"Ugh..."
A painful groan escaped as Jiang Li, lying on a pile of dirt, slowly regained consciousness. He propped himself up and opened his eyes, but the movement caused several of his wounds to throb in sharp pain.
After scanning his surroundings, he realized he was still in the same place where he had passed out earlier.
It was deep into the night, the time of Zi (around 11 PM to 1 AM), just after the fifteenth hour. A full moon bathed the earth in its silver light, and occasional cool winds swept through, giving the atmosphere a chill.
Howl... Howl...
From the distant valley, eerie howls echoed, sounding like wolves or foxes, mixed with the cry of an owl. The sounds blended into the night wind, eerie and unsettling.
Jiang Li instinctively wrapped his cloak tighter around himself and shivered involuntarily. He had never encountered such a situation before, and he wasn't sure where he was. He felt utterly weak and helpless.
Ding~
A small flicker of light sparkled on the ground.
"Hmm? What is that?"
Jiang Li squinted, trying to discern what it was, but couldn't make it out.
He slowly approached, bending down to place it under the moonlight for a closer look.
It was a dark, unpolished ring, and under the bright moon, it didn't reflect a single bit of light.
So where did the flicker come from?
He pinched the ring between his thumb and index finger, inspecting it closely, but couldn't figure out what it was.
Curious, he decided to try it on his left index finger, and to his surprise, it fit perfectly. After playing with it for a moment, the ring suddenly vanished.
"Hmm? Where did the ring go? It was just on my finger."
He looked down, searching for it but found nothing.
"Strange... it was just here."
He raised his hand again and looked closely, and suddenly the ring reappeared on his index finger.
"Eh?"
He brought his finger closer to his eyes, focusing intently. Suddenly, a burst of white light erupted from the ring, and Jiang Li felt something pulling at his consciousness. In the blink of an eye, his awareness was transported to a chaotic space, vast and boundless.
In front of him, not far away, a book floated in mid-air.
He tried to move, but nothing happened; he remained still, anchored in place.
"What is this place? Is anyone there?"
He shouted, but there was no response.
Not knowing what to do, Jiang Li stared at the book floating not far away, thinking, If only the book would come over and entertain me for a while.
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, the book suddenly appeared in his hand.
The moment the book touched his fingers, a flash of white light enveloped him, and once again, a wave of disorientation washed over him. In the blink of an eye, his consciousness returned to where he had been before.
The moonlight remained cold, and the night breeze hadn't ceased. He stared blankly at the book in his hands.
Thinking it was just a trick of his eyes, he rubbed his eyes and lowered his head to look again. To his astonishment, the book was really there in his hands.
Suddenly, a chilling scream came from a tree not far away. A shadowy figure rose into the air under the moonlight, quickly soaring into the sky, evoking thoughts of a demon or ghost hunting in the night.
Anyone else would have been terrified at such a scene, but Jiang Li, upon hearing the sound, immediately recognized it as a night owl from the mountains.
He snapped out of his trance and hurriedly looked at the book in his hand.
The cover was inscribed with the four characters"Ren Yuan Zhen Jing" in gold, written in powerful and vigorous seal script.
Ren Yuan Zhen Jing!!!
It was actually a Daoist scripture. Jiang Li's shock could hardly be described in words.
The Daoist scriptures of the world were all passed down from Xuandu Temple, once a peak force that dominated the land.
However, a century ago, Xuandu Temple was destroyed, and since then, the transmission of Daoist teachings has been rare and shrouded in secrecy. For Jiang Li to encounter such a coincidental opportunity to obtain one of these sacred texts was almost unbelievable.
Besides Ren Yuan Zhen Jing, it was said that there were also two other books—Tian Jing and Di Jing. To combine all three could allow one to transcend the cycle of reincarnation and reach the mythical realm beyond the gods.
Jiang Li glanced at the ring on his finger, only to find it missing. His index finger was empty.
What had that world been just now? He had an inkling that it was somehow connected to the strange ring.
Jiang Li held the Ren Yuan Zhen Jing tightly and took several deep breaths, trying to calm his racing mind.
As a scholar, one must maintain composure—one must not be swayed by beauty, nor distracted by treasures.
Jiang Li knew that he had almost lost control earlier.
At that moment, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes. Jiang Li quickly closed the book and warily looked in the direction of the noise.
A wild rabbit suddenly sprang out of the bushes. Upon seeing Jiang Li, it panicked and ran in the opposite direction.
Jiang Li let out a quiet sigh of relief and chuckled at himself for being so jumpy.
He walked a short distance ahead to a flat stone and sat down.
Under the moonlight, he carefully opened the Ren Yuan Zhen Jing again.
As he flipped the pages, a faint fragrance wafted out, as if it carried with it the purest spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
The opening of the book contained only four small words:
"Ren Dao Wu Yu"(Human Dao has no desires)
Jiang Li pondered quietly:"If a person has no desires, are they still human? To live is to desire. Cultivation itself is driven by desire. How could that be easy?"
Whoosh~
He turned the page. On the next page, written in cinnabar, were the following words:
"In the beginning of heaven and earth, when chaos had not yet divided, the primordial energy swirled and all things were born.
Humans are the spirits of heaven and earth, where primordial energy gathers.
Primordial energy is the mother of all things and the foundation of the soul.
Cultivating primordial energy allows one to reach the heavens and the earth, return to simplicity, and achieve immortality.
The essence of cultivation lies in returning to the primordial energy.
Primordial energy is the essence of heaven and earth, the foundation of the human body.
To cultivate primordial energy, one must first learn to return to the source.
Returning to the source means returning to the origin of primordial energy, allowing it to circulate endlessly within the body, creating endless life."
The words seemed to carry a force that penetrated deep into the bones. After reading them, Jiang Li felt as though the tiny characters could fly off the page, almost as if they possessed life.
[Cultivating primordial energy, returning to the source? Is 'source' referring to the primordial spirit?]
Whoosh~
He turned to the next page. Inside was an image of a person meditating in a seated position.
There were also some mantras and key points.
Jiang Li continued to read, but the following content became even more obscure and difficult to understand.
On the first page, every word was still readable, but as he turned the page, the rest of the content became blurred. When he tried to comprehend a single character, his mind felt like it was engulfed in chaos, bringing with it a wave of dizziness and discomfort.
Could it be that he had to first comprehend the earlier parts before being able to understand the rest?
Jiang Li, fully aware of the principle that haste makes waste, decided that since the content ahead was still as difficult as reading a heavenly book, it would be better to focus on the parts he could understand first. He might find key clues to help him interpret the later sections.
He read the understandable parts over and over again, committing them to memory.
"Returning to the source of spiritual energy is the foundation of cultivation. But how exactly should this method of returning to the source be practiced?" Jiang Li muttered to himself, his brow slightly furrowed as he fell into deep thought.
Crossing his legs and sitting down, he followed the posture depicted in the diagram. He formed a seal with his hands, palms facing up, with his two thumbs crossing, and his hands suspended in mid-air. His right arm naturally formed a circle, and he focused on his lower abdomen, his dantian, preparing to meditate.
Jiang Li adjusted his breathing, calming his mind first. He breathed evenly, allowing his emotions to settle, and once his mind was calm and his breathing steady, he slowly closed his eyes.
He concentrated his thoughts, focusing all his attention on his breath, feeling the ebb and flow of air as it entered and exited his body. He maintained a tranquil state of mind, silently sensing whether there was any of the so-called spiritual energy within him.
At first, he felt nothing, only the lingering fatigue in his body and the pain from several injuries.
He took a deep breath, striving to calm his mind as much as possible, like the surface of a still lake, without a ripple.
"Man is the spirit of heaven and earth, the gathering place of the primordial energy. Since I am human, I should have the primordial energy within me," he muttered quietly to himself.