Unlike training strength, where he could consume Spirit Beast meat to boost his power or soak in a medicinal bath to invigorate his physique, training control had to depend solely on himself.
This process required intense focus and care. As Eldest Senior Sister would say, "Find the right feel. Use your body to control your power, not just your mind (Lingtai)."
What Lu Yang had to do was to naturally grab the tofu without conscious effort.
At the end of a day, Lu Yang was soaked with the smell of tofu, his eyes strained nearly to pulleyed due to focusing on the tofu for too long.
Luckily, the puppet was experienced and with a couple of slaps, Lu Yang's eyes returned to normal.
When meal time came, Lu Yang silently looked at the table full of tofu dishes.
Stir-fried tofu, deep-fried tofu, steamed tofu, tofu pudding, tofu cooked in soy milk...
All the ingredients were tofu that Lu Yang had crumbled during the day. According to what he heard, the tofu pudding and the soy milk were kindly donated by a local shop.
Lu Yang silently thanked his ancestors.
Lu Yang knew that until he could fully control his strength, he would not be able to change his diet.
In other words, either he or the tofu certainly wouldn't survive the process.
Tofu in itself is not a common meal. Consuming it over a long term can help Cultivators balance the Five Elements within their bodies, prolong their stamina during battles, and offer countless other benefits.
But no one can bear eating tofu day in and day out.
Having no other choice, Lu Yang buried his head in his meal, contemplating how he could better control his strength the next day.
...
The sleeping Lu Yang felt a glaring white light shining on his face, causing his eyelids to tighten, and his face to twist. Slowly adjusting to the strong light, he tried to open up his eyes.
This was an immaculate space surrounded by a dense mist, only a small area around Lu Yang was clearly visible, and he could not find a light source.
"Where is this?" Lu Yang was somewhat panicked. He had been sleeping in the Seek Dao Sect with countless masters around him, with his Eldest Senior Sister next door. Who could quietly move him to this mysterious space?
Who was friend or foe?
A majestic voice boomed out from the mist, resonating like an ancient echo sweeping across the river of time.
"Young man, this is a space temporarily constructed by me. No one can perceive it," the voice said.
Lu Yang shivered. The owner of the voice possessed an unthinkable level of skill, so he could only hope that they held no malintent towards him.
"I have witnessed the passage of countless epochs, seen numerous Great Powers dominate the world with their Cultivation Levels. Yet in the end, none can escape the erosion of time. Passionate ambitions battling heaven and earth eventually dissolve into sighs drawn at their deathbeds."
"Regardless of their extraordinary talents, I lead a free and easy life, eternally existent." The voice bore traces of weariness, sounding ancient and hoarse, with a faint hint of the desolation of countless years.
The existence of this great being was more than Lu Yang could comprehend.
"Today, I've had a whim and divination revealed that you and I are fated. So I've summoned your soul to this temporary space of inheritance."
"In this space, every resource you would need from the Qi Refinement Stage to the Transcendence Tribulation Stage - techniques, elixirs, secret books, cultivation experiences...you name it, we have it. With every stage you reach, you can unlock a part of my legacy."
Lu Yang took a sigh of relief; it seemed that the speaker was benevolent. He respectfully asked, "Who are you, senior?"
The senior let out three hearty laughs and walked out from the dense mist.
The senior had a clean face and a fair complexion, and his head was square—it was a block of tofu.
The tofu senior approached Lu Yang, speaking faster, "I am the Heavenly Sovereign of Tofu. What you see here is the culmination of my lifelong knowledge. The more tofu you eat, the faster your Cultivation Level will advance. Your foundation will be solid, and challenging those above your level, getting adored left and right, and reaching the peak of the continent will not be a problem..."
Lu Yang woke up with a start, drenched in a cold sweat. He rose from the bed, looking around in pitch darkness interrupted only by an eerie silence. That's when he let out a sigh of relief .
"It was just a dream, thankfully it was a dream."
Lu Yang noticed a chill running down his spine and he shivered, still anxious.
...
Yun Zhi slowly opened her eyes, a blue beam retreating from Lu Yang's room back to her fingertip.
"This should motivate him to cultivate harder," Yun Zhi murmured.
Her Master had once instructed her that pressure, when applied appropriately, could become a driving force and make people strive harder.
Yun Zhi herself was a perfect example. Therefore, she believed in her Master's words and used a dreaming magic skill to apply a slight pressure on Lu Yang.
"I must admit, some of the lines provided by the Eighth Elder were pretty embarrassing, it's a wonder how he managed to say them."
Yun Zhi always sought guidance from others, all the steps and lines in the dream were written by the Eighth Elder, who guaranteed that it would definitely work.
...
After some time passed, Yun Zhi saw Lu Yang easily gripping the tofu, tossing it high into the air, and catching it with ease. He started to use the tofu like a beanbag, tossing it back and forth with the puppet.
The soft tofu felt like a part of his body, controlled at will.
"You've done well, making the heavy feel light. You're done with this stage," she announced.
Lu Yang smiled. He was no longer who he was before. As he constantly practiced gripping tofu, his restless heart also began to calm.
He was able to achieve it without any mantra or incantation.
"What should I train next?"
Lu Yang was no longer concerned about progressing at the same pace as the others. He trusted that Eldest Senior Sister had a purpose for his current training plan.
Yun Zhi allowed a rare smile to spread on her face: "To consolidate your accompaniment in the Chi Refinement stage."
Lu Yang pointed to himself, dumbfounded, "Chi Refinement stage? Me?"
He had no idea when he had entered the Chi Refinement stage. Wasn't it mentioned in the books that there had to be a guide for one to guide the Chi into the body? A guide to cultivating, shutting off one's five senses, and smooth-running one's meridians was meant to facilitate success?
If one lacked natural proficiency, supposed elixirs were to be used as aids.
None of these prerequisites had been met by him so far.
The Master had never instructed him on how to guide Chi into his body, nor had any esoteric cultivation techniques been handed down. He hadn't "closed off" his five senses and turned to a mystical sixth sense, as far as the meridians were concerned, he could hardly recall their arrangement straight.
While members of the Seek Dao Sect didn't need to rely on elixirs to guide Chi into their bodies - all of them were one in a thousand talents. If they needed elixirs to even enter the Qi Refinement stage, they might as well leave Seek Dao Sect.
Lu Yang believed that he would not need the elixirs too, but the question was: how did he make it to the Qi Refinement stage?
"Three mornings ago," the Eldest Senior Sister hinted.
Lu Yang recalled that morning three days ago.
He had woken up early that day, facing the morning sun, with his eyes closed, contemplating how exactly to grasp the tofu.
As he delved deeper into his thoughts, he gradually lost his perception of the outside world. He felt as if he had transformed into an upwardly ascending purified Chi, wandering between heaven and earth. As he sank back into consciousness and returned to his body, he felt as if a lightbulb went off in his head, and a warm current started to flow through his Dantian.
And that's when he first managed to grasp a block of tofu.
Although he remembered that the Eldest Senior Sister was not present during his tofu practice, he realized now that she had been observing him all the while from a place unbeknownst to him.
"So, that feeling was probably the guiding of Chi into the body," Lu Yang muttered to himself, lost in thought.
That feeling was truly unique–like being amidst the clouds, embracing a warmth, a feeling so comfortable that he didn't want to open his eyes.
Before he knew it, he had fulfilled his small wish, guided Chi into his body, and become a Qi Refinement Cultivator.