Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 206: True Fire Revealed, A Letter Arrives From Afar

In any case, Ji Yuan still had to perfect his spiritual technique first. Since he had decided to use the Golden Bridge to lead the True Fire of Samadhi out of the inner world, he had to consider the consequences.

If he wanted to use the True Fire of Samadhi, it would definitely not be enough to just reverse the Transformation of Heaven and Earth. He needed to combine it with an exquisite fire control art to create a special fire controlling technique.

If that succeeded, then Ji Yuan also wanted to combine his own current state and extrapolate the real spiritual technique for the True Fire of Samadhi.¹

Everything else could be puzzled through. The most important part was how to generate the True Fire of Samadhi. This required a lot of study, and perhaps even in the end one of Ji Yuan’s Edicts. The unavoidable concern was to ensure his own safety.

Ji Yuan sat in the small pavilion for five full days. In addition to perfecting his control art, he also simulated many possible routes for the True Fire to flow down.

First of all, after the True Fire of Samadhi left the conceptual alchemical furnace and passed over the Golden Bridge to reach the alchemy room, it must definitely pass out through the Sea of Qi. After that, the most robust and best route was to to up to the heart acupoint, pass through the Shanzhong point,² following the Xuanji³ and Tiantu⁴ points up to the Chengjiao point,⁵ before finally emerging from the exit orifice — appearing in the closed mouth.

Ji Yuan believed that this upward line was the most reliable route, and that it was also the route with the least actual contact with the surface of the body to a large extent.

Although most of the acupoints for cultivation had the same names and the same locations as the acupoints on the meridians throughout the human body,⁶ the cultivation acupoints were hidden within the latter, and were naturally more closely connected to the body. They could also be regarded as something straddling the line between the real and the illusory, and to some extent could be rendered infinitely large or infinitely small.

Although he was being afraid of being burned by the True Fire, if Ji Yuan constrained himself, he could imagine the multiple acupoints connecting together as vast space from his perspective standing in the real world, and only draw a wisp of True Fire to reduce the possibility of “hitting a wall.”

The greatest danger lay in the moment when the True Fire of Samadhi was fully revealed — in other words, when it entered the Chengjiang acupoint. Ji Yuan’s idea was to use wind and fire control techniques at the same time, to restrain the True Fire with the fire control method and simultaneously expel the True Fire outwards in a breath with the wind control method.

In short, he needed to do everything possible to make the intermediate process short and efficient to reduce the possibility of “collision.”

As for something like expelling it out from his fingertips, he could forget about that. Not only was it a far distance away from his center, but it would definitely pass through the surface of his body the moment it gathered and left his fingertips.

However, it was different inside the mouth. While closing the mouth and containing the breath, the mouth was an orifice where energy could gather. Upon opening the mouth and breathing out, True Fire would be expelled. Therefore, there was no need for the fire to touch his body surface.

In fact, if he really looked at the details, there was an even shorter viable path: going down…⁷

But no matter how little Ji Yuan cared for his dignity, he still held a minimum standard. He would never go down that road!

Five days later, Ji Yuan felt that he was ready. Just to be safe, Ji Yuan finally went out to the outer-temple building and ordered a table of delicious food and drink. After eating, he went back to his house to practice and rest. He lay down and prepared to restore the energy he had spent during his time of study to a state of perfection.

For the True Fire of Samadhi, not much spiritual energy was needed; perhaps even no spiritual energy at all. As long as he could use his meticulous control over fire and wind, it would be fine. What was consumed the most was his mental energy; in this respect, he was quite well-endowed.

Another three days passed. When Ji Yuan opened the door and came outside, a thin layer of snow had accumulated in the courtyard. The temperature seemed to have dropped to a point where the snow would not melt in just a few days.

Ji Yuan looked at the ground in front of the house. There were some small footprints on the snow, which were obviously left by the fox Hu Yun. He had been immersed in his mind while he was resting previously, and would not wake up without a sense of impending crisis. It was unusual that he had not heard Hu Yun’s footsteps.

In the past three days, Ji Yuan had also studied more thoroughly in his dreams. According to his current spiritual sense, once the True Fire left the alchemy room, the closer it got to the orifice, as long as there was danger, his instinct for crisis would intensify. Otherwise, it would be within the controllable range, which could also be regarded as a separate elemental control method.

With this clear realization, Ji Yuan no longer hesitated. This was mostly a matter of mental willpower, so there was no need for any warm-ups. He simply stood in the center of the courtyard and focused. He manifested the technique and circulated energy in hsi mind. At the same time, Ji Yuan’s figure also appeared in his mental world.

The mountain peak and the huge alchemy furnace in his mental conception were not as tall as the ones in Ji Yuan’s inner world. He stretched out a hand and touched the edge of the alchemy furnace. A vague gravitational force wrapped around the alchemy furnace, and he opened his mouth to assist with an Edict.

“Let the True Fire be drawn out and appear.”

The sound of the Edict echoed in the inner world.

A giant hand stretched out over the world, and a ray of flame with a golden glow at its core was drawn out to the edges of several holes in the alchemy furnace. At this moment, Ji Yuan felt that it would not be good to draw out any more. He concentrated and reduced the intensity in his mind a little. The ray of fire changed from a bright flame to something like reddish-gray smoke.

‘That’s it! ’

Ji Yuan in the inner world waved his arms along with his mighty figure, and a golden bridge appeared, arching between the heavens and the earth. The wisp of reddish-gray smoke of the True Fire was immediately sent out of the inner world and appeared in the alchemy room in Ji Yuan’s body.

At this moment, Ji Yuan only felt his body warming up. Although he did not show a change of expression, his heart was filled with joy, knowing that the True Fire had indeed been brought out.

It entered the Shangzhong point, went up to the Xuanji, crossed Tiantu, and reached the Chengjiang acupoint…

The True Fire flowed upwards along with Ji Yuan’s consciousness, and, in an instant, had gathered in his mouth. The burning sensation became more and more intense. Fortunately, Ji Yuan didn’t feel any pain. Similarly, he did not feel that there was any danger at all.

This made Ji Yuan feel more at ease. Then, he directly introduced the True Fire into his mouth.

At this moment, Ji Yuan only felt like there was a piece of charcoal in his mouth. It was hot, but within the tolerable range. However, there was no need to keep it there.

He stretched out his hand and a fist-sized stone beside the jujube tree floated up. At the same time, Ji Yuan opened his mouth and exhaled.

“Hooh…”

A gust of wind blew out from Ji Yuan’s mouth, carrying a wisp of reddish-gray “smoke,” and hit the stone in an instant.

The energy of the True Fire controlled by Ji Yuan wrapped around the stone. The stone turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye. It did not turn into magma, as Ji Yuan had imagined it would, but directly turned gray.

After that, the True Fire seemed to have lost its target, and dissipated into nothingness.

Ji Yuan frowned and looked at the stone suspended in the air, and then released his hold on it. At this moment, the stone could no longer maintain its shape and turned into ashes, only to be scattered on the ground.

He subconsciously reached out to catch some of the ashes. They felt icy cold, but when he looked closely at them with his supernatural eyes, he could vaguely sense lingering traces of a ferocious fire.

Ji Yuan looked at the jujube tree beside him, then at the Green Vine Sword behind him. Then he muttered to himself, as if asking them.

“Should I conclude that it is worthy of being called the True Fire of Samadhi…?”

However, Ji Yuan seemed to have forgotten that there was actually a fourth individual present, hiding in a corner of Ji Yuan’s arms. A certain paper crane, still in its folded state, quietly burrowed deeper into his clothes.

“Knock knock knock… knock knock knock…”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“Is Mr. Ji home? Mr. Ji?”

“Knock knock knock…”

“I’m coming.”

Ji Yuan replied as he walked quickly to the courtyard door. When he opened it, he saw a young official standing outside. His face looked rather young, and he was hunched at the door, rubbing his cold hands together.

Seeing Ji Yuan open the door, the other party was obviously very happy. He hurriedly bowed in greeting and took out a few letters from his arms.

“Mr. Ji, you are finally back. I came here two days ago, but there was no one home at the time. Here, this letter is yours. It might have arrived some time ago, but I only gathered the post from the office two days ago. Here is your delivery!”

Ji Yuan took the letter and returned the bow, greeting the other party when he saw that the latter looked cold.

“Oh, thank you very much. It’s cold outside. Why don’t you come in and drink some hot water?”

Of course, Ji Yuan hadn’t boiled any water, but for him, making a pot of hot tea was easy.

The official rubbed his hands together and stomped his feet. He looked inside Ju’an Pavilion. The courtyard door was open, and it looked dark inside. Although the jujube tree in the courtyard was still covered with snow, the leaves were still emerald green.

“Uh… I still have business attend to, so I won’t bother you…”

“Okay, little messenger, please take care.”

“Okay, goodbye!”

After Ji Yuan bowed to the other party again, he watched the officer leave before finally disappearing around the corner the end of the alley.

He didn’t know whether the other party truly had something else to do, or whether the influence of the rumors of Ju’an Pavilion’s haunting still lingered.

Ji Yuan looked at the letters in his hand. He couldn’t judge from the seals how long ago they had been written. One was from Yin Qing, while another was from Master Yin, and yet another was from Du Heng, the one-armed swordsman.

Ji Yuan closed the courtyard gate, walked back into the yard, and sat down at the stone table. He lowered his head and looked at the letters. He first opened the letter from Master Yin, glanced at it, and determined that there were no urgent matters, so he opened Du Heng’s letter and read it carefully.

To Mr. Ji:

I was traveling by the Qiushui River in Jin Province and heard from the villagers that there was an evil woman who liked to dig out people’s hearts and eat them…. The people of the two counties were panicking, and the officials had no way to capture her. I have mastered my martial arts, so I and my friends patrolled day and night, waiting with swords drawn…

…This demon woman was evil. She was no ordinary person. I and my friends fought hard for the entire night. Thirteen people were killed or injured. Seven ghost children were beheaded, and the head of the demon woman chopped off. Her blood was thick, black, and smelled extremely foul… Later, three of my friends died from this poison…

I thought this matter was extremely strange, beyond the realm of an ordinary disaster, so I passed on this letter to you, Sir.

Written in autumn of the year of Jiashen.⁸ With respect, Du Heng.

…

The letter was two pages long. Although the handwriting was not particularly beautiful, the brushstrokes were very powerful.

The more Ji Yuan read the letter, the more his brows furrowed. Did the gods over there not care about this kind of thing? Or could it be that it was just some vile group of people who practiced demonic skills and performed evil acts?

1. If you recall, his was an amalgamation of several different spiritual fires
2. 膻中, (dànzhōng): acupoint CV17, Shanzhong, located in the middle of the chest right above the solar plexus
3. 璇玑 (xuánjī) acupoint CV21, Xuanji, located on the midline of the chest above the Shanzhong
4. 天突 (tiāntū): acupoint CV22, Tiantu, located in the depression at the base of the throat, just above the sternum
5. 承浆 (chéngjiàng): acupoint CV24, Chengjiang, located in the depression below the lower lip, at the midpoint of the chin
6. Meridians are the pathways in (TCM) through which Qi and blood flow. Acupoints are specific points on the meridians where Qi gathers and can be stimulated
7. i.e. the genitals
8. 甲申 (jiǎshēn): 21st year A9 of the 60 year cycle