Under One Person: The Seeker of the Dao in the Lü Family

Chapter 84: The Interior Scene is Real, the True Path to Heaven

"Your deduction about the final step is incorrect!"

Guo Zu's voice suddenly rang out.

In the blink of an eye, the golden light in the cave spread out again.

Lu Qian sat cross-legged on the futon, feeling everything around him gradually stretch out into the distance, slowly condensing into a single point.

The old woman sat cross-legged on the stone platform, smiling as she watched Lü Qian gradually move away, before disappearing from sight along with the cave.

Streaks of auspicious clouds and rosy radiance gradually emerged as the golden light flowed.

At this moment, Lü Qian seemed to be high in the sky. Around him, auspicious clouds rolled and gentle breezes swirled, but Guo Zu was nowhere to be seen.

"Junior, look down!"

Master Guo's voice rang out from all directions, and Lü Qian gestured to look down.

"That's... the Nine Iron Peaks?"

In Lü Qian's eyes, he looked down at the entire Nine-Peak Iron Mountain from high above. However, unlike the usual scenery, the Nine-Peak Iron Mountain seemed to be formed by countless golden streams of light.

This Nine-Peak Iron Mountain looks just like the real mountain, with its undulating terrain and myriad landscapes.

Just as Lü Qian calmed down and observed carefully, Guo Zu's voice suddenly came from in front of him.

"You said before that this was my 'grotto-heaven,' which is quite true!"

He quickly raised his head, turning his gaze away from the Nine-Peak Iron Mountain below and looking at the figure opposite him, where there was a golden figure.

The golden figure was formed by the convergence of the surrounding light and gradually solidified over time.

As the figure gradually materialized, golden lotuses began to bloom everywhere in this fairyland high in the sky.

A giant golden lotus transformed into a nine-petaled lotus seat, supporting the figure.

"Junior Lü Qian of Wudang pays respects to Grandmaster Guo Shouzhen!"

As Lu Qian watched the golden figure gradually take shape, he immediately bowed respectfully to it.

The figure revealed its true form: a Taoist priest dressed in a Taoist robe, holding a whisk in his arm, and sitting cross-legged.

Although the Taoist priest looked old, his beard and hair were black, and his cheeks were rosy. He smiled and looked at Lü Qian opposite him, nodding.

"No need for such formalities."

As he spoke, he waved his whisk, and a gentle breeze swept by, and a golden lotus formed from flowing light appeared beneath Lü Qian's seat.

"May I ask the Ancestor, why is there anything wrong with what I said about transforming the [Cave Heaven] into the path of Heaven and Earth?"

After standing up, Lü Qian recalled Guo Shouzhen's words and asked with some curiosity, "The 'Cave Heaven' comes from the inner realm. To the world, this place is an 'illusion.' When we cultivate and seek truth, aren't we seeking the 'reality' in reality?"

Faced with Lü Qian's question, Guo Zu stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Hahaha... It's clear that you, this junior, are sincere. You're willing to risk your life and endure the arduous process of hard work, and you've done quite well."

"Of course, life is the foundation of everything, you're not wrong, it's just that your level of understanding hasn't reached that point yet!"

As he spoke, he pointed at Lü Qian, and waves of water surged from Lü Qian's body.

These wave-like forces evolved and overlapped according to the [True Meaning of Xuanwu], and soon, a Xuanwu appeared from the rolling waves.

The tortoise and snake stretched their bodies in the waves, roaring to the sky, "Roar—"

The rolling sound waves dispersed the surrounding auspicious clouds, creating a desolate space centered on the two of them.

Guo Zu looked at the [True Meaning of Xuanwu] and nodded, "Take Xuanwu from Taiji, and cultivate Xuanwu to become Zhenwu."

"You've paved a new path for Wudang."

After saying that, Guo Zu swept his whisk, and all the divine intent of the [Xuanwu True Meaning] vanished without a trace, as if it had been erased out of thin air.

Having done all this, he looked at the pensive Lü Qian with a half-smile and asked, "Well? Did you see it clearly?"

Lu Qian lowered his head and remained silent, and Guo Zu did not urge him. The two sat high in the sky, and the auspicious clouds that had been scattered around them gathered again under the push of the breeze.

A gentle breeze blew, and the lotus flowers beneath the two swayed in the wind, their petals fluttering, creating a serene and peaceful scene.

"This junior understands! Thank you for your guidance, Master!"

Lu Qian suddenly kowtowed to Guo Zuyi in front of him, his forehead resting on the lotus seat. The real feeling made Lu Qian even more certain of his guess.

"It seems real yet not real, it seems fake yet not fake!"

"It's because I, the younger generation, am too attached to appearances!"

He raised his head and looked at Guo Zu, who was smiling without saying a word. His voice echoed in the high sky and then dissipated with the breeze.

"The interior is not an illusion; it is real!"

Lu Qian reached out and brushed aside the petals beside him, reciting Zhang Sanfeng's "Upside-Down Song".

"Above the Nine Heavens are Nine True Ones, who return to the One."

The balance of Yin and Yang is the workings of creation; following it leads to mortal life, while going against it leads to immortality.

Guo Zu watched as Lü Qian seemed to have suddenly realized something, and his smile grew even wider. "Hahaha..."

"Interesting, very interesting! Truly another Zhenwu Zhang Sanfeng! No, he should be called another Chunyang Lu Zu!"

He looked at Lü Qian meaningfully and said something.

"You flatter me, senior!"

Lu Qian raised his head, speaking modestly, but his face remained calm, as if unmoved.

"Lü Qian is not humble at all! Lü Qian is not humble at all!"

Guo Zu smiled even more broadly on the golden lotus throne, "Enough, young man, you should naturally have lofty ambitions!"

"Alright, now that you understand the final step, you should also understand how to get to that final step, right?"

He wiped the smile from his face, looked at Lü Qian with a serious expression, and asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, I understand!"

Lü Qian understood that the other party was testing his path, and immediately bowed to Guo Zu again.

"By uniting the body with the spirit, or by uniting the spirit with the body, one can return to the state of primordial energy!"

He raised his head and began to share his insights.

"You come from the Quanzhen Longmen sect and follow the path of 'merging the body with the divine'."

"The description of this path in the Zhong Lü Chuan Dao Ji is very detailed. It involves taking the Yang Shen into the ancestral aperture, refining the wisdom light of the Yang Shen to generate divine fire, and refining the body into the Yang Shen so that the divine light shines everywhere."

"Finally, after refining the divine fire throughout the body, the body disintegrates and shatters into innate ancestral energy that is neither existent nor nonexistent, formless and traceless, returning to the void and achieving the unity of heaven and man."

"From this moment on, body and spirit become one, and there is nowhere in this world that we cannot go or reach!"

Guo Zu stroked his beard with a smile on his face, without saying a word.

Lu Qian continued, "I come from Wudang. I follow the path of 'merging the body with the spirit'."

"Take the pure Yang Qi, obtain the metal of the lungs and internal organs, create the golden liquid, obtain the creation of water and fire within yourself, and take the golden liquid along the Du meridian to the Niwan Palace in reverse."

"The golden liquid is of water quality, which nourishes the primordial spirit in the Niwan Palace and at the same time obtains one's own divine will. Then it circulates with the Great Heavenly Cycle, flowing through the four limbs, the whole body, and the five internal organs."

"Golden liquid is of the pure Yang fire element, which refines impurities in the physical body, strengthening the body and prolonging life. With the divine will following, the primordial spirit and the physical body gradually merge."

"Upon successful completion, one's form and spirit will become one, allowing one to roam freely between heaven and earth, embodying the innate ancestral energy!"

"From this point on, your spiritual practice in the human realm is complete!"

"What remains is the [Ascension to Heaven], beginning cultivation in the Nine Heavens, which is cultivation in the [Inner Realm]!"