Chapter 63: The Long and Arduous Path

The Qi is versatile and agile; this was evident from the transformations in his palm, yet for him, it remained far from enough. Having spent months nourishing it with his spirit and consuming numerous spiritual plants, he had achieved this level, but he still could not fully master the Qi.

It could barely leave his body by a distance of ten feet; beyond a single foot, it would disperse uncontrollably. Since he began harvesting Qi, his greatest realization had been that the Qi within him relied too heavily on his spirit.

Chen Yu attempted to manipulate the Qi purely on its own, without attaching his spiritual force—since Qi is the fusion of spirit and embryonic breathing, logically, it should be directly controllable. However, he quickly learned how difficult this was. Not to mention that it was nearly impossible to move even a hair's breadth while outside the body, even with the breathing technique to maintain it within, it became like a scattered, leaderless force once it exited his body, defying control.

Nevertheless, Chen Yu also discovered that Qi could indeed be driven directly. Although it was more difficult than using spiritual attachment, its agility was superior once mastered. Even if this agility was only manifested within a range of a few feet.

On the bluestone, he raised his hand and extended his fingers, a thin layer of milky jade light slowly covering them. With a single thought, it began to vibrate with efficiency far exceeding that of spiritual attachment. The Qi dissipated rapidly, yet at the same time, every fraction of it felt completely under his control—at least, those at his fingertips gave him that impression.

With a soft *swish*, Chen Yu flicked his fingers, casting the remaining Qi into the air, where it soon vanished without a trace.

He then plucked a blade of grass, snapped it into two, and held them between his fingers, imbuing them with Qi. He used one method to permeate the interior and nourish the meridians, while using his spiritual force to wrap the other, adhering only to the surface.

A glowing white halo shimmered. After waiting for a moment, he flicked the two leaves out.

Two sharp whistles pierced the air as they flew off. However, he saw clearly that the glow on the surface of one leaf dissipated rapidly; it relied only on momentum to travel two steps further, covering a total distance of less than twenty feet. The other leaf, which had been permeated internally, flew much further, landing firmly in the ground forty feet away.

Seeing this, Chen Yu was thoughtful. Indeed, those meridians could, to a certain extent, strengthen the hardness of the recipient. This was consistent with his own situation; after the meridians for cultivating Qi were established, even though his body had already undergone transformation, it had been further nourished.

It seemed that the nourishment of the body by Qi was reflected more in its strength rather than in the derivation of so-called supernatural abilities as he had imagined. If that were the case, the development of his internal organs would likely require him to tinker with it himself.

"If only there were more fellow travelers..."

The path ahead was long. Chen Yu did not believe his way was necessarily superior, but the emergence of spiritual force, embryonic breathing, and now Qi made it far more fascinating than mundane martial arts.

Unfortunately, the spiritual liquid could not be shared with others. Ordinary people, or even martial artists whose wills were as hard as steel after years of training, might not be able to withstand its allure. As for the consequences of failing to resist, though Chen Yu had not witnessed it firsthand, he could anticipate them. It would certainly not be a good thing.

Without the spiritual liquid, embryonic breathing could not be achieved. Thus, if he were to give the liquid to ordinary people, there was only one way: to forcibly build up their spiritual strength until they could resist it before consumption. And this was undoubtedly wishful thinking.

Where in the world could one find things to nourish the spirit? If they truly existed, they were all on the mountains, in the herb gardens. Chen Yu himself did not have enough for his own needs; in the short term, he truly lacked the resources to support others.

But, if there were indeed a few fellow travelers to ponder and exchange ideas with, it would be better than staying on the mountain alone, working in isolation. "One man's counsel is short; many men's is long"—that was the truth of it.

At this moment, he was seriously considering this question. Taking on disciples at the Taoist temple was impossible; Chen Yu himself was only a half-baked Taoist, with neither the energy nor the expertise to teach others. Furthermore, there were many spiritual plants on the mountain; bringing in strangers he did not know well was somewhat unsettling. His main worry was that a disciple might out of curiosity eat the wrong thing—the plants were a minor issue, but if something happened to the person, that would be disastrous.

This was no alarmist talk. Many spiritual plants in the garden could kill a person. Do not be fooled by the fact that he tasted them without incident; that was because he had the spiritual liquid as a base, and his body and spirit were stronger than those of ordinary people from the start. Not to mention Brother Chicken and the gluttonous deer; they rarely ate much at once, only tasting a bit and stopping. Only once did the foolish deer steal some intestinal-soothing grass, and the consequences were clear: constant diarrhea, nearly dying of dehydration.

Perhaps... teach some spiritual cultivation methods?

He could not risk leaving spiritual plants down the mountain. A small amount was useless, and he did not have enough to spare for a large amount. After much thought, if he were really to do this, he would have to pick some like-minded people from below and provide them with a "technique." Counting the various Taoist methods regarding spirit-refining he had encountered, there were several arts for driving spirits. Although they only provided concepts, they showed that Taoism held sufficient curiosity about the spiritual realm. If he left behind a secret manual for refining the spirit, he would not have to worry about finding those willing to practice it.

"Still not good." He frowned again. Currently, the only thing that could be called a spiritual practice was the Spirit-Summoning Art, plus the internal harvesting breathing technique—the latter barely counting as half.

The focus of the Spirit-Summoning Art was on driving spirits; only a small portion was for refining the spirit, created to better digest and absorb the spiritual liquid and the Lanting Divine Fruit. It carried the shadows of many Taoist techniques. The most critical point was that he had a boundless sea of consciousness as support, which allowed him to easily perceive the existence of that hazy, illusory "spirit." Even so, he had only crossed the threshold of the spiritual realm and glimpsed that light filled with spirit by relying on the marvelous and rare power of the "First Light" state of enlightenment.

"Ordinary people down the mountain have far less spiritual perception than I do; at the very least, most of them will not have a stronger foundation than mine. Relying solely on this method, there is a ninety-nine percent chance they will achieve nothing. Nourishment is already difficult, let alone transforming and deriving spiritual force."

In the end, it all circled back to the initial deadlock: others lacked sufficient spirit, could not consume the spiritual liquid, and without the liquid to nourish embryonic breathing, they could not produce Qi and could not embark on the path of internal harvesting. To strengthen the spirit, one either needed to consume spiritual plants produced by spiritual energy or have the spiritual liquid for nourishment.

It was a headache.

Chen Yu contorted his face in thought for a long time, eventually concluding that staying on the mountain alone was actually quite good.

"The way is long, and I shall seek it from above to below!"

...

Another sunny day. After breakfast, wandering in the sunlight, Chen Yu flipped through Taoist books while practicing his breathing technique.

The internal harvesting breathing technique was not difficult, especially since it was particularly suited to him through his own deductions. Now, he was even trying to use his breath to lead his meridians, establishing a second layer beneath the existing Qi-nourishing meridians. This time, it was not connecting to acupoints, but communicating with muscles and bones, bit by bit connecting his entire body together with Qi.

Currently, his breathing technique was becoming increasingly refined, and his Qi-nourishing meridians were growing more expansive and complex, appearing like brilliant white light to the naked eye. From a spiritual perspective, countless networks were intertwined; such a sight once reminded him of the king earthworm he had dissected, which had perished halfway through its transformation.

Fortunately, perhaps because of the different perspective, the web-like meridians he built did not look terrifying; instead, after connecting the acupoints and sucking in the spiritual liquid, they were dazzling. Coupled with the meridians that looked like rolling waves, it truly resembled a brilliant galaxy suspended within his body!