Chapter 31

Zhang Sheng picked up a piece of blank jade paper, and a cyan sword Qi shot out from his fingertip, and a visualization map appeared on the jade paper.

He handed the jade paper to Wei Yuan and said, "I have thought about it again and again and decided to teach you the 'Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Map' as the foundation for Body Forging. You should look at this visualization map carefully first. When cultivating, you must use this visualization map as a bridge to communicate with heaven and earth, and absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to forge yourself. Being able to communicate with heaven and earth and borrow the power of Qi-fortune during the Body Forging stage is truly a top-tier technique. But fortune and misfortune are interdependent, and the dangers during cultivation are far higher than other techniques. No matter what you see or feel during cultivation, you must always keep your original heart and spiritual sense, and you must not be panicked or afraid."

After careful instructions, Zhang Sheng took out three pills and said, "These three Heart-Cleansing Pills were specially requested by me for you, which can slightly improve your root bone quality. There are still three days until paying respects to the founder, so it is just right to take one every day, which will be good for you when paying respects to the founder's statue."

Wei Yuan memorized the visualization map and began to cultivate according to the technique.

According to the "Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Map," the physical body is the foundation of everything. The first step in cultivation is to manifest the visualization map in the sea of consciousness; the size of the visualization map means the quality of the foundation. Then it is to use the visualization map as a reliance to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and one's own Qi-fortune to forge oneself. When the physical body and primordial spirit are all forged and transformed into an immortal embryo, the visualization map will ignite vitality, like a real world. Reaching this step means that Body Forging is completed, and one can begin to condense the Dao Foundation.

Wei Yuan's temperament was extraordinary, and a moment later he forgot both himself and the objects.

Zhang Sheng took out a Heart-Cleansing Pill, took out an incense burner and placed it in front of Wei Yuan, and then put the Heart-Cleansing Pill into the burner. The burner was lined with bottom charcoal, and under the roasting of the charcoal fire, a wisp of pill fragrance drifted out from the burner eye, converging into a line, entering Wei Yuan's nose as if it had spirituality.

Wei Yuan's eyes were originally pitch black, but at this time he smelled a wisp of pill fragrance. The pill fragrance entered his body and immediately turned into wisps of warmth, slowly spreading through his limbs and bones, indescribably comfortable. Under the blessing of the pill fragrance, a point of light began to sprout in his sea of consciousness, reflecting a small world, vaguely seeing a large stone in the center, a jade toad crouching on the stone, and a full moon hanging not far above.

After successfully manifesting the visualization map, the wisps of pill fragrance had a direction and flew into the visualization map one by one. Each wisp of pill fragrance made the visualization map clearer and more stable.

Wei Yuan constantly operated the technique, and I don't know how long it had passed, when suddenly his eyes blurred, and the scenery all changed.

At this time, Wei Yuan only felt that he had become that jade toad, with only a full moon in the sky in his eyes, constantly spitting and swallowing towards the full moon. This feeling was incomparably real, and for a moment it made Wei Yuan unable to distinguish whether he was a human or a jade toad.

Fortunately, he remembered Zhang Sheng's instructions, no matter what strange phenomena he encountered, he would follow the situation, and his original heart would not produce waves.

At this time, in the eyes of Wei Yuan, who had turned into a jade toad, the full moon in the sky was no longer a flat fake moon, but a huge sphere, which seemed to be within reach. Wisps of moon brilliance constantly overflowed from the full moon and were then swallowed by Wei Yuan in large mouthfuls, turning into a part of his body.

I don't know how long it had passed again, when Wei Yuan, who was spitting and swallowing moon brilliance, suddenly felt that his body had grown a circle larger, and this small world had become very narrow, so much so that even turning around was a bit difficult.

Just at this time, Wei Yuan heard a sound of a chime, his spiritual sense was pulled out from the jade toad and returned to his main body, and then Zhang Sheng's voice sounded in his ears: "That's enough."

Wei Yuan finished his cultivation and stood up, only then seeing that the morning light had already lit up outside the window; unknowingly, a night had passed.

Zhang Sheng asked about his situation during the cultivation, gave some pointers on the key points, and then let Wei Yuan go to rest. Now Wei Yuan had not reached the point where he could use cultivation to replace sleep, so he returned to the bedroom to sleep, and naturally woke up an hour later.

Next, during the day, Zhang Sheng taught Wei Yuan cultivation common sense, and at night, Wei Yuan cultivated by himself.

During the second cultivation, Wei Yuan was much more proficient, soon forgetting both himself and the objects, and once again turning into a jade toad.

He felt the narrowness of the surrounding space again, as if he had been put into a cage, and even turning around was troublesome. Wei Yuan could not move, so he could only try his best to spit and swallow moon brilliance. With every mouthful of moon brilliance swallowed, Wei Yuan felt that his body had become more solid. While swallowing, Wei Yuan suddenly saw a huge monster vaguely appearing in the full moon, and then a wisp of familiar black Qi appeared in the subsequent moon brilliance, which was swallowed into Wei Yuan's belly with the moon brilliance.

After the black Qi entered his belly, Wei Yuan discovered that his perception immediately expanded a little, finally crossing that invisible restriction and extending into the void. Many invisible particles floated in the void, which could be led by consciousness and integrated into the earth under his body. As the particles being led constantly increased, the ground under Wei Yuan finally expanded a little, and the shackles on his body were correspondingly reduced.

At this time, there was a piece of land about a zhang square in Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness, a large stone on the ground, and a snow-white jade toad crouching on the rock, looking up and spitting and swallowing moon brilliance. At this time, a piece of land the size of a palm appeared on the edge of the land under the stone, slowly turning from virtual to real.

Just as the newly born land solidified, Wei Yuan was awakened by Zhang Sheng. Zhang Sheng asked about the cultivation process as usual, and then judged that the shadow Wei Yuan saw in the full moon was the projection of his own Qi-fortune, and the black Qi mixed in the moon brilliance was extracted from Wei Yuan's own Qi-fortune.

The third day of cultivation continued as before. From the beginning, Wei Yuan saw the shadow in the full moon, and then constantly inhaled black Qi while spitting and swallowing moon brilliance, and a circle of new land was correspondingly born on the ground under his body.

Three days of cultivation passed in a flash, all the Heart-Cleansing Pills were used up, and the next step was the grand ceremony of paying respects to the ancestors.

Early this morning, Wei Yuan finished packing, and under Zhang Sheng's guidance, meditated for half an hour, with a sincere heart and intention, before heading to the Founder's Hall.

The Founder's Hall stands on a high mountain. The mountain rocks are strange and steep, and a waterfall falls from the nine heavens, finally converging into a mirror lake at the foot of the mountain. Everywhere on the mountain are flowers and trees of various colors, with strange fragrances permeating. If a mortal stays on this mountain for a while and smells the fragrance of the immortal trees, they can extend their life by ten years. There is a staircase paved with cyan jade between the mountains, winding upwards, leading directly to the top of the mountain.

Wei Yuan was carried by Zhang Sheng with Daoist arts. In one breath, Wei Yuan's vision would blur, and when it became clear again, he was already a hundred zhang away. Wei Yuan tried hard to distinguish, and finally realized that when his vision blurred, the surrounding scenery was actually flashing back rapidly, but because the speed was too fast, it was difficult to distinguish.

At Zhang Sheng's speed, it took a while to arrive in front of the Founder's Hall. At this time, hundreds of people had already gathered on the square in front of the hall.

The Founder's Hall is a hundred zhang high, and the two red copper gates are thirty zhang high. I don't know what kind of immortals need such high gates.

At this moment, the hall gates were wide open, and the founder's statue in the hall was thirty zhang high, looking like a young cultivator, even with a bit of childish feeling. It is said that the founder had not yet reached the age of twenty when he cultivated the Dao Foundation, so his appearance was fixed, and it had not changed until he passed away. The statue had one hand behind its back, one hand holding a book, and four immortal swords floating around its body.

The statue was extremely vivid, and the lapels seemed to be really dancing in the wind. This was fine, but the four immortal swords had no reliance at all, just floating in mid-air like that.

Wei Yuan was brought outside the hall by the ritual Daoist, and together with all the newly accepted disciples, waited for the roll call.

The ritual Daoist called names one by one, and the new disciples paid respects in batches, grouped by region, with some batches of five and some batches of seven or eight.

The sect entry guide issued to the new disciples had already listed the process of paying respects to the founder. The disciples needed to kowtow seven times, and then silently recite the sacrificial text in their hearts. The sacrificial text was about a thousand words, mainly recording the founder's deeds, telling the current situation in the mortal world, and the original intention of entering the palace to cultivate, etc. The whole sacrificial text had no formulas, but if the new disciples could have a sincere heart and intention, and their foundation and Qi-fortune were both excellent, they might be favored by the founder and be granted something.

At that time, Zhang Sheng obtained two sword Qi from the four immortal swords, and used this as a reliance to achieve the immortal foundation, which caused a sensation at the time.

(End of chapter)