Chapter 195: Tao can be spoken of, but it is not the eternal Tao
After practicing the Sleeping Dan Gong for a whole night, when Chen Jue got up, he discovered through [inner vision] that the cells near the pineal gland were indeed slightly stronger than last night.
In addition, the intelligence and physical attributes increased slightly, with the increase not being much, only 0.01. However, if the attributes can be increased so steadily every day, then the effect of this [Zhelong Sleeping Pill Technique] may be even better than several techniques created by Chen Jue.
Of course, the benefits of deep sleep include improving physical fitness, prolonging life, and refreshing the mind. Its most important function is to clear out the "garbage" in the brain.
When a person is awake, blood circulates continuously in the brain, supplying energy to the brain while also producing metabolic waste.
Only when you enter a deep sleep state and the blood in the brain's blood vessels drains out in large quantities, making room for cerebrospinal fluid to enter the brain for flushing and cleaning, removing a large amount of toxins and metabolic waste, carrying them along the spine into the lymphatic system, and finally entering the body's excretion system.
Although the [Qigu Body Cleansing Method] that Chen Jue created before also has some detoxification effects in purifying brain waste, it is aimed at detoxification of the entire body's large circulation. It does not have the effect of [Zhelong Sleeping Pill Gong] which only works on the pineal gland in the brain.
"The exercises that continuously improve physical fitness are obviously much higher in level than boxing exercises."
“Wait until more free attributes come out, and see if I can integrate [Small and Large Circulation], [Qigong Body Purification Method], [Spirit Refining and Longevity Method], and this [Zhelong Sleeping Pill Technique].” Chen Jue thought as he stared at the advanced skills on the panel.
After trying the consumption required for skill fusion, he found that it actually required 4 points of free attributes. Chen Jue was dumbfounded, secretly sighing at the greed of this attribute panel, and also began to look forward to the subsequent practice.
…
After checking out of the room, Chen Jue had some breakfast on the street and then continued to head east. He planned to visit Hangu Pass where Laozi attained enlightenment and observe the clues left by the predecessors and sages.
Starting from Xidu to Hangu Pass, the journey was more than 200 kilometers. Chen Jue walked very fast and had plenty of energy. He did not stop throughout the whole journey. He only stopped at noon to have lunch in a roadside town. He walked from day to night and successfully arrived at Hangu Pass.
However, Chen Jue was greatly disappointed by Hangu Pass. It was all commercialized scenic spots. Although it was brightly lit and there were statues of Laozi riding a cow to the west to attain enlightenment, as well as Taoist symbols such as the Eight Diagrams and Tai Chi, there was nothing worth Chen Jue's exploration.
I found a hotel and stayed there for one night. I got up early the next day, had breakfast, and bought an old copy of the "Tao Te Ching" from a roadside stall in Hanguguan Town and flipped through it.
"Tao can be a Tao, but it is not a permanent Tao. A name can be a name, but it is not a permanent name."
"This is quite different from the commonly seen Tao Te Ching." Chen Jue flipped through the opening chapter of this version of the Tao Te Ching, especially the two characters "Heng" that appeared in it, which reminded him of the several speculations about Lao Tzu's lifespan that he had seen in the Hangu Pass tourist attraction.
Laozi, whose surname was Li, given name was Er, and courtesy name was Dan, was born in the late Spring and Autumn Period. His birth and death years are unknown. He is the founder of Taoism. The Confucian sage Confucius also asked him about etiquette and learned from him.
Various ancient books and materials speculate that Lao Tzu's lifespan was 100, 160 or over 200 years old. These lifespan values are all speculations and there is no evidence to prove them conclusively.
But in Chen Jue's opinion, this Taoist saint wrote the "Tao Te Ching" in his later years, probably because he foresaw the end of his life, which is why he mentioned the word "Heng" several times in the text.
In Chen Jue's opinion, the word "Heng" represents the pursuit and yearning for the eternal Tao, just like Zhao Zhen who fanatically pursued eternal life. However, Laozi's cultivation thought realm is higher, reaching a level that cannot be matched by later generations. Although he can predict his own life and death, he is free and easy, and he went all the way out of Hangu Pass to become a saint, not troubled by the limited life span.
Humans are not a long-lived species, especially in Lao Tzu's time, anyone who lived over 100 years old could be called a centenarian.
Looking up at the huge statue of Lao Tzu in the center of the Hangu Pass Scenic Area, Chen Jue felt that the reason why this ancient sage was great was not that he lived longer than others, but that his thoughts and his works had been passed down for thousands of years and were still sought after and studied by later generations. Even Chen Jue, a modern practitioner, was deeply influenced by him.
“Human life span has an upper limit, but thoughts can last forever.”
"Senior Laozi should also be a true saint on earth who has obtained the [Holy Heart]." Chen Jue thought so and looked at the upper limit of his lifespan of 282 on his attribute panel. He felt that although he could live longer than Laozi and even many ancient saints, he still had a long way to go in terms of thoughts, knowledge, and exploration of the three thousand great ways of the universe.
…
After leaving Hangu Pass, Chen Jue continued his journey eastward. He planned to take this opportunity to walk back to his hometown, Chen Village, to observe the mundane world with his "holy heart" and to explore some unknown scenery and things.
When passing a country road and seeing a car parked on the side of the road with its hazard lights on, Chen Jue was stopped by a couple who were busy changing the spare tire of their car.
"Master, can you lend a hand and help us change the spare tire?"
"The screw is driven too deep. My husband can't pull it out by himself." The driver was an honest villager, and a pregnant woman with a big belly was standing next to him.
Chen Jue saw the driver holding the wrench, his face flushed, and he tried his best to unscrew the tire, so he walked over and said, "Let me do it!"
He took the wrench and pulled hard. The screw on the tire snapped. The whole car shook violently and was unscrewed by Chen Jue. He then changed a few screws next to it and Chen Jue easily unscrewed them all.
"Master, you are so strong!"
"This is an old second-hand car of mine, and it's been around for quite a while. I guess these screws were damaged by the air gun in the repair shop, and they're a bit rusty too. I tried to unscrew them for a long time but couldn't." The driver picked up the slightly rusty and deformed screws, took a look at them, and said gratefully to Chen Jue.
"It's just a piece of cake. Don't be polite. I'll help you lift the car up and you can change the tire quickly." Chen Jue said, hooking one hand on the side skirt chassis of the car, and then exerting force to lift it up, and the deflated tire on this side of the car flew directly into the air.
You know, when ordinary people like us encounter this kind of situation of changing spare tires, we need to put a jack under the side skirt and lift the flat tire, but in Chen Jue's hands, it doesn't require such trouble, it's just a matter of raising his hands.
Even an adult elephant can be lifted and thrown over, so a 1 to 2 ton car is certainly no problem.
But when he mentioned the miraculous feat on the side of the car, the two villagers and their couple were dumbfounded. They both exclaimed it was incredible, and then successfully replaced the spare tire with a confused look on their faces.
As for Chen Jue, while helping the village driver change the spare tire, he used the divine sense enhanced by [Holy Heart] to sense the fetus in the pregnant woman's belly.
Chen Jue had sensed the fetus in his cousin's belly at his roommate Wang Biao's house before, and it was also the first time that he sensed the existence of "Innate Qi". However, at that time, Chen Jue had not yet achieved enlightenment, and his sensing and perception abilities were not as strong as he thought.
Now I feel it again, but I gain more than the first time.
Although the "innate qi" emitted from the fetus was not as strong as that from the meteorite fragments, it allowed Chen Jue to "see" some different energy radiation.
It is somewhat similar to the mental magnetic field that Chen Jue understood before. Its essence is the nerve current emitted from the brain cell neurons in the brain, which then forms brain waves and finally turns into a magnetic field extending out of the body.
According to Chen Jue's understanding, this "innate qi" emitted from the fetus is also a bioelectric current emitted from specific cells in the fetus, which then triggers magnetic field radiation similar to that caused by the bioelectric current.
"Only the fetus in a pregnant woman has it, but not the child after birth."
"Is it caused by the totipotent stem cells in the fetus?" This was the first answer that popped into Chen Jue's mind when he thought about the theoretical knowledge he had learned about the human body and cells in the base.
