Seeking Immortality

Xu Qingfan groaned in pain and slowly opened his swollen eyes, only to find himself lying in his own wooden house.

He climbed up from the head of the bed, feeling dizzy and swollen. Thinking carefully about the scene before he went to bed, he only remembered the scene when he was drinking and talking with his senior brother and Jin Qinghan. As for how he returned to the room and when Jin Qinghan left, he couldn't remember it at all. He couldn't help but smile bitterly, knowing that he had drunk too much yesterday.

How long has it been since he drank so much? It seems that the last time was when he was still in Xujiazhai. That time was because the strong men in the mountain village reasonably hunted a giant beast in the southern wilderness, so that the people of Xujiazhai would no longer worry about food within half a month. Unknowingly, more than ten years have passed.

Time, can't be caught, can't be seen, invisible and intangible, but it is everywhere. Sometimes it is very long, and sometimes it is so short. When you are happy, it will make you happier. When you are arrogant, it will make you more arrogant. But when you really see through it and understand it, it is almost gone.

It is a terrible thing.

When Xu Qingfan pushed the door and walked out of the wooden house, he found that the sun was setting. It turned out that it was already the evening of the next day. Xu Qingfan knew that he really drank too much this time and slept for so long. Since he worshipped Lu Huayan as his master, he has replaced sleep with meditation. Sleep has not appeared for a long time, not to mention sleeping so soundly.

But to be honest, he still misses sleep. But this time he didn't sleep very comfortably.

He washed his face with cold water, but the dizziness and pain in his head did not ease much. He had no choice but to return to his wooden house and sit cross-legged on the bed to run the "Withering and Flourishing Jue". Under the operation of the two spiritual energies, one gray and one green, the discomfort of the body was relieved a lot.

After his body became more comfortable, Xu Qingfan suddenly remembered his decision yesterday, walked out of his room and walked towards Yue Qingru's room.

Compared with Xu Qingfan's room, Yue Qingru's room is much bigger. This is not because Yue Qingru, who built the room, is selfish, but because Yue Qingru has too many books. If the room is too small, there is no place to put them.

The door of Yue Qingru's room was not closed, and Xu Qingfan walked in directly. As expected by Xu Qingfan, Yue Qingru was holding a book and reading it with relish. Only by being immersed in the sea of ​​books can Yue Qingru temporarily forget the sorrow and unhappiness of these days.

"Senior brother." Xu Qingfan called softly.

"Junior brother Qingfan, are you sober?" Yue Qingru looked up from the book and said with a smile when he saw Xu Qingfan.

"Yes, I'm sorry to make you laugh." Thinking of how he looked after drinking too much yesterday, Xu Qingfan blushed and said quickly.

"Junior brother, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but alcohol is a poison that penetrates the intestines, so it's not suitable to drink it excessively. And drinking too much is more addictive. So it's better to drink less in the future." Yue Qingru is good at everything, but he likes to preach to people whenever he has something to do, just like a teacher. After Lu Huayan's death, this hobby broke out uncontrollably. As his only junior brother, Xu Qingfan had no choice but to become the target of his frequent preaching.

"Yes, junior brother, I remember it." Xu Qingfan promised.

When Xu Qingfan said this, he didn't mean to be perfunctory. Because in his opinion, the act of drinking is actually a precipitation of experience, a manifestation of vicissitudes, and a sudden look back of a person who has had a rough life. And he himself is obviously not qualified to drink frequently now. Yesterday, he drank only because he needed to burst out after being depressed for a long time. As for those who drink for drinking, in Xu Qingfan's view, it is just the behavior of drunkards, and he completely disdains it.

"But I didn't realize that you can drink quite well, Junior Brother. You drank almost all the two bottles of wine yesterday." Yue Qingru suddenly said with a smile.

"Junior Brother, I was born in the Southern Wilderness, where the climate is humid and there are many miasma, so wine is a must-have for warmth and dehumidification." Xu Qingfan explained awkwardly.

"Is that so." Yue Qingru nodded in understanding after hearing Xu Qingfan's words, and asked again: "Well, let's not talk about this. Junior Brother, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"It's like this, I have entered the Bigu period, and I want to learn Taoism from you, Senior Brother." Xu Qingfan said.

"Oh, that's it. Indeed, you have entered the Bigu period, and your body is constantly absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to refine the Mu Yi Qi in your body. Unless you are in seclusion, the speed of cultivation during normal times and meditation is not very different. It's time to teach you some practical Taoism." Yue Qingru said.

When a cultivator enters the Bigu period, the degree of harmony between the body and the world increases greatly. He no longer needs to deliberately meditate to absorb the spiritual energy of the world, because his body is absorbing the spiritual energy of the world all the time, and the speed is not much different from that of meditating. At this time, cultivators usually learn some Taoist methods to increase their magical powers. This is why Xu Qingfan always practices Taoism every time he sees Jin Qinghan.

"Thank you, senior brother." Xu Qingfan was overjoyed after hearing Yue Qingru's reply, and thanked Yue Qingru.

According to the Taoist system currently recognized by the world of immortal cultivation, Taoism is divided into five elements and neutral Taoism in terms of nature. The five elements Taoism requires the five elements of spiritual energy in the body of the cultivator to cooperate with the practice, while the neutral Taoism can be practiced by any cultivator as long as the realm of skill has been reached. In terms of power, Taoism is divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower, which require the cultivation of the spiritual silence period, the bigu period and the refining period to perform. Each level is divided into three levels according to the amount of spiritual energy required. As for those great masters who have reached the stage of forming a pill, they have already created their own unique Taoism according to their own different situations. Those Taoism no longer belong to the Taoist system of the world of immortal cultivation.

In the days that followed, Xu Qingfan began to follow Yue Qingru to learn Taoism.

Originally, the Taoist method that was only half as powerful as that of an ordinary cultivator was a permanent pain in Xu Qingfan's heart. But since he saw Yue Qingru using the wood-based Taoist method to build a wooden house that day, Xu Qingfan decided to learn the Taoist method well no matter what. Although it was only half as powerful as others, it was better than not knowing it.

But the result of Xu Qingfan's Taoist method this time surprised both Xu Qingfan and Yue Qingru. It turned out that Xu Qingfan's wood-based Taoist method was still the same as before, with only half the power of an ordinary wood-based cultivator. But what was surprising was that Xu Qingfan's other neutral Taoist methods other than the wood-based Taoist method were not worse than those of ordinary cultivators, and were even stronger.

This result made the two brothers smile bitterly. The wood-based skills they practiced turned out to be the worst when using the wood-based Taoist method. This "Withering and Flourishing Art" was really useless.

After repeated research by the two brothers, they finally found out the reason.

It turned out that the amount of spiritual energy in Xu Qingfan's body was not inferior to that of the immortal cultivators of the same level, but because he had two kinds of spiritual energy in his body, the wood-second spiritual energy and the gray dead spiritual energy, each accounting for half in quantity. However, the use of wood-based Taoist methods requires the use of only the wood-second spiritual energy, so Xu Qingfan's wood-based Taoist methods are naturally only half as powerful as others.

Although Xu Qingfan was helpless about this result, he could do nothing about it. The gray dead spiritual energy was not something he could refine, so he could only blame himself for his bad luck. Moreover, in his subconscious, he always felt that this "Withering and Flourishing Art" was not that simple. Moreover, according to what Lu Huayan said before his death, this "Withering and Flourishing Art" was as famous as the "Changchun Dafa" he practiced more than a thousand years ago, but it gradually became unknown with the demise of the Laoshan School.

After knowing the reason, Xu Qingfan subconsciously focused his main energy on those neutral Taoist methods other than the wood system, and although he also learned the wood-based Taoist methods, he was no longer so attentive.

Although Xu Qingfan's natural talent was not good and he could not retain the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for his own use, he was able to learn Taoism smoothly with his understanding and diligence. In the following year, Xu Qingfan learned several Taoist methods.

"The Universe in the Sleeve" uses spiritual energy to create a space in the sleeve to carry various things. As the realm is improved, more and more things can be carried. It is said that after reaching the stage of Dan formation, this Taoist method can also be used to carry and imprison living things.

"Sky Eye Technique" is a Taoist method that gathers spiritual energy in the eyes to check the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and illusions;

There is also "Invisibility Technique", which can temporarily hide your body after using it, but it will be seen through by cultivators with higher skills than yourself using "Sky Eye Technique";

"God Movement Technique" can speed up your movement speed;

"Illusion Technique" can release an environment controlled by yourself within a certain range, but it is only effective for people with far lower skills than yourself; with Xu Qingfan's current cultivation, illusion can only be effective for mortals.

"Spiritual Calming Technique" and "Body Calming Technique" can respectively use spiritual energy to imprison the body and soul of others, but they are only effective for people whose power is far lower than oneself;

"Cooling Technique" is a Taoist method used to stabilize and calm people's minds.

"Sound Transmission Technique" is a Taoist method that can be used to transmit sound over a long distance or secretly to a certain person.

It must be said that although Yue Qingru's power level is far from the top in the world of immortal cultivation, he is indeed knowledgeable after years of reading. Xu Qingfan has also learned a lot about formations, alchemy, refining, and talisman making from Yue Qingru. Now he can independently arrange some low-level formations or some low-level Taoist talismans. However, for alchemy and refining, he can only give up because he has no materials in his hands.

But what makes Xu Qingfan very depressed is that the Taoist methods he has learned are only auxiliary in nature. Although he has learned a few Taoist methods about attack and defense, they all belong to the category of wood-based Taoist methods, and their power is not mentioned.

Until one day, Xu Qingfan decided to practice the only complete Taoist technique in "Withering and Flourishing Art" - Withering and Flourishing Finger. And this decision finally made him accidentally find the tip of the iceberg of the wonderful use of "Withering and Flourishing Art".