Vol 1 Chapter 1 (1/2)
Volume 1. Breaking the Golden Cage and Listening to Profound Insight
Volume 1 Chapter 1. Transmigrated Into the Body of Daoist School’s Disciple
Donghua Continent.
Cangwu Mountain, Profound Virtue Temple …
Zhang Yan slowly withdrew from his meditation. He could feel that his divine sense was sharper as he faintly breathed. His whole body was lighter and more comfortable. It seemed that his cultivation had improved once again.
However there was not a single trace of joy on his face.
“This grade of breathing technique, although it makes my body lighter and strengthens it by several points, eventually, it is not a good method. Continuing to practice this technique would be insufficient since it seemed to only slightly improve the body and gave a small boost in perception. That would do if I just wanted to grow old and die. To only wait for good luck to come, let’s not even think about facing the Great Dao tribulation. That would make it hard to keep my livelihood, not to mention, the upcoming days will be dangerous.”
As one started to tread on this path, there would be no chance in turning back.
Zhang Yan was immersed in deep thought while he hesitated and calculated the loss and gains he would face as his steps slowly approached a house. His conviction was unavoidably swayed by the personal gains versus the loss.
His hand subconsciously gripped a crystal clear piece of broken jade as he stroked it gently. As he was stroking it, it suddenly transmitted a tranquil and calm sensation through his fingers and made his slightly restless feelings gradually settle down.
He couldn’t help but laugh at himself since he was not the original Zhang Yan, well then, he should follow his own heart and not dwell on and be burdened by the past.
When he thought about this, he suddenly felt an indescribable sensation for a moment. It was very obvious that after he let go of his negative thoughts, he finally felt a perfect conjunction with his ‘new’ body.
Ten days ago, there was a falling meteor that fell down on Cangwu Mountain and the original owner of this body—a teenager—picked up a broken piece of remnant jade that accidentally fell from the clouds, without even suspecting that he would die on the spot.
As for himself, he had been struggling desperately in a great world calamity for 7 years and died when his rearguard battalion was in the middle of retreating. However, Zhang Yan’s accidental death actually let him get reborn in this body which was owned by a dead teenager who had the same name as his.
The dead teenager’s name was Zhang Yan. He was listed as a disciple of the Profound Virtue Temple, one of the famous Three Great Courts of the prominent Blue Ocean Sect.
He originally came from a bureaucratic family. When he was 16 years old, because of his talent, he received guidance from a supreme cultivator who was on a journey seeking for the path of immortality. However that supreme cultivator left 3 years later in a hurry and only taught him a breathing technique to improve his health and strengthen his body. Zhang Yan didn’t have the chance to learn the legendary immortal’s cultivation.
The supreme cultivator once told him, if he wanted to step into the profound world of cultivation, he must build his Yuan soul force, open his meridians, temper his mortal body, and practice the basics of the profound immortal cultivation method.
It could be said that for a person to actually enter the path of cultivation, they would have to pa.s.s through the first threshold on this profound path. Which was opening one’s meridians.
Only by opening the meridians would one be able to washout all the impurities within one’s own body and practice the legendary cultivation techniques and martial techniques to achieve immortality. And to then tread on the path of the Great Dao. However, with an ordinary breathing technique, even if the person practiced it for 350 years, that person would not be able to advance to sainthood.
In short, one would not be able to become an immortal if one’s own meridians were blocked. If one cannot achieve this point, the path to immortality was only a broken dream!
The so-called thousand mile journey began with a tiny step just like how a nine story building had to be built from the ground, this a.n.a.logy was the same for opening one’s meridians. This process could not be achieved by only a single move, and the first step to achieve it, would be to condense one’s Yuan Qi. However, this step was yet to be taken by the newly reincarnated Zhang Yan, he felt quite helpless.
The dead teenager Zhang Yan repeatedly made journeys to practice the basic cultivation methods for 3 years in order to pa.s.s through the threshold. Whenever he left on a journey to find an expert to seek for an advanced cultivation technique, those experts merely told him to wait for his opportunity to arrive. His merits were insufficient so they just told him to be more diligent in practicing his own cultivation method.
Before he climbed up the mountain and entered the school, he was just a simple honest teenager as he had no experience with the ways of society. He didn’t have anyone to advise him as he took everyone’s words seriously, therefore regardless of the hot weather in the summer or the cold weather in winter, he painstakingly practiced 3 hours every day with his basic cultivation method.
The newly reincarnated Zhang Yan could only respond with a forced-bitter smile, even if this teenager was extremely honest, how could he believe this kind of bulls.h.i.+t?
Although, as time pa.s.sed the previous Zhang Yan clearly felt that his body’s divine qi was not progressing. But this teenager also had some clues that the so-called opportunity or destiny was simply something that required vasts amounts of wealth. Even if your natural talent was extremely high, if you were poor, no one would even care about an ordinary in-name disciple.
However, fortunately if you lose something, you would also gain something. That thought comforted the current-newly reincarnated Zhang Yan since the previous original Zhang Yan had practiced diligently for several years. He had laid an extremely firm and solid foundation for this body. Perhaps in this entire Profound Kindness Temple, there was not a single person like him who diligently practiced the basic cultivation methods.
It was necessary to know that this Dao cultivation method was known as the Oneness Purifying Breath [1], as the so-called Dao was born from a single ent.i.ty. From a whole one birthed two, from two gave birth to three, and from three gave birth to a myriad of living things. The ‘Oneness Purifying Breath’ essence was oneness, which could be said to the beginning of all the kinds myriads of the Great Dao.
Along with the profoundness of one’s cultivation advancement, all cultivation methods were divided into high and low methods of which each had its own advantages and disadvantages. This ‘oneness’ was actually the original essence of everything that would arrive at the same destination or conclusion even if they were treading on different paths. Most cultivators would also take this breathing method as the most fundamental base in reaching the cultivation threshold.
However this set of breathing practice was eventually still the most basic cultivation method as it didn’t have any excellent methods to help draw out one’s potential. It barely even helped consolidate a solid foundation for the cultivator.
Having survived past catastrophes and having faced various disasters and viruses, the current Zhang Yan deeply realized his insignificance and the weakness of being a mortal. Therefore his ambition was much more intense compared to anyone’s.
Since he had arrived in this world, he must not miss the Great Dao to immortality!
Although he had a sense of great determination and perseverance, there were some urgent matters that he needed to face at present as the previous-original Zhang Yan had been cultivating for 3 years without any significant advancements. Even all his fortune that he brought to school had been exhausted. And now, his only fortune was a small cooking tripod, a set of ink pens, an ink stone, and papers. To fill his empty stomach, he had to eat wild vegetables.
If even sustaining his own livelihood was this difficult, how would he be able set his sight on seeking the path to immortality?
Entering the world of cultivation didn’t mean that one had to escape to a remote mountain and not eat the food of ordinary mortals. On the contrary, it meant that one had to consume an extremely extravagant amount of wealth and fortune. If one had no wealthy family to support oneself, you could expect that even if you went down hill, n.o.body would even care.
Of course, gifted individuals and those with certain intellect would have no difficulties in advancing in their cultivation as their master and school would naturally treat them differently.
However with Zhang Yan, since he entered the school and became a disciple on his own accord, he would have to bear all expenses by himself.
This was exactly the problem he had been struggling with for the past few days as he desperately tried to figure out how to solve the predicament before him. If he had the means to properly handle this problem, not only would he pa.s.s through this hurdle, he might also get the chance to garner the attention of the masters in the Shan Yuan Temple.
But the method he was about to take held great risks as he had to brave certain dangers. If he made one wrong step then it would be beyond redemption. However since G.o.d had given him this second chance, even if this G.o.d wanted him to abandon this path, he would absolutely refuse to descend from this mountain and abandon this opportunity.
There was no other choice but to move forward as he could not go back…
He had arrived at the so-called point of no return, so there was no choice or option but to brave it through!
In his opinion, the previous dead teenager Zhang Yan only knew how to practice but was absolutely clueless in managing his own fortune.
And because the previous Zhang Yan came from a scholar’s family, he had expended a great amount of time to research and study all the Daoism literatures, especially the Eclipse Canon.
Almost all the Daoism ancient manuals originated from this writing. It could be said that the Eclipse Canon was the basis for all Daoist cultivation methods.
In Zhang Yan’s opinion, the Eclipse Canon was like the key ‘pa.s.sword’ for all Daoism teachings, each character written in this manual could be interpreted into thousands of lines of meanings. To comprehend this manual, would be like trying to understand heaven’s will. If one wanted to comprehend this manual, perception was not the only trait one needed, one also had to use the brain to deduct the lines in the manual. To be able to a.n.a.lyze the hints given, to contemplate all the things one had experienced in life, and in the end carefully grasp the meaning behind everything.
Such an interpretation, half depended on reading and as for the rest, it depended on guessing. Reading to most cultivators was only an extravagant way of wasting the time. It could be said that it was not efficient and was useless. It was a common occurrence that should a cultivator own a manual and read it for several years, it would only puzzle him greatly as he would barely understand the meaning of its contents. This predicament left most cultivators baffled and gave them headaches.
And if you didn’t want to waste time in grinding and reading the manual, you could seek a master and ask for advice. But even if you did this, you still had to wait and see if you had enough ‘opportunity’.
However since he barely escaped true death and had the memories of two lives, the current Zhang Yan was able to quickly understand the meanings written in the Eclipse Canon. His brain was faster and it was capable enough to help him make deductions from the Dao manuals with little mistakes. He could feel that his brain worked several times faster than in the past. He thought that he could use this to help others comprehend the Eclipse Canon in exchange for money.
But even if he did so, it still wouldn’t be enough.
He shook the piece of the broken jade in his hand as he let out a confident smile. With this thing, it would work out.
He looked at the sky as it was about 7 to 9 AM now. High up over the horizon, the sky had turned bright as the mountain’s fog had already dissipated. He took the already prepared bamboo basket and held a bamboo streamer as he slowly walked.
His residence was on top of the cliff of Shan Yuan peak, near a rock-hewn cave which was usually used by Daoist cultivators to meditate. Outside of the cave lied a wooden planked road for pa.s.sage with no fence barrier on either side. Three steps from there was a ten thousand feet high cliff which made people terrified when they looked at the bottom of the gorge.