Chapter 5: Cultivation Difficulties

Han Li slowly drew the energy flow within his meridians back into his Dantian. This was the seventh major circulation cycle he had completed that day, and he knew his body had reached its limit. If he attempted another cycle, his meridians would almost certainly rupture again, forcing him to endure that agonizing pain once more. The mere thought of his meridians tearing strand by strand made even the usually fearless Han Li break out in a cold sweat.

More than half a year had passed since Han Li's initial entry. The formal examination for registered disciples had concluded over two months prior.

Only a small fraction of the registered disciples were able to formally join the inner sect. Most of those examined failed to pass, and those who didn't were forced to pack their bags and descend the mountain to become outer sect disciples.

Most of the boys who failed were assigned to the Jewel Gathering Hall and the Flying Bird Hall. Some of the more outstanding ones might receive further training and potentially be recruited into the better-compensated Outer Blade Hall. Naturally, the best-treated outer sect disciples belonged to the Four Seas Hall, but unfortunately, this hall only recruited renowned martial artists. Without a few impressive skills, joining was out of the question, let alone for these inexperienced boys.

Han Li still felt a chill when he recalled the examination content for other registered disciples from two months ago.

The tests included running a circuit around the Rainbow Cloud Mountain Range, spanning over ten li, followed by team combat in a sparsely populated forest, and finally, resisting a certain number of moves under the relentless attacks of highly skilled senior disciples. All these trials couldn't help but fill Han Li with a sense of schadenfreude.

Han Li and Zhang Tie did not participate in these terrifying tests. As Doctor Mo himself stated, their assessment merely involved checking their cultivation progress with a specific chant. However, this stage was not as easy as Han Li had imagined. Even now, Han Li clearly remembered the details of their cultivation at that time.

According to Doctor Mo, this unnamed chant was divided into several layers. Han Li and Zhang Tie had only received the cultivation method for the first layer. This meant that if they could achieve some progress with the first layer of the chant within six months, Doctor Mo would consider them to have passed, allowing them to become his formal disciples and enjoy the same favorable treatment as other inner sect disciples of the Seven Mysteries Sect.

Once Han Li learned from others about the significant difference in treatment between inner and outer sect disciples, he completely abandoned the idea of slacking off for six months, becoming an outer sect disciple, and then returning home. For him at the time, nothing else seemed to matter as much as earning more silver from the Seven Mysteries Sect and being sent back home. He had experienced extreme poverty while living at home and knew that every extra bit of silver he earned would significantly improve the lives of his parents, brothers, and sisters.

After receiving the chant from Doctor Mo, Han Li stayed indoors and began cultivating tirelessly day and night, dedicating all his available time to it. Since Doctor Mo provided no guidance on their cultivation, Han Li had to explore and understand the method on his own, by observing how other boys practiced the Seven Mysteries Sect's fundamental internal martial art, the "True Yang Force."

Following this cultivation method, after three months of diligent practice, Han Li was astonished to find that his progress with the chant was incredibly slow. Despite tremendous effort, he could only generate a faint, cool energy stream within his body. This energy was so subtle that he couldn't even detect it without careful internal observation.

"This must be the internal qi that the instructors mentioned," Han Li naturally assumed.

However, other boys who cultivated the Seven Mysteries Sect's "True Yang Force" said that the internal qi they generated was a distinct, warm current, whereas his own was a cool one. Moreover, the effects after cultivation were vastly different.

After activating the "True Yang Force" qi within their bodies, other boys could punch through saplings the width of a bowl and leap over ten feet high. In contrast, when Han Li circulated his own strange qi, there was almost no significant change compared to before. The only differences were that his spirit seemed much more vigorous and his appetite had improved considerably since coming to the mountain, but what use was that? Watching the other boys who had ascended the mountain with him display their prowess, Han Li grew disheartened.

This unexpected discovery almost made Han Li abandon his efforts of several months. He believed his aptitude was too poor to pass Doctor Mo's assessment in the remaining time and even prepared himself to descend the mountain.

One day, by chance, Han Li learned from Zhang Tie, who cultivated with him, that Zhang Tie had experienced no changes in his body since practicing the chant. There had been no effect whatsoever, nor had he generated any internal qi like Han Li.

This chance revelation helped Han Li regain some of his lost confidence. In the remaining days, he resumed his arduous cultivation.

No, he worked even harder and more frantically than before.

Han Li now spent every quarter-hour meditating and cultivating. At night, he even tried to maintain a cultivation posture while sleeping, hoping to gain even a little more progress. However, this desperate practice lasted only a few days before it failed. The reason was insufficient sleep, which prevented him from maintaining his daytime cultivation efficiency.

What puzzled Han Li was that after Doctor Mo taught them the chant, he paid no attention to them, never inquiring about their cultivation progress or any problems they encountered, as if he had completely forgotten their existence.

Every day, Doctor Mo spent his entire time poring over a book with a three-character title on its black cover, as if it truly contained beauty and wealth within its pages. Initially, Han Li and Zhang Tie even thought that Doctor Mo had abandoned his role as a healer to intensely study for the imperial examinations. Later, after they learned to read, they recognized the three characters as "Everlasting Life Sutra," a book about self-cultivation and extending one's lifespan.

It was then that the two realized, with a sudden understanding, that Doctor Mo wasn't aiming to pass the imperial examinations, but rather to live for thousands of years, like an ancient turtle in a river.