Chapter 24: The Perfection of Viscera Refining

Ten days later, Xu Yan returned, bringing with him a Jade Ruyi and several jade ornaments. "Good, good, my apprentice has truly captured my heart.” Li Xuan couldn’t contain his happiness. This apprentice was really good! Look at this jade; it’s so valuable! It’s so beautiful! As for the ferocious beasts in the Evil Forest, since Xu Yan has returned, they must have been taken care of. Li Xuan didn’t ask further. However, Xu Yan seemed a little different this time he had returned. Li Xuan couldn’t specify exactly how he was different; he was just a little puzzled but didn’t dwell too much on it. After his return, Xu Yan resumed his previous training rhythm, but this time, he started to refine his organs. "The organs are vulnerable; one must tread lightly at the beginning of the refinement. Otherwise, it could easily result in self-inflicted damage.” Xu Yan, who was refining his organs, was stimulating his blood and energy, first nourishing his heart. With the start of the tempering, his heartbeat became stronger, and with every beat, the energy and blood circulating throughout his body increased. "I plan to complete organ refinement within three months.” After Xu Yan successfully refined his jade bones, his confidence soared. Finishing organ refinement in three months was rather conservative for him. Three days later, with ongoing refinement, his heart became stronger, and energy and blood also increased by more than half, making the refinement process more intense without worrying about harming his heart. However, with the enhancement of his heart, Xu Yan also noticed some issues. "I feel a bit unbalanced. I can’t solely focus on refining my heart; I must also refine my other organs.” Xu Yan began to refine his lungs. He kept in mind his master’s teachings about organ refinement: five organs correspond to five elements, and the energy and blood circulate through the five organs. When the five elements come together as one, organ refinement is complete. After the initial strengthening of the organs through refinement, Xu Yan began to refine the five organs simultaneously. The circulation of energy and blood between the five organs heightened with every refinement, making him feel stronger. His energy and blood were continuously intensifying. After Xu Yan’s return, life went back to normal, and Li Xuan could finally relax. He was deeply moved by Xu Yan’s perseverance. This silly apprentice was persistent. "Half of the one-year term has passed; I just need to endure for another half year, then I can be liberated.” Li Xuan sighed. Just endure for another half a year, and then he can dissolve the master-apprentice relationship and hide away in Wu Country. With Xu Yan’s generous offering to become his apprentice, living a wealthy life was not a problem at all. He could marry three or four beautiful wives and live a fruitful life. Anyway, from the looks of it, there is no such thing as formidable martial arts. Furthermore, even with Xu Yan’s background, if he couldn’t reach it, how could he? There were no hitches in organ refinement; everything was going smoothly. Perhaps it was because of the successful jade bone refinement and the solid foundation of martial arts that the organ refinement was very successful, orderly, and continuously improving. After a little over two months of intense practice, Xu Yan was about to complete organ refinement. The strength of his organs had almost left the state of flesh and blood. Xu Yan’s current strength had improved two to three times from the start of organ refinement. Especially his vitality—it was incredibly powerful. Both the quality and quantity had been greatly enhanced. Vaguely, a strong vitality would burst out of his body at any time, forming a protective shield. "In three to five days, I will complete the organ refining.” Xu Yan, feeling the changes within himself, was thrilled. With the completion of organ refinement, the door to martial arts is right in front of him. "According to my master’s instructions, once I achieve perfection in internal organ refinement and have understood and unified the foundational realms of skin, bone, and organ cultivation into my body, I can then begin my journey in martial arts. "When initiating the martial path, my muscles and bones will thunder, and my blood and Qi will become Gang.” Xu Yan’s spirit is immersed in this realization, meticulously experiencing his own body, exploring how one can achieve unification and cultivate the martial arts. Although it seems simple, achieving this unification and cultivation into a single entity is not so straightforward. "Skin, bones, and organs are already parts of my body. How can they be unified? How can they be integrated into a single entity? They are already part of me.” Xu Yan was lost in contemplation. "No, I’ve gotten the direction wrong. "Master said it’s about ‘understanding’ and ‘intention,’ not about form. Do unification and incorporation refer to understanding? Or the Qi and blood? "I feel vaguely enlightened, but it’s not enough. "Don’t rush; when I have perfected internal organ refinement, I will further ponder on how to unify and incorporate.” Xu Yan calmed his mind and continued refining his organs. Three days later, Xu Yan had perfected his internal organ refinement. However, he didn’t have a clue about the unification and embodiment. Nor was he able to make his muscles and bones thunder or turn his Qi and blood into Gang. "I feel I’m just one step away from the threshold of martial arts, one step away from Qi and blood becoming Gang, yet I’m not able to cross the threshold. "It seems that I’m unable to thoroughly control myself, which is why I haven’t entered the threshold.” Xu Yan carefully pondered his condition; he had a hunch that he was on the brink of crossing the threshold. Just one step away. Yet, it felt as if he couldn’t take this final step. He clenched his fists; the thin layer of Qi and blood appearing on his fists glowed red like fire, giving off a sense of intensity. However, it seemed not solid enough, far from reaching the state of Qi and blood turning into Gang. He was even further from achieving a state where his Qi and blood would enclose his whole body. "Just one step away from the threshold. There’s no need to rush; eventually, we will step into it. "What I need to do now is to relax and alleviate the worn-out condition from the hard training. Only with a relaxed mind and spirit can one understand its essence.” Xu Yan began to relax, reducing his training time, feeding chickens, weeding, planting vegetables, and occasionally riding a horse for a leisurely ride. "This silly disciple, why isn’t he rigorously training anymore? It feels like he is just playing around.” Li Xuan was puzzled. In the past few days, Xu Yan had stopped his rigorous training and seemed to be almost idling away his time. "Could he be suspicious that I deceived him?” Li Xuan sank into contemplation. After observing Xu Yan secretly for two days, he found that although he was not training as hard as before, he was still diligent in all his other chores, and nothing had changed. His attitude towards him was still as respectful as ever. Since there was no suspicion, Li Xuan let out a sigh of relief and didn’t rush to urge Xu Yan to redouble his training efforts. "I think I’ve got a bit of an understanding.” Today, after dinner, Xu Yan began his training. With the relaxation of the past few days and his self-realization, he suddenly understood how to unify skin, bones, and organ training into a single body. His Qi and blood circulated from his skin to his bones and then to his internal organs. In that instant, his Qi and blood were no longer separated but incorporated into one body. As his Qi and blood unified and incorporated into one body, Xu Yan’s control over them greatly improved as he continued the unification process. The circulation of his skin, bone, and organ refinement formed a complete cycle; his Qi and blood surged and even began to extrude from his body. His power was also rapidly escalating. Xu Yan entered a mysterious state, completely forgetting everything around him. After an unknown period, the Qi and blood extruding out of his body became increasingly intense, solidifying from a foggy state and expanding outward. It only came to a halt when it expanded about three feet around his body. The Qi and blood then began to surge, undergoing a metamorphosis-like solidification.