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Chapter 254 The First Obstacle to Cultivation: Meditation, Mind and Action, Visualization, Old RabbiChapter 254 The First Obstacle to Cultivation: Meditation, Mind and Action, Visualization, Old Rabbit’s Shock!
”Relax your mind and feel the flow of energy within and outside your body...”

Qin Fang sat cross-legged on the bed in the Mushroom House, closed his eyes, and attempted his first cultivation according to the description in the Source Energy Cultivation Method.

The description of the ”Source Energy Cultivation Method” states that the first step in obtaining source energy is to sense it.

If you can’t even sense it, then there’s no point in talking about acquiring it.

You must completely calm your mind and focus on experiencing the surge and flow of power within your body, slowly dispersing it to perceive the origin of this power.

But what is called ”restless mind and wandering thoughts”?

The idea of ​​calmly experiencing something sounds easy, but in reality, this step is extremely difficult.

When a normal person meditates, after only a few minutes, distracting thoughts will arise, various fantasies will flood their mind, and they will start to lose focus. If this continues for a little longer, they will become restless and agitated, and even their breathing will become disordered, feeling palpitations, suffocation, and extremely uncomfortable.

For example, right now, Qin Fang feels that his mind is full of distracting thoughts.

He frowned, then tried his best to carry out the instructions.

Ten minutes... fifteen minutes... twenty minutes...

Less than thirty minutes later, Qin Fang suddenly opened his eyes.

”No.”

Too many distracting thoughts.

”It’s simply impossible to achieve the ’mind like a clear mirror, reflecting oneself’ described in the book.”

Qin Fang frowned deeply.

He hadn’t expected to encounter such an obstacle on his very first step in cultivation.

What’s holding him back is his own heart!
Qin Fang gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, took several deep breaths, and regulated his breathing, which had become disordered due to his agitated state of mind.

”Meditation, sitting quietly... This is also a concept in my hometown. It aims to relieve inner stress, improve concentration, enhance self-awareness, and so on...”

”Some religions believe that meditation is a path to self-realization and approaching the truth.”

”It is clear that meditation does indeed have a great effect.”

”But I... am too restless. My mind is filled with too many distractions. One moment I’m thinking about the development of the amusement park, the next I’m worried about the invasion of alien gods, then I’m reminiscing about my past life, and then I’m wondering about the mystery of my transmigration...”

Qin Fang frowned.

Too much on your mind!
This is the biggest problem he is facing right now.

With such heavy thoughts, let alone having a ”clear mind that reflects oneself,” even sitting still for half an hour makes one feel uncomfortable all over, even breathing becomes disordered, like a form of torture, extremely agonizing.

But Old Rabbit made it very clear that for this first step, you can only rely on yourself; you can’t rely on anyone else.

What to do?
Qin Fang’s mind raced.

My mind is like a restless monkey, my thoughts are like a restless monkey.

My heart is Sun Wukong, my will is the White Dragon Horse.

If one’s will could be completely controlled and managed, there wouldn’t be so many problems.

Qin Fang once heard a story about Zen. In the story, there were two monks who entered the temple at the same time. After living in the temple for a few months, one of the monks found the temple life to be very wonderful. He meditated, ate, practiced martial arts, and slept with his fellow monks. He found it very good and quickly integrated into the temple life.

But another monk felt that life in the temple was torture every day, like purgatory.

They entered the temple together, but not long after, the monk, who felt that every day was torture, could no longer contain his confusion and asked the disciple who had entered with him.

Why are you so happy every day?

The disciple paused for a moment, puzzled, then smiled and said, ”We meditate together, eat together, practice together, and sleep together every day... Of course we should be happy. Aren’t you happy?”

The monk was speechless and could only shake his head. He was not only unhappy, but also felt that every day was torture.

Unable to get an answer from this disciple, he decided to seek an answer from his master.

Upon hearing this, the master asked, ”What do you do every day?”

He replied, ”Meditation, eating, practicing martial arts, and sleeping.”

The master asked, ”Where is he?”

He replied, ”Meditation, eating, practicing martial arts, and sleeping.”

The master asked, ”Then why does he feel happy, while you feel tormented?”

He shook his head: ”This disciple does not know.”

The master smiled and said, ”Because when he meditates, he only meditates; when he eats, he only eats; when he practices, he only practices; and when he sleeps, he only sleeps.”

The disciple looked at his master with confusion and bewilderment.

The master then smiled gently and said, “When you meditate, you think about what to eat today. When you eat, you think about how to practice today’s exercises. When you practice, you think about how long you can sleep and whether you can get enough sleep. When you sleep, you think about getting up early tomorrow to meditate again. Your mind and what you do are never the same thing. How can you be happy?”

This is the biggest difference between these two disciples.

One of them is that the mind and actions are in harmony; when doing something, one only thinks about what is being done, and naturally feels joy from the heart.

On the other hand, when doing one thing, one is thinking about another, which naturally leads to a multitude of distracting thoughts and anxieties, making every day a torment.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people fall into the latter category.

While doing one thing, you’re thinking about something else.

This is the source of anxiety for the vast majority of people.

At this moment, Qin Fang felt like a second disciple... He was meditating, his goal being to cultivate source energy.

But my mind is out of control, thinking about other things.

This feeling made him very uncomfortable.

But knowing is easier than doing. He knows the problem he is facing, but how can he solve it?

He frowned.

”How to do?”

……

When Qin Fang was in a dilemma in the Mushroom House.

A large number of baby rabbits have already gathered in front of the old rabbit’s house.

These little rabbits are chattering away, speaking the language of the Ribit tribe. If Qin were here, the interface would definitely translate it, and many of them would be talking about him.

It wasn’t until the old rabbit came out that it looked kindly at the little rabbits in the yard and said, ”Alright, quiet down, today’s morning lesson is about to begin.”

The little rabbits stopped chattering, then one by one they got up and sat obediently cross-legged in front of the house, their eyes fixed on the old rabbit.

”let’s start.”

The old rabbit nodded.

The rabbits closed their eyes, and the scene quieted down. Soon after, a faint white light began to emanate from some of the rabbits...

The old rabbit looked on with a satisfied expression.

……Yes.

These little rabbits are all meditating, cultivating their source energy!
The little rabbit ’Nake,’ which was the first one Qin Fang patted on the head, was now sitting cross-legged in the group like a little adult. There wasn’t any white light emanating from it, but with its eyes closed, a greedy look gradually appeared on its face. It smacked its lips and muttered, ”Meat mushroom, so fragrant, so delicious...”

The old rabbit noticed it, heard its mutterings, and couldn’t help but show a kind and indulgent smile.

This little glutton...

It chuckled to itself.

Time passed by minute by minute.

These lively little rabbits all remained seated, and not one of them broke their seated state due to being upset.

The old rabbit looked at them, nodded in satisfaction, and then looked up at a mushroom house in the distance.

His eyes flickered slightly.

That outsider must have realized how difficult it is to perceive source energy, right? He should be here soon.

Thinking of this, Old Rabbit’s cloudy eyes held a complex expression.

The Battle Domain of Myriad Realms is truly meticulous in its planning... Everyone who wants to walk the path of the laws is valued by the Battle Domain of Myriad Realms, clearly indicating that it wants to cultivate more beings who truly master the laws.

But the necessary trials and tribulations will not be reduced in the slightest. ...The Myriad Realms Battlefield aims to cultivate powerful individuals who have mastered the laws, not a bunch of overgrown infants.

“Beings who can directly perceive source energy while in deep meditation are extremely rare; perhaps only one in ten thousand who walk the path of laws can do so… Such exceptional talent will be rewarded by the Myriad Realms Battle Domain…”

”This outsider probably doesn’t know that his training actually began the moment he entered the God’s Dungeon. Everything he does will affect his future development, right?”

The old rabbit thought to itself.

However, it is under the close surveillance of the Myriad Realms Battle Domain, and there are some things it cannot say on its own; the person being guided needs to ask it for guidance.

Because this determines the rating of the guided player in this divine instance... and even the rewards in the subsequent Myriad Realms Battlefield.

So it patiently waits for outsiders to come to it.

……

”No, just sitting here like this won’t work at all; my mind is completely out of control.”

Qin Fang opened his eyes again, and once again, due to a flood of distracting thoughts, he broke out of his meditation.

He realized that this wouldn’t work.

”Is the first step really that difficult?”

He frowned.

After spending some time adjusting his breathing once again, he began to think of a solution.

”When you sit in meditation and try to completely relax your mind and clear your head as described in the book, you will inevitably have a lot of distracting thoughts, which are beyond your control.”

”Only those who have cultivated themselves for a long time and meditated for several or more than ten years can probably achieve what is described above. I simply cannot do it in a short time.”

Qin Fang recalled some things he had heard in his previous life.

After a moment, he hesitated and thought, ”I’ve heard some things about it online in my past life... There’s a method called visualization that can improve the efficiency of meditation...”

In the past, with the information explosion, many people felt tired and anxious in the fast-paced world. In order to alleviate this fatigue and anxiety, many people began to try meditation and spiritual practice, and it is said that the results were remarkable.

Then many people started sharing their meditation methods online.

Qin Fang was also a beast of burden in his past life, overwhelmed by heavy work and in a state of anxiety almost all the time, to the point that he was almost depressed.

In an effort to relieve stress, I naturally looked into various methods of decompression, and even saw a tutorial on sitting meditation while scrolling through short videos.

Among these methods is one called ’visualization’.

The core idea of ​​’visualization’ is probably... since we can’t avoid having a cluttered mind, we might as well give these cluttered thoughts a target and focus them on one point.

This barely aligns with the intention of ’having no distracting thoughts’.

The post Qin Fang saw taught a visualization technique called ’Crystal Pine Cone’.

The pineal gland is the most mysterious tissue in the human body. It is located behind the eyebrows and is also known as the ’Mud Pill Palace’.

For a time in my past life, there was a widely circulated ’superpower,’ and it was said that the source of its power was this pineal gland.

...Of course, it was later proven that the so-called ’superpowers’ and ’qigong’ were all nonsense.

But the pineal gland has thus been shrouded in mystery.

In particular, according to Taoist teachings, the Niwan Palace is the ”Palace of the Nine Truths,” also known as the Yellow Court, and is considered the abode of the ”gods.”

That is, the dwelling place of the soul.

And the pineal gland happens to be located in the brain, which is where the Huang Ting (a point on the back of the head) is located...

Therefore, many people believe that the pineal gland, to some extent, represents the soul or spiritual power.

...Of course, the above theories are a jumbled mess. The pineal gland is a medical term, while Huangting and Jiuzhen Palace are religious terms, and they have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

But there is a saying that pine cones are related to gods.

The purpose of meditation is to calm the mind and focus the spirit... Naturally, the pineal gland becomes associated with meditation.

Qin Fang remembered that the video was made into a beautiful video featuring a crystal pine cone. The video blogger said that when meditating, you should focus all your attention on creating this crystal pine cone... and you can naturally enter a meditative state.

Qin Fang even tried it back then.

But it’s hard.

After all, with your eyes closed and your mind completely black, to ’visualize a crystal pine cone’ in that darkness... that’s no easy feat.

Moreover, the other party emphasized that ’the more detailed the better, the more perfect the details the better’.

...It’s pitch black. Tell me, what counts as meticulous or perfect?
Qin Fang later died suddenly at the company after working thirteen consecutive all-nighters, without having the chance to verify whether it was feasible or not.

but now……

”Let’s give it a try! If it really doesn’t work, we’ll go ask Old Rabbit for another idea.”

Qin Fang finally gritted his teeth and took a deep breath.

He sat down to meditate again.

This time, instead of deliberately relaxing his mind, he concentrated all his will and tried his best to depict and visualize the crystal pine cone.

The effect was as bad as he had imagined... He closed his eyes, and everything was pitch black. Visualizing a crystal pine cone in the void was not an easy task.

Ten minutes passed, twenty minutes passed, thirty minutes passed...

Qin Fang’s breathing remained surprisingly normal.

He wasn’t completely without focus; rather, he devoted all his attention to visualizing the so-called ’crystal pine cone’ in his mind.

Although I didn’t achieve ’complete freedom from distractions,’ I at least managed to have ’a single thought’!
Gradually, Qin Fang realized that a glimmer of light was slowly emerging in his previously pitch-black mind, whether it was his imagination or not.

And in the center of that light was a crystal pine cone!
Qin Fang was shocked. It had actually appeared?

He stared in astonishment at the ’crystal pine cone’ in front of him.

The crystal pine cone was still hazy and indistinct, lacking any details; upon closer inspection, it appeared as a ball of light.

Qin Fang felt his breathing become slightly erratic again.

He snapped out of his daze and quickly composed himself.

Never mind whether it works or not, let’s keep going!
He began to seriously contemplate the crystal pine cone.

Once he had a physical form, he began to enrich the details on it.

Then Qin Fang was astonished to find that as he added more details to it, the pine cone in his mind actually began to show various details, just like the texture of a real pine cone.

This is very wrong!
He was absolutely certain that those who used visualization techniques in their previous lives could never have reached this level and fully visualized it!
There must be something wrong!

But he quickly dismissed the thought as soon as it crossed his mind...

It’s good to have questions!
What I want is for mysterious events to occur!
I’m in the right state of mind right now, so don’t let your mind wander, just keep going!

He was thinking to himself that this time he was putting all his energy into it, and the details of the pine cone were becoming more and more perfect.

So much so that Qin Fang didn’t even notice that, gradually, a strange power began to emerge from his body.

At the same time, his interface also changed...

The value in the ”Mental State” column is quietly fading.

It felt as if something was drawing it away.

……

Meanwhile, on Old Rabbit’s side...

[Guiding the ’guide’ to self-realize the ’visualization method’ and cultivate the first wisp of source energy. Contribution points +1000. Please keep up the good work.]

The sudden notification made Old Rabbit look up sharply, heading towards the Mushroom House.

His cloudy eyes revealed a look of surprise.

”He actually... figured out the visualization method on his own?”

Its eyes sparkled.

”It seems that the world he came from... also had true cultivators... and even left behind some scriptures?”

The old rabbit thought to itself in shock.