Food gives me an entry, I will be invincible if I stay alive

Chapter 305 Refining a Great Elixir, An Underwater Adventure (Part Two)

Water and fire are in harmony, and dragon and tiger meet.

At that moment, Chen Xu felt a transformation he had never experienced before.

He was instantly drenched by a refreshing spray of water.

I heard a buzzing sound in my ears and saw an endless expanse of water blue.

With that one step, it was as if he had walked directly into the bottom of a deep pool.

It was as if a red-hot iron had suddenly been plunged into a cold pool.

When water and fire collide, they unleash boundless power in an instant.

However, the true fire in Chen Xu's dantian was not extinguished by the dense water vapor. On the contrary, in order to resist the sudden appearance of the powerful water vapor, the true fire in Chen Xu's dantian burned even more fiercely.

Refining with fire and boiling with water, Chen Xu at this moment did not seem to be cultivating, but rather as if he was turning his true energy into spiritual food and making a great medicine!

The Stove Fire Protection Technique was activated at lightning speed.

At this moment, Chen Xu's physical essence rapidly increased.

Among the three attributes, Qi and Blood surged rapidly, as if they had wings.

The essence of life, however, experienced a brief period of atrophy, while the spirit remained unchanged.

Chen Xu was filled with surging emotions, yet he remained remarkably calm.

He instantly realized that this was the first major hurdle in his breakthrough.

The biggest fear in refining true qi into elixir is not insufficient true qi, but rather self-harm during the refining process.

This doesn't mean the pill condensation will fail, but it can easily result in a lower-quality pill and a reduced maximum lifespan.

In other words, even if Chen Xu were to successfully condense the elixir and achieve a superficial leap in the essence of life under these circumstances, his lifespan would not actually increase by much.

At the same time, due to the damage to his vital essence, it will be extremely difficult for him to make further progress in the future.

This is also the reason why many cultivators cannot achieve the Golden Core stage and can only cultivate the ordinary Inner Core stage.

Feng Yuanbai once explained the secret to this to Chen Xu.

Of course, Feng Yuanbai himself had not condensed the elixir, so his explanation was only a summary and paraphrase of previous records, and there were many ambiguities.

Only now, experiencing it firsthand, did Chen Xu truly understand the cause of the damage to his vital essence.

Chen Xu was highly focused, and countless flashes of inspiration shot through his mind like lightning.

He was a little nervous, but not anxious.

The Book of Culinary Delights opened beside him, clearly revealing his current three elemental attributes:
[Qi and Blood: 598]

[Spirit: 581]

[Essence: 569]

Yes, the balance of Chen Xu's three attributes has been broken.

The divine soul maintained its original attributes without change, and its health increased to [598], and is still rising rapidly.

The essence level has dropped to [569], and it is also continuing to decline.

Unfortunately, Chen Xu now only has 101 free attribute points left.

Originally, there were only 81 points left, but later it increased by 20 points, thanks to Chen Xufang's meat pie making and the likes he received, which caused his free attribute points to increase again.

But overall, Chen Xu was still somewhat careless.

These attribute points are probably not enough for him to break through!

Chen Xu was not in a hurry to add points to himself, but instead continued to circulate his innate Qi, transforming more and more true Qi into true fire.

The insights he had gained since beginning his spiritual practice surged within him like a volcanic eruption, and the true fire, fueled by his spiritual enlightenment, grew ever stronger.

At the same time, Chen Xu was trying to control the powerful water vapor that was impacting his body.

The harmony between water and fire should not be an absolute opposition, but rather a relative balance and dynamic operation.

Another example is Chen Xu cooking dishes.

Too much heat and it risks burning; too little and it won't absorb the flavor.

The timing of using a hot pan and cold oil is also important; stir-frying requires high heat, while reducing the sauce requires low heat and slow simmering.

The same applies to seasonings.

Too much is too rich, too little is bland.

Too much sugar makes it too sweet, too much salt makes it too salty.

Only with the right proportions can you create the perfect flavor.

But deliciousness varies from person to person and from time to time.

Just as cool and refreshing things are suitable for hot weather, hot soup and dishes are best for the cold winter months.

If you have a mild palate, you should order something with a stronger flavor.

Those with a sensitive palate need the best ingredients and cooking methods that bring out the true essence of the food.

But all of this couldn't overcome hunger!
What is the desire for food and drink?

Is it really just about satisfying the taste buds?
No, survival is the ultimate prerequisite for all activities.

Chen Xu looked inward and felt that his thoughts had crossed the wonderful distance between spirit and flesh, and were truly involved in every change in his body.

As his mind stabilized and the light of his thoughts penetrated reality, the decline in his own vital essence stopped.

His body began to slowly release the wondrous power that had been accumulating for a long time.

Life and death are essentially two extremes.

However, yin and yang can clearly transform into each other in their extreme states.

Gradually, the blazing fire within Chen Xu's body began to subside and become docile.

He used his mind to calm the flames that were raging and leaping through his meridians, and his mind became more and more stable.

The intense heat has been transformed into a gentler heat.

The abundant moisture from all directions continued to seep into Chen Xu's body.

Just as the raging fire within Chen Xu's body subsided into a gentle flame, the surging water vapor that was rushing towards him also miraculously softened.

At the same time, the continuously declining essence attribute finally stabilized.

[Essence: 558]

[Spirit: 581]

But at the same time, Chen Xu's blood and qi finally broke through the [600] mark, reaching a height of [603].

At the moment of the breakthrough in Qi and blood, Chen Xu's emotions were affected by his physical body, and he was actually briefly agitated.

An exceptionally intense passion caused his mind to waver for a moment.

Fortunately, Chen Xu remained vigilant and quickly regained control of his emotions.

It simmered over low heat for an unknown amount of time.

At one moment, Chen Xu's essence attribute suddenly increased by one point on its own!

[Essence: 559]

Even a tiny bit of essence is the most subtle signal.

With immense willpower, Chen Xu controlled the fluctuations in his emotions and continued to simmer the mixture slowly.

After an unknown amount of time, when the surrounding swirling water vapor seemed to be slowly weakening, Chen Xu's essence attribute suddenly increased by 10 points!
[Essence: 568]

It was the slowly seeping water essence that nourished Chen Xu's physique, which caused his vital energy to increase.

Chen Xu continued his cultivation, experiencing every wondrous change during the process of refining the Great Elixir.

At some point, the true energy that had been flowing through his meridians suddenly stopped flowing.

It gathered in his dantian and turned into a viscous mass.

Then, the viscous, nectar-like true energy continued to gather, just like a large medicine that had been boiled dry by flames to remove impurities.

The medicinal mass gathered and solidified, gradually showing signs of forming a sphere.

Inside the dantian, the medicinal ball continued to become increasingly round as it was refined by water and fire.

It rolled around as if it were being tossed and kneaded by an invisible hand.

This so-called invisible hand is naturally Chen Xu's divine thought.

He was engrossed in the process, so much so that he gradually forgot he was actually cultivating and only wanted to create a perfect pill.

Until a certain moment, I vaguely heard what sounded like a cry of surprise.

Chen Xu was startled, his mind reeling for a moment, and he was jolted out of his previous wondrous state. Was he about to fail at condensing his core?

Do not!
Thanks to this exclamation, Chen Xu came to his senses and realized that his three elemental attributes were not yet balanced.

He suppressed his rapid heartbeat and quickly focused on his three elemental attributes, making up for the deficiencies in his essence and spirit.

The essence was replenished from [570] to [605], consuming [35] free attribute points.

The Divine Soul was also replenished from [581] to [605], consuming [24] free attribute points.

At this point, Chen Xu has 42 free attribute points remaining!

Although it was a record low, at the very moment when all three attributes were complete and balanced, Chen Xu suddenly felt his thoughts leap and enter an infinitely wonderful world.

There, it seemed, was an endless void.

It was pitch black, yet boundless.

Without time and space, it is difficult to distinguish up from down, left from right, past from future.

But then, suddenly, at a certain moment, a glimmer of light ignited in this void.

That was a flame!
A wisp of golden flame floats in this boundless world.

Like the first ray of energy at the beginning of creation, it instantly illuminated all directions, giving the entire void a sense of up, down, left, right, past, and future.

And so the flame began to rise from the very first wisp.

The second strand, the third strand... and countless strands.

As the saying goes, the Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three.

Three gives birth to all things.

Or so.

A radiant light transformed into a golden pill, which burst forth at that moment.

Chen Xu's thoughts were high-spirited, invigorated, yet calm and composed.

He was once again immersed in the wondrous changes of the moment, and saw the radiant golden elixir rising into the boundless void, ascending upwards!
Where is it going?

Fire rises upwards, and the radiant golden elixir naturally breaks free from the confines of the dantian and rushes towards the true boundless world!
Chen Xu immediately understood that this was the second major hurdle in refining the Golden Elixir.

Capture the Golden Elixir!

Or rather, at this moment, Chen Xu's golden core soared upwards, just like the thoughts of a person, changing in an instant.

It has been forged, yet it is always in danger of slipping out of control.

According to Taoist cultivation theory, Chen Xu should be grasping the golden elixir at this moment, subduing his restless mind, controlling his surging emotions, and thus truly mastering the power.

Chen Xu's heart was surging with emotion, but he remained in no hurry.

The golden core seemed about to break free, but he didn't forcefully suppress it. Instead, he silently recited in his heart:
"When the mind is restless, that is enlightenment."

"Eighty-four thousand deluded thoughts, swept into the realm of emptiness with a single whip."

"No knife is needed to bind the mind of the monkey, and no whip is needed to tame the will of the horse."

"When a thought arises, be aware of it; once aware, do not follow it."

"When the mind dies, the spirit lives; when thoughts cease, vital energy arises..."

He kept reciting the scriptures silently, while simultaneously analyzing their meaning deep within his heart.

Just like in the very beginning, he came into this world.

He realized his powerlessness, so he resolved to find a way out through diligent study.

He initially had no money to buy paper and pens, so he broke off dry branches and practiced writing on the ground.

Without a renowned teacher or even the opportunity to attend school, he would walk twenty miles of mountain road every day to secretly listen to the lessons of the young students at the private school in town.

The children in the school chased him away, but he ignored their spittle and picked up a broom to clean the private school.

He either worked as a cleaner or a handyman, or ran errands for the students in the private school to copy books, and finally he was no longer driven away.

Sometimes, the teacher would even unintentionally answer his questions.

He finally learned to recite his elementary books fluently and showed his talent to his parents when he got home. With the support of his family, he was finally able to enter school with dignity.

He memorized the profound and difficult Four Books and Five Classics, and passed the preliminary examination for the imperial examination.

He also experienced years of failing the imperial examinations while studying at the county school.

He once studied by candlelight on a snowy night, and he also silently memorized and analyzed the meaning of scriptures while harvesting grain with his family under the scorching sun.

He had experienced all kinds of hardships and contempt in the world.

He wasn't born with extraordinary talent and was adored by the masses.

This path was one he forged step by step, treading on his own bleeding footprints!

The Culinary Scripture was a magical surprise, but it wasn't everything Chen Xu had to offer.

Now, what reason does Chen Xu have not to subdue his restless mind?
Within the vast, empty dantian, amidst the soaring golden elixir's radiant light, one could vaguely discern a strange monkey shrieking and howling.

It seemed to be saying in a daze: "Cultivation is boring. How can it be as interesting as fame, fortune, fine wine, beautiful women, and the hustle and bustle of the mortal world?"
Hehe, kid, what's the point of suffering?
Isn't it for enjoyment?

Come on, let loose...

Hehehe!

Laughter echoed in waves, a bizarre and wonderful spectacle.

But all these strange phenomena were nothing compared to the many ghost markets Chen Xu had seen.

"When the mind dies, the spirit lives; when thoughts cease, vital energy arises!"

It was as if an invisible giant hand was descending from the sky.

They easily captured the golden elixir that was flying away at that moment.

The strange monkey, which was shrieking and laughing in the golden flame, let out a scream and vanished without a trace like a bubble.

Fame and fortune, fine wine and beautiful women, the hustle and bustle of the mortal world?

A high-ranking official in the imperial court, renowned and illustrious...

so what?

In a hundred years or a thousand years, it will eventually turn into a handful of barren earth.

Even if one's name is recorded in history, those vast and ancient records will eventually fade.

I don't need others to remember me; I will eventually embark on my journey.

They may not live forever, but they will certainly rejoice upon hearing the Dao and die without regret!
If one could attain immortality, it would not have been in vain.

Boom!
The golden elixir entered his stomach.

Within the dantian, the light and flames slowly receded.

The golden elixir still shone brightly, but now it was much softer, making Chen Xu's mind clear. He felt that he had never had such a wonderful moment in his life.

The golden elixir floated in the center of the vast dantian.

Suddenly, a wisp of water vapor rose.

Huh, it was a light, gentle rain that was falling.

The divine rain descends, gentle and endless.

It came not in a hurry, but gently and slowly, like another spring rain.

Soon, the spring rain filled half of Chen Xu's empty dantian, and a pool of liquid, not shallow, formed beneath it.

Like a clear, deep pool, its surface ripples with shimmering light.

Then the golden elixir gently shone upon it, just as if sunshine and rain were present at the same time.

Chen Xu calmed his mind and appreciated everything.

He experienced the wondrous changes within his body and understood that this was the return of primordial Qi to spiritual liquid after the Golden Core was completed.

In other words, at this point, his true energy finally transformed into true essence.

The true essence, resembling a spiritual liquid, was the pool of emerald green in Chen Xu's dantian at that moment.

But true essence is not limited to this.

The essence of the Golden Elixir is actually true essence, but because the Golden Elixir is highly condensed, it has developed extraordinary and wondrous effects.

Chen Xu touched his golden core with his divine sense, wanting to carefully observe what the wonderful uses of his golden core were, when he suddenly heard a series of urgent shouts.

That was a clear, delicate voice, one that Chen Xu had heard before:

"The water level of Yuxi Lake is still dropping, what should we do, what should we do?"

(End of this chapter)