Chapter 28: Great Luo Body

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Before dawn broke, the fields were already alive with activity.

Li Yan swung his sickle, pulling with his left hand and guiding with his right, causing large bundles of wheat to fall neatly behind him, ready to be bound later.

After a while, when the horizon began to lighten, Li Yan finally paused his work, stretched his back and waist with a few movements, and turned to look around.

In the distant wheat fields, the same busy scene unfolded.

It was time to harvest the wheat of Li Family Village.

There’s a proper time for harvesting: “Nine-tenths ripe yields a full harvest; ten-tenths ripe loses one-tenth,” so you must not wait until the wheat is fully mature.

Even the time of day matters—early morning and evening are preferred, because the stalks are tougher then and less likely to break, and the grains less likely to fall out.

After a year of hard work, wasting even a single grain hurts.

Since his return, five or six days have passed; each night he practiced visualization and spirit retention, and though he hadn’t yet succeeded, he’d made considerable progress.

Perfect timing—the harvest and cultivation could proceed without conflict.

A strong laborer can cut about one mu of wheat per day.

Li Yan, being a martial practitioner with solid foundational training and familiarity with the local sickle techniques, worked swiftly and could easily cut one and a half mu per day.

The family’s several mu of land would take only a few days to harvest.

Each day involved cutting, threshing, drying, and storing the grain—often leaving early and returning late; even a martial artist grew weary, with sore back and aching waist.

Yet he found joy in it.

His supernatural ability often went out of control, leaving him emotionally unstable, but after each day’s labor, when his mind emptied, he found it easier to enter meditation.

Unconsciously, several more days passed.

Around Li Family Village, the golden waves of wheat had vanished, leaving only vast stretches of yellow earth and dense stubble.

When the wind blew, dust and sand rose into the air.

Under the setting sun, the Guanzhong plains appeared even more vast and majestic.

Though the golden waves were gone, the villagers all wore joyful smiles.

Scholars and poets always equate golden fields with bountiful harvests, but only those who toil the soil know that hail, rain, and gales are each a disaster—only when every grain is safely stored does a true harvest year begin.

And on this very night, Li Yan finally achieved breakthrough.

Deep in the quiet night, he sat cross-legged on his bed.

His mind was empty of all distractions; his breath was faint and almost imperceptible; his awareness focused entirely on his third eye, where in the darkness, a luminous figure floated silently.

This was the deity he had visualized.

According to the methods in the “True Scripture of the Western Mysterious Cavern,” he visualized his internal organs daily, each bodily part, gathering the faint spiritual light from the void into his third eye, then retaining the deity there.

Success is marked by the deity’s persistence—its image remains even after waking.

As long as he focused his thought, the retained deity instantly appeared in his mind’s eye.

Of course, this method progresses gradually.

As his spiritual cultivation deepens, the visualized deity becomes clearer.

Practitioners of other major sects rely on ancestral or divine templates, but Li Yan encountered an unusual situation.

His visualization template was the statue within his dantian.

This object constantly resided in his dantian, resonating with his spirit—he needed only to concentrate, unlike other Daoist practitioners who constantly struggled to gather their scattered minds.

This was why his progress had been so rapid.

At the moment he succeeded in visualization, the luminous figure at his third eye resonated with the substitute statue, swiftly descending and enveloping it.

This sudden development caught Li Yan off guard.

Before he could react, the statue changed again.

Merging with the light of retained deity, the statue’s previously blurred face twisted, then formed distinct features—becoming an exact replica of Li Yan himself.

Simultaneously, a flood of information surged into his mind.

Li Yan’s eyes widened in shock, then sparkled with joy.

Previously, his sense of the statue had been vague, so he could only infer its function from incomplete clues.

Now, after retaining the deity, the statue was fully consecrated by him.

This treasure was called the “Great Luo Body.”

Besides replacing injury and substituting for death, it could also protect the spirit.

The deity he had visualized had merged completely with the Great Luo Body.

There were two benefits.

First, it protected the retained deity, functioning like a pavilion—no ritual construction was needed to prevent the deity from dissipating.

Second, like his physical body, it could absorb injury.

If cursed by spiritual attacks, the statue could bear the damage instead of harming the retained deity.

Of course, the pavilion still needed to be built.

After all, the Great Luo Body could only absorb injury—it could not enhance cultivation.

More importantly, the Great Luo Body could continue to evolve.

By consuming celestial treasures and earthly essences, its strength could be increased; if enough such treasures were gathered and a ritual performed, his life flame could be reignited.

Effectively granting him an extra life!

He hadn’t expected the Great Luo Body required spiritual refinement.

Li Yan smiled; with a thought, the retained deity returned to his third eye, remaining intact even amid scattered thoughts.

Suppressing his excitement, he followed the method in the “True Scripture of the Western Mysterious Cavern,” adjusted his breathing, focused his mind—and his supernatural ability transformed. Previously, his sense of smell had been uncontrollable: mostly faint or absent, occasionally erupting violently, leaving him dizzy, nauseous, and blind for long periods.

Now, that extraordinary sense of smell began to fade.

Eventually, it became indistinguishable from that of an ordinary person.

Li Yan remained calm, pressing his left thumb against the second joint of his index finger.

This was the Yang Seal, representing the Sun Star Lord.

As he held the seal, he inhaled deeply—and his nasal sense activated instantly. Scents flooded his nostrils, growing stronger with his intent.

Then, he pressed his left thumb against the fourth finger’s upper joint.

This was the Yin Seal, representing the Moon Star Lord—and his ability shut off.

According to the scripture, supernatural abilities originate from the Yang Six Senses, not mere physical power; using them consumes spirit and soul.

After retaining the deity, mastering the Yin and Yang seals allowed him to control his ability freely.

By keeping it closed daily, he avoided attracting malevolent entities.

！。

The dark cloud hanging over his head finally lifted.

Plop!

Just as Li Yan rejoiced, a stone suddenly flew into the courtyard.

In the silent night, it couldn’t escape Li Yan’s ears.

Someone was there!

He furrowed his brows, rolled off the bed, grabbed the Guanshan knife from the wall, and slipped out the door silently.

Plop!

Another stone landed on the ground.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes, his right hand gripping the knife’s hilt.

This was a classic “throwing stones to probe” tactic—understood only by those in the martial world.

If the intruder was a fellow traveler, a coded phrase would make them leave, avoiding unwanted intrusion and potential bloodshed.

If no response came, they could enter freely.

He was about to shout and drive them off, but something stirred in his mind—he formed a hand seal, inhaled deeply, and instantly discerned every scent within a hundred meters.

Sha Li Fei?!

Recognizing the intruder’s scent, Li Yan was startled.

He glanced toward the other side, confirming his grandfather Li Gui was still asleep, then surged forward, leapt against the wall with his left foot, used his right foot to push off, soared into the air, and executed a clean sideways somersault over the courtyard wall.

Outside the wall stood Sha Li Fei.

He looked disheveled—clothes torn, covered in dust—hiding in the shadow of a jujube tree, peering nervously around.

“What happened?”

Li Yan frowned, whispering low.

Sha Li Fei scratched his bald head, grimacing: “Let’s talk outside the village—Master Wang is here too, waiting for us in the ruined temple on the back mountain.”

“And… could you spare some water and food?”

“I’ve been hungry for a whole day…”

…………

Behind Li Family Village stood a mountain shrine.

Such mountain shrines existed throughout China; herbalists, hunters, or travelers would often light incense before entering the mountains, praying for safety and protection from demons and spirits.

When the old soldiers of Li Family Village were still alive, the shrine had decent offerings—they were all expert archers who frequently hunted game in the hills.

Now, fewer people ventured up, and the barren mountain held little of value; the shrine had long lost its incense, fallen into disrepair, with one corner of its roof collapsed.

Inside the temple now, a campfire crackled merrily.

Sha Li Fei and Master Wang Xuan toasted their bread over the flames, then wolfed it down with cold water, as if they were starving ghosts.

"Bandits smashed the kiln?"

Li Yan sat aside, slightly startled.

No wonder—during the time he had been cultivating, Hei Dan and the other traveling wheat laborers had all returned, yet Wang Daoxuan and the other two were nowhere to be seen.

He had assumed the elder madam had held on longer, and the funeral had not yet concluded.

But he had not expected bandits had raided the village.

"Yeah, that's right!"

Sha Lifei, while eating, muttered: "Just after the wheat laborers left, bandits smashed the kiln that night. Luckily, I and the Daoist were out ordering coffins, so we weren't trapped."

Li Yan frowned. "The Lu family had plenty of guards—were there many bandits?"

Sha Lifei swallowed the rest of his bread with effort and cursed: "Too many to count—dark as night, at least three or four hundred."

"I even saw one man—the leader of the Shandong bandits we met on the road—joined up with several big-knife bandits from Guanzhong."

"Damn it, they slaughtered the whole village—so brutal!"

"Shandong bandits?"

Hearing this, Li Yan fell into deep thought.

This matter was probably not so simple…

(End of Chapter)