Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Stone Turtle Ji An walked back and forth in the small room, hands behind his back, one circle after another. No one knows how long it took, but he fell onto the pudun, his eyes vacant. As a certain point reader of Immortals, he’s seen many instances of time travel, often fantasizing about the day he might cross over and how glorious it would be. But when time travel truly arrived, his heart was filled with panic. Unable to find a system, or an old sage, or any unusual item on him; he crossed over just like that, naked. An ordinary person wouldn’t become formidable just because they changed worlds, unless equipped with a cheat, which he didn’t have. His parents gradually age, his disappearance would surely sadden them, but thankfully his first insurance policy was a life insurance for himself, with his parents as beneficiaries. He was also wondering if ’he’ would be discovered only after ’he’ starts smelling by the young lady he shared a rental with... The setting sun tilted west, the remaining sun like blood, light passing through the gaps in the leaves and casting a scarlet mottled patch on the window, its piercing colors reflecting in Ji An’s eyes. "Though the sun hastens to dark, the clouds remain brilliant; the years near twilight, yet tangerines remain fragrant; so should men at the end of their paths maintain vigor." Ji An recited softly, energizing himself; if he couldn’t self-hypnotize, he’d have quit being an insurance agent long ago. Given the circumstances, he decided to eat first. The situation couldn’t be changed, he had to try to integrate within this world; after all, the opportunity for cultivation and immortality was something he dared not dream of in his previous life. He didn’t plan to run away from debts; with the means of an immortal cultivator, even if he escaped the first day of the lunar year, he wouldn’t evade the fifteenth. Only by successfully stepping onto the immortal path would he have a chance at life; there wasn’t much time left for him. The Daoist school did not provide food; those with good backgrounds had servants sending gourmet food up the mountain, whereas people like him had to fend for themselves. With a chipped large bowl, he scooped out half a bowl of rice from the rice jar, calmly discarding the black particles within, scooping water from the water jar, rinsing several times, before placing it into the big iron pot on the wooden shelf stove nearby. Ji An added a bowl of water into the iron pot, expertly igniting the wood to burn. Orange-red flames soared in the stove, he retrieved the meridian opening method from his memory and began pondering. The spell was called the Cyan Water Meridian Method; in the Daoist school, such a meridian method is common, nothing standout. Even such a spell would be considered a high-level Dharma gate in the eyes of a loose cultivator, which is why many people scratch their heads to enter a sect. Perhaps due to soul fusion, Ji An didn’t find the spell obscure; at this moment, calming down, he found his thoughts sharper than usual, with past difficult points in the spell easily resolved. Ji An recited the spell over and over, possessing knowledge and insights from two worlds, surprisingly allowing him to grasp some spiritual mechanism. The meridian walking technique focuses on the flow of water and nature; the predecessor was anxious when taking the Meridian Opening Pill, clashing with the spell. The medicinal power produced by the pill couldn’t be correctly guided, so it naturally led to deviation. Could my golden finger be the improvement in comprehension brought by soul fusion? Filled with joy, Ji An added a few arm-thick logs into the stove, quickly ran out to gather a handful of wild vegetables, briefly washed and sprinkled with salt. Once the rice was cooked, he hurriedly shoveled it into his stomach, didn’t bother washing the bowl, and returned inside. Then he immediately inserted the door latch, moved the table to block the wooden door. Though excited inside, Ji An wasn’t in a rush to cultivate, he washed his hands and face, changed into clean clothes, ignited the incense burner, and slowly sat cross-legged on the pudun. The predecessor’s emotional excitement caused mistakes during the Qi circulation, life being once forces one to take it as a lesson. He closed his eyes, calmed his spirit, and sat quietly for a moment, beginning to recite the meridian walking technique softly. With repeated recitations, his body and mind gradually relaxed. Half an hour later, Ji An felt at peace, mentally chanting the spell, guiding the inner qi along the path of the meridian walking technique. Though consuming the Meridian Opening Pill did not succeed in opening the meridians, it wasn’t entirely ineffective. His inner qi had now reached his own capacity limit, he didn’t need to worry about insufficient inner qi to open the Dantian and Ancestral Acupoint; as long as the divine intent was complete, he could surely cross the Mystic Gate. Outside the window, the full moon rose, slanting through the window grille with a gentle breeze, casting shadows of trees swaying. After a long time, Ji An stopped. Todays’ Qi circulation was smoother than usual, intent follows qi as if the rivers flowed downstream effortlessly. It seemed he could almost touch that elusive Divine Intent, but couldn’t capture the flash of spirit light, it was frustratingly like scratching an itch through a boot. Slowly, he stood up, clenched his fist, lightly hammered his numb legs from sitting too long, and paced to the window, pushing it open with both hands. He saw the moon hanging mid-sky, its watery soft light flowed into the humble room, spreading a bright pure radiance on the floor. The mountain wind rustled leaves with the sound of insects chirping rhythmically outside, the scene full of vitality. When the gentle breeze dispelled the unease at heart, Ji An replaced the incense in the burner and sat back onto the pudun again. Calming the spirit and quietening the mind, banishing distractions and proceeding with Qi circulation... Before long, he stopped again. This time, the breath while performing the meridian walking was intermittently broken, full of blockages during transition, completely losing the true intent of flowing water downstream with the momentum; thus he dispersed the guided inner qi entirely. Ji An understood that he had an obsession in his heart. He was trying hard to grasp the mysteries, but was straying further from understanding Divine Intent. Water cannot be grasped. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂 He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and focused all his attention on the slow, long breaths. Once his heart became peaceful, he once again silently recited the Spell to guide his Inner Qi. This time, the duration was even shorter; his breathing surprisingly began to lose control. Ji An decisively stopped the Qi Circulation. He understood that although he seemed to calm his mind, he hadn’t let go of the obsession deep in his heart, and forcing himself to cultivate would inevitably result in the same outcome as before. Only by letting go of the obsession and guiding the Inner Qi with a normal heart could he possibly comprehend the mysteries within the Spell. But once the obsession is planted, letting go is easier said than done. The time was too tight, and the string in his heart was always taut; it wasn’t as easy as saying "relax" to actually relax. Ji An stood up, scooped water from the basin, and walked to the window. He gazed at the bright moon in his hands and fell into deep thought. He recalled the smoothness at the beginning of Qi Circulation, trying to find the reason for its success back then. As he pondered, his tightly clasped fingers relaxed, and the water slowly dripped down... Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Ji An’s mind. When he first guided the Inner Qi, he didn’t have much expectation, and most of his mind was on silently reciting the Spell, as it was his first time running the Cultivation Method. He closed his eyes, let his hands hang naturally, and began to silently recite the Cyan Water Meridian Method without guiding the Inner Qi. At some point, a mass of dark clouds drifted by, and the moonlit mountain forest was plunged into darkness. "Rumble..." A clap of thunder resounded across the Celestial Vault. "Pitter-patter..." Next, dense raindrops fell like beans pouring out of a sieve, pattering on rooftops, ground, and leaves. The rain sounded similar yet different; the sound on leaves was crisp, while the rain on rooftops was somewhat muffled. At this moment, Ji An stopped reciting the incantation, only listening to the lively rain sound, as if his Divine Thought detached from his body and began to soar. Countless threads of rain fell from the Celestial Vault, enveloping the entire Little Cang Mountain in rain and mist. His peaceful heart lake rippled with thousands of waves; the Inner Qi flowed spontaneously, slowly following the path of the Meridian Walking Technique. After completing a Circulation within his body, it gathered at the Dantian, briefly concentrated, then spread to the limbs and skeleton. Repetitively, unceasingly. The Inner Qi rose and fell like a tide, circulating faster and accumulating longer in the Dantian. The heavy rain gradually ceased, the droplets on the leaves falling into puddles with a void spirit-like ding-dong sound like a heavenly melody. Not sure how much time passed; when the vast Inner Qi accumulated to a critical point, the Ancestral Acupoint Qi Sea Acupoint, closed from birth, suddenly trembled and opened a crack. Like a dragon sucking water, the immense Inner Qi that could almost burst a person was swallowed into it. In an instant, all the Inner Qi vanished without a trace, leaving the body empty. Then, a surge of Clear Spirit Qi gushed out from the Ancestral Acupoint. Simultaneously, Ji An’s muscles and bones emitted a clear ringing, the Clear Spirit Qi circulated throughout his body, and nonexistent meridians began to appear one after another. The Ancestral Acupoint opened, the Immortal Vein manifested! Ji An was overjoyed, withdrawing from the mystical state. At this moment, his consciousness was suddenly pulled into a cold, silent darkness. All sounds disappeared here, and time seemed to stop flowing. He felt like an insect sealed in amber, pitifully aware yet unable to control his body. Just as he was at a loss, a gentle radiance rose from the center of the darkness, and a turtle with a complete Eight Trigrams Pattern on its back emerged. Li and Kan determine North and South, Zhen and Dui determine East and West, this is the Acquired Trigrams. What the heck, isn’t this the mysterious stone I found in the mountains? Someone offered a hundred thousand for it! With the appearance of the Stone Turtle, Ji An’s consciousness returned to his body, and a string of information appeared in his mind. [Master: Ji An] [Dao Rhyme: 0] [Spiritual Mechanism: 0] [Magic Technique: None] The Golden Finger has arrived, huh? Just because I wanted to sell you, you brought me here? Fine, you win.