Chapter 14 Five Elements, Five Qi, Five Organs, and Five Senses There are many methods and names for alchemy. There are many forms of body refining, such as the sun body refining, the moon body refining, the gold and jade body refining, the concentration body refining, the voice-hearer body refining, the convergence body refining, and the guiding body refining. "Tai Yi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Body Technique" comes from the major Taoist sect "Tai Yi Sect". It uses guiding as the main method of practice and takes the path of comprehensive five elements, hence the name. No matter which school or which kind of body-refining technique it is, there are four stages: collecting herbs, sealing, cooking, and stopping the fire. The reason why these four stages are named in this way is that the origin and development of Nei Dan Dao was later than that of Wai Dan Dao, and many terms of Nei Dan Dao were adopted. The so-called collecting medicine means that when the Yuanqi occurs (external medicine), it should be collected in time to make it sublime. “Lead must be mined quickly when it meets Gui, and gold cannot be tasted after it meets Wang”, it is like this. The so-called sealing means that after the herbs are collected, they are sent to the lower furnace and sealed to prevent leakage. "Send it back to the earthen cauldron and seal it tightly, then put it into the flowing beads to be mixed with it." This means that the medicine collected in time is sent to the Dantian, sealed to prevent leakage, and then the method of concentrating the mind and combining the Qi is used to gather the subtle primordial spirit and collect it into the Dantian. The so-called refining means rotating the river wheel 360 degrees and completing 360 cycles of the small heavenly calendar to promote the intercourse between the dragon and the tiger and condense the divine energy.

The so-called stopping of the fire means that after the 360 ​​phases are completed, when there is a signal of the sun appearing three times, the internal medicine has been produced, and then the fire must be stopped in preparation for the seven-day refining of the great medicine (the external and internal medicines are condensed into a pill embryo). Each of these four stages is crucial. No matter which stage the mistake occurs, the practice of body refining will fail. But all things are difficult at the beginning. Collecting herbs is the stage where mistakes are most likely to occur among the four stages. Firstly, you can't just pick herbs whenever you want; secondly, it's easy to pick the wrong herbs; thirdly, picking herbs is the easiest time to attract extraterritorial demons. Therefore, those who have completed the 100-day foundation-building and grain-refining and essence-refining processes and are able to enter the realm of cultivation, all practice the body-refining technique for the first time under the protection of their master's elders. The missionary school also has its own relevant procedures. When Tao Tie has read and understood "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique" and has the confidence to complete the practice, he can apply to the missionary institute for protection. The missionary institute will send teachers to explain, guide and protect the Dharma. Tao Tie would not rely on his golden finger [Knowing Everything] to think highly of himself and waste such a benefit. He would certainly apply for protection of the law to the missionary, but not now. Before actually practicing the Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique, Tao Tie still has two things to do. One is to push the level of "Five Animal Exercises" to (perfection, 100% progress) to see what hidden gains there will be; The second is to trigger the information fragments of "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique" and incorporate them into the "Taotie Visualization Method" to see if there are any shortcuts. The first thing takes time and cannot produce results immediately, but the second thing is different. Tao Tie concentrated his mind on the "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique" in his hand, and at the same time connected the memory and understanding of "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique" in his mind. The method of cultivation is naturally a wonderful thing. Otherwise, how did Tao Tie originally trigger the memory fragments of "Taotie Visualization Method" and "Five Animal Exercises"? After a moment, the information fragments of "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding Body Refining Technique" were triggered, and a translucent interface emerged in the field of vision.

[Skills: Taiyi Five Elements Guiding Body Refining Technique (Not yet started) Information fragment 1: Originated from the Taoist sect "Taiyi Sect", cultivating the body, lower earth rank; Information fragment two: This is the first volume, which is combined with the second volume "Taiyi Five Thunders Visualization and Spirit Refining Technique" into a set, and is a top-grade earth-level product. Information fragment three: Incorporating the "Taotie Visualization Method" may have miraculous effects] "Taiyi Five Thunders Visualization and Refining Divine Art?" Seeing this, Tao Tie muttered to himself silently. In the practice of inner alchemy, before entering the stage, there are two preliminary stages: building the foundation for 100 days and refining grains into essence. After entering the stage, there are four major stages: refining essence into Qi, refining Qi into spirit, refining spirit into emptiness, and refining emptiness into harmony with the Tao. Among them, the form-refining technique cultivates the body, first refining the essence and then refining the qi; the spirit-refining technique cultivates the primordial spirit, first refining the spirit and then refining the void. From this point of view, Instructor Huang had good intentions when he specially selected the "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique" for Tao Tie. Because the most frightening thing about spiritual practice is having no way forward. If Tao Tie practiced the "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Body Technique" and was lucky enough to enter the grade, and then luckily completed the refining of essence into qi and the refining of qi into spirit, and needed to refine the spirit into emptiness, but had no subsequent methods, it would be very likely that his path would be cut off and he would stop moving forward. Even with the help of the golden finger [Knowing Everything], it may not really block the path, but it is certainly great to be able to avoid a big thunder. "Thank you, Instructor Huang." After sincerely thanking himself, Tao Tie continued to study how to practice "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique". As the name suggests, Taiyi Lianxing Shu (abbreviation) is a method of guiding the body to absorb the energy of the five elements (Jia and Yi wood energy, Bing and Ding fire energy, Wu and Ji earth energy, Geng and Xin metal energy, Ren and Gui water energy) as medicine to refine and nourish the body. The stubborn stone has a leaky body and its innate five elements are incomplete, so it has almost no chance of becoming an immortal. Naturally, it cannot use conventional methods to practice cultivation by drawing the five elements' qi as medicine as described in the rubbings. It must take a shortcut. Without much hesitation, Tao Tie incorporated the "Taiyi Body Refining Technique" into the "Taotie Visualization Method" and tried to trigger the information fragments. [Skills: Taotie Visualization Method + Taiyi Five Elements Guiding Body Refining Technique] [Information fragment 1: The way of heaven is to reduce the excess and replenish the deficiency. Replenish qi with qi, and replenish movement with movement.] [Information fragment 2: Heaven feeds people with five qi, and earth feeds people with five flavors. The five qi enter the nose and are stored in the five internal organs.] [Information fragment three: wind, heat, humidity, dryness, and cold;] [Information fragment 4: smelly, burnt, fragrant, fishy, ​​and rotten.] Tao Tie was not illiterate. In his previous life, he was a college student majoring in Chinese language and literature. In the past ten days, he had read a lot of books on the first floor of the Missionary Academy's library and attended many classes that taught the basics of spiritual practice. Naturally, he knew: Wind, heat, humidity, dryness and cold are the five elements of nature, also known as the five seasons. Rancid, burnt, fragrant, fishy and rotten are the five odors of medicine and food, also known as the five odors. Both can correspond to the five elements. Among them, wind and smell are wood, heat and burnt are fire, humidity and fragrance are earth, dryness and fishy smell are metal, cold and rot are water. Heaven feeds man with the five elements, that is, Heaven feeds man with the five elements, which enter through the nose. It can be that the wind of the five phases enters the liver, the heat enters the heart, the dampness enters the spleen, the dryness enters the lungs, and the cold enters the kidneys; It can also be that the foul smell enters the liver, the burnt smell enters the heart, the fragrant smell enters the spleen, the fishy smell enters the lungs, and the rotten smell enters the kidneys. Since it is a leaky stone, its innate five elements are incomplete. It is impossible or very difficult to absorb the five elements' qi of Jia and Yi wood, Bing and Ding fire, Wu and Ji earth, Geng and Xin metal, and Ren and Gui water as medicine to refine and nourish the body.

Then the five elements of wind, heat, dampness, dryness and cold will be used in balance. Or it can be replaced by the five odors of rancid, burnt, fragrant, fishy and rotten. Only children make choices, Tao Tie wants them all. Since the wood energy is divided into Jia and Yi, the fire energy is divided into Bing and Ding, the earth energy is divided into Wu and Ji, the metal energy is divided into Geng and Xin, and the water energy is divided into Ren and Gui, then the five signs need to be "eaten" and the five odors also need to be "eaten". This is what is considered a complete replacement in the true sense. Having made up his mind, Tao Tie put away the rubbings, left his single dormitory, and went to class. As I said before, there is no need to rush to practice the Shape Refining Technique for the time being, but to consolidate the basics first. Based on this idea, Tao Tie lived an extremely regular and peaceful life. He ate medicinal food three times a day, practiced the Five Animal Exercises three times a day, attended classes on time, and spent the rest of his time reading in the library. Whenever he encountered some questions about Taiyi Refining Form or other aspects of cultivation and could not come up with the answers after thinking about them over and over again, he would go to the third floor to ask Teacher Huang Junshi for advice. Such calm and steady demeanor not only did not cause Instructor Huang to complain, but made Instructor Huang appreciate Tao Tie even more. Not everyone can resist the temptation of obtaining the method of practicing Taoism, and steadily lay a solid foundation and take every step steadily. It should be understood that after completing 100 days of foundation-building and refining grains into essence, one is only getting infinitely close to the mundane limits of the human body. In terms of the actual combat power that can be exerted, it is not strong. He is neither invulnerable nor able to defeat a thousand enemies alone; he is still an ordinary person. Tao Tie had very poor aptitude and a very poor background. He finally had the chance to practice, but he was able to resist the temptation to become extraordinary and a superior person. He was also able to suppress his impetuous desire for revenge after being humiliated. It was really good. Teacher Huang is quite optimistic about it. Tao Tie felt the change in Instructor Huang's opinion of him and took it to heart, but did not deliberately pursue it. Standing on the wall, no desire is just. The less deliberate you are, the more open you are, the more favorable opinions you will get. It was in such a rhythm and atmosphere that Tao Tie spent twenty days to finally push the level of "Five Animal Exercises" from (mastery, progress 15%) to (perfection, progress 100%). It doubled the ten days required to complete the “100-day foundation building”. Naturally, there have been significant gains, which can be divided into three aspects. The first is that the essence, energy and spirit are further perfected and leak-free. In the three aspects of plugging and repairing leaks, unblocking Qi channels, and clearing away all diseases with Qi of the 100-day foundation building, further progress has been made. The difference is that for the same test paper, if a top student gets 100 points, it means his ability is only 100 points, while if a genius student gets 100 points, it means the test paper is only 100 points. The "Five Animal Exercises" (Mastery, 15% progress) and the "Five Animal Exercises" (Perfection, 100% progress) both require days to build a foundation. The former is like a top student, while the latter is a genius student. The difference may not be obvious now, but you will know the difference later. The second is that after twenty days of training, the preliminary stage of refining grain into essence was completed. From then on, Tao Tie truly had a solid foundation for practicing Taoism. He could try collecting herbs and practicing the "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique".

Because of the solid foundation, the probability of encountering extraterritorial demons while collecting herbs and practicing is greatly reduced. This is extremely important in the context of a disaster that has already occurred. The third is the qualitative change of the five internal organs and the appearance of miracles. When the bird play was mastered, Tao Tie's lungs were tempered to a certain extent, his endurance was greatly improved, his skin became much tougher, and the breath that came out of his nose when he whistled could ward off evil spirits. This magical power was further enhanced after the Five Animal Exercises reached the level of (perfection, 100% progress). Not only that, the deer plays, tiger plays, monkey plays, and bear plays, which had not brought much improvement before, all produced magical effects. The five internal organs, lungs, kidneys, liver, heart, and spleen, undergo qualitative changes. The five internal organs are filled with essence and energy, which nourish the body surface. The skin, bones, tendons, veins, and flesh are all greatly strengthened. Without considering the means of combat, and only considering the physical attributes, Tao Tie could easily fight fifty ordinary people at the same time, let alone ten. This is definitely a Captain America without the "50-50" rule. However, these are just basic changes and are not considered to be beyond common sense. The most important thing is, it’s magical! Bird play belongs to metal, which governs the lungs, skin and nose; deer play belongs to water, which governs the kidneys, bones and ears; tiger play belongs to wood, which governs the liver, tendons and eyes; ape play belongs to fire, which governs the heart, veins and tongue; bear play belongs to earth, which governs the spleen, flesh and lips. Just like the breath exhaled from the nose when rooster crows can have the magical effect of "the world becomes bright when cock crows, and all evil spirits are scared away". Tao Tie gained extraordinary hearing from the deer play. Gained super vision from the tiger play (super long-distance vision, low-light vision, super dynamic vision), From the monkey and bear plays he acquired an extraordinary sense of taste, his lips, teeth, mouth and tongue became more fluent than usual, and his articulation of language was greatly enhanced. If the current Tao Tie were thrown into a Western fantasy background world, he would definitely be an excellent witcher seedling and it would be easy for him to complete the Trial of the Green Grass. But things that won’t happen will never happen. To be honest, after counting his gains from the (perfect, 100% progress) level of "Five Animal Exercises", the greedy Tao Tie was a little disappointed. Although the ability to whistle to ward off evil spirits, extraordinary hearing, extraordinary vision, extraordinary sense of taste, and unusual eloquence were good enough, there was still a gap between them and Tao Tie's original expectations. "That's it for now." After spending some effort and suppressing his greed, Tao Tie shifted his attention and focused his energy from the "Five Animal Exercises" to the "Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique". Over the past twenty days, Tao Tie's knowledge of cultivation has been further enriched, and he discovered a misunderstanding of his own. Using the Taotie Visualization Method to visualize Taotie and transform into Taotie, conceptually, he has eaten the five elements of wind, heat, humidity, dryness and cold, and the five odors of rancidity, burntness, fragrance, fishy smell and rottenness. However, he cannot replace the five elements of Jia and Yi wood energy, Bing and Ding fire energy, Wu and Ji earth energy, Geng and Xin metal energy, and Ren and Gui water energy. Instead, it allows Tao Tie, who has a body like a stubborn stone and incomplete five elements, to absorb the five elements' qi as medicine with normal or even higher efficiency and practice the Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Technique. This discovery gave Tao Tie a deeper understanding of the Taotie Visualization Method. I also had a direct understanding of the essence of eating chicken lungs, deer kidneys, tiger liver, ape heart, and bear spleen, then practicing the Five Animal Exercises, and then spending ten days to complete the 100-day foundation-building. That is, turning into a glutton and filling up the gaps with food is really just filling up the gaps with food, forcing oneself to have qualifications that one does not originally have. The exercises that need to be practiced must be practiced, and the medicines that need to be collected must be collected! After realizing it, Tao Tie felt that he had made preparations in all aspects and could practice Taiyi Five Elements Guiding and Refining Body Technique. He then began to make preliminary preparations and conceptually absorbed the five signs and five odors.

Based on an inexplicable intuition, Tao Tie chose to start with the dry and fishy smell of metal, and then the cold and rotten smell of water. The five odors of medicine and food are easy to find, but the five climates in nature have higher requirements for the environment and seasons. But you can also take shortcuts. For example, the dry gold energy does not have to be "eaten" during the sixty days and eighty-seven and a half ke after the autumnal equinox. It can also be eaten by the furnace in the iron smelting workshop of the missionary institute. For example, the cold water qi has a strange period of "eating" thirty days and forty-three minutes before and after the winter solstice, and you can also go underwater to eat When he thought about going into the water, Tao Tie couldn't help but think of the time when he was forced by Li Zeyuan at the dock to go into the water as bait. Then I thought of the blue cloth bag at the bottom of the river. At that time, Tao Tie didn’t understand, but now he knows. That's a storage bag! (End of this chapter)