Qin Xuan continuously channeled the Scripture of Rinsing Jade, and this method—embodying the Way of Heaven Generating Water—circulated through heavenly circuits within his body.
The tenth layer of Qi Refining was an extraordinarily critical hurdle.
Once the Flowery Pool was opened, the path to Foundation Building came into view.
Whether it was the bloom of the Dao lotus during Core Formation later on, or smelting the Golden Core with the Six Desires Pill Fire, all of it took place within the Flowery Pool. A cultivator's root bone also took root in the Flowery Pool's spirit spring.
Channeling the Scripture of Rinsing Jade at the bottom of a pool steeped in spiritual qi yielded twice the result for half the effort.
At this moment...
The lingering haze of the Acanthopanax Golden Thorn medicinal flower and the wisps of the Taibai Mysterious Wind Evil qi—two spiritual entities tied to the metal of the five elements—blended with the ambient spiritual qi, forming a metal-attribute spiritual essence.
They drifted near the spring eye and were drawn into Qin Xuan's body.
Metal Spirit Origin Qi, a technique derived from the Secret Demon Evil-Dispelling Great Method, could only be cultivated using five elements spirit metal or five elements metal crystal.
It could not absorb this sort of metal spiritual essence, yet because of the majestic earth vein spiritual qi, it was swept along into circulation.
Since it could not absorb it, this metal spiritual essence suffered no depletion.
The Metal Spirit Origin Qi within Qin Xuan did not grow, but it acted like a catalyst.
Metal generated Water, and the Way of Heaven Generating Water commenced once more.
Straddling the spirit vein, he kept circulating the Scripture of Rinsing Jade without pause.
Layers of white mist rose from the surface of Qin Xuan's body, gradually cloaking the entire pool. Spiritual qi from the spring eye was drawn into his Flowery Pool, bubbling up within its spirit spring.
Qin Xuan searched his memory for Perfected One Jiuya's writings...
Well, Perfected One Jiuya had left no record of this.
He then recalled the bamboo slip given to him by Daoist Wu, which detailed revolving the river chariot and refining spirit and returning to clarity.
In the Qi Refining Twelve-Storied Tower, these final two layers served as preparation for Foundation Building.
What was inscribed on the bamboo slip echoed in Qin Xuan's mind as if Daoist Wu were speaking it aloud: "Spiritual power gathers in the dantian, flowing into a spring that descends through the Weilv. From the Weilv it passes the Jiaji, the Yuzhen, and enters the Niwan—these are the Three Passes.
"The descended spring below draws the ascendant qi from behind; going upward and downward, downward and upward in perpetual return—this is what Daoist gates call revolving the river chariot."
It was as if a waterwheel river chariot were mounted in his Flowery Pool, carrying the spirit spring through his entire body to wash through it continuously.
Ascending this story was not difficult for Qin Xuan.
He circulated the Scripture of Rinsing Jade and accomplished it with ease. By all common sense, there should have been a palpable sensation of a breakthrough in qi mechanics, yet Qin Xuan merely felt the technique spinning rapidly and the spirit spring in his Flowery Pool expanding, while his own qi mechanics barely shifted.
The sensation was exceedingly strange.
Vaguely, it felt as though he were brushing against something.
Within the Taiyin aperture, the fiend steadily absorbed stray thoughts, keeping Qin Xuan in pure tranquility and sitting in oblivion, free from all disruption.
In the mountains, days went uncounted, marked only by the waxing and waning of the moon.
Twelve days passed in succession. On this day, the sun cast long shadows westward, and a full moon hung high in the sky, shedding limpid light.
With the medicinal flower plucked and the evil qi dispersed, the subterranean spirit vein beneath the spirit spring pool behind the Black Bear's cave collapsed deeper into the pool bed. Beneath the two white sandalwood trees, the mist thinned until the moonlight pierced it through, scattering over Qin Xuan alongside the shimmering ripples.
He snapped his eyes open, broke through the water's surface, and looked toward the sky.
A wisp of qi seemed to bore into the pool, concealing itself within the moon reflected in the water. Moved by impulse after long stillness, he reached out toward the moon. As the water rippled, Qin Xuan seized a clump that was trying to slip away and drew it directly into his body.
Boom!
The pool water erupted, and Qin Xuan vaulted out.
He gazed up at the clouds and sky, his eyes growing deeper and darker, like two abyssal pools reflecting the night sky.
"Huh?"
Greatly bewildered, Qin Xuan looked inward at his Flowery Pool, only to see a streak of white light darting back and forth in the spirit spring like a swimming fish.
Under its movements, the milky-white spirit spring grew progressively clearer.
This was the "refining spirit and returning to clarity" spoken of in the twelfth story of Qi Refining, but the process of cultivating it completely defied his understanding.
This white light was none other than the Five Sprouts—the vitality of the Five Directions and Five Elements—which cultivators were only supposed to perceive after Foundation Building.
And Qin Xuan's streak...
Was precisely the Qi of the Western Bright Stone among the Five Sprouts, which corresponded to his root bone.
After observing it internally for a time, the white light darted through the Flowery Pool before finally slipping into the eye of the spirit spring where his root bone resided.
This was entirely abnormal.
The proper order for an ordinary cultivator should have been: refining spirit and returning to clarity at the twelfth layer of Qi Refining, then Foundation Building, followed by sensing the Five Sprouts, and finally harvesting them.
Had he done it in reverse?
Going with the flow made a mortal; going against it made an immortal—yet this was hardly the way one was supposed to go against it.
Uneasy, Qin Xuan swept his keener spiritual consciousness over his body, but detected nothing amiss, nor were there any inner demons or delusions.
"I'll have to go back and ask Old Pine."
While he was pondering, a cloud of mist descended from above.
"Amitabha. Patron Qin's cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds. Truly a cause for celebration."
The moment the Black Bear Monster landed, he offered his congratulations first. Yet a lingering trace of confusion remained on his face, for he clearly had not grasped Qin Xuan's current state either.
However...
The master was a polite bear after all, and he restrained himself from prying.
Qin Xuan steered away from the subject. "Has the master finished refining away the imprint on the prized kasaya?"
The Black Bear Monster nodded. "Patron Qin, come with me."
With that, he led Qin Xuan to the Heart-Cleansing Chan Cave. On a stone platform in the center of the cavern lay a gleaming yellow kasaya, densely inscribed with small Buddhist characters.
Qin Xuan naturally could not decipher them.
The Black Bear Monster explained, "These Buddhist writings record two Chan methods. The one useful to this poor monk is called Shengde Chan, a branch of Merit Chan. The other Chan method on the kasaya is... Lamp Oil Chan."
"Lamp Oil Chan?"
"Indeed. Patron Qin may not know, but this is not only an esoteric secret of the Buddhist sects, but also a hidden mystery of the Dao Sect."
Hearing this, Qin Xuan sensed that Master Bear's background was far from ordinary. He inquired, "What manner of secret is it?"
The Black Bear Monster's expression abruptly turned solemn. "Take the incident at the Geng residence, for instance. Had it plunged the commandery into chaos, massive karmic evil would inevitably have arisen. That karmic evil could then serve as lamp oil for Lamp Oil Chan, kindling the fire of vow-power to aid one's cultivation."
Qin Xuan frowned. "If one is covered in karmic evil, how can one ever cross tribulations later on?"
"By converting the karmic evil through Shengde Chan," the Black Bear Monster replied.
"How does one convert it?"
The Black Bear Monster thought for a moment and gave an example. "Suppose you cultivated both Chan methods and encountered a band of murderous bandits who had slaughtered an entire village. That would unleash an overflow of karmic evil, which could be used as lamp oil for Lamp Oil Chan. Next, you convert the bandits and bring them into the Buddhist fold, which constitutes the merit of persuading sinners to lay down their butcher blades, while also forging a karmic connection between you.
"Bringing these bandits into the sect to cultivate is the process of converting that karmic evil.
"Yet one day, when the suppressed desires in those bandits' hearts swell up once more, they will leave the temple and commit evil anew. At that point, by stepping in to strike them down, you gain further merit for slaying demons and defending the Dao, while fully extinguishing the karmic cause and effect between you."
Qin Xuan's eyes widened, anger rising in his heart alongside a chill.
He stared at the prized kasaya, feeling as though it were a sheet of bloody human skin.
The very next instant, his thoughts flew to Daoxiang Hollow beneath Hawk's Beak Mountain.
He thought of that short-statured Monk Jin Guan, and of the scoundrels who had raided the village and slaughtered a whole household—had not the bandit chief's conversion by Monk Jin Guan been precisely the Lamp Oil Chan inscribed on this kasaya?!
So Liangfeng Temple had been running this vile business all along!
By disrupting the scheme at the Geng residence, he had truly ruined those wicked monks' cultivation.
Monk Jin Guan? He dared call himself a monk chivalric hero?!
Qin Xuan let out a slow breath, at a loss for words for a long moment...
Chapter 71