When the hour of the rat arrived, Ge Dongxu didn't sneak out of the dormitory to visit Dragon Rest Mountain. Instead, he lay in bed, silently revolving his True Qi, bit by bit concealing and sealing it so that not even the slightest trace was emitted.
If soone had paid attention to Ge Dongxu at that ti, they would have found him as if hibernating, his breathing barely perceptible and his body temperature almost nonexistent, even his skin gradually losing its luster.
Hibernation!
At this mont, Ge Dongxu was stowing away the True Qi he had cultivated over the years, trying to breathe and transform in harmony with the natural world, awaiting the coming year's spring growth, sumr flourishing, and autumn harvest!
If Ge Hong were still alive at this ti, seeing Dongxu understanding the concept of hibernation at the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation would surely have shocked him to the point of bulging his eyes out.
Qi Cultivation, Dragon Tiger, Golden Core, Celestial Infant...
Even Ge Hong had only gradually comprehended this mystery after reaching the Dragon Tiger Realm, from observing the growth of plants in accordance with the change of seasons.
All things grow; they cannot always move forward without rest. They need to experience the growth of spring, the vigor of sumr, the harvest of autumn, and then the consolidation and concealnt of winter to welco a new cycle of growth the following year...
Humans and animals are actually the sa, growing from youth to the peak of adulthood and then gradually aging until death.
People who do not understand cultivation are like annual plants, their life cycle completes within a year. Their seeds, their children, are a continuation of their life in another form.
Those who understand cultivation are more like biennial or perennial plants, living sowhat longer than ordinary people.
But now Ge Dongxu had begun to attempt the cycle of life within his own body, and he could be said to have touched upon the mystery of undying life.
If practitioners like Lv Xinghai and Fan Hong, mbers of the Qin, could barely be considered as biennial or perennial plants, then Dongxu at this mont was already comparable to a sapling.
Trees, having experienced the changes of seasons, grow rings each year after the cycle of spring growth, sumr flourish, autumn harvest, and winter concealnt.
Co the next year, the tree will grow even stouter and taller.
As the hour of the rat passed, Ge Dongxu slowly opened his eyes while lying on the bed.
His once deep and clear black eyes now seed sowhat dimd, the flow of True Qi in his ridians had beco slighter, and Dongxu even felt a sense of fatigue and weakness.
This would have been unimaginable before, since he was a cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation.
But now he felt tired and weak.
However, instead of being disappointed by this, Dongxu's eyes actually revealed a glint of unexpected joy.
Because he felt that the breath in his ridians was becoming more refined, his inner vitality seed even more exuberant, in stark contrast to the fatigue and weakness he felt.
The next day, Li Chenyu and the others unexpectedly discovered that it was seven o'clock and Ge Dongxu had just gotten up, whereas in the past, Dongxu would usually have been returning from outside by this ti.
Not only that, but Li Chenyu and the others found that Dongxu seed a bit less spirited than usual.
This ti, the three exchanged glances, all seeing the hint of worry in each other's eyes.
Others might not notice Ge Dongxu's changes, but the three of them who spent every day with Ge Dongxu were all too familiar with him.
Ge Dongxu's abnormal behavior today and the changes in his ntal state were all within their observation, inevitably causing them to worry.
But all that needed to be said had already been said yesterday, and seeing that Ge Dongxu obviously did not want to bring up the matter, they dared not ask him about it today. Their treatnt of Ge Dongxu, however, beca clearly more attentive.
Ge Dongxu, being the party involved, hadn't realized how abnormal it was for him not to get up early in the morning, nor did he notice that his spirit had changed in various ways. He still thought that these three were misunderstanding him, which naturally led to so glaring.
But these three stubbornly believed that Ge Dongxu must be either heartbroken or hiding so sorrow within, and regardless of whether Ge Dongxu glared or scolded them with a smile, they continued to accompany him with smiles, leaving Ge Dongxu without a trace of anger.
Ti passed by day after day.
In the blink of an eye, it was already mid-December.
Recently, Ge Dongxu had been contemplating the mysteries of winter's dormancy and rarely absorbed the energy of heaven and earth from the outside.
Not only did he rarely absorb the external energy of heaven and earth, but he also internalized the energy within, inscribing the natural changes of ti into his life, undergoing the innate cycle of life.
As the days went by, Ge Dongxu grew slender, his skin turned a bit yellow and lost much of its luster. The few inconspicuous white hairs on the left side of his head had now grown to over a dozen and begun to stand out.
One could say that Ge Dongxu these days resembled the lush woods in sumr that, co autumn and winter, began to yellow and lose their leaves.
Yet inside, having been tempered through the "harsh winter," his vitality grew ever stronger, and his breath beca increasingly refined.
Ge Dongxu's heart filled with excitent and joy; he knew that if he could survive this winter, co next spring, he might be able to break through to the Qi Cultivation Tenth Layer.
Originally, he had not been sure when he would break through to the Dragon Tiger Realm, and even when talking to Liu Jiayao, he had only suggested it might take three to five years, or even longer. Only now did he truly feel confident.
At least before reaching the Dragon Tiger Realm, with this enlightennt, his cultivation would not be stuck in a bottleneck.
Because of the excitent in his heart, Ge Dongxu imrsed himself deeper into the understanding of winter dormancy and failed to notice that as he appeared to age day by day, especially with the increase in white hair, Wu Yili's gaze during class bore an unspeakable touch of emotion and sorrow.
It wasn't just Wu Yili; Zhu Dongyu from the Departnt of Internal dicine and Tang Yiyuan were also sowhat worried, with Tang Yiyuan feeling an additional sense of guilt. In fact, because of this matter, on one occasion when his daughter Tang Yahui ca ho, he scolded her severely.
They all thought that the aftereffects of that life-changing experience had manifested, and although Ge Dongxu had spoken casually about it, his lifespan had indeed suffered a great loss.
"Dongxu, are you free this afternoon?" On a Tuesday afternoon, after the inorganic chemistry class ended, Wu Yili finally couldn't help calling out to Ge Dongxu.
Seeing Wu Yili stopping Ge Dongxu, the boys from the two classes of environntal chemistry couldn't help but show their envy.
"Nothing in particular," Ge Dongxu replied.
"Well, I have a bit of a matter here, could you help with it?" Wu Yili asked, not able to speak openly in front of the students.
"Of course, I can," Ge Dongxu nodded and then followed Wu Yili out of the classroom.
"The sun is nice today, and there isn't much wind. Join for a walk by Mingyue Lake," Wu Yili said softly once they were out of the students' sight, her eyes inadvertently glancing at the glaring white hairs on the left side of Ge Dongxu's head in the sunlight, full of sorrow.
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