Two days flashed by in the blink of an eye, and it was time to knock off work again.
Half a shattered sun was swallowed bit by bit by the vast mountain peaks. Jiang Yi walked out of the Quenching Room and stood in the heavy dusk.
He thought back on these past few days: before the rooster had even crowed, he would hurry to the Quenching Room; after sunset, he would rush back to the communal courtyard.
Often, he did not even have time to eat before collapsing into a heavy sleep. When he woke the next day, he would go back to work again.
He was truly no different from the mules, donkeys, and horses kept by farming households—hardly a moment’s rest to be had.
“If I work the full twelve years, I’ll probably have graying temples and declining qi and blood by then. What talk would there be of cultivating the Dao? What talk of longevity?”
Jiang Yi deeply understood the hardship of being a mortal laborer. Four double-hours of grueling work, and with the end of the month approaching, he might even have to work overtime.
After subtracting time for eating and sleeping, there was almost no leisure left. Even sitting in meditation and practicing breathing became a luxury.
“Truly, every talisman coin is bought with blood and sweat.”
Every time he thought of this, Jiang Yi could not help but want to curse the original owner.
That had been a full twenty to thirty thousand talisman coins!
How long would one have to suffer in the Quenching Room, how much hardship would one have to endure, to save up that much?
And he had actually gone all in with it?!
He had truly been possessed by madness!
“Brother Yi, want to come along and find something good to eat? I see you’ve been wearing yourself down these past two days till you’re about to burn out. Hurry and eat some medicinal food to nourish your body.”
He Laohun felt that if Brother Yi went on like this, it would be very hard for him to last until the twelve-year term was up. Around Red Flame Peak, he had seen far too many mortal laborers work themselves to death in the workshops.
Jiang Yi cupped his hands, then said,
“No, Brother He. I’ll head back and sleep first. I’ve already asked Overseer Yang for a day off. Tomorrow I’ll see how I feel, then go buy medicine.”
His young face, which could still be considered handsome, had been roasted by the furnaces over the past two days until it looked like tree bark on the verge of withering.
“Old Man Yang does have a bit of human feeling after all, letting you take leave.”
He Laohun sighed and did not say more.
Mortal laborers were already bitter souls treated like oxen and horses. To run into someone like Yang Xun, who did not maliciously squeeze them dry, was already great fortune.
With worse luck, if one entered Soul-Nurturing Peak or Sewing Peak, one would have to live each day with one’s heart hanging in suspense, afraid of offending someone and being punished.
“I’ll go enjoy myself a bit, then return to the communal courtyard.”
He Laohun handed back his bronze tally, then left together with the other workers to seek amusement.
Aside from butcher shops, eateries, and restaurants, Red Flame Peak also lacked no places of pleasure such as brothels and bawdy houses.
The demonic path was unlike the immortal path; it did not particularly care whether one’s primordial yang leaked away.
Besides, mortal laborers had bitter, unbearable work. If they were only squeezed dry, they would wear out too quickly.
Thus the sect turned a blind eye, happy to let those below engage in some flesh trade.
It gave the many oxen and horses a place to vent, and also let the sect take back the talisman coins that had been paid out.
Killing two birds with one stone!
After parting from He Laohun, Jiang Yi returned alone to the communal courtyard.
Widow Qin and Old Li’s family were lighting the stove in the kitchen to cook, and the fragrance of meat and food wafted straight to his nose.
Only someone like He Laohun, who could feed himself and leave no family hungry, was willing to eat out.
Even without eating spirit rice, having fish and meat, good wine and dishes at every meal cost no small sum.
Seeing Jiang Yi step over the threshold, Widow Qin took the initiative to greet him.
“Brother Yi, you’re off work. Have you eaten? Why don’t you come over and have a few bites with me?”
Jiang Yi grinned.
“Thank you for your kindness, Sister-in-law Qin. I’m exhausted and don’t have much appetite. I can’t eat.”
Widow Qin’s man had been transferred in earlier years to the “Leather-Making Room” on Sewing Peak, and later died suddenly for no reason at all.
After meeting with such a sudden calamity, she had naturally gone through a hard stretch. Jiang Yi had lent a hand a few times with small matters, forming this bit of goodwill between them.
Though Widow Qin had the intention to look after him, she was afraid of gossip and did not dare act too warmly.
She only said,
“I simmered some black-bone chicken blood-replenishing soup, and there happens to be some left. If Brother Yi doesn’t mind, you can drink it later.”
Jiang Yi thanked her again, then returned to his room and fell onto the bed for a long sleep.
He truly was utterly exhausted, and besides, he still had work to do tonight at three quarters past midnight.
He might as well rest in advance and replenish his spirit.
……
……
At midnight, the communal courtyard was as quiet as water.
Tonight’s moonlight was especially clear and bright, the full disk reflected in the water vat.
With a splash, it was stirred into several pieces by a wooden ladle.
“So cold!”
Jiang Yi hastily wiped his face, and his spirits roused. He went to the kitchen again and drank down the chicken soup Widow Qin had specially left for him.
The stove was faintly warm, and the chicken soup had not gone cold. A cozy heat surged through his limbs and bones, making him feel quite comfortable.
At this hour, the vast majority of mortal laborers had already gone to bed. A few diligent ones might be seizing the time to sit in meditation and practice breathing.
Huu!
Jiang Yi wrapped his thick Daoist robe tightly around himself, exhaled a breath of white mist, and walked outside.
Before long, his figure vanished into the cold, biting night.
“It should be fine now.”
Jiang Yi circled several times through the forest around Red Flame Peak. Only after confirming that no one was following him did he run toward the northern, shaded side of the mountain where fallen trees lay.
The cold wind whistled through the woods, and his feet crunched as they stepped into the snow.
In less than half a quarter-hour, Jiang Yi found the “opportunity” indicated by the Heavenly Book.
His steps halted, and he stared in a daze, even holding his breath.
He saw the bright moon hanging in the firmament, as large as a round platter, scattering clear radiance like water over the boundless peaks.
Perhaps due to the terrain, the shaded side of the mountain was naturally sunken, shaped like a basin.
Beams of clear, crystalline moonlight actually fell rustling down, like fluttering flakes of snow shaken loose.
Then, gathered by the terrain, the silver radiance gradually thickened like slurry, accumulating and flowing downward until it converged into a shallow pool.
“The Heavenly Book truly did not deceive me!”
Jiang Yi drew in a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and carefully made his way below.
When his hands and feet touched the silver radiance, there was an icy, cool sensation.
Over these past two days in the Quenching Room, he had suffered constant roasting. The skin of his face had nearly cracked dry, yet when the moonlight brushed over it, the needle-pricking sting vanished entirely.
“Peeling?”
Jiang Yi felt a faint itch on his face. After gently rubbing it a few times, the dry, cracked dead skin drifted off like scraps, revealing tender new flesh beneath.
But he did not pay much attention to this matter of his face. He hurriedly sat cross-legged and began circulating his cultivation to refine qi.
“Three years of Dao studies, and the only useful skill I learned was this.”
The true lessons of Dao studies amounted to only two things: seated stillness practice and moving stance practice.
The former nourished qi and nourished the spirit; the latter nourished blood and strengthens the body.
One must not think them simple. In truth, doing them fully was not easy at all.
The human heart had countless distracting thoughts. To restrain one’s thoughts and sit for several double-hours while keeping the breath steady, the mind calm and the qi harmonious, was extremely difficult.
Many Dao students studied for years and years, yet still could not pass this hurdle.
By contrast, moving stance practice was easier to pick up. It was generally in the vein of the Five Animal Frolics, Eight Brocades, or Vajra Skill, able to circulate qi and blood and strengthen muscles and bones.
“Before circulating the art, gather the spirit and concentrate the qi. The breath will then regulate itself. Proceed to inhale and exhale, causing yin and yang to interact, then move it through the various places.
Still the mind and sit upright, cross the knees and bend the thighs, the heels pressed tightly against the Gate of Life……”
Jiang Yi smoothed away the distracting thoughts in his chest. He had been a mortal laborer in Qianji Sect for several years, but his meditation practice had never fallen behind, and he remained skilled at it.
After settling into stillness, he placed his tongue against his upper palate, opened the barrier of his teeth, and began to breathe in and out!
“So wonderfully cool! It’s like drinking chilled plum wine!”
Before long, two streams of white qi lingered around Jiang Yi’s nose, one long and one short, extending and contracting unpredictably.
The bright moonlight that had been drawn down was like thousands upon thousands of silver threads, shaped like olives, hanging in dense strings.
He inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, his breath even, fine, soft, and long. The sounds of exhaling and breathing rose and fell one after another as he harvested strand after strand of moonlight and slowly refined it.
This process was especially comfortable.
Jiang Yi felt as though he were tasting mellow wine, pleasantly intoxicated.
He was just like a wine-loving guest, one mouthful after another without pause, raising his head to drink deeply.
Thread after thread of moonlight turned into frosty qi, dissolving into his limbs and bones, then surging like rivers as it completed cycles through his body.
Like a trickling stream, the dense, continuous true qi gradually strengthened with each circulation, giving off a surging, vibrating sound.
Jiang Yi focused his mind completely, utterly immersed in the changes of his breath and the rise and fall of true qi.
All of a sudden, he felt his heartbeat quicken, as if a great drum were being beaten—thump, thump, thump, thump—shaking him into panic.
Jiang Yi sat upright without moving, striving to remain calm. His Dao studies teacher had warned him that during cultivation, one must not panic or lose one’s composure at any anomaly, otherwise there would be danger of qi deviation!
“If I endure it, I’ll have ascended to the second level.”
After persisting for about another half-quarter-hour, the silver slurry of moonlight was consumed cleanly, and the rhythm of Jiang Yi’s qi refinement also slowed.
But he still guided his true qi, circulating it through cycle after cycle.
A long while passed. The accumulated snow melted away, cold dew dampened his robe, yet the figure wrapped in the thick Daoist robe was like a clay statue or wooden carving, without even breath.
Only when dawn broke on the horizon and the sky paled like the belly of a fish did Jiang Yi open his eyes. Gurgling true qi surged like a spring, filling his body with a few more traces of vigorous vitality.
At that moment, a strand of daylight from above crossed the mountain peaks and passed through the forest, just happening to shine upon Jiang Yi’s fair face.
His ruddy cheeks and withered, cracked flesh were now tender and smooth once more. Under the morning light, they revealed a crystalline, jade-like sheen.
Sure enough, as He Laohun had said, he was a handsome young man!
“It’s done.”
Jiang Yi’s eyes shone brightly, full of confidence. He rose and stretched his limbs; every inch of muscle and bone rang out.
Every part of him seemed like a drawn strongbow, his strength extremely full and abundant, shaking the grains of snow into scattered puffs.
“Second level of Qi Refinement—it’s done!”
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