Chapter 1: Traveling Through Time
Shi Xuan woke up from the darkness, only to feel a splitting headache, and vaguely remembered the great pain of being hit by a ten-wheel truck. Seeing the sun shining on his chest, he felt warm. Slowly, he felt the existence of his body, and he sighed that he was really lucky. He was hit so far by a truck and was not dead. At this time, many fragments of memory emerged from his mind, and his head was as big as a bucket.
It turned out that he was dead, but an antique bead that he bought as a talisman at that time suddenly shone brightly, wrapped his soul, tore open the cracks in space, came to this world, and possessed the unlucky guy now.
Now this body is a little Taoist priest, or the kind with a little magic power. His original name was Du Bai. Ten years ago, there was a severe drought in Qingzhou. His parents took him, who was only eight years old at the time, to escape the famine in the south. As a result, they both died on the side of the road. Du Bai was lucky. Before he starved to death, he was spotted by the passing Taoist Xu and accepted as a disciple. Du Bai himself has good qualifications. In just ten years, he has cultivated to the realm of nourishing qi and strengthening the soul, which is highly valued by Taoist Master Xu.
In memory, Taoist Master Xu often said that there were only ten or so people with real magical powers in the two capitals and thirteen states, and those with his magical powers, including those who have been secluded, are estimated to be only a handful. It is only because he has been searching for immortals all his life that he is not well-known in the world.
Taoist Master Xu had a chance encounter and got the true teachings when he was young. He also practiced and practiced hard. He had a strong desire to seek the Tao. He never married in his life. At the age of thirty, he cultivated to the realm of soul leaving the body. But in the next ten years, he only had deep skills and no direction to break through the realm. Therefore, he went out to travel to famous mountains and immortal waters, as well as places with various supernatural legends to search for immortals, but they were all like dreams and bubbles. When he was a hundred years old, although there were still a few places he had not visited, he was finally discouraged and planned to return home.
On his way back home, he thought that he was a hundred years old and would not have ten more years to live. He did not want the Taoist tradition he had accepted and what he had learned to be lost, so he took the initiative to accept Du Bai as his disciple.
After returning home, Taoist Xu found that although the family was still there, the familiar relatives of this branch had died of old age in the past sixty years, and he did not know the few young people who were still alive, so he simply bought a small courtyard in the west of the city to live in and cultivate Du Bai with peace of mind. While teaching him Taoism, he also talked about his experience of traveling all over the country to kill ghosts and demons in his life. Ten years passed like this, and the old Taoist's deadline came. After falling asleep one night, he never woke up again.
Du Bai and the old Taoist had been dependent on each other for ten years, so naturally he was extremely sad. So after burying the old Taoist, he could not get rid of distracting thoughts during a meditation, and he had a demon in his heart, became possessed by the devil, and died.
Shi Xuan sat up slowly, stood in front of the bed and moved his hands and feet, calmed down, then sat cross-legged, and learned the method in the memory fragment to circulate Qi. After a week of circulating Qi, he opened his eyes, thinking that he was still a little lucky. If this kid was not possessed during visualization, but was possessed by meditation, I don’t know how much damage his body meridians would suffer. Even if he was possessed, I don’t know how long I can live. It’s hard to say whether I can travel through time again at that time. Now there are only some minor damages to the body meridians. If I take medicine and endure it, I will be intact within half a month.
As for the little bead that brought me through, I wanted to see it as soon as I had the memory, but I had just accepted the memory, my thoughts were chaotic, and I had just come through, so my emotions were still unstable. At this time, if I forced myself to enter into meditation and introspection, I might end up with the same tragedy as that stupid boy, who was attacked by the inner demon.
Based on his memory, Shi Xuan found three incense sticks in the grid at the head of the bed. This is a kind of sandalwood that can calm the mind and spirit. Taoist Xu collected materials himself and made it. It is very precious. Put the incense on the wooden table next to the incense burner, take the copper basin, open the door, and draw a basin of water from the small well in the small courtyard. It can be regarded as revisiting the experience of drawing water from the well in the countryside before.
Carrying the copper basin, return to the room, put it away and lock the door. Then wash your face with cold water and wipe it dry. Shi Xuan suddenly felt refreshed, and then slowly put on a new set of Taoist robes. Doing these is just a means, the purpose is to slowly settle emotions through such solemn actions, and gradually make the mind consistent. This is why many religions always have many rituals, one of the reasons is this, to settle emotions and empty thoughts. Of course, in religion, this state, coupled with the atmosphere of many people doing the same thing around, is more convenient for preaching.
Shi Xuan learned the method in his memory, moved the body's qi and blood, and then pinched the formula and chanted the mantra, about ten breaths of effort. A flame emerged from his fingers and lit three incense sticks. Shi Xuan was both curious and disappointed. In his previous life, he was a person who had a special liking for immortal heroes. It was definitely a novelty for him to travel to a world where he could cultivate immortality and use Taoism. In addition, his parents had worked hard in their early years and died before they were sixty. He had no worries, so he could accept the fact of traveling relatively quickly, so he became curious about this world. What was disappointing was that such a weak ignition technique took so long to perform, and the power was so small, which was really disappointing.
In my memory, Master Xu said that in the first stage of physical training and soul accumulation, the body was only strong, but the spell could not be cast. In the second stage of nourishing qi and strengthening soul, the spell could be cast, but the power was small, there were many steps, and it took a long time. In a head-on battle with the masters of the inner family in the world (also considered to be the nourishing qi stage), the combat effectiveness level was not the same. Therefore, talismans were often used, and the altar was set up in advance, and the rituals were prepared before using the spell. Of course, if there were magic tools, they would definitely be used first.
Only when the soul leaves the body and becomes magical in the third stage, can some minor magical powers be gradually acquired. In addition to a few basic ones, minor magical powers vary according to the soul and cultivation methods of each person. This stage is different from the masters of the subtle realm in the Jianghu, and is stronger than the martial arts masters when prepared. As for the Taoist method, the power has been enhanced, but the movement of qi and blood, pinching the fingers and chanting the spells are still the same. The more powerful Taoist methods still require concentration and visualization, stepping on the Gang to fight, which is really time-consuming, so fighting with others generally uses talismans, minor magical powers, magic tools, and even fists and feet.
Of course, the Taoist method is magical, and it is not necessary to fight head-on to win. When the Taoist priests in the stage of nourishing qi and strengthening soul are prepared, it is relatively easy to kill the masters of the inner family. As for the next few stages, Xu Tianshi is not very clear, but he just gets along with the old man. When he reaches the stage of cultivating the spirit of the golden elixir, he can destroy the city and cut off the river with his mind, and he can be regarded as a fairy-like figure.
After calming down, Shi Xuan held three sticks of incense and bowed three times to the air, as a way to comfort the soul of this body. Then he put in the incense and sat cross-legged on the bed with his five hearts facing the sky. Fortunately, this body often enters into a state of meditation. Now with the help of sandalwood, Shi Xuan slowly enters into a state of meditation. As soon as he enters into a state of meditation, he finds that his soul is attracted to the purple palace between his eyebrows. The small bead is quietly suspended, and the light is dim, but a ray of light is emitted from it, bringing a message to Shi Xuan's soul.
It turns out that this small bead is an acquired spiritual object in this world, called the Mountain and River Bead, which was obtained by the ancient great power Qing Yunzi. However, after Qing Yunzi condensed two flowers in the Golden Immortal (He Dao), he committed a murderous calamity and died together with others. Before he died, he thought of walking alone. His teacher, Taoist Yu Yu, had seen through the great way and escaped from this world to open up a new world. He couldn't let the Taoism be lost in this world, so he left the fundamental method of his teacher's enlightenment and his own practice, "The Record of the True Transmission of Yu Yu of Shangqing to Overcome Disasters and Attain the Tao", in this newly obtained acquired spiritual object, the Mountain and River Bead, which had not been sacrificed yet, and used the last mana to break the void and send it out.
Who knew that the Mountain and River Bead encountered time and space shocks on the way and traveled to another world, that is, the earth where Shi Xuan was. Later, he slowly accumulated strength over millions of years. After Shi Xuan's car accident, he burst out his strength under the stimulation of blood first and then soul. With the time and space beacon left by Qing Yunzi in the mountain and river pearl, he brought Shi Xuan to the world of Yu Yutian, where Taoist Yu Yu had once created to prove the Tao, which was Qing Yunzi's hometown.
After passing on this information, he passed on a volume of mysterious Taoist books to Shi Xuan's soul, and his own light was completely dim. It seemed that he was slowly recovering his strength.
Shi Xuan learned from Qing Yunzi's message at the beginning of the Taoist book that the cultivation of Taoism in this world is divided into two major levels: Qi training and Yuan Shen. Qi training is divided into seven stages: nourishing soul, strengthening soul, leaving the body, guiding qi, spirit soul, golden elixir, and Yin Shen. The Yuan Shen stage is divided into Yuan Shen, Yang Shen, Tian Ren, He Dao, Creation, and Eternity.
Of course, the above stage names are just abbreviations. For example, the full name of the Qi training stage is: forging the body to nourish the soul, nourishing qi to strengthen the soul, leaving the body, guiding qi to temper the soul, unity of spirit and soul, golden elixir to cultivate the spirit, and Yin Shen condensation.
Among them, the two steps of strengthening the body and nourishing the soul and nourishing the qi and strengthening the soul can reach the limit of their own lifespan after they are well practiced. When the soul leaves the body, they can live for another 30 years, about 120 years old. When the qi is drawn and the soul is forged, the lifespan reaches 200 years. The lifespan of the master of the golden elixir stage reaches 600 years, and the Yinshen venerable can live to 1,200 years.
After the level of the soul, Qingyunzi only roughly mentioned the soul master who broke through the mysterious gate of life and death, also known as the ghost fairy master, who lived as long as the heaven and earth, but had to go through various disasters. He told Shi Xuan not to let the physical body suffer destructive damage, otherwise he could not achieve the soul, and said that after achieving the soul, the treasure record would show the second half of the volume - the soul chapter.
Shi Xuan woke up from his concentration, and after a brief recollection, he remembered the contents of the first half of the "Record of Delivering from Evil and Gaining the Tao". It seems that soul memory is indeed much more effective. But now is not the time to practice. The most important thing now is to consider your future path and how to go.
Because as a time traveler, if you have no foundation, and if you don't have any plans for the future, it's hard to calm your mind. With a direction, steps, and goals, you will feel at ease. To use a common saying now, you will feel safe. It is only when you can settle your mind first that you can settle your spirit. Don't you see how many people in modern society are empty and restless because they have no goals or have goals but no plans and steps.
Of course, there is not much information now, so I can only make a rough plan. I will make changes when I see more or encounter something in the future.
This is also the logic that a cautious science and engineering person like Shi Xuan is most accustomed to.