Listening to his father's words, Jiang Fan felt like crying and laughing at the same time.
This change in temperament,
But your son risked his life to save you; he almost didn't make it back to see you alive.
Seeing that his parents were still wet, Jiang Fan said, "Mom and Dad, you should clean up and take a hot shower first. I've cooked dinner and it's still warming up on the stove. Have a bowl of hot food and rest well later, so you don't catch a cold. I'll go cook some vegetables first."
That's all.
Jiang Fan waved to his parents and walked towards the kitchen.
Watching Jiang Fan go to the kitchen and start working, his parents, whose faces were already wrinkled, smiled with relief. Their child was so sensible and the only one in the village to be admitted to a top-tier university. No matter how much hardship or fatigue they endured, it was all worth it.
Dinner was a simple home-cooked meal. Jiang Fan heated up a pot of rice porridge, adding a few candied dates he found in the refrigerator, which tasted sweet. For the side dishes, Jiang Fan smashed two cucumbers to make a cold dish, stir-fried some tomatoes and eggs, and steamed a few buns. After preparing everything, Jiang Fan served it to the living room.
The family enjoyed a pleasant dinner together.
Although I felt a chill in my body, my heart was warm.
After dinner, Jiang Fan insisted on letting his mother rest while he washed the dishes. He then went to the main room and chatted with his parents for a long time. His parents were always like this; they would have endless topics to talk about once their child came back from outside the courtyard.
It wasn't until around 10 o'clock that Jiang Fan returned upstairs.
Turn on the light.
She turned around, walked to the window, and pulled the curtains tight.
Jiang Fan walked to the desk, took out Uncle Jiu's book of Taoist insights from his pocket, placed it on the desk, picked up the paper and pen on the desk, and slowly and carefully turned the pages one by one, occasionally writing and drawing in his notebook.
There was no other way; Uncle Nine's records were simply too complicated, and there were a few traditional Chinese characters that Jiang Fan was unfamiliar with. Without highlighting the key points himself, it would really affect his reading comprehension.
"According to Uncle Nine's records, cultivation levels should be divided like this..."
Jiang Fan muttered to himself.
He held the pen and swung it with his right hand, and a line of neat handwriting appeared on the paper: "Fasten the mind, breathe in and out, guard the one, circulate the energy throughout the body, and enlighten the spirit."
Jiang Fan stood up, his brows slightly furrowed, and repeatedly read the five words that indicated the order of cultivation. His clear mind displayed a thinking efficiency several times stronger than before the college entrance examination, frantically trying to memorize and understand them.
"Only the Way gathers in emptiness, and emptiness is the fasting of the mind."
Having read a few pages of cultivation insights recorded by Uncle Nine, Jiang Fan had roughly figured out Uncle Nine's recording method. If he wasn't mistaken, Uncle Nine would first record a sentence from a book on Taoist cultivation, and then write his own annotations after that sentence.
Silently reciting the original words, Jiang Fan recalled the annotations that Uncle Nine had written below the original words and fell silent.
"The Great Way is supremely empty and still, therefore the human heart should be pure, empty and tranquil in order to be in harmony with the Great Way. The Taoist fasting method is not simply about outwardly eating vegetarian food; it is about inner peace and tranquility, which is called fasting of the heart."
Recorded by Uncle Nine.
If it were only the initial nine characters, Jiang Fan admitted that it would be difficult to truly understand the meaning of that sentence. However, with Uncle Jiu's insights and understanding, Jiang Fan only spent a few minutes to comprehend those nine characters.
"The purpose of 'fasting of the mind' should be to achieve inner peace. Only when the mind is at peace can one perceive the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."
Thinking of this,
Jiang Fan closed his eyes, trying his best to clear his mind and attempting to sense the legendary spiritual energy between heaven and earth.
Unfortunately, even after closing his eyes and meditating for over ten minutes, Jiang Fan still couldn't sense the legendary spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Instead, it seemed that he had a slight craving for spiritual nourishment when he closed his eyes last. The true energy flowing through his body seemed to have accelerated slightly. When Jiang Fan opened his eyes, he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.
Shake your head.
Jiang Fan continued recording the cultivation stages he had compiled from the book. The second stage, according to Uncle Jiu, was 'breathing and exhalation'.
"Blowing out breath, expelling the old and taking in the new, is all for the sake of longevity."
Jiang Fan seemed to understand a little about the records of the breathing stage. It meant that all kinds of breathing in the human body were for expelling the old and welcoming the new, with the aim of prolonging life.
But when Jiang Fan saw the record below Uncle Jiu, he suddenly realized that what he had thought before was not wrong, but that he had been deceived by the surface meaning of the sentence and had not truly understood its meaning.
"At the beginning of life, inside the womb, the fetus breathes and receives air from the mother through the umbilical cord. The fetus's air is connected to the mother's air, the mother's air is connected to the air of the universe, and the air of the universe is connected to the Great Harmony. There is no mouth or nose to use, but the Ren and Du meridians are connected to each other. This is called 'fetal breathing'. After birth, various changes occur, and the fetus becomes an ordinary person breathing."
The breathing technique aims to return to one's original state, like that of an infant, ensuring that breathing is rooted in the body, preserving one's innate energy, and solidifying the foundation of life. Only then can one proceed to higher levels of cultivation.
I see.
I see!
Jiang Fan's eyes had turned pitch black again without him noticing. He carefully studied the insights left by Uncle Nine, no longer standing up to imitate the trial as before, but understanding them at a speed he himself hadn't expected.
"After fasting and breathing exercises, one should guard the One, carry the spirit and embrace the One, and not let it depart from it. Concentrate the Qi to the utmost gentleness. I guard the One to dwell in harmony. I guard only the spirit, guard it without losing it, and become one with the spirit. Therefore, the sage embraces the One and becomes the model for the world."
The record ends here.
Jiang Fan clearly noticed that the records for the Shouyi cultivation stage were much more numerous than those for the previous two stages. He first pondered them carefully on his own, and only when he was almost there did he begin to record Uncle Jiu's records.
"The One Law is the foundation of all gods."
A person has a body, which is constantly in harmony with the spirit. The physical body governs death, while the spirit governs life. Constant harmony brings good fortune, while separation brings misfortune. Constant harmony is oneness, which allows for longevity. The method of guarding this oneness is one hundred days for minor stillness, two hundred days for medium stillness, and three hundred days for great stillness. After great stillness is achieved, this spirit can be seen.
After reading this record, Jiang Fan, who had been searching for a long time, finally found the meaning of "this god can be seen" in the book. According to Uncle Jiu's record, these four words mean that after a person successfully guards the Great Stillness, he can reach the cultivation stage of internal vision.
A shadow was cast on the curtain.
Feeling incredibly clear-headed, Jiang Fan couldn't stop. After finishing organizing Shouyi, he immediately looked at the content related to Zhou Tian.
"The Method of Circulating Qi and Moving Materials!"
Upon seeing this sentence, Jiang Fan was startled, because it was completely different from the sentences in the previous three stages. It consisted of only six words in a single line, and most importantly, there was a large exclamation mark after those six words!