Daoist Master of Qing Xuan Chapter 2: The Nourishment of Spirit

Given that youths generally did not have a complicated thought process, the real Shen Lian could easily sense his spirit and he nourished it according to the methods recorded in the book of martial exercises.

He wondered if the book of martial exercises was missing in some pages – there was only the Way of Spirit Nourishment but none of the chapters were on physical strength training.

He was too fixated on nourishing his spirit and had subsequently neglected the physical aspect of his training. Yet, the spirit drew upon Qi energy to heighten its power.

His spirit grew stronger but at the expense of his physical body. His body was becoming weaker and weaker. Youths were supposed to be growing and brimming with energy, yet the real Shen Lian was drained of energy and fraught with frailty. It could very well be that he was blessed with a healthy body to begin with, so nothing disastrous happened even after some years of practicing.

However, straying from the proper path of cultivation will usually lead to unfortunate outcomes. One day, the power of his spirit was at its limit and it was ready to leave his body through the Bai Hui point. He was close to having an out of body experience and his spirit was light, so light that it felt as if it was going to leave with the wind.

He lacked understanding in the art of cultivation. He was unaware that when his spirit leaves his body, it will bring along all of the Qi energy in his body. He had always been frail. The Qi energy produced daily by his blood was mostly exhausted by the spirit power coursing through his body.

A significant amount of Qi energy was needed when his spirit was about to leave his body. His body was no longer capable of providing that amount of Qi energy. The real Shen Lian disregarded his physical limitation and overexerted himself. The Qi energy reserve in his body was completely extracted and he was close to falling apart.

The body and its vigor were directly linked to the well-being of the soul, the psyche linked to the spirit; the soul and the spirit were connected on a myriad of levels and possibilities. The disturbance to their balance sent him slipping into psychosis; his body was taking a toll.

In the end, his body was taken over by a doctor from planet Earth.

Although Lee Feng, the new Shen Lian, merged his memories with that of the real Shen Lian, he still had to deal with the frail body that he was then trapped in.

Fortunately, being in a state of psychosis had dispersed some of the power of spirit all over Shen Lian's body. The power of spirit was subsequently turned into Qi energy, which protected the body from perishing.

This was the reason why Shen Lian, the new Shen Lian, did not die right after waking up.

He was after all a doctor, he knew full well how weak the body was.

Though to be fair, he did not know that the stronger the spirit, the greater the burden it was to the body.

There was a pressing need to bring his body back into shape and to instill vital Qi back into him.

Luckily, he was surrounded by nature and its luscious greenery. The plants here shared striking similarity with those back on Earth. Therefore, he managed to find some herbal medicine that he could strengthen his body with.

It was a shame that he could not find any wild ginseng or polygonum. Though, herbs that had high medicinal value were always low in stock. This was true regardless of which era one was in. Furthermore, even if there were any of these herbs lying around, the villagers would have dug them out long ago.

After several months of hard work, Shen Lian managed to put some weight on his once frail and skinny body. The progress was remarkable, but he was still far below the normal standard.

Well, at least he would not be blown away by gusts of strong wind then.

Knowing fully well that the real Shen Lian lapsed into a state of psychosis from practicing the martial exercises, the new Shen Lian was not about to continue onto the path of cultivation without having sufficient knowledge of it.

Engaging in martial arts training without proper knowledge of it was akin to self-medication practices – both were acts of digging one's own grave. Even though the famous Zhang Wuji had mastered the Mystical Art of Nine Yang out of luck, he did start off on a solid foundation; one must not forget that at some point he received guidance from the famous Kung Fu Masters, namely Xie Xun and Zhang Sanfeng.

Having transcended time and space, the new Shen Lian was not about to try his luck. There was no guarantee that he could escape death through time traveling, again.

Time had passed. As he was drinking the unimaginably bitter herbal medication, he thought of staying off the bitter medication. Instead, he would practice the Qi-Gong exercises of Five Animal play.

Shen Lian heard someone knocking on the door out of nowhere. Did the villagers not send food and clothes over just yesterday? He wondered what brought them there that day.

He surprised to find a middle-aged man standing right at his doorstep. He thought the man looked like a servant, a servant clothed in fine fabrics.

Just where did he see this face before?

Having drawn on the memories of the real Shen Lian and absorbed most of his spirit, the new Shen Lian had a strong psyche. He then had eidetic memory and could remember things in exact detail.

Going through his new-found memories, he remembered the man to be a servant of the Shen family.

"Third Young Master, you have finally opened the door!" the middle-aged man exclaimed.

Shen Lian's eldest uncle had two sons, both were older than him. As Shen Lian took after his mother's surname, he thus ranked third in the Shen family.

"What are you here for, Steward Wu?" Shen Lian replied casually, without sounding overly enthusiastic or detached.

Steward Wu had been working for the Shen family for a long time. He was a well-respected figure amongst the servants in the Shen family. "Third Young Master, you have lost plenty of weight since I last saw you two years ago," Steward Wu remarked as Shen Lian wondered why he would trouble himself with such menial task.

Steward Wu was not particularly close to the Third Young Master. Due to the unfortunate incident half a year ago, Young Lady Shen was the only one in the third generation of the Shen family. Shen Lian's eldest uncle had fallen sick. His sickness significantly hampered his reproductive capacity. On the other hand, Shen Lian's second uncle lost his reproductive capacity due to his injuries from martial art training. At this rate, Shen Lian might just be the next leader of the Shen family.

That was why Steward Wu was treading carefully and mincing his words. He was acting under the instruction of Old Master Shen to invite Shen Lian to return to the Shen family.

'Today is not a special occasion, what is Steward Wu doing here?' Shen Lian thought to himself. After all, the Shen Lian then was nothing like the real Shen Lian. The new Shen Lian was an adult who lived in the modern day society. Well versed in the ways of the world, Shen Lian knew that Steward Wu would not come to him if he had nothing to ask of him.

The Shen family was a far journey from there. The servants would not visit if it was not absolutely necessary.

"Steward Wu, I'm still unaware of the purpose of your visit." Shen Lian posed his question directly without beating around the bush. In his opinion, this would reflect his current age and status, which was that of the real Shen Lian.

"It's just that Old Master Shen and your uncle, Master Shen haven't seen you in a while. They are worried that living alone in the mountains might be too harsh for you and would like to have you back home for some time."

"Did something happened back home?" Shen Lian asked after a moment of silence and consideration.

Steward Wu was caught off guard by Shen Lian's question. Though Shen Lian looked introverted, he was never dumb. Steward Wu wondered if Shen Lian's intelligence was a good thing; despite his tasteless look, Shen Lian had a meticulous thought process.

"Two days ago, Young Master and Second Young Master had passed away." Steward Wu spilled the truth.

With that said, Steward Wu remained silent.

However, if one were to take a closer look at the current predicament of the Shen family, one would realize that the massive fortune had just lost two of its most legitimate heirs.

"Alright then, I will follow you back to the Shen family tomorrow morning," Shen Lian spoke after much consideration.

"Third Young Master, you look under the weather. Should I arrange for a comfortable carriage to pick you up?" Steward Wu asked.

"Sure. Meanwhile, come on in and have a rest," Shen Lian replied.

"No, it's fine. I'm headed down to the foot of the mountain to check on the land of the Shen family."

After he sent Steward Wu off, Shen Lian went back to the Room of Cultivation. The room was dark and devoid of light, he lighted on the incense made from the sweet grass he collected from the mountains. The tiny flame shone like a star in the vast night sky, giving off a pleasant scent. Shen Lian embraced the peacefulness of it all and started meditating.

His heart was still, akin to the void that was the universe before the great big bang. There was nothing, just absolute darkness. Shen Lian felt the myriad of thoughts in his mind fade away and return to non-existence.