Chapter 564 - 44: Cultivating the Primordial Spirit’s Sea of Qi

Zhonghui County Town.

At a crossroads in a small alley on the west side of town stood a teahouse. Every day after sunrise, a group of elderly neighbors would gather under its thatched awning to chat and pass the time.

It was early spring, a time when savoring fine tea had become the norm throughout the southern regions. Coupled with the South’s growing prosperity over the years, all sorts of teahouses had sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

More importantly, many people, especially the elderly, now had time on their hands and needed a place to gather. Small teahouses like this one thus sprang up to meet the need, though being tucked away in a small alley, they barely made enough to cover the cost of charcoal for boiling water.

The morning passed in a lively clamor, and before long, the sun illuminated the space both under and beyond the thatched awning. An old man approached, drawing the eyes of the other elders. He wore a pale cyan brocade robe and a sandalwood hairpin, and he carried himself with a smug air. In one hand, he toyed with a pair of purple crystals; in the other, he carried a small tea caddy made of green bamboo.

"Old Li, got any new tea?" called out an old man in a short blue linen shirt.

"This is spring tea from across the Qianmu River. Freshly sprouted buds. I bet even the Imperial Palace hasn’t had a single sip yet," Old Li said, tilting his chin up smugly.

"Would it kill you to not brag?" someone said, unconvinced.

"You old bastard! No wonder your wife moved in with your son and daughter-in-law. Not only can you not speak a civil word, but your face is so ugly a mosquito would kill itself after biting you!"

HAHAHA!

The crowd erupted in laughter, which soon turned back to bickering and demands to see the new tea.

The teahouse attendant was frantic; their arguments always left a mess in their wake. But the owner, who sat reading by the counter, remained calm. He gave them a single glance before paying them no more mind.

This owner was none other than Wang Ping, a cultivator living hidden in the Mortal World.

"Is the tea really that good?"

Her interest piqued, Yu Lian poked her head out of his sleeve, her vertical pupils fixed on the tea caddy in the old man’s hand.

Wang Ping looked up from his book, reaching out to stroke Yu Lian’s head. He chuckled. "It’s just ordinary green tea. Old Li was bragging yesterday and got cornered, so he had no choice but to go buy one tael of new tea from the east side of town this morning."

"Huh? Why?"

"This is the way of mortals."

"To get by with lies?"

"It isn’t a lie. For mortals, this is their life. Just as we pursue immortality, they pursue respectability."

"..."

Yu Lian looked confused, her vertical pupils staring intently at Wang Ping as she waited for a further explanation.

Wang Ping put down his book and met Yu Lian’s gaze for two breaths before saying, "When we fight an enemy, would you reveal your vulnerable side? Would you tell your enemy where your weakness lies?"

"But they don’t look like enemies!"

"..."

They continued their pointless chat, and before they knew it, it was Noon. The bickering finally over, the old men began to head home for lunch, though some stayed and ordered food at the teahouse.

The afternoon passed uneventfully. As dusk fell, the old men reluctantly dispersed. Some looked melancholy, nearing the end of their lives with more than a few regrets. Others seemed indifferent, while still others beamed with happiness—those were clearly from happy homes.

Watching them each day, Wang Ping experienced a different set of emotions every time.

Once night had fully fallen, constables from the County Magistrate’s Office began patrolling the streets to deter robbers. Wang Ping said a word to the two attendants who lived at the shop and then headed for the small courtyard home he had bought.

"They’re selling steamed buns over there! Let’s get some!"

Yu Lian saw a steamer under an oil lamp, billowing with steam.

Wang Ping was happy to oblige. He walked over and saw a little boy tending the stall. Behind the stall, a man and woman were busy working in the dim light.

"Two steamed buns."

"Three wen!"

The little boy bobbed his head as he spoke; he was tending the stall while simultaneously reading aloud in a low voice, looking for all the world like a candidate preparing for the Zhonghui Academy entrance exams.

What Wang Ping noticed, however, was the price of the steamed buns. It had gone up again from a few years ago. According to intelligence provided by his puppets, the cost of living in Zhonghui County Town was now nearly on par with that of Jinhuai City, the capital of the Chu Country.

This was not a good sign, but there was nothing Wang Ping could do. The market in Zhonghui County Town was already being specially regulated by Qianmu Temple. If they pushed prices down any further, he feared no one would do business at all.

"What’s wrong?"

Yu Lian asked, sensing Wang Ping’s mood.

Wang Ping took the buns and melted back into the darkness, eating as he walked and feeding bits to Yu Lian. Before he knew it, he had returned to his small courtyard.

The night passed without event.

When it was time to cultivate the next day, Wang Ping did not rush back to his seclusion chamber beneath the Mountain Peak Dojo. Instead, facing the morning dew on the west side of Zhonghui County Town, he sat cross-legged under the eaves of his courtyard’s main house.

「A quarter of an hour later.」

Wang Ping settled his mind. The moment he opened his eyes and gazed at the Pocket World Mirror, his consciousness stirred, and the mirror pulled both him and Yu Lian into the Transfer Mansion’s array.

In the blink of an eye, Wang Ping appeared in the dim cavern beneath the Mountain Peak Dojo. He sat cross-legged upon a cloud bed as his Primordial Spirit swiftly emerged, taking a seat beside his physical form. Then, ten Celestial Swords shot out from his Primordial Spirit, creating a Divine Technique Formation around his body and spirit.

Next, his Primordial Spirit began to construct its own network of one hundred meridians, basing them on the ones recorded in the Guiyuan Technique used for Qi Cultivation. Once the network was formed within the Primordial Spirit, it began to circulate Spiritual Energy through them.

Yu Lian’s body swelled to a size of three zhang. She coiled around Wang Ping’s physical body and Primordial Spirit, using her own Primordial Spirit to suppress the ceaseless tide of negative emotions invading from the Inspiration Realm, preventing Wang Ping from absorbing them into his Primordial Spirit Consciousness.

When the Spiritual Energy had completed five Grand Circulations within Wang Ping’s Primordial Spirit, the ethereal spirit subconsciously formed a spell seal. The instant the seal took shape, the Heaven-Reaching Talisman materialized before it.

’At this rate, I should be able to establish a Qi Sea within my Primordial Spirit in less than ten years.’

Wang Ping felt a surge of anticipation.

As Wang Ping withdrew his Primordial Spirit, Yu Lian used Tengyun to hover before him. Staring into his eyes, she said, "I have a proposal. Care to hear it?"

"Oh?"

Wang Ping looked puzzled.

Yu Lian continued, "That’s a perfect ten-year window. Why not try the first volume of the Divine Secret Technique? Cultivate for the next ten years in a state of ’self-restraint’."

’This was a suggestion Wang Ping had been mulling over himself,’ he thought. ’Yu Lian must have read my subconscious. She’s trying to help me either commit to it or give up on the idea.’

"The mortal dust you’ve gathered recently is enough to balance out the pure rationality of a ten-year ’self-restraint’ state. It’s the perfect chance to try it. If you’re not willing, then you should abandon the idea completely. You’ve cultivated for centuries; you should know that indecisiveness is the greatest taboo in cultivation."

Yu Lian’s tone turned serious. "If you’re going to practice the Divine Technique, then be decisive about it. If not, then abandon it, whether permanently or just for now."

Wang Ping didn’t answer immediately. He calculated the hour on his fingers, then summoned the Pocket World Mirror and brought Yu Lian back to their small courtyard in Zhonghui County Town.