Dao Qi Wu Zang Guan Guan: I became a Daoist Master in the 1990s

Chapter 87 Old Madman

Under the dim streetlights, Qi Yun tightly wrapped his long sword in newspaper, his figure blending into the damp, cold night of the mountain city.

Following the direction pointed out by the blond-haired man, his footsteps were silent yet swift, turning two street corners filled with the lingering smell of hot pot and damp, musty odor.

Sure enough, a faded wooden sign that read "Xinglong Consignment Shop" hung in front of a tightly closed roller shutter iron gate.

The cold iron gate was tightly sealed to the ground, gleaming with a dim metallic sheen under the streetlights.

"As long as we find the place," Qi Yun murmured, weighing the seven taels of silver in his pocket, his brows furrowing slightly.

"I'll come first thing tomorrow morning. But I wonder what the current price of silver is? And how many banknotes can I get for seven taels of silver?"

He looked up at a five-story tenement building with mottled walls above the pawnshop, like a silent behemoth lurking in the night.

My gaze swept across the deserted streets, where the dim streetlights illuminated only a small area, with deep darkness stretching into the distance.

In this era, there is no such thing as the ubiquitous "Sky Eye".

Qi Yun no longer hesitated, and with a backhand, she tucked the longsword wrapped in newspaper behind her back, close to her spine.

He took a deep breath of the cool night air and stomped his toes on the wet cement ground!
Swish!
His body moved like an arrow released from a bow, suddenly rising from the ground!

The hem of the blue Taoist robe fluttered in the night wind.

With this leap, he soared more than three zhang high, light and agile, without any hesitation.

As his ascent came to an end, he stretched out his arms like a hawk, his five fingers spread wide, and with perfect precision, he gripped the rusty rainwater pipe on the side of the building.

The fingers rubbed against the cold, rough rust, making a faint sound.

Qi Yun exerted force from his waist and abdomen, his arms bulging with muscles, and pulled hard!
Using the momentum, the body rose again, the feet alternately tapping the vertical wall. Each step was as light as a feather, yet it generated a powerful thrust. The cloth shoes tapped on the rough cement wall, making a soft "tap, tap" sound. The figure moved upwards as swiftly as a gecko.

The moonlight cast a smooth and powerful silhouette behind him.

In just a few breaths, the person had already climbed onto the low concrete railing at the edge of the roof and landed steadily on the open rooftop platform.

The night wind suddenly became strong, blowing the stray hairs on his forehead.

Below me lies a sleeping mountain town, with scattered neon lights in the distance casting hazy patches of light through the mist.

Qi Yun found a clean cement floor, sat down cross-legged, and placed his long sword horizontally in front of his knees.

His eyes were slightly closed, and his mind was focused.

The secret formula of the Five Qi Gathering Technique flowed through my mind.

Upon receiving the talisman, the Qi Sea opens wide, and this skill is no longer limited to refining the Qi of the five internal organs. It requires mobilizing true Qi and coordinating it with one's own breathing exercises to circulate it throughout the body's meridians, thereby drawing in external spiritual energy for refinement and strengthening true Qi.

He lightly touched the roof of his mouth with the tip of his tongue, adjusting his breathing. Each inhale and exhale was long, deep, and slow, as if in sync with the night sky and earth.

The mind sinks into the dantian and the sea of ​​qi.

Those thirteen strands of milky-white true qi, as refined as jade marrow, quietly radiated a warm glow.

As the exercise was practiced, a faint, almost imperceptible cool sensation was slowly drawn in through the pores of the body, the mouth and nose, and into the meridians.

The mind acts like a rein, guiding the faint breath of new life upwards along the Du meridian, passing through the three gates of coccyx, spine, and occipital bone, and then descending from the Baihui point on the top of the head, sinking into the Qihai point along the Ren meridian.

A complete cycle of circulation is like drawing a trickle of water from a dry riverbed.

With each cycle, that faint aura seemed to grow stronger, eventually merging into the dantian and attempting to integrate into the thirteen strands of jade marrow true qi.

However, the Qi Sea was as deep as an abyss. This newly refined wisp of true Qi merged in, like a drop of water falling into a deep pool, barely causing a ripple.

The thirteen strands of true qi remained unchanged, their number undiminished, and their degree of refinement almost unchanged as well. Qi Yun knew perfectly well that this was a gradual process, not something that could be accomplished overnight.

After receiving the ordination, the Qi Sea is opened, like opening up a new world. It needs to be nourished and filled with true Qi day and night until the true Qi fills the Qi Sea and reaches the state of "full Qi Sea". Only then can one have the foundation to break through the turbidity realm and remove the filth of the mortal body.

After several cycles of circulating Qi throughout the body, the total amount of true Qi in the body increased only slightly, but the spirit was significantly depleted due to the focused movement.

With Qi Yun's current cultivation level, cultivation is far from enough to replace the deep sleep needed by the physical body.

"There's no need to rush." ​​Qi Yun's mind was clear, and he slowly finished his practice.

The surging thoughts subsided, and the newly introduced energy gradually dissipated.

The Qi Sea returned to calm, and the thirteen strands of Jade Marrow True Qi lay dormant as before.

He stopped forcing it, maintaining the cross-legged posture with his palms facing upwards, his head slightly lowered, but his spine still straight as a steel spear.

My mind completely relaxed, and my consciousness sank into a chaotic darkness.

The midnight wind of the mountain city swept across the rooftops, fluttering his clothes. The occasional faint sound of a car horn in the distance was automatically filtered out.

Only the cold sword on his lap accompanied him as he sank into rest, awaiting the arrival of dawn.

As dawn broke, leaden-gray clouds hung heavily over the city in late autumn.

The fine rain silently wove a cool, desolate net.

The entire mountain town awoke in a misty haze of moisture. The damp rooftops, the winding streets, and the bridges spanning the two rivers were all shrouded in a hazy gray hue, like a long ink painting scroll soaked with water.

An old residential area built against the mountainside along the Jialing River.

A six-story red brick building, its walls stained with varying shades of dark red and dark green moss by rain and the passage of time, looks like a huge piece of rusty iron.

Inside the building, the tranquility of the early morning was broken by the rustling sounds from each household.

In the dimly lit kitchen on the ground floor, the coal stove had just been turned on, and the bluish flames licked the black bottom of the pot, while the steam from the cooked noodles mixed with cheap coal smoke filled the air.

The cries of a baby, awakened by the noise, came from the second floor, mixed with a woman's low-pitched scolding.

The old man on the third floor pushed open the creaking wooden window, poked his head out, frowned, and forcefully spat out a mouthful of phlegm.

suddenly!

"Beep beep—beep beep beep beep!"

A loud, almost ear-piercing bugle call suddenly and without warning exploded from the top floor!

It instantly shattered the peace and tranquility of the entire building and even the surrounding streets.

Immediately following, a hoarse, aged yet unusually excited roar echoed through the rain, echoing the bugle call:
"Kill! Charge up there and take that high ground!"

Machine gun! Machine gun cover! Second platoon, flank from the right! Comrades! For the new ZG, charge!!!

"Damn your artillery fire! Take cover! Everyone take cover, Commander! Commander, you take the men and retreat first! I'll cover you!"

The sound was like a drop of water thrown into a pot of oil, instantly igniting the entire red brick building.

"Here we go again! Here we go again! Can't a person even live this early in the morning?!"

The old man on the third floor who had just spat suddenly pulled his head back, angrily pounding on the window frame, "That madman Qin! He never has a moment's peace!"

A door on the fourth floor was pushed open with a bang, and a tall, thin man with messy hair, wearing only a t-shirt and vest, rushed onto the narrow balcony, looking up at the top floor and cursing loudly.

(End of this chapter)