Chapter 66: The Art of Observing Qi
“As long as you diligently practice after opening the Small Heavenly Circuit, you can achieve what your master has achieved.”
Jing Shizhen was extremely pleased with himself. He reached up and stroked his chin, only to find that there was no beard there.
This was because Jing Shizhen was quite satisfied with his appearance as a handsome older man and had never followed the habit of elderly people who liked to grow beards.
“Master, how long did it take you to shorten the time required to circulate the Small Heavenly Circuit?”
Su Xiaofan asked.
Su Xiaofan knew that his Small Heavenly Circuit meridians had become somewhat abnormal after being nurtured, so what Jing Shizhen described should be the normal pace of cultivation.
“It took me twenty years.”
Jing Shizhen said, “During the first five years after opening the Small Heavenly Circuit, I reduced the time to five 'shichen', or ten hours.
“After ten years, I only needed six hours to circulate the Small Heavenly Circuit. It took another ten years before I finally shortened it to two hours.”
Jing Shizhen felt that he had already cultivated the Small Heavenly Circuit technique to its utmost limit. Even the great predecessors of their lineage might not have been stronger than him.
“Xiao Su, although your cultivation aptitude is pretty good, you must never become complacent.”
Jing Shizhen's expression turned serious.
“Cultivating a technique is also a matter of either advancing or falling behind.
“Now that you've opened the Small Heavenly Circuit, you must practice diligently. Every day, you should at least complete one full circulation of the Small Heavenly Circuit.
“Once the internal qi in your dantian becomes abundant, you can attempt to break through the Great Heavenly Circuit.”
“Master, my head is a little confused.”
Feeling the heat in his dantian, Su Xiaofan said, “Earlier, you said that after opening the Small Heavenly Circuit, spiritual power would be produced. But just now you called it internal qi. What exactly are we supposed to call it?”
“It is a little confusing.”
Jing Shizhen smiled and shook his head.
“Actually, there is another term for this qi produced through cultivation. It is called 'true qi'.”
“Our Health-Nourishing Art is somewhat similar to internal qigong, so it can be called internal qi.”
Jing Shizhen paused before continuing, “And because this internal qi can activate techniques and operate magical artifacts, it is also known as spiritual power.”
“Then what exactly is true qi? What should we actually call the energy we cultivate?”
Su Xiaofan felt that everything Jing Shizhen said made sense.
“People who practiced internal cultivation techniques in the past were mostly Daoist priests.”
Jing Shizhen took a sip of tea and said, “In the past, as long as a Daoist priest could open the Small Heavenly Circuit, they could display abilities beyond those of ordinary people.
“Within the Daoist system, there weren't many people who could open the Small Heavenly Circuit, so their status was extremely high. Throughout history, people such as Wang Chongyang and Qiu Chuji were Daoists who had achieved great cultivation.
“Within their Daoist religion, such people were often revered as 'Perfected Persons', so this energy came to be called true qi.”
“I think true qi sounds more reliable,” Su Xiaofan said.
“Call it whatever you want. In any case, until you open the Great Heavenly Circuit, the nature of the energy within your body won't undergo any fundamental change…”
Jing Shizhen didn't really care about the terminology.
“Hmm? Does the realm after the Great Heavenly Circuit change?”
“It does, but your master hasn't reached that realm.”
Jing Shizhen shook his head and said, “Breaking through the Great Heavenly Circuit means reaching the 'Xiantian realm', according to the inheritance of our lineage. In ancient times, someone at that level could already be called an 'Earthly Immortal'.”
“Master, were there many people recorded as having reached the Earthly Immortal realm?”
Su Xiaofan was curious.
“Going back before the Ming Dynasty, there were still quite a few. For example, Zhang Sanfeng in the early Ming Dynasty and Wang Yangming in the late Ming Dynasty should both have reached the Xiantian realm…”
Jing Shizhen thought for a moment before continuing.
“But since the end of the Ming Dynasty, very few people have been able to cultivate to the Xiantian realm. There were even several generations of inheritors who had no cultivation aptitude at all and could only pass the techniques down.”
“Master, are there people like that now?”
Su Xiaofan hadn't expected the things written in martial arts novels to actually be real.
“I thought they were all scammers, just like people online say.”
In recent years, videos exposing fake martial artists had frequently appeared online. Some were so ridiculous that they made people laugh. Anyone could boast about how powerful they were, only to get beaten until their faces were swollen and bruised.
“People who truly possess ability wouldn't go around seeking attention, would they?”
Jing Shizhen had clearly seen those videos online as well, and his face showed obvious disdain.
“Master is right. If you went into a ring, that would simply be beneath you.”
Su Xiaofan nodded deeply in agreement.
“Master, roughly how much true qi needs to be nurtured in the dantian before one can break through the Great Heavenly Circuit?”
Su Xiaofan asked about some cultivation matters. He needed to know how long it would take him to reach the Great Heavenly Circuit realm.
In fact, Su Xiaofan understood that since the Repair System could nurture the meridians of the Small Heavenly Circuit, it should also be able to nurture the Great Heavenly Circuit. He didn't necessarily have to cultivate true qi painstakingly like his master did in order to break through.
But merely nurturing the Small Heavenly Circuit meridians had already cost him fifty points of Repair Value.
Based on Su Xiaofan's understanding of the Repair System, nurturing the Great Heavenly Circuit meridians would probably require at least one hundred Repair Value.
And Su Xiaofan now had only fifty-six points left.
Moreover, he still needed to spend some Repair Value repairing antiques, because only by selling antiques could he raise enough money to purchase rare meteorites.
“I went from the Small Heavenly Circuit to the Great Heavenly Circuit in… three… three months.”
Thinking about how Su Xiaofan had achieved a breakthrough through sudden enlightenment in just one day, Jing Shizhen shortened the time by ten times when the words reached his lips.
He was genuinely afraid that Su Xiaofan might experience another sudden enlightenment and directly break through to the Great Heavenly Circuit.
Jing Shizhen glanced at Su Xiaofan and said, “With your aptitude, a year of hard cultivation should be enough for you to open the meridians of the Great Heavenly Circuit.
“You've already memorized the cultivation technique. Later, memorize the circulation route of the Great Heavenly Circuit.
“When you cultivate in the future, you can gradually try to open the meridians of the Great Heavenly Circuit. This is a process that requires persistent effort, like water dripping through stone. You can't rush it.”
“Three months? Who are you kidding? You clearly said three years before!”
Su Xiaofan complained inwardly and began calculating in his head.
According to Jing Shizhen's normal cultivation progress, when he had first opened the Small Heavenly Circuit, he could only circulate the technique once a day.
In one year, that would be 365 times. In three years, he could circulate the Small Heavenly Circuit 1,095 times—and that didn't even include any unexpected circumstances that might prevent him from cultivating.
But Su Xiaofan only needed six minutes to make his true qi circulate through one Small Heavenly Circuit.
Even if Su Xiaofan only cultivated for six hours a day, he could circulate the Small Heavenly Circuit sixty times.
“Holy crap! Doesn't that mean I only need eighteen days to break through to the Great Heavenly Circuit?”
After calculating it mentally, Su Xiaofan couldn't help showing a delighted expression.
Even without relying on the Repair System, it seemed that breaking through to the Great Heavenly Circuit wouldn't be very difficult for him.
If he worked even harder and cultivated for twelve hours a day, he could open the Great Heavenly Circuit meridians in less than ten days.
“Remember, you must never rush your cultivation!”
Seeing the expression on Su Xiaofan's face, Jing Shizhen couldn't help reminding him.
Cultivating a technique was completely different from practicing martial arts. True qi circulated through the meridians in the body, and the slightest mistake could lead to disastrous consequences.
“Yes, Master.”
Of course Su Xiaofan would listen to his master's words.
But how he actually did things was another matter entirely.
“You've just broken through the Small Heavenly Circuit, so for the time being, you should focus on consolidating your cultivation.”
Jing Shizhen took out two meridian circulation diagrams and another sheet of paper.
“Besides cultivating, you can also learn the 'Art of Observing Qi'. It will be useful for you when identifying magical artifacts and antiques.”
“The Art of Observing Qi can also be used to appraise antiques?”
Su Xiaofan was stunned, then suddenly understood.
So his master had been cheating when appraising antiques too.
The difference was that Su Xiaofan cheated using the Repair System, while his master used the Art of Observing Qi.
“Antiques have existed for a very long time and have often been handled by people. As a result, they actually possess a special kind of qi, although ordinary people can't see it.”
Jing Shizhen explained, “Only after cultivating the Art of Observing Qi to an advanced level can you use your eyes to distinguish the various types of qi.
“In the beginning, however, you need to use your true qi to touch an object and sense it. You can slowly figure out the details yourself later.
“First, I'll explain the several special meridians that need to be opened for the Art of Observing Qi…”
As a teacher, Jing Shizhen was undoubtedly very responsible. He picked up the sheet of paper containing the cultivation method for the Art of Observing Qi and explained some of its cultivation secrets to Su Xiaofan.
“This isn't difficult.”
As Su Xiaofan listened to Jing Shizhen's explanation, he circulated the true qi within his body through the Small Heavenly Circuit.
When the true qi reached the Niwan acupoint and was about to travel toward his ears, it instead rushed toward the 'Jingming acupoint' at the inner corners of his eyes.
The meridians in Su Xiaofan's body that had been nurtured were much wider and tougher than meridians opened through years of painstaking cultivation.
Therefore, the true qi contained within Su Xiaofan's meridians was naturally much greater than that of someone who had only just opened the Small Heavenly Circuit.
To use an analogy, when Jing Shizhen had opened his Small Heavenly Circuit back then, his meridians might have been only as thick as a strand of hair.
But Su Xiaofan's meridians were now as thick as a pen refill, exceeding Jing Shizhen's meridians back then by an unknown number of times.
Therefore, when the true qi reached the Jingming acupoint, it was still extremely abundant.
Su Xiaofan only felt a slight numbness at the corner of his eye, and the Jingming acupoint had already been forced open.
Feeling that the true qi still had plenty of strength left, Su Xiaofan simply took advantage of the momentum and opened all the other acupoints required for the Art of Observing Qi—the 'Yuyao, Sibai, Chengqi, and Sizhukong acupoints'.
It had to be said that Su Xiaofan was unbelievably reckless.
The eyes were an extremely fragile part of the human body. Back then, Jing Shizhen had only dared to use his true qi to strike the acupoints around his eyes after one or two years of cultivation.
Su Xiaofan, on the other hand, simply charged straight through them.
“Hmm? My eyes feel really comfortable.”
After opening the several acupoints corresponding to the Art of Observing Qi, Su Xiaofan suddenly felt that everything before his eyes had become exceptionally clear. A cool, refreshing sensation spread through them.
Perhaps it was only his imagination, but Su Xiaofan felt as though the air in front of him had suddenly gained another layer of color.
In addition to the meridian diagram for the Small Heavenly Circuit, another meridian diagram required for the Art of Observing Qi had now formed inside Su Xiaofan's body.
According to what Jing Shizhen had just said, as long as he practiced diligently and continuously widened his meridians, the power of the technique would gradually increase until he cultivated it to mastery.
“Xiao Su, later, check out of the hotel and stay here to consolidate your cultivation.”
Jing Shizhen hadn't noticed that Su Xiaofan had already opened the acupoints around his eyes.
“I'll arrange access for you later. You'll be able to enter and leave this house and the residential compound using facial recognition.
“There are two cars in the garage. You can use one when you go out to eat.
“I'll come back every evening. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me!”
Jing Shizhen explained everything in detail.
In his view, the most important thing for Su Xiaofan now was to consolidate his cultivation and build a solid foundation.
(End of Chapter)
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