Nightfall

Two-thirds of the Painted Peach Blossoms

The concluding statement made Ning Que keep silent for a long time before he raised his head and stared at the elder. He lifted his right arm as he pointed his index finger towards his temple, looking as if he was preparing to commit suicide with a crossbow. He then asked the elder in a serious tone, “Doesn’t Psyche Power, or should I say, things like consciousness, come from the mind?”

The elder, Lyu Qingchen, looked at him gently and slowly replied, “What you’ve said is not exactly wrong. However, if Psyche Power comes from the mind, how is it able to interconnect with the external breath of nature?”

“Cultivation is about gathering your psyche at your chest like the snow in the mountain, and at your back like the Ocean of Qi. Surrounding the Snow Mountain and the Ocean of Qi are 17 Qi orifices, which act like the thousands of holes found beneath the mountain. As the wind and water pass through the holes, the sound that each hole creates gathers to form a unique melody played by a duet. As such, this allows both of them to interweave and interconnect with each another.”

“As for the opening and blockage of the Qi orifices within one’s body, they’re inborn and determined the moment one is born. No matter how one tries to pursue and change the situation, they can’t be modified. That’s why there’s a saying, ‘cultivation… is just about retrieving what Haotian has given us as a gift’.”

“I have observed the 17 Qi orifices surrounding the Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi within your body. 11 of them are blocked. Thus, no matter how hard you practice your Psyche Power to whichever state, you’ll never be able to connect with nature.”

“Nevertheless, you need not be disappointed about it. Though there are many people in this world, it’s rare to have someone who has 13 opened Qi orifices out of the 17 ones. In fact, it’s perfectly normal for you to have such body quality…”

The elder slowly consoled him as Ning Que lowered his head with a slightly embarrassed smile.

He had indeed consoled himself numerous times in City of Wei, telling himself that only a truly abnormal genius would be able to pursue cultivation. Now it seemed that he was right. According to the standard way of saying, where the elder had mentioned about geniuses who had 15 to 16 opened Qi orifices were actually having gifts from Heaven, it would be like biscuits suddenly falling from the sky while you were casually taking a walk outside.

“Then why am I not the lucky chosen one?”

He felt regretful as he sighed in his heart before he sincerely expressed his gratitude and alighted from the horse carriage with Sangsang.

The light from the oil lamp in the carriage was dim and after god-knows-how-long, the curtain in the carriage was pulled open once again. The Fourth Princess from Tang Dynasty, Lee Yu, sat in front of the elder and leaned her body slightly forward as she consulted the elder. “No possibility at all?”

Lyu Qingchen admired Ning Que a lot. However, for a Psyche Master who had entered Dongxuan State to lower his own status by using Psyche Power to investigate Ning Que’s body quality, there would definitely be other reason, such as an order from Her Highness.

“A person with strong determination and a great temperament is often able to meditate and achieve a powerful Psyche Power. It’s no doubt that Ning Que is such a person. Hence, I was actually hopeful about him. I thought that if only 10 of his 17 Qi orifices were opened, then perhaps he was about to be awakened, but was unable to arouse his mind to enter the initial stage of cultivation due to a lack of proper skills. Unfortunately, 11 Qi orifices within his body are blocked. This means that he hasn’t obtained the gift from Haotian. No matter how great his potential is, it’ll be useless.”