Chapter 130: The Primordial Saint Yearns for the Mortal World

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“True lead, when refined, requires true water; true water must be harmonized with true mercury.”

This was the alchemical formula from the original text concerning the River of Conception and the Falling Womb Spring.

To achieve Water Returning to the Origin, one’s body had to remain motionless and one’s essence had to be firmly preserved.

Cao Kong suddenly understood. The so-called essence was primordial essence, also known as true lead. For a person to be born, this was the foundation—the innate root of life.

To obtain true lead and keep it stable, true water and true mercury had to be harmonized.

True mercury was the qi acquired after birth, while true water was primordial yin, also known as kidney yin.

Cao Kong frowned as he considered how true mercury and true water might be harmonized.

His gaze fell upon the waters of the River of Conception and the Falling Womb Spring. These two waters corresponded precisely to the meanings of true water and true mercury. With a single thought, he separated a small portion from each and mixed them together.

Cao Kong carefully sensed the change, observing with his Dharma Eye. The water of the River of Conception and the water of the Falling Womb Spring began to merge, and a subtle transformation commenced.

The River of Conception was yang water, while the Falling Womb Spring was yin water. Interweaving together, they resembled the fusion of yin and yang, the union of Kan and Li.

Within yang lay turbid yin; within yin lay true yang. The two intertwined and merged. Then, with a sudden gurgle, Cao Kong’s eyes flickered. The two waters had somehow lost all their spiritual resonance.

“胎 qi… the falling of the womb?”

Cao Kong pondered the mystery carefully and continued recalling the alchemical verses concerning the two waters from the original text.

“True mercury and true lead lack the mother qi; numinous cinnabar and sacred medicine form the elixir. The infant vainly takes shape within the womb, yet when the Earth Mother exerts her power, all is accomplished with ease.”

“Must the five-elemental earth be used to harmonize them? The Earth Mother is the Yellow Matron, and also True Intent. Does that mean True Intent must be used to regulate true mercury and true water?”

The more Cao Kong considered it, the more convinced he became that this was the correct path. Thus, he drew the true yang from the Falling Womb Spring and used it only to fill the turbid yin within the River of Conception, leaving the qi of the yang water untouched.

The turbid yin in the River of Conception gradually faded away. A sensation of perfect unity began to emanate from it, bringing with it a powerful vitality—something that could barely be described as the image of primordial essence.

However, the water of the River of Conception had now become rootless water. Even after acquiring the image of primordial essence, it could not endure for long.

Still, if someone drank it, they should be able to conceive a child—not merely a girl born from turbid yin, but a child of either sex.

A smile spread across Cao Kong’s face. So this was how it worked. The path of Water Returning to the Origin could indeed be cultivated: with True Intent, true water and true mercury were harmonized; Kan was drawn out to fill Li; true lead could then be obtained and firmly stabilized. At that point, the essence would be secure.

He could not help marveling at the ingenuity of creation. These two waters happened to correspond perfectly to the path of cultivation.

Afterward, he casually dispersed the water of the River of Conception. Having comprehended the path of Water Returning to the Origin, he had no further use for it.

He then began cultivating according to this method.

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After obtaining the essence qi of Water of the Gui Cycle, Cao Xiang first used it to nourish Liu Xian’s foundation. He then refined pills for him and prescribed a medicinal regimen. As long as Liu Xian followed the instructions, the damage to his foundation could be repaired within a dozen years.

Liu Xian thanked him again and again before bidding farewell to the two brothers and returning to Mount Soaring Seclusion, where he intended to recuperate in peace.

Cao Kong continued cultivating, drawing Kan to fill Li and harmonizing true water with true mercury in order to obtain primordial essence within the kidneys.

The path of Water Returning to the Origin was completely clear to him. At most, thirty years would be enough for him to achieve it.

In his spare time, he also continued refining his Five-Element Sword. Following the methods recorded in the Manual of the Five-Element Primordial Unity: Condensing Forms and Planting Treasures, he refined the essences of the five elements as though they were a single elixir, causing them to form their own circulatory cycle, generating and reversing one another until they attained primordial unity.

After that, he refined the yin dross within his soul and sought out the Yellow Matron once more, hoping to acquire another divine ability.

Time passed with extraordinary speed on the mountain. Day after day followed the same pattern, and before he knew it, another three years had gone by.

Cao Kong drew upon the qi of Heaven and Earth, refining primordial essence within his kidneys. As his primordial essence grew, it drove the continued growth of both his physical body and his cultivation. This was the strengthening of his very life essence.

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that if Cao Kong spat upon the ground, any flower or blade of grass touched by his saliva might transform into a numinous fungus or sacred medicinal herb.

At the same time, his transformations of the Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends, as well as the Great Five-Element Escape, improved once again. He was gradually reaching the threshold of minor mastery.

In his cultivation of the Communion of All Transformations, he was also slowly approaching the threshold of initiation. Cao Kong even began wondering whether he should find some way to search for traces of spiritual creatures.

As for Cao Xiang, whenever he was not cultivating, he devoted himself enthusiastically to practicing medicine. He charged only a single copper coin for each consultation, and if a patient was truly impoverished, he accepted nothing at all.

Once, he came upon a village where everyone was poor. The people had neither money nor grain, and illness was widespread. Cao Xiang treated them without accepting a single coin. He even taught them how to identify herbs and gather medicinal plants to cure their ailments, and the villagers came to revere him as a divine physician.

Several months later, when Cao Xiang visited again, the village presented him with a garment made from cloth contributed by a hundred households. Though the patchwork robe was simple, Cao Xiang loved it dearly. Whenever he descended the mountain to practice medicine, he wore it.

Thus, throughout the Kingdom of Qin Dao and even across the entire Jade Radiance Prefecture, a legend gradually began to spread: whenever a physician wearing a hundred-family robe arrived in a city to diagnose and treat the sick, every illness would retreat.

Cao Kong could not help wondering whether, if Cao Xiang continued acting this way for several decades or even centuries, he might rise directly to Heaven through the merit of his benevolence and take his place among the immortals.

As for the Four Foxes—Hu Yan and the others—they remained focused on manifesting as the True Lord Who Acts with Compassion to Rescue the World from Calamity.

Cao Kong often cautioned them about this. If the trouble involved demons, calamities, or natural disasters, they could lend a hand. But if it concerned conflicts among humans, mortals should be left to resolve them themselves.

Come to think of it, ever since Nezha subdued the demons of ninety-six caves, the Western Ox Continent had been largely peaceful. In recent years, however, demons and fiends had gradually begun causing trouble again.

During those three years, Qindao City had also attracted the attention of several monsters. Most of them were insignificant, though, and with the weapons bestowed upon Hu Yan and the others by the Star Lord Taibai, they handled the threats with ease.

Cao Kong’s friends were doing well too. The Seven Lions’ merchant association was flourishing, which kept them increasingly busy. On their previous visits, they had even sent him spiritual medicines, entrusting them to the two eccentric brothers, Strange and Cunning.

When Cao Kong had first met the two little demons, they had been wearing ragged single-layer garments. A little food and a few ounces of silver had been enough to make them happy for half a day. Now, however, they had grown prosperous.

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They still had wolf heads and human bodies, but now they wore brocade robes and gold and silver ornaments from head to toe. They were poor little demons who had finally made something of themselves.

The Mountain God of Mount Subduing Ox remained unchanged. As a minor God of Blessings and Virtue in the Celestial Court, he spent his days drinking tea, seeking neither prominence nor conflict.

Liu Xian, however, had changed greatly. When he visited Cao Kong some time later, his face was radiant with delight. When Cao Kong asked the reason, he learned that Liu Xian had obtained a method for transforming into a dragon.

The method had been given to him by a dragon palace, which had accepted only a portion of his spiritual treasures in return.

Cao Kong immediately grew suspicious. In his view, the spiritual treasures taken by the dragon palace were hardly precious. It seemed almost as though they had merely wanted to give Liu Xian the method.

When Cao Kong explained his doubts, Liu Xian replied that becoming a dragon had been his lifelong ambition.

He had also studied the method carefully and found no problems with it. Once his foundation was healed, he intended to travel along the waterways, entering the rivers and seas to undergo the transformation into a dragon.

Hearing this, Cao Kong could do nothing but nod.

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Meanwhile, in Heaven, within the Azure Radiance Realm and the Eastern Pole Palace of Sublime Mystery—

The Nine-Spirit Primal Sage had nothing to do in the Lion House all day long and had grown thoroughly impatient. His lion attendant watched him closely, and the constant restraint made him feel deeply confined.

There was nothing he could do about it. The Nine-Spirit Primal Sage knew that his master had deliberately assigned the lion attendant to temper his temperament.

He had once caused a terrible disaster. Though his master had protected him, he had also placed a lion attendant at his side as a warning.

Thus, although the lion attendant was harsh with him in daily life, the Nine-Spirit Primal Sage had little grounds for complaint. At most, he occasionally grumbled.

Lately, however, he had been consumed by longing for the mortal world. He especially missed the filial devotion of the Seven Lions.

For that reason, all nine of the Nine-Spirit Primal Sage’s heads had recently been pondering the same question: how could he sneak down to the mortal realm?

I’ll post one chapter first, and another around midnight. There is no need to wait for the third chapter—I’ll post it around dawn. My thoughts were a little blocked this afternoon, but I’ve just managed to get them flowing again.

Thanks to Fireball for the one-hundred Starting Point Coins.

Thanks to Rainy Rain River Ahead for the one-hundred Starting Point Coins.

Thanks to Reader 20240515040339495 for the one-hundred Starting Point Coins.

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