I use myths to create immortality

Chapter 7: 7: Understanding the Dharma is difficult to understand

Ji Yuan ultimately failed to get Yang Xie to agree to teach him medical skills and pharmacology.

Given their current situation, it is almost impossible for them to come up with another five strings of cash.

However, Yang Xie agreed to let Ji Yuan attend classes in the village middle school starting tomorrow, and he had to bring his own books, pens, ink, paper and inkstone.

After that, you have to pay tuition of one string of money every six months.

In addition, if you have spare time, you can go to the pharmacy and help out with odd jobs. Although you may not learn medical skills, you can learn some pharmacology.

...

At noon that day, Ji Yuan returned to Shili Pavilion, packed up, and entered the Wolongling Mountain again.

The attack on Wu Dagui last night deepened his understanding of the Centipede Bee Bag and made him realize many of the flaws of this treasure.

"I don't know if it's because my mind is too weak or for some other reason, but I always feel like I can't get everything done as I wish."

Controlling a single insect was actually more difficult than controlling a group of them, especially when performing some subtle movements, which made Ji Yuan physically and mentally exhausted and weak all over.

Not only that, there are more than 3,000 insects in the Centipede Bee Bag.

If one wants to capture more insects, one must shed blood and cast talismans again. Without enough insects to devour and fuse with each other, this magic weapon will be difficult to improve.

"Or maybe I lack some kind of strange power, or magical power, to truly activate the magic weapon."

"Or, this centipede bee bag is not a legitimate method. Although mortals can activate it by chanting a spell, it will absorb people's mind and body, making them weaker."

“Or maybe it’s both.”

"Since there are immortals, demons and monsters in this world, and the stories of strange things are not necessarily groundless, then there must be some real methods of cultivation."

"If only I could obtain the method of cultivation..."

All of this leads to reading and literacy. If you want to understand this world, the natural treasures, the wonders of the universe, and even the various mysteries of immortals and demons, you have to read first.

If you can't read, you won't be able to recognize the "Book of Heaven" even if you pick it up.

Thinking of this, Ji Yuan opened the [Centipede Bee Bag] and scattered dense insects, which flew into the shade of the trees.

Continue to eat small animals to feed these insects.

At dusk in the afternoon, when I was collecting the insects and taking them home, I unexpectedly found two more plants of [Snake Blood Orchid] and took them home.

If you add the one you picked earlier, it's almost exactly one kilogram, which means you actually earned twenty cents on your own, enough to cover some of the initial tuition and miscellaneous fees.

The next morning, he got up early and went to Qingtang Township School, where he began to learn characters from Yang Xie along with seven or eight other Qingtang children.

After school at noon, I went to the drugstore to patronize.

I went home in the afternoon and helped my sister-in-law with some chores. I entered the edge of Wolong Ridge and gradually explored, feeding insects by the way.

It was like this every day, going to the same place every day, without causing any ripples.

In the blink of an eye, autumn went and winter came, and half a year passed.

Since he was a college student in his previous life and was not completely illiterate, Ji Yuan's academic progress was amazing by analogy. In just half a year, he recognized most of the characters in this world.

Yang Xie was so shocked that he almost dropped his jaw, calling him a "sage" and a "child prodigy".

Not only that, by relying on the insects to secretly read Yang Xie's collection of medical skills, Ji Yuan also learned a lot of pharmacology and herbal medicine.

In just half a year, he accumulated dozens of coins by selling a few precious medicinal herbs that he obtained 'accidentally'.

……

It's the spring equinox again.

At Shili Pavilion, the Ji family still lived in a thatched cottage with mud walls, but they had built an extra courtyard.

"We are living well enough now. We have enough food and clothing. Isn't it okay for us not to go into the mountains?" Qin Yueru asked.

In recent months, the sound of wind and thunder has been heard from time to time in the depths of Wolong Ridge. The shock can be heard for thousands of miles and is extremely terrifying.

Many herbalists went into the mountains and never came out again.

She didn't want Ji Yuan to go into the mountains again.

If possible, she even wanted to move with Ji Yuan to Qingtang Township or Zeyi County, where there were more people and they would feel safer.

"No, I have to go into the mountains." Thinking of the unusual movements deep in Wolong Ridge, Ji Yuan's face became a little solemn.

If my guess is correct, there must be some terrifying monster in the mountains.

But he had to go into the mountains.

In the past six months, he has written talismans with blood dozens of times to collect new insects and make sacrifices to refine the centipede bee bag.

It also caused him to lose energy and blood, and he looked thin and withered, and it seemed that he would not live long.

After consulting many books on strange phenomena, he suddenly realized that this should be the price for a mortal to practice strange magic and instruments.

According to the book of strange stories called "Lingxuan Guizhi".

In order to avoid this situation, only immortals, qi cultivators, and true saints can cultivate magical powers, possess great supernatural powers, and even prolong their lifespan and become immortal.

However, the Qi-refining practitioners and immortals either live in caves outside the world or play around in the mortal world, going in and out of the blue sky, like a dragon that can't be seen from the head, and they search blindly, even like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"And we have to go deep into the mountains." Ji Yuan said to himself.

With the help of insects, he spied on Yang Xie flipping through his collection of medical books and learned that his condition was due to a deficiency of Qi and blood. If he wanted to improve his condition, he could take the legendary rare elixir 'Millennium Spiritual Ginseng'.

Thousand-year-old ginseng can replenish qi and blood and even improve the foundation of bones after taking it.

"Don't worry, sister-in-law. I will still only walk around the edge. But this time I will go into the mountains and may have to stay for a while longer. Sister-in-law, go to the village to ask Mr. Yang for leave for me." Ji Yuan said. Then, without waiting for Qin Yueru to persuade him, he carried the bamboo basket and sickle, and the centipede beehive bag, and strode out.

The thousand-year-old elixir is hard to come by and cannot be bought with any amount of money. It can only be found deep in Wolong Ridge.

In the past six months, I went into Wolong Ridge almost every day to feed the insects, but I always stayed on the edge and went no deeper than a few dozen miles at most.

This time, he planned to try to go deeper.

But he couldn't tell this to his sister-in-law, lest she worry even more.

Following the path that I have walked many times in the past six months, I climbed the cliffs and crossed the ridges, and entered the vast forest.

Ji Yuan opened the [Centipede Bee Bag] and released fist-sized insects with black shells and some yellow patterns, which looked like oversized wasps.

After writing talismans with blood and essence for more than a dozen times, he attracted millions of ants, mosquitoes, flies, etc. into the [Centipede Bee Bag].

However, these insects are constantly devouring and killing each other in the bag, or being released to try to attack and kill large beasts such as tigers, wolves, and bears, so their numbers are actually decreasing.

Now the number of insects in the centipede's bag seems to be getting fewer and fewer, with only about three hundred of them.

But compared to half a year ago, its power has increased miraculously by more than ten times.

Now, this fist-sized black insect is hard to be harmed by iron tools. Apart from being afraid of fire, it has no other fatal flaws.

Moreover, its claws and mouthparts have evolved to be highly poisonous.

No matter what kind of ferocious beast it is, once its skin is bitten, its blood will instantly rush forward and it will howl and die.

However, the range of the Insect Control has not changed and is still only within a certain radius.

However, it is enough to spread it out for exploration and self-protection.

Wherever Ji Yuan passed along the way, everything was quiet, without even the sound of insects or birds chirping.

This is because after half a year of training and cultivation, the alien insects have killed hundreds of thousands of lives, and they carry a trace of inexplicable evil spirit, which makes the evil beasts afraid of them.

But deep in the mountain, there is also an invisible and inexplicable aura that drifts thousands of miles away, even causing the alien insects in the bag to have some instinctive fear.

"Boom!" The thunder resounded.

Immediately afterwards, the sun disappeared, the clear sky suddenly became dark, and dark clouds swept across the entire sky.

Ji Yuan raised his head, his eyes swept across the towering branches of the ancient tree, and looked towards the sky.

Amid the gloomy clouds, one could vaguely see tiny wisps of electric arcs flashing continuously, like chains that could fall into the ground at any time.

Inexplicably, an infinite aura of oppression came from the clouds, making people feel depressed and fearful. Tigers and wolves were frightened and ran away in the mountains within thousands and tens of thousands of miles, and snakes and insects were scurrying around in panic.

"This seems to be a sign of thunder falling from the sky, destroying the demons immediately." Ji Yuan was stunned.

In the past, the villagers always said that he was possessed by a demon and was caught by thunder.

He was struck by lightning once, awakening his memory of 'pre-historic wisdom', but the weather that time was completely different from this time.

Such momentum swept across thousands of miles. All living beings were like ants and mayflies in front of that mighty power.

Suddenly, among the mountains, there was also a momentum sweeping up into the sky, as if some terrifying existence was awakened by the thunder from the sky.

"Moo!" A loud roar shook the sky.

The sound was like the roar of an old dragon, or the cry of a lying cow, like the sound of a huge bell or a loud gong, not inferior to the sound of thunder, and it actually broke some of the dark clouds in the sky.

Ji Yuan looked into the depths of the vast forest with a serious expression: "What on earth is that?"

Limited by the distance and dense forest shade, even though he was standing on a high place, he still couldn't see the source of the terrifying aura that was probably a thousand miles away.

"Boom!" A bolt of thunder swept down, and from a distance it looked like a pillar of heaven descending from the sky.

Thunder struck deep in Wolong Ridge, rocks exploded, and trees burst into flames.

"Moo..." The roar of the beast sounded again, still echoing in all directions, but this time, it was a wailing sound.

"Boom!" The thunder rang out again, and bolts of lightning kept falling from the sky, each strike landing accurately in the same place.

In half an hour, nine bolts of lightning fell one after another, like pillars from the sky. The scene was extremely shocking, and Ji Yuan could not take his eyes off it.

"Whoosh, swish..." The thunder finally dissipated, but the sky was still filled with wind, fog and dark clouds.

Ji Yuan regained his senses and looked at the insect in his palm. The insect's two antennae were swaying happily, and it was much more lively than before.

Deep in Wolong Ridge, the strange beast that exuded a terrifying aura and exerted a mighty pressure for thousands of miles seemed to have become extremely weak and restrained after being struck by the thunder.

As a result, insects become active.

Not only the insects, Ji Yuan also felt that the oppressive feeling of chest tightness that had emanated from the depths of Wolong Ridge had disappeared.

"With such a thunder, even if the unknown beast doesn't die, it will be dying." Ji Yuan's eyes flashed with a gleam.

A drizzle of rain fell from the sky, making the branches of the trees in the forest rustle and extinguishing the raging flames deep in Wolong Ridge.

At this time, in the eastern sky, a long rainbow of green light, like a meteor, streaked across the sky very conspicuously and flew towards the place where the lightning struck.

"Could it be the so-called immortals or Qi-refining practitioners?" Ji Yuan stopped as he was about to walk down the mountain.

The powerful beast deep in Wolong Ridge had been struck by lightning and was obviously extremely weak.

Ji Yuan didn't want to provoke them and planned to withdraw from Wolong Ridge first.

At this time, a long rainbow-like light was seen flying across the sky and falling into the depths of the forest.

Ji Yuan's face stiffened slightly, and he turned around without hesitation and headed towards the place where the thunder struck.

(End of this chapter)