Chapter 3: The Difficulty of Cultivation

  "Fart! You can open the Xuanpin Gate and cultivate to the Tianji Realm is a problem, how can you become a Great Emperor?"

  The girl in purple clothes frowned, a bad premonition flashing through her mind, and hurriedly said: "River Uncle, speak clearly. Isn't Horan born with the Seven Treasures Linglong Heart? How come even cultivation has become a problem now?"

  "Alas!"

  The middle-aged man sighed and said, "The way of cultivation is to fight against heaven and struggle with fate. First, cultivate the physical body and then practice the spirit. This step is called the Xuan Pin Gate; To open the Xuan Pin, one must first clear the Qi Hai, and only then can one build the Heavenly Ladder, connecting the upper, middle, and lower three Dan Tian, and finally reach the Heavenly Listening, refining the essence and transforming the spirit."

  "He indeed has a clever and ingenious mind, but unfortunately... unfortunately he himself lacks any spiritual roots, not even comparable to most ordinary people! Furthermore, his body is too impure, his meridians are weak, and he can't withstand the impact of the heavenly energy. Opening up his dantian might be possible, but building a connection between the lower and middle dantian would be too much for him, and even if he managed to cultivate it with great difficulty, he would only end up with shattered meridians and death!"

  "In other words, he can only cultivate up to the Qi Sea realm and will never be able to advance to the Heavenly Ladder realm in his lifetime."

  "How did it end up like this..."

  The purple-robed girl sat down in the chair, her original joy at hearing that Horan Sheng had a clever and ingenious heart suddenly turned cold. Her pretty face seemed to have a layer of thin ice on it. She couldn't believe that someone with the qualifications to become a great emperor was actually completely unable to cultivate, what kind of joke was this? Was it the will of heaven playing tricks on people?

  Listening to the middle-aged man's words, Huo Ran was completely bewildered and rubbed his nose, saying: "I still don't quite understand what you mean. How can I become a great emperor one moment, and then become someone who is not even as good as an ordinary person the next?"

  The middle-aged man and the purple-clothed girl both remained silent, and the grand hall was quiet for a moment. After a while, the purple-clothed girl stood up with an icy face and walked towards the outside of the hall. As she passed by Huo Ran, she coldly said: "From now on, you will stay in the Taihe Hall." She didn't even turn her head as she walked out.

  "This..."

  At this moment, Huo Ran suddenly felt the purple-clothed girl emitting a strong sense of desolation and disappointment. The thread of passion that he had previously sensed had turned into thorough coldness. His mind was filled with doubts: Is it because I couldn't cultivate, so she gave up on me?

  Until now, Huo Ran finally realized why the purple-clothed girl brought this stranger back. She must have discovered something different about him in the wilderness and brought him back to confirm with that person called 'He Shu'. The result was out, he had the potential to become an invincible person, but fate played a trick on him, and it was impossible for him to even cultivate, so under disappointment, she spoke coldly to him...

  "Uncle He!" Huo Ran raised his head again, gazing at the middle-aged man with a disappointed expression, and said: "I have an impolite request, I hope you can agree to it!"

  "Speak," the middle-aged man replied with a sigh, clearly disappointed in Huo Ran. Originally someone who could have become a great emperor, but unfortunately his physical quality was poor to an extreme degree, making it fundamentally impossible for him to cultivate. Alas, alas!

  "Can you teach me how to cultivate?" Huo Ran said with some embarrassment. Although He Shu had already explained that he was not likely to cultivate to a high level, Huo Ran, who grew up on Earth, always believed that human determination could overcome heaven. Wasn't he also penniless at first, but later became a millionaire?

  His 23 years of experience told him that there is no difficult thing in the world, only people who are willing to do it. A person can be poor, but his ambition must not be poor! If you haven't tried something, how can you be sure that you can't do it? Or, just because one person can't do something, does that mean that nobody in the world can do it?

  Let's not mention those things, if he couldn't cultivate on Earth, then he wouldn't have anything to do with this stuff. But now he is in the Jun Tian Jie, far away from Earth, separated from his family and unable to see his loved ones. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope appears before him, how can he give up?

  Can't see parents again, even if I die, what's the harm?

  Upon hearing Huo Ran's words, He Shu raised an eyebrow and a white light flashed in his hand, producing an ancient book that emitted a rustic aura.

  "This is the basic skill of Mu's family cultivation, simple and easy to understand. If you really don't understand, you can come ask me."

  He took over this basic manual, turned a page after opening it, and said with some embarrassment: "This... I... can't recognize the characters..."

  A person in their twenties doesn't recognize characters, this face is utterly humiliated. But Hao Ran also had no way out, the words on it were simply too profound, exactly the same as those on the stone tablet inside the Pearl Peak, completely not a font that has ever appeared in human history, even if he was once a top scorer in the college entrance examination, he still couldn't understand.

  Hehe Uncle smiled and glanced at Huo Ran, shaking his head as he walked towards the side hall, saying: "Come with me."

  After arriving at the side hall, it was filled with books, and it looked like a study.

  He Shu searched on the bookshelf, pulled out a dusty old book and opened it, saying: "Look, this character is pronounced 'I', this one is pronounced 'you', this one is pronounced 'he'..."

  Thus, Huoran began his learning journey, starting with some simple and commonly used characters, then moving on to more profound and abstruse ones, studying them one by one. Three days later, He Shu closed the ancient book and sighed, "Seven clever and ingenious minds are not ordinary, learning anything quickly, in just three short days, you have almost mastered all the characters!"

  "This isn't what Uncle He taught you, is it?!" Huo Ran said with a completely straight face, and it was indeed strange that since he had recited the Clear Mind Mantra eighty-one times in the colorful tunnel when they crossed from Earth to Jun Tian Jie, he had possessed the ability of never forgetting anything he saw, and his comprehension abilities had reached an astonishing level. No matter what character, as long as Uncle He explained it once, it was as if the character was completely carved into his heart, and he couldn't even forget it if he wanted to.

  "Alright!" River Uncle smiled, patted Ho Ran's shoulder and pointed to the outside of the door, saying: "You can study here, and cultivate too. If you encounter any problems, you can come ask me, I'm in the room next door."

  "Ah, thank you Uncle He!"

  Seeing River Uncle leave, Huo Ran's smile disappeared from his face, and he let out a deep sigh.

  In these three days, he not only mastered the basic font called "Juntian Realm", but also figured out its pattern. If the Warring States period on Earth is called a chaotic world, then Juntian Realm is simply a society where people eat each other!

  There exist cultivators who can fly and escape, powerful cultivators can even overturn seas and rivers, traveling thousands of miles in an instant. A hundred years of life is not worth mentioning to them, and people who have lived for a thousand years are not rare!

  On this vast continent, these powerful cultivators naturally couldn't avoid fighting, and with fighting came casualties. Unlike on Earth where there are laws to constrain, the number of people who die every day due to fighting is unknown.

  "What's the difference between this world and the mythological era on Earth?"

  He was originally just climbing Mount Everest, but unexpectedly got caught in an avalanche and brought to a natural cave inside the mountain. Because of the mysterious black altar in the cave, he somehow ended up in this mythical era. He was really bewildered, thinking about his parents who were separated from him by an unknown distance on Earth, and a hint of sadness arose in his heart. Originally, he had planned to cultivate and reach a high level, allowing him to cross the void and return to his hometown, but when he learned about his physical condition, he could only lament that the pollution on Earth was too severe...

  "Never mind, don't think about it! Haven't even tried yet, how can you give up? Huoran, believe in yourself, you'll definitely be fine, definitely!"

  He took a deep breath, sat down cross-legged, and opened up the Mo Family's foundational techniques.

  "The Valley Spirit does not die, it is called the Mysterious Female. The gate of the Mysterious Female is the root of heaven and earth. In the beginning of cultivation, one must first knock open the gate of the Mysterious Female..."

  After reading the opening, Huo Ran suddenly understood what cultivation was all about. To put it simply, it's about unlocking the treasure trove of one's body, and the door to this treasure trove is called the Xuan Pin Gate. As long as the Xuan Pin Gate is opened and the Qi Sea is unblocked, that means stepping onto the path of cultivation.

  As for the Qi Hai, it is actually one of the three Dan Tian in the human body, belonging to the lower Dan Tian, located around three inches below the navel. This place will serve as the source of Fa power in the future. In other words, this starting point is very important and relates to future achievements.

  When the Qi Hai opens up to the physical limit, then it is necessary to build a heavenly ladder connecting the Qi Hai (Lower Dan Tian) and the Middle Dan Tian. Next, cultivate the four extremes of the human body, the five organs, and the six hollows, which belong to the part of cultivating essence. When these cultivations are completed, a divine bridge will be built to connect the Middle Dan Tian and the Upper Dan Tian, entering the realm of transforming spirit, that is, cultivating the Sea of Consciousness, expanding the weak power of the soul (thought) until the soul transforms into the Original Spirit, then the entire mysterious gate of Xuan Pin will be cultivated.

  These are still too far away for Huo Ran, and he hasn't even opened up his Qihai yet, let alone anything else. To open up the Qihai, the first step is to sense the existence of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, then communicate with these energies through intention, and finally store them in the Qihai. After refining and purifying them, they become magical powers. During the process of absorbing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into his body, it will cleanse his physical body, making it stronger and more robust.

  To put it figuratively, a cultivator in the Qi Hai Jing realm has the strength of a thousand pounds without using any external force, which already surpasses the normal human category.

  He looked over the method of opening up his dantian again, and after making sure he had completely figured it out, he suddenly sat down cross-legged in the same posture as the illustrations in the book, with his hands clasped together on his legs, closed his eyes, and began to sense the heavenly spiritual energy surrounding him.

  In the instant he closed his eyes, the scene before him changed dramatically, as if he were in an endless void. His body was surrounded by a dense array of light points that danced and fluttered about, as if they wanted to tell Horan something.

  "Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy!"

  Huo Ran suddenly opened his eyes and exclaimed in surprise: "The book says that people with good qualifications can feel the existence of heaven and earth spiritual energy within a stick of incense, but I felt it in an instant. It seems to be due to the so-called 'Seven Clever Linglong Heart'!"

  He deeply understood the importance of the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, which was an indispensable energy for cultivation. Now he could sense the existence of the spiritual energy between heaven and earth without any predecessors or successors, in an instant, filling him with confidence in his cultivation. If he could sense the spiritual energy between heaven and earth so quickly, how could his cultivation speed be slow?

  As he thought of this, he closed his eyes again, and the dim surroundings were filled with dense light spots. His heart was as still as water, and according to the method described in the book, he imagined these heavenly spiritual energies entering his body. As soon as this thought arose, the surrounding heavenly spiritual energy went crazy, rushing towards him wildly, entering his body through his mouth, nose, and skin pores.

  "Ah..."

  The spiritual energy of the universe suddenly entered his body, bringing with it a consequence that felt like thousands of small knives cutting into his flesh, no different from being slowly tortured to death. In just an instant, he was in so much pain that he broke out in cold sweats.

  Huo Ran hastily stopped absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, panting heavily. After a moment, he sat up straight again, ready to absorb more spiritual energy into his body and open up his dantian. If he couldn't even endure this little bit of suffering, how could he cultivate? How could he return home?

  The scene from before replayed itself, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth crazily surged into Horan's body. He gritted his teeth in pain but continued to force himself to endure, hoping to hold on like this.

  "Hmm..."

  At last, he could no longer bear it and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his expression becoming listless.

  At this time, Huo Ran's face was quite unsightly. He gritted his teeth and wiped away the bloodstain at the corner of his mouth. In his heart, he was furiously roaring: Heaven, why are you playing me like this? You brought me to this accursed place, that's already enough. Why did you give me a Seven Treasures Linglong Heart, but also gave me the worst physique? I refuse to accept it! I don't believe I can't cultivate!

  He suddenly became tough, sat up straight again, and then guided the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body once more. This time he was smart, only absorbing a tiny bit of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth each time, although there was still severe pain, it was still within the scope of endurance...

  Next door, He Shu sat cross-legged on the bed, opened his eyes, and a hint of regret flashed in his eyes as he sighed softly, "What's the point of this?"