Stop grinding, I'm really just a free spirit.

Chapter 20 Breaking Through

Once the dantian is full of qi, the next step is to "circulate the river chariot".

"After reaching this stage, one must be extremely cautious, because this method requires gathering the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit in the whole body and merging them with spiritual energy."

Chen Bai paused for a moment, recalling Fairy Yueyi's description of this realm: "When the true yang arrives and the spiritual awareness is reached, one can then urge the spiritual energy to flow upwards along the Du meridian, using the method of 'River Chariot Circulation,' passing through the three gates of 'Coccyx,' 'Spine,' and 'Jade Pillow,' before entering the 'Niwan'..."

Then it enters the Ren meridian, forms a magpie bridge, descends the twelve-story tower, and returns to the Dantian water palace.

The spiritual energy enters the Ren meridian from the Du meridian, and this process takes one cycle.

Meanwhile, the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit are forged and refined in this process, gradually merging with spiritual energy.

"However, every step along the way is extremely dangerous; the slightest misstep can lead to qi deviation. Most rogue cultivators lacking proper training perish here, failing to break through their barriers, suffering backlash from their qi and blood, exhausting their three treasures, and losing their cultivation cauldrons..."

Chen Bai frowned slightly, becoming cautious.

He retrieved the *Taixi Jing* (Scripture on Fetal Breathing) again and found the section discussing this point. The scripture provides an explanation of this section.

There are three types of carts, which are metaphorically represented by three carts: a sheep cart, a deer cart, and an ox cart. At first, one walks carefully and cautiously, like a sheep cart; then one runs swiftly with large strides, like a deer cart.

The final of the three passes, with its impenetrable iron walls, requires a powerful and ferocious charge, like an oxcart struggling against the wind.

"The key to controlling the heat is to neither forget nor assist it. It is like a hen incubating eggs, or a dragon nurturing a pearl."

"Never forget, never help." Chen Bai silently repeated these four words several times, as if he had gained some understanding.

The meaning of these four characters is quite clear. "Wuwang" means not to forget the timing of the fire and let it go out; "Wuzhu" means not to add fuel to the fire and be impatient for success.

Just like a hen incubating eggs, she has to stay on the eggs all the time and can't leave them, but she can't press them down either; she can only gently nurture them with her body heat.

"Easy for you to say."

Chen Bai gave a wry smile, drank a few Bigu pills with water, and then silently regulated his breathing, beginning his first attempt at circulating Qi through the body.

Within his dantian, the ball of spiritual energy, resembling lead pellets and liquid mercury, floated quietly.

Once the true yang energy arises in stillness, he immediately uses the innate spiritual light as a guide to release the restriction on the spiritual energy in his dantian that is about to escape, and slowly moves it upwards along the Du meridian.

As soon as the spiritual energy entered the coccyx, a feeling of soreness and distension rose from the coccyx.

He steadied his mind and continued to push the spiritual energy upward, passing through the first hurdle without any obstacles.

When passing through the Mingmen point, the soreness turned into a sharp pain, as if a red-hot iron rod was slowly stirring inside the spine.

As the spiritual energy ascends along the Du meridian and reaches the second point, the "Jiaji" point, the stinging pain transforms into a tingling, itchy sensation, as if countless ants are crawling between the bones.

The spiritual energy that had been condensed and gathered was no longer strong and even showed signs of dissipating.

Fortunately, he had a profound foundation and abundant spiritual energy in his dantian. He used the "Deer Cart" method from the Fetal Breathing Sutra to forcefully draw upon his essence and blood as fuel, and used his innate spiritual light to condense and gather the spiritual energy that was on the verge of dissipation. He took large strides and quickly passed through this critical point without any major incident.

Upon reaching Yuzhen Pass, the spiritual energy suddenly stagnated.

Chen Bai felt as if an invisible hand was pressing down on the back of his head, and the spiritual energy was swirling and turning in front of the Jade Pillow Pass, unable to break through no matter what he did.

"This is the 'Iron Wall' Jade Pillow Pass."

This Jade Pillow Pass is the most difficult of the three passes of the Governing Vessel, known as the "Iron Wall." Countless cultivators have tried to guide their Qi here, only to be blocked.

If one lacks the strength to continue and forces oneself to break through, the consequences can range from dizziness to mental impairment.

"Do not force it."

Chen Bai suppressed his impatience and focused his mind on the Jade Pillow Pass, quietly nurturing it.

This gentle care lasted for five whole days. Five days later, he felt a slight burning sensation at the back of his head, as if something had melted.

The long-awaited spiritual energy, mixed with the gathered essence and blood, surged forth.

Chen Bai's eyes flashed, knowing that this was a crucial moment to gamble everything. He quickly poured all the boiling blood and energy in his body into the attack, with his innate spiritual light taking the lead, like a celestial general wielding an axe and displaying great power in the pass.

With the help of many, the Jade Pillow Pass, known as the "Iron Wall," finally cracked open, allowing streams of spiritual energy to flow up from the dantian and provide continuous support.

"Bang!"

There was only a silent, muffled thud.

The spiritual energy finally crossed the Jade Pillow Pass and reached the Baihui point.

The cycle of the universe is complete!

Chen Bai opened his eyes, let out a long breath, and found that his back was soaked with sweat.

Although it was only the simplest cycle of the Heavenly Cycle, it meant that he had officially stepped into the threshold of the "Cycle of the River".

"After breaking through the three barriers, the obstacles have been removed."

He muttered to himself, "From now on, my Ren and Du meridians are open. I will refine my three treasures and spiritual energy into a [dan seed]. I just need to follow the steps."

Only fifty days had passed, less than two months, and Chen Bai was only a matter of time before he could master fetal breathing and become a fetal breathing cultivator.

Chen Bai did not continue the cycle of Qi circulation.

Several days of intense training and nurturing had left his meridians aching slightly, a sign that their short-term capacity was reaching its limit. Continuing to force himself to cultivate would likely damage his very foundation.

"I'll take advantage of this free time to study those spells."

He picked out the one with the inscription "Ge Xianweng's Illumination Technique" from the pile of jade slips, and with a flash of spiritual light, he began to read it carefully.

"This technique is said to have been created by Ge Hong of the Ge family of the Immortal Clan. It uses the light from the forehead as a lamp to illuminate the most obscure places, allowing one to observe the flow of spiritual energy, discern the cultivation level of a cultivator, and discover concealment techniques..."

The method itself is not complicated.

Essentially, this technique involves using the spiritual consciousness of a cultivator practicing fetal breathing to infuse their eyes, constructing a "Illumination" talisman within the pupil, and then sensing the mysteries of their own fetal breathing to explore their surroundings.

Generally speaking, the stronger one's spiritual awareness, the wider the range of exploration.

But here is the problem.

The opening of this method clearly states: "This method requires the guidance of spiritual consciousness. Those who have not yet achieved embryonic breathing or whose spiritual consciousness has not yet arisen should not practice it."

[Spiritual Consciousness].

That's something that only transforms into from the innate spiritual light after the dantian sprouts and embryonic breathing is achieved. Right now, his dantian hasn't even sprouted, so where would he get spiritual consciousness?

Chen Bai put down the jade slip and frowned as he pondered.

"The Dharma talks about the functions of spiritual consciousness in three ways. First, it is to sense the fetal breathing; second, it is to imprint a 'microscopic talisman' in the pupil; and third, it is to maintain the operation of this talisman."

He analyzed them one by one.

"In this first step, before the embryonic breathing is established, spiritual energy can be used as a substitute, and innate spiritual light may not necessarily be unable to replace spiritual consciousness."

Although spiritual light is not as condensed as spiritual consciousness and cannot be emitted outside the body, its essence should be the same.

"Engraving a subtle talisman... that's my specialty. I can even draw a Qi-gathering talisman, so theoretically, constructing a simple spiritual talisman isn't impossible. It's just that drawing talismans uses a talisman brush and spiritual ink, while engraving a subtle talisman uses spiritual light."

"The most difficult step is the third step—maintaining the operation of the talisman."

Spiritual awareness can be continuously projected outwards, but spiritual light can only be kept internally. Once the spiritual light returns to the center of the brow, the talisman will lose its support and immediately dissipate.

Unless... I don't withdraw the light, and instead let it remain in my pupil indefinitely.

The moment this thought popped into Chen Bai's head, he was startled.