Master of the Xuanyin Sect of Mount Shu

Chapter 23 Refining the Core and Transforming the Body
Guan Minghui clearly "saw" Li Jingxu's conversation with Hua Yaosong in front of Lingyu Cliff.

The flowers, plants, and trees within a radius of a hundred miles are his "eyes and ears," and those near Lingyu Cliff have been refined by him the most times, making them even more effective.

He lay motionless on the stone bed, but was actually paying close attention to the situation outside.

Although Li Jingxu's Taoist magic was profound, he never expected that he could use plants as sensory organs to see and hear.

Of course, he didn't take the demon corpse too seriously, thinking that its every move was under his watchful eye, but he didn't expect to be spied on in the opposite direction.

"I never expected that the methods Master Changmei used to imprison Gu Chen would now become my protective barrier. As long as I don't break Master Changmei's prophecy, Li Jingxu, Hua Yaosong, and the people from the Emei Sect shouldn't come after me prematurely."

After understanding this, Guan Minghui lamented the cruel twist of fate.

The point from his transmigration is the dividing line between Gu Chen's life and his own. The two lives are interconnected and influence each other, and he has to bear the consequences of many of the causes that Gu Chen sowed.

However, within this large causal framework, interesting reversals of fortune can occur. What was originally auspicious may turn into inauspicious, and what was originally harmful may turn into beneficial.

The Heavenly Lust Cult Master also had a method of calculation, but he revered the phases of the moon and called it the Mysterious Yin Divine Calculation.

The sixty-four hexagrams, with Qian (☰) above Kun (☷) representing the pre-heaven numbers, and Li (☲) to the east and Kan (☵) to the west representing the post-heaven numbers, are arranged in pairs. The remaining sixty hexagrams correspond to the waxing and waning phases of the moon, matching each pair.

From the first day of the lunar calendar, "morning and evening," to the thirtieth day, "already crossed but not yet crossed," the cycle continues endlessly.

This is both the underlying principle of the Xuan Yin Dan Fa (Mysterious Yin Elixir Method) and the calculation rule of the Xuan Yin Shen Shu (Mysterious Yin Divine Number).

However, this method of divination has a limited scope; it can only predict minor matters, not major ones. It is very accurate for minor matters, but often vague for major ones. Moreover, it is more suitable for predicting "yin" matters (negative matters) than "yang" matters (positive matters).

To make accurate predictions, in addition to setting up the divination chart, one also needs rich experience to analyze and break through the situation and make a true prediction. Otherwise, even if a result is obtained, one will not know what the hexagram actually points to.

This thing requires a lot of comprehension; having Gu Chen's thousand-year memories alone is not enough. He needs to have his own understanding.

Li Jingxu's coming and going was undoubtedly like a brush with death for him. After Li Jingxu left, he was reborn from the ashes. Looking back and reviewing the Xuan Yin hexagram, he suddenly gained many new insights.

After figuring out his current situation, Guan Minghui let out a long sigh of relief.

Since killing Lu Min, he had lived as if it were his last day for the past few years, constantly on edge. Now, he could finally relax.

In the past three years, he has undergone the process of purifying himself three times.

The so-called "returning elixir" is the reverse process, the opposite of alchemy. [Note]

The previous alchemy involved extracting essence, energy, and spirit from the body to condense an inner elixir.

However, Taoist immortals value life, unlike Buddhists who regard the body as a "physical body" or a "stinking bag of skin" and need to maintain it in order to achieve immortality.

Therefore, the inner elixir is returned to cleanse and refine the entire body.

At this time, the body undergoes a qualitative change: lost teeth grow back, gray hair turns black, hearing and vision improve, and the body becomes light and agile...

The first time one tries to achieve the elixir requires a hundred days of effort. As the inner elixir gradually disappears, it corresponds to the hexagram "Stripping," hence the name "Stripping Elixir."

Afterwards, the Qi is gathered again to refine the elixir. After one hundred days, the inner elixir is refined again, corresponding to the hexagram Fu (复), hence it is also called Fudan (复丹). Next, the second process of returning the elixir is carried out. The process of peeling and restoring takes a total of four hundred days. Then, the third process of returning the elixir is carried out, doubling the time.

After three rounds of elixir refining, the resulting inner core is already quite pure and powerful, capable of continuing to nurture the immortal embryo and cultivate the nascent soul.

However, to ensure the quality of the nascent soul is good enough, it is necessary to perform the elixir purification process six more times, each time taking twice as long as the previous one.

It usually takes about three hundred years to complete the Nine-Turn Elixir!
Gu Chen's previous Xuan Yin Cold Flame Golden Core was only at the sixth level. Guan Minghui strives to be the best in everything he does and has a strong competitive spirit. He plans to refine the highest-level Nine-Rank Golden Core.

Starting from the fourth stage, not only does the time required increase, but the practice also becomes more complicated. It's no longer simply a matter of finding a place to sit quietly and meditate.

Li Jingxu calculated that he would run away from here in twenty or thirty years. He used the Xuan Yin Divine Number to calculate that it would be around the time of the first sword fight between the Emei Sect and the Wutai Sect. He did have a great reason to be born ahead of time.

I still need to speed up my cultivation. If I proceed step by step like this, even when the main story begins, I will only be able to cultivate to the seventh level of the Dan Cheng (a type of internal alchemy).

This is too slow! We need to cultivate to the point of immortality and refine the three corpses primordial spirit, otherwise we'll be in danger of losing our lives if we encounter a master.

Guan Minghui suddenly remembered that there was another treasure in the Mangcang Mountains—the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Silkworm!
The Mangcang Mountains stretch for thousands of miles, with a main dragon vein leading countless smaller dragon veins that meander and coil, forming numerous towering mountains and ridges.

The mountain is divided into two sides, yin and yang. The yang side gathers yang energy, which eventually converges at Lingyu Cliff. Over millions of years, it has nurtured a piece of exquisite jade, namely the Ten-Thousand-Year Warm Jade.

There is a similar place on the shady side, a cave called Xuan Shuang, where yin energy condenses. Although it is in the south, it is shrouded in gloom all day long, covered with solid ice, and has rolling cold waves, just like hell.

Deep within the extremely yin cave dwells, there lives an ice silkworm.

In the world of Shushan, ice silkworms, fire silkworms, and golden silkworms are all exotic species from the primordial era. Although they are rare, they are not particularly rare for cultivators.

However, this ice silkworm has lived in the cave for tens of thousands of years, absorbing a large amount of pure yin energy from the earth's veins.

If I could get my hands on it and harmonize its yin and yang with the ten-thousand-year-old warm jade, it would definitely speed up my cultivation!

Unable to leave the cave due to being chained by the Fire Cloud Chain, Guan Minghui summoned Cui Haike, took a seven-turn black silk thread, and put it around Cui Haike's neck, instructing him to follow the earth's veins to find the Ice Silkworm.

After Cui Haike became a demon corpse, he abandoned many of his original immortal techniques and devoted himself to cultivating the Xuan Yin Great Art. In the past few years, his strength has increased by leaps and bounds.

Upon receiving Guan Minghui's order, he flew into the Earth's core without hesitation.

Guan Minghui used the black silk to sense his location, communicate with him through consciousness, and see and hear with the help of his eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

The situation inside the lungs is extremely complex, with crisscrossing isthmuses and many places where there are no roads to travel.

Cui Haike braved the yin winds of the earth and traveled through it, first finding the main dragon vein of Mangcang Mountain, then dividing it into yin and yang, descending from Lingyu Cliff, entering from yang to yin, and searching along the changes.

After searching for more than ten days, and even reaching a thousand miles away, they finally made some progress.

However, the closer one gets to the Yin Yin Land, the harsher the environment becomes. It is a network of interconnected passages, and the isthmus is filled with black frigid tides, which are usually only seen during heavenly tribulations.

Cui Haike, unable to withstand the attack with his demonic corpse form alone, was forced to stop dozens of miles from his target.

If he goes any further, his entire body will be frozen stiff by the Black Frontier Frost, then ground into fragments of ice, and even his primordial spirit and soul will be blown away!
　Note: The concept of "Returning Elixir" in this book differs from that of various schools and sects in reality; it can be understood as a hierarchical system within the novel. Please don't try to explain to me what "Returning Elixir" actually means!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)