Chapter 2

Chen Hang, a native of Rong State, Dongmi Continent, currently a disciple of the Profound Truth Sect of Little Gan Mountain.

Speaking of which, the experiences of his predecessor were absurd and strange. He was originally a member of the Chen clan in Rong State. In his youth, his beautiful appearance was famous throughout the country, and everyone who saw him thought he was a jade person. People had long heard of his name, and when he went out by carriage, women who encountered him would all surround him hand in hand, and onlookers were like walls.

Perhaps because of this.

Although Chen Hang's predecessor was born out of wedlock by his parents, the Chen clan never treated him harshly.

Famous teachers, spirited horses, and fine clothes—he never lacked what these high-born children should have.

And because Chen Hang's biological father died early of illness, his mother—a young lady of the Chen clan—was left with the root of blood consumption after childbirth and could not teach him.

The clan simply fostered him to an uncle without children, waiting for him to grow a few years older to be adopted by the uncle and inherit the family business of this branch.

If it had just stopped there, everything could be considered perfect.

A youth famous, relatives harmonious, although his biological father died early, he was fortunate to have his widowed mother alive to fulfill his filial piety.

It was a pity that three years ago, when he accidentally went out of the city, he met Yan Zhen, who happened to be stepping on spring from the Profound Truth Sect.

All the past was turned into flowing water.

This beautiful female crown saw him and was pleased, first inviting Chen Hang to be her lover. After being rejected, she was ashamed and angry, simply no longer hiding it, and directly used power to force him.

Although the Chen clan of Rong State was a large clan, it was not an Immortal Sect family and did not have a single true cultivator. Even the entire Rong State was just a secular dynasty, how could it defy the Dharma decree of the Profound Truth Sect, so it had to bow its head and accept the order.

Unexpectedly, the predecessor's temperament was extremely cold and hard. Seeing that the matter could not be changed, he first bid farewell to his widowed mother and the uncle who raised him, and that night he jumped into a well to commit suicide. If he hadn't been rescued by a few clever servants, he would have already lost his life three years ago.

After hearing about this, Yan Zhen was furious.

Not only did she station two hundred Dao soldiers in the Chen clan to guard him strictly, surrounding the mansion tightly.

Even beside Chen Hang, a few Profound Truth Sect Daoists followed him day and night, and he had no freedom.

However, after Chen Hang jumped into the well, Yan Zhen's attitude finally softened. Although she was still detaining him, waiting for Chen Hang to yield, she didn't dare to force him as aggressively as before.

And in this atmosphere of panic, there were finally Chen clan members who couldn't bear it, entrusted someone to ask to see Yan Zhen, and offered her a plan.

Chen Hang's predecessor was extremely filial. Because his widowed mother had been weak for a long time after childbirth and contracted blood consumption, he had searched for famous doctors for many years, but the results were minimal and of little benefit.

If you want to make him bow his head, making an issue of this matter would yield immediate results.

After hearing this, Yan Zhen smiled brightly, begged for pills from the Profound Truth Sect overnight, and forced Chen Hang's widowed mother to take them.

In just three days, Chen Hang's widowed mother was healthy and glowing with red light.

In this situation, at this time and place, even if there was ten thousand times of unwillingness and resentment, Chen Hang had to bid farewell to his tearful widowed mother and follow Yan Zhen up the mountain.

Afterward, the Chen clan member Chen Ze, who offered the plan to Yan Zhen, was also rewarded by Yan Zhen, allowing him to successfully enter the sect and follow the sect's Dharma masters to study the path of Qi cultivation and longevity.

But Chen Hang's predecessor didn't know that just three months after he left his hometown, his widowed mother passed away suddenly, her remains bone-thin, as if all her essence and blood had been drained.

Although pills that nourish the spirit and essence are precious, the Profound Truth Sect was not without them.

However, she was just a secular old woman.

Perhaps in Yan Zhen's view, using such pills to prolong her life was obviously a foolish act.

The pills that the predecessor's widowed mother took that day had no function of prolonging life, they just forcibly lifted the exhausted vitality and solidified it for a while, as for the subsequent loss, it was not in the consideration.

This matter finally reached the Profound Truth Sect, and Chen Hang's predecessor was heartbroken and hopeless.

It was from that time on that he was monitored and cared for by divine sense day and night, and there were no sharp objects around him, and even the hairpins for tying his hair had to be ground down before they were sent to him.

Just like this, the predecessor was kept like a bird for three years.

During this period, to make him smile, Yan Zhen pleased him in every way, knowing that he was proficient in music in his youth and had visited famous teachers.

She started a large construction project in the sect, chiseling stones and opening mountains, building palaces and pavilions, and golden towers, naming it the Le Shanfang.

Once the Le Shanfang was built, she wantonly recruited musicians from surrounding countries to supplement the Le Shanfang to provide accompaniment for Chen Hang's predecessor.

But even though Yan Zhen racked her brains, the predecessor's temperament was still increasingly isolated and cold, his eyes deep and cold like a pool, making people feel terrified when they met those eyes.

Such days.

Didn't end until not long ago, when the West Sea loose cultivator Xu Si killed Yan Zhen with a sword.

That day, the predecessor only heard a sword sound like thunder, and the vast light filled everything in front of him. For a moment, he couldn't see anything, his skin felt like it was tearing, and his eyes felt like they were being needled.

When he finally managed to open his eyes, the slender back that the predecessor hated so much that he wanted to eat her flesh and sleep on her skin was already separated from her head, and an incredible look still remained on her jade face, and the residual light in her eyes made it unclear what emotion it was.

Afterward, Yan Feichen wailed and wept, venting his anger on the Daoists who were attending at the time, and threw them all into the water prison to be confined and tortured.

Although Chen Hang's predecessor luckily wasn't killed on the spot by Xu Si's sword, he was still unfortunately struck by the Cold Battle True Qi in the sword light, causing five internal injuries and seven external wounds, and was confined in the damp and cold water prison.

In just two months, he laughed and passed away one night, losing his breath.

And Chen Hang, who had been struggling on a hospital bed in the modern world for six years, by chance, carried the Golden Cicada he had picked up since childhood and was reborn into this body of the same name...

——

Sorting through the predecessor's memories again.

Chen Hang closed his eyes in silence, and after a long time, he opened his eyes again, sat at the desk, took a roll of white paper, and dipped his brush in ink.

After an unknown amount of time, when the paper was full of the word "quiet" and there was no place to land.

His eyes returned to the deep, waveless appearance.

"Now there are only two urgent matters. First, expelling the Cold Battle True Qi that Xu Si hit into my body is the top priority. With this true qi in my body, let alone cultivating longevity, I'm afraid I'm in immediate danger of losing my life."

Cultivation in this world, if you want to step into the path of the Immortal Dao, you must first achieve Embryonic Breathing, refine true qi, build a Dao foundation, and open the Purple Palace.

Embryonic Breathing, continuous as if it exists, using it without diligence.

The great treasure of man is just this one breath of true yang.

This is the fire of a little spiritual light from the innate, the nature. Buddha says: all living beings are equal; the Dao calls it the place of supreme goodness, the source of life, and the principle of creation.

Embryonic Breathing is the first step of Immortal Dao cultivation. If you don't achieve this realm, everything that follows is in vain.

And after Embryonic Breathing is complete and the nature root appears, in the subsequent Qi Cultivation Realm, you must find a Qi cultivation method to perform the act of refining essence into qi and cultivate true qi.

The true qi in this world is divided into nine ranks and thirty-six grades, with strict hierarchy.

Only with a thick true qi foundation of the seventh rank and above can one build a high-grade Dao foundation.

And if you want to form this kind of true qi, then a superior Qi cultivation technique is indispensable.

"The Cold Battle True Qi in my body must also be famous among high-grade true qi. Just this thread is extremely fierce. If I want to expel or subdue it, my own cultivation, Embryonic Breathing won't work. Perhaps only Qi cultivation can suppress it a little."

Thinking of this, Chen Hang couldn't help but have a headache.

The predecessor's cultivation aptitude was truly inferior. Not to mention Qi cultivation, even Embryonic Breathing hadn't been achieved yet.

If you can't realize the Qi sense of "continuous as if it exists, using it without diligence" for a day, you are still a mortal body for a day.

This is partly because Chen Hang's predecessor's heart was dead like ash and his spirit was withered because of his mother's passing.

But no matter what, Chen Hang, who has lived a second life, must realize the Embryonic Breathing Qi sense in order to prolong his life and seek longevity!

"However, only high-grade true qi can build a flawless Dao foundation? In this vast Profound Truth Sect, I'm afraid it's hard to have superior Qi cultivation techniques."

Chen Hang frowned.

Although the Profound Truth Sect is in full swing in the surrounding territory and almost unstoppable, placed in the vast Dongmi Continent, it is just a small sect that can be ignored, just a drop in the ocean.

And the predecessor once accidentally heard Yan Zhen talk about the world they live in, which is called Xudu Tian, with the vastness of nine continents and four seas.

In this way, the Profound Truth Sect is afraid it's hard to count as even a drop in the ocean.

"Yan Zhen also mentioned that the Profound Truth Sect is suspected to be one of the hundreds of Dao veins under the Yuchen Sect among the great Xuanmen sects. I don't know if this is true."

Withdrawing this groundless thought, Chen Hang held his pen and crossed out the "quiet" words on the paper one by one.

"Besides expelling the Cold Battle True Qi and saving my life, the second thing is that I need to find a reason to go down the mountain to avoid Yan Feichen's anger."

After Yan Zhen died, Chen Hang's predecessor was angered by Yan Feichen, confined for a hundred days, and died in the water prison.

Due to sect rules.

Although Yan Feichen is a noble elder, he could only confine him on the grounds of improper handling of affairs and could not directly execute Chen Hang to be buried with his daughter.

However, it is easy to dodge an open spear, but hard to guard against a hidden arrow.

Chen Hang hasn't left his mortal body yet. Staying in the sect and facing Yan Feichen is undoubtedly using his own shortcomings to face the other's strengths, which is extremely unwise.

The predecessor endured in the water prison for two months and finally passed away helplessly. For the remaining forty days, Chen Hang didn't know how he gritted his teeth and held on.

The day before yesterday, when his confinement period expired and he stumbled out of the water prison to bathe in the daylight, he almost had a sense of astonishment at being reborn.

With the condition of this body.

If he goes to the water prison again, he will sooner or later follow in the predecessor's footsteps.

"However, although the predecessor was humiliated by Yan Zhen, because of the Xuan Gong Yan Zhen practiced, he luckily kept his original yang." Chen Hang sighed with luck.

This body's aptitude is already low. If even the original yang is lost, then climbing the Dao path will be even more difficult.

At this time, his expression moved slightly, and he turned to look at the tightly closed mansion door.

First, a rush of footsteps came, and then, there was knocking and shouting.

"Who is this again, someone from the Officer's Room?"

Chen Hang got up, first tore the white paper full of "quiet" words on the desk, and threw them all into the small red mud stove for boiling tea.

"Chen Chen Shidi, Chen Chen Shidi, it's me! Xu Zhi! Xiao Xiao Shixiong Xu! I heard that you received the talisman for the Earth Abyss the day before yesterday after you came out of the water prison? Are you crazy? Are you crazy? Don't listen to the nonsense of those stinky Daoists in the Punishment Room, open the door! Open the door quickly!"

Seeing that he had knocked hard for a long time and the door didn't open, the person's voice became more urgent:

"Xiao Xiao Shixiong knows that you haven't wanted to live for a day since you went up the mountain, but seeking death isn't done this way! Why insist on going to the Earth Abyss?"

"Think carefully, think about the living people, think about, uh, think about..."

The tone suddenly paused, a bit awkward, and it dropped a few keys forcefully:

"Think about Aunt Wang in the dining room? That... don't you like the lotus seed soup made by Aunt Wang, right? If you die, you won't be able to eat it anymore..."

Inside the cave dwelling.

Chen Hang glanced outside the door, his eyebrows raised imperceptibly.