"Human nature dies, Dao nature lives! Love dies, Dao love arises!"
I was about to go and take a look at the so-called corpse with long fingernails and long hair, but I found that several school leaders, along with the campus police, had already arrived and were driving the students who were gathered around away.
I overheard someone saying that our school was built on a burial ground, and it seems that the rumor was not baseless. Given the events that had unfolded, I'm sure the number of young couples sneaking off to the corners of the playground at night would decrease significantly.
During lunch, the students couldn't stop discussing what had happened on the playground. However, my deskmate, Wu Xiaoman, sat silently at her desk, her face pale. It seemed that her brow had taken on a slightly dark hue.
Hmm? Is she overly frightened? Or perhaps she's troubled? Maybe she's been possessed or affected by some evil spirit?
Alas! I've only just begun my cultivation, with only a small achievement so far. I can draw talismans, but I'm unable to perform any real spells. My experience is limited, so if I were more capable, I could have easily checked her pulse to figure it out!
Sigh! Amitabha Buddha!
It's been over half a month since I started cultivating. After successfully consolidating my foundation, I've begun to sense the wonders of the innate realm. I've gradually started channeling Qi into my body and am now moving toward the formation of the Golden Core.
Strangely enough, when I usually cultivate, whenever the divine light touches the little flag in my Niwan Palace, it actively starts to draw in and refine the energy of the heavens and earth. It then accumulates into my dantian through my meridians. The method I use is completely different from the one described in the books, but so far, I haven't encountered any major issues, so I just let it be.
The upcoming National Day trip, my deskmate Wu Xiaoman's condition, and the dried corpse incident at school didn't stir much emotion in me. I put all of this behind me and spent the entire afternoon contemplating the path I should take in cultivation. After reading so many stories about immortals, and seeing all these things like magical treasures, formations, celestial treasures, blessed lands, and caves, I realized that I had almost none of them. What a pitiful Cultivator I am! At least I have a little flag as a magical item, though I don't even know its name.
When school ended, I noticed that there weren't many students left around. Time really flies.
I walked home and found that my uncle, aunt, and cousin had already started dinner. Although my appetite had decreased recently, I still ate a little to appear normal.
"San Tong, why are you eating so little?" my uncle furrowed his brows and said, "You're still growing, you should eat more. You don't look like a Zhang family member at all with that little appetite."
Sigh! What does my eating less have to do with being a Zhang family member?
At home, my aunt ignored me, my older cousin was away at university, and my younger cousin, Zhang Fuhong, always looked down on me. Only my uncle truly cared about me.
I gave a silly smile, but inwardly, I was really moved. I remembered a saying I had read somewhere: "Those who treat me well, I will repay with goodness, and those who treat me poorly, I will respond with the same." Over the years, my uncle had always treated our family and me with care, and I silently kept that in my heart.
That evening, I reviewed the materials I had gathered since beginning my cultivation. Suddenly, I wondered if I could take out the little flag in my Niwan Palace.
I immediately sat on my bed, calmed my mind, and focused my thoughts on the little flag. As I silently wished for it, the little flag instantly appeared in my hand.
It was as I had hoped! I was thrilled, as it had been a while since I had held the little flag so intimately. I looked at it carefully, and noticed that its color was even more vibrant than before. Three patterns, vaguely resembling oracle bone script, had appeared on the flag, though I couldn't quite make them out. Even if I could see them clearly, I wouldn't know what they meant. Sigh!
Amitabha Buddha! Looks like I need to read more books on this. As a Cultivator, I realized I still had a lot of things to learn. The path of cultivation is long and arduous!
With a sigh, I naturally placed the little flag under my pillow, as I had done before, and began my nightly cultivation.
As usual, I sat on my bed, relaxed my body and mind, and once I reached a state of relaxation, I slowly focused my eyes and guided the divine light to the center of my eyebrows. Then, I gently closed my eyes. I began to convert the divine light into awareness and guided the spiritual energy from the heavens and earth into my body.
"Hum..."
Suddenly, a sharp, tearing pain shot through my brow, and my whole body trembled. I let out a painful groan. What was happening? Why did the spiritual energy I was guiding into my body feel so chaotic and harsh?
"Poof!"
I felt my meridians tearing apart, and I coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Just when I was about to collapse under the pain, the little flag under my pillow emitted a golden light. It appeared in my Niwan Palace, and the chaotic energy of the heavens and earth that had been ravaging my body was quickly absorbed and refined by the flag, turning into a refreshing spiritual energy that repaired my damaged meridians.
At the same time, a strange thought suddenly appeared in my mind, accompanied by images of lightning, thunder, wind and clouds, and flying dragons, all surrounded by flashing golden characters. The image gradually compressed until it turned into a flag. To my astonishment, it was the little flag in my mind. Three golden words, "Xuán Huáng Qí" (玄黄旗), appeared in my heart, and the golden characters that surrounded the image left behind a line of strange-looking characters in my mind. I couldn't recognize a single one of them. They didn't look like oracle bone script or simplified characters, nor were they in any known language.
At that moment, I truly understood the profound mystery of the Xuán Huáng Qí. I sat quietly on my bed, absorbing everything that had just happened.
In the end, several questions flashed through my mind: Why couldn't I guide the spiritual energy into my body using the methods described in the cultivation books? Why did the spiritual energy that wasn't refined by the flag feel so strange? If cultivating according to the books was the correct way, then why weren't there more Cultivators succeeding?