Chapter 18 Begin His Cultivation

The old man had noticed Felix's diligence over the past few days and was quite satisfied. He then began to explain the human meridians and acupoints to Felix in detail. "Training in the path of cultivation was divided into three stages. The first stage was body refinement. This applied to both the lost martial arts and the flourishing immortal path today. In martial arts, body refinement involves honing the body, and strengthening muscles, bones, and flesh. In the immortal path, it meant purifying internal impurities, clearing the meridians, understanding the eight extraordinary vessels, acupoints, and so on." "Kid, you should write this down. The twelve meridians of the human body are the hand's three yang, the hand's three yin, the foot's three yang, and the foot's three yin. The eight vessels are Ren, Du, Chong, Dai, Yangwei, Yinwei, Yangqiao, and Yinqiao…" "Wait a minute, Senior! Don't just rattle off names. You've gotta tell me exactly which meridian each one refers to! That way, I can note them down on the rock wall. Otherwise, I won't even know where these meridians and acupoints are," Felix exclaimed. What followed was another massive workload. However, this time, he wasn't fighting this battle alone; he had the old man across from him helping out. It took a full two days, but finally, the human anatomy diagram on the rock wall had transformed significantly. Each meridian and acupoint had been labeled by Felix. He then spent another three days memorizing all the names and locations of the meridians and acupoints completely. He felt like he'd chosen the wrong major in college; he shouldn't have gone for Tourism Management, where there were no jobs to be found. He should've studied traditional Chinese medicine instead! On the thirteenth day since Felix had been locked up in the stone prison. The old man finally began to formally teach Felix the true methods and sword techniques of the Void Sect. "Kid, you just have amnesia, not a disability. You had already cultivated the 'Void Technique' to the third level, reaching the peak of the Meridian Unlocking Realm. You're just a hair's breadth away from the fourth level, the Flight Control Realm. That means you've got a solid foundation, and it shouldn't take long for you to break through." "Today, I'll pass on the cultivation mantra to you. Make sure to remember this: when cultivating, impatience and recklessness are the worst enemies. Always keep your heart calm, and never let your mind become chaotic. If your heart is anxious, your mind will get confused; and if your mind gets confused, demons will invade. Once a cultivator succumbs to inner demons, there's rarely a good outcome. Understand?" "Thank you for your guidance, Senior. I will remember," Felix replied. Felix no longer needed to speak directly to the old man. The old man's voice could now appear directly in his mind. All he had to do was think about what he wanted to say, and the old man would hear him. This discovery had come a few days ago when the old man had taught him how to identify acupoints. "The 'Void Technique' was passed down from the first-generation patriarch, Albert, of the Void Sect. It has since been revised and improved by countless other patriarchs." "Generally, the Training Hall, along with some elders teaching their disciples, wouldn't fully convey the entire cultivation mantra to their disciples. This was not only to prevent the 'Void Technique' from leaking out but also to avoid young disciples from being overly ambitious and eager for quick results." "However, I oppose this approach. Teaching one layer of the mantra at a time does lower the risk of young disciples going astray, but it also slows down their cultivation progress. Today, I will pass the entire content of the 'Void Technique' onto you, so listen carefully." "The first level is Qi Refinement. Keep your heart calm and focused, concentrate your mind on the Dantian, inhale the pure, and exhale the turbid, with a clear and bright spirit. In the process of inhaling and exhaling, your Qi will move with your intention, and your intention will move with your heart. The Qi flows through the channels, passing the Yang Pass, reaching the Tian Ling, turning at the Feng Gate, circling in the center, following the three yang pathways of the feet, ultimately connecting to the Yongquan, gathering at the Baihui, allowing Qi to circulate throughout the body, continuously flowing and stored in the meridians…" "The second level was Foundation Establishment... controlling the Qi in the meridians, washing the marrow, refining the bones, and opening up the Dan Tian whirlpool…" "The third level, Meridian Unlocking… clearing the eight extraordinary vessels, connecting to the Dan Tian, where the Meridian Unlocking converged, flowing endlessly…" "The fourth level, Flight Control… condensing mental force, controlling objects from a distance, activating true essence, and flying with the sword…" "The fifth level was Nascent Soul…" "..." The 'Void Technique' was over eight thousand words long, and the deeper you went, the more profound it became. Felix didn't understand a single word. But he didn't panic; he focused on memorizing the mantras. Thanks to the original Felix's cultivation level not being too low, he couldn't remember everything at a glance, but his memory was far better than that of an average person. After the old man went through it three times, Felix managed to recite all eight thousand complicated mantras. He was shocked by his own ability. If he had that kind of brain and memory, he definitely could've become the best one! The first four levels had detailed instructional content. For example, how to mobilize the internal Qi for marrow washing, which meridian to follow, which acupoint to go through, and how to open up the Dan Tian whirlpool. So the mantras for those four levels took up about two-thirds of the text. But starting from the fifth level, Nascent Soul, the style of the mantras changed drastically. Words like meridians and acupoints hardly appeared; instead, they were filled with convoluted phrases. For example: "The heart's breath is unified; the spirit and Qi flow smoothly. The heart is formless and arises from the environment. If one does not control the six senses, it is unattainable. The spirit awareness is not the original awareness. If the path to awareness is not opened, one is lost without realizing it. The original spirit of the Heavenly Valley must be preserved to remain true…" Every single word was common, but when put together, Felix felt like a total illiterate. He voiced his confusion. The old man replied, "The source of cultivation comes from understanding the transformation of heaven and earth and observing the laws of the universe. It's not something an ordinary person can hope to grasp." "In this world, there are countless beings, yet only a few can enter the immortal gates. In the current age, there might not be more than a hundred who can reach the level of Mahayana, and not a single person has truly ascended to immortality in the past thousand years. If it were easy to understand, wouldn't everyone become immortal? Kid, how far you can go in the path of cultivation depends entirely on your own fortune." Felix understood what the old man meant. It was just like school. The same textbooks, and the same class durations, but some people got into the top university while others were left out in the cold. Since he was the chosen one who had time traveled to this world, and with the mysterious old man as his guide, he certainly wouldn't be one of those left behind. Felix asked the old man when he would teach him the sword techniques and magical abilities. The old man said, "There's no rush. The Void Sect's sword techniques and magical abilities are all built on the foundation of the fourth level, Flight Control. You're only at the third level. It's better to wait until you reach the fourth level before I pass those on to you. Right now, your state of mind is great. Your memory is like a blank slate, unaffected by outside matters, so you can focus on cultivating the 'Void Technique.' If I taught you those sword techniques and magical abilities now, your mind would be distracted, and you wouldn't be able to concentrate." Felix nodded secretly, feeling that the old man had a point. For the next while, Felix spent each day in meditation. He didn't rush things; instead, he started with the basics of breathing techniques from the first level, the Qi Refining. Then he slowly progressed upward. It took him about six or seven days to get familiar with the first three levels and catch up to the original Felix's training pace. Time passed little by little. Before he knew it, it was early April. Alan still came by every day to bring Felix his meals. He spoke very little, usually just asking if Felix remembered anything. Then he would leave. At first, Felix would ask Alan when he could be let out. But now, he didn't care about that at all. Several times, when Alan came to deliver food, Felix couldn't be bothered to respond; it seemed he didn't even want to leave anymore. This made Alan think Felix had gone crazy and that it was time to get rid of him. What Alan didn't realize was that Felix was in a crucial moment of breaking through to the fourth level, Flight Control. His mind was completely consumed by cultivation; who had time to deal with him? With the old man guiding him, he was on the verge of touching the threshold of the Flight Control, just a tiny bit of insight away.