Chapter 2
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Floating Carving Illustrations
No one knows a disciple better than their master. Jue Wuzi saw that the time was ripe.
He smiled faintly, not discussing rebellion or loyalty, but getting straight to the point: “If you take over as Taiping Cult Master, then this ultimate martial art, I will immediately transmit to you.”
Hmm? Me, the Great Sage Teacher?
Zhou Yi’s eyebrows subtly raised. Why the sudden succession? A cloud of doubt hung in his mind, and he was about to ask.
Jue Wuzi lightly tapped the edge of the table with his finger: “Your Master is old and can no longer oversee future affairs, yet I do not wish for the sect’s lineage and incense to be broken. If you agree, you cannot change the name of the Taiping Sect in the future. Regardless of whether the Fuzi Mountain Taiping Daochang exists or not, you must be this Cult Master.”
Zhou Yi secretly nodded. So his Master wanted to ensure the continuation of the sect’s legacy, fearing that future generations might change its name under pressure. Thinking of the Yellow Heaven Great Law, he immediately made a decision: “Your disciple will wholeheartedly guard the sect and restore the glory of the Taiping Dao.”
“Good!”
Jue Wuzi clapped his hands in praise and took out a blue cloth-bound box from his怀中: “Take it.”
“Thank you, Master, for imparting the teaching!”
Zhou Yi received it with both hands as if it were a priceless treasure, his eyes quickly scanning it. The ancient book’s blue cloth cover had faded to grayish-white, two of its binding threads were broken, and the yellowish mulberry paper inside was exposed.
Upon opening it, the title page bore a slanted, half-stamped vermillion seal, on which four characters could be discerned: “Xuanzhen Temple Collection.”
This is nothing like the Yellow Heaven Great Law!
He looked up and saw the old Daoist smiling.
Goodness, I’ve been duped again.
Master and disciple had conversed before, and Jue Wuzi knew what he was thinking. He consoled him: “Our sect’s ancient texts indeed record a profound martial art called the Yellow Heaven Great Law, but regrettably, it was lost over the years. However, this Xuanzhen Temple Collection also inherits the teachings of Huang-Lao, with deep origins. It may not be inferior to the internal cultivation methods of those great sects and powerful clans in the martial arts world. It’s just that…”
Although the discrepancy was huge, going from nothing to having an internal cultivation method was still a gain, and Zhou Yi quickly accepted it: “Does Master have any other instructions?”
“Your Master has studied this martial art for a long time and still hasn’t grasped its essence. This skill also tests one’s mental fortitude, and I worry you might suffer qi deviation, so I haven’t lightly imparted it. Now that you’ve turned from death to life, your mental fortitude has been tempered, but if you practice for a long time without results, do not force it.”
The old Daoist suddenly stood up: “In three days, your Master will leave Yongqiu. The Daochang will be entrusted to you.”
Zhou Yi quickly stood up: “Why so suddenly?”
Jue Wuzi gently patted his shoulder, speaking earnestly: “Although you have some mental calculation abilities, your Daoist cultivation is still shallow. In the future, you must be more vigilant. The person who poisoned you must be from the Xihe Hunyuan Sect. Several temples around Yongqiu are their sources of income. People die for wealth, and birds for food. The Taiping Daochang has stolen their incense offerings and broken their money bags, naturally incurring their enmity. Seeing that you didn’t die, they will try to probe. Once they discover your Master’s true strength, the Daochang will cease to exist. If your Master leaves, moving from the open to the hidden, they will be hesitant to act, and only then can the Daochang remain safe.”
Zhou Yi suddenly understood, but also felt some worry: “Master’s intentions are profound, but the world is vast. Where will you go, old man?”
Jue Wuzi smiled kindly: “You don’t need to worry about that. Just tell others that your Master has gone on a long journey to visit friends.”
With that, he resumed his dignified master persona, flicked his sleeves, and turned to exit the side room. When Zhou Yi focused and followed, the old man’s back had already disappeared into the moon gate.
He calmed himself and carefully pondered his current situation, but couldn’t think of a better solution. So he picked up the Xuanzhen Temple Collection and began to study it.
At three quarters past You (around 6:45 PM), the setting sun sank into the dense forest, and the sky was filled with glowing clouds. The light pierced through the rising incense smoke, making the descending believers seem adorned in colorful robes. The sounds of human chatter gradually faded, and the mountain stream’s murmur grew louder.
Zhou Yi emerged from the side room, feeling quite dejected. This internal cultivation method was self-contradictory, obscure, and difficult to practice; he hadn’t grasped even a single clue. Thinking of relaxing his mind, he ascended the moss-covered stone steps that wound their way up to the back mountain’s stone storehouse. Following the elixir formula left by his master, he took some backup medicinal ingredients that had been used up in the warehouse. He had residual memories, so these daily tasks weren’t difficult for him.
After grabbing the medicine, he casually closed the bamboo fence outside the stone storehouse, which was covered in honeysuckle vines. As the last rays of sunlight shone, he stood on the mountaintop, gazing into the distance. It was then that he recalled the contents of the internal cultivation manual, and suddenly, his brain expanded.
The next moment, intense pain struck him, feeling as if his head were a ripe watermelon about to burst!
“What’s happening, it hurts so much!”
“Could it be qi deviation?!”
Zhou Yi stumbled to the ground, his hand clutching the stone steps. The pain forced him to close his eyes.
And with that closure, something incredible happened!
His vision went dark, and then his mind brightened, giving birth to an absurd perspective. In his mind, he saw a blurred, strange bas-relief carving.
“Hiss, what is this?”
He felt as if he’d seen this carving somewhere before, perhaps from a landscape painting session in his past as an art student, but he couldn’t remember where. As soon as this carving appeared, the pain in his head gradually faded.
Zhou Yi had a bold thought.
Could this bas-relief be the War God Catalog?!
His hairs stood on end, and he felt a flush of heat throughout his body.
“No, no, that’s not right. They say the War God Catalog, one of the Four Great Books, has forty-nine bas-relief illustrations, all containing profound martial arts principles. I only have one here, it doesn’t match up at all.”
In a mix of hope and disappointment, he tried various methods to communicate with the carving, but to no avail.
Zhou Yi did not lose heart. He scrambled to his feet and quickly descended the stone steps, heading straight for his side room.
Yan Qiu and Xia Shu, near the moon gate, were startled. They had come to call their Senior Brother for dinner and were nearly knocked over. Zhou Yi had no time to mind them; he closed the door and lit a candle.
“What’s wrong with Senior Brother…?” The two children stood outside the door, their eyes filled with curiosity.
Yan Qiu guessed: “Master’s True Form Mirror of the Five Peaks must have killed the underworld’s Ox-Head demon. When Senior Brother’s soul returned, he absorbed the essence of the ox-demon, which is why he’s charging around like an ox.”
Xia Shu beside him giggled incessantly: “I’ll tell Master to feed you a few more bowls of talisman water, see if you still talk nonsense.”
“I bet Senior Brother’s martial arts power has greatly advanced.”
Yan Qiu shook his head: “Punching and hard-qigong can be diligently practiced in the training hall, but it’s hard to make great progress in a short time.”
“Stupid. Senior Brother joined earliest and has the sect’s Heavenly Master Record. He’s listed in the Taiping Dao register. Besides Master, he’s the second Heavenly Master. How can you look at him with ordinary eyes?” Xia Shu, small but shrewd, added: “That’s precisely why others only dared to use poison against Senior Brother, not confront him head-on…”
“…”
The two children chirped like summer cicadas, chattering from the Heavenly Master register all the way to the poem Zhou Yi had recited earlier that day. They then argued about why Yang Guang would kill Xue Daoheng.
Fortunately, Zhou Yi was immersed in martial arts study and undisturbed by the two “cicadas.”
The Xuanzhen Temple Collection internal cultivation method contained twenty sitting postures, corresponding to the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the Twelve Main Meridians. Red lines were drawn on them, and key acupoints were marked with vermillion dots, crimson as blood.
Opening the second sitting posture, tiny characters were written beside it:
“At You time (5-7 PM), face east, touch tongue to upper palate, qi rises from Yongquan point, like a spring vine climbing the spine. When passing Mingmen point, clench teeth thirty-six times…”
Below the cultivation formula, two damp pine soot paper notes were attached, with annotations left by previous practitioners.
One read: “The stillness of ultimate Yin transforms into the movement of Yongquan, turning stillness into motion, rushing through the channels like a torrent.”
The second read: “On the fifteenth day of the third month, caught in rain in the peach blossom forest of Liangwang Terrace in Caozhou, my old residence. Only then did I realize that qi flowing through the meridians should be like dew condensing on a leaf tip, not like the torrent described by previous practitioners…”
Just these two annotations left Zhou Yi bewildered. This was his first time seeing a martial arts manual, and upon looking at the previous practitioners’ notes, goodness, the feedback from the seniors was completely contradictory!
How was a beginner supposed to know which one to follow? This was why he had no idea how to approach studying this internal cultivation method earlier.
“The bas-relief carving appeared today, it must be related to my looking at the secret manual.”
With this thought, Zhou Yi first looked at the cultivation posture in the internal cultivation method, then closed his eyes, and observed the bas-relief in his mind.
Recalling the contents of the sitting posture now, strange things followed one after another.
The second sitting posture from the Xuanzhen Temple Collection suddenly moved, striking various cultivation poses! He saw it raise its arm, palm facing the sky, left hand forward, right hand back, fingers individually curling back starting from the index finger, right hand assisting, hands overlapping, pressing against the abdomen…
The sitting posture completed one set of movements, then vanished in an instant.
Zhou Yi tried the same trick again, recalling those sitting postures, but the bas-relief remained still.
“Oh no!”
He understood the function of this bas-relief and quickly imitated the movements he had just seen. Fortunately, he reacted in time, managing to replicate the set of cultivation postures.
He tried to cultivate according to the method, and shortly after, Zhou Yi was overjoyed!
I did it! I did it!
A wondrous flow of qi rose from his Yongquan point and moved within his body. A tingling sensation spread across his back, like a kitten gently scratching with its paws. This must be the “like a spring vine climbing the spine” described in the manual!
This sitting posture cultivated the Kidney Meridian of Foot Shaoyin.
“Master said that human bodies have blood circulation, and regardless of whether one practices cultivation, there will be meridian qi that moves with the blood. However, internal true qi is not something that can be cultivated overnight.”
Zhou Yi practiced while summarizing: “What’s currently flowing in the Kidney Meridian of Foot Shaoyin should be meridian qi. Blood qi can carry meridian qi, and conversely, once meridian qi moves, it can also circulate qi and blood.”
Because qi and blood contain strength, when meridian qi circulates qi and blood, it can stimulate internal power. Therefore, martial artists who can control meridian qi, even if they haven’t cultivated true qi yet, can still use martial arts.
Zhou Yi didn’t feel tired. He practiced until the end of You time (around 7 PM), past the cultivation time corresponding to this posture, only noticing that the cultivation effect became weaker. But the novelty hadn’t worn off, and he was so absorbed that he forgot to eat and sleep, wanting to continue practicing.
Knock, knock, knock.
At that moment, a knock sounded on the door.
“Come in.”
Zhou Yi replied, and Jue Wuzi entered with Xia Shu and Yan Qiu. The two children carried food boxes, following behind their Master, winking at him.
The old Daoist saw Zhou Yi still maintaining his cross-legged meditation posture, and his eyebrows suddenly furrowed.
‘Xuanzhen Temple Collection belongs to Daoist internal cultivation methods; it tests one’s mental fortitude, so don’t expect instant success. Not thinking about tea or food? Sigh, that’s not how you practice. Wrong, all wrong!’
He secretly shook his head, greatly disappointed, not expecting Zhou Yi’s mental fortitude to be so poor. He was about to send the two children away and reprimand Zhou Yi sternly.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Yi proactively approached him.
“Master, I have a question.”
Jue Wuzi’s face was stern, his words terse: “Speak.”
Zhou Yi quickly asked for guidance: “This evening, when I practiced the You time sitting posture, my meridian qi formed a complete cycle within the Kidney Meridian of Foot Shaoyin. Is this practice considered fast or slow?”
Jue Wuzi first paused in surprise, then paused again.
He suddenly fell silent.
His entire body stiffened in place…
– Mochinuna.
