great-warnovel Chapter 4 Inner Alchemy
Chapter 4 Inner Alchemy
He was so engrossed in listening that he got carried away with the story.
Before we knew it, the story had reached the point where Sun Wukong entered the Dragon Palace to retrieve a treasure, was lured into the Underworld, fought his way up, and was eventually exonerated from all the netherworlds and the ten categories of beings before finally stopping, still feeling unsatisfied.
When Chen Chunan looked again, the sky was already darkening and the moon was rising.
A slight feeling of hunger in his stomach reminded Chen Chunan that it was time to cook.
So he stood up and said to Chen Hongxian, who was still eager to listen, "Alright, that's enough for today. I have to go cook for you."
"Okay, I'll make squirrel-shaped mandarin fish."
"I know~"
Chen Hongxian reluctantly got up.
At midnight, Chen Chunan was forced to stop his practice after only half an hour.
But I was full of energy and couldn't sleep, so I couldn't help but think of the Journey to the West story I was talking about today.
The first chapter of Journey to the West: The spiritual root is conceived and the source flows out; the mind and nature are cultivated and the Great Dao is born.
The spiritual root here is the primordial, ethereal Qi, the ancestral Qi that gives birth to heaven, earth, humanity, and all things.
The Daoist name for it is Golden Elixir.
The three powers (Heaven, Earth, and Man) arise from one breath, and Heaven becomes clear through unity, Earth becomes tranquil through unity, and Man becomes intelligent through unity.
That is, the spiritual root is human. This is completely different from the spiritual root of this world.
How should one cultivate this spiritual root, or rather, the golden elixir? Although Chen Chunan is not a member of the Taoist sect, he had previously made a living by interpreting Journey to the West in the short video field, and had also studied the internal alchemy methods of the Taoist sect.
Or perhaps Journey to the West is actually a book of internal alchemy disguised as a tale of gods and demons, with the true author being the Immortal Changchun, and the actual book being compiled by later generations.
When Chen Chunan interprets the original work, he naturally has to use Taoist terminology to explain why Sun Wukong is called Jin Gong, why Zhu Bajie is called Mu Mu, and what the "Hun Shi Mo Wang" (a derogatory term for a demon king) is.
Even the knife in the hands of the mischievous demon king has a profound meaning.
When he realized that the spiritual roots of the two lifetimes were completely different things, a flash of inspiration instantly exploded in Chen Chunan's mind.
Why don't I try practicing internal alchemy?
Anyway, things have come to this point!
Internal alchemy is about seeking within oneself.
Humans are born with primordial Qi and acquire a postnatal body, but this postnatal body contains the great medicine for refining the golden elixir—essence.
By gathering the great elixir of the human body, allowing the elements of Kan and Li to interact, one can refine one's life force and cultivate the pure Yang elixir. Using this elixir to cultivate the Great Elixir, one can achieve the unity of the three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit, attaining the Dao and becoming a pure Yang, flawless celestial immortal—this is the method of internal alchemy.
In this world, the way to refine spiritual energy is to seek it outwards, using it to strengthen oneself, cultivate the Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation, and even transcend tribulation, ultimately achieving oneness and ascending to immortality.
In essence, it all comes down to cultivating one's nature and destiny. Since my hopes of seeking externally are slim, why not try seeking internally?
Chen Chunan was a man of action. When he thought about the possibility of another path of cultivation that did not consider "spiritual roots," he could no longer suppress his excitement.
The first chapter of Journey to the West tells the story of how the spiritual root is conceived and the source flows out, and how the mind and nature are cultivated to give birth to the Great Dao.
Only by cultivating one's mind and character can one restore one's spiritual root to its innate state, that is, to restore one's acquired body to its innate state.
When Wukong returned to Flower Fruit Mountain after attaining enlightenment, he thought to himself: When I left, my mortal bones and body were heavy; now that I have attained enlightenment, my body is light.
This is the manifestation of the acquired body returning to its innate state.
But to attain enlightenment, one must first understand one's own nature.
The most basic aspect of cultivating one's mind and character is to eliminate evil desires and cultivate oneself with righteousness.
The poem "The Perfect Union of Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings" says: "Memorizing the oral instructions is very beneficial; eliminating evil desires brings coolness and peace."
With too many distracting thoughts and a lack of concentration, how can one seek the Dao? One might as well just be an ordinary person and have children.
First, you need to know what you want.
Chen Chunan also knew a little bit about how to cultivate one's character, but of course, it was only a little bit.
After all, knowledge gained from books is never truly sufficient.
When it came to methods for concentrating the mind and eliminating distracting thoughts, Chen Chunan's first thought was visualization.
"I'm still a novice in the Dao, figuring things out on my own. I wouldn't dare to do anything reckless like the White Bone Contemplation; I'll just try the method of quiet observation first!"
Chen Chunan lay flat on the bed, closed his eyes, and began to empty his mind.
Perhaps it's the experience of eight years of arduous cultivation in this lifetime.
Chen Chunan cleared his mind in less than a quarter of an hour. He felt the previously empty and ethereal space suddenly burst into white light.
In an instant, the empty room was filled with light, and a bright moon shone in the sky.
This scene surprised and delighted Chen Chunan, but unfortunately, his mind wavered and he withdrew from the meditative state.
"I was supposed to visualize a person, but I unexpectedly visualized a bright moon instead? But the Vipassana practice is about visualizing the entire world, so this bright moon is a pleasant surprise."
Having already made a successful attempt, Chen Chunan quickly emptied his mind and began to meditate again.
The scene of the empty room filled with light and the bright moon hanging high reappeared, and Chen Chunan even vaguely saw a jade rabbit hidden in the moon, which made him yearn for it.
Fortunately, he quickly remembered that he also needed to visualize himself.
Chen Chunan calmed his mind and began by visualizing a human figure.
The character for "person" (人) is composed of two strokes, one left-falling and one right-falling, resembling a person's two feet, with the upper part reaching the sky and the lower part standing on the ground.
Only by being down-to-earth can one be a good person.
Soon, Chen Chunan unconsciously visualized a towering human figure in his mind.
This feeling of being grounded made Chen Chunan instantly realize that the empty and vague visualization space was no longer illusory.
On the contrary, it gave me a sense of security and stability.
Just as Chen Chunan was about to continue visualizing and sketching out the details, a feeling of mental exhaustion instantly pulled him out of the visualization space.
Chen Chunan knew that his mental state was insufficient to maintain the visualization, but he was quite excited to have succeeded on his first try.
You should know that in his previous life, he had tried visualization techniques before, but he could never calm his mind or empty his thoughts, so he couldn't even get started.
Some online videos claiming success in visualization left him confused, unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood.
I never expected to succeed in this world so easily!
The excitement didn't last long; Chen Chunan, exhausted, unconsciously yawned and drifted off to sleep.
While Chen Chunan was fast asleep, a group of uninvited guests had already arrived at the Tianmu Mountains.
The leader was an elderly man with white hair, accompanied by an arrogant young man and two middle-aged cultivators.
The arrogant young man was positioned in front of the two middle-aged cultivators, probably a key member of his clan.
The group's floating boat hovered above the Tianmu Mountains.
The other two middle-aged men also looked on as if it were perfectly natural.
The white-haired elder frowned slightly: "The Chen family is considered one of the stronger families among those who cultivate Qi. We shouldn't push them too hard. This year, we'll still accept 70% of the profits. Don't forget what happened to the previous family head!"
"Strong? A family without a single Foundation Establishment cultivator? The reason the former patriarch was involved was because no one expected the Sun family to secretly cultivate a Foundation Establishment cultivator."
The young man muttered something dismissively.
The white-haired old man frowned slightly. This great-grandson had decent talent and ability, but his temperament was still lacking and needed further training.
The young man then turned to the white-haired old man and asked, "Great-grandfather, did you foresee something? Why did you come to receive the tribute in person, and bring me with you? In previous years, didn't you just send anyone?"
The white-haired old man revealed a faint smile: "Although your great-grandfather's path to immortality has ended, my divination skills have never faded. Today, on a whim, I performed a divination, and the divination results indicate that someone extremely important to my Liu family has appeared in the southeast direction."
The young man was taken aback: "An extremely important person? Could it be that the Chen family has produced an extraordinary prodigy? We must pull this weed out in time."
The old man scoffed, "Hmph, what nonsense about a 'prodigy'! The Chen clan has always had its members watched closely, and no one has actually produced a 'prodigy' yet. The best they've had in decades is merely a three-elemental root. Besides, I divine the fate of my clan every year; no one from Falling Dragon Ridge who could threaten my Liu clan has even been born yet!"
The young man was confused: "If there's no immortal seedling, what other important person could there be?"
The old man glanced at the young man: "I spent ten years of my lifespan using the Heavenly Secrets Disc to obtain an answer—a woman whose name contains the character 'Ping' (萍). Marrying her would greatly bring prosperity to my clan. Naturally, I want to bring such a good thing to my own family. Why can't a woman who brings prosperity to our clan marry into our lineage?"