Chapter 79: Seven Returns, Eight Changes, Nine Reversions
The cultivation steps of the Three Lights Righteous Energy were extremely regular: Three Lights Qi Refinement, then refining the Sacred Embryo Body, then the Big Dipper Refinement, then the Golden Core Nine Revolutions.
The corresponding realms were Qi Refinement, Body Tempering, Foundation Building, and Golden Core, these four realms.
However, the traditional realms were Qi Refinement, Foundation Building, Divine Shrine, Divine Embryo, and Golden Core, these five realms.
There was obviously a problem here!
Chen Shi's expression turned grave.
A big problem!
Although the Three Lights Righteous Energy added Body Tempering, it lacked the two realms of Divine Shrine and Divine Embryo. It would definitely not have mana as vigorous as the traditional realms.
"Moreover, after cultivating the Golden Core, one can use the Golden Core to temper the body. The realm of Body Tempering is also included in the traditional realms, just not singled out. Therefore, upon reaching the Golden Core Realm, the traditional realms will definitely be much, much stronger than the Golden Core of the Three Lights Righteous Energy!"
He mused, "These techniques carved outside the True King's Tomb are obviously harboring malicious intentions, making those tomb-raiding gentlemen start cultivating upon seeing the techniques on the steles after arriving here, resulting in self-destruction of their foundation. But..."
He sighed. Although he was not a tomb-raiding gentleman, he had no Divine Embryo and no way out, so he could only cultivate the Three Lights Righteous Energy, cultivating this technique that was obviously a trap. The best place to cultivate the Golden Core was the Mountain Lord's Temple.
Chen Shi immediately packed up, brought some dry rations, and instructed Black Pot, who was eating the rat: "Black Pot, I'm going to the Mountain Lord's Temple to cultivate for a day. If something happens, immediately use the Armored Horse Talisman to notify me at the Mountain Lord's Temple. I left you two jin (1 kg) of alien beast meat hanging on the wall. If you are hungry, eat it yourself. If you want it cooked, start the fire yourself."
Black Pot couldn't help shaking his head. The little master didn't treat him as a dog, actually asking him to start a fire and cook.
Can I also get up and stir-fry a few dishes?
Besides, he was eating a rat and wouldn't be hungry for a day or two.
Chen Shi arrived at the Mountain Lord's Temple and put down the book box.
He hadn't been to the Mountain Lord's Temple for a while, and there was no sunlight inside.
Chen Shi urged the Three Lights Righteous Energy, stepping on the Big Dipper Seven Stars. Big Dipper star talismans exploded under his feet one by one, tempering his physical body. At the same time, the qi and blood in his body rushed towards the Dantian.
The so-called Golden Core was the great medicine within the human body. This medicine was not sought externally but was refined from one's own essence, qi, and spirit.
To refine a Golden Core, one needed to undergo the tempering of Nine Palaces, also called Nine Cauldrons.
The first palace was called the Danyuan Palace, also known as the Danyuan Cauldron. The Golden Core formed in this palace. When refined to perfection, the pill formed and was cyan in color.
The second palace was called the Zhuling Palace (Zhuling Cauldron), where the Golden Core became red. The third was the Lantai Palace (Lantai Cauldron), making it white. The fourth was the Tianhong Palace (Tianhong Cauldron), turning it black.
The fifth was the Huangting Palace or Middle Palace (Huangting Cauldron), turning it yellow. The sixth was the Lingfu Palace (Lingfu Cauldron), turning it purple. The seventh was the Shangshu Palace (Shangshu Cauldron), turning it green. The eighth was the Yufang Palace (Yufang Cauldron), turning it emerald.
Finally, the ninth palace was called the Jiang Palace (Jiang Cauldron), where the Golden Core appeared ocher. (Compiled from Dao Shu: Chapter on Nine Revolutions Golden Core. The Golden Core written in the book is the Daoist Golden Core, not the Golden Core of traditional Xianxia novels, which may contradict common knowledge)
Chen Shi had inadvertently stepped into the gateway of this path. Qi and blood condensed in his body, using spirit and qi as medicine and Danyuan as the furnace, beginning to condense the Golden Core.
Cultivating the Golden Core without a Divine Embryo was a helpless move, but Chen Shi's cultivation went surprisingly smoothly. Soon, the Danyuan Cauldron formed, as if within the Dantian was a boundless sea of fire. Essence, qi, and spirit gathered here, condensing into a pill.
This pill was boundless and borderless, completely natural.
Essence, qi, and spirit condensed within the pill. The transformed object, unknown what it was, unknown what its name was.
Just as he was immersed in cultivation, forgetting both object and self, a soft click came from the book box. Faint cyan light emanated from it.
The cyan light emanated from the jade seal. The stone box responded, and light also shone from within it.
The sound came from inside the stone box, very crisp, as if a lock inside had been opened.
After a while, there was another crisp click, and then the sounds gradually became dense, as if countless locks inside were being unlocked by a mysterious force!
Suddenly, the stone box disappeared, replaced by a square little stone lying quietly in the book box.
And a beam of cyan light shot up to the sky from the book box, exploding violently. It was soundless, but it merged with the incredibly dense unearthly power in the Mountain Lord's Temple, eventually vanishing without a trace.
In the temple, sunlight sprinkled down. The sky of the Divine Land of Huaxia appeared on the temple roof, blue and boundless.
"The seed left behind has been released. My power can finally flow through."
A faint sigh came from the temple, the voice carrying joy.
"Finally, I can condense my Form and welcome the Heavenly Change!"
Chen Shi was completely unaware of this and continued to cultivate diligently. The sun and moon light from the Divine Land of Huaxia became more and more intense, turning into surging and majestic qi and blood in his body. Then, through the Big Dipper Refinement, it melted into his physical body, nourishing his essence, qi, and spirit.
Essence, qi, and spirit were as heavy as lead and mercury. Within the Danyuan Cauldron, undergoing furnace fire tempering, they were refined into the Golden Core.
He was not in meditation, but constantly moving while stepping on the seven stars. His eyes seemed open yet not open, closed yet not closed. His footwork also became strange; sometimes he would walk onto the walls, onto the pillars, onto the temple roof, his figure remaining steady and not falling.
Unknowingly, his cultivation time had lasted for twenty-four hours, yet he still didn't stop.
The furnace fire in his body gradually became pure cyan, and that Golden Core also gradually changed color, becoming pure cyan like the furnace fire.
When the cyan Golden Core could no longer absorb essence, qi, and spirit, Chen Shi's internal qi and blood surged, and his spirit was full. Only then did he slowly open his eyes.
The temple was bright with sunshine; doors and windows could barely suppress this sunlight from the ancestral land. Seeing this, Chen Shi felt awe in his heart and hurriedly went outside, looking up at the sky. There were no meteorites attacking from beyond the sky, which made him relax.
"If the True God beyond the sky noticed the sunlight here, he would probably smash a meteorite down, blasting the Mountain Lord's Temple and this mountain into dust!"
Returning to the temple, Chen Shi ate some dry rations and tidied up. He saw the stone box was missing and was stunned. He searched hurriedly and didn't find it, but found a small stone. It was square and looked very similar to the stone box, but only the size of a thumb's fingernail, hundreds of times smaller!
"How could the stone box shrink?"
Chen Shi was surprised. He pinched this stone. It looked like an ordinary stone, only some fine textures on it indicating its extraordinariness.
However, how did the stone box shrink?
Why did it shrink?
Holding the stone, he looked around the Mountain Lord's Temple. Inspecting it once, he only felt that the temple seemed different from when he arrived, but he couldn't say exactly where the difference lay.
Chen Shi shook his head, carefully closed the doors and windows, and walked out.
"Normal Golden Cores are placed in the Divine Shrine to be nurtured, held in the mouth of the Divine Embryo. Why is my Golden Core inside a cauldron?" Chen Shi shook his head. Currently, his Golden Core hadn't undergone nine revolutions, only achieving the first revolution. It couldn't count as a Golden Core, only an Internal Pill. Calling it Golden Core was just for convenience.
Chen Shi circulated the Righteous Energy. A Divine Shrine appeared behind his head. He moved the Golden Core, seeing the Golden Core rise slowly from the Dantian, but when it reached the throat, it couldn't go up any further.
He only felt that as the Golden Core arrived at the neck, all the qi and blood in his body also concentrated there, making his neck instantly incomparable thick, much thicker than his waist!
If this stream of qi and blood moved up with the Golden Core to the head, his head would probably explode!
"Golden Core cultivation is not achieved overnight; it still requires refining Seven Returns, Eight Changes, and Nine Reversions."
Chen Shi recalled what he had seen on the stele while walking.
The stele said that the so-called Seven Returns were the Golden Core returning to the meridians, returning to qi, returning to blood, returning to essence, returning to bone, returning to form, and returning to spirit.
The Golden Core was extremely powerful. If the cultivator themselves weren't strong, it would be difficult to bear the power of the Golden Core.
Therefore, one needed Seven Returns, where the Golden Core fed back into oneself, making one's meridians, qi, blood, essence, bones, form, and spirit stronger!
And the Eight Changes were the changes brought about by the Seven Returns, namely: meridians stopping, qi condensing, blood turning to white milk, essence forming rose gems, bones like red jade, marrow turning to dark frost, form becoming clear and body wondrous, spirit transforming without bounds.
These were the Eight Changes!
Nine Reversions were returning to the kidneys, returning to the heart, returning to the liver, returning to the lungs, returning to the spleen, returning to the elixir room, returning to the qi door, returning to the essence hall, returning to the spirit chamber.
Only when cultivated to the point of returning essence to nourish the brain and the spirit chamber shining with great light, could the Golden Core arrive at the top of the head, open the Heavenly Spirit, and achieve Golden Core projection.
"Strange, that young master of the Zhao family who died at my hands, his Golden Core wasn't much stronger than mine is now, at most refined to the fifth revolution. Why could he project his Golden Core?"
Chen Shi was greatly puzzled.
He was referring to Zhao Ziyu, the eldest young master of the Zhao family's Xuanying Manor. Zhao Ziyu's Golden Core was placed in the mouth of his Divine Embryo. When the Divine Embryo opened its mouth and spat, the Golden Core flew out, suppressing and killing enemies with ease.
But Zhao Ziyu was killed by him in one encounter. The strength of his physical body simply couldn't achieve Golden Core projection!
If Zhao Ziyu forcibly projected his Golden Core, his brain would definitely have been impacted by the terrifying qi and blood brought by the Golden Core's movement, and his head would have exploded on the spot!
But Zhao Ziyu managed to project his Golden Core!
"Maybe it's because they cultivate the True Law, and I cultivate a fragmented method."
Chen Shi walked in the mountains, urging the Golden Core in his body to cultivate Seven Returns, Eight Changes, and Nine Reversions. After a long time, the Divine Shrine showed no signs of dispersing.
Not only did the Divine Shrine not disperse, but the true qi in his body didn't disperse either!
Chen Shi stopped and stood in a daze.
Without a Divine Embryo, how could the Divine Shrine not disperse?
Without a Divine Embryo, how could true qi be retained?
This clearly violated common sense!
He stood blankly on the spot, his mind like thunder rumbling. Bolts of heaven-shaking thunder struck down continuously, making him dizzy and his mouth dry.
"Wrong, everything is wrong. Without a Divine Embryo, it is absolutely impossible to retain true qi, and the Divine Shrine will absolutely collapse..."
"There must be a mistake somewhere!"
"Either the world is wrong, or the True King is wrong! Or..."
His eyes went wide, looking up at the sky.
Or...
The True God is wrong!
Compared to the world, compared to the True God, he was more willing to believe that the True King was wrong!
The world has cultivated this path for thousands of years, how could they be wrong?
If they were wrong, how could no one discover it?
The True God taught this path, how could there be a mistake?
If there was a mistake, wouldn't the True God know?
Then, the one who was wrong must be the True King, must be Chen Shi himself!
At this moment, a gust of Yin wind blew past. A voice in the wind called: "Little Ten, Little Ten."
Chen Shi turned his head numbly. A pair of invisible hands immediately grabbed his neck, intending to snap it.
Chen Shi was muddle-headed. Unconsciously, the Golden Core arrived at his neck. The neck became thicker than his waist. The Evil in that Yin wind only felt golden light piercing its body; its hands completely festered, and it immediately rode the Yin wind to flee whistling away.
A cursing voice came from the Yin wind, quickly fading away.
"Haha, hahaha!"
Chen Shi laughed. The laughter was loud and clear, boisterous but somewhat awkward. "I am just a village boy. What qualification do I have to question the world, what qualification to question the True God? I am just a survivor forced by Granny Black Mountain to cultivate the True King's technique."
The awkwardness in his laughter flew away, replaced by heartiness.
Walking the path of the Golden Core was his helpless choice; he had no other option.
But since he had embarked on this path, he would not ask about right or wrong and continue walking!
Luowei Town.
The Monthly Sacrifice festival had passed. Although today wasn't market day, the small town was still lively. It was now a time of reconstruction after the disaster. It was heard that the government had also replaced a batch of officials. It should have been the day for tax collection, but no yamen runners came, so people were happy to be at leisure.
Just then, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to look in the same direction.
Several boys and girls were running around a peddler's stall with windmills. At this moment, they felt the street suddenly become quiet.
The children stopped and turned to look. At the end of the street, dark clouds were densely covered, blocking the sun. Under the dark clouds, grey-clothed rats taller than humans formed two lines and walked towards them.
The children's eyes widened. The windmills in their hands were caught by the Yin wind, spinning wildly with a whoosh.
At the rear of the procession, eight grey-clothed rats carried a large flowered sedan chair. The Yin wind blew the sedan curtain, and vaguely, one could see a pitch-black divine statue sitting inside.
"From today onwards, Granny Black Mountain is the Godmother of Luowei Town!"
A rat jumped onto a roof and said sternly, "A grand sacrifice must be held for the first three days of every month! Every first month of the lunar year, offer virgin boys and girls for Grandma to enjoy! Grandma will ensure you have favorable weather and no disasters or difficulties!"
(End of this chapter)