Dusk Returns to the Ruined Building

In Guanxing Mountain, beside the Weiming Lake, there is a towering ancient tree. I don’t know why the tree is named, but I can see that its leaves are as big as palms, crimson purple in color, and its branches are shaped like an inverted umbrella.

At this moment, Ji Yichen was sitting on one of the tree trunks, while Xiao Ling'er was jumping between different branches. Looking down, the lake water was clear blue and crystal clear, and under the reflection of the setting sun, it had an indescribable tranquil beauty.

"Xiao Ling'er, Master said I can go down the mountain now! Will you come with me? I'll take you to explore the colorful world outside, okay?" Ji Yichen asked Xiao Ling'er while throwing stones into the lake.

Xiao Ling'er jumped to the tree trunk where Ji Yichen was with a "whoosh", looked at his face carefully from front to back, and reached out to touch Ji Yichen's face.

Ji Yichen stretched out his hand and hit her, "Get out, are you disgusting?" Xiao Ling'er jumped onto the branch opposite and scratched her ears and cheeks.

"Xiao Ling'er, you'd better not go down the mountain. You will miss your parents as much as I do!" Xiao Ling'er nodded obediently, and then did a move that made Ji Yichen laugh and cry. Xiao Ling'er sat cross-legged on the tree trunk, her eyes slightly narrowed, and her hands on her thighs.

Ji Yichen laughed and said, "Well, you can meditate with the old Taoist priest on Guanxing Mountain!"

After hearing this, Xiao Ling'er happily jumped back and forth among the branches.

"I don't know. Will I be able to find my parents after I go down the mountain? I still remember that my father promised me to go fishing!" Ji Yichen whispered to himself, with tears in his eyes.

Ji Yichen stared blankly at the Weiming Lake. A big black crucian carp was swimming quietly in the lake with a group of small fish. A breeze blew by, and a leaf fell on the lake. The frightened fish fled in all directions. When the ripples dissipated, the small fish surrounded the big fish from all directions and continued to swim.

After a long time, Ji Yichen shouted, "Xiao Ling'er, go back to Lingchenju to practice! The old Taoist agreed to let me go down the mountain, but there are conditions."

That night was as cool as water.

Inside Lingchen Residence, Ji Yichen practiced martial arts for a week, then slowly finished his work and opened his eyes. There was a hint of sadness hidden in the depths of his eyes.

"What's going on? It's been another two months, but my Saint Emperor Art is still standing still. My Dantian Qi Sea is already full. The old Taoist asked me to turn existence into non-existence. Isn't that a further step in my cultivation? Isn't that entering the next realm of the Saint Emperor Art?"

Ji Yichen pondered in his heart, and after a while, he suddenly slapped his thigh and said loudly: "Oh my god! Did the old Taoist priest mean it literally? Does he want me to give up my cultivation? I have been practicing for nearly ten years!"

With this thought in mind, Ji Yichen could no longer sit still. He walked out of Lingchen Residence and headed straight for the hanging cliff.

There is a hanging cliff, a sky full of stars, and a ray of quiet moonlight shrouding the old Taoist priest.

When Ji Yichen arrived at the Hanging Cliff and saw that the old Taoist was still in meditation, he sat down beside him. He wanted to wait until the old Taoist came out of meditation. He wanted to find out what the old Taoist meant by his words, otherwise no matter how hard he practiced, it would be useless.

Ji Yichen sat there for five days. This was the first time he had practiced Zen for such a long time in the ten years since he came to the mountain.

On the evening of the fifth day, there was a gentle breeze and the sound of cicadas. It should be the fifteenth or sixteenth day of the month because there was a full moon tonight. The bright moon was in the sky and the cold moonlight filled every corner of Guanxing Mountain.

Ji Yichen woke up from his meditation. He was very hungry. Yes, he came out of his meditation because of hunger. He glanced at the old Taoist priest beside him, who had not woken up yet.

"Hey, Master, when will you be able to come out of Zen?"

Ji Yichen stood up, stretched, and prepared to find something to eat.

So he ran to the shore of Weiming Lake, grilled three fish, ate some wild fruits, and then ran to the Observatory and secretly drank half a cup of tea from the old Taoist priest. The old Taoist priest often told him that the tea in the Observatory was the essence of heaven and earth and was of great benefit to practitioners. However, in the past ten years, Ji Yichen had no idea how many cups of tea he had secretly drunk and felt nothing.

After eating and drinking his fill, Ji Yichen staggered towards the cliff. He wanted to wait for the old Taoist to wake up from his meditation.

When the hanging cliff just came into Ji Yichen's sight, he saw an astonishing scene!

The moon was already at its zenith.

The old Taoist priest sat cross-legged on a suspended cliff, with a Tai Chi pattern condensed from true energy floating above his head. The Tai Chi pattern slowly rotated clockwise, constantly absorbing the bright moonlight.

"Is the old Taoist absorbing the essence of the moon?" Ji Yichen muttered to himself in surprise and flew to the hanging cliff.

After ten years in the mountains, Ji Yichen saw this scene for the first time. He turned around and looked at the old Taoist priest, muttering to himself: "Master, Master, what realm are you in? You can even absorb the essence of the moon! You have such a good technique, why don't you teach me!"

Ji Yichen sat cross-legged, ready to practice the Xuanxu Chenxiao Jue to activate his sea of ​​consciousness and find out how the old Taoist priest managed to absorb the essence of the moon!

Ever since the old Taoist priest asked him to practice the Holy Emperor Art from existence to non-existence, he practiced the Holy Emperor Art day and night, and the Xuanxu Chenxiao Art was put aside.

The moment Ji Yichen used his energy to open his sea of ​​consciousness, he was shocked. The colorful fairy grass he had been looking for was actually in his sea of ​​consciousness.

At first, he couldn't find the Seven-Colored Immortal Grass and always thought that Xiao Ling'er had taken it away and eaten it. However, no matter how he dealt with Xiao Ling'er, Xiao Ling'er always denied that she had taken the Seven-Colored Immortal Grass. As time went by, the matter was left unresolved. He never expected that the Seven-Colored Immortal Grass was in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Ji Yichen carefully used his spiritual sense to approach the colorful fairy grass. He didn't understand how this thing got in, and he didn't know if it would hurt him. After some investigation, he didn't find anything unusual. It was as if he had put the colorful fairy grass from his arms into his sea of ​​consciousness. The pity was that he didn't even know it. Ji Yichen was a little confused.

"Why did you come to the Hanging Cliff to practice the Xuanxu Chenxiao Jue?" the old Taoist interrupted Ji Yichen with his whisk and asked.

Ji Yichen sorted out his thoughts and looked up at the old Taoist priest.

"Master, what about you just now?" Ji Yichen said while pointing to the full moon in the sky, which was already past the zenith.

"I have been in meditation and just finished work. Why are you here?" The old Taoist priest did not explain.

"Master, I came here to ask you, what do you mean by the conditions for going down the mountain?"

"My Holy Emperor Art has not improved for half a year, and my practice has remained stagnant for the past two months. How can I go from having something to having nothing if I don't make any progress? Do you want me to destroy my own practice?"

Ji Yichen asked out all his questions at once.

"Fool, fool, everything has two sides, and so does cultivation. If you can't move forward, then do the opposite! You can't feel any progress, is it because your Dantian Qi Sea is full and can't hold any more true Qi?"

"Yeah, that's how it feels!" Ji Yichen said as he nodded.

"You have collected the Qi of heaven and earth in your Dantian through cultivation. Now you can no longer collect more. Why don't you do the opposite and integrate the Qi of your Dantian into the world? Then you can collect endless Qi!"

"Master, isn't what you said contradictory? To cultivate and absorb the energy of heaven and earth, and then return the energy of heaven and earth to heaven and earth, what's the difference between this and not cultivating at all?"

The old Taoist swept Ji Yichen's forehead with his whisk, "Why didn't I realize you were so stupid before?"

Ji Yichen stuck out his tongue.

"You practice cultivation to make use of the energy of heaven and earth, not to collect the energy of heaven and earth into your body. No matter how you practice, the furnace of the human body is limited. Only by turning yourself into a part of the power of heaven and earth, then the power of your practice will be endless!"

Ji Yichen nodded, not quite understanding.

"Go ahead. Everything has two sides. What is positive? What is negative? The same is true for spiritual practice. If you are too obsessed, the positive path will turn into a negative path when you encounter obstacles. The end of the negative path is also the positive path."

Ji Yichen repeated in a low voice, and suddenly his eyes lit up, "Thank you, Master!"

He turned and flew towards Lingchenju, shouting: "Xiao Ling'er, I'm about to go down the mountain!"