Journey to the West: The Mountain Shaker

Chapter 11 The Innate Fire 1

"Those who enter the path of cultivation must first ignite the primordial fire within their dantian. How to ignite it? As everyone knows, it can be summed up in eight words: 'Concentrate on the dantian, without thought or intention...'"

Around 5 a.m., as the first rays of dawn appeared in the east, dozens of children filed into the morning study area to begin their daily morning lessons.

Early Cultivation Ground is located below the orphanage, covering half an acre. A ring of blazing sun grass and purple sweet potatoes is planted around the ground, and a spirit-gathering array is set up there.

At sunrise, the spiritual energy emitted by the spiritual plants is gathered within a radius of 100 meters, just enough to cover the early cultivation area and the orphanage, barely reaching the concentration of a first-grade low-level spirit, for the teenagers to use for cultivation.

A platform about ten feet high rose in the middle of the courtyard, upon which sat a stone cushion and a sundial. At this moment, the old mountain master, Xu Ping'an, sat cross-legged on the platform, preaching; the young people below sat on the ground, and the entire place was completely silent.

Dozens of meters away, in a depression outside the gate of the orphanage, three-year-old Cai Fei was playing with mud with great interest.

As he kneaded the mud into various shapes, he mentally complained to Li Zhu:

"This soul fusion is too bizarre—I know playing in the mud is childish, but I just want to play with it and I can't stop!"

Li Zhu remained silent.

This little guy got up half an hour ago. He wanted to find a spot on the edge of Zaoxiuping, but when he went out the gate, he saw this pile of golden yellow mud and sat down to play with it until now.

In the northeast corner of the orphanage, there was actually a meditation spot—a small, quiet, and spacious platform made of piled stones. Cai Fei had been there a few times, but the elderly people in the compound also got up very early and liked to sit there and chat. It was really inappropriate for a little kid like him to go there to meditate.

"Focusing on the dantian means concentrating your attention on the lower dantian, which is located one or two inches inside the navel. It is a suspended ball, about an inch in diameter, consisting of two layers..."

Xu Ping'an's voice came through clearly, repeating the same things he had said countless times.

The reason for repeatedly preaching this is twofold: firstly, there are only so many principles, and secondly, this is actually a form of "verbal art"—his voice can purify people's hearts, bring them peace and focus, and guide everyone to direct their attention to their navel.

However, Cai Fei seemed immune to this. He continued kneading the mud while asking Li Zhu, "Why is the rate of children of ordinary people entering the Dao only one in three hundred, while the rate for children of dual cultivators is one in three hundred?"

"The quality of innate spiritual fire and essence blood is different," Li Zhu replied. "The offspring of dual cultivators far exceed those of ordinary people, but pregnancy is not easy, and female cultivators can often only give birth to one or two children in their lifetime."

Is this ratio accurate, or is it just an empirical estimate?

"That's roughly it. There's a true meaning to the world in this, but it's still undetermined. After you enter the Dao, you can go to the library on the mountaintop to browse through it, and when you're older, you can go to Aolai Academy to study it."

In the distance, Xu Ping'an was speaking at a crucial point.

"The upper layer of the dantian is hollow like a basket, containing a spark of primordial spiritual fire; the lower layer is like a crescent-shaped pool, containing a certain amount of primordial essence and blood..."

This is the image of the dantian that I talk about every day. In reality, the dantian does not exist, or rather, it only exists in my imagination.

"Some people have dissected it to see, some dissected corpses, some dissected living people, and some who couldn't enter the Dao and were desperately dissecting themselves... There is no such thing as 'dantian,' at least it can't be seen by the human eye." In response to Cai Fei's question, Li Zhu said, "Inside the navel, what the human eye can see is only flesh, ligaments, and intestines."

So, this is entirely a figment of our imagination?

"Yes and no. The human eye cannot see it, nor can the hand touch it, but the divine sense can see it. Generally, after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, people will open their inner vision, and in the inner vision there is this dantian that is shaped like a ball and stands suspended in the air." Li Zhu explained, "As for you, because you have your destiny, you can see it the moment you enter the Dao."

Your destiny is a divine gift, nurtured by the interaction of the unformed soul and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth at the time of birth.

This item is extremely rare; even among cultivators, it is one in ten thousand.

When Cai Fei's soul entered the underworld, it was "containing five colors," which was the mark of his destiny. Li Zhu spent a great deal of divine power to curse millions of Netherworld Rats, with the aim of finding a soul that could carry his destiny.

"According to Fuxi's prediction, there should be 11520 Destinies in the universe, because this is the total number of changes in all things in the world. Of course, whether this number is accurate or not is still unknown, because many Destinies have never appeared. The Heavenly Court has worked hard for thousands of years, but has only recorded more than 8000 Destinies."

Li Zhu offered an explanation, then casually asked, "Do you know how many of these 11520 destined individuals will actually enter the Void?"

Guixu is the place where the souls of the dead return, something Li Zhu had already told him.

"How many?" Cai Fei asked, puzzled. "Could it be that one's innate destiny isn't allowed to enter the Void?"

"Of course not!" Li Zhu laughed. "The saying that when a person dies, their life ends and their original destiny does not enter the Void is common knowledge in cultivation."

Cai Fei asked in confusion, "What about mine?"

"So far, what you carry in your soul is the only known innate ability to enter the Void!" A rare hint of envy flickered in Li Zhu's voice. "With such a divine object within you, why seek anything else!"

Cai Fei was shocked and speechless. After a long while, he finally said, "Could you explain in more detail?"

"You'll see it once you enter the Dao," Li Zhu urged. "Hurry up and cultivate! According to the Gregorian calendar, I've been waiting for this day for 5000 years!"

Before Cai Fei could press further, Li Zhu urged, "Are you going to meditate or not? Asking all these questions, are you just making excuses for your incompetence?"

Uh... Cai Fei fell silent.

He's been lucid for over a month, meditating every day, but there's still no movement. Perhaps he really is overthinking things.

"When one focuses their mind on the dantian, awakens the innate spiritual fire, and refines the innate essence and blood, one embarks on the path of cultivation, which is known as 'refining essence into qi'!"

On the morning repair platform, Xu Ping'an had already explained the two steps to entering the Dao.

The first step is intentional focus: visualize the dantian, imagine a spark of primordial fire within it, and at sunrise, imagine the sunlight entering the dantian, like a fire igniting a furnace, thus setting the primordial fire within the dantian.

The second step is unintentional guarding: the intention seems to guard but is not guarding, seemingly there and not there. For example, breathing, when do people consciously breathe? This is something done unintentionally, never thought of, yet never forgotten. This is the state of unintentional guarding.

If you can do the first step, you can at least generate some internal energy. You may not be able to enter the Dao, but you can at least strengthen your body. If you can do the second step and persist for three to five minutes, you can step into the ranks of cultivators.

"Actually, it's best to get it right in one step. This 'intentional guarding' deviates from the Great Way and is not the right path," Li Zhu commented. "However, the eight characters 'guarding the dantian with intention, without thought or intention' are really hard to understand. You have to 'guard' with intention and also 'without thought,' which is really inexplicable. All the Taoist scriptures write it this way because no one can explain it clearly—this is the mystery within mystery, the gateway to all wonders."

"Xu Ping'an's method often results in a lot of internal energy forming in the Crescent Moon Pool. Internal energy is completely different from true energy, and it needs to be refined again after entering the Dao, which is much more difficult than refining spiritual energy. Too much of this will become a burden on the dantian and affect later cultivation."

"Internal energy?" Some vague concepts flashed through Cai Fei's mind. "Is it internal skill? Can it allow one to fly over rooftops and split rocks?"

"No. Internal energy can only strengthen the body and prolong life," Li Zhu said doubtfully. "Some mountain dwellers can scale walls and roofs, but splitting rocks and breaking tombstones is something only innate cultivators can do. Where did you hear that from?"

"Uh...it seems to be something called martial arts novels." Cai Fei awkwardly changed the subject, "Since internal energy is useless, why did the old mountain master teach it this way?"

"Aolai's unique features. After the Great Sage's incident, the spirit mines were exhausted, and the spiritual energy was scarce. Our family ridge relies on these few spiritual plants, making it difficult for cultivators to advance. Although internal energy is a burden on the dantian, that's a long-term perspective. Foundation Establishment is already extremely rare here, and no one thinks that far ahead. On the contrary, this method makes it easy to obtain qi. Even if one cannot enter the Dao, it can still strengthen the body and allow ordinary people to survive among poisonous insects and ferocious beasts."

All great paths must ultimately conform to reality.

Cai Fei stopped speaking, closed his eyes, and tried to focus his attention on his navel.