled to himself: I'm clearly smart!

Unbeknownst to him, "innate root" and "intelligence" shared only a name, not a nature. The vast majority of people didn't possess it at all; Luo Yu's spiritual root, though not outstanding, was already one in ten thousand among humankind.

So, after a morning's hard practice, the spiritual energy he managed to retain was barely the size of a pinhead—a pitiful yield.

Despite that, Luo Yu was elated and turned to his grandfather: "Grandpa! I absorbed spiritual energy!"

His grandfather, still deep in practice, paused. "Really? What does it feel like?" Luo Yu excitedly described it, but the old man was dejected: "How come I can't feel anything at all?" Luo Yu froze, then remembered the concept of spiritual roots: "It's my fault, I forgot to mention—you can only sense spiritual energy if you have a spiritual root." The old man was dismayed: "How do you know I don't have one?" Luo Yu replied, "You couldn't feel the energy from the alchemical furnace, could you?" The old man wilted. Without saying more, Luo Yu ran upstairs, fetched his own jade talisman, had a silver shop set it in a clasp and strung it on a silver chain, and presented it to his grandfather.

From then on, Luo Yu practiced Qi Refining every morning, trained his spiritual consciousness at night, and even experimented with lucid dreaming after sleep. He soon found that the length of time he remained lucid in dreams seemed to increase, and his spiritual perception advanced rapidly—enough to envelop the whole courtyard, missing nothing. He suspected this was not due to the spiritual energy itself—for that meager pinhead-sized wisp, apart from the pleasant sensation during absorption, showed no other effects. But his progress in dream lucidity had begun right after he started spiritual consciousness training. The two abilities, he surmised, shared a common origin and likely complemented each other.

Compared to his spiritual consciousness, Luo Yu's Qi Refining was lackluster. More than ten days had passed, yet his progress was nowhere near the "streams like hair" described in the book; even "streams like silk" were still intermittent and incomplete! At this rate, would he even reach the first layer before the new school term? Supposedly, the higher the level, the slower the progress, taking a year or two per stage, and Foundation Establishment was only possible before age thirty; if you hadn't reached it by forty, you could wait for death. Luo Yu still dreamed of experiencing the joy of becoming an immortal—how could he die during the entry stage?

Perhaps he could try alchemy? The Refinement of Stone and Wood contained many recipes. Luo Yu suddenly recalled the three pills he had sold... Refined by a Golden Core immortal, and he'd practically given them away for free!

Resolved, Luo Yu pulled out his translation notes on the alchemical book and pored over them: Alchemy required "alchemical fire." But what exactly was that? And what if you didn't have it? Reading on, he learned that before Foundation Establishment, one could use "earth fire" as a substitute. But where to find earth fire? A volcano?

Frustrated, Luo Yu set the question aside and kept reading: The best candidates for alchemy were those with water and wood dual spiritual roots, as their success rate would be higher. What about his own roots? He was completely at a loss...

His mind in a jumble, Luo Yu grew even more bewildered when he reached the recipes—so many unknown herbs, all with "spirit" or "immortal" in their names, enough to drive anyone mad.

After much searching, he finally found two more realistic recipes. One was "Clear Spirit Pill," designed to remove impurities from the body, and its ingredients were readily available—amber, aloe, goji berries, and so forth. Could these really make an elixir? Luo Yu was skeptical.

The other was "Nourishing Spirit Pill," a common pill for Qi Refining novices, meant to increase spiritual power and consolidate cultivation. The book claimed its ingredients were common and easy to find, but one item posed a problem: a century-old wild ginseng!

Luo Yu was nearly in tears: What did century-old wild ginseng mean to a person in the twenty-first century? It meant one gram cost a hundred thousand yuan... No wonder the man who bought those three pills had run off so quickly!

Was this path a dead end?

Gritting his teeth, Luo Yu resolved: No! If there is no path, I’ll make one. I’ll still try alchemy! Even if I have to buy the cheap stuff, even if the effects are weaker, I have to give it a shot!

Best Friends' Cultivation Chronicles 9: Start of Cultivation—Update Complete!