Chapter 10: Seizing Heaven’s Luck, Comprehending the Profoundness of the Sun and Moon!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
Bei Feng took a look at the strange characters swimming on the manual and felt his own head take a dive as well. He thought that he had literally fished out a great treasure. However, no matter how amazing of a treasure it was, it was useless if he could not read a single word of it!
Bei Feng forcefully suppressed the urge to spit out a mouthful of blood. This feeling was exactly as though there was a mountain of gold right before his eyes and he was unable to even touch it!
“Let’s check if the contents are also like this.”
Bei Feng actually did not hold any more hopes for the interior of the manual. The likelihood of him coming across anything understandable in the book was incredibly low. In fact, the only thing stopping him from flinging the manual back into the well was the introduction of the manual by the Myriad Heavens Fishing System.
Casting off of one’s old self and completely remoulding the body? Wasn’t that exactly what he needed the most? What were his lingering inner injuries worth in the face of such a heaven defying skill?!
Bei Feng turned the cover over with a heavy expression. What met his eyes was… a blank page! Such an outcome was completely out of his expectations! Before he even had the time to break out of his confusion, a green ray of light shot out of the manual and pierced right into Bei Feng’s consciousness!
“BAM!”
Bei Feng felt like his head was on the verge of exploding as suddenly, a vast amount of knowledge flooded his brain! All the information and notes on the important parts of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique were transmitted right into his brain.
Bei Feng was rendered immobile where he stood. The Minor Illumination Breathing Technique manual in his hands had already disintegrated into ashes and was drifting away in the wind.
Finally, after a long period of time, Bei Feng slowly opened his eyes. Opening his mouth, he exhaled a stream of turbid breath into the air.
“Is this what it feels like to be enlightened?”
Bei Feng felt as though he had been a frog sitting at the bottom of the well. He had even felt distressed that he couldn't understand the language from the strange world... who would have thought that the the creator of the manual would completely bypass the primitive method of relying on language to pass on information and instead transmit everything directly into his brain?!
Bei Feng, who had obviously never learnt the language he saw on the cover of the book, was now able to perfectly comprehend the contents of the manual.
“As one of the strongest abilities of Illumination World, intercept a portion of the first rays of the rising sun everyday and absorb it for yourself. Seize the Heaven’s luck, comprehend the profoundness of the Sun and the Moon!”
This was a part of the introduction to the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique!
Breathing was an innate ability of every single living creature. Normal people could only breathe in the regular air around them, together with its impurities. However, martial artists were different. They have created numerous extraordinary breathing techniques which allowed them to absorb other forms of energies from the Heavens and Earth, granting them unbelievable abilities!
There were less than 900 characters within the entire Minor Illumination Breathing Technique manual. Even so, the true essence of the technique was perfectly conveyed through them! [1]
How true was the saying that it only takes a single sentence to point out the truth. False understandings, even if expounded over millions of scriptures, would never be able to touch on the essence of the truth.
Not only had Bei Feng received the ancient knowledge of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique, he had even obtained the accumulated understandings of the predecessors who had trained in this technique throughout countless ages as well as all the various experiences they had attained.
Bei Feng could hardly withstand the urge to start cultivating the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique immediately. But alas, it could only be cultivated early in the morning. It was already midday and the sun was high up in the sky. This was the time when the sun was the hottest, and its rays most tyrannical and deadly. [2]
In addition, Bei Feng had just received a huge influx of information. Although he did not sustain any injury, his head was left giddy and throbbing.
Supporting his aching head with one hand, Bei Feng found his way back to the bedroom. A wave of fatigue submerged him as soon as his head landed on the pillow. With the TV still running in the background, Bei Feng fell into a deep sleep.
***
The next day, before the sun had even risen, Bei Feng rubbed his eyes and sat up on his bed. He had woken up from having a sufficient and extremely satisfying rest. His head was no longer throbbing, and he felt brimming with energy and vitality.
‘I’ve been sleeping for such a long time…?’ Bei Feng stretched lazily as he looked at the time displayed on his mobile phone. It was already 4 a.m. This surprised him a bit.
He had actually slept from noon the day before until now!
“Fortunately, the sun is not up yet!” Bei Feng felt a surge of clarity the moment he thought of this. Scrambling out of the bed, he hurriedly washed his face in a basin filled with cool water and rushed out of the house.
The main road was not the only path up Mt. Qing Ling. It was simply the safest path.
In his childhood, Bei Feng had climbed Mt. Qing Ling using a hidden path behind the mansion to catch wild chickens and rabbits many times.
To Bei Feng, who was extremely familiar with the terrain around Mt. Qing Ling, climbing to the peak was as simple as traveling along a familiar road on a light carriage.
With very little effort, Bei Feng had reached the midpoint of Mt. Qing Ling. Here, there was a huge jutting rock at the edge of the face of the mountain, which was perfect for him to position himself to intercept the first rays of the morning sun. This part of the mountain was not developed as part of the tourist location yet, and was rarely visited by anyone. This allowed Bei Feng to practice the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique undisturbed.
With regards to breathing, the way normal people breathed was simply one breath in, and one breath out. It was purely based on instinct.
However, the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique required one to adopt a different breathing pattern. According to the manual, there are some principles like Opening, Closing, Raising, Dropping, Bending, Extending, Ascending, Descending, Revolving, Retracting and so on which should be applied to the various different breathing patterns. For example, the exercise will start with an Opening inhalation followed by a Closing exhalation followed by a Rising inhalation followed by a Dropping exhalation and so on… Some transitional moves even required the practitioner to suspend their breath.
These breathing patterns were supposed to be done whilst executing some strange movements. This was rather challenging and Bei Feng was left simulating the movements sets repeatedly in his mind. Once he had them firmly memorized and was sure that there was no mistake in them, he began to calm his breath and focused his mind.
Placing both feet together and standing upright, Bei Feng shifted his weight to his right leg and raised his left leg to the side. Slowly putting his left leg down again, he shifted to a wide horse stance. After that, he rotated both arms inwardly. His two palms slanted toward the side with the back of his palms facing each other. Bending his knees slightly, he swiveled both arms outwards and joined them together, clasped before his abdomen.
His entire body relaxed and breathing calm, he raised his neck and straightened his shoulders and back, all while concentrating on his dantian.
Bei Feng struck a few weird movements and almost fell a few times, losing his balance due to the shift in his center of gravity.
He was suddenly wrapping both arms around his chest and suddenly stretching them out to embrace the Earth. His knees would be bent slightly at times and he would thrust out his palms and straighten his knees while rotating and extending both arms upwards, palms toward the Heavens at other times.
When Bei Feng breathed in, his abdomen would sink inward while his chest would rise, causing the air to flow past the dantian and into his lungs. When he exhaled, his chest would sink and his abdomen would rise, causing the air to flow from his lungs and sink into his dantain.
Switching the order of airflow like this resulted in rousing the body’s inner Qi and had the effect of massaging the lungs. Holding breath at different points would allow the accumulated energy within the dantian to become denser. Just a different breathing pattern would allow the entire body to become more balanced, and the energy flow to be smoother.
At the same time, all of the muscles on Bei Feng’s body started to vibrate and purr like a cat.
This kind of vibration would result in the expulsion of dead cells within the body, invisibly improving the body’s constitution as well.
“Hooooooo!”
Bei Feng roughly let out a long breath. Immediately, a sense of fatigue flooded his body.
‘I can do it!’ Bei Feng clenched his teeth and persevered. Body drenched with perspiration, he started the third movement set.
Stretching the body to resemble an eagle-hunting bow!
First, shift the body’s weight onto the right leg. Next, pull the left leg as far apart as possible whilst maintaining the position. At the same time, crisscross both hands before the chest, palms facing upwards. Bend both knees into a horse stance and… release the bow!
After that, return both feet to their original position and shift the center of gravity to the right side again. Raise the left leg and lean it against the right leg. At the same time, with palms facing upward, stretch the right hand toward the upper part, the rightmost section and the lower part of the left leg. After that, bring both palms before the chest.
“Cough, cough!” Bei Feng’s breathing abruptly turned disorderly in the middle of the exercise, causing him to break out of his practice immediately.
‘These movements did not seem difficult, but when paired with the unique breathing pattern, it turns out to be really complex!’ Bei Feng laid on the ground in an extremely unsightly manner, his forehead soaked with perspiration.
Breathing was an innate ability of every living being. Forcefully changing the regular breathing pattern was not something that could be easily accomplished within a day or two!
Bei Feng was only able to comprehend so much so quickly because he had the memories and the experience of previous practitioners within his mind!
However, it was still impossible to avoid mistakes in some areas. After all, he had never practiced the movements and breathing patterns himself. As he lay there, the sky was beginning to get brighter. That means that the the first rays were about to arrive! Crawling up with some effort, Bei Feng began the exercises again.
As he practiced, he seemed to have entered a state of thoughtless tranquility. All of his efforts were concentrated on the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique.
***
Daybreak! The dawn has arrived!
The sun’s rays broke through the clouds in an instant and illuminated the Earth! [3]
Bei Feng, who had sunken into a state of thoughtlessness, turned around to face the rising sun and… inhaled deeply!
As if responding to him, a single wisp of gold-glazed sunray the thickness of a strand of hair flew straight toward Bei Feng!
[1] ED/N: After translating it into words inside the MC’s brain.
[2] ED/N: It sounds like something having to do more with some ancient Chinese philosophy or directly with the cultivation manual’s content, so I decided to follow the TL’s judgment and leave it like this. However… Geocentric Model, anyone?
[3] ED/N: Strangely over-dramatized, but I guess it’s okay to leave it like this to preserve some original flavor of the story.