Chapter 14: Tiancheng Yuanbao

A warm hand rested on my shoulder. I knew it was my master. He looked at me with concern, and blood was still on the corner of his mouth.

He didn’t ask me if the talisman had formed, but just looked at me worriedly. I wiped the blood from my nose and said to my master, “Master, it’s done. Guan Yu has entered the talisman.”

The master smiled and said, “I don’t need to ask. I knew you could do it from the beginning.”

I smiled, although I felt very weak, but my heart was full of satisfaction. But the next moment, my brows were locked together, and my master, his face had turned a strange grayish white.

I don’t understand many advanced techniques, but I have basic common sense. I saw the problem at a glance and couldn’t help but shout, “Master, did you move your source power? This will shorten your life!”

The so-called “original power” is the breath that qigong practitioners gather in the lower abdomen. They intentionally gather it, but the effect is minimal. It often takes years to gather a little bit of it in the lower abdomen.

This is the difficulty of practicing qigong, and this is why the internal martial arts have been lost. There is a great similarity between the two.

This breath also has another name, called essence. Everyone contains the essence of life. To put it bluntly, this essence is a breath of innate vitality. In the womb, the fetus is immersed in amniotic fluid and breathes with the mother. The breathing method used is the Taoist breathing technique, which is highly respected by Taoists. The breath obtained from breathing is the purest breath in the world. This breath is the vitality of the world, which is also the innate vitality of humans.

Those with sufficient primordial qi are naturally strong and healthy, and have a long life. Those with insufficient primordial qi are weak and have a limited lifespan.

A cultivator must refine the innate energy from the complex breath and nurture it in the lower abdomen, while also absorbing new breath.

There is a saying in Taoism, which is commonly said to be that the inferior way of eating is to eat grains, the medium way of eating is to eat pills, and the best way of eating is to eat qi.

It can be seen how difficult it is to eat qi. Unless you have reached the level of breathing in the womb, you cannot replenish your qi.

Moreover, it is extremely difficult to extract this innate vitality and nurture it in the dantian. As far as I know, the master first had to complete the extraction of all the innate vitality. Second, his qigong was not advanced enough to reach the state of breathing in the womb.

At this moment, in order to draw the talisman, he used his innate qi, so what else could it be but a reduction in his lifespan?

I was trembling all over. I couldn’t accept that my master’s life would be shortened by even a little bit. I wanted my master to live a long life. In an instant, my eyes turned red. It turned out that the fierce look on my master’s face when he was drawing the talisman was because he was preparing to use the essence in his lower abdomen. He had planned this long ago, didn’t he? No wonder the talisman worked so well later!

Master helped me up, but he was much more calm than I was. He said, “Sanwa, don’t worry about me. As a cultivator, you naturally know that pills can replenish your own energy and extend your life. This loss of life energy is nothing.”

I know what my master is saying. In ancient times, those who broke through the limits of human longevity were all people who were proficient in pharmacology and used herbal medicine to nourish themselves. It’s just that in modern times, resources are hard to find…

Master knew what I was going to say, and patted me on the shoulder, saying, “The pills that your Uncle Chen sent are very precious. Uncle Wang sent money, isn’t that also a resource? Besides, your master and I have a lot of treasures, you know that.”

Treasures? You’ve given me almost all of them! I know that.

When I thought of this, I suddenly felt a lump in my throat and burst into tears. My master held me down on a stool and said helplessly, “You’re so old, but you’re acting like a child. You and I are Taoists, and practicing qigong is also a way to prolong life. What does a year or two of life count for? Chen Chengyi, you’re a man, not a girl. Take it!”

I didn’t dare to cry, wiped away the tears, and my master actually became more and more disgusted with my weakness. I don’t know why? Besides, what my master said made sense. His qigong realm was already very profound, and it might be true that it could be recovered.

Seeing that I was no longer crying, the master took out a porcelain bottle, poured out the pills inside, gave me one, and swallowed one himself. I knew this pill. I had taken it when I was a child. It was carefully nourishing the spirit and was sent by Chengxin.

The silver talisman was given to Uncle Li by me. When Uncle Li took the talisman, his whole hand was trembling. Although he was a person who could read the lines of fate and the two meridians, he also knew some common knowledge about the mountain meridian and knew how difficult it was to make this silver talisman.

“It’s not just Master’s doing. Uncle Chen sent the medicine, and Uncle Wang sent the money. This is the thought of all of them.” I explained to him.

In the large office, there were only two people, me and Uncle Li. This was the first time I had come to this office building, and I found it convenient to talk. Moreover, this was something that Master had repeatedly emphasized that I should make clear to Uncle Li.

Uncle Li is a serious person, and his expression rarely changes. But at this moment, I clearly saw that his expression was really very rich, moving, angry, sad, and simply full of vivid expressions.

After a long time, Uncle Li carefully tucked the folded talisman into his breast pocket and said in a calm voice, “I am the oldest, but they have to take care of me. I appreciate their intentions, but when you get back, you should sew a red cloth bag and wrap the talisman in it.”

I found it a bit funny. Uncle Li tried his best to appear calm and composed, but the phrase “wrap it in cloth and seal it myself” betrayed him. I could hardly imagine such a dignified man sewing something with a needle and thread.

Seeing that everything was fine, I wanted to leave. I always felt very pressured when I was with someone as serious as Uncle Li.

Besides, I didn’t feel comfortable in this office building. You see, a few years ago, I was just a street thug.

But I didn’t expect Uncle Li to understand my feelings at all. He suddenly told me to sit down and wanted to talk to me.

What was he going to talk about? I always get nervous when I talk to Uncle Li. I always think of the last time he lectured me without saying a word, and I also feel that he is checking my cards. Can I be at ease?

But Uncle Li was very relaxed and asked me, “Where is the copper coin I gave you?”

Why did he suddenly ask about this? Speaking of this, I was still a little confused. When I took the copper coin back that day, I showed it to my master and asked what it was. What did my uncle mean by giving it to me?

To be honest, copper coins are also commonly used Taoist magic tools. Because coins are very popular, they have a natural restraining effect on evil things. Could it be that Uncle Li gave me a magic tool?

But after seeing it, my master laughed and said, “Take it with you and don’t let it out of your sight. A copper coin is of course a valuable thing that smells of copper.”

This master is really inexplicable.

At this moment, when Uncle Li asked, I couldn’t help but take out the copper coin from my pocket and said, “Here it is.”

Uncle Li was very surprised to see me pull the coin out of my pocket, then he looked at me with angry eyes as I casually threw the coin on the table. He looked at me very silently, and then I saw his hand tremble for the second time.

He slammed the table and shouted angrily, “If it weren’t for your tiger claws, your master would be helping you to purify your body, how could I possibly give you this coin? You treat it like this!”

I was stunned. What did I do? It’s just a copper coin, right? Uncle Li, is this really necessary? You can find copper coins everywhere, and you can buy them…

However, I also got a piece of good news that made me very happy. It turned out that my tiger claw was not lost in the Hungry Ghost Tomb. My master had actually picked it up and was nurturing it to purify it. The old man didn’t even tell me! He made me feel so sad for so long!

It seems that my master must have been hiding a lot of things from me in the Hungry Ghost Tomb!

I was lost in thought when I was suddenly brought back to reality by a roar: “You little brat, did you hear what I said? I’m really angry. Look carefully. This is a Tiancheng ingot, a Tiancheng ingot! This is a magical weapon that your master personally cultivated!”

What is a Tiancheng ingot? I froze! I heard Uncle Li’s voice become shrill with excitement, and I was sweating profusely.

I decided to say something, so I carefully opened my mouth and said, “Uncle Li, what is a Tiancheng ingot? This is a copper coin, how did it become an ingot? An ingot is gold or silver, right? Well, if the master has nurtured it, is it called an ingot?”

Uncle Li slapped his forehead and was almost fainted by my words. He muttered to himself, “You did it on purpose, or else your master did it on purpose. You must be ashamed of this, which is not as precious as the tiger claw.