Chapter Six: Land Immortals
1608 Words
In the Kitchen of the Land Immortal.
Fang Yi was starving. He opened the cupboard and saw that the middle shelf was full of dishes: braised pork, chicken soup, steamed fish, stir-fried vegetables, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes.
"Hmm, quite a feast!"
He quickly grabbed a bowl and scooped rice from the rice cooker.
The entire rice cooker was practically untouched, except for the little his mother had eaten at lunch.
His mother had a small appetite, usually only a small bowl.
He was truly starving, so he scooped out a large bowl and started eating.
In no time, he had finished a bowl of rice and a considerable amount of vegetables.
Normally, this amount would have filled Fang Yi up.
But today was strange; he felt nothing after eating such a large bowl of rice and vegetables, as if he had only eaten a biscuit.
He immediately got up and scooped out another large bowl.
Three bowls.
Six bowls.
Nine bowls.
In the end, he ate the entire rice cooker's worth of rice, plus four dishes and a soup, and was only half full.
"Could something be wrong with my body? Normally, eating this much pork would kill me, let alone a human!"
Fang Yi didn't feel full at all, but he was genuinely a little scared, wondering if he should go to the hospital.
Wait!
Isn't the state of consciousness beyond the physical body supposed to allow observation of all things?
Can I use my consciousness beyond the physical body to see what's wrong with my body?
Thinking this, Fang Yi let his mind transcend his physical body to examine his body, but when he did, he was surprised to find that his bodily functions seemed to have been paused, showing no signs of operation whatsoever, even his breathing had stopped.
No.
Not entirely stopped.
There was another part active.
Fang Yi clearly saw a vague, ethereal thing in his lower abdomen constantly "releasing energy," closely connected to his bio-energy field, seemingly maintaining his physical functions.
"Isn't this my Golden Core?"
He couldn't help but be stunned.
At first, Fang Yi wondered why cultivating the Golden Core seemed useless, but later he realized that the Golden Core wasn't useless; it only worked when his consciousness was beyond the physical body, providing energy for his mind.
It now seems that the Golden Elixir not only provides energy to the bio-energy field, but also provides energy when the bio-energy field separates from the physical body, preventing the body from becoming depleted of energy after "soul leaving the body."
"According to the Taoist term 'Master Chen's Inner Alchemy Manual,' my consciousness transcending the physical body is called 'soul leaving the body.' In reality, based on my observation of the energy field model constructed from the deity's image, there is no such thing as a 'soul.' Everyone's body has an energy field, and this energy field governs the body's actions. With the help of the Golden Elixir's power, I can make the bio-energy field separate from the body. Because of the Golden Elixir's energy support, I don't need to fear perishing like Old Miao, and thus I can see the real world."
Fang Yi suddenly understood, and at the same time, he secretly rejoiced that his soul hadn't been separated from his body for too long when his Golden Elixir was taken away, otherwise his body would probably have decayed.
However, a new problem arose.
Since the physical body stops functioning after the energy field separates from the body, making it impossible to observe the body's proper operation,
how could he observe it?
Fang Yi first withdrew his thoughts back to his physical body and sat there carefully considering the matter.
“Right, I could sense Aunt Wang’s prayers even in my physical body. The reason I could do that was entirely due to the energy field model I constructed within my own bio-energy field, just like the one on the statue. Could I use this model to observe my body?”
He decided to give it a try.
However, he couldn’t mobilize the power of his bio-energy field in his physical body, so this method seemed impossible.
“Since the Golden Core can provide energy to the bio-energy field, could it provide energy to the constructed model to make it function?”
Fang Yi tried to mobilize the energy of the Golden Core, but the Golden Core was an ethereal energy cluster, and without entering the state of astral projection, he couldn’t control it at all.
“Let’s try to see if I can mobilize the power of the Golden Core in a cultivation state.”
Fang Yi had no other choice but to suppress his inner thoughts and enter a cultivation state.
He recalled the contents of the cultivation technique: Heavenly One True Water, hidden in the gallbladder, Yin and Yang in harmony, descending to become a pill, shaped like a dewdrop, mountains and rivers, the universe permeate the spiritual body… Vast Qi fills the universe, bitter smoke curls up the tower…
Immersed in the cultivation state, Fang Yi felt a surge of heat flowing within his body.
"As expected, this heat is the power I've channeled through my Golden Core, also known as Dan Qi."
Fang Yi infused this power into the constructed divine statue model.
The next moment, he felt the model come alive once more.
With the help of the model, Fang Yi could clearly see everything around him.
However, unlike his state of mind transcending his physical body, he couldn't observe the universe.
But observing his internal body was no longer a problem.
At this moment, he clearly saw energy generated in his kidneys, successfully absorbed by the Golden Core.
Immediately afterward, the Golden Core transmitted energy that activated various bodily functions.
Especially his stomach, which secreted a large amount of gastric acid, rapidly dissolving food and converting it into strands of another kind of energy that entered the kidneys, then was converted back into the energy he had previously seen and absorbed by the Golden Core.
"Huh? So that's why my digestion is so fast."
Fang Yi roughly understood what was happening.
The Golden Core needs energy to maintain itself, and this energy comes from the kidneys.
The kidneys' energy isn't generated out of thin air; it needs to be absorbed from the outside,
such as through food.
"I remember that Taoist cultivation places great emphasis on nurturing innate essence. Taoism points out that innate essence is inherited from parents, is present at birth, and is the original substance for reproduction and the formation of the human body. It is also called the innate true seed. According to Taoism, the innate true seed does not generate innate essence out of thin air; after birth, it needs to be continuously replenished by acquired essence to grow stronger."
Fang Yi kept recalling the information about innate and acquired essence.
"Acquired essence is also called the essence of the five internal organs and six bowels. It comes from the essence of food and water, and is transformed by the spleen and stomach to nourish the five internal organs and six bowels. Food and water enter the stomach, are digested by the stomach, and transported by the spleen to generate the essence of food and water, which is then transported to the five internal organs and six bowels to become the essence of the organs and bowels."
He blinked.
This introduction was a little different from what he had just seen.
Because Fang Yi had just seen the essence produced after the food he ate was digested was directly absorbed by the kidneys, then transformed into innate essence, and then successfully absorbed by the golden elixir.
"No wonder I've been feeling hungry and tired all day. It turns out all my energy was converted into innate essence and absorbed by the Golden Core, so my body isn't getting enough nutrition."
"It seems there's nothing wrong with my body, I'm just not eating enough."
Fang Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, another thought occurred to him, "Since I can control the power of my Golden Core in my physical body, can my physical body also unleash extraordinary power?"
He decided to try it.
Fang Yi once again immersed himself in cultivation, channeling the energy of his Golden Core.
He guided this power to his palm, then carefully observed it, finding nothing unusual about his hand.
However, he could feel a powerful force surging through his palm, as if it could split mountains and shatter rocks.
Unsure if the feeling was correct,
he decided to test it on something.
Fang Yi looked around the room.
Finally, his gaze settled on a piece of firewood.
He picked up the wood and gently swung his hand diagonally at it.
The next second, with a clang,
the wood was severed from his palm and fell to the floor!
Most importantly, Fang Yi didn't feel he had expended much energy!
Yes, it felt like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut!
He first withdrew his energy, then squatted down to pick up the wooden strip and examined the cut surface. He found it was neatly cut, with charred ash still clinging to it, as if the wooden board had not only been cut by an incredibly sharp "knife" but also ravaged by endless heat.
"Hiss, this is terrifying! If I were to cut someone with this blade, would they be alright?"
At this moment, Fang Yi finally understood the power of a "Golden Core cultivator." No wonder those who cultivated to the Golden Core were called terrestrial immortals in ancient times!
- Writer
