Gou Refining Essence into Qi in the Dharma-ending Age

Chapter 2 Embryonic Breathing and Entering a State of Tranquility

In a family of cultivators, every promising individual with the potential for cultivation has their own courtyard.

The courtyard was quite large, roughly equivalent to a two-courtyard mansion in the mortal world. In this respect, the cultivation family was quite extravagant, not allowing its members to dig caves through the mountains.

Originally, there were many beautiful maids in Lin Yuan's courtyard, but after the Tianji Sect announced the news, these maids were dismissed first.

Lin Yuan didn't feel it was a great pity.

Spiritual practice is the most important thing.

That represents longevity and good health.

In his previous life, he had heard many claims that immortality was a curse, such as loneliness.

But he desperately wanted to live forever; he dreamed about it constantly.

How can you know what it feels like to live forever if you haven't experienced it?

Soon, Lin Yuan arrived at the quiet room in his courtyard.

Cultivation in this world has a very special aspect in its early stages.

That is a cultivation method that does not absorb any spiritual energy.

Once certain conditions are met, one can absorb spiritual energy and begin cultivation.

In the path of cultivation, one must enter into meditation to return to the state of innate fetal breathing. When fetal breathing is perfected and the innate body is established, one can then gather the primordial energy of heaven and earth to enter the state of energy gathering. Only by gathering energy to perfect oneself can one forge the foundation for the Dao and enter the state of the Dao foundation. Only when the Dao foundation is flawless can one reap the Dao fruit and enter the state of the golden elixir.

When the Golden Core is perfected, it can transform into an Immortal Embryo and enter the Dao Embryo realm. This realm is also known as Dao Lord or Immortal Lord.

The ultimate cultivation of the Dao embryo leads to the Mahayana realm.

Embryonic breathing, Qi gathering, Dao foundation, Golden elixir, Dao embryo, and Mahayana are the six major realms of cultivation.

Of course, the names of realms are simple and can be summarized in a few words.

Entering the path of spiritual cultivation is extremely difficult.

It is generally acknowledged in the spiritual community that starting spiritual practice earlier is not necessarily better.

Generally speaking, sixteen years old is the best age.

Firstly, by the age of sixteen, one's physical constitution is truly set, making cultivation the most stable process.

Secondly, one's temperament only becomes relatively stable around the age of sixteen.

The former needs no further explanation.

The latter, however, is related to the threshold for entering the Fetal Breathing Realm.

The so-called fetal breathing is a pre-natal state in which one does not breathe through the mouth or nose. It is said that at the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, all living beings were in this state.

The ancient sages imitated the innate beings and pioneered the path of cultivation.

Therefore, only by entering the state of fetal breathing can one receive the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and begin cultivation.

The Fetal Breathing Realm is essentially a realm for strengthening the physical body and building a foundation. It is divided into nine levels. At the first level of Fetal Breathing, one possesses immense power and is invulnerable to swords and spears. At the ninth level of Fetal Breathing, the physical body is unparalleled and can shatter hills.

At the same time, the body of a ninth-level embryonic cultivator is already filled with spiritual energy, achieving perfection. This is the innate state. As long as one gathers a wisp of energy, one can break through to the second realm, "Qi Gathering".

"My goal is to break through to the seventh level of the Fetal Breathing stage before the spiritual energy is completely cut off." Lin Yuan set his goal.

The lifespan of the Absolute Spirit lasts for three hundred years, while the lifespan of the seventh level of Fetal Breathing is three hundred and fifty years.

Only a lifespan of seven layers of embryonic breathing can allow him to survive an era without spiritual energy.

……

As the ancients said: The fetus is formed from the hidden qi, and the qi breathes from the fetus. When qi enters the body, it is called life; when the spirit leaves the body, it is called death. Knowing that spirit and qi can lead to longevity, one should firmly guard emptiness and nothingness to nourish spirit and qi.

"In simple terms, it emphasizes that spirit and energy are interdependent. One can cultivate spirit and energy by maintaining a state of emptiness, that is, by keeping the mind calm. When the spirit is calm, one can obtain energy."

Therefore, the first thing to do in order to cultivate oneself is to enter a state of tranquility.

Entering a state of tranquility is a method to calm one's mind and spirit. When one reaches a certain level of tranquility, one enters a state of "stillness," at which point the body can absorb spiritual energy.

To enter a state of "meditation," one needs to achieve stillness of body, mind, and intention. When all three are still, one is in a state of "meditation."

The simplest of these is stillness of body, extreme relaxation of the body, stillness and composure. This is something that cultivators with the potential of the Lin family must learn from a young age.

A calm mind is a relaxation of the soul. One needs to maintain peace and tranquility, and generally speaking, one's emotions should not fluctuate too much, such as excessive joy, anger, or sorrow.

A state of mental tranquility goes a step further than a state of mental stillness; it requires the complete absence of distracting thoughts, where the mind is as empty as nothingness.

The last point is the hardest.

The latter two points are also among the important reasons why one must wait until the age of sixteen to begin spiritual practice.

Too young, and the heart is restless; too old, and distracting thoughts arise.

At sixteen, one's physical development is complete, and the timing is just right.

"These days, most members of the family probably find it difficult to even find peace of mind, let alone tranquility."

Banished to the mortal realm by their families and losing all hope of cultivation, who wouldn't be angry, who wouldn't be filled with distracting thoughts?

Of course, the family wouldn't care about that.

In the family's view, being unable to enter the Lesser Immortal Realm meant the end of their cultivation path.

Lin Yuanze is somewhat different.

The other members of the family who were expelled were those whose hearts were restless and their intentions impure because they were unable to cultivate.

But he doesn't have this problem.

The Dao Seed of Refining Essence into Qi gave him confidence.

"I entered a state of physical stillness in my early years, and I could only occasionally enter a state of mental stillness. However, I have always found it difficult to achieve a state of spiritual stillness. I have a premonition that I may be able to achieve it today."

In a past life, being wealthy enough allows one to face everything with greater composure, without overthinking or worrying about the future.

Upon hearing of the existence of the "Spirit-Slaying" era, the Dao Seed of [Refining Essence into Qi] became Lin Yuan's wealth.

With confidence, there's nothing to panic about.

Then Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, facing the sky, and slowly relaxed his body and mind.

Before long, his posture remained unchanged.

If an observer were to look closely, they would notice that his breathing had become very rhythmic, as if resonating with the breath of heaven and earth. His seemingly upright posture actually indicated that he had entered a state of ultimate comfort.

Only in this way can prolonged sitting in meditation prevent damage to the body.

According to past experience, Lin Yuan would need to put in a lot of effort to achieve a state of mental tranquility.

But this time, as soon as I entered a state of physical stillness, I immediately entered a state of mental stillness.

Leaving the family was a good thing for Lin Yuan. Thinking about it made him feel calm, and when he felt calm, he felt at peace.

Then came the tranquility that had troubled him for so long.

In the past, Lin Yuan had many distracting thoughts, such as how to obtain more resources from the Lin family, a high-ranking family that openly abused its power for personal gain.

But now that he is about to be expelled from the family, this idea has disappeared because it is meaningless.

"My family helped me sever this extraneous thought at its root..."

Even so, after spending a full half hour, Lin Yuan still couldn't achieve a state of mental tranquility.

He opened his eyes and sighed, "There are still distracting thoughts in my mind. Yi Jing is indeed not that simple."

He knew very well why he had these distracting thoughts this time.

Because of one's own inherent qualities.

Cultivation aptitude is divided into inferior, low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade, and the legendary heavenly grade. Different aptitudes result in different degrees of absorption of spiritual energy during cultivation.

Simply put, with the same amount of spiritual energy, the better one's innate constitution, the more one can absorb, and the faster one's cultivation will be.

After testing, Lin Yuan's aptitude was determined to be of medium grade.

A mid-grade physical constitution isn't bad, but it's far from good.

The spiritual energy obtained by refining one's own qi, blood, essence, and qi also needs to be actively absorbed.

As the ancients said, even with a medium-grade aptitude, one can only absorb 40% of this spiritual energy with all one's might, while the other 60% will naturally dissipate.

Although cultivation can prolong lifespan, with his mid-grade root bone, is it really possible for him to cultivate to the seventh level of embryonic breathing in the era of spiritual depletion and live into the next spiritual energy era?

Unless one can obtain resources to accelerate cultivation, such as elixirs.

Unlike pure spiritual energy, elixirs were created specifically for cultivators to absorb, allowing them to bypass the limitations of innate talent to a certain extent.

Although it will still be affected to some extent, it is equivalent to having an extra bit of spiritual energy.

In addition, there are many rare and precious materials that have similar effects to elixirs.

However, they are about to leave their families, will lose their foundation, and will find it difficult to obtain elixirs. Furthermore, they will soon enter the era of spiritual depletion, where rare and precious materials will disappear, making it impossible to obtain auxiliary resources to accelerate their cultivation.

If one's cultivation speed is too slow and one's realm is insufficient, one's lifespan will be insufficient, and everything will become futile.

And this is the source of Lin Yuan's distracting thoughts.

After all, if one cannot live to see the next spiritual era, there is no point in cultivating even in the era of spiritual depletion.

Knowing a lot has become a hindrance to cultivation, since if he had never looked at a lot of data to make estimates, he would never have had the current distracting thoughts.

"If only I had superior physical constitution!"

Superior-grade physical constitution is only one level below mid-grade, but the difference between them is like an insurmountable chasm.

This can be seen from the attitude of the Lin family's higher-ups.

Even if the family is full of scoundrels, they won't drive away someone with superior physical attributes.

Because this is the family's hope.

If it is a superior root bone, Lin Yuan is confident.

With superior physical attributes, one can absorb at least 70-80% of the same amount of spiritual energy.

With this efficiency, even when purely absorbing spiritual energy, the cultivation speed is extremely fast.

But he wasn't.

That is the difficulty in achieving inner peace.

The more thoughts you have, the more difficult it becomes.

Some families, in order to prevent their offspring from having wild ideas, will even keep them in captivity and prevent them from contacting the outside world. Powerful families may even create an environment full of actors.

The Lin family treated that person with superior talent and aptitude in this way, basically never showing their face to outsiders.

After a long while, Lin Yuan closed his eyes again and continued trying.

"In the end, I'm a little better off than others. I have no chance at all and can only turn into withered bones."

If comparing who's worse off can calm him down, he doesn't mind doing so.

However, at that moment, the door to the quiet room was banged on, interrupting the moment.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes instantly.

According to family rules, no one is allowed to knock on the door of another person's quiet room in this way.

But rules are made by people, and there will always be some people who can break them.

For example, high-ranking members of a family, or their descendants.

And yet they came to him, and so brazenly…

Lin Yuan got up, opened the door, and saw someone who was not surprising to him at all.

A boy who looked about fourteen or fifteen years old and resembled him by about five points.

His half-brother, Lin Qingfeng.

Within a family, only the most valued descendants are assigned a generational ranking.

Lin Qingfeng belongs to the "Qing" generation.

Why is it that Lin Qingfeng, who shares the same father, is valued while Lin Yuan is not, and why was Lin Yuan not even in the Immortal Mountain before his innate talent was tested? That involves matters of the parents' generation, which cannot be explained in a few words.

In short, Lin Qingfeng disliked his older brother very much, and could even be said to resent him.

This is partly due to the influence of Lin Qingfeng's mother, and also due to his inherent character.

His older brother has a mid-grade root bone.

Lin Qingfeng only has low-grade aptitude, which is even considered poor among low-grade aptitude.

When jealousy ignites, it becomes completely irrational.

Lin Qingfeng didn't even enter the body to calm down because of this.

But this good-for-nothing managed to gain entry into the Little Fairy Realm.

Lin Yuan could guess that Lin Qingfeng's purpose in coming was nothing more than to show off and mock him.

Upon seeing Lin Yuan appear, Lin Qingfeng, as expected, revealed a mocking expression and said, "My dear brother, you went straight to the meditation room upon your return. You're really working hard, but unfortunately, your efforts are meaningless."

"You were incredibly lucky back then, managing to enter the Lin Family Immortal Mountain. But you have to go back to where you came from. That's fate. You were destined to be a mortal."

"As for me, I have achieved stillness of body, stillness of mind, and state of mind, and I am about to embark on my spiritual practice. I will come to pay my respects to you in the future, brother."

Lin Yuan was somewhat surprised that this good-for-nothing had actually completed the "Three Stillnesses" before him?

Lin Qingfeng seemed to have guessed Lin Yuan's thoughts, or rather, he was there to show off, and immediately said, "The thought that you are about to be expelled from the family and become a useless mortal makes me extremely happy. I have easily achieved the Three Tranquility.

In order to see Lin Yuan collapse, he didn't even absorb spiritual energy after completing the Three Stillnesses.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan was at a loss for words.

His good-for-nothing younger brother really puts all his heart into him!

Before he could speak, Lin Qingfeng's smile became even more arrogant and smug. He said, "Oh right, there's something I forgot to tell you, brother. Your bone structure test back then was tampered with."

"Brother, you have extremely rare top-grade talent. If the family had known about it back then, you would definitely be able to stay now. But even if you go and ask, no one will re-examine you. They will just think you've lost your mind."

"The thought that even with my superior talent and physique, I can only become a skeleton makes me even happier, hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan's pupils contracted, and he was shaken.

Lin Qingfeng was even happier to see this.

He chose to come here today just to see this expression!