After the Great Dao died

Chapter 3 White Calyx Never Dies

Lin Suri stroked a crimson bead in his hand, lost in thought.

Wang Chu stood quietly to the side, not daring to say anything to disturb them.

A few moments later, Lin Suri asked again, "Have the chivalrous heroes that Longyue invited, and the swordsman you found, all settled in?"

"I've settled in; I'll stay in the dormitory guest rooms."

"You've met them; were you able to discern their level of martial arts skill?"

After a moment's thought, Wang Chu said, "The Jiang Yuan that Miss found is skilled in the Mountain Collapse Force, with fierce blood and energy, and his energy is silvery white. He is at least a person of the Silver Bone Realm."

"As for that swordsman Zhang Qinglou... he is far stronger. His eyes gleam with golden light, and he possesses both silver-white bones and the strength of a golden bell. With each breath, he exhales a golden aura... He is probably a legendary figure with the 'Golden Body'!"

A glint flashed in Lin Suri's eyes, and he gave Wang Chu an approving look: "You actually managed to find a golden statue, not bad."

Wang Chu, with his charming eyes and graceful demeanor, bowed and said, "I came here because of the Marquis of Baosu's residence and because of your reputation, young master. I dare not take credit for this."

Lin Suri nodded and waved his hand: "And Wang Kong, since he is so talented, we should do our best to nurture him. The ancestral mountains around Yuanjiang Prefecture have appeared, and the prefectural lord, the Lu family, Xuanhuo Temple, the peddler... even my sister is eyeing them covetously. It is the right time to use people."

Wang Chu responded and withdrew.

A smile finally appeared on the face of the eldest son of the Marquis's mansion, and he sat down cross-legged to meditate.

As Chen Lingxi watched everything, she seemed to see golden light flowing around Lin Suri, his aura burning brightly.

—It is like a statue cast in pure gold.

Chen Lingxi wanted to look again, but then she found that the scene in her viewpoint began to distort and then break apart.

His consciousness returned to itself.

When consciousness returned, Chen Lingxi felt a splitting headache and was mentally exhausted.

"It seems that this supernatural ability of seeing and traveling is related to my own mental strength. I am currently still recovering from my injuries, and my body is weak, so I cannot maintain the state of seeing and traveling for too long."

He squinted as he pondered.

Liu Changle was snoring loudly; he was already asleep.

Chen Lingxi put down the incense burner in her hand and began to organize what she had gained from this trip.

"Lin Suri's strange posture and breathing rhythm..."

He closed his eyes to recall, and felt even more surprised.

"I remember Lin Suri's posture and breathing rhythm perfectly, without any difference."

It seems my memory has improved while I'm traveling; I can almost remember everything I see!

It was pitch black outside the window, but a light snow was falling from the sky.

The leaden clouds remained unbroken, hanging even lower!

There will definitely be a heavy snowfall tomorrow, but whether it will be auspicious snow is still unknown.

But for Chen Lingxi, even though it was bitterly cold at this moment, and snowflakes were being blown into the room by the wind and landed on his face... he still felt great!

"Try that weird position."

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath, enduring the excruciating pain from her internal organs. Her back arched like a bow, her waist and abdomen suspended in the air, and her legs were bent into an arc, with her left heel touching her perineum and her right ankle hooked around her left knee...

This pose is extremely difficult.

Chen Lingxi endured the pain and tried for a long time, until half an hour later, she finally grasped two or three parts of the key points.

As he arched his back, he tried to breathe using the rhythm he remembered...

Begin your first inhale...

It first enters the nasal cavity, then settles in the throat...

In an instant, Chen Lingxi keenly sensed that a mysterious, faint aura was flying from the incense burner beside him, and as he inhaled, it entered his body!

"It's done!"

As that breath entered his body, he immediately felt as if his chest had opened up, and the originally stuffy feeling in his chest became extremely smooth.

The excruciating pain in my internal organs was also greatly relieved at this moment.

He tried to sink that wisp of air into his chest... but this strange posture was too strenuous. In just a few breaths, Chen Lingxi was exhausted, his posture was deformed, and he could no longer maintain the rhythm of breathing.

The wisp of energy within his body instantly dissipated and disappeared.

"It is indeed extremely difficult."

Chen Ling lay flat on the bed, but an uncontrollable smile appeared on her lips.

"This is indeed a breathing technique! And... that wisp of energy is so incredibly comfortable."

"The pain in my internal organs has also lessened considerably."

continue!

He studied diligently, practicing breathing exercises all night long.

At first, he could only hold on for two or three breaths. He couldn't hold on until a wisp of air reached his chest.

Four hours later, Chen Lingxi was able to maintain this state for six or seven breaths, breathing into his nasal cavity, throat, chest, and then into his stomach!

After a night, Chen Lingxi felt refreshed and her pain had lessened considerably.

"and……"

"When I breathe in and out, my skin seems to faintly glow with a bluish light, and it feels extremely hot, as if my body has become refined iron in a fire, being tempered by fire..."

Chen Lingxi comes from a scholarly family and knows very little about martial arts. He only knows that there are indeed some people in this world who can easily defeat a hundred people... or even a thousand people!

"I've heard that martial arts masters forge their mortal bodies into iron through countless trials! This is the 'Iron Body'! A single punch can kill an ox or a horse..."

He could hardly hide his excitement.

"Having obtained this wonderful method, as long as one diligently practices it daily, there is certainly a chance to escape this cage!"

But then, Chen Ling glanced at the packets of herbs on the table out of the corner of her eye.

A chill ran through him.

"That Steward Zhao used us, the government slaves, as test subjects for his medicine. Now, only Liu Changle and I are still alive!"

Chen Lingxi became worried: "Based on my previous performance, if I take another dose of the medicine, I will surely die."

If he doesn't die, he'll definitely attract the attention of Steward Zhao.

He recalled Zhao Duguan's sinister gaze.

"That old fox is suspicious. When he comes back and finds out about my sudden change, he might torture me severely."

"We still need to break this deadlock. At the very least, we can't keep testing drugs anymore."

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath, recalling the words Wang Chu, the steward of the South Courtyard, had said during her visit yesterday.

"Princess Yunhe often visits the Marquis of Baosu's residence to learn flower arranging with the young lady..."

"Flower arrangement..."

A glint of light flashed in his eyes: "Looks like I'm not destined to die!"

Flower arrangement!

In Chen Lingxi's revived memories, in his previous life he spent six years studying this skill, consulted countless masters, and finally used this skill to win over a benefactor who determined his life's achievements!

"The two lifetimes are different, yet they share similarities."

His gaze drifted out the window.

As the wind and snow approached, the old locust tree stood firm in the snowstorm, not even its thinnest branches trembling.

Not far away, at the corner of the wall, several branches of wintersweet were in bloom, covered in snow.

"Old locust trees, winter plum blossoms... not enough..."

Chen Ling got out of bed, pushed open the door and went out of the house, walking in the snow in front of the back house.

After a dozen or so breaths, Chen Lingxi suddenly squatted down.

He lowered his head and reached out to brush away a layer of snow, only to discover a white calyx.

It had been completely buried in the snow, with only the very last bud peeking out from the snow, its bluish-white tip visible.

When the wind and snow swept by, it swayed and trembled, yet it still stubbornly bloomed, stubbornly... undying!

"The wind and snow are fierce, but the white calyxes do not die, the winter plum does not die, and I... will not die!"

Chen Lingxi muttered to himself.

-

Snow fell for two nights.

The Hou Mansion Garden resembles an unfinished ink painting.

The pond in the mansion had frozen over, and snow had fallen on the ice, creating a flat, white, and vast expanse where it was impossible to distinguish between the road and the water.

Even in winter, the Hou Mansion Garden is not monotonous and desolate.

Dozens of winter flowers, such as the old plum tree by the lake, the winter plum blossoms in the shade of the rockery, the nandina beside the stone scriptures, the nandina by the pavilion, the holly under the wall, and the holly hedge in the garden, are blooming in competition, creating a beautiful scene.

In the hexagonal pavilion with its upturned eaves in the garden, Lin Longyue, the daughter of the Marquis, was wearing a bright red felt cloak, the hood of which was covered with snow, making her face appear even whiter.

Princess Yunhe sat opposite her, wearing a silver fur coat and holding a hand warmer in her hands.

Instead of looking at the snow, she gazed at a few plum blossoms in the distance: "These plum blossoms are blooming beautifully, more vibrant than the ones in the warm pavilion in my courtyard."

Lin Longyue chuckled: "How can the plum blossoms in the warm pavilion withstand the wind and snow? The few trees in this courtyard are different; the colder it gets, the more they bloom."

As she spoke, she got up and walked to the edge of the field, broke off a branch of winter plum blossoms that were in full bloom, and then picked a few red berries from the Nandina domestica. She tied them to the plum branch with fine silk thread, turned around and handed them to the princess.

"If it were arranged in a vase, the wintersweet and red berries would be excellent."

Princess Yunhe took the plum blossom, lowered her head and sniffed it; the faint, cool fragrance was refreshing.

She gazed calmly at the plum blossoms: "The most favored ladies in the palace enjoy flower arranging, but neither you nor I can seem to learn anything from it."

It is said that the young general in the General of the Sun's mansion is not only an excellent archer, but also a master of flower arranging; the flowers he arranges are breathtakingly beautiful… You tell me, it's strange that a general is also skilled in such refined pursuits.”

Lin Longyue shook her head.

"Consort Chun loved flower arranging, and it became popular throughout the entire Great Li Kingdom. Even the old scholars in the court had to know a few lines of poetry and prose about flower arranging... So what's so strange about that?"

"After all, everyone in the court admires Consort Chun's ability to hear through the mirror."

admire?

Princess Yunhe thought to herself, "It must be fear."