Super System in the Early Tang Dynasty

Chapter 29 Mental Barriers and Divine Skills (Long Chapter Presented)

During the Qingming Festival, the drizzle falls and the mist and fog create an atmosphere that seems otherworldly.

Li Xingzhi, holding an oil-paper umbrella, stepped onto the cold, green stone path. "Green willow branches, misty rain," willow branches were planted everywhere in front of each house, swaying in the wind with a unique charm.

Li Xingzhi looked up at the joss paper and coins being blown by the wind and then falling in the drizzle, and listened to the occasional mournful cries. An indescribable loneliness filled his heart. This time, he came out alone, wanting some peace and quiet!

It's Qingming Festival again. I wonder how my parents and relatives are doing in the other world. Are they also grieving and crying out?

"On Qingming Festival in March, men and women sweep tombs, carrying wine vessels and paper ingots hanging from the back of sedan chairs and horses, filling the roads with a dazzling display. Some bow, some pour libations, some weep, some clear weeds and add soil to the tombs, and after burning paper ingots, they place paper money on the grave mounds. If there is no paper money in sight, then it is a lonely grave. After weeping, they do not return home, but go to fragrant trees, choose gardens, sit down and get drunk." This was the typical scene Li Xingzhi witnessed on his journey.

He continued on his journey, unaware of his surroundings, in a daze. When he came to his senses, he found himself at Dingwangfang and Wangmutai. Li Xingzhi stood below, watching many people gazing into the distance—men, women, old, and young—some weeping, some hoping, some curious, a variety of expressions. Strangely, they were all eerily silent, like a long-forgotten silent film. They seemed to be performing an ancient ritual. At that moment, heaven and earth fell silent; the wind stopped blowing, the rain stopped falling. In the vast expanse of heaven and earth, only one person remained, utterly alone!

Li Xingzhi looked in the direction the people were gazing, and could only see a row of black-tiled roofs; the mountains were just beginning to peek out. Perhaps still harboring a sliver of hope, Li Xingzhi quietly walked up, so quietly that he might disturb something; he still held onto a small expectation. He stood on the stone platform, inconspicuous among the crowd, looking in that direction just like everyone else.

The mountains were shrouded in mist, and in this hazy, indistinct world, Li Xingzhi felt as if he had traversed time and space, returning to that world. The difference was that he was now merely an insignificant bystander, watching his parents pay respects at his grave, planting willows and burning paper money, weeping for him. He wanted to tell them that he was still alive! His throat tightened, but all he could see was a hazy, misty landscape, with only the distant, faintly visible green mountains speaking of solemnity and eternity.

"Relatives may grieve, others may sing. What can be said of the dead? Let my body rest with the mountains!"

The paper umbrella was nowhere to be found. The misty drizzle wet his face, but it kept him from waking up.

Li Xingzhi walked on the ancient bluestone path, listening to the sound of his own footsteps and the faint sounds of weeping and wailing. He felt a sense of desolation and loneliness in his heart. The willow breeze brushed his face, and he was still slightly chilly.

"Hehe—" "Haha—" Clear, childish laughter rang out, and Li Xingzhi suddenly came to his senses, only to realize that his clothes were already soaked through. The thin clothes clung to his body, making him very uncomfortable, and he had no idea where he had thrown his umbrella.

Turning the corner, he saw a willow tree lying across the front of a house. A plank was laid on its thick, slanted branches, and a child was sitting on it while another child with sheep horns pushed him from behind, laughing and joking with the purest smiles in the world. Li Xingzhi's heart immediately brightened.

Li Xingzhi simply stood quietly to the side watching, not daring to go forward for fear of disturbing this childlike fun.

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"Hey! Get lost! 'Sir,' my foot!" A rather gruff voice disrupted Li Xingzhi's concentration. The two children glanced around curiously, but seeing nothing interesting, they went back to playing on the swings.

Just as Li Xingzhi was about to turn his head to look, "Bang—", followed by the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

Li Xingzhi looked in the direction of the sound and saw several rough servants cursing and swearing as they walked back to the small gate of a grand house. A young man, disheveled and humiliated, lay on the ground. Passersby glanced at him and pointed and whispered. Li Xingzhi listened intently and understood what was going on.

This young man was named Ouyang Xun. He loved reading from a young age, but his family was poor. As he grew older, he worked as an accountant in a wealthy household to earn money for books. This time, for some unknown reason, he angered the master of the house and was thrown out—in the words of scholars, "a disgrace to scholarship!"

Ouyang Xun hadn't even passed the county-level imperial examination yet, and now his reputation was ruined again. Borrowing books to study would be impossible. Ouyang Xun didn't argue or curse; he simply dusted himself off, straightened his clothes, and calmly walked into the depths of the alley. Although Li Xingzhi didn't know what had happened, Ouyang Xun's composure alone impressed him!

When Ouyang Xun arrived home, his elderly mother, whose temples were gray, was already sitting in front of the door. Ouyang Xun felt a pang of sadness. Because his mother was in poor health, he was afraid that she would get tired, so he didn't want her to go out to work. His mother couldn't persuade him otherwise, so she would wait in front of the door every day when she had free time, hoping to see him come home soon.

"Brother, why are you back so early today?"

Sensing his mother's question and fearing she would worry, Ouyang Xun said, "Today is Qingming Festival. The host told me to go home early, and look, they even gave me a peck of rice." Ouyang Xun took out the peck of rice he had just bought on the street.

"Okay, okay, I'll return it when you get back. I'm waiting for you to come back so I can go see your father." Without waiting for Ouyang Xun to speak, she pushed him into the house. "Why are you all wet? Go and change your clothes."

"Hehe, the road was too slippery on the way back, and I fell down."

Li Xingzhi watched this scene from a distance, and only left slowly after the door closed and the sounds faded into the distance, though some thoughts were forming in his mind.

Li Xingzhi walked home at a leisurely pace, enjoying the gentle breeze and drizzle, and savoring the festive atmosphere that was now rare in later generations.

As soon as the gate opened, Wang Xiucai came to greet him.

"Why didn't you bring an umbrella, young master?" His tone was urgent and slightly reproachful, his mustache almost bristling—a clear sign of an elder's concern and care for a younger man. This was quite rare for Wang Xiucai, who was usually as composed as a dead man. Before he finished speaking, he led Li Xingzhi straight to the back room, the warm room.

Upon entering the room, Li Xingzhi felt a warmth in his heart, while Wang Xiucai had already instructed the servants to bring up dry clothes.

Li Xingzhi changed his clothes and felt incredibly comfortable all over. He leaned lazily against the armchair, feeling a warm glow in his heart. Home is the best place!

After dinner, the weather was still chilly, but Li Xingzhi felt a bit more at ease. He took a walk in the yard to digest his food; life was quite leisurely!

Back in the room, it was already dark, but with the faint light and the eyesight I had cultivated, I didn't need to light a lamp. I simply sat cross-legged on the bed, circulated the Quanzhen Heart Sutra, and began to enter a meditative state.

Tonight, Li Xingzhi felt quite well. His mind was clearer than ever before, and he felt comfortable all over. As soon as he activated his mental cultivation technique, he entered a meditative state, forgetting all things in the world. Only his true self sat alone in the center! The energy of his meridians and internal organs were faintly visible. Three inches below his navel, a warm and moist pure energy slowly rotated. From time to time, a wisp of pure energy would overflow, flowing along the three Yin and three Yang meridians of the hands and feet, connecting the whole body, warming and nourishing the body, drawing essence from the outside, and finally returning to the whole body.

When Li Xingzhi was about to finish his practice as usual after completing the nine cycles, the slowly rotating ball of energy suddenly accelerated, and a stream of true energy, as thick as a rope, flowed down to the Shenmai acupoint below the outer ankle!

The true qi seemed to be stagnant here and began to rush back. Suddenly, another stream of qi burst out from the qi ball in the dantian, carrying the original true qi. It broke through the Shenmai acupoint, went up the posterior border of the fibula behind the lateral malleolus, went up to the outer side of the thigh, then along the outer side of the hip, ribs, shoulder, and neck, to the corner of the mouth, reached the inner canthus, met at the Fengchi acupoint, and finally went down back to the depths of the dantian.

One of the Yang Qiao meridians was opened without any major incident, and the true qi in the dantian increased by nearly 30%. The true qi that returned to the dantian began to flow throughout the body, continuously expanding the meridians, and the essence of the millennia-old stone milk hidden deep in various parts of the body also came out and was incorporated into it!

This can be considered Li Xingzhi's first real breakthrough, which was completed while Li Xingzhi was in meditation, without any further complications.

When I awoke from my meditation, it was already broad daylight!

Opening his eyes, Li Xingzhi was still silently savoring the experience of his breakthrough. A natural feeling rose in his heart, but he didn't know why or how. He had suddenly broken through, without any surprise or joy! It seemed that this was how it should have been. But when he thought about it more deeply, only a mysterious meaning arose in his heart, which he could not find again in an instant.

Li Xingzhi sat up, stretched his body, and then stood up and took a few steps. He felt light as a feather, and with each light step, he covered more than ten feet.

"The Qiao meridian is light, agile, and nimble; once the Qiao meridian is unblocked, the body becomes light and healthy, which can nourish the eyes!" So that's how it is! Li Xingzhi suddenly realized.

"Flying over rooftops and scaling walls!" Li Xingzhi shouted in his heart. It was his childhood fantasy and his adult dream.

Li Xingzhi lightly jumped upwards, barely covering a meter or so. While this might be considered good for an average person, for Li Xingzhi, who was obsessed with scaling walls and rooftops, it was utterly pathetic! He jumped again with all his might, but this time it was even worse—less than a meter! "I refuse to believe it today!" Li Xingzhi circulated his inner strength and leaped straight up, covering more than a meter and a half, almost as tall as himself. This time, he finally began to experience the joy of scaling walls and rooftops. Li Xingzhi dusted off his clothes, then arrogantly tossed his hair back, looking around. Unfortunately, the empty room held only him; no one was there to cheer him on.

Li Xingzhi opened the window, and fresh, moist air rushed into the room.

Looking out the window, he saw a scene full of vibrant life, and the whole world seemed clearer. He observed the fluttering of butterfly wings and the dancing of bees, and felt a sense of natural peace in his heart.

Li Xingzhi suddenly felt sticky and uncomfortable all over, so he ran outside to fetch a bucket of water to wash himself. He opened the door to find servants already waiting outside.

When the servant saw Li Xingzhi come out, he lowered his eyes and bowed first. "The steward asked me to ask if you would like breakfast, young master."

"I'll skip breakfast for now." Li Xingzhi paused, then seemed to remember something and continued, "Tell the master to find someone for me..."

Li Xingzhi drew several buckets of water from the well and rinsed himself off, feeling refreshed and comfortable. After dressing, he took out a copper coin, and with a thought, the coin vanished, replaced by two steaming hot meat buns. He had been starving; the early stages of Qi Refining were a combination of mental and physical exertion! Although his body remained still, his mind worked faster than anything else, constantly absorbing essence from his body and from food to strengthen himself. The so-called 'refining essence into Qi' was nothing more than this!

He then did a set of exercises—the Yi Jin Jing—in the courtyard to relax his body. Just as he was about to check on Erlang's studies, a thought suddenly struck him: he remembered the Longevity Mantra he had always longed for. Originally, he had already met the requirements for cultivation, but he only prepared to begin cultivating after his Quanzhen Heart Sutra achieved a breakthrough.

Li Xingzhi returned to his room, closed the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and suddenly realized that he had lost another copper coin. A large, five-colored sphere of light appeared in his head!

Li Xingzhi eagerly poured his consciousness into the sound, and "Boom—"—a tremendous sound, as if the sky had collapsed and the earth had split open! The shock caused Li Xingzhi's consciousness to begin to become chaotic.

A thunderclap suddenly struck from the darkness, and before Li Xingzhi could react, this small world began to evolve...

"Did I time travel again?" Li Xingzhi thought with some doubt.

He wandered around, the sky still a hazy gray, only occasionally broken by a clap of thunder... He didn't know how much time had passed, but when the sky began to clear, the earth began to settle, the sun was no longer scorching, and the sea stopped churning, the invisible laws of this world began to operate again...

At this moment, Li Xingzhi was in a daze, nameless and oblivious to everything. He seemed to have become a part of this vast天地 (heaven and earth)! He moved with the universe, with the pulse of the mountains and the surging of the waves, his consciousness growing increasingly elusive. Li Xingzhi's already frail figure flickered in and out of focus, as if he were about to vanish!

Suddenly, everything vanished into nothingness. In the vast space, only a longevity manual remained, and seven patterns were imprinted directly onto the disappearing figure!

Li Xingzhi suddenly awoke! He felt as if he were in a state of chaos, witnessing the creation of heaven and earth, the generation and transformation of the five elements and yin and yang, and finally becoming lost in the void of heaven and earth!

He was so shocked he broke out in a cold sweat!

Opening his eyes, he looked at everything before him, as if from another world! Only the seven images in his mind remained, impossible to erase. His internal energy, seemingly out of his control, began to flow rapidly according to one of the images. Wherever the internal energy reached, life flourished; when it reached his liver and gallbladder, his organs became more active than ever before!

"Jia wood represents the liver, and Yi wood represents the gallbladder; the liver and gallbladder are interconnected!" Indeed! That green wood energy began to circulate between the liver and gallbladder, constantly cleansing the organs. If you look closely, you can see that under the cleansing effect of the wood energy, the liver and gallbladder are transforming into a crystalline green color!

His internal energy circulated three times, finally transforming into a bluish-green internal force, all of which converged into Li Xingzhi's dantian. A life-giving aura emanated from his body. Li Xingzhi opened his eyes, a bluish-green glint flashing within them. He looked at the potted green plant beside him, sensing its joy and call, and suddenly felt a sense of intimacy!

Character: Li Xingzhi

Rating: 9

Experience: 1151/4730

Life: 500/500

True Qi: 660/660

Basic attribute: Strength 30

Agility 28

Constitution 25

Spirit 40

Root bone 23

Comprehension?

charm?