Chapter 37: Dharma Method

*The Crimson Flame Manual* was obscure and profound, every word a gem. Fortunately, Chen Yuan had studied a hundred volumes of Daoist scriptures under an old Confucian scholar, and his thoughts were far clearer than those of an ordinary person. After careful study, he slowly began to grasp its mysteries.

According to the records in *The Crimson Flame Manual*, the cultivation realms of a practitioner, from lowest to highest, are Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Severing.

There should be even higher realms beyond these, but *The Crimson Flame Manual* remained vague on the matter.

When a cultivator practices, they must refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, contain it within their dantian, and transform it into magic power, continuously purifying and solidifying it; this realm is known as the Qi Refining stage.

The Qi Refining stage is divided into ten levels, further split into early, middle, and late stages. Every three levels, one encounters a minor bottleneck; upon breaking through, there is a qualitative leap in strength.

Upon reaching the tenth level, one encounters a major bottleneck; only after breaking through this can one enter the Foundation Establishment stage.

To Chen Yuan's disappointment, cultivators in the Qi Refining stage could only use their internal magic power superficially—they could manipulate objects from a distance, but they could not fly through the sky or traverse the earth.

The young man in black, carrying him on a leaf-shaped magic tool while riding the clouds, possessed a cultivation level of at least the seventh level of Qi Refining, yet he still appeared strained, which explained his grim expression upon landing.

Only after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, when the magic power within a cultivator's body becomes liquefied, can they fly through the air without the aid of a magic tool, possessing strength far surpassing that of a Qi Refining cultivator.

*The Crimson Flame Manual* also contained records on how to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, but they were extremely cryptic; even after reading it over a dozen times, Chen Yuan remained completely ignorant of the method.

The manual also listed ten spells, but since Chen Yuan had no magic power in his body, he could not learn them for the time being and could only set them aside.

For him, the most important thing right now was to practice martial arts diligently until he reached the peak of the *Huajin* stage, then transform his internal *Qi* into magic power, using this opportunity to strike at the bottleneck of the early Qi Refining stage.

According to *The Crimson Flame Manual*, the Martial Dao was a method created by ancient cultivators out of compassion for mortals, simulating cultivation techniques by changing the refinement of heaven and earth's spiritual energy into magic power into the refinement of one's own blood and *Qi* into internal *Qi*.

Since then, mortals without spiritual roots were able to practice martial arts to strengthen their bodies, hunt fierce beasts, and guard villages and towns, gradually growing in strength.

However, the Martial Dao was merely a minor path, and the blood and *Qi* of the human body was far inferior to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The peak of the Martial Dao was only the *Xiantian* stage, barely comparable to a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

However, a martial artist possessing a spiritual root could utilize the commonalities between the Martial Dao and the Immortal Dao to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, converting their internal *Qi* into magic power and thus bypassing the arduous labor of starting cultivation from scratch.

The success rate of this method was extremely low, requiring immense risk; a single slip could result in immediate death.

But no matter how great the risk, this was still tremendous news for Chen Yuan.

According to *The Crimson Flame Manual*, the aptitude of a cultivator is divided into Heaven-grade, Earth-grade, True-grade, and Pseudo-grade spiritual roots, with varying speeds of absorbing spiritual energy.

A Heaven-grade spiritual root is a single-attribute root and possesses the best aptitude; the cultivation speed is incredibly fast, and one will not encounter any bottlenecks until the Nascent Soul stage, making them a once-in-a-century genius.

An Earth-grade spiritual root is a dual-attribute root, which includes the three mutated roots of lightning, ice, and wind; its aptitude is slightly inferior to Heaven-grade, and one will not encounter any bottlenecks before the Golden Core stage, making them relatively rare in the cultivation world.

A True-grade spiritual root is a triple-attribute root, one step inferior to Earth-grade; one will not encounter any bottlenecks before the Foundation Establishment stage, and they are relatively common in the cultivation world.

Pseudo-grade spiritual roots consist of four or five attributes; they are the most common type of cultivator in the cultivation world and possess the worst aptitude. Without great fortune, it is nearly impossible to reach the Foundation Establishment stage.

In particular, cultivators with five-element pseudo-grade spiritual roots have cluttered internal roots, making their absorption of spiritual energy extremely slow. If they practiced according to the standard path, they would never be able to break through to the late Qi Refining stage.

And Chen Yuan was a five-element pseudo-grade spiritual root cultivator. If nothing changed, he would waste his entire life in the Qi Refining stage, eventually turning into a pile of white bones after a hundred years, his life and Dao extinguished.

He was willing to risk everything, facing life-and-death struggles, only to be met with such a cruel reality.

If it were anyone else, their will would likely have crumbled long ago, leaving them unable to rise again.

But Chen Yuan did not fall into despair; he simply brushed it off with a smile and turned his entire focus to practicing martial arts.

Chen Yuan had already died once in his previous life, and the fear of death was deeply etched into his heart.

When the opportunity for immortality was laid before him, he would not give up, no matter how many hardships or obstacles stood in his way.

Even if he were to die, he would die on the path of cultivation.

Furthermore, the method of converting *Qi* into magic power could save a vast amount of cultivation time, increasing his chances of breaking through the late Qi Refining bottleneck.

No matter how dangerous this path was, he was determined to walk it.

...

After reading *The Crimson Flame Manual* carefully twice, Chen Yuan gained a deeper understanding of the method to convert *Qi* into magic power. Returning to the courtyard, he assumed a stance and continued practicing the Six Yang Palm to accumulate his internal *Qi*.

He had not slackened even once while trekking through the mountains, and now that he had settled down, he would not waste a single moment.

An ordinary martial artist accumulating *Qi* consumes their internal blood and *Qi*; they can practice martial arts for a maximum of two hours a day, and even with medicinal pills, they can only practice for one additional hour.

If they practiced for longer, their blood and *Qi* would be depleted, damaging their physical body—a net loss.

But after undergoing the infusion of starlight, Chen Yuan's physical body was powerful, and his internal blood and *Qi* were far more active than those of other martial artists, allowing him to practice for six hours a day.

If he consumed an Essence Pill, his blood and *Qi* would become even more active, allowing him to practice for eight hours a day!

Chen Yuan was currently like a poor man standing before a mountain of gold but unable to find the entrance; his heart was filled with urgency and impatience, wishing he could spend all his time practicing martial arts, except for eating and sleeping.

He practiced until the late hours of the night, during the hour of the Ox, relying on his vigorous energy to sleep for only two hours. He would rise at the hour of the Rabbit, eat breakfast, and continue practicing.

However, after he had only practiced for half an hour, Luo Zhenwu personally came to his door to invite him to a three-entry courtyard residence.

The main gate of the courtyard was freshly painted red, and above it hung a newly made plaque with the words "Chen Manor" inscribed in gold.

Upon inquiry, Chen Yuan learned that after he had returned to his small courtyard the previous day, Luo Zhenwu had hired craftsmen overnight to renovate this manor and gift it to him.

Upon entering the grand residence, over a dozen people were waiting respectfully outside the main hall, including a butler, gatekeepers, servants, maids, and cooks—everything was in place.

Chen Yuan did not refuse and accepted them all with a smile, but he gave instructions that no one was allowed to enter the back courtyard.

Naturally, these servants did not dare disobey Chen Yuan's orders and complied one after another.

That evening, Luo Zhenwu invited several chefs from the Immortal Gathering Pavilion to prepare a banquet to welcome Chen Yuan and celebrate his promotion to Deputy Hall Master. All the Hall Masters and Deputy Hall Masters attended.

During the meal, Hou Yan suggested that, following tradition, they should invite all the various sects and factions of Yuzhou to celebrate Chen Yuan's breakthrough to the *Gangjin* stage to showcase the rising prosperity of the Tiger Subduing Gang, but Chen Yuan refused, stating he needed to focus on his martial arts and had no time for such matters.

To ensure he could practice martial arts steadily, he was even willing to trade a top-tier secret manual like the Six Yang Skill for medicinal pills; he cared nothing for mere fame.

Because of this, Luo Zhenwu and the other Hall Masters and Deputy Hall Masters truly began to feel close to Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan sought neither power nor fame, and he had even proactively offered up a divine martial manual; it seemed he was truly just a martial arts fanatic with no ulterior motives.

Luo Zhenwu immediately gifted Chen Yuan a thousand-refined long saber weighing a hundred pounds to serve as his weapon.

This was the limit of what could be refined from ordinary iron; the finest divine weapons were forged from extraterrestrial meteorites or rare mystical iron, which were worth a thousand pieces of gold.

Chen Yuan immediately put on an expression of profound gratitude, and Luo Zhenwu offered words of encouragement. Everyone joined in the praise, and for a moment, the atmosphere was incredibly harmonious.

After the banquet ended, Chen Yuan returned to his manor, where two personal maids were already waiting to attend to him.

These two maids were carefully selected from respectable families by Luo Zhenwu; they were slender, delicate, and skilled.

Having signed servitude contracts with the Tiger Subduing Gang and entered the Chen Manor, they belonged to Chen Yuan.

Despite Chen Yuan being smelling of wine, the two maids showed no disdain.

They changed his clothes and removed his boots with gentle movements and blushing faces.

Their slender hands occasionally brushed against Chen Yuan's chest and back, soft and smooth, stirring the imagination.

Chen Yuan took a deep breath and sat motionless.

Once the maids had changed him into light, breathable clothing, he dismissed them, rose, and went into the courtyard to practice his palm techniques under the starlight.

The presence of beautiful women reminded him of the revelry and luxury of his previous life, causing his mind to waver momentarily.

But as soon as desire arose, he forcibly suppressed it, refusing to let it cause even a ripple.

At this moment, Chen Yuan finally understood what the young man in black had said.

The path of cultivation is to act against heaven, to struggle for a single thread of chance, to contend with heaven, with earth, with men, and with oneself.

Contending with heaven and earth is easy; contending with men and oneself is difficult.

Cultivation is a lonely endeavor; only by maintaining a steadfast Dao heart and remaining undisturbed by the mortal world can one seize a sliver of opportunity.

...

Over the following month, Chen Yuan stayed indoors and practiced martial arts diligently, only seeking out the Hall Master of the Shennong Hall for two bottles of Essence Pills when his supply of medicinal pills was exhausted.

Since Luo Zhenwu had said the pills were available in abundance, he naturally did not stand on ceremony.

However, the Hall Master of the Shennong Hall could no longer remain silent.

When Chen Yuan came to request Essence Pills for the second time, the Hall Master gave him the pills but immediately went to Luo Zhenwu's manor to complain.

"Alliance Leader, Hall Master Chen comes to demand a bottle of Essence Pills every half month! He has only been back for a month and has already taken three bottles! One pill can sustain a *Gangjin* martial artist for five days of practice; ten pills in a bottle should last fifty days, but in his hands, it only lasts fifteen days!"

"The ingredients for Essence Pills are already precious and difficult to harvest, and the processing is extremely difficult with a very low success rate. In a good month, we only produce eight or nine bottles; in a bad month, only six or seven. Hall Master Chen alone uses two bottles, and we still have to supply several Hall Masters and Deputy Hall Masters and sell them externally. How can we manage?"

Luo Zhenwu smiled and said, "Hall Master Chen possesses divine strength and a powerful physique; it is only natural that his consumption is higher."

The Hall Master of the Shennong Hall shook his head repeatedly.

"Impossible! The medicinal power of Essence Pills is staggering. For an ordinary *Gangjin* martial artist, one pill every five days is the limit. No matter how strong his physique is, he can at most use one pill every three or four days. Using a whole bottle in fifteen days—he must be embezzling!"

Luo Zhenwu frowned and said, "If Hall Master Chen wanted silver, would he need to embezzle pills? Do not concern yourself with this matter. Continue to supply Hall Master Chen; it is not a big deal if we sell slightly fewer Essence Pills."

"This... fine! Since he offered up a top-tier secret manual and my Shennong Hall is benefiting from it, I will accept this loss!"

The Hall Master of the Shennong Hall left, looking deeply frustrated.