Chapter 38 Chapter Thirty-Eight — The Longhu Golden Elixir

Night fell.

Li Daoxuan bathed and changed, sat cross-legged upon the bed, and when his mind was at its best, carefully took out a pale-gold pill.

This was the Longhu Golden Elixir, renowned through all the cultivation world!

The Longhu Golden Elixir takes a yaoguai's inner core as chief medicine, with precious herbs and rare minerals as adjuncts, refined through nine furnace-turns; a mortal who takes it strengthens the body and lengthens life, a cultivator gains cultivation and rises in power!

Thus the Longhu Golden Elixir is exceedingly precious, and its refining method is Mount Longhu's own secret — imparted only to true disciples.

His master had said the emperor in Chang'an's Taiji Palace had many times sent to Mount Longhu for elixir, but the Old Celestial Master declined each time; later he could only settle for less and go to Maoshan.

So Li Daoxuan could not but be stirred — this was a spirit-elixir even the eternal emperor Li Shimin sought and could not obtain!

Zhang Qianyang sat beside Li Daoxuan; unusually he drank no wine, and had not even brought his personal wine-gourd; his expression was somewhat grave.

As one who had been through it, he knew best the danger Li Daoxuan now faced.

Yet he spoke no warning, but said firmly, "Take the elixir. Rest easy — your master is here for all."

As a master, though worried at heart, he would lay no pressure on his disciple.

Li Daoxuan nodded, then resolutely swallowed the Longhu Golden Elixir.

In truth he knew the breakthrough would meet danger, for his master had said the path of cultivation is thin ice, a precipice before — each step a trap.

But since heaven had let him cross into this world and granted the heaven-defying cheat of the Heaven-Subduing Demon Scripture, he would surely walk that road to heaven!

He washed the nail-sized pill down with water; Li Daoxuan blinked — it seemed… no feeling at all?

"Hold the One, guard the unity — do not let the mind wander!"

At his master's warning Li Daoxuan quickly gathered his stray thoughts and kept his heart-lake calm.

After a moment a scalding, fiery sensation rose in his lower belly, as if a burning stove there radiated heat unceasingly.

In an instant his meridians burned like fire!

Li Daoxuan strove to keep his breath's rhythm and worked the Pengzu Valley-Immortal Sleeping Induction Exercise to absorb the medicine's power.

Gradually the pain lessened, and Li Daoxuan's furrowed brow relaxed.

The mana within him surged swiftly; almost with each breath it equaled months of hard cultivation before — the rise in cultivation was a thousand li a day!

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After a time the advancement at last stopped; the Longhu Golden Elixir was wholly digested, and his mana from a trickling stream became a rushing river.

But Li Daoxuan did not relax; rather he roused the more, for what followed was the main event.

He guided the mana within him to dash at the Huangting — the lower dantian.

Thud!

The Huangting barrier, immovable before, now under Li Daoxuan's mana-assault shook violently.

There was hope!

Li Daoxuan's spirit surged; once more he rallied his mana, with longing for longevity, with zeal and steadfastness for the Way, and slammed it at the Huangting barrier!

Boom!

This time the Huangting burst open; the mana-river drove straight in, entering the lower dantian, like a tiger atop the hill, a dragon coiled in the deep — proud and fierce, brooking no rival.

But before Li Daoxuan could rejoice, a sudden change: in the lower dantian many milky-white vapors rose, flowing into Li Daoxuan's mana and swelling it further.

Yet at the same time a dryness and heat rose in Li Daoxuan's heart, flushing his face, setting the blood a-boil.

In his mind began to surface all manner of illusions.

Many fair girls, white-skinned and long-legged, appeared, glancing coquettishly, smiling sweetly, tempting Li Daoxuan with their utmost.

In ordinary times, with his composure, he would naturally be unmoved — but Li Daoxuan's state now was wretched, little different from having taken an aphrodisiac.

The girls swarmed, scantily clad, and hemmed Li Daoxuan round.

"No — you all, give me… line up… one at a time…"

Li Daoxuan's mind had begun to loosen; he had meant to say "away with you all," but the words at his lips came out "line up, one at a time."

In the sea of consciousness he was even about to pounce.

Just then a voice like thunder crackled and rang into his ear.

"Would you still attain eternal life?"

Boom!

In an instant Li Daoxuan returned to clarity; his bewildered eyes grew clear again. A gleam of resolve showed; he sat cross-legged, pinched a Dao-seal, and softly recited the Daode Jing.

"The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth; the named is the mother of all things…"

This moment he was like an old monk in samadhi; no matter how ruinous the beauties, he was unmoved.

After a time Li Daoxuan's heart-lake grew ever calmer; the whole man sank softly into a most mystic state, and the red-dust illusions faded, at last wholly vanishing.

The Zhenyang Daoist Temple, in the room.

Li Daoxuan slowly opened his eyes; his gaze was limpid and bright, like an autumn lake, without a trace of evil thought or impurity.

Zhang Qianyang showed a satisfied smile; his hand held the wine-gourd again, and he drank deep. "Leap to the thirty-six cave-heavens; then even mortal bone becomes immortal. Disciple, congratulations on truly stepping upon the cultivation's path."

Li Daoxuan had passed the tribulation and entered early Binu!

Though but the first step of the long Way, the beginning is hardest; most Daoists, without a master to lead, toil a lifetime and may never take this step, at last only cultivating a wisp of mana — good for little but health.

This step is the beginning of the change from mortal to immortal!

Li Daoxuan was much glad; now the mana within him rested in the lower dantian like a small lake, countless times larger than before.

And after bursting the Huangting, Li Daoxuan found himself full of vigor; within the dantian those milky-white vapors still kept emerging.

"Master, what are those milky-white vapors? They seem to grow mana…"

Zhang Qianyang chuckled. "That is your essence."

Li Daoxuan started.

"The lower dantian is the storehouse of essence; once opened, essence is unending, refined into mana — this is refining essence into qi."

"Thus your master warned you before: before achieving early Bigu, on no account lie with a woman — first, it spills the primal yang and makes advancement harder; second, once you have tasted the pleasures of the flesh, it is hard to pass the trial of lust."

Li Daoxuan recalled the scene and a flicker of dread crossed his eyes; had his master not awakened him with that true word, he might now have fallen into deviation.

Lightly, damage to the foundation and no hope of the immortal Way; heavily, loss of life!

This moment he was inexpressibly glad to have a reliable master.

"Cultivation is against heaven; each breakthrough meets a great trial — so the cultivation of the mind may not be set aside either. Disciple, from tomorrow take one hour daily to recite the Daoist scriptures, and nourish the heart."

"Yes, Master!"