Cultivation by Trial and Error

In the year 1993 of Blue Star, in Liuyuan County, Xiangnan Province of the Yanhuang Empire, alongside a small river near Wuyang Town Middle School.

Chen Hai sat cross-legged on the grass, carefully opening a Nameless Ancient Book he held in his hands.

"The position I speak of shall not be transmitted outside my family lineage."

The first page of the Nameless Ancient Book started with this phrase, followed by a name—Heavenly Master Zhang.

The characters were written in small seal script, a common script in Taoist texts.

Chen Hai, with a newly purchased book on ancient language, compared texts for a long time until he thoroughly recognized all the characters.

The meaning was, my skills shall not be passed on to anyone who is not of the Zhang family bloodline!

Chen Hai's surname was Chen, not Zhang; naturally, he did not possess the Zhang family bloodline.

The reference to "bloodline" by Taoism is not the genetic lineage referred to in modern genetics, but likely refers to something more mystical.

He had "borrowed" this ancient book from Limp Zhang, a village religious con man.

Heavenly Master Zhang was none other than the famous founder of the Zhengyi Path from Dragon and Tiger Mountain.

Although Chen Hai was a poor student, he had heard the name Heavenly Master Zhang before.

"Since this Taoist Book was handed down by Heavenly Master Zhang, it must contain profound mysteries. If I could fully understand it, it would definitely benefit me greatly!"

Thinking thus, Chen Hai felt a surge of joy.

With the help of a few other books he bought, comparing modern and classical texts, he continued his studies.

"Man can resonate with all creatures because their eyes can perceive all colors, ears can hear all sounds, nose can sense all smells, and mouth can taste all flavors. Sound, color, smell, and flavor are the bodies of all things..."

Even with the books for comparison, Chen Hai could recognize most of the words in the ancient book, but he still found the meanings elusive and difficult to grasp.

Time flies quickly when one is engrossed in something.

Having organized all his books, Chen Hai slightly closed his eyes, lying on the soft grass beside the river.

Passages from the Taoist Book flowed through his mind; he pondered continuously, hoping to extract some understanding from them.

Unknowingly, the sunset dipped below the horizon, and darkness enveloped the sky.

"If it continues like this, could it be I'll never understand anything from it in my lifetime?"

"Could it be because I don't have Zhang family bloodline that I find this so difficult?"

His head spinning with confusion, Chen Hai still failed to gain any insight.

During school, textbooks on subjects like language, math, and foreign languages would make him sleepy and his mind would wander the moment he touched them.

However, now he felt no discouragement at all.

After all, he had Heavenly Master Zhang's resounding name to inspire confidence in the book.

Moreover, Chen Hai knew clearly that Limp Zhang had genuinely developed some skills by practicing from this book.

"If I can't understand the whole book at once, then I'll take it section by section. I refuse to believe I can't match up to Limp Zhang!"

This stubbornness in Chen Hai surfaced; he gently massaged his temples to clear his mind a bit.

Without blinking once, he continued to immerse himself in the difficult text.

The Nameless Ancient Book started with a few paragraphs which are the general outline of the book— they didn't contain profound teachings, and seemed to just describe the stages of initiation into Taoism, not too difficult to understand.

Focusing intently on these paragraphs, Chen Hai began to grasp some of their meanings.

Cultivation is essentially cultivating the mind; whether for Taoism or Buddhism, utilizing the Visualization Technique is essential to cultivate the mental state.

Buddhists visualize specific Buddhas as their objects of focus, while many sects in Taoism visualize the founding patriarchs of their own sects.

Of course, there are also cultivators who use other objects like the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin, or famous mountains and rivers.

Contemplating their essence, retaining it in the mind; if successful, the cultivator could acquire certain characteristics of the visualized entity.

Ordinary objects, devoid of any essence, used as visualization targets will lead one nowhere after a lifetime of practice.

Real disciples within Taoism, those officially listed, are like having registered in front of the patriarch.

With this slight connection, they could visualize their patriarch and most likely receive an enhancement of essence.

As for those learning from unofficial routes, while not impossible, the chances of achieving anything substantial are extremely slim.

Limp Zhang, having developed some miraculous abilities, undoubtedly owed this to his Zhang family bloodline.

As for Chen Hai himself, he definitely came from an unofficial path.

"If the objects of visualization truly exist, where do they exist?"

"Besides the real world, could there also be a Spirit Realm? Places like Heaven and Hell, the Underworld and Heavenly Court, would all fall within the scope of the Spirit Realm?"

"If that's the case, the creatures in the Spirit Realm would probably fall into two major categories; one born from falsehood, either from faith or the aggregation of various emotions."

"The other category would be the native inhabitants of the Spirit Realm, like the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin, which are immensely powerful by nature and can shuttle between the Spirit Realm and the real world; the so-called atmospheric creatures by the scientific community likely belong to this latter category."

"When visualizing, one aims for a state devoid of thoughts; continuing in this state, a person would quickly enter a trance-like state."

"Could it mean that during such a state, one's magnetic field changes, and upon reaching a certain frequency, it could touch the existence of the Spirit Realm, seeing some unfathomable entities?"

...

Chen Hai didn't like to use his brain while studying.

But now, countless thoughts and peculiar ideas surfaced in his mind.

Truly speaking, these thoughts weren't all just wild imaginings; some did have a basis in reality.

For instance, as people age and come closer to the end of their lives, it's as if they begin seeing hallucinations, often encountering all manners of strange visions.

Similar incidents in reality, he had heard plenty.

Applying his theory, as death approached, the magnetic field frequency changed, allowing a fragile contact with the Spirit Realm, where one could see strange things and hear strange occurrences.

The existence of the Spirit Realm was incomprehensible to ordinary people, and modern science could not explain it, but this did not mean it did not exist.

At the end of science was theology, and the more one understood, the more one felt that many things simply could not be explained by science; late in their careers, many scientists turned to study theology.

"Why not give it a try? What if I'm lucky enough to touch the unique frequency of the Spirit Realm, wouldn't the goals of my visualization be resolved?"

"But how can I enter that kind of trance?"

Tilting his head, Chen Hai pondered for a long time until he thought of betel nuts.

People in his area, many of them liked to chew on that stuff.

Chen Hai had tried it once; he had chewed a single betel nut, and as a result, he felt dizzy and hazy for quite some time.

A few minutes later, he went to a small shop some dozen meters away, spent a day's living expenses, bought a small package of betel nuts, and returned to the riverside.

One, two, three...

Chewing several betel nuts, his face flushed and his head spinning fiercely.

He forced himself to remain calm, and, following the visualization posture from the ancient books, he started sitting cross-legged, trying to let his spirit fall into that trance state.

Time passed bit by bit, and the night had grown deep; a crescent moon, unknowingly, had already hung high in the sky.

Under the cover of night, everything appeared vague and blurry.

In a dreamlike, half-aware state, Chen Hai, surrounded by darkness,

saw a huge, flat-bodied monster hovering in the sky in a zig-zag shape, its body was dark green, interspersed with some brown stripes.

Ten massive eyes arrayed in a U-shape, with suction cups at either end appearing utterly fearsome.

This monster, at just one glance, instilled an involuntary sense of dread.

"Pfft..."

The moment he saw the monster, darkness swept over Chen Hai's vision, and blood began to seep from the corners of his eyes.

At the same time, countless pieces of information, in a way he simply could not understand, flooded into his mind, making him feel as if his head might explode.

Gasping like a bull, Chen Hai collapsed.

His whole body soaked in cold sweat; he was like someone who had just climbed out of water.

Lying on the ground, he did not know how long he had lain there before he finally regained some strength and his vision cleared.

"Is that a creature from the Spirit Realm? So terrifying? Just one look almost cost me my life?"

Still somewhat frightened, Chen Hai lifted his head and looked towards the sky.

The sky was clear with sparse stars; no sign of the monster remained.

Taking a deep breath, he quietly recalled the information that had surged into his mind.

The flow of information was bizarre and disorderly, utterly unstructured.

To that terrifying creature, Chen Hai was as insignificant as an ant.

The information he received was not actively transmitted by the monster, but merely some mystical emissions naturally exuded by its body.

Chen Hai vaguely felt that if he could comprehend and assimilate that information, his cultivation of Taoist Skill might not be as clueless as it was now.

"Not good, it's almost midnight, I've missed the time for evening self-study at school!"

Unintentionally raising his hand and seeing the time displayed on his wristwatch, Chen Hai slapped his forehead, his facial expression suddenly changed.

A few days ago, he had a severe illness.

The hospital could not cure it, and they said there was a high chance he would become a vegetable.

His successful awakening was, oddly enough, thanks to the religious con man, Limp Zhang.

Strangely, the illness that the hospital could not cure was addressed by Limp Zhang simply jumping around and muttering for a while, then suddenly slapping Chen Hai on the forehead.

Unconscious for over a day, Chen Hai only remembered a flash of golden light, then he sprang up from the bamboo bed.

This afternoon, Chen Hai had just rushed back to town; he had planned to return to his dorm during the time school let out and officially start classes tomorrow.

But now, in this situation...

"Forget it, might as well go around to the back of the school and climb over the fence to the dormitory!" Chen Hai thought silently.

Wuyang Town Middle School, its main gate was close to the street.

Behind it were mountains; it was dark and desolate at night.

Walking on the rough path overrun by weeds, a spot of firelight caught Chen Hai's eyes.

"At this time, someone is still going up the mountain?"

Suspicious, he thought that the spot of firelight should be someone moving forward while smoking.

But somehow, although he clearly intended to climb over the back fence of the school to return to his dorm,

now he seemed confused, following the firelight continuously.

Suddenly, the firelight disappeared, and he was jolted awake abruptly.

Looking down, he was at the edge of a cliff; one or two more steps would send him plummeting down.

Chen Hai broke out in a cold sweat and was about to hurry back.

But at that moment, he felt a force on his back, and he soared up as if riding the clouds.