Chapter 2 The Nourishment of Spiri (1/2)

Given that youths generally did not have a complicated thought process, the real Shen Lian could easily sense his spirit and he nourished it according to the methods recorded in the book of martial exercises.

He wondered if the book of martial exercises was missing in some pages – there was only the Way of Spirit Nourishment but none of the chapters were on physical strength training.

He was too fixated on nourishing his spirit and had subsequently neglected the physical aspect of his training. Yet, the spirit drew upon Qi energy to heighten its power.

His spirit grew stronger but at the expense of his physical body. His body was becoming weaker and weaker. Youths were supposed to be growing and brimming with energy, yet the real Shen Lian was drained of energy and fraught with frailty. It could very well be that he was blessed with a healthy body to begin with, so nothing disastrous happened even after some years of practicing.

However, straying from the proper path of cultivation will usually lead to unfortunate outcomes. One day, the power of his spirit was at its limit and it was ready to leave his body through the Bai Hui point. He was close to having an out of body experience and his spirit was light, so light that it felt as if it was going to leave with the wind.

He lacked understanding in the art of cultivation. He was unaware that when his spirit leaves his body, it will bring along all of the Qi energy in his body. He had always been frail. The Qi energy produced daily by his blood was mostly exhausted by the spirit power coursing through his body.

A significant amount of Qi energy was needed when his spirit was about to leave his body. His body was no longer capable of providing that amount of Qi energy. The real Shen Lian disregarded his physical limitation and overexerted himself. The Qi energy reserve in his body was completely extracted and he was close to falling apart.

The body and its vigor were directly linked to the well-being of the soul, the psyche linked to the spirit; the soul and the spirit were connected on a myriad of levels and possibilities. The disturbance to their balance sent him slipping into psychosis; his body was taking a toll.

In the end, his body was taken over by a doctor from planet Earth.

Although Li Feng, the new Shen Lian, merged his memories with that of the real Shen Lian, he still had to deal with the frail body that he was then trapped in.

Fortunately, being in a state of psychosis had dispersed some of the power of spirit all over Shen Lian's body. The power of spirit was subsequently turned into Qi energy, which protected the body from perishing.

This was the reason why Shen Lian, the new Shen Lian, did not die right after waking up.

He was after all a doctor, he knew full well how weak the body was.

Though to be fair, he did not know that the stronger the spirit, the greater the burden it was to the body.

There was a pressing need to bring his body back into shape and to instill vital Qi back into him.

Luckily, he was surrounded by nature and its luscious greenery. The plants here shared striking similarity with those back on Earth. Therefore, he managed to find some herbal medicine that he could strengthen his body with.

It was a shame that he could not find any wild ginseng or polygonum. Though, herbs that had high medicinal value were always low in stock. This was true regardless of which era one was in. Furthermore, even if there were any of these herbs lying around, the villagers would have dug them out long ago.

After several months of hard work, Shen Lian managed to put some weight on his once frail and skinny body. The progress was remarkable, but he was still far below the normal standard.

Well, at least he would not be blown away by gusts of strong wind then.

Knowing fully well that the real Shen Lian lapsed into a state of psychosis from practicing the martial exercises, the new Shen Lian was not about to continue onto the path of cultivation without having sufficient knowledge of it.

Engaging in martial arts training without proper knowledge of it was akin to self-medication practices – both were acts of digging one's own grave. Even though the famous Zhang Wuji had mastered the Mystical Art of Nine Yang out of luck, he did start off on a solid foundation; one must not forget that at some point he received guidance from the famous Kung Fu Masters, namely Xie Xun and Zhang Sanfeng.

Having transcended time and space, the new Shen Lian was not about to try his luck. There was no guarantee that he could escape death through time traveling, again.

Time had passed. As he was drinking the unimaginably bitter herbal medication, he thought of staying off the bitter medication. Instead, he would practice the Qi-Gong exercises of Five Animal Frolics.

Shen Lian heard someone knocking on the door out of nowhere. Did the villagers not send food and clothes over just yesterday? He wondered what brought them there that day.

He surprised to find a middle-aged man standing right at his doorstep. He thought the man looked like a servant, a servant clothed in fine fabrics.