Chapter 378: 天地妙法

Qingsong Daoist and Qiwen stared blankly at the light emanating from the main hall of their temple. From the kitchen doorway, they could clearly see the stars on the temple's star banner also twinkling.

As a traditional Daoist temple that reveres only the stars of the heavens rather than any specific deity, the change in the star banner held profound significance for the two Daoists. It was akin to Buddhist monks witnessing a King of Wisdom statue emit divine light in their monastery.

They watched as the stars on the banner glowed one by one until all the radiance receded back into the banner, restoring it to the black cloth that had hung in the temple for years. Both Qi Xuan and Qiwen knew that this surely signified an extraordinary transformation.

"Master, do we have a chance to become immortals?" Qiwen asked.

Although Qiwen didn't understand the path of immortal cultivation, the current situation clearly indicated whether it was a blessing or a misfortune.

Qi Xuan was also somewhat agitated in his daze, but he managed to restrain himself. Even though Daoists have their own beliefs that prevent them from pestering Mr. Ji to teach them immortality, who wouldn't desire the miraculous path of cultivation? Who wouldn't crave the art of longevity?

Mr. Ji's current actions seemed to go beyond merely guiding the Cloud Mountain Temple Daoists into cultivation. This was not only Qi Xuan's feeling as a divination master but also a vague intuition he'd had since Master Qin arrived.

However, Qi Xuan never spoke about it or asked too many questions. A person of such high caliber acts with his own reasons; going with the flow was the proper attitude.

"I've always said that some things cannot be forced, nor do they need to be," Qi Xuan began. "Forming good relationships is best, you see..."

Qi Xuan stopped speaking because Mr. Ji had already descended from in front of the main hall's star banner and was walking out, looking towards the kitchen.

As if understanding the two Daoists' doubts, Mr. Ji's calm voice reached Qi Xuan and Qiwen: "You two Daoists need not worry if my actions will deviate from Daoist doctrine. I have not bound Cloud Mountain Temple with any immortal dwelling's techniques. This star banner is still Cloud Mountain Temple's star banner, and as for the path of cultivation, it will naturally remain Cloud Mountain Temple's Daoist method, emphasizing reverence for the stars and heaven and earth."

"Daoist method? Uh..." Qi Xuan instinctively repeated.

He and Qiwen had been practicing Cloud Mountain Temple's Daoist methods with their morning and evening lessons for years. They knew whether these practices were truly useful or merely symbolic.

"Precisely," Mr. Ji affirmed. "But not the Cloud Mountain Temple Daoist contemplation of the past. Please prepare lunch with peace of mind. Afterward, Master Qin and I will explain everything in detail. If you are unwilling, you can state it directly."

Although the two Daoists only half-understood, since Mr. Ji had spoken, they no longer asked further questions. After bowing and thanking him, they returned to prepare lunch, their hearts temporarily filled with excitement.

As for whether they would be unwilling? Qi Xuan and Qiwen were not truly foolish!

Lunch that day was exceptionally lavish by Cloud Mountain Temple's standards, featuring fish, meat, plenty of fresh garden vegetables, and delicious mountain mushroom soup.

When they began to eat, Mr. Ji specifically requested two small bowls. He placed some of the fish and pork prepared by Qi Xuan into them and set them on the ground outside the kitchen before joining the others for their meal inside.

Soon after, two small spiritual martens cautiously and hesitantly approached. Their spiritual intelligence was awakened, and they clearly knew that the white-robed gentleman inside had prepared the bowls specifically for them. But knowing was one thing, feeling at ease was another.

However, the two spiritual martens eventually succumbed to temptation, jumped off the wall, and began to eat the food in the bowls. This was also the first time they had eaten cooked food.

In the entire history of Cloud Mountain Temple, from its establishment until now, this day was the most eventful. Although it still stood quietly on Yanxia Peak, the Daoists of Cloud Mountain Temple had reached a turning point in their destiny.

Mr. Ji personally explained several paths of contemporary cultivation to Qi Xuan and Qiwen. He spoke of the body's acupoints and the internal world, the Five Elements and Yin-Yang in a cultivation sense, the changes in spiritual energy, and the essence of all sorts of wondrous techniques and divine abilities. Then, together with Qin Zizhou, he discussed the extremely unique power of the stars.

If the foundation of cultivation for ordinary immortal mansions and sects, whether mystical or common, was based on various Qi guidance and Qi refining techniques, then what Mr. Ji was expounding at Cloud Mountain Temple was a brand new foundation.

As an important strategic asset in Mr. Ji's hands, Mr. Ji could intuitively sense Qin Zizhou's significant changes over the years. To some extent, he also understood Qin Zizhou's comprehension and insight into Daoist star cultivation as a 'Divine Yang Body'.

Some parts that couldn't be fully grasped were sufficiently enlightened by their simple daily exchanges while sitting together in the sun, providing enough material for the detailed explanation given after lunch that day.

Combining Mr. Ji's countless revisions of Qi guidance methods with the seemingly useless Cloud Mountain Temple Daoist star contemplation methods, a new *Genesis of Heaven and Earth* began to take shape.

This could no longer be considered merely a Qi guidance method. More accurately, it was a method of guiding Qi and connecting with star power. Although far from complete, it was sufficient to initiate Qi Xuan and Qiwen into cultivation.

Mr. Ji was also human and had his own biases. Therefore, this new *Genesis of Heaven and Earth* actually contained quite a bit of his personal understanding and values, but he also highly valued this cultivation scripture.

Not only did he plan to integrate the 'reverse operation method' into it, but he even intended to inspiringly incorporate the stellar appearances of the chess pieces in his 'Concept Mountain and River' into it.

The most crucial link supporting Mr. Ji and Qin Zizhou's theoretical system was this special *Profound Method of Reverse and Normal Genesis of Heaven and Earth*, which involved guiding Qi and connecting with stars.

The 'normal' cultivation drew Qi and connected with star power, and through cultivation techniques, eventually cultivated stars within the body's acupoints and even within one's spiritual landscape.

The 'reverse operation' had little effect on spiritual energy and could not manifest special divine intent like Mr. Ji, who inherently possessed a 'heaven and earth' within his spiritual landscape. However, it was enough to help a practitioner align internal and external stars when casting spells.

As for what wondrous changes would occur, Mr. Ji didn't know yet. His preliminary inference was that the power of spiritual techniques would increase somewhat, and it would also aid in comprehending the Dao.

Besides this Qi guidance and star connection technique, the Qi refining technique, which was more important for other immortal mansions, cultivators, or practitioners of various Daoist paths, was not very significant in Mr. Ji's system. Although it had long been very different from the original *Small Practice of Yu Huai*, the Qi refining technique named *Small Practice of Heaven and Earth* was not essentially superior to the former.

It simply aligned with the new *Genesis of Heaven and Earth*. Even its name was lazily chosen by Mr. Ji to be a matching name. Even if *Small Practice of Heaven and Earth* were completely lost in the future, future generations could use any Qi refining technique to cultivate, though with significantly lower efficiency.

Of course, all of this was still far off for Qi Xuan and Qiwen. There was ample time for Mr. Ji and Qin Zizhou to summarize and organize their ideas into a complete cultivation system.

To be honest, besides the Cloud Mountain Temple Daoists, Mr. Ji himself was also a beneficiary of all this. Qin Zizhou, while able to use it, would eventually enter the path of divinity, and its proportion in his cultivation would be much smaller.

However, Mr. Ji did not intend to treat Qi Xuan and Qiwen as guinea pigs. Although their bodies were much stronger than ordinary people due to spiritual energy, they were still mortals and could not withstand intense trials.

The true guinea pig was Mr. Ji himself. Of course, Qin Zizhou also counted if one looked closely. Only after Mr. Ji had refined and confirmed its suitability could *Genesis of Heaven and Earth* and *Small Practice of Heaven and Earth* be further perfected. However, there was no need to tell Qi Xuan and Qiwen all this, lest the two Daoists start overthinking. After all, Mr. Ji was confident that his own deductions would progress faster than their cultivation.

Currently, there were no written techniques to provide. Mr. Ji would send this "Profound Method of Heaven and Earth" to Cloud Mountain Temple according to his own progress.

From after lunch, Mr. Ji and Qin Zizhou had been explaining to Qi Xuan and Qiwen, with Mr. Ji taking the lead, as Qin Zizhou was only half-proficient in orthodox cultivation.

Qi Xuan and Qiwen initially thought Mr. Ji was merely performing a blessing ritual for the temple's star banner. But as the explanation progressed, they gradually realized that this was no longer the Cloud Mountain Temple's star contemplation; it was a miraculous celestial method specifically tailored for Cloud Mountain Temple, using their existing practice as only a very small part of its foundation.

As Mr. Ji meticulously dissected the concepts in terms that Qiwen and Qi Xuan could understand, the two became increasingly excited. By late night, when the stars of the heavens shone brightest, they had, under Mr. Ji's guidance, involuntarily begun the first step of their cultivation.

The spiritual energy around Cloud Mountain Temple gradually began to intensify. Stars twinkled in the sky, and the star banner in the main hall faintly emitted a divine light, seemingly echoing the brilliance of the myriad stars above.

Faintly, the starlight appeared denser in the Cloud Mountain area, and Qi Xuan and Qiwen, one after another, were subtly enveloped by spiritual energy within a very short time, a barely perceptible starlight emanating from their faces.

Seeing how quickly they entered a meditative state, Qin Zizhou couldn't help but praise,

"Mr. Ji, it seems Daoists Qi Xuan and Qiwen have some talent. I thought they would need more time to awaken and begin."

"Heh heh, their years of star contemplation and morning/evening lessons provide a solid foundation. Since this method is tailor-made for them, their rapid progress is not surprising. Oh, by the way, this is for the two spiritual martens. Master Qin, please keep it for now. They can learn it once they gradually become more understanding."

Mr. Ji placed a jade slip on the table, covered in tiny script.

"This is...?"

"It's a method for cultivating immortal beasts. Immortal beast cultivation involves three steps: guidance, transformation, and essence formation. The essence formation step needs to align with the beast's body. This only covers the guidance and initial transformation stages. The essence formation stage differs from methods specifically tailored by some immortal mansions for their own immortal beasts; it requires the cultivating spiritual beast or minor demon to have some self-control and refinement capabilities."

"Although it will be significantly more difficult, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. This method was originally obtained from Old Mr. Ying. I revised it once in a hurry for a certain matter, and then perfected it again, making it gentler. After all, small spiritual beasts with awakened intelligence don't have the physique of a dragon-jiao."

At this point, Mr. Ji also looked at Qin Zizhou.

"Master Qin, I cannot attend to every single detail. Please bear with me."

Ultimately, everything at Cloud Mountain Temple was an act of serendipitous cultivation, but its essence was to pave the way for Qin Zizhou's path as a World-Traveling God.

Qin Zizhou was solemn and serious, bowing and nodding.

"I understand the importance of this!"

The promise he made to Mr. Ji back then—the words "save all people and spirits under heaven, all sentient beings and creatures"—still vividly echoed in Qin Zizhou's mind.

These words themselves carried immense weight, but now Qin Zizhou felt that the phrase was not as simple as it sounded literally. Regardless, he must always keep his word and follow through on his actions!