Chapter 6, Attaining Supernatural Powers

Baiyun Tower is also a free-spirited individual, and subsequently engaged in discussions with the old Taoist about various perplexities found in the Taoist scriptures and medical texts. The old Taoist answered every question, and some inquiries went straight to the root of the matter, providing significant insights for the old Taoist as well

After these few attempts, Baiyun Tower has generally grasped its own situation

Upon contemplating the innate vital energy, a flash of spiritual light involuntarily passed through the sea of consciousness in the White Cloud Tower

Baiyun Tower accompanied the old priest for a vegetarian meal, discussing the journey down the mountain tomorrow to seek education at Xinlu Academy

After finishing his words, the old Taoist raised two fingers and pointed at the center of Baiyun Tower's brow, causing Baiyun Tower to feel a faint heat emanating from a position about three inches within the center of his brow

Later, the spiritual energy orb successfully took shape, and the Baiyun Tower continued to refine this orb at a steady pace. After half a stick of incense, the spiritual energy orb had indeed become much purer

I carefully reflected on the gains of the past few days, calming my mind and spirit, and thus immersed my thoughts into the sea of consciousness at Baiyun Tower

The White Cloud Tower slowly opened its eyes, as I walked to the window and pushed open the window frame, a refreshing night breeze rushed towards me

Baiyun Corridor: "I dare not trouble the Daoist priest to see me off."

One's own spiritual awareness is strong and resilient, and the true energy is gathered and flows smoothly without obstruction. However, the innate talent is truly lacking, and the meridians are exceedingly obscure. To improve these conditions, it is likely that only the legendary innate true energy can enable a complete transformation.

Gazing at the tranquil night scene, the spirit of Baiyun Tower is as if cleansed, clear and vibrant, contemplating the origins of the primordial energy

Bidding farewell to the old Daoist, I leisurely returned to the quiet chamber of Baiyun Tower under the moonlight. Sitting cross-legged on the edge of the couch, I closed my eyes to gather my thoughts. Today's exchange with the old Daoist was truly enlightening, as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun. A path of great significance faintly emerged, just waiting for me to attempt to step onto it.

According to ancient scriptures, there exists primordial energy within the sea of consciousness. If one can refine it, cultivation can yield twice the result with half the effort. However, the sea of consciousness is vast and chaotic, and even the most profound cultivators can only gaze upon it with a sense of longing.

The Daoist priest said: "All things have their Dao. In youth, one should naturally read countless books, travel thousands of miles, experience the myriad aspects of the world, cultivate oneself, and guard against arrogance and impatience, so as to establish a solid foundation in the Dao." The youth agreed.

The moon is bright and the stars are few outside the window, the valley is serene, the water flows gently, and the faint sound of insects can be heard. Occasionally, a streak of light crosses the night sky at the horizon

Moonlight spills into the quiet room, and the hour of Zi approaches. After a period of contemplation on various Daoist texts and medical scriptures, I have sought guidance from the old Daoist regarding some unclear aspects. I have attempted to cultivate the Dao, and everything is now in readiness.

Baiyun Tower bid farewell to the old Daoist, who said: "I see that your spiritual awareness is resilient, and I have a method to pass on to you. It is derived from an ancient scripture, but unfortunately, the cultivation is quite difficult. The name of the method is Heavenly Eye Insight, and it took me several decades of cultivation to barely achieve mastery."

The old Taoist smiled with satisfaction and said: "If all my disciples were like Yun Lou, how fortunate I would be. However, the world of my young friend lies beyond the Flowing Cloud Temple, and that is the path that truly belongs to you"

At the Baiyun Pavilion, humbly receiving instruction, the old master became greatly inspired and continued, "Human beings possess three treasures: essence, energy, and spirit. The spirit and awareness are the foundation of cultivating the Dao. Once the foundation of awareness is established, one can gradually work on their aptitude."

At Baiyun Tower, the spirit was in turmoil, filled with extraordinary joy. Bowing deeply, he said: "A teacher for a day is a teacher for a lifetime. I am grateful for the grace of the Daoist priest in imparting the teachings, and I, as a disciple, must pay my respects to my master."

The sea of memories churns as it did before, the clarity of the sea of memories is like the night sky, dotted with green luminescence like twinkling stars

On the third attempt, Baiyun Tower refined the spiritual energy mass for a quarter of an hour, then directly released its mental control. In no time, the highly pure spiritual energy mass similarly dissipated without a trace within the dantian

It is not that I do not wish to hasten, but rather that the Baiyun Tower has already surpassed the age of binding the hair, and the meridians have become obscure and difficult to traverse. Like water passing through a desert, I can only travel a short distance, and the aura has nearly withered away, ultimately dissipating without a trace before the first acupoint.

After listening to the old Daoist's words, Baiyun Tower stood up and bowed respectfully, saying: "Your words, Daoist, are like a divine nectar pouring over my head; I have greatly benefited from them. If you do not reject me, I would like to become your disciple, to fulfill this destined connection."

Gazing at such a wondrous sight, the fleeting inspiration is gently captured by the White Cloud Tower

The spring breeze gently caresses, the shadows of the bamboo sway gracefully, and the fleeting light passes swiftly

The Daoist priest once said that the sea of consciousness contains the innate energy, yet one may enter the sea of consciousness daily without any awareness of it; careful exploration is still required to truly perceive it

The conversation between the old and the young has gradually led to the arrival of dusk without their noticing it

In order to avoid being affected by feelings of fullness, Baiyun Tower first controlled its consciousness to consume only two azure glowing points from the Sea of Memories, and then consumed another two azure glowing points from the shallow layers of the Sea of Memories. Indeed, the consciousness experienced some enhancement, and the condition was excellent

As the sky darkens, the jade rabbit rises for the first time

After refining essence into qi, the spirit guides the refined qi to circulate through the Great Circulation, simultaneously strengthening the qi while refining the various orifices. The differences in the sequence of the meridians and orifices in the Great Circulation give rise to different paths of cultivation

At the beginning of cultivation, one must cross the threshold of refining essence into qi. During meditation, one should use their spiritual awareness to visualize at the dantian, refining essence into qi. Those with exceptional talent may achieve a strand of acquired qi in just a few days.

The Dao scripture states that the sea of consciousness is all chaos, yet my own sea of consciousness resembles the primordial state of heaven and earth, with turbid energy sinking and clear energy rising.

After several days of devouring the azure luminous points, the sea of consciousness has expanded to a radius of two zhang. The light sphere of spiritual awareness has intensified in azure hue, growing more than twice its original size. The enlarged light sphere of spiritual awareness is now capable of continuously devouring six azure luminous points.

Baiyun Tower, undeterred, attempted once again to gather true energy in the Dantian.

After a moment, the old master retracted his fingers and said: "Remember this hidden cave. Visualize it daily and nurture it with your spiritual awareness. Once you achieve a small success, you will be able to internally observe your own meridians and acupoints. Externally, you can roughly perceive the aura of others. Upon achieving great success, you will faintly observe the phenomena of heaven and earth, and the true energy within a radius of 1 zhang will be in constant motion, revealing every detail."

Only upon reaching the Foundation Establishment stage can one be considered to have truly entered the path of cultivation. The aptitude for cultivation determines how far one can go. The old Daoist, despite being of mediocre aptitude, took over fifty years to step into the threshold of Foundation Establishment. Truly, the path of cultivation knows no bounds of time. However, to hear the Dao in the morning and die in the evening is sufficient.

Thus, Baiyun Tower continued its attempts at the Small Heavenly Cycle with the newly controlled aura group. This time, it progressed further than the last, finally entering the first acupoint. However, as soon as it entered the acupoint, it immediately dissipated.

After waiting for a moment, once the spiritual energy cluster stabilized, Baiyun Tower guided the spiritual energy cluster to move slowly along the small Zhou Tian meridian.

The old Taoist nodded and smiled, saying: "With a bond of fate with the young friend, there is no need to pay attention to these mundane formalities. I require a few days of quiet cultivation to stabilize my Daoist state, and I will not be seeing off the young friend tomorrow."

The old master has limited skills and cannot cleanse the tendons and marrow for the young friend, but I can share with the young friend the fundamental principles of cultivation. As the saying goes, all methods return to one; although the cultivation methods of various schools and sects differ greatly, their essence is the same.

The essence becomes refined and pure through cultivation, and the moment it liquefies marks the beginning of foundation building. There are numerous meridians and acupoints, and the more foundation acupoints one has, the more stable the path of cultivation becomes. However, cultivators have limited energy and generally choose to refine only a select few key acupoints.

In the Baiyun Tower, one tidies the mind, adjusts the breath, and the spirit re-enters the sea of consciousness, hovering above the sea of awareness

Baiyun Tower gradually immersed his consciousness into the lower dantian, operating the methodical formula, focusing his spirit and gathering energy. Suddenly, the surrounding spiritual energy began to converge towards the dantian, slowly condensing under the strong control of his consciousness, gradually forming a mass of spiritual energy within the dantian.