Chapter 12

Upon seeing his master signal him over, Xu Yan was immediately invigorated and rushed over excitedly.

“Master must have seen that I am only one step away from the Golden Bone level but have hit a bottleneck. He must be about to show me how to break through to the Golden Bone level!”

Excited, he approached Li Xuan and respectfully greeted, “Master!”.

“Mmm, you’ve managed to keep your enthusiasm and have been diligent in your training, very good!”

Looking at the excited face of Xu Yan, Li Xuan nodded in acknowledgment of his diligent training.

However, inside he sighed, “Those who aren’t too bright are the most persistent. Even though they don’t progress much in their training, they always remain committed and diligent. Truly admirable!”

“I have to admit… the lad is not bad as a disciple. It’s just that I’m no expert!”

Although Xu Yan was a bit slow and gullible, one must acknowledge his pursuit and persistence in training. This kind of determination was truly commendable.

“You have been training for some time now and have been practicing the horse stance for quite a while too. Today, your master will teach you something stronger.”

Li Xuan spoke with the gravitas of a strict master.

“Thank you, master!”

Xu Yan was brimming with excitement. He thought: Sure enough, master saw that I’ve hit a bottleneck in reaching the Golden Bone level and will now teach me better tempering methods.

“Watch closely!”

With this, Li Xuan twisted his body to a side, bent his knees, positioned one foot behind the other while squatting slightly. His hands were also one above the other, with one forward and the other backward. His left hand was in front of his lower belly, palm down, and his right elbow was bent upward till his palm was shoulder-height, palm facing upwards.

After striking the stance, he looked at Xu Yan and instructed: “You are to practice this horse stance next. Do you understand?”

Xu Yan followed his master’s stance, got into the horse stance, and nodded, saying, “Master, I understand!”

Li Xuan relaxed his stance, placed one hand behind him, and spoke: “This is a foundational stance. There are a couple of mantras that go with it. The more you comprehend, the better, it all depends on your good fortune.”

Just teaching a new horse stance seemed to monotonous. Let’s make up a mantra to go along.

Thinking so, Li Xuan slowly began: “Remember, the mantra is ‘Observe my true intent with a clear mind, make my Qi and blood as the dragon to mold a golden body.’ You must comprehend this thoroughly. If you can comprehend the mantra, you would be able to grasp its deeper meaning.”

Having said that, Li Xuan casually strolled off, both hands behind him, embodying the demeanor of an expert mentor.

At this moment, Xu Yan was beyond excited, mumbling repeatedly to himself, “Observe my true intent with a clear mind, make my Qi and blood as the dragon to mold a golden body… Truly profound, I must meditate on this!”

“This is definitely the secret to tempering the golden bone and even the jade bone. If I can understand this mystery, I will surely be able to temper the golden bone!”

At this moment, Xu Yan was entirely immersed in the “mantra”, forgetting everything else.

His mind was filled with the mantra. He repeated it again and again, trying to gain some insight from it.

However, despite the night passing, he had not experienced any insights!

“Too profound! I have already achieved such a high level of comprehension with bone tempering, such a deep understanding, and yet I still can’t comprehend its subtleties in such a short period.”

“As master said indeed, only if I can comprehend the mantra can I experience its profundity.”

“Xu Yan, you can do this! You can comprehend the mantra! You can surely temper the golden bone!”

Xu Yan constantly encouraged himself.

His gaze was firm, and he did not show any signs of defeat.

It’s been less than a day, and comprehending such a profound mantra in three to five days would be quite common.

…

Before heading to bed, Li Xuan came out to check and noticed that the foolish Xu Yan was still standing and mouthing the randomly made up mantra.

“Is this silly lad losing it?”

“I hope it doesn’t mess up his brain.”

He then spoke out: “It’s late, time to go to sleep!”

Xu Yan came to his senses abruptly and hastily bowed saying, “Yes, Master!”

Li Xuan nodded, his foolish disciple was somewhat dazed, but still obeyed him obediently – that was not a big problem.

If he had gone down a dead end, he would just need to persuade him and guide him a little.

With that in mind, Li Xuan went back to his room to sleep.

Xu Yan took a deep breath, thinking: “Inspiration comes with timing and inspiration, forcing it farther away. I almost got stuck in it and lost my focus.”

“Thank goodness Master woke me up!”

“Rest, build up my energy, recover my spirit, and continue tomorrow.”

“The technique is so profound, it’s not something I can comprehend overnight. I should be able to understand it in about three to five days. My talents as Xu Yan can’t be that bad!”

After figuring out, Xu Yan went to rest.

…

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Xu Yan, as always, practiced, gardened, fed chickens, raised rabbits, cooked, etc. His schedule did not change at all.

The only change was his horse stance posture.

But he was stuck at the culmination of the Bronze Bones stage, unable to take another step.

During his daily practice, he pondered on the “techniques” but was unable to grasp the intricacies within.

Three days have passed and he had gained nothing.

“If I can’t comprehend these two techniques, how can I temper my Gold Bones and make a breakthrough? How can I advance?”

“These are just the basics, the advanced techniques after the breakthrough will undoubtedly be more profound and elusive – how can I continue my cultivation?”

“Calm down, I cannot be restless! Master always says, don’t be impatient, don’t aim for unrealistic heights, stay grounded… I must have missed something.”

Xu Yan calms himself, allowing his heart to quiet down.

“Master said, having no women in mind during cultivation, such is a state of mind, this is to remove the biggest distraction… strong-minded men are always easily attracted by women, leading to distraction.”

“Master uses women as an analogy for the greatest distraction during cultivation, there must be a deeper meaning, this is his way of advising me not to indulge in distraction.”

“What is my distraction?”

Xu Yan extrapolated from the phrase “no women in mind during cultivation” to a series of profound meanings and then fell into deep thought.

If Li Xuan knew how well Xu Yan could extrapolate, he would definitely exclaim, this is not a case of a malfunctioning brain, but a case of an overly imaginative mind!

“My distraction… it’s cultivation, my mind is always thinking about cultivation, but does this count as a distraction?

“I understand!”

A light suddenly flashed in Xu Yan’s mind, and he had another epiphany.

“Cultivation is a pursuit, a belief, a will, and I just remained fixated on it, turning it into a distraction!

“I should discard the obsession with the act of cultivation itself, focus on the present, forget about external distractions, forget about excessive perceptions…focus on the technique and delve into it indiscriminately…”

At this moment, it was as if Xu Yan had opened a skylight in his mind, with insights emerging endlessly.

The true meaning of the two techniques seemed to be shrouded in a thin veil at this moment, just needing a gentle poke to unveil the truth underneath!

“‘Understand the heart and observe oneself to cultivate true intention’, ‘understand the heart’ is self-awareness, ‘observe oneself’ is the comprehension of blood, observing the changes in blood, ‘cultivate true intentions’… is to nourish blood in the bones, deepen it in bone marrow, enable the transformation of blood, enable the sublimation of bone marrow…”

“I have a clear understanding!”

Xu Yan’s eyes shone brilliantly, and his face glowed with excitement.

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