socalfunplaces Chapter 1060 Not a Waste
Chapter 1060 Not a Waste
Su Wanwan did as she was told. The Moon-Reflecting Branches on the stone wall climbed very densely, and the silver on the back of the leaves shone even brighter in the midday light, as if countless tiny silver flakes were inlaid on the stone wall.
"Close your eyes. Don't use your eyes to see, use your breath to feel." Bai tide stood three feet behind her. "What is the first sentence of the first chapter of 'Moon Breath Guide'?"
Su Wanwan closed her eyes and thought for a moment: "The moon waxes and wanes, and the energy ebbs and flows. Drawing the moon's energy into the breath is like the tide rushing to the shore."
"Then give it a try."
Su Wanwan took a deep breath, turning her attention away from the outside world and focusing on her own body. She had never done anything like this before—in her previous cultivation, she always sought externally, for stronger spells, faster reactions, and more skillful hiding techniques, never seriously looking at what was actually inside her own body.
Now she's going to look inside.
At first, she couldn't feel anything. Only her heartbeat, her breathing, the sound of blood slowly flowing through her veins. Those sounds were loud, so loud that she couldn't calm down.
She tried to ignore them and focus her attention further.
The sound of my heartbeat has faded into the distance.
The sound of breathing faded into the distance.
The sound of blood flowing has faded into the distance.
Instead, she felt a very subtle sensation, like something slowly flowing deep within her body. The feeling was so light, as light as a wisp of smoke; if she thought about it too much, it would dissipate; if she didn't think about it, it would slowly gather back.
Su Wanwan then got into a contest with it.
After an unknown amount of time, that extremely subtle sensation finally stopped dissipating. It stabilized, like a very thin stream, slowly rising from her dantian, going up her spine, past the back of her neck, reaching the top of her head, and then gently flowing out from between her eyebrows, merging into the air in front of her.
Almost simultaneously, she felt something responding to her from the outside.
The substance was cool and light, like moonlight ground into extremely fine powder, seeping out from the stone wall, passing through her brow, flowing back along the path of the stream, sinking all the way to her dantian, where it gathered into a small, cool ball of energy.
Su Wanwan opened her eyes.
The sunlight was still there, but a very faint layer of silvery-white light floated in the air before her, as if someone had shattered stars and scattered them before her eyes. The light dissipated after a few breaths, but the cool sensation in her dantian remained.
She turned to look at Bai tide.
Bai tide stood behind her, still holding the broken wooden comb in her hand, the comb suspended in mid-air, as if she had forgotten to put it down.
She looked at Su Wanwan, her expression not exactly shocked, but definitely not indifferent.
It was an expression that said, "I thought it would take seven days, but you only took half a day..."
Su Wanwan blinked. "Senior? Did I do something wrong?"
Bai tide remained silent for two breaths, then put down the comb, walked over, squatted down, and placed her hand on Su Wanwan's wrist. Her fingertips were cool, like an icy leaf resting on her pulse.
After a few more breaths, she released her grip and stood up.
"That's right," she said.
"Then I—"
"You've drawn it in." Bai Xi interrupted her, her tone still flat, but her speaking speed was a little faster than usual. "On your first meditation session, in just one morning, you drew in the lunar energy."
Su Wanwan was stunned for a moment, then her eyes slowly lit up: "You lured it in already?"
Bai tide looked at her bright, sparkling eyes, pursed her lips, turned around and walked back to the stone platform. She put the comb into the wooden box, closed the box, and did so with a slightly heavier touch than usual, making a "click" sound.
"Let's continue this afternoon," she said. "Let's practice the second one too."
"good!"
Su Wanwan sat back down cross-legged, closed her eyes, and still had a slight smile on her lips.
Bai tide stood under the old tree, looking at her for a long time.
Then she turned her head to the trunk of the old tree and said in a voice only she could hear, "Hu San Niang, what kind of thing did you send me?"
For the next three days, Su Wanwan was like a dry sponge that had been thrown into water.
She mastered the first three chapters of "Moon Breath Guidance" on the first day. Starting from the second day, Bai Xi added three basic courses for her: "Gazing at the Moon," "Listening to Breath," and "Concealing Form." Gazing at the Moon involves drawing the moon's energy into the eyes, training the fox clan's night vision and ability to detect energy; Listening to Breath involves using breath to perceive subtle changes in the surrounding environment, training alertness and prediction; Concealing Form involves gathering the dispersed energy into the deepest part of the body, training concealment.
It would take a normal fox demon at least three months to master each of these three subjects.
Su Wanwan took three days.
It's not about mastering everything, it's about getting started.
She mastered the basics of moon-gazing—at night, she could see the veins of every branch and leaf in the darkest corner of the valley; she learned to listen to breath—when Bai Xi approached from three zhang behind her, she could sense the disturbance of breath before the person raised their hand; she also touched the threshold of concealing her form—although she could not completely hide her true nature, at least she was no longer like before, when the tip of her tail would leak out when she was nervous.
On the evening of the third day, Bai tide sat on the stone platform, watching Su Wanwan meditate cross-legged under the old tree. Twilight seeped in from the valley entrance, turning the silver of the moon-shining branches a pale purple. Su Wanwan closed her eyes, her breathing even, a thin layer of moonlight covering her like a transparent veil.
Bai tide stared at it for a long time.
She had lived for a long time and had seen many younger members of the fox clan, some with talent, some with high comprehension, and some who were willing to endure hardship. But Su Wanwan was different. She was not the most talented, the most comprehension, or the most hardworking; she possessed all three qualities, plus one more—she had an inexplicable "hunger."
It wasn't the kind of hunger that comes from being starving. It was a yearning to "become stronger," a yearning ingrained in her very bones. It wasn't because she was greedy, but because she was afraid.
Bai tide could tell.
This kind of fear is something only wild foxes that have suffered will experience. Domesticated foxes won't be this afraid because they know someone will protect them. Wild foxes are different; their only protection is themselves, and if that protection fails, they die.
She saw a reflection of herself from many years ago in Su Wanwan.
Bai tide lowered her eyes, her fingers slowly tracing the edge of the stone platform. Several faint finger marks were left on the stone surface, and moonlight shone through them, making the stone platform itself seem to glow.
On the morning of the fourth day, Su Wanwan woke up at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM) as usual.
She has now gotten used to the rhythm of Qiyue Ridge. Starting at dawn, she meditates for half an hour, waiting for Bai tide to appear from a tree, a stone platform, or some unknown place, and then begins her daily studies.
But today is different.
Bai tide didn't wait for Su Wanwan to finish meditating before appearing. Su Wanwan had just sat cross-legged and hadn't even had time to close her eyes when Bai Xi walked out from behind the stone wall. Not from a crack in the stone, but from inside the stone wall—she stepped out of the solid stone as if passing through a curtain of water.
Su Wanwan stared wide-eyed.
"This is called 'Stone Piercing'," Bai tide said, patting non-existent dust off her sleeve. "It's also a type of lightness technique. It's more difficult than 'Shadowfall'."
"...Senior, could you please stop making me discover something new I don't know every day?"
"No." Bai tide walked up to her, looked down at her, and said, "Because the things you don't know are indeed increasing every day."
Su Wanwan sighed and accepted it.
"We're not practicing the basics today," Bai tide said.
Su Wanwan looked up: "Then what should we practice?"
"I'll take you somewhere," Bai tide said, turning and walking deeper into the valley. Su Wanwan then noticed that the innermost stone wall of the valley looked different today. The leaves of the moon-shining branches on the wall were faintly glowing, not from the morning light, but from their own light. The light spread along the veins of the leaves, like countless silver rivers converging on the stone wall, finally gathering in an inconspicuous recess in the very center.
Bai tide walked to the depression, raised her hand, and placed her palm on the stone surface.
The stone surface silently sank in, revealing a narrow passage. The light shining through the passage was not sunlight, but a silvery-white light purer than moonlight, as if someone had stuffed an entire Milky Way into the stone.
"What's in here?" Su Wanwan walked to the entrance of the passage and felt the aura surging from the depths. Every pore on her body opened up. The aura was so strong that her body instinctively began to absorb it. The cool, ethereal mass in her dantian started to swirl on its own, like a starving person smelling the aroma of food.
"Fox Tomb," Bai tide said.
Su Wanwan's pupils contracted slightly.
"It's not the fox tomb that's been rumored outside." Bai tide stepped into the passage, her voice echoing through the stone walls. "All those messy rumors outside, like how few people go in and even fewer come out, or how the ancient formation lights up at night, are all about the outer tomb. The outer tomb is used by that fox clan of Qiyue Ridge to keep outsiders out. The real inner tomb is here."
Su Wanwan followed her inside. Under their feet was a natural stone path. The walls of the path were so smooth that they looked as if they had been polished by water for hundreds of years. There were no traces of human intervention on it, but the concentration of the moon energy doubled with each step they took.
By the time she reached the tenth step, Su Wanwan felt that her dantian was almost full.
When she reached the twentieth step, she began to feel full.
When she reached the thirtieth step, Bai tide stopped, stepped aside, and revealed a small stone chamber at the end of the stone path.
When Su Wanwan saw the scene inside the stone chamber, she stopped breathing.
The stone chamber was small, only about three zhang (approximately 10 meters) square. The walls were completely undecorated, just raw stone. But the stone's color was wrong—not gray, blue, or black, but silvery-white, like a huge moonstone hollowed out. Suspended in the very center of the chamber was a fist-sized bead, completely transparent, with a thick, silvery-white liquid flowing inside, like a solidified moon.
Directly below the bead was a skeleton.
The withered bones of a fox.
The skeleton was intact, from the skull to the tailbone, each piece in its proper place. The frame wasn't large, even smaller than Su Wanwan's original form, but the color of the bones was wrong—not white or beige, but a pure silver-white, as if cast in silver. Faint runes flowed across the bones; the runes weren't carved on, but rather emanated from within the bones, like patterns growing from them.
Bai tide stood before the skeleton, remaining silent for a long time.
Su Wanwan didn't dare to make a sound, she just stood behind her, even her breathing was soft.
After an unknown amount of time, Bai tide finally spoke: "This is the last clan leader of our branch."
Her voice was very soft, as soft as the whistling of the wind passing through a crack in the stone.
"When she died, she sealed all her cultivation back into her bones. That's why her bones are silver, and all this moonlight is hers."
Su Wanwan opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but her throat felt like it was blocked by something.
"I brought you here not so you could just watch the show." Bai Xi turned around and looked at Su Wanwan. "The concentration of lunar energy in the inner tomb is a hundred times that outside. One day of cultivation here is equivalent to one month outside."
Su Wanwan's heart suddenly raced.
"But there's a condition," Bai tide said. "The moonlight here is too strong, and your foundation is too shallow. You can't stay here alone. You'll have to go out for some fresh air every two hours at most, or your dantian will crack."
"Two hours here is equivalent to a month outside..." Su Wanwan murmured to herself, then suddenly looked up, "So if I stay here for two hours every day, ten days will be like ten months outside?"
"Theoretically, yes," Bai tide said. "But in reality, your body will gradually adapt, and you can slowly extend the time you can stay. After a month, you might be able to stay here for half a day."
Su Wanwan's eyes shone brightly, like a lamp that had been extinguished finally being lit.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's start now!"
Bai tide glanced at her: "Don't be so happy yet. This place isn't one you can just enter alone. The moon energy within the inner tomb will suppress the divine sense of outsiders. When you're cultivating, you'll need someone to guard outside and pull you out when you can't hold on any longer."
Su Wanwan was taken aback: "Then can't you protect me, senior?"
"I can," Bai tide said, "but I have other things to do. And—your companions have been waiting outside for four days. Aren't you going to see them?"
Su Wanwan then realized that she had left Chu Yang and the others outside the valley for four days.
Four days.
She didn't think of them for four days.
This made her feel a little guilty.
"Then... shall I go out for a bit?" Su Wanwan asked tentatively.
Bai tide nodded: "You don't need to stay in the valley tonight. Bring them to the valley entrance first thing tomorrow morning. The moonlight in the inner tomb is beneficial to both humans and demons, so it won't be a waste for them to stay nearby."
Su Wanwan said "Oh" and turned to walk out. When she reached the entrance of the stone path, she suddenly stopped and looked back at the silvery-white skeleton.
Moonlight seeped through the beads and fell on the skeleton. The runes on the skeleton seemed to come alive, slowly circling once before sinking back down.
Su Wanwan bowed slightly to the skeleton, then quickly walked out of the stone path.
When Su Wanwan came out of the valley, the sun was already high in the sky.
She walked back along the path she had come from, through the narrow path between the two standing stones, across the fine white sand, and through the thin layer of mist—the mist didn't stop her today, and even parted to make way for her as she approached, as if it already knew her.
Stepping out of the entrance to Qiyue Ridge, the air outside suddenly felt different. The air in the valley carried the coolness of the moonlight, while the outside air, mixed with the scent of sunshine and earth, was warm and comforting, making her feel somewhat uneasy. (End of Chapter)