A max-level player in Jade Dynasty: Awakening the Innate Dao at the start.

"Junior brother, there are some things... Master didn't allow me to say, but I feel I still have to tell you the truth."

Song Daren leaned against a thick, black bamboo stalk, his voice low.

Sunlight filtered through the bamboo leaves, slicing out streaks of light and shadow on his square face.

In the distance, Tian Ling'er was squatting by the stream playing in the water. Her red dress, set against the backdrop of green bamboo, looked like a dancing fire.

Zhang Xiaofan sat cross-legged on a blue stone, his palms facing up on his knees, in the meditation posture he had just learned.

The stone surface was cool, damp with the scent of mountain stream water, seeping through the thin fabric of the Taoist robe.

"Your master examined your physical attributes yesterday."

Song Daren rubbed his hands together, the rough calluses on his palms making a soft, rustling sound.

He said... your qualifications are quite average.

It's not bad, just average.

Throughout Dazhu Peak, aside from someone as clueless as me, there are many others like me...

When others first started learning, their natural talent was better than yours.

He paused for a moment, as if pondering how to say it.

"When it comes to cultivating the Tao, seven parts depend on talent and three parts on hard work."

Song Daren raised his head, his gaze passing over the bamboo forest and looking towards the direction of Tongtian Peak.

"Like that junior brother Lin Jingyu from Dragon Head Peak, a once-in-a-millennium genius..."

After decades of diligent practice, one might be able to reach the threshold of the Upper Clarity Realm. As for you—”

He turned back and looked at Zhang Xiaofan.

"The fifth or sixth level of the Jade Purity Realm is probably the limit."

When Song Daren said this, his face was expressionless.

But something flickered deep in his eyes, like regret, or perhaps reluctance.

"This isn't meant to discourage you, but to give you a heads-up."

Those of us who cultivate the Tao should be most wary of being overly ambitious.

Zhang Xiaofan remained silent.

The sound of the wind blowing through the bamboo forest, the rustling of the bamboo leaves, is like the sound of the tide.

They surged in layer by layer, then receded.

"You asked about Taiqing Realm yesterday."

Song Daren suddenly laughed, but the laugh was tinged with bitterness.

"Let alone Taiqing Realm, even Shangqing Realm, the entire Qingyun Sect has only produced about twenty people in the past thousand years."

As for Taiqing... that's just a legend.

After Master Qingye, no one has ever reached that level.

He held up one finger.

"The first level of the Taiji Xuanqing Dao involves circulating the Qi through thirty-six major cycles, drawing Qi into the body, and opening up the twelve meridians."

For a normal person, especially one with good talent, it takes a year. For someone as slow as me, it takes three years.

The second finger.

"The second layer consists of seventy-two cycles, connecting the eight extraordinary meridians."

Five years is the minimum, ten years wouldn't be uncommon.

The third finger was bent halfway and not fully extended.

"From the third level onwards, each step forward takes ten years."

By the time you reach the higher levels of the Jade Purity Realm, your hair will probably be completely white.

Song Daren patted the hem of his Taoist robe, stood up,

"So, junior brother, don't think about those unnecessary things."

Being down-to-earth, cutting one bamboo shoot a day, and completing one cycle of Qi circulation each day—that's better than anything else.

Zhang Xiaofan remained silent.

The warm current that had been dormant in his body since the awakening of his innate Dao body was slowly flowing through the depths of his meridians.

It wasn't activated by his cultivation; it moved on its own.

Like a snake just awakened from hibernation, it is languid, yet possesses an innate rhythm.

If the path of cultivating both Buddhism and Taoism were to be widely adopted...

"Senior Brother," Zhang Xiaofan said calmly, "teach me cultivation."

Song Daren glanced at him for a couple of moments, then nodded: "Alright."

For the next hour, only Song Daren's voice could be heard in the bamboo forest.

"Meditation is not just sitting idly."

Keep your back straight, but not taut; it should be like a bamboo pole—resilient.

"With your palm facing up and your five fingers slightly curled up, you're not grasping anything, but 'receiving' something. What are you receiving? The spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

"Meditation is not sleeping."

Look at your nose with your eyes, look at your heart with your nose, and look at your dantian with your heart.

Where is the dantian? It's three inches below your navel. Feel it yourself.

Zhang Xiaofan did as he was told.

With his eyes closed, he could "see" Song Daren walking around him, his feet crunching on the old bamboo leaves.

They could "hear" the "drip-drop" sound of water droplets falling back onto the stream surface as Tian Ling'er splashed water in the distance.

You can "smell" the fragrance of bamboo leaves after they have been warmed by the sun, which is somewhat like the aroma of dried tea.

The five senses are expanding outwards.

No, it's the six senses.

He could sense those floating, invisible "things" in the air.

It was bluish-green, like a firefly, but even more elusive.

They drift aimlessly, bringing a slight coolness when they touch the skin, like the morning mist.

This is spiritual energy.

"Now, following the incantation on the first page of the exercise manual, imagine that energy rising from the dantian, traveling along the Ren meridian, passing through the Tanzhong point, and ascending to the Niwan point..."

Song Daren's voice seemed to be right next to my ear, yet also seemed to be from afar.

"Slow down, you must go slowly."

If you can complete one-third of the cycle on your first attempt, you've succeeded.

Many people practice for seven or eight days and still can't find the feeling of Qi.

Zhang Xiaofan's mind stirred slightly.

It's not about imagination, it's about guidance.

The warm current in my body surged out of my dantian like a soldier on command, rushing straight up along the Ren meridian.

A slight throbbing pain was felt in the meridians along the way.

It wasn't an injury, but the feeling of a sudden flood coming into the dry riverbed, eroding and widening the riverbanks.

The warm current flows through the Tanzhong point and up to the Niwan point.

It wasn't stuck, it wasn't blocked. It flowed smoothly, like mercury spilling onto the ground, so smoothly that even he was momentarily stunned.

Then it descends along the Du meridian, passes through the Mingmen point, and returns to the Dantian.

A complete cycle has been completed.

How long did it take? Maybe three breaths, maybe five.

It was so fast that it didn't seem like the first time practicing; it was as if it had been practiced hundreds or thousands of times.

Zhang Xiaofan opened his eyes.

"How is it?" Song Daren squatted down in front of him, his face bearing his usual gentle smile.

"It's normal not to feel anything yet, just try a few more times—hmm?"

His smile froze on his face.

A faint blue halo appeared around Zhang Xiaofan at some unknown time.

It was very thin, like the morning mist rising in the mountains, but it was definitely there.

The halo rose and fell slightly with his breathing, each rise and fall...

The "fireflies" in the surrounding air gathered around him, then burrowed into his skin and disappeared.

Spiritual energy enters the body.

On the first attempt at cultivation, it was a success.

Song Daren opened his mouth and made a soft "ho" sound in his throat, as if someone was choking him.

He stood up abruptly, his movement so sudden that he knocked over a loose stone at his feet.

The stone rolled down the hillside and hit the bamboo roots with a dull thud.

"You..." Song Daren pointed at Zhang Xiaofan, his finger trembling slightly, "You just...circulated your Qi through your body?"

Zhang Xiaofan nodded.

"Once? The entire time?"

"Um."

"Impossible!" Song Daren blurted out, his voice rising more than eight octaves.

"It took me ten days! A full ten days! to find the feeling of Qi and complete the first cycle!"

Master said I'm already the fastest on Dazhu Peak besides my junior sister!

Hearing the commotion, Tian Ling'er ran over to the stream.

Her red dress billowed in the wind, water droplets still clinging to the ends of her hair: "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

She ran up to him and saw the blue aura surrounding Zhang Xiaofan, and her steps stopped abruptly.

Those always bright eyes slowly opened wide.

"Spiritual energy...entering the body?"

Tian Ling'er's voice was a little unsteady, "You entered your body with spiritual energy on your very first cultivation session?"

Zhang Xiaofan nodded again.

Tian Ling'er stared at him for three breaths, then suddenly turned to look at Song Daren:

"Senior Brother, how long did it take you back then?"

Song Daren's face twitched: "Ten days..."

"And me?"

"...Five days."

Tian Ling'er turned her head back and her gaze fell on Zhang Xiaofan again.

His gaze was incredibly complex, containing surprise, disbelief, and a hint of resentment at being outshone.

Do you know Lu Xueqi from Xiaozhu Peak?

Master Shuiyue's darling; I heard she used two days to achieve that.

He was hailed as a once-in-a-century genius of the Qingyun Sect.

She paused, then added:

"Master Shuiyue dotes on her like the apple of his eye, showering her with all sorts of good things."

Even so, it took two days.

The bamboo forest quieted down.

The sound of the wind rustling through the bamboo leaves, the sound of the stream flowing...

The sounds of birdsong in the distance became exceptionally clear at that moment.

The sunlight moved, and patches of light crept across the hem of Zhang Xiaofan's clothes.

I crawled over the moss on the bluestone and over the thick layer of rotten bamboo leaves on the ground.

Song Daren swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Junior brother." His voice was dry and hoarse.

"How many cycles did you just perform?"

Zhang Xiaofan thought for a moment.

A warm current circulated within my body, one after another, as smoothly as breathing.

He had his eyes closed and didn't count carefully, but he felt...

"Five," he said.

"Five?" Song Daren repeated, his tone as if confirming some absurd joke.

"One cultivation session, five major cycles?"

"Um."

Song Daren fell silent.

He bent down, picked up a dry bamboo branch from the ground, squatted down, and began to scratch on the muddy ground.

"Five at a time... thirty-six cycles to break through the first level..."

He muttered incantations, the marks left by the bamboo twigs varying in depth.

"Six days. You will reach the first level of the Jade Purity Realm in six days."

He looked up at Zhang Xiaofan, his eyes filled with the look of someone staring at a monster.

"It took me... half a year back then."

Song Daren said that he had difficulty pronouncing each word.

"I heard that even a genius like Lu Xueqi only lasted ten days or so. You only lasted six days?"

Zhang Xiaofan didn't respond.

He was calculating something else in his mind—not the "Taiji Xuanqing Dao," but the "Da Fan Prajna."

Buddhist practices emphasize a solid foundation and the gradual accumulation of knowledge before unleashing its full potential.

If he were to cultivate two techniques simultaneously, using Buddhist techniques as a foundation and Taoist techniques to break through barriers...

"It might... take a month."

Zhang Xiaofan said. He deliberately exaggerated the time, his tone implying a hint of "complaining about the slowness."

"It took a month to get to the first floor, that's too slow."

"..."

The bamboo stick in Song Daren's hand snapped with a "crack".

Tian Ling'er chuckled, but the laughter didn't last long before turning into a wry smile.

"Junior brother, do you know what you're saying?"

Reaching the first level of Jade Purity Realm in a month, is that considered slow?

"If I spend five years cultivating to reach the fourth level, wouldn't that be like a tortoise crawling?"

She leaned closer, staring into Zhang Xiaofan's eyes: "Are you serious?"

Zhang Xiaofan shifted his gaze to the thick, black bamboo stalk not far away.

The bamboo skin gleamed with a dark green, cold light under the sun, as if it had been coated with metallic paint.

"Senior Brother," he suddenly stood up, "I want to try cutting bamboo."

Song Daren was still reeling from the shock of "a month being too slow," and upon hearing this, he stammered:

"Huh? Oh... Cutting bamboo is good, it strengthens the muscles and bones."

There are machetes over there. Go pick one that's as thick as your arm and get used to it first.

Remember, don't be greedy. If you can make a breakthrough on the first day, that's good enough.

He didn't finish his sentence.

Zhang Xiaofan had already reached the thick, black bamboo stalk.

It's not as thick as an arm, it's as thick as a bowl, much thicker than Song Daren described, more than twice as thick.

The bamboo was over five zhang tall, with densely packed joints, each one bulging like taut muscles.

"Wait!" Song Daren realized what was happening and hurriedly stepped forward.

"This one is too thick! New disciples all start with one as thick as an arm!"

This bamboo is as hard as iron. You're not strong enough; you'll injure your wrist, and it won't heal for three months!

Zhang Xiaofan didn't turn around.

He gripped the machete tightly—the same one from yesterday, its blade gleaming a matte bluish-black in the sunlight.

The fingerprints on the hilt matched the lines of his palm, creating a peculiar sense of harmony.

The warm current in his dantian began to accelerate.

It wasn't something he actively pushed; it was something that stirred up on its own as it sensed his feelings.

A thin stream of warmth spurted out and surged upwards along the meridians of the arm, flowing past the Jianjing acupoint, past the elbow crease, and reaching the wrist bone.

The muscles felt slightly warm where it passed, and the bones emitted a very faint "crackling" sound, like bamboo shoots growing taller.

He raised his machete.

The movements were slow, even a bit slow, as if weighing something or sensing something.

Song Daren stopped halfway through his charge.

He saw Zhang Xiaofan's back—thin, but standing ramrod straight.

The hem of his Taoist robe clung to his calves in the mountain wind, outlining the still-growing features of the young man.

But for some reason, the silhouette didn't exude naivety, but rather a certain... somberness.

Like a deep pool, the surface is calm, but there are undercurrents surging beneath.

"Junior Brother!" Song Daren called out one last time.

"Listen to your senior brother! It took Fourth Brother three whole days to cut this bamboo! You've only just started, don't—"

The machete fell.

It's not chopping or hacking, it's "slicing".

The blade sliced ​​through the air, leaving a trail of bluish light—not a reflection of sunlight, but spiritual energy.

It was the visible spiritual light emanating from the blade, a warm current flowing through the body.

The blade touched the bamboo skin.

There was no clanging of metal, no flying sawdust.

Only one sound—

"Snap!"

Crisp and clean, like an icicle under the eaves of a house being broken by a single step in winter.

The black bamboo, as thick as a bowl, was neatly cut in two at the point where the blade entered.

The upper half of the bamboo stalk tilted, the bamboo leaves rustling and carrying a heavy, unwilling sound as it crashed to the ground.

The bamboo stalks crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Mixed with shredded bamboo leaves, they danced in the sunlight like golden mayflies.

The cross-section is as smooth as a mirror.

You can see the texture of each layer of bamboo skin, bamboo flesh, and bamboo core.

The innermost ring of bamboo core is not the milky white color of ordinary bamboo.

Instead, it was a pale golden color, like melted amber, with a slight shimmer at the cross-section.

Zhang Xiaofan sheathed his sword.

The blade of the machete was intact, without even a tiny chip the size of a grain of rice.

His wrist was frighteningly steady; the area between his thumb and forefinger didn't even turn red.

He turned around and looked at Song Daren.

The senior disciple stood there, mouth agape, eyes wide like copper bells.

The expression on his face froze between "wanting to stop him" and "being too shocked."

It twisted into a comical, almost blank expression.

Tian Ling'er was also stunned.

She looked at the bamboo on the ground, then at the knife in Zhang Xiaofan's hand, and then at Song Daren's face.

Then she raised her hand, rubbed her eyes hard, and looked at it again.

In the bamboo forest, only the sound of the wind remained.

In the distance, the stream crashes against the rocks, creating a splashing sound as it breaks into countless droplets.

Zhang Xiaofan put the machete back into the knife rack on the stone platform, walked back to the blue stone, and sat down cross-legged again.

He closed his eyes, palms up, and assumed a meditation posture.

It was as if that slash just now was merely a casual brush away a fallen leaf from his shoulder.

"Senior Brother," he said, his eyes still closed, his voice flat.

"Next, shouldn't you teach me how to circulate the thirty-six great cycles?"

Song Daren's Adam's apple bobbed.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He opened his mouth again, before finally managing to squeeze out a dry, scathing sentence, as if it had been sanded clean:

"...Ah, right, it's time to teach them."

The sunlight moved, and patches of light crawled across the cut surface of the black bamboo.

The pale golden bamboo core shimmered slightly in the light.

It's like a response to something.