Celestial Official!

Inside the fragrant grove, a cold wind blew, carrying a faint smell of blood.

Whoosh!

A spirit fish, its belly cut open and then stuffed with mud and gravel to stop the bleeding, was casually tossed back into the shallow pond by Yan Chen.

In his hand, there was a heavy stack of Buddhist coins wrapped in large bamboo leaves, and three large porcelain bottles stained with blood.

"Really? Or is it a dream?!"

Yan Chen took a deep breath, a chilling sensation filling his chest, suppressing the heat in his heart.

With a calm expression, he looked around and probed several times... After confirming that no one was hiding in the shadows and spying on him, he carefully tucked the "opportunity" into his bosom, his cotton robe folded over.

Like ordinary people who can no longer withstand the wind and frost and are eager to go home to relax, they hurried through stilted buildings, roadside stalls, and bustling crowds...

Finally, following the stone steps, winding and turning, we managed to leave Xuchunfang safely and return to the Fanyi Courtyard halfway up the mountain.

The evening breeze was icy cold, seeping down one's spine, but Yan Chen felt a burning heat in his heart, as if branded with a hot iron!

As the sun set and the moon hid in the thin mist, the ordinary people who had gone out to the market began to return one after another, all with excited expressions and a look of having made a good harvest.

Being among them, Yan Chen appeared completely unremarkable, just an ordinary person.

It wasn't until I stepped into the courtyard and locked myself in my room that I realized what was happening.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief, plopped down on the bed, and took the two "opportunities" out of his pocket.

They were laid out on the couch and briefly counted.

First of all, this stack of magic coins was indeed exactly the number "11,022" as indicated by the [Immortal Official Jade Pendant].

Besides the large denominations of legal tender, there were also strings of copper coins strung together with red cord, the rust of which revealed bloodstains.

"Colluding with cultivators to plunder fellow practitioners, such windfall gains..."

"It is rightfully mine!"

With a thought flashing through his mind, Yan Chen put away the money and began to examine the two large porcelain bottles. He noticed that one of the bottles had three small cinnabar characters on the bottom: "Qi-Nourishing Pill".

"This is the Qi-regulating pill? Five hundred magic coins per pill!?"

Yan Chen raised his eyebrows slightly.

With a "pop," the bottle stopper wrapped in red cloth was pulled out, and a red pill was poured out into the palm of the hand.

In an instant, a slightly burnt, mellow aroma wafted over.

"It's similar to the Liuwei Dihuang Pills that my third uncle used to take in my past life..."

Surprised, Yan Chen then uncorked the other two porcelain bottles.

He thought it was another pill, but it turned out to be something else entirely.

A bottle of clear water; the moment the cork was pulled out, a wisp of cold air rushed out.

The other bottle is pale yellow like syrup; a gentle sniff releases a delicate fragrance that soothes the mind and refreshes the spirit.

"Could they be two bottles of spiritual liquid... but I wonder what use they are to me now?"

Yan pondered for a moment, then stopped thinking about it, screwed the bottle stopper back on, and put it away carefully.

He immediately took out the "Crimson Glow Bright Fire Control Technique" and placed it on the couch along with the Qi-inducing pills.

"Consuming fire-natured substances opens the meridians and reveals the original essence...refining the Qi to the first level."

Yan Chen cleared his mind of distractions, calmed his spirit, and sat cross-legged. The rudimentary knowledge he had learned in Taoism in his previous life gradually surfaced in his mind.

"The cultivation of Qi has nine levels. The first level begins with the practice of absorbing Qi, which aims to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth, tapping the teeth three times and rinsing and swallowing three times. Even without a full stomach, one can still be filled with Qi... Only in this way can one expel the old and take in the new, cleanse the body, unblock the meridians, and reveal the original essence."

It seems to reveal the essence of cultivation in just a few words, but in reality it is like looking at flowers through a fog, vague and unclear.

Just like the so-called "knock your teeth three times, rinse your mouth three times and swallow," Yan Chen couldn't understand the true meaning at all after just one glance.

Upon closer examination, instead of gaining any insight, I felt dizzy and almost fell asleep.

However, cultivation often cannot tolerate negligence or mistakes.

One wrong step and all your efforts will be in vain, causing you to lose your energy and spirit.

Therefore, the importance of the "Dharma lineage" is further highlighted.

Yan Chen rubbed his temples and gently opened the book "The Crimson Glow and Bright Light Technique".

This is the clan-inherited cultivation method of the "Shangyang Yan Clan", which ranks ninth and belongs to the Bing Fire Dao. Therefore, the true energy obtained from cultivation is all "ninth-grade Bing Fire Qi".

The cultivation techniques are divided into nine grades from high to low. Yan Chen was a little puzzled. The Yan family of Shangyang was a Qi-refining clan that had lasted for hundreds of years. Why was their clan's cultivation technique only grade nine?

He shook his head, ceasing to ponder these meaningless questions.

"Settle your mind with intention, sweep away the dust with thought; calm your heart with scriptures, concentrate your spirit with meditation..."

Yan Chen hid a Qi-regulating pill under his tongue and, following the "Four Tranquilizing Mantras" recorded in the "Red Cloud Bright Fire Control Technique," suppressed his extraneous thoughts and focused on sensing the nearby fire-type Qi.

As Senior Sister Zhu said, the area within a hundred feet of the Forging Fire Academy is filled with intense and abundant Yang fire energy. The fire energy is pure and flawless, making it highly effective to cultivate Bing fire Dao techniques such as the "Crimson Cloud Bright Fire Control Technique" here.

Recalling the meditation techniques taught in Taoism, Yan Chen sat upright with the soles of his feet touching, his heels touching his lower back, and his palms together, feeling the warmth flowing through his meridians.

At the same time, the Qi surges up repeatedly from bottom to top, like a waterfall turning and bursting forth with great force!

Yan Chen's throat slid, and the Qi-regulating pill that he had hidden under his tongue slid down his throat and was swallowed.

In an instant, a surge of pure medicinal power permeated his body and meridians. Yan Chen felt an unbearable burning sensation within his body, as if it had transformed into a small furnace, where his internal organs were being cooked and roasted.

Yan Chen gritted his teeth, and beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, sliding to the ground with a hissing sound.

The key to a cultivator entering the first level of Qi Refining lies in whether they can absorb Qi into their body.

This allows the body's meridians to be opened, and the three major gates of the coccyx, spine, and occipital bone to condense the Qi seed in the dantian.

Only in this way can one be called a "Qi Refining Cultivator".

The first step of absorbing qi into the body is not a major hurdle for those who have received Taoist teachings.

With the help of elixirs like "Qi-regulating pills," and with some effort, it can eventually be achieved.

However, the subsequent "opening of the meridians and manifestation of the original essence" and even "condensation of the Qi seed" are completely different from what was achieved on the first day.

Unless one is truly endowed with extraordinary wisdom or has immersed oneself in this path for many years, accumulating profound knowledge.

Otherwise, the few words described in the manual are simply insufficient to fully explain its profound mysteries.

One needs someone to wholeheartedly guide them, to dispel the confusion step by step, and to point out the secrets, in order to have any hope of understanding.

The reason why the Jade Sleeve Daoist lineage can keep those "heretical sects" out of the lineage is because the lineage is passed down in an orderly manner and the rules are well-established.

This is why Senior Brother Li spent 800 coins just to listen to his senior brother's sermon, and he was happy to do so.

Anyway, we're all in the same boat.

Since we had no choice, we had no choice but to comply.

Fortunately, I was prepared!

In a flash, Yan Chen summoned the [Celestial Official Jade Pendant], and the karmic information from the past few days poured down like water—

[You have formed a karmic bond with Li Xuanyi, a mortal servant of the Forging Academy.]

……

[Imperial Official, please inquire about the karmic situation of Li Xuanyi, a mortal servant of the Forging Fire Academy, as of yesterday.]

……

Two days ago, Li Xuanyi burned incense, bathed, cleansed himself, and abstained from food. He spent fifty magic coins to travel to the Melting Gold Valley on the Fire Cloud Shuttle. After voluntarily offering eight hundred magic coins, he listened to Senior Brother Wang's instruction on the essentials of early-stage Qi Refining cultivation in the Yanxuan Hall...

……

The small, golden characters displayed more than a dozen messages before finally stopping.

After several verifications, Yan Chen gradually figured out the rules for establishing "cause and effect".

They can be broadly categorized into two types.

Firstly, through certain special circumstances, such as the act of shaking a fur coat and holding a collar, the fates of two or more people become intertwined.

Just like Qu Ying and Yan Mo.

Secondly, it is through daily interactions and familiarity that a karmic connection is naturally formed with someone.

Just like Li Xuanyi.

As for the cause and effect of the "Shangyang Yan Clan", it is even more special, because he took the place of that Yan family member, so his fate was deeply intertwined and difficult to explain.

The reason why she couldn't form a karmic connection with "Senior Sister Zhu" or "Forging Academy" was because their destinies weren't intertwined deeply enough.

In other words, if the entanglements of fate are deep enough, it is not only people or forces that can be understood, but also the cause and effect of a certain object or place.

Yan Chen shook his head, clearing his mind of distractions and refocusing his attention on the causal information before him.

"Fortunately, I had the foresight to choose to understand Senior Brother Li's cause and effect early on, otherwise I would have had to wait for several more hours."

Looking at the lines of cause and effect information before me, which could be described as "secret instructions for cultivation," I realized that they were truly profound.

In a daze, Yan Chen actually thought he had arrived at the Yanxuan Hall in the Melting Gold Valley, sitting cross-legged on a futon, listening to the so-called Senior Brother Wang imparting knowledge and answering questions.

The words that were originally puzzling are now like loose knots, easily untied and straightened.

In an instant, my mind cleared and my thoughts became clear!

A fiery light flickered between Yan Chen's brows, and his aura was powerful and intense. Wisps of scorching heat were inhaled into his nostrils and exhaled with a hissing sound, causing waves of turbid air to distort and dissipate.

"So that's how it is... The spirit embraces the breath, the intention is focused on the breath, gathering without dispersing, connecting with the dantian, then reaching the four limbs, opening all the meridians, the spirit and the breath guard each other, and the breaths depend on each other, this is opening the meridians!"

"As for opening the three gates... simply clench your hands and feet tightly, let the force flow inward, pass around the waist, and go down to the dantian. The fire there will move like a tortoise and snake, spiraling up and down, with the Qi flames rising."

"It emerges from the kidneys and spine, ascends along the Fengfu point to the neck, and passes through the three major gates of the coccyx, spine, and occipital bone."

"This cycle repeats itself, completing one full cycle, which will condense the extraordinary phenomenon of 'mountains hiding clouds' between the internal organs!"

"Then the Qi seed is generated in the dantian, true Qi is born, and the path of Qi refinement... is complete!"

……

Yan Chenfu was suddenly inspired, his body moved with the Qi, and the Qi moved at will, as if he were completely immersed in this mysterious and subtle state.

Before we knew it.

A whole night passed.