The Quest for Immortality

The Qi Cultivation Realm is divided into three stages and nine levels; the early stage comprises the first to the third level, beyond which lies the middle stage of Qi Cultivation.

Mo Hua, already perfected at the third level of Qi Cultivation, was just a step away from breaking through to the middle stage.

After practicing the Heavenly Proliferation Technique, in just half a month, Mo Hua felt his Qi sea brimming, unable to refine spiritual power any further.

This signified that Mo Hua was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Typically, breakthroughs in cultivation require the preparation of special spiritual items from heaven and earth to stimulate the meridians and the Qi sea during the breakthrough, aiming to surpass the bottleneck and ascend in realm.

The Heavenly Proliferation Technique does not require the aid of special spiritual items for cultivation; therefore, it suffices to continue practicing.

Mo Hua spent most of his time drawing array patterns, setting aside an hour each day for seated meditation.

One evening, a few days later, as usual, Mo Hua was inscribing array patterns on the Dao Stele within his sea of consciousness when he suddenly experienced a surge of inspiration, causing a tumult in his Qi sea.

Mo Hua hastily exited his sea of consciousness, seated himself cross-legged on the bed, and took out two spirit stones, quietly absorbing the spiritual power.

In just a short while, Mo Hua felt all the acupoints throughout his body open, absorbing spiritual power much faster than usual. Soon, the spiritual power in the two spirit stones was completely absorbed.

Mo Hua felt a twinge of pain for the consumed spirit stones, yet was also delighted about his impending advancement to the middle stage of Qi Cultivation.

Mo Hua then took out a few more spirit stones and continued to absorb.

In his storage bag, Mo Hua had a few dozen spirit stones he had saved, along with nearly a hundred more given by his parents, knowing he was about to breakthrough but unsure of when it would occur, so they had him carry these as a backup.

These one hundred spirit stones would probably represent the income of a restaurant for half a month.

Mo Hua calmed his mind, maintaining a humble and patient demeanor as he slowly circulated his breath.

The spirit stones in his hands shimmered with a crystal blue light, which gradually dimmed until the spiritual power was completely depleted, turning them grayish-white.

One after another, after consuming nearly fifty spirit stones, Mo Hua’s Qi sea finally ceased its turmoil, and the spiritual power fed back into the meridians throughout his body, gradually thickening and stabilizing.

Just when Mo Hua thought he was about to successfully break through, some fine strands of spiritual power began to seep out from his meridians, meandering through smaller blood vessels and gradually converging towards the Baihui acupoint at the top of his head.

Mo Hua’s heart tightened.

What was this?

He had never heard of refined spiritual power uncontrollably leaking out and converging towards the Baihui acupoint!

The spiritual power didn’t actually converge at the Baihui acupoint, but rather, as it reached the Tianmen acupoint, it formed a thread-like structure, gradually weaving and stabilizing before slowly seeping inward into Mo Hua’s sea of consciousness.

Mo Hua suppressed the palpitations in his heart and sank his spiritual awareness into his sea of consciousness, only to discover some fine, light blue spiritual strands there.

These strands were intermittent and chaotic, resembling continuous spring rain or tangled strands of hair, weaving into a complex light blue spiritual screen.

Mo Hua was utterly stunned.

With his brief experience in cultivation, he had no idea what was happening.

Mo Hua tried to mobilize his spiritual power, finding it could circulate normally.

Mo Hua held a spirit stone, attempting to absorb spiritual energy for cultivation, but the spiritual energy passing through the sea of consciousness at the Tianmen point was automatically blocked, preventing the formation of a complete cycle, and thus could not be refined into spiritual power, could not accumulate in the Qi sea, and naturally could not enhance his cultivation level.

This meant that Mo Hua could no longer cultivate or advance his cultivation level.

Mo Hua gasped, murmuring, “What should I do now…”

Mo Hua lay back on the bed, his mind in turmoil. After a moment, he sat up, forcing himself to calm down:

“There’s a Dao Stele in the sea of consciousness, but I didn’t touch the Dao Stele during cultivation, so it shouldn’t be the problem.”

“If it’s not the Dao Stele, then it must be the technique.”

“There was no problem with practicing the technique, it’s an issue during the breakthrough.”

“When breaking through, spiritual power overflowed into the meridians, finally connecting to the sea of consciousness, forming a spiritual power

curtain.”

“The spiritual curtain blocked the complete cycle of spiritual power, thus preventing further cultivation. If the issue with the spiritual curtain is resolved, and it no longer forms an obstruction, the spiritual power can flow, and it won’t hinder cultivation.”

“So, the fundamental problem is resolving the spiritual curtain in the sea of consciousness…”

Mo Hua seized upon this critical point, then disregarded other factors, focusing solely on the spiritual curtain in his sea of consciousness. He sank his spiritual awareness into the sea of consciousness and carefully examined the intricate spiritual curtain.

The curtain was composed of light blue spiritual strands that seemed alive, freely and disorderly drifting, sometimes intertwining, sometimes separating, appearing disordered and inscrutable.

After watching for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Mo Hua collapsed back onto the bed.

He thought to himself, “What on earth is this spiritual curtain? I can’t make heads or tails of it…”

Mo Hua once again profoundly realized his lack of knowledge in cultivation.

There’s a saying that knowledge is the ladder of advancement for cultivators. Mo Hua wasn’t sure where he had heard this, but it seemed very apt at the moment.

Mo Hua began to recall all the cultivation knowledge he had encountered in his mind, to see if there was anything similar. But the more he thought, the more cluttered his mind became, the more it hurt, and he still ended up with no clue.

In a flash of insight, he suddenly remembered a line from the Heavenly Proliferation Technique:

“Not suitable for non-array masters.”

Mo Hua suddenly sat up.

Not suitable for non-array masters, then this technique must be related to array masters, and if it’s related to array masters, then could this spiritual curtain possibly be… an array?

He then remembered the previous line, “The bottleneck lies in the spiritual awareness.”

“The bottleneck lies in the spiritual awareness, not suitable for non-array masters.”

The bottleneck lies in the spiritual awareness because the spiritual curtain is the bottleneck, and the spiritual curtain is located within the sea of consciousness, not suitable for non-array masters because this spiritual curtain itself is an array, incomprehensible to those who are not array masters!

Mo Hua again sank his spiritual awareness into the sea of consciousness, closely observing the spiritual curtain in the sea of consciousness, discovering that although the spiritual strands looked disorderly, the interactions between them subtly formed array patterns.

However, as the spiritual strands continuously flowed, the array patterns also continuously changed, eventually solidifying into an array that was ever-changing and unfathomable.

Mo Hua had an epiphany.

Then he scratched his head.

This array… he had never seen it before either!

The array techniques he had learned included at most six array patterns, but the array patterns within this spiritual curtain were perhaps tens or hundreds.

What was even more terrifying was that these array patterns were continuously flowing and changing, ultimately forming arrays that Mo Hua couldn’t understand, and these arrays then continued changing into even more incomprehensible arrays…

Just looking at it made Mo Hua’s scalp tingle.

“Is this the ancient array technique practiced by ancient cultivators?”

“Is this the so-called bizarre and rare ancient technique?”

Mo Hua couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe in his heart, the wisdom of ancient cultivators truly extraordinary, just a Qi Cultivation stage technique making it so daunting.

He also silently mourned for himself; although he knew this technique was “bizarre and rare,” he hadn’t expected it to be bizarre and rare to this extent.

Mo Hua silently observed the spiritual curtain for a long while, feeling dizzy and headache-ridden, still clueless. Finally, he affirmed one realization:

On his own, he was completely helpless against this array curtain.

Recognizing his own helplessness was also a form of self-awareness.

Mo Hua sighed, “I’ll go ask Mr. Zhuang tomorrow.”

Relieved, Mo Hua covered himself with the blanket and fell soundly asleep.