As they climbed up the stair, entered the hall. Lou Cheng had a panoramic view of the abodes of fairies and immortals.
There was Dan room, study, meditation room and living room in the abode. Small as it was, the function was complete. The wall somehow shimmering the interior was barely enlightened.
In such cool and dusky abode, Lou Cheng shivered with cold and recalled the layout of tombs once he saw in an archaeological documentary. This place seemed a former residence, but it was now cut off from the outside world.
Geezer Shi coughed to clear his throat and then said as if he guessed what Lou Cheng's was thinking, "I have no idea why cultivators selected the site under the lake or in a cave and built their abode like a tomb. We are basically in a coffin now."
"That is not true. The owner has put through the sunshine and moonlight so the room was well lighted in the daytime and fell into dark at night, and that was natural!" Fei Dan, Queen of Thought replied and smiled.
They had already visited and searched. Now they were here for a clear end. While talking, they entered the meditation room.
From what Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame and Queen of Thought said, Lou Cheng basically understood the difference between Cultivation and martial arts. A martial fighter exercised the body first, with some meditation training as complement. When he found and concentrated the will, the fighter would start spiritual training, merging his will and Qi and blood into one. But a cultivator would start with the spirit, trying to harmonize his soul and Qi first, meanwhile, his body was also toughened. Until he reached the Seven Returns and Nine Turns, and crystalized his Qi into Dan, he could finally reached the balance.
As for other more advanced and detailed content, Fei Dan barely mentioned, and even if she did, Lou Cheng would not have understood.
The layout of meditation room was almost entirely bare, and it was fitted out with just one stone bed and one stone table, far below Lou Cheng's imagination of the abodes of fairies and immortals for cultivators.
"It should be on the wall." Fei Dan looked around and said with confidence.
On the wall? What were they looking for? Lou Cheng looked as far as he could, but the room was so dark, he could not find any trace.
Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame lowered his voice: "I told you there was something we have missed, and you were in such a hurry!"
A green blaze spurted from his hand, casting a horrifying faint light over everything.
Lou Cheng followed Old Shi obediently. He dared not to interrupt while the others were talking, and thus looked at the wall closely, only to find the mottled marks.
"Why are you in a daze? Want to spend the night here?" Geezer Shi sipped at his wine and mocked, as if he was purely an onlooker.
"Humph!" A dark green blaze flew off from Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame's wrist, splitting into eight pieces toward different directions and hit on the stone wall.
There was a humming in everyone's ears, and a series of ripples was emerging on the surface of the wall, glimmering lightly. An instant later, nine Chinese characters revealed themselves upon the wall:
"Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Qian, Xing!"
Some characters were damaged, some faded. But "Bing", "Zhe" and "Qian"remained untouched, even appealing.
"This is true ..." Fei Dan sighed meaningfully.
"This is Nine Words Formula of Taoist School." Geezer Shi filled his apprentice in.
Lou Cheng have heard Nine Words Formula and its derivations from novels, animations and materials of Cultivation previously, and therefore he was no stranger to it. But he was curious that why Queen of Thought and Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame explored the abodes again, seeking Nine Words Formula everyone already knew.
As the idea flashed across Lou Cheng's mind, Geezer Shi carried on:
"This is not normal. Nine Words Formula of Taoist School and six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra of Daxing Temple were alike. Son, you have encountered the Hum Formula once. You know well the force of those characters."
"By directing them, it would bring about various effects?" Lou Cheng asked.
Geezer Shi taunted: "Reciting is not enough. You have to visualize the Formula concurrently to give it full play!"
I know, and I am not stupid ... But Lou Cheng would not dare to talk back.
Fei Dan stood beside them, smiling: "And you have to read it in its primitive pronunciation, instead of the contemporary one. Otherwise, no matter how hard you tried reciting, it would be useless. For example, the character Lin should be ..."
Speaking of which, she took a serious tone of voice. Her chest was vibrating and her vocal chord resonating:
"Lin!"
The sound was reverberated through the building, getting into Lou Cheng's ears from all sides. He felt the Jindan in his lower abdomen. The stars in his stomach were shifting, causing ripples within. Something would have emerged.
But everything was so fragile and transient, lacking of a strong stimulus and effect!
Here! The Lin formula or Nine Words Formula would cause the change of Jindan? Lou Cheng was pleasantly surprised. This was a rewarding visit!
He imitated Queen of Thought's pronunciation and repeated:
"Lin!"
This time, the nebulous Jindan remained still, and Fei Dan laughed: "You spoke in an accent of Xing Province."
Damn! Lou Cheng was embarrassed, lowering his head.
"If you are so interested, I will sort out the ancient pronunciation of those words and send it to your master. However, without the coordinated visualizing, it was of no use." Fei Dan sighed and turned around to Geezer Shi, "By analyzing the last words of Longhu Immortal, we found out that Nine Words Formula was not only a secret discipline, but a manual. By following its instructions, one will reach an incredible capacity. The reason why Longhu Immortal stands first on the list of cultivators is that he always brings forth the new thoughts and applies Nine Words Formula into Cultivation."
"We hope it would help us to break down the barrier between martial arts and Cultivation. I wish I could find a way to resolve the problem before I am too old."
Nine Words Formula found in the abodes confirmed their speculation about Longhu Immortal's methods of Cultivation.
What about the corresponding visualizing? This question almost rolled off Lou Cheng's tongue. Fortunately, he bore his master's warning in mind: keep silent.
The reason that Lin Formula caused only a few ripples of Jindan must be a lack of supporting visualizing.
Geezer Shi threw a quick glance at Lou Cheng, gaining an insight into his mind, smiling:
"This was indeed a fruitful trip. Nine Words Formula written by Longhu Immortal when he practiced contained all the essence, which was basically the visualizing diagram without details."
"Right. It only takes some time to master the skills. However, only three characters were intact." Said Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame in a soft and regretful tone.
Except for the character of Bing, Zhe, and Qian, the rest were deficient in essence.
"It's no big deal. Longhu Immortal was not the only one who understood Nine Words Formula!" Geezer Shi snorted.
Those three characters on the wall were the visualizing diagram? Lou Cheng was shocked. As he can see, those characters were in an elaborate and thickly-colored style representing a special meaning. They seemed to throw some light on the ultimate mysteries of the universe.
To be specific, Bing was sharp, Zhe dignified, and Zhe full of vitality!
When Lou Cheng was obsessed with these characters, Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame stepped forward, stretching his fingers on the wall.
With swishing sounds, the green blaze cut off the characters of Bing, Zhe, and Qian, leaving the rest burning.
Three pieces of stone flakes with characters flew to Queen of Thought, falling into her hands.
Such telekinesis was far stronger than Liu Xunzhen's supernatural ability ... Lou Cheng restrained the impulse to prevent her from taking away those flakes.
They left the abodes of fairies and immortals, returned to the shore. Lou Cheng and his master gazed after the receding figures of Divine Enchanter of Sin Flame and Queen of Thought. Lou Cheng lowered his voice and told Geezer Shi: "Master, Nine Words Formula is effecting ..."
Lou Cheng was not finished, and Geezer Shi interrupted: "Effecting a change in what left in your body by Longhu Immortal?"
"Right." Lou Cheng nodded hard.
This was correct!
He added: "The ancient pronunciation is not enough. We have to find the right visualizing."
"I will ask them for a rubbing of those stone flakes, although the display would be less ideal, it was better than nothing. You can try with that and confirm the effect first." Geezer Shi mispronounced the word rubbing.
"Thank you, master!" Lou Cheng answered joyfully.
Mr Shi was indeed a good master!
There was a ray of hope that the mystery of Longhu Immortal's Jindan can finally be solved!
He took out his phone and found out the signal resumed. Yan Zheke had sent him an emoji of "stretching herself":
"We finally had a break. Our teacher taught so fast that he finished dozens of pages of a textbook in one class and it was exhausting!"
Lou Cheng checked the time. The last message was received several minutes ago.
That was such an adventure of short duration, lacking of the breathtaking and thrilling scene he expected!
"I managed to find time to make an exploration." He sent back an emoji of "snicker" to Yan Zheke, and tried to hail a taxi by APP.
He waited. No taxi took the order before Yan Zheke replied.
"Let us call it a night. I am leaving first. And you could go for a run if you like." Geezer Shi waved his hand and held his laughter.
"Master, you are not taking me with you?"Lou Cheng's mouth were fixed, and he could not believe his master!
Geezer Shi coughed, "You know I was wounded. I could do just fine by myself, but I could not take you with me. You are a red-blooded young man. Go for a run."
"O...OK." Lou Cheng accepted the excuse.
Without the least hesitation, Geezer Shi strode forward, disappearing into the darkness.
Shi took a rest from time to time. Whenever he stopped, he was unspeakably happy thinking of Lou Cheng's embarrassed look.
You had real store of stamina, don't you?
So run and keep running!
Lou Cheng put himself together and ran. Breathing the fresh and humid air by the lake and following the GPS on his phone, he headed toward the new campus of Songcheng University.
On his way to the school, Lou Cheng received Yan Zheke's message with an emoji of "puzzled face": "Exploration? I do not get it ..."
Lou Cheng explained roughly because others were involved:
"There was a cultivator's abode nearby, and it's been explored before. My master has just taken me there. Do you know what is a cultivator?"
"Of course. Shushan Study owns enormous material of Cultivation. The first cultivators were the fighters of Taoist School." Yan Zheke replied with a "pondering face", "Are you still in the abode? Your phone got any service there? You got a global package?"
"No. I am on my way home, running!" Lou Cheng replied with mixed feelings. But what Coach Yan told him thronged his mind.
Maybe more material of Cultivation could be gathered from Shushan Study ...