Chapter 65: Breaking Through the Small Heavenly Circuit
“Master, what's wrong?”
Looking at Jing Shizhen's bloodshot eyes, Su Xiaofan felt that he suddenly looked much more haggard than before.
“What happened to you? Did you fall asleep again?”
There was a trace of disbelief in Jing Shizhen's eyes.
“No!”
Su Xiaofan immediately denied it. “Master, I was cultivating. I absolutely wasn't snoring!”
Su Xiaofan felt that he had only closed his eyes for a moment. Although quite a long time had passed, he should not have been snoring.
Besides, he had already slept for about an hour earlier and had even entered a deep sleep. Since he wasn't particularly exhausted, he normally wouldn't snore.
“You… were you in a state of meditation just now?”
Jing Shizhen's voice trembled slightly.
“Yes, I think I was.”
Su Xiaofan nodded and said, “Master, how long did you say it took you to break through the Small Heavenly Circuit?”
Su Xiaofan remembered that his master had said it took him a whole year to open the Small Heavenly Circuit. He himself had only taken twenty-four hours, so Su Xiaofan wasn't sure whether what he had opened was actually the Small Heavenly Circuit.
“I… I took one day!”
Jing Shizhen waved his hand, avoiding the subject. “Su Xiaofan, do you know how long it's been since you entered meditation?”
“Ten minutes?”
It was time for Su Xiaofan to put his acting skills to use. He raised his head in surprise. Of course he knew how much time had passed—the countdown in the Nurturing Pool had already finished.
“Bullshit! You were in meditation for a full twenty-four hours! Twenty-four whole hours!”
Jing Shizhen's reaction was somewhat out of control. This entire day had truly exhausted him.
After Jing Shizhen used his own spiritual power—in other words, his internal qi—to guide Su Xiaofan,
Jing Shizhen was astonished to discover that Su Xiaofan had actually entered a state where he seemed to have forgotten both himself and the outside world.
In reality, his eyes had simply become unfocused and he had lost control of his body.
Later, Su Xiaofan actually closed his eyes. Jing Shizhen could sense that he seemed to be using the spiritual power Jing Shizhen had transferred into him to force his way through the Small Heavenly Circuit.
At the time, Jing Shizhen was nearly scared half to death.
There was a saying in Daoist teachings that when a person is still in the womb, they exist in a prenatal state, with a strand of primordial qi circulating endlessly.
But the moment a person is born, they inhale impure qi. Later, eating grains and other foods further causes the body to become turbid, while the originally unobstructed meridians gradually shrink and become blocked.
By the time a person reaches their twenties, many of their meridians have already become obstructed and narrowed.
Breaking through the meridians of the Small Heavenly Circuit had to be done gradually and step by step.
Otherwise, if the meridians were damaged, one could suffer a serious illness at best. At worst, one's internal organs could even be injured, and death on the spot was possible.
Jing Shizhen desperately wanted to wake Su Xiaofan, but he didn't dare.
When circulating qi and breaking through the meridian barriers, external interference was the greatest taboo.
He didn't even dare to call out to him. Jing Shizhen didn't dare make a sound at all. He could only light a stick of agarwood incense, hoping it would help Su Xiaofan.
However, even after he had burned all five of his remaining sticks of agarwood incense, Su Xiaofan still hadn't regained consciousness. This made Jing Shizhen realize that something was wrong.
Su Xiaofan's condition at the time resembled the legendary state of 'sudden enlightenment'.
In cultivation, sudden enlightenment was an extremely sudden realization, like the saying, “After searching everywhere in vain, you suddenly obtain it without any effort.”
A bottleneck that was normally extremely difficult to overcome could be broken through effortlessly while in a state of sudden enlightenment.
In Daoism, there was another term for this state: 'unity between Heaven and man'.
Only in such a state could such miraculous effects occur.
However, Jing Shizhen had cultivated for fifty or sixty years. He had only ever heard of sudden enlightenment and had never witnessed it, much less experienced it himself.
Therefore, he couldn't be certain that Su Xiaofan had truly entered a state of sudden enlightenment. All he could do was stay beside Su Xiaofan and keep watch.
After roughly a dozen hours, Jing Shizhen was able to confirm that Su Xiaofan had indeed entered a state of sudden enlightenment.
Because a foul, fishy stench that was almost nauseating began to be expelled from Su Xiaofan's body.
Jing Shizhen had experience with this. He knew that these were some of the toxins being expelled from the body after the Small Heavenly Circuit had been opened.
This meant that Su Xiaofan had completely opened the Small Heavenly Circuit.
Such a phenomenon could only occur in a state of sudden enlightenment.
“Master, where is that awful smell coming from?”
Perhaps because he had opened the meridians of the Small Heavenly Circuit, Su Xiaofan's sense of smell seemed to have become much more sensitive as well.
He twitched his nose and was almost knocked unconscious by the stench.
“Master, don't you have an exhaust fan in this secret room? Why does it smell so bad? Is the sewer clogged?”
“That's right. The sewer clogged is the one on your body.”
Jing Shizhen said irritably, “Hurry up and go to the second floor and take a shower. Don't even bother keeping those clothes. Find some clothes in the wardrobe upstairs. They're my son's.”
Earlier, Jing Shizhen had been so shocked by Su Xiaofan's sudden enlightenment that he hadn't really noticed the smell. Now that Su Xiaofan had mentioned it, he couldn't stand it either.
“The smell is coming from me?”
Su Xiaofan lowered his head and smelled himself. He nearly died from the stench and hurriedly got up and rushed out of the secret room.
He had no idea what the black filth covering his body was. Not only was it dirty and smelly, it was also extremely greasy.
Su Xiaofan used up an entire bottle of shower gel in the bathroom before he finally felt that his skin wasn't so greasy anymore.
“Huh? This Health-Nourishing Technique really is extraordinary.”
While wiping himself with a towel, Su Xiaofan discovered that some of the scars left from climbing trees and catching fish when he was a child had completely disappeared.
Su Xiaofan had grown up in the countryside and had naturally done farm work as well. His skin hadn't been particularly good before, but now it felt smooth and delicate to the touch. It had even become somewhat fairer.
“Looks like Master's youthful appearance really did come from practicing the Health-Nourishing Art.”
Thinking about how Jing Shizhen was over seventy but looked like a man in his forties, Su Xiaofan suddenly understood.
He entered the dressing room connected to the bedroom, where several rows of clothes were neatly hanging.
Su Xiaofan even found some unopened underwear in a drawer. Many of the trousers and T-shirts in the wardrobe still had their tags attached.
“Rich people really are wasteful.”
Su Xiaofan grumbled inwardly, but without the slightest bit of hesitation, he picked out some brands he recognized and put them on.
As the saying went, “Once someone becomes your master, he is your father for life.”
Su Xiaofan had formally kowtowed and become Jing Shizhen's disciple, so he called him 'Master' rather than teacher.
In the past, this kind of master-disciple relationship was comparable to that between father and son. Who would be so formal with their own father?
“Come over and sit down.”
When Su Xiaofan walked out of the room, he saw Uncle Jing sitting in a red sandalwood horseshoe-back chair in the center of the second floor.
A tea table stood in front of the chair, with a tea set placed on it. The freshly brewed tea was still steaming.
“After cleaning yourself up, you actually look quite presentable.”
Jing Shizhen glanced at Su Xiaofan. Although he was still somewhat annoyed, he couldn't help praising him.
Su Xiaofan had already been quite good-looking. At 1.8 meters tall, with long eyebrows like willow leaves, a straight nose, and thin lips, he could definitely be considered a handsome young man.
After opening the Small Heavenly Circuit, however, his entire demeanor had gained a calm and elegant quality. Jing Shizhen unexpectedly found himself thinking of the phrase:
'A man like jade beneath the spring moon, a young master without equal under heaven.'
“Master, I'm still far behind you.”
Su Xiaofan wasn't being modest.
If he could be called a handsome young man, then the Jing Shizhen standing before him was definitely a handsome older man—and apparently the type that was very popular these days.
“Hmm? Are you mocking your master?”
Jing Shizhen was already feeling somewhat irritated. Hearing Su Xiaofan's words, his expression immediately changed, and he really wanted to slap the boy in front of him.
“No, Master! I'm saying you're more handsome than me!”
Su Xiaofan knew that his master was competing with him in his heart.
He had clearly heard Jing Shizhen say one year and three years earlier, but when he asked his master again just now, the time Jing Shizhen claimed for opening the Small Heavenly Circuit had suddenly become one day.
“Tell me, what happened to you just now? How did you suddenly open the Small Heavenly Circuit?”
Although Jing Shizhen's expression appeared calm, his heart was itching with curiosity like a cat scratching at him.
“I don't know either.”
Su Xiaofan first poured tea into the empty cup in front of Jing Shizhen before saying with a bewildered expression, “I just followed what you told me, Master. I circulated the cultivation technique and tried to feel how the internal qi was breaking through the meridians.
“After I started circulating the technique, my head suddenly buzzed, and the internal qi you transmitted to me began circulating on its own. After that, I woke up…”
Naturally, Su Xiaofan couldn't mention the Repair System, nor could he tell his master about the Nurturing Pool.
All Su Xiaofan could do now was play dumb.
It didn't cost him anything—it relied entirely on his acting skills.
Su Xiaofan was beginning to feel that he really ought to audit some classes at the Central Academy of Drama or the Beijing Film Academy.
“Sudden enlightenment… this… this is sudden enlightenment!”
Jing Shizhen blurted out after hearing Su Xiaofan's explanation.
“Master, what is sudden enlightenment? If you experience it once, can you immediately open the Small Heavenly Circuit?”
Su Xiaofan pretended not to understand.
“Then if I experience sudden enlightenment again, does that mean I can open the Great Heavenly Circuit too?”
“You think sudden enlightenment is that easy? Your master…”
Jing Shizhen stopped himself halfway through his sentence.
“Your master only experiences sudden enlightenment from time to time. It all depends on luck.
“We can't build our cultivation on luck. From now on, you still need to practice diligently. Ideally, you should circulate one Small Heavenly Circuit every day…
“As long as you persevere, the spiritual power within your body will gradually become stronger. When you eventually attempt to break through the Great Heavenly Circuit, you'll have twice the results with half the effort!”
“One Small Heavenly Circuit a day?”
Su Xiaofan was stunned.
If circulating one Small Heavenly Circuit only took him six minutes, didn't that mean he only needed to cultivate for six minutes a day?
“Yes. One Small Heavenly Circuit normally takes twelve hours. Only a complete Small Heavenly Circuit can strengthen your spiritual power, so you must persevere.”
Jing Shizhen nodded.
After all, besides cultivating, people still had to eat, drink, sleep, and take care of other necessities. It wasn't as though someone could sit in meditation and circulate the Small Heavenly Circuit for twenty-four hours a day.
“Master, is there any way to shorten the time needed to circulate the Small Heavenly Circuit?”
Su Xiaofan didn't dare reveal what was happening inside his body. He could tell that his master's pride had been somewhat wounded by his earlier “sudden enlightenment.”
“There is. Once you become familiar with the circulation route of the heavenly circuit and the spiritual power within your body expands your meridians, the time required to circulate the Small Heavenly Circuit will be greatly reduced.”
Jing Shizhen took a sip of tea and said proudly, “Right now, your master only needs one 'shichen' to circulate one Small Heavenly Circuit—that is, two hours…”
“Pfft…”
Upon hearing Jing Shizhen's words, Su Xiaofan couldn't help spitting out the tea that had just entered his mouth.
“Master, you… you can actually circulate one Small Heavenly Circuit in only two hours?!”
Realizing that he had lost control of himself, Su Xiaofan immediately activated his facial expression management, putting an expression of complete shock on his face.
(End of Chapter)
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