After three hours of driving, the car finally arrived at a small town in Zhejiang Province. With the help from the local people and the GPS, he finally got to a small village that was at least half-an-hour drive away from the town.
Compared with East Ocean City, the little village with red bricks and white walls looked quite impoverished.
Driving along the winding paths, Hao Ren felt like he was racing with tractors that were releasing black smoke. Hao Ren prided himself on his driving skills which prevented the car from falling into the fields beside the paths.
They asked people along the way and drove forward before finally coming to a small courtyard. Hearing their car, the whole family came out to welcome them.
The old lady standing in the foremost was Grandma's childhood playmate. Seeing Grandma, she walked forward in excitement.
"Little Five!" Excited, Grandma got out of the car and pulled her into her arms.
"Little Leaf!" The old lady with wrinkles all over her face threw her arms around Grandma.
They hugged each other happily.
After parking the car in the courtyard, Hao Ren got out of it and greeted, "Hello! Grandma!"
"Oh! Your grandson has grown up already!" The old lady looked at Hao Ren and said.
Hao Ren nodded with a bashful smile.
This old lady was Grandma's best friend in her childhood. After she married into a far-away family, Grandma had never seen her again until now. After being separated for many years, these two old ladies were very emotional.
Hao Ren could have gone back after getting his grandma settled down. However, due to his low spirits recently, he decided to stay here for a couple of days, away from the city.
The old grandma ushered Grandma and Hao Ren into the house. They had prepared a simple meal, and Hao Ren ate it with them.
After knowing that Hao Ren wanted to stay there for a couple of days, the old grandma immediately cleared out a guest room. It was a little room built with tiles and bricks, and it had one wooden bed and one set of beddings in it.
They washed their faces and brushed their teeth at the sink in the yard, and the latrines were outside the courtyard.
However, Grandma was quite fond of these simple facilities. She used to live in a similar old house, and she found this place comfortable and relaxing.
Compared with the apartment downtown and the modern house near the sea, she preferred this type of old countryside houses.
There were several grandkids of this old grandma in the house, and they were about seven to eight years old. Seeing Hao Ren for the first time, they kept looking at him curiously, and some of the naughty ones even tried to mess with him.
They reminded Hao Ren of his own childhood since he had been a naughty and bold boy just like them.
Since this old grandma's sons worked in the nearby towns, only two daughters-in-law and grandkids stayed at home with the old grandma during the weekdays.
This was a simple family. Although they were not rich, they were friendly and sincere. Grandma would feel relaxed and comfortable here while catching up with her childhood friend during her one-month stay.
In the evening, the old grandma grabbed her grandkids and gave them a bath in the courtyard. The children took off their clothes and jumped around in the big bathtub.
Watching the antics of these kids, Hao Ren's grandma laughed heartily. She loved little kids!
Without the convenience of a shower, Hao Ren took a washbasin and roughly cleaned himself with water and a towel in his simple little room.
This village was devoid of the city's noises and phony glamour; it was a perfect place for Hao Ren to unwind.
On the second day, after a simple breakfast of pickles and congee, Hao Ren went to the nearby hills by himself.
The air was several times fresher than the suburbs of East Ocean City, and Hao Ren walked up a hill and chose a grass field before sitting down cross-legged.
The Dragon Core in his body began to rotate, absorbing the relatively denser Nature Essence here. The Nature Essence would flow through the 108 acupoints all over his body before emerging into the Dragon Core.
Devoid of any distractions, obsessions, and resentments, Hao Ren sensed the nature quietly. The five-elemental essences seemed to be growing slowly from its current level of 0.35.
The spring was gone, and the summer had just begun. The wildflowers in the mountains were in full bloom, and the breeze swayed the sea of flowers. This scene was typical to the locals, but to Hao Ren, it was a perfect place for cultivation.
'Dao begets One 1 , One begets Two 2 , Two begets Three 3 , and Three begets all things...'
Hao Ren cultivated the five elemental essences in his body while gaining an understanding of the world in pure nature.
Seeing the sun had risen over his head, Hao Ren stood up and walked down the hill, feeling refreshed.
The old grandma's family was about to have lunch when Hao Ren came back. They thought he had been wandering around in the village, not knowing that he had been meditating on the hill for five hours.
Reluctant to have lunch, the kids were still frolicking in the courtyard. The lively scene suddenly gave Hao Ren, who had just come out of cultivating, some inspiration.
"To cultivate the Heavenly Dao, one must first cultivate the Mortal Dao!"
"The East Ocean Dragon Clan is cultivating the Mortal Dao by living in the mortal world. The Heavenly Dao is mystic and aloof while the Mortal Dao is real and close."
"How could a cultivator understand the secrets of the Heavenly Dao without love and passion?"
"Grandma, I'm finished!" Hao Ren put down his chopsticks and strode out of the courtyard.
"The kid… How come he eats so fast?" Grandma was exasperated.
Holding this inspiration inside, Hao Ren went onto a hill. Not high or covered with dense forests, this hill had one side facing the sun while the other away from the sun, forming a perfect picture of yin and yang.
Hao Ren sat down, feeling that the inspiration had merged into his body and activated the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.
"Metal, six!" A beam of white sword energy appeared at the tip of his right pinky finger.
"Water, seven!" A beam of blue sword energy shot out from his left index finger.
"Wood, ten!" A surge of green sword energy shot out from his right middle finger, cutting a shallow line in the grass-covered ground!
The five elements in the world were water, fire, metal, wood, and earth, and they nurtured everything in the world.
It suddenly dawned on him that what Su Han taught him during the painting session was, in fact, the proper training method! Converting the five elements into each other at will was the core of any five-elemental cultivation technique.
Beams of green, blue, red, yellow, and white sword energies shot out of his fingers one after another. They were pale and weak but looked as beautiful as fireworks!
Five-elemental sword energies!
With the use of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll, the five elements in Hao Ren's body were fully activated. The well-balanced five-elemental array formation began to rotate around the Dragon Core!
The lost essences were always replenished by the new ones, and this movement was called circulation!
Wood begets fire; fire begets earth; earth begets metal; metal begets water; water begets wood! That were the mutual creations of the five elements!
Fatigued, Hao Ren exhaled deeply before lying down on the grass. The full circulation of essences according to the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll had emptied him.
The process of cultivation was the process of destruction and creation; it allowed for a constant expansion of one's limits.
After replenishing the five elements in his body, Hao Ren felt like his cultivation value had broken through the previous limit. Compared with the ultimate cultivation value of one, his cultivation value had now almost reached 0.7!
He lowered his Nature Essence before gradually elevating his cultivation realm with the practice of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll. His method of destruction before creation was a success!
Kun-level Masters would always put themselves in seclusion before making a charge toward Qian-level. Hao Ren's cultivation in the wilderness could also be called Seclusion Cultivation.
When darkness began to appear, Hao Ren walked down the hill and returned to the old grandma's house to rest.
Having not seen Hao Ren for almost the whole day, Grandma thought he had been wandering around the village. She was relieved when she saw his peaceful expression, thinking that her Ren had finally gotten over his troubling thoughts.
After dinner, Hao Ren went back to his room to continue cultivating. He hoped to make a breakthrough in two days, and that was why he had come here with Grandma and didn't take Zi with them.
He had been working hard on his cultivation recently, but he had also been troubled with the daily distractions. If he were able to cultivate peacefully every day like this, he believed that he would have reached Kan-level earlier.
Su Han had kept herself away from all the unnecessary distractions in the city and focused all her attention on cultivation, gaining more understanding of the Heavenly Dao and Mortal Dao at the same time. That was why she had made one breakthrough after another and finally reached mid-tier Qian-level!
Hao Ren spent the whole night cultivating the Spirit Concentration Scroll and the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll by turns, treasuring each small increase of 0.01 or 0.02 in his cultivation strength.
Before he came here, he had been troubled with the thoughts of Zhao Yanzi and Xie Yujia. After he immersed himself into cultivation, nothing could disturb his mind.
The roosters in the village crowed when the sky turned a little bright.
Hao Ren had a bowl of congee for breakfast.
Refreshed, he went back onto the hills.
The simple and natural life here gave him a different feeling.
When the sun moved from the east to the middle of the sky, Hao Ren had cultivated for half a day, and his cultivation value seemed to have reached 0.9. Now, he was more proficient in releasing the sword energies.
However, the closer he got to Kan-level, the slower the cultivation process became. It seemed like there was an invisible veil blocking his path.
Only half a day was left before his return, but Kan-level seemed to be just out of his reach.
He had gradually mastered the techniques of the first level of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll, including essence transference, essence absorption, releasing elemental sword energies,, and forming the hundun sword energies in his palm.
Cultivating the techniques could gradually increase one's strength, but the elevation in realms was a change in quality. If the cultivator couldn't gain a thorough understanding and the first opening in the Dragon Core couldn't be unlocked, it was useless to put more effort into practicing the technique.
Only one step, one step!
Hao Ren felt like he was very close to Kan-level as his cultivation value had returned to one. Compared with before where his power comprised mostly of water-elemental essences, he now had a balance of all five elements. He was in the perfect state.
"Gongzi Hao!" Premier Xia suddenly appeared in a grey short-sleeved shirt.
"Why are you here?" Hao Ren was surprised.
"The Dragon King sent me here to give you two immortal elixir pills." With both hands, Premier Xia presented him a small box with a smile. "It's not easy to break through to Kan-level. The Dragon King just wanted to test you."
"I don't need them now. You can put them over there." Hao Ren pointed to the ground beside him.
Premier Xia was surprised, but he did as he was told.
Taking a deep breath, Hao Ren sat back down and continued to charge at the breakthrough point through cultivation.
He had kept Su Han's instruction in mind, knowing that the realms achieved by elixirs were not stable, and he'd better not eat them if he didn't need to.
"Fuma is a hard-working cultivator; only half a day is left, and he is still trying," Premier Xia stood in the sun and thought.
"Excessive affection often ends in regrets; just as good dreams are the easiest for one to wake up from."
A beam of five-colored godly light flew across the sky, and a grain-sized spark floated down from the sky, blinding Hao Ren's eyes.
He felt a burning sensation on his forehead, and the inscription on the monument in the Taoist Temple on top of the GreenStone Mountain suddenly came to him from his memory.
Clap! Clap!
The two Mount Tai Bracelets on Hao Ren's wrists broke one after another.
Nothingness; or reason of being Yin and Yang Heaven, Earth, and Human, also could be interrupted as or Spirituality, Materialism, and the Medium.