Chapter 290
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Just like that, Zhang Xiaohua spent his days on the desolate island cultivating the Carefree Heart Sutra, comprehending the Earth Escape technique and the art of alchemy. Coupled with the tempering from lightning during those rainy nights, half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
At first, Zhang Xiaohua had drawn marks on the ground of the small cave using his little sword to count the days. But after a while, he lost interest. He no longer kept track—he simply carved for the sake of carving.
“If not for wanting to see how many days I could last on this barren island where not even a seabird dares come, I wouldn’t bother scratching all these marks. I’d rather draw circles in the corner of the cave and curse that damned White-Haired Old Man—it’d be more satisfying.”
In the beginning, he would still climb the peak each day and crane his neck, longing for a glimpse of a ship, nearly turning himself into a ‘Stone That Watches Ships.’ But now, he no longer even looked. After too many disappointments, he came to understand: the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Rather than torment himself, he chose to sever his own retreat. If he no longer longed for home, perhaps, just perhaps, he might be blessed with an unexpected surprise.
This kind of focus, this kind of diligence, propelled his cultivation to a new level. The Carefree Heart Sutra had reached the mid-stage of the fourth layer. The Big Dipper Divine Fist had also advanced to the fifth layer. As for the Earth Escape Technique, he had already reached the final incantation, though a breakthrough remained elusive. Regarding alchemy, he had already grasped all the foundational theories. All he lacked were the necessary herbs to carry out the practical steps—once acquired, he could begin refining pills.
Zhang Xiaohua had memorized those alchemical incantations by heart. He had even formed the hand seals in his practice, but had always been cautious—too afraid of making a mistake, hence his continued restraint.
On this day, Zhang Xiaohua sat cross-legged atop the mountain. Forming hand seals and circulating his inner qi, he closed his eyes. Within his meridians, the true qi followed the flow of the incantation, drawn out from his body to form a sphere. Then, as the incantation changed, the sphere shifted in shape, extending from his hands to his arms and gradually enveloping his entire body, forming a layer of colorless true qi. With the final hand seal completed, the colorless qi extended from beneath his feet and burrowed into the earth. Zhang Xiaohua’s entire figure vanished, seeping into the ground like a wisp of air.
While within the mountain, Zhang Xiaohua curiously released his divine sense, discovering that his entire body was wrapped in a black membrane, surrounded by pitch darkness. Releasing his divine sense was difficult in such terrain, but once he locked onto a certain point, he silently recited an incantation. His body began to tunnel toward that location, gliding through the soil and rock as though they were no more than mist—as if his body no longer existed in the mortal sense.
When he reached the spot his divine sense had locked onto, Zhang Xiaohua once again chanted the incantation silently, and his body began to tunnel upward. As the darkness before his eyes suddenly gave way to light, he emerged back at the mountain’s summit—only, he was now quite a distance away from where he had stood moments before.
“Haha!” Zhang Xiaohua was overjoyed. The Earth Escape technique was finally mastered! Compared to the Floating Technique, it was even more intriguing. The ability to burrow into the ground and travel beneath it at such high speed—should that White-Haired Old Man catch him again, he could now easily slip away.
At the thought of the White-Haired Old Man, Zhang Xiaohua instinctively glanced out toward the sea. As always, it was vast and empty.
Then, Zhang Xiaohua checked the true qi within his meridians and shook his head to himself. “So it’s true—the Earth Escape really does consume a lot of qi. I only traveled a short distance, and nearly a twentieth of my true qi is gone. Looks like I’ll need to cultivate the Carefree Heart Sutra even more diligently. The true qi in my meridians really is the foundation of all immortal arts.”
He drew two yuan stones from his robes and used them to replenish his qi. Only then did he prepare to attempt the Earth Escape again. On this desolate island, there was no need to worry about anyone seeing him. For regular cultivation, he always used the Lying Ox Stone, but during Earth Escape practice, he used yuan stones. This small yuan stone had lasted half a year without being depleted—something that astonished Zhang Xiaohua deeply.
Once again, Zhang Xiaohua activated the Earth Escape and tunneled into the mountain. This time, instead of going far, he chose to dig directly downward—curious to know whether the depths beneath this deserted island were still ocean.
But he hadn’t gone very deep when the surrounding temperature rose rapidly, becoming unbearable. He quickly retreated to the surface. In truth, ever since Zhang Xiaohua had cultivated the Big Dipper Divine Fist, he was no longer affected by heat or cold. Ordinary people would have long succumbed to the extremes of weather, but even when cultivating under torrential rains at night, he felt nothing. Yet this underground heat made him feel it once more—so scorching it startled him into retreat.
What Zhang Xiaohua didn’t know, however, was that the protective membrane formed by true qi also had the effect of insulating against heat and cold. For him to still feel the searing temperature, one could well imagine just how terrifying the heat below must have been.
He spent the entire morning playing around with his newly mastered Earth Escape, vanishing from one place and emerging from another, darting through the earth with great joy. Only when the true qi in his body was completely depleted did he finally sit comfortably in meditation, grasping his yuan stone, restoring his vitality once more.
After half a year of cultivation, Zhang Xiaohua discovered something curious: when he drew Yuan Qi from the yuan stones to cultivate the Carefree Heart Sutra, the absorption was quite slow, with his internal energy growing bit by bit. But if he depleted his true qi first and then used the yuan stones to replenish it, the recovery speed was astonishingly fast—it took only a short time to restore his qi completely. This puzzled Zhang Xiaohua. If only cultivation could be as fast as replenishment, wouldn’t he already have reached the eighth or ninth level by now?
Moreover, every time he fully exhausted his true qi and then replenished it anew, it seemed that the amount of qi in his meridians increased ever so slightly. As for how much, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t quantify it—it was more a feeling than anything measurable.
“Perhaps this is the meaning behind ‘destruction before creation.’ Whether in martial arts or literature, there’s always a common thread. Even in the Immortal Dao, the principle holds true. Ah, I see now—this is the law of the world. No matter what one does, it must be done within the bounds of the world’s rules, and it’s within those rules that one must find their own path.”
In that instant, Zhang Xiaohua seemed to have understood many things… but then again, perhaps he had only grasped a sliver of it.
As for his flying sword—even though he hadn’t deliberately cultivated sword techniques, the idle games he played in his spare time were more than enough to let him master its control. Look—there he sat cross-legged atop the mountain, using his divine sense to guide the flying sword as it trailed a flock of seabirds, chasing them relentlessly.
Ah yes, when Zhang Xiaohua first arrived on the island, he had used his divine sense to scan the place and lamented that there were no animals to hunt. But two days later, he discovered that although there were no beasts, there were indeed seabirds. Many of them nested in the trees along the coastline and in the brush at the foot of the mountain. From then on, Zhang Xiaohua would occasionally catch a bird or two, or snatch a few eggs, roasting them over fire to satisfy his cravings. However, once he ran out of fire-starting sticks, he was forced to restrain his reckless raids on the birds’ nests.
When he finished cultivating Earth Escape and began thinking about pill refining, it suddenly struck him—didn’t alchemy require fire? The flames kindled by his fire-starters could roast eggs and birds alike, so wouldn’t they suffice for alchemical fire too? That was when he started chasing the birds with his flying sword—not for food this time, but in search of inspiration.
By now, the seabirds had gotten used to being pursued. At the sight of the little sword, they would immediately soar into the sky, changing directions unpredictably, diving and wheeling in panic. But the sword danced behind them like a real bird itself, neither hurried nor slow, flitting up and down with agility. After a long while—perhaps Zhang Xiaohua had tired of the game—the flying sword suddenly sped up. A cold gleam flashed, piercing straight through the neck of a seabird. Not a single drop of blood spilled.
Then, with a quick turn, the sword reversed course and flew straight back to Zhang Xiaohua’s perch atop the mountain.
“I still remember the first time I chased a seabird—I couldn’t catch up no matter what I did. Later, when I finally did catch up, I still couldn’t land a hit. Those seabird feathers must be coated with oil or something—slick as anything. Hehe… well, practice makes perfect. From splattering bird blood everywhere to now striking only the neck without spilling a drop, looks like I’ve come a long way. White-Haired Old Man, just you wait—when I get back, I’ll make sure to settle things with you! Hmm? But then again… if it weren’t for White-Haired Old Man pulling me away, I probably wouldn’t have cultivated to this level. Does that… count as repaying kindness with enmity?”
“Bah, whatever. Who cares if it’s repaying kindness with enmity? White-Haired Old Man never had good intentions in the first place. Back in Jingyue City, I saved his life—so that settles the debt. Hehe, if it comes to that, I’ll just go kidnap that South Sea Jiao Tong and let him have a taste of suffering. Hahaha, yeah, let’s go with that.”
“Speaking of those oily seabirds… sigh, it’s been ages since I’ve had some sizzling roasted meat. I never really liked it that much, but not having it for so long, I actually miss it.”
In an instant, Zhang Xiaohua had completely forgotten his desire to seek revenge on Qin Shiyue. His thoughts shifted, and he began scrutinizing the seabird in his hand.
Sigh, a clever housewife can’t cook without rice.
Setting the seabird aside, Zhang Xiaohua reached into his money pouch and pulled out the enormous cauldron.
He had already given this tripod furnace a general once-over before, and while it did look a bit like the incense burners seen in temples, now that he examined it closely, it was completely different. The cauldron stood on three legs, with arcane talismans carved all over it—weathered with age, their outlines blurred. The semi-circular lid on top was exquisitely crafted. When he casually lifted it, he found the interior to be completely hollow—there was no place to hold incense at all.
This was clearly the alchemical furnace mentioned in pill-refining texts, not some incense burner!
When Zhang Xiaohua first acquired this cauldron at West Cui Mountain, he had barely been taller than it. Now, he could look down and see inside it—but all he saw was pitch blackness, not a thing in sight, though he could faintly smell the scent of old incense ash. Wrinkling his nose, he sniffed curiously.
“Those monks of Shaolin Temple really are something. Even a pill cauldron of the Immortal Dao got turned into an incense burner by them. I wonder how they even managed to burn incense inside it!”
Zhang Xiaohua released his divine sense and carefully examined the interior of the furnace. After all, it was one thing not to look before, but now that he was actually going to use it—how could he go into battle unprepared?
Inside was a spherical space. At the bottom were several groove-like depressions, and the surrounding walls were etched with ancient, rustic patterns, all emanating a faint fluctuation of Yuan Qi. The bottom of the cauldron was even more intricately carved—layer upon layer, densely packed. When Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense sank into it, he couldn’t even see where it ended.
“Looking at the thickness of the furnace’s base, it doesn’t seem that deep. And yet these patterns can still hold so many layers of structure? They must be talismans. The fluctuations from these different talismans even interlock seamlessly, not a single gap or flaw between them… Could this be what they mean by ‘flawless as the heavens’? Looks like I really need to comprehend this with care. If I’m careless and break the thing, it won’t just be that I can’t refine pills—that’s not such a big deal—but losing a toy to play with, now that’s serious.”
“But still, how am I supposed to light the fire in this thing? Don’t tell me it’s not done with a firestarter? The pill-refining arts clearly mention that one must use their own true qi to ignite the furnace’s flame—but how? There’s no explanation at all. Without a master to teach me, this is really going to be a headache.”
Zhang Xiaohua swept his divine sense through it a few more times, but gained absolutely nothing—and couldn’t help feeling a bit dejected.
At that moment, he instinctively focused his divine sense on the groove-like depressions. Sure enough, as he intensified his divine sense, one of the grooves suddenly emitted a faint fluctuation, and a string of ancient script appeared in his mind.
“Haha! I knew it—there’s no way this thing wouldn’t leave nothing behind! How else could anyone be expected to get started?”
After Zhang Xiaohua carefully finished reading that passage of text, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of delight. He formed a hand seal, pondered for a moment, then circulated his true qi and sent the incantation into the cauldron. At first, the cauldron showed no reaction. Zhang Xiaohua frowned and repeated the process several times. Gradually, the cauldron began to emit a faint radiance invisible to the naked eye—only through divine sense could one clearly perceive it. Zhang Xiaohua was overjoyed. He struck a few more incantations into the furnace, and it emitted a deep, resonant rumble. The light pulsed a few times—and then, the pill furnace abruptly shrank by a full size.
“As expected—truly mystical! This thing can actually change size… No wonder it’s a treasure of the Immortal Dao!”
As it turned out, the text was none other than the method for controlling the pill furnace!
Zhang Xiaohua was like a child who’d gotten hold of a new toy—he kept enlarging and shrinking the pill furnace again and again, until he finally tired of it. Only then did he adjust it to a size that fit comfortably in his hands. He placed his left hand on one side of the cauldron, where there was a slightly raised section, and infused his divine sense into the cauldron. Then, with his right hand, he cast a few incantations as instructed in the chant.
If true qi was the foundation of all Immortal Dao arts, then incantations were their essential support.
The fact that Zhang Xiaohua had spent nearly half a year studying the incantation for Earth Escape was, in hindsight, an incredibly wise decision. Normally, Immortal Dao disciples began by practicing simple incantations—Fireball Technique, Water Sword Technique, and the like—spells that required only one or two incantations. Only after mastering those could they move on to more advanced arts, such as Sword Control, Flame Control, or Object Manipulation. Escape techniques were considered among the most profound and difficult to comprehend and cultivate. But Zhang Xiaohua had taken the reverse path, diving headfirst into Earth Escape from the very start. Now, when it came to these basic incantations, he found them surprisingly easy to grasp.
He slowly infused his true qi while sequentially casting the incantations. His divine sense remained immersed in the pill furnace, carefully observing the changes within. In the perception of his divine sense, he saw that the trickling true qi first entered several talismans, then passed into others in sequence, gradually rising upward. Then—suddenly—a wisp of flame ignited within one of the talismans, and in the next instant, it surged through several more layers.
Inside the cauldron, with a soft “fwoosh!”, it burst into flame—startling Zhang Xiaohua so much that he immediately withdrew his divine sense!
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