8: Moon Lake and Spirit Stream Chapter

"Boom—!"

Li Qinghe's vision went black, his consciousness felt as if struck by a giant hammer, and in an instant, the world spun!

Countless runes, lines, and images shimmering with a faint blue light spun, combined, and were branded deep within his consciousness with unprecedented clarity and three-dimensionality!

They were no longer the flowing characters of light projected onto wood that required effort to memorize!

This time, it was a direct empowerment! A Legacy!

The chaotic influx of information lasted only a brief moment before receding like a tide, leaving behind an incredibly clear and profound imprint.

Before his "eyes," a massive, three-dimensional scroll seemed to unfurl out of thin air.

At the top of the scroll were five large characters flowing with moonlight and the colors of lake water—"Moon Lake Spirit Stream Chapter"!

Below, the "Autumn Moon River Qi Nurturing Art" he had struggled to memorize was clearly listed, but at this moment, it only occupied a small, basic section at the very bottom of the scroll, like a tiny prologue.

Further up!

Densely packed, complex, and profound faint blue paths of light intertwined and flowed like living things!

That was a map of the paths Spiritual Qi took within the human body!

Slender lines of light outlined a complex network of Meridians, with countless points of light dotting them like stars—these were the key nodes of operation, the Acupoints!

New, more profound and mysterious Mnemonic Verses flowed like waterfalls beside the light path diagrams:

"...Guiding Qi into the Body, the Spiritual Root first sprouts, Qi like a thread of silk, gathering in the Dantian—this is the Foundation of nurturing Qi..."

"...But to enter the inner sanctum and glimpse the wonders of heaven and earth, one must open the Spirit Gates and establish the Dao Foundation!"

Spirit Enlightenment!

These two words were like the tolling of a great bell, striking hard against Li Qinghe's heart!

The core of the scroll suddenly lit up! Six clusters of brilliant, star-like swirling points of light were highlighted, located at six extremely important positions within the body!

[Qi Ming]—located deep within the brow, like a spark of dawning light!

[black bone]—sunken at the base of the spine, like the root of the earth!

[Lun Quan]—three inches below the navel, above the Dantian, like the source of life!

[Azure Origin]—the intersection of the heart vessels, bursting with vitality!

[Jade Scenery]—the vital pass at the throat, the hub of breath flow!

[Initial Spirit]—at the Baihui point on the crown, the bridge connecting heaven and earth!

A crystal-clear thought was transmitted, making him instantly understand the true essence of the Spirit Awakening Stage:

This so-called Spirit Enlightenment was about using one's condensed Spiritual Qi as "bricks" to gradually construct six stable "Spirit Gates" at these six crucial nodes within the body!

These six gates were the Foundation for future Dharmic Power to flow through the body, for casting Spells, and for communicating with heaven and earth!

Especially this first gate, the [Qi Ming] gate! One must first successfully condense the "Qi Ming" pulse gate deep within the brow!

Only when this gate was successfully lit and stabilized could those threads of Spiritual Qi initially connect, starting from the Dantian and flowing through all parts of the body to form the smallest of cycles!

Only then could one be considered to have truly stepped across the threshold of the Spirit Enlightenment Realm!

Without these six gates, the bit of Spiritual Qi obtained from Guiding Qi into the Body could only huddle in the Dantian, unable to do anything!

At most, it would make your body a bit stronger, your strength a bit greater, and make you less afraid of the cold in winter.

Want to use Spells? Not a chance!

Further up, the scroll extended, the light becoming even more brilliant and complex, marked with [Qi Refining], [Foundation Establishment]... those paths were more intricate, the Mnemonic Verses more profound and obscure, and the aura more majestic and vast.

Li Qinghe only took a brief "look" and felt dizzy, his head feeling as if it were about to explode! That was simply not a level he could touch right now!

The feeling was like you had just learned that 1+1=2.

At that moment, someone tells you that you've already gained a preliminary grasp of mathematics.

Then, they immediately toss ten divine books on mathematics in front of you for you to study on your own.

Isn't that just nonsense!

He quickly withdrew his focus, fixing all his attention on the location and construction method of the [Qi Ming] pulse gate!

It felt as if someone had slammed a thick, illustrated peerless Secret Manual directly into his brain! He couldn't forget it even if he wanted to!

Under the moonlight, Li Qinghe sat on the cold bluestone, his body stiff, yet his back was covered in a layer of fine, cold sweat.

Wild joy surged in his chest like lava, almost ready to erupt!

This dark wood heart... no, this wasn't a genealogy at all! This was a complete cultivation Legacy left behind by the Li family ancestors! A ladder to the heavens from drawing Qi to the great Dao of Foundation Establishment!

The previous "Autumn Moon River Qi Nurturing Art" was merely the key to opening this Treasure Trove! It was the stepping stone for him to cross the threshold of drawing Qi!

"Spirit Enlightenment... Qi Ming Pulse Gate..." he murmured to himself, his voice trembling with uncontrollable excitement.

His gaze was fixed intently on the [Qi Ming] node deep within his consciousness, shimmering with a faint light at the center of his brow.

According to the Legacy, he needed to carefully lead that weak heat flow (Spiritual Qi) from the Dantian, following an extremely fine, almost imperceptible network of Channels, flowing upstream to break through numerous invisible obstacles, and finally arriving at that chaotic place deep within the brow.

There, using intent as a hammer and Spiritual Qi as bricks, he would gradually construct the first stable "gate"!

This process sounded simple, but doing it... Li Qinghe felt a faint pain in his brow just imagining it, as if a needle were about to prick him!

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the excitement and apprehension in his heart.

You have to eat one bite at a time, and walk the path one step at a time. The most important thing right now was to try and construct this damn [Qi Ming] pulse gate!

He closed his eyes again, sinking his mind into his Dantian.

That tiny "seed" emitted a faint but steady warmth.

He cautiously mobilized his intent, as if using the finest silk thread to lead a rolling dewdrop, extremely slowly and gently touching and guiding that thread of warm breath.

"Buzz..."

The heat flow in the Dantian trembled slightly, as if reluctant to move.

Fine sweat seeped from Li Qinghe's temples as he focused with all his might.

Under the guidance of his intent, that weak heat flow finally, and very reluctantly, poked its "head" out of the Dantian.

Along the fine, almost non-existent path marked in the Legacy chart, it began to move upward extremely slowly.

Every tiny bit it moved upward felt like threading a needle through thick glue!

An invisible sense of sluggishness and a faint stinging pain came from deep within his Meridians! That thread of Spiritual Qi was also like a candle in the wind, liable to dissipate at any moment!

Time passed bit by bit.

The moonlight shifted, and the stream continued to gurgle.

All of Li Qinghe's will was concentrated on that thread of Spiritual Qi struggling to climb, forgetting the cold and the fatigue.

Who knows how much time had passed, but that weak heat flow finally, like a snail, extremely difficultly and crookedly reached the chaotic region deep within the brow.

It arrived!

Li Qinghe's spirits lifted! Next was the most crucial construction!

He held his breath and locked his intent onto that weak Spiritual Qi that had reached its destination, and according to the method in the Legacy, he began to try and "knead" it.

He imagined shaping it into a solid "Foundation stone," firmly placed in the center of that Chaos!

"Condense!"

His intent was like an invisible hammer, smashing down hard!

"Puff!"

A tiny sound, like a bubble bursting, came from deep within his brow!

Li Qinghe only felt a "buzz" in his head, as if someone had lightly tapped his brow with a wooden mallet! A brief Spell of dizziness hit him!

When he came to his senses, he hurriedly performed Internal Inspection.

Within the Chaos of his brow, that originally weak, flickering heat flow had vanished.

In its place was a tiny speck of light, smaller than a pinhead, extremely dim, and looking as if it could go out at any moment!

It hovered there with extreme difficulty, emitting an extremely weak and unstable sense of warmth.

Did it work? Or did it fail?

Li Qinghe was a bit dazed. This speck of light... was too weak, wasn't it? It felt like it could be blown away with a single breath!

Moreover, when he tried to communicate with this speck of light using his intent, hoping to draw a bit of power to flow through his body, he felt like a stone dropping into the ocean; the speck of light had no reaction, steady as a mountain... or rather, heavy with Death Qi.

He repeatedly compared it with the [Qi Ming] pulse gate described in the Legacy chart—that should be a stable "gate" emitting a steady glow, the hub of Dharmic Power flow.

His... at most could be considered lighting a small match head in the Chaos? The kind that could go out at any moment!

A huge sense of frustration welled up. Constructing a pulse gate was far more difficult than he had imagined!

This first attempt, rather than being a success, was more like barely leaving an extremely faint "imprint" in the Chaos of his brow.

It was a hundred and eight thousand miles away from a truly stable "gate"!

"It seems that relying solely on this bit of Spiritual Qi from Guiding Qi into the Body is simply not enough..." Li Qinghe wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Feeling that faint, almost negligible imprint of light in his brow, and the hollow sense of weakness in his Dantian due to the consumption just now, his heart felt ice-cold.

This path of Spirit Enlightenment had given him a harsh wake-up call on the very first step.

He looked up toward the increasingly bright horizon in the east.

The cool morning light dispelled the deep night and also illuminated the unwillingness flashing in his eyes.

The road is still long.

If once isn't enough, then ten times; if ten times isn't enough, then a hundred times! This [Qi Ming] pulse gate, he was determined to light it up!

He jumped off the bluestone and put on his straw sandals.

This time, his steps weren't as light as before; instead, they were somewhat heavy.

But every step on the moist soil by the stream carried a tenacity of gritted-teeth persistence.

Deep within his brow, that faint imprint of light was like a stubborn seed, buried deep in the soil of Chaos, waiting for the next watering of moonlight and stream water.