Chapter 28: Breaking Through

  Until nightfall, the people from Morgan Merchant Group still didn't show up. In the end, Keli forced a smile and said she was tired and wanted to go to sleep, then followed Michelle upstairs. Mo Xinko, Sasou, and others looked at each other in dismay, but they couldn't persuade her; after all, this was Keli's family matter. However, when they looked at Han Jin, their eyes showed a few more points of respect. Even Sasou, who had seen much, subconsciously thought that as long as the news of Keli coming to the 11th town got out, Morgan Merchant Group would immediately rush over to welcome their young lady. Who knew that things were going to be much more complicated than they imagined?

  "I'll go take a look at Keli." Xian Ni'er stood up: "You all should get to bed early too, we still have to go to the market tomorrow."

  "Tomorrow... I might sleep in a bit, don't disturb me." Han Jin also lazily got up, it was already time for him to go to Xiao Zhu's place, he didn't want to be disturbed by anyone.

  He walked into his own room, and Han Jin first placed a piece of flame-attribute second-order magic crystal on the table. That was something he had obtained from Xian Ni'er at dinner time. He didn't have a spatial ring, so items like this that were unstable could only be stored with Xian Ni'er. Then, he closed the door tightly and walked to the bedside, slowly sitting down on the bed.

  He had experience building foundations in another world, so he didn't need to worry about anything. What made him tense was the strange country of Baituo Meng.

  By listening to the casual conversations of everyone, Han Jin gained some understanding of Beit Alliance. This place is much more chaotic than Holy Crown City! The lord of Holy Crown City is Disemark, who has established his own ruling position and has a relatively orderly system in terms of governance and public security. No matter what the external environment is like, the internal environment is still very stable, with no opposition party, and the nobles support Disemark, while the common people and slaves also obey the rule. Beit Alliance is different, the four guard cities of east, south, west, and north are mutually suspicious and often have bloody incidents, and their attitude towards the outside world is even more erratic and unpredictable, standing with Holy Crown City and Wild Willow City today, and then getting along with Black Crow City and other dark camps tomorrow.

  By this generation, the lords such as Disemark and Zaguned no longer trusted the Beit Alliance. It can be said that as long as their struggle for hegemony is decided, the next target to be destroyed will definitely be the Beit Alliance. Now, allowing the Beit Alliance to develop freely is because there are powerful enemies on both sides, and they have no time to divide their attention. As for cooperation and alliances... forget it!

  Actually, the lords of several vassal cities under Beit also knew the danger and wanted to strengthen Beit's combat power. They had only two options: either unite closely with each other or fight to the death and let the last survivor unify all of Beit's forces. The former was extremely difficult, while the latter not only extremely difficult but also required a heavy price to be paid. However, human nature is unpredictable. Several lords coincidentally thought that the latter was the best way to save Beit. How can it be described? Is it "knowing the difficulty and advancing" or "knowing there's a tiger on the mountain and heading towards the tiger mountain"?

  Several city owners also have concerns, so-called open struggle and secret fight. In the light, they often use their tongues to resolve disputes and contradictions. If they really can't solve them, they make some small moves and tricks in secret, but absolutely do not allow contradictions to escalate to the extent of public rupture.

  In Lardon Town, Han Jin had been working hard to absorb energy, but he didn't have a sense of urgency. However, when he arrived at the Beit Alliance, those "monsters" with their untamed and wild gazes, as well as Sasou and Michel's accounts of everything, gave Han Jin a sense of crisis.

  In a chaotic world, human life is as cheap as grass. No one needs to tell him that through the thousands of years of history, he is very clear about the law of survival in a chaotic world!

  Han Jinpan sat on the bed, his five hearts facing upwards, his spirit concentrated and calm. With each breath, his energy was expanding and contracting in a rhythmic pattern. It had been half a month since he was injured by Xian Ni'er, and with her help in hunting magical beasts every day, his energy had now approached 10,000 units. He was one hundred percent confident that he could complete the Small Foundation Establishment.

  Xiao Zhu Ji is just about circulating the Small Heavenly Cycle, and there's no technical content to speak of. Moreover, Han Jin had cultivated to the point of nourishing his Qi and refining his spirit, so for him, circulating the Small Heavenly Cycle was merely a trivial matter, as long as he possessed sufficient energy.

  As the energy collided, Han Jin felt a sharp pain coming from the Taili Kuan, but he didn't increase the intensity of the energy collision nor did he deliberately control the energy. Everything was left to nature. In fact, at this time, the most crucial thing is to maintain naturalness, and intentionally trying to control it would easily lead to deviations.

  An hour passed, and another hour passed, Han Jin was still waiting extremely patiently. The stinging pain felt by the Tailuan Guan gradually turned into a scorching heat, and then Han Jin's body involuntarily shook. A torrent of molten lava burst through the blockade of the Tailuan Guan, rushing straight up along the Du Mai.

  Han Jin took a deep breath, and at this moment, he deliberately controlled it for a moment, and the energy flow rushed to Jiaji Guan, slightly paused, and then burst out, breaking through the obstruction of Jiaji Guan, all the way to Yuzhen Guan.

  His back felt a surge of itching, a sign of abundant blood and energy, the Baihui acupoint was also jumping non-stop, but all this could not distract Han Jin, he sank into a meditative state again, remaining natural.

  The most difficult part of the Small Heavenly Cycle is to break through the Jade Pillow, also known as the Iron Gate. After passing the Jade Pillow lies the Sea of Marrow, which is also the most important place for storing the spirit. If there is any deviation at this point, it will often cause irreversible damage.

  The Taoist internal alchemy divides the human body into three crucibles. The lower dan tian is where stillness is stored, and once the small heavenly circuit is completed, energy will be transferred to the middle dan tian. The middle dan tian is where energy is stored, and finally, energy will be transferred to the upper dan tian. How far one can go on the path of cultivating truth depends on whether they can safely complete the small heavenly circuit. Although this may not be difficult for Han Jin, it is a crucial foundation that cannot tolerate even half a deviation.

  Han Jin showed extremely strong patience, neither rushed nor hasty, warm and quiet nourishment, not deliberately controlling energy, yet not forgetting to control energy. These two things seem contradictory, but in fact they are not.

  Place a mirror on the ground, and when birds fly over from the sky, they will inevitably leave an image in the mirror. From the perspective of Taoism, the image is the pure true intention. If one tries too hard to control the birds and neglects the image, it's equivalent to giving up the true intention and creating attachment. If one doesn't control at all, the birds fly away, the image disappears, and naturally, the true intention is also lost.

  The most important thing about the Small Heavenly Cycle is to keep your thoughts suspended between forgetting and not forgetting!

  It wasn't clear how much time had passed, but the Baihui acupoint was jumping more and more violently. Suddenly, a bright light flashed before Han Jin's eyes, as the energy flow burst through the Jade Pillow Pass. A kind of extremely joyful feeling deeply entered his brain, like a refreshing drink, like a warm spring bath. The tip of Han Jin's tongue rose, guiding the energy flow to penetrate directly down the Twelve Heavy Floors, finally gathering in the Sea of Qi.

  After running for thirty-six small cycles, Han Jin slowly opened his eyes. As he had expected, the foundation of the Small Pavilion was completed successfully, and it was time to proceed with the next step.