Chapter 9

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/

Cultivating a Form Like a Crane’s

(Thanks to Grand Alliance Leader Bai Yiyi!)

The evening wind bit cold, frozen clouds hung low. A single green robe couldn’t endure the rain of the third watch.

Inside the side room, Xia Shu and Yan Qiu stoked the brazier with charcoal. The two weren’t very focused; each held a small fan, but they wielded them without moderation, fanning back and forth until the charcoal basin roared, sparks flying like falling stars. Both pairs of dark, bright eyes were fixed on their Senior Brother.

Zhou Yi sat cross-legged on a rush mat, meditating and circulating qi. His face alternated between red and white, hot and cold; no wonder the two young Daoist acolytes couldn’t take their eyes off him. They thought their Senior Brother was practicing some divine or miraculous art again.

Earlier in the day, he had taken quite a hit internally from facing off against that short, stout Daoist. Besides the pain of true qi tearing at his tendons and meridians, a lingering cold force remained. He hadn’t noticed it initially, but nearing the Daochang, his teeth began to chatter, and a chill spread through his body. Only then did he realize the severity. He figured the opponent possessed a unique type of true qi, but his own limited experience had made him realize his disadvantage only in hindsight.

So, he lit a brazier, using external heat to combat internal cold. He found this method in one of Jue Wuzi’s collected texts, originating from Guo Xiang of the Western Jin Dynasty, the very figure behind the idiom “eloquent like a flowing river.” This person was fond of Laozi and Zhuangzi, writing the Commentary on Zhuangzi, believing that “nothing is nothing, thus existence cannot arise from it.” The Taiping Elixir Formula extended this pharmacology, transforming it into “existence transforming into nothingness,” used to eliminate illnesses. Thus, it borrowed from Guo Xiang’s “theory of unique transformation,” specifically the principle of “everything having its own nature,” and applied it to harmonize.

It was originally a completely unrelated concept, but in the hands of a special practitioner, it produced miraculous effects. Zhou Yi circulated the Xuanzhen Heart Method, enabling him to circulate meridian qi through the Yongquan and Ran Gu acupoints. These two acupoints, one a “spring” and the other a “fire,” possess opposing natures, thus forming “true fire within water.” By integrating the residual yin-cold force within his body, and adding external charcoal heat, the two harmonized, fulfilling the condition of “existence transforming into nothingness.”

‘Daoist internal cultivation methods are truly profound, but luckily, my mind works fast, allowing me to apply them flexibly.’ Having completely dissolved the yin-cold force within his body, Zhou Yi’s mind relaxed. If Jue Wuzi knew he was walking on a knife’s edge like this, and even feeling a bit pleased about it afterwards, his beard would probably twist in anger.

“Huh~!”

Just as he was thinking about the short, stout Daoist’s martial arts, he suddenly felt a jolt of surprise. A warm current, like a spring stream thawing, snaked upwards from his Yongquan acupoint, transforming into true energy, and plunged into his meridian qi. His tongue naturally pressed against his upper palate, and his teeth rapidly clicked. In a brief instant, that true energy, like a slumbering dragon awakening, surged directly from Yongquan to Yufu, passing through twenty-seven acupoints without any obstruction, completely opening up the entire Kidney Meridian of Foot Shaoyin!

“True qi!” Zhou Yi was absolutely certain; he had already felt it from the stout Daoist. According to the Xuanzhen Temple Collection’s records, the source of true qi was ‘refining essence into qi.’ He had already passed the optimal age for cultivation and had originally thought he would need daily arduous training, accumulating years of effort, to generate true qi. Unexpectedly, after a single palm strike with the stout Daoist, he returned and achieved success. He was overjoyed, and that lingering resentment towards the short, stout Daoist due to the yin-cold force in his body completely vanished.

At this very moment, at the border of Yongqiu, beside a withered tree at the foot of Qiyun Mountain.

A short, stout Daoist looked up at the deep night sky. Shooting stars pierced through sparse trees, and the moon walked against the flowing clouds.

“Star Shift…”

Daoist Mu’s face was filled with vexation. He replayed all sorts of qi circulation methods in his mind, but still couldn’t figure out a way to break this move. A cool breeze swept by, and he sneezed, almost spraining his waist: “Which scoundrel is whispering about this Daoist priest behind his back again?” Unbeknownst to him, the young figure of the Taiping Dao flashed in his mind. Thinking of how he had been furiously rebuked by him in front of everyone, Daoist Mu snorted.

He determined his direction. He had originally intended to head northwest towards Chenliu, but now he changed course and went south.

“I need to make a trip to Dongting Lake. If those dog thieves from the Baling Gang dare to traffic women in front of me, I’ll catch them red-handed and kill them all. Next time I encounter that junior, this Daoist priest won’t suffer a loss in verbal sparring. Excellent! This way, I won’t have to use only two tenths of my power, and I’ll make sure he can’t fully dissipate the force and suffers greatly.” The short, stout Daoist laughed heartily, seizing the moment to drink wine, and headed straight for Dongting Lake, accompanied by the stars and moon.

“Senior Brother, when can we practice our sect’s internal method like you?”

Xia Shu wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, her small face flushed from the brazier’s heat. Yan Qiu put down his fan, also full of anticipation.

Zhou Yi looked at the two young children, stroking his chin in thought: “Are you willing to listen to my words?”

“Of course, we’ll listen to Senior Brother.”

Zhou Yi put on a serious expression and asked again: “No matter what, you won’t have any complaints?”

“No, no!” Yan Qiu immediately panicked upon hearing this, thinking he had angered his Senior Brother, and started shouting that he wouldn’t learn anymore. Xia Shu was calmer, but her eyebrows furrowed, and she complained pitifully: “Yan Qiu and I don’t have internal cultivation. This time, seeing Senior Brother alone at the Cao residence, although you greatly defeated the stout Daoist, we could only watch from the side and couldn’t help. We wanted to help Senior Brother ease his worries, so we asked.”

Zhou Yi took a few steps forward, placing his left and right hands on their heads respectively, and gently ruffled their hair. Only then did he smile.

“You two continue with your daily lessons. Senior Brother has his own arrangements.”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

Children’s moods change very quickly. When they carried the charcoal out of the room together, they were already lively again.

The next morning.

Zhou Yi ascended to the peak of Fuzi Mountain, bathed in the morning sun, and practiced a set of “Crane Palm Arts” under an old pine tree. The name sounded impressive, but it was actually just a common palm technique. Most of what was collected in the training room were basic methods.

However, having something was better than nothing. For a beginner in fist and palm techniques like Zhou Yi, even basic martial arts had miraculous effects. Always being straightforward, no matter how powerful his true qi was, it would be difficult to hit anyone.

After working up a sweat from practice, he sat down in the stone pavilion under the pine tree, reading two scrolls of Daoist scriptures from the Daochang: the Tong Xuan Zhen Jing by Wenzi of the Warring States period, and a volume of the Huainan Hong Lie. According to the notes left by Master Jue Wuzi, these two scrolls had also passed through the hands of Liu An of the Western Han Dynasty. This person was a grandson of Emperor Gaozu of Han and was passionate about the Huang-Lao school of thought.

Although these two scriptures did not directly refer to martial arts or point out meridians, they ultimately led to the same destination as the Daoist internal cultivation method Zhou Yi practiced. Reading them brought peace of mind and could nourish one’s spirit. This “essence, qi, and spirit” are the “Three Flowers” of a person, and martial artists absolutely cannot neglect them.

As Chen time approached, the mountain wind gradually rose, scattering the mist. Zhou Yi heard the rustling of pines, and a few sparrows hopped and danced on the pine branches, lingering before the pavilion. He held the scripture in his hand, seeing the Crane Palm Art manual on the stone table move with the wind. The little figures in the manual, as the pages quickly turned, pushed or pulled, squatted or lifted. Though not as nimble as the sparrows on the tree, they mimicked the stance of a crane.

He held the scroll in one hand and formed a palm with the other, performing several moves under the pine tree, such as “Riding the Clouds” and “Drinking from Stone Springs.” The crane form was fluid and captured its essence. It seemed that after his strenuous practice and sweating, he suddenly had an epiphany and understood this palm technique.

“If Dongting Lake can be a teacher, do I count this as taking the mountain wind as my teacher?”

Zhou Yi smiled, then continued to practice the palm technique, gently reciting:

“Cultivating a form like a crane’s form, two scrolls of scripture beneath a thousand pines. I came to ask the Dao, with nothing more to say, clouds in the blue sky, water in the bottle.”

As soon as he finished reciting, a burst of laughter suddenly came from the mountain path.

“Wonderful, truly wonderful!”

“Heavenly Master Zhou dines on mountain wind and drinks morning dew, cultivating Daoist pure lessons. Indeed, he has gained much spirituality, not something we crude martial artists can compare to!”

– Mochinuna.