Alchemy or Sword Practice

After lunch, Qin Ran subconsciously wanted to go lie on the sofa. In the past, he would lie down for at least half an hour after eating, but today, he had only taken two steps before stopping. Because he suddenly realized that those days might be gone forever, he could not help sighing, turned around and went out.

Seeing Master shaking his head and sighing again and again, Li Shiyin did not know what was going on with Master who had just eaten.

She followed Qin Ran to the door.

Master walked onto the lawn, to the riverbank, lowered his head looking at the river. At this time, the scenery was like a painting, he was like a painted figure... A pensive painted figure.

Li Shiyin thought for a while, then followed along to the riverbank. Lowering her head, she looked at the clear water below, where there were also fish and shrimp swimming along the current.

Sensing that Li Shiyin had followed along, Qin Ran glanced at her, then turned his head back to look at the water under his feet. Suddenly he said:

"The Master said on the riverbank, the departed are thus gone, they no longer tarry day or night.

"The original meaning of cultivation was actually to fight against time and seek immortality. It's just that on the path of cultivation, people discovered that cultivation would obtain very powerful abilities, so some began to cultivate for power. "

He sighed, "Then immortality and power became the two paths of cultivation."

"The sword is the path of power, alchemy is the path of immortality." He turned his head and looked at Li Shiyin, asking, "Do you want to pursue alchemy or swordsmanship?"

Li Shiyin did not know who "Master" was, nor did she understand what Master meant by those words. But she did want to pursue alchemy, so she immediately answered, "Alche..."

Qin Ran raised his hand to stop her from continuing, saying,

"You're giving up your promising future in swordsmanship, just to come to Dan Peak. I know you must have a reason you must learn alchemy. But I still hope you'll reconsider carefully. You don't have to answer me now, think it over and then let me know."

Li Shiyin fell silent.

"Alchemy requires memorizing many medicinal materials, memorizing many pill formulas, knowing how to turn medicinal materials into pills and elixirs. It's not just cultivating an alchemy technique, knowing a certain pill formula, and then you can start alchemy..."

Qin Ran raised his head and looked towards the distant forest, "But swordsmanship doesn't require memorizing much, just cultivating one martial art, learning one sword technique, and nurturing a fated sword is enough."

He asked again, "Do you think you are more suited for alchemy or swordsmanship?"

Li Shiyin was born in a sect family, although her father had tried his best, giving her the name Shiyin, letting her learn poetry, etiquette and propriety, hoping she could be gentler, more cultured and well-read.

But the influence of family tradition was too great, she did not become a young lady in the end...

Whether she was more suited for swordsmanship or alchemy, she was actually clearer than anyone else.

"There is no hierarchy between professions, but generally speaking, sword cultivators are more popular in the cultivation world. Everyone knows wet nurses are important, but who doesn't want to be the sword immortal who can take heads from a thousand miles away with a flying sword?" Qin Ran said with a smile, "Young lady, you should still pursue swordsmanship!"

Li Shiyin pursed her lips, watching the fish in the river without speaking.

"Swordsmanship is fast, alchemy is slow. Make your decision soon!" Qin Ran said finally, "But today, I will still teach you the basics of cultivation."

After watching the fish for a while, the two crossed the river and returned to the research building. Qin Ran told Li Shiyin to wait in the morning's pharmacy, while he went upstairs to get a human anatomy model.

"Before starting cultivation, you must first understand the various meridians and acupoints of the human body. Otherwise, once you have Qi perception, you won't know how to circulate Qi," Qin Ran said, placing the anatomy model on the table. Li Shiyin sat behind the table as he looked at her and said,

"This model was what I used when I was learning martial arts techniques back then. Now I'm demonstrating it to you."

"Models? Does the cultivation world have such things?" Li Shiyin sat up straight, but her lively eyes betrayed her. Master was truly strange, his style never made sense.

"Look, the acupoints from top to bottom, this is Baihui Point, connecting to Heaven and Earth. When the Primordial Spirit forms, it emerges from here... This is Yintang Point, also the location of the Sea of Wisdom. What is called the Upper Elixir Field, once you form your Divine Soul, it will reside here..."

Qin Ran pointed at the anatomy model, explaining in detail from top to bottom for Li Shiyin,

"This is Dazhong Point, also the Middle Elixir Field, where the Primordial Spirit will reside later... This is Qihai Point, also the Lower Elixir Field, where the Qi Swirl and Golden Core are located.

"Cultivation will start from the Lower Elixir Field. Once you have Qi perception, coalesce the Qi Swirl at the Lower Elixir Field, then as your cultivation level increases, the Qi Swirl grows larger, coagulating into a Golden Core, then the Golden Core incubates and the Primordial Spirit emerges shattering the Core..."

Qin Ran spoke fluently, explaining place by place in great detail, taking care not to make mistakes, while also expressing his own insights into cultivation in layman's terms, subtly indicating that he had learned something.

But Li Shiyin, who was sitting behind the table listening... her eyes went from lively, to fixed, then dull, then closed.

By the time he got from Baihui Point to Qihai Point, Li Shiyin was already playing tug-of-war with Lord Zhou, and by the time he got from Foundation Establishment to Divine Ascension, Li Shiyin had given up and was chatting merrily with Lord Zhou.

Qin Ran spoke enthusiastically, then suddenly turned back and found Li Shiyin was already half asleep. He was stunned for a moment, suddenly realizing how the teachers in high school must have felt when they saw the whole classroom full of students dozing off, and how disappointed they must have been.

Was his lecture really that soporific? He couldn't help but feel doubtful.

But either way, he had to stop.

If cultivation could be divided into theoretical and practical factions, then Qin Ran was a diehard theorist. If he didn't fully understand the function of each acupoint, the specific path of each cultivation technique, he couldn't advance his cultivation. At this time, he had little experience and assumed everyone was like him, unable to learn a technique properly without thorough preparation in advance. So when he saw Li Shiyin's performance in class, he was quite doubtful:

Is this really top-tier Spirit Root?!

Qin Ran sat down and looked at Li Shiyin with her mouth pouting, nodding off uncontrollably. He started thinking, should he still talk about the meridians later? Without knowing the acupoints and meridians clearly, how could one cultivate?

But looking at Li Shiyin's current state... a headache, ah what a headache!

Qin Ran gently tapped the table, and Li Shiyin stopped nodding, but still didn't wake up. Qin Ran hesitated, wondering if he was disturbing her rest, but still tapped the table again. Finally Li Shiyin woke up.

Li Shiyin opened her eyes blurrily, seeing Master's helpless expression before her, a sense of guilt welled up in her heart. She quickly lowered her head apologetically, saying "Sorry, Master, sorry, I...couldn't...resist..."

"How much did you hear of what I just explained?" Seeing his young disciple's silly and cute appearance, Qin Ran struggled with his last ounce of hope.

"Baihui Point, something about connecting with Heaven and Earth, something about Divine Soul, something about Primordial Spirit..." Li Shiyin tried hard to recall what Qin Ran had just explained, saying everything she heard, "Egg breaks, baby comes out, Qi becomes a sea..."

Qin Ran raised his hand to stop Li Shiyin's nonsense. Finally he asked, "Do you know what any of this is?"

"Huh?" Li Shiyin shook her head blankly.

"Alas!" Qin Ran let out a sigh, standing up. At this time he really wanted to say, you can't carve wood that's rotten!

But he didn't say it after all.

Turning around and walking out, he reached into his Cosmic Bag as he got to the door, took out a book, turned back and placed it on the table, saying "This is an illustrated guide to the human meridians. I've annotated all the meridians involved in Foundation Establishment stage cultivation, noting what attributes are associated with each meridian, you go ahead and read it yourself!"

Having said that, he turned around and left.

Watching Master's departing back, Li Shiyin felt very guilty. She also didn't know why she always felt drowsy!

Letting out a helpless sigh, Li Shiyin picked up the book on the table and flipped it open. Like the materia medica book from the morning, the images were in color, with anatomy models clearly and vividly depicted, and the printed words were also densely packed, explaining things in great detail, with Master's handwritten notes in the margins.

In short, with one glance, she felt the whole world was made of words, and her head started pounding.

She hurriedly tossed the book back onto the table, as if it had bitten her.

Li Shiyin leaned back against the chair in despair, raising her head to look at the ceiling.

"How can I cultivate like this?" she lamented, "Looking at books makes me sleepy, how will I ever concoct pills?"

She was lost in thought when she suddenly realized something. "Master is only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, so how could he say he has marked all the meridians mentioned in this book for the Foundation Establishment Stage? Could it be that Master has read all the cultivation methods for the Foundation Establishment Stage?!"

She was startled by her own thoughts. It's unbelievable that someone could read so many books!

"As expected of Master, he is indeed terrifying!"