A leisurely life in the world of cultivation

Chapter 159 Son of Heaven
"Master's wife, are Yin and Yang energies related to the Five Elements?"

"Of course. The Five Elements are the concrete manifestation of the interaction and evolution of Yin and Yang in the universe. The harmony of Yin and Yang gives rise to the Five Elements, each of which embodies the bias of Yin and Yang."

Metal is condensed from the Lesser Yin Qi, possessing the nature of firmness and severity, and governing contraction and descent. Wood is transformed from the Lesser Yang Qi, exhibiting the image of growth and expansion, and governing growth and flourishing. Water is gathered from the Greater Yin Qi, possessing the ability to moisten and flow, and governing coldness and concealment. Fire is generated from the Greater Yang Qi, displaying the state of blazing heat, and governing brightness and change. Earth is formed from the harmonious Qi of Yin and Yang, possessing the virtue of bearing and nurturing, and governing balance and stability.

The next day, Li Weizhou, who had spent the night in the mountain city studying the I Ching, Yin-Yang, and Five Elements, was summoned to the Five Elements Hall by Tian Ru, who offered to explain the formations to him.

Coincidentally, Li Weizhou was preoccupied with abstract theories of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and needed to clear up his confusion.

I always felt that those old scholars at the University of Tokyo had gone a bit crazy with their research, their explanations becoming increasingly absurd...

It's the kind of thing that even a cultivator would find mysterious.

To put it simply, it doesn't quite capture their level of expertise...

Now, after hearing Tian Ru's simple example, Li Weizhou understood a lot more.

He then asked, "Master's wife, everyone says that the five elements are mutually generating and mutually restraining. I understand restraint, but mutual generation, does that mean metal can be transformed into water? That can't be, right?"

They are completely different atoms.

Tian Ru smiled and said, "The five elements generate each other, but not in this way. It is the change and transmission of spiritual energy levels. For example, metal generates water, which is the lesser yin energy encountering cold and condensing into greater yin water."

For example, water nourishes wood. The Yin water nourishes the Shao Yang wood. The Yin and moist nature of water provides the foundation for the growth of wood, just like spring rain nourishing wood and bringing about the revival of all things.

The idea of ​​wood generating fire is easy to understand: the lesser yang energy in the wood is stimulated, rises and transforms into the fire of the sun, and the vitality of the wood is transformed into a raging flame.

Fire generates earth. When the fire is burned out, the intense yang energy dissipates and returns to the earth, settling into soil.

Earth gives rise to metal; the Yin energy contained within the earth, refined over time, gives birth to mineral veins deep within the earth.

This mutually reinforcing cycle creates a closed loop of spiritual energy within the formation, ensuring a continuous and inexhaustible flow of energy within the formation.

For example, in the simplest spirit-gathering array, earth generates metal to absorb the earth's spiritual energy, metal generates water to condense the earth's spiritual energy into spiritual water, and then water generates wood to nourish the spiritual plants in the array. The wood spiritual energy emitted by the spiritual plants is then transformed into blazing spiritual power through wood generating fire. Finally, the spiritual power settles back into earth, completing one cycle. In this cycle, cultivators of any spiritual root—metal, wood, water, fire, or earth—can utilize it.

Li Weizhou suddenly understood, and he said with a joyful expression, "Master's wife, I understand!"

Seeing how eager he was to learn, Tian Ru's mood improved considerably, and she continued, "When two things generate each other, they can also restrain each other; this is the law of nature. Metal restrains wood, which means that the killing power of Lesser Yin restrains the growth of Lesser Yang. For example, swords can cut down trees, right?"

Wood overcomes Earth; the expansion of Lesser Yang breaks through the heaviness of Greater Yin, just as tree roots can penetrate the soil. Earth overcomes Water; the neutral energy blocks the flow of Greater Yin, just as dikes can hold back floods. Water overcomes Fire; the coldness of Greater Yin extinguishes the heat of the Sun, just as water can extinguish flames. Fire overcomes Metal; the high temperature of the Sun melts the hardness of Lesser Yin, just as intense fire can smelt metals.

Within a formation, the mutual restraint of the five elements can be used to neutralize external attacks and also to regulate the spiritual balance within the formation.

When a fire-attribute attack comes, deploy water-attribute formations to weaken the offensive by utilizing the principle that water overcomes fire. If a certain attribute's power accumulates excessively within the formation, introduce a counter-attribute power to restore balance. For example, in a defensive formation, set up earth-attribute barriers to withstand the impact of enemy water-attribute spells and prevent the water-attribute power from collapsing the formation's foundation.

Li Weizhou opened the beginner's guide to formations he had just bought yesterday. As he flipped through the pages, he came across a level-two defensive formation, the Five Elements Gathering Qi Formation. Below it was a note: "Use the constant Qi of the five directions as a guide. Wood carries vitality to buffer the impact, earth gathers weight to bear the force, and the rest fill in any gaps as the situation unfolds."

He let out a soft breath and said, "Master's wife, I understand... I've learned it!"

Tian Ru teased, "How much have you learned? How dare you claim to understand and master it? The Five Elements are not that simple. They are not just metal, wood, water, fire, and earth; they can also generate more complex changes. Through clever combination and manipulation of formations, they can conjure up all things in the world and generate wind, thunder, rain, and lightning."

When metal and fire merge, the power of thunder can be born, much like the lightning generated by the violent collision of yin and yang energies.

When wood and water interact, they generate the power of wind, much like the surging air currents when water nourishes wood.

These combined forces can greatly expand the power of the formation, allowing it to exhibit endless variations in offense, defense, trapping enemies, and support.

As for formations, they are profound and unfathomable, a method that imitates the laws of Heaven. One could never fully master them in a lifetime, for the laws of Heaven are infinite, and so are the methods of the Dao. I, your master's wife, have studied them for years, but I've only scratched the surface. If you like formations, you can learn them slowly, but you must not neglect your fundamental cultivation.

A formation isn't something you can just throw down a few spirit stones to set up; it requires a certain amount of spiritual energy. With your current cultivation level, you can barely manage a level one formation, let alone a level two. Not to mention mid-level or high-level formations. Our Five Elements Sect's Five Elements Grand Formation is a level six formation, which can only be created by a formation master at the Spirit God Realm.

"As a boat, you mustn't lose sight of the essentials and pursue the trivial."

Li Weizhou replied repeatedly, "Don't worry, Master's wife, I'm the most capable of rigorous cultivation!"

Tian Ru smiled and said, "I heard you made a bet with your senior sister, saying that you would reach the first level of heaven in one month and the fourth level in four months. Is that true?"

Li Weizhou chuckled and said, "I was a bit presumptuous... Master's wife, I was famous in the mortal realm for my fast cultivation; I was known as a quick shooter. But that might be a bit of boasting in the spirit realm. Let's give it a try first."

Tian Ru was pleased that her disciple hadn't given her any evasive or disappointing excuses. She smiled gently and said, "I don't know much about the mortal realm. Back then, the Five Elements Sect was arrogant and didn't lack disciples with top-grade spiritual roots, so it didn't cultivate the lower realms like other sects. Now it seems their vision was short-sighted... Wei Zhou, do you have any questions about cultivation?"

In this respect, you are not as good as your wife, Yueniang. She is a diligent student, asks very detailed questions, and is progressing very quickly. She will be on the second level in the next couple of days. You are a man, don't fall behind last.”

Li Weizhou scratched his head and said, "That's definitely not possible... Master's wife, can I go for a stroll around the Five Families... Ouch, ouch, ouch!"

Tian Ru's eyebrows furrowed, her almond eyes widened, and she grabbed Li Weizhou's ear, gritting her teeth as she said, "Your master's wife was so thirsty just now, but it was all for nothing, wasn't it? Not only are you not in a hurry to cultivate, but you also want to go wandering around?!"

After thinking for a moment, Li Weizhou decided to stop hiding it and stretched out his hand in front of Tian Ru. Five-colored magic light spun around and bloomed into a five-colored camellia.

Tian Ru: "..."

As if his vital point had been struck, he froze there, completely still.

After a while, Li Weizhou slowly put away the five-colored spiritual energy, but Tian Ru was still stunned, and two lines of clear tears slowly flowed down her pretty face.

Li Weizhou asked, "Master's wife, what's wrong?"

The door suddenly opened, and a slender, refined figure walked in. He stared at Li Weizhou with equally shocked eyes, his gaze so complex that it gave Li Weizhou a chill.

"Senior brother..."

With red eyes, Tian Ru looked at the newcomer, looking just like someone who had suffered a great injustice. Fortunately, she choked up and said, "Was it because my parents couldn't bear to see us sink any further that they sent this child to our Five Elements Sect?"

After confirming who the visitor was, Li Weizhou bowed and said, "Disciple Li Weizhou greets Master."

Tao Xixing stared at him in utter shock, speechless for a long time.

Fortunately, Tian Ru had regained her composure and called out to Li Weizhou, "Weizhou, your master was so pleasantly surprised that... Why didn't you say so sooner, you child?"

Li Weizhou chuckled and said, "Our sect is facing difficulties, and the Five Elements Primordial Scripture has been used up in great quantities. I don't want my master's wife and senior sister to worry anymore."

Even though Li Weizhou's wife had married four wives and was a grown man, he still looked no more than sixteen or seventeen. Tian Ru scolded him like a child, "You brat!"

He then said to Tao Xixing, "Senior brother, look at him..."

Tao Xixing let out a long breath and said, "Your innate filial piety is a blessing to both of us." He continued to stare at Li Weizhou and said, "I never imagined that Heaven would be so kind to our Five Elements Sect. Weizhou, you are a blessing to our Five Elements Sect."

Li Weizhou humbly replied, "Master, it is my good fortune to be able to join the Five Elements Sect. I would not have been able to learn such a wonderful skill as the Five Elements Primordial Scripture, which is so suitable for me, from any other sect."

Tao Xixing looked at him and shook his head, saying, "You don't understand yet why I say this. You want to go to the Five Peaks because you want to see the spiritual potential there?"

Li Weizhou nodded and said, "Yes. I plan to go over there and try to get some inspiration."

Tao Xixing waved his hand and said, "Alright, stop talking."

Tian Ru laughed angrily, "How did it come to this...?"

Li Weizhou hurriedly said, "Master, Mistress, I mainly want to get familiar with the place. I have a little problem with this, which is that I must be familiar with the environment I live in, otherwise I will not feel safe and will always feel uneasy. So... Master, Mistress, from the day I entered the sect and met you and my senior sister, I have regarded the sect as my home."

Although Tao Xixing knew that this kid must have other things to do, he was still happy to hear him say that, and nodded and said, "Alright. It's only a few months until we take back the Five Peaks, so it's good to go and take a look. You go back first, and I'll have your senior sister take you tomorrow morning."

"it is good."

Li Weizhou obediently left.

After he left, Tian Ru smiled at Tao Xixing and said, "You're a bit naughty, you're just like a child."

Tao Xixing looked at Tian Ru and said in a deep voice, "Junior Sister, I have decided to take back the Five Peaks ahead of schedule!"

Upon hearing this, Tian Ru exclaimed in surprise, "Senior Brother, I'm afraid the Xuan Tian Pavilion won't agree. They also have contracts with those small sects and families."

Tao Xixing shook his head and said, "I'll talk to them and compensate them for their losses. Ru'er, whether we've been playing the victim or showing weakness all these years, we've been enduring and backing down, almost becoming a laughing stock among the Seven Sects. Let it be a laughing stock. We've paid such a heavy price to suppress the Demon Realm, and we're so impoverished. Plus, with my bit of intimidation as a sick tiger, all these factors combined have made it so that not only are the other six sects too embarrassed to bother us, but even the Sin Clan doesn't bother us. We've managed to stay safe."

Originally, I planned to borrow two disciples from my second senior uncle's Fire Spirit Cave in the Western Spirit Domain after I recovered from my injuries. Then, together with Ling'er, I would participate in the Seven Sects Grand Competition five years later. Once we got through that, the Five Elements Sect would be re-established.

I just didn't expect...

Tian Ru thought Tao Xixing was referring to his incurable injury caused by demonic energy entering his body, and she felt saddened. She advised, "Senior brother, you should recover first. Once you're healed, you can ask Second Uncle for help."

Tao Xixing's eyes brightened, and he looked at Tian Ru with barely suppressed excitement, saying, "Junior Sister, do you know that the Primordial Chaos Power cultivated from the Five Elements Primordial Chaos Scripture can obliterate demonic energy?"

"what?!"

Tian Ru exclaimed, and then she could no longer hide the joy on her face.

……

In the courtyard outside the cave halfway up the mountain, wisteria, which had been specially moved from another place, climbed the mountain wall, weaving a patch of cool shade like scattered gold.

Li Weizhou leaned back in the rattan chair, his fingertips twirling the yellowed pages of "True Explanation of Talismans," the pages trembling slightly in the breeze.

He flipped through the book in his hands, marveling at it.

Talismans and formations may look similar, but they are actually completely different things.

The formation is a layout of heaven and earth, using the five elements' mutual generation and restraint to weave a net, emphasizing "momentum".

The talisman, however, forcibly condenses thunder, fire, ice, and lightning into a small piece of paper, concealing the "instantaneous" power.

Just as my master's wife said, thunder and fire clash, and the formation needs to borrow the flow of metal and fire to create changes.

The talisman directly connects the heaven and earth thunder patterns with cinnabar, and can unleash purple lightning with a flick of the fingertip.

As he watched, Li Weizhou's expression gradually turned serious, and he slowly sat up from the wicker chair...

real or fake?

No way... His eyes gradually widened.

No wonder the clerk at the talisman shop noticed his strange expression when he bought "The True Explanation of Talismans"—now I understand...

There are apprentices for array formations, but not for talismans.

After studying formations for two years, one can usually set up a basic level one formation, such as the Cleansing Dust Formation.

However, to cultivate talismans... one must inscribe the talismanic seals within the sea of ​​consciousness and then draw cinnabar to form the talisman.

Furthermore, after the drawing is completed, it must be infused with inspiration before it can be used.

A high-quality talisman can be used repeatedly until the runes dissipate.

Ordinary talismans are for one-time use only.

To inscribe runes and seals into one's soul, one must be at least at the Great Perfection of the Spirit Origin Realm, approaching the Spirit God Realm, before one can use divine sense as a tool to inscribe the runes and seals in the sea of ​​consciousness.

That makes sense when you think about it. If any nobody could just pick up a pen and draw a powerful talisman that could be activated instantly, then who would bother practicing Taoist magic...?

The problem is, Li Weizhou's sea of ​​consciousness already contains innate runic markings!

Moreover, it is a rune mark of innate supernatural power!

I wonder if describing this would be of any use...

He rolled over and sat up, then walked into the cave.

Luckily, I bought talisman paper and cinnabar yesterday. I heard that high-grade talismans require special spirit beast hides and spirit beast blood for better effects.

Let's not ask for too much right now...

Li Weizhou placed the talisman paper on the table, dipped the talisman brush in cinnabar, closed his eyes and calmed his mind. Then he focused all his energy on the Gengjin Divine Thunder Divine Power Mark. As he used his spirit as a brush, he slowly traced the divine power mark, and the talisman brush in Li Weizhou's hand also moved gently.

What appears to be merely drawing "ghostly scribbles" on talisman paper with a brush dipped in cinnabar is in fact imbued with a trace of the power of the laws of the supernatural imprint.

As the last stroke was completed, Li Weizhou opened his eyes and saw a crimson rune on the talisman paper.

Before he could even laugh, the newly made talisman exploded with a "crack" and burned to ashes.

Li Weizhou: "..."

But he was not discouraged. He carefully examined the ashes and recalled what had just happened. He guessed that it was probably a problem with the talisman.

He bought the cheapest kind of practice paper.

They simply cannot withstand talismans of this level.

And it hasn't even been charged yet...

Inside the Xuan Tian Tower, even the cheapest finished spirit beast hide costs at least one mid-grade spirit stone.

It wasn't originally intended for those small fry in the Spirit Transformation or even Spirit Origin stages.

Tsk, it really is hard to get by without money.

A mid-grade spirit stone, a ton of gold...

What the hell!

Li Weizhou suddenly remembered that he had killed a lot of spirit beasts in the Spirit Circle, and he had thrown the animal hides into the Sea of ​​Blood. How many spirit stones must that have cost?!

However, spirit beasts at the Xuan Guan realm might not be worth much?

Forget about everything else, let's focus on cultivation first.

If you don't reach the fourth level of the Spirit Realm, you're practically a cripple.

Li Weizhou secretly resolved to reach the fourth level of heaven as soon as possible.

As for whether it's possible to achieve one level of heaven in one month or four levels of heaven in four months.
Ha ha.

When the Heavenly Dao bestowed blessings upon him, he absorbed so much spiritual energy from heaven and earth that he was almost struck by lightning. It was this absorption that caused his spiritual root to be kicked into the upper realm. A mere fourth level of spiritual cultivation... could be achieved with a single hand!
If he only urges the Taiji Diagram to quickly transform the spiritual energy within the Hidden God Palace and balance the five elements, then four months will be enough time, if not more.

Before you knew it, the first level of Spiritual Awakening had been perfected, and you had entered the second level of Spiritual Awakening...

……

"What?! Mother, you're taking Junior Brother down the mountain again tomorrow?!"

Late at night, when Tao Ling'er rushed back to the mountain, she was furious to learn that she couldn't go out to receive missions the next day and was instead responsible for taking Li Weizhou to visit the Five Peaks.

Tian Ru glared at her and said, "What's wrong? Can't I boss you around anymore?"

Tao Ling'er said tragically, "Mother! But I have to take on a mission tomorrow, and the family is waiting for the spirit rice to cook. Suddenly there are six more people, six mouths to feed..."

Tian Ru said irritably, "Give me a break! The spirit stones you earn aren't even enough for your own expenses. The sect's spirit rice grown in the spirit fields can't even be consumed, and some has to be sold every year. Do you really need to earn spirit rice?"

Tao Ling'er: "..."

Tian Ru said seriously, "This matter is very important. It concerns whether your father can recover. You must not be careless, and you must not go to your junior brother to cause trouble."

Tao Ling'er asked in surprise, "Mother, is Father still not fully recovered?"

Tian Ru shook her head, but did not tell Tao Xixing the specific details. She only mentioned Li Weizhou's Five Elements talent.

Then, Tao Ling'er's mouth opened so wide it could almost swallow her whole...

Tian Ru touched her daughter's forehead and smiled, "His Five Elements Mixed Yuan Spiritual Power will be beneficial to your father's recovery. Besides, even putting that aside, as the senior sister, you should take good care of your junior brother, shouldn't you?"

"Mother, isn't Heaven being too unfair?! It's one thing that Junior Brother is so handsome, but he also has innate supernatural abilities, and now he actually... has five elemental roots evenly distributed? Apart from our ancestor, who else has such heaven-defying talent?"

Tao Ling'er's face was almost contorted as she yelled.

She was screaming and yelling, she was going crazy.

Tian Ru laughed and said, "Didn't Yue Niang tell you about your junior brother's background? If you had to trade your parents for that kind of talent, would you be willing?"

Tao Ling'er's jealousy and anger froze instantly. She blinked at Tian Ru, then shook her head repeatedly, saying, "No! Absolutely not!!"

Tian Ru said earnestly, "Yes, if your junior brother were to choose, he would make the same choice as you. So, don't envy others, and even more so, don't be jealous of others. Jealousy is the root of all evil."

Tao Ling'er nodded in agreement, and said with shame, "I understand. Just like Uncle Song, he was only able to be taken advantage of by demonic thoughts because he was jealous of Father. Mother, I will never do it again."

Tian Ru smiled and said, "Alright, Mother believes you. Go ahead, and take your junior brother to see the place tomorrow. We're not far from taking back the Five Peaks."

……

"Senior sister, you've been looking at me all morning! It's just a Five Elements Body, nothing to worry about."

The next morning, after visiting several mountain peaks, Li Weizhou smiled wryly at Tao Ling'er.

Tao Ling'er pouted and muttered, "I just wanted to see if you were the chosen one of Heaven... That's really going too far. But Junior Brother, you insisted on coming to see this, and you just glanced at it without really looking at it. What were you even looking at?"

On the banks of the Cangshui River at Cangshui Peak, Li Weizhou said, "Senior Sister, look how shrewd Xuantian Pavilion is at business. They divide an entire mountain range into different areas for rent based on the scarcity of spiritual energy. They've even rented out the spiritual fields, and they've been building dams to block sections of the Cangshui River at Cangshui Peak and selling them off. Senior Sister, with all this fuss, building dams and houses, will they really be willing to give them back next year?"

Seeing that this was his concern, Tao Ling'er comforted him, "Don't worry about it, Junior Brother. Our Five Elements Sect isn't someone anyone can bully."

After quietly placing a water-pattern Dao seal, Li Weizhou chuckled and said, "Senior Sister..."

"what?!"

Seeing his fawning smile, Tao Ling'er immediately became wary and warned, "Now that we've toured all five peaks, it's time to return to the sect to cultivate!"

Li Weizhou tried to reason with her, saying, "Let's go to Xuantian Pavilion and buy one more thing... If you really don't want to take me, then you can buy it for me."

Tao Ling'er felt relieved and said, "Okay, what do you want me to buy for you?"

Li Weizhou took out a mid-grade spirit stone and said, "Could you please go to the Talisman Pavilion and buy me a piece of animal hide and some spirit blood?"

As he spoke, he took out all the remaining low-grade spirit stones from his pocket, chuckled dryly, and said, "If that's still not enough, Senior Sister, please help me pay for it first."

Tao Ling'er pinched the space between her eyebrows, her head throbbing so badly she didn't know what to say.

Li Weizhou hurriedly said, "Senior Sister, I haven't delayed my cultivation. I've already reached the second level."

Tao Ling'er was taken aback upon hearing this, and stared wide-eyed at Li Weizhou, saying, "You mean... you've already reached the second level?"

In front of her, Li Weizhou conjured a Five Elements Chaos Orb in his palm.

The quality and intensity of spiritual energy can reveal one's cultivation level.

The second level of agility is naturally much stronger than the first level of agility.

Tao Ling'er barely managed to suppress her jealousy. Cultivating the Five Elements Primordial Scripture is usually several times slower than that of a single-element cultivator...

But Li Weizhou broke through much faster than she had back then.

Is this what genius is?
Fortunately, Tao Ling'er was easygoing and her depression subsided quickly. After sending Li Weizhou back to Hunyuan Mountain, she took his spirit stones and went to run errands for him.

He returned shortly afterward, handing him a piece of animal hide talisman and a small bottle of spirit beast blood.

……

(End of this chapter)