Chapter 275: Explaining the Dao to Others is to Explain One’s Own Dao

Master Xuanji smiled faintly and, looking at Qin Haoxuan, said, “Allow me to introduce him. This is your little junior brother, Qin Haoxuan.”

Qin Haoxuan clasped his fists in a salute. “Haoxuan greets all senior brothers.”

When the disciples of the Nature Hall heard that this was Qin Haoxuan, their mouths fell open one by one. They had long heard of his great name, so seeing him for the first time now, they were filled with happiness, surprise, and admiration.

“Junior Brother Haoxuan, your name is like thunder in my ears!”

“You broke through your seed on the very first day of cultivation, your leaves grew quickly, and your cultivation speed puts us senior brothers to shame. Your combat strength is also formidable, winning battle after battle against higher-level opponents, even defeating Yan Dong of the Twelfth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm. If we hadn’t heard it from Senior Brother Pu and Senior Brother Ye, we would never have believed it!”

“Junior Brother Haoxuan, I can’t even see through your current cultivation realm. You must be much stronger than us now, right?”

“I never thought I’d get to see Junior Brother Haoxuan today. Wait, isn’t Junior Brother Haoxuan supposed to be entering the mortal world? Why are you back today?”

In an instant, the Preaching Altar became as noisy as a marketplace. These senior brothers of the Nature Hall had long heard of Qin Haoxuan, and now that they finally saw him in person—and his strength seemed quite high—they were both shocked and overjoyed.

Surrounded by all sorts of greetings, praises, and clamoring questions, Qin Haoxuan didn’t know how to respond. He could only repeatedly clasp his fists in salute. At the same time, he noticed that none of his senior brothers showed any jealousy because of his prowess. Every one of them had a sincere smile and offered genuine congratulations, as if they themselves had achieved these accomplishments.

A warm feeling enveloped Qin Haoxuan, and an emotion called gratitude welled up within him.

“Oh my, look at how thoughtless we’ve been. It’s our first time meeting Junior Brother Haoxuan, how can we not offer a meeting gift?” one of the senior brothers exclaimed, slapping his head in a moment of realization. He immediately began searching himself and pulled out a Tenth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm talisman. “Junior Brother Haoxuan, this is our first meeting, and I don’t have anything good on me in such a rush. Please take this talisman; perhaps it will be useful to you.”

Qin Haoxuan stared blankly at the senior brother and the talisman in his hand, sighing to himself. ‘This senior brother’s cultivation realm isn’t high. A Tenth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm talisman must be extremely precious to him, something that could even save his life at a critical moment. Yet he’s giving it to me! How can I possibly accept it?’

As soon as that senior brother finished speaking, the others also had a moment of realization and began rummaging through their belongings. Some who didn’t have anything on them even went to borrow from others. In an instant, various gifts were presented to Qin Haoxuan. The sincere and expectant looks on the faces of his Nature Hall senior brothers made it difficult for Qin Haoxuan, who had intended to refuse, to do so. He stood there, torn between feeling troubled and deeply moved.

Master Xuanji spoke from the side, “Since it’s a token from your senior brothers, you should accept it.”

After his master spoke, the other senior brothers chimed in, “Junior Brother Haoxuan, we don’t have anything of great value. These are just small tokens of our sentiment. Please don’t look down on them.”

The first senior brother to offer a gift, Bai Qianchang, said, “Junior Brother, although we senior brothers may not have high cultivation, we have been immersed in the path of immortal cultivation for decades. In the future, if you have any doubts about cultivation, feel free to ask us, and we will tell you everything we know. But if you don’t accept our meeting gifts, we won’t acknowledge you as our junior brother, and you can forget about us answering any of your questions in the future!”

With things put this way, Qin Haoxuan was incredibly moved and could no longer refuse. He accepted all the gifts from his senior brothers. To Qin Haoxuan, who was worth two hundred thousand low third-grade spirit stones, these gifts were not particularly valuable, but it was clear his senior brothers had done their best. These were the finest gifts they could offer.

The disciples of the Nature Hall had always been poor, a fact known throughout the entire Taichu Sect. But no one knew that despite their poverty, they were so warm and generous.

“Alright, everyone sit down,” Master Xuanji said, interrupting the disciples who were chatting eagerly with Qin Haoxuan. “You can talk more later.”

The expressions of the Nature Hall disciples turned solemn. They returned to their spots and sat cross-legged on the floor, looking at their master, Xuanji, with reverence.

Master Xuanji nodded in satisfaction, then motioned for Qin Haoxuan to sit beside the lotus Dao altar. Only then did he survey the crowd and say, “You may now raise any questions you have encountered in your cultivation.”

Bai Qianchang, the senior brother who had been the first to offer a gift, stood up and asked respectfully, “Master, there is a line in a Dharma incantation that this disciple has pondered a hundred times but cannot comprehend. I ask for Master’s guidance.”

Master Xuanji nodded slightly.

“The secret of motion and stillness lies in yin and yang. It all comes down to the gathering of spirit. When the spirit gathers, the single qi will surge. Refine qi to return to spirit, let the momentum shift, and focus the mind. Opening and closing have their rhythm, and the virtual and real are distinct. When the left is virtual, the right is real; when the right is virtual, the left is real. Virtual does not mean completely without force, for the momentum must be able to shift. Real does not mean completely solid, for the spirit should be focused.” Bai Qianchang asked, “Master, this disciple can understand the latter part of this incantation, but the line, ‘The secret of motion and stillness lies in yin and yang,’ is something I cannot grasp no matter how much I think about it. Motion is motion, and stillness is stillness. How can these two lie in yin and yang?”

As Senior Brother Bai Qianchang raised this question, no one noticed Qin Haoxuan looking at him with slight astonishment, thinking to himself, ‘Does such a simple scripture even need an explanation? Isn’t it very simple? Could it be that Senior Brother Bai doesn’t understand either?’

Qin Haoxuan had asked Xing this question before. At the time, Xing had scoffed at his question. “Only a fool like you wouldn’t understand. It’s such a simple question that you could ask any random disciple in the Nature Hall, and they could answer it!”

After the mockery, Xing had explained the scripture in simple terms.

After hearing Xing’s words, Qin Haoxuan had thought the meaning of the art was truly that straightforward and that his own aptitude and comprehension were just too poor to understand it.

After Bai Qianchang finished his question, Master Xuanji nodded slightly and then looked around at the other disciples in the Preaching Altar. “Can any of you answer Qianchang’s question?”

The many disciples of the Nature Hall fell into deep thought, but not a single one stood up to answer, indicating that none of them understood.

For a moment, the Preaching Altar fell into silence.

‘Could that fellow Xing have been lying to me? Not a single senior brother in the Nature Hall can understand it?’ Qin Haoxuan frowned slightly, thinking to himself, ‘Then did he also lie to me about the meaning of the art? No, I must verify this with Master.’

At once, Qin Haoxuan tentatively raised his hand.

Master Xuanji’s eyes lit up. He smiled at Qin Haoxuan and said, “Haoxuan, why don’t you share your understanding with your senior brothers?”

The disciples of the Nature Hall present all looked at Qin Haoxuan in surprise. Although Qin Haoxuan’s cultivation speed was fast and his future achievements would surely surpass their own, he had been in the sect for less than two years. How could he possibly fully interpret and understand such a profound and mysterious cultivation incantation?

But despite their surprise, they still watched Qin Haoxuan attentively, awaiting his explanation.

“Yes! If there is anything incorrect in what this disciple says, I ask Master and Senior Brothers to please correct me.” Qin Haoxuan stood up, bowed slightly to Master Xuanji and his senior brothers, and then, recalling Xing’s explanation, he began to speak. “My understanding of ‘The secret of motion and stillness lies in yin and yang’ is that there is no absolute motion or stillness. Within motion, there is stillness, and within stillness, there is motion. The two cannot be isolated, just like yin and yang. Without the contrast of yin, the existence of yang would not be known. Extending this to us cultivators, motion and stillness are the motion and stillness of yin and yang. It is in our every thought and action, every single day. At the zi hour [midnight], when yin is at its peak and yang is born, we should transition from motion to stillness. At the wu hour [noon], when yang is at its peak and yin is born, we should transition from stillness to motion. By following the cycles of yin and yang and solidifying the qi of the five elements, our meditation and cultivation will have a natural rhythm. The mind is still while the intent moves, the body is still while the qi flows. Only in this way can we condense our spirit and gather our qi to cultivate more effectively.”

After Qin Haoxuan finished his explanation, the entire Preaching Altar once again fell into silence.

Master Xuanji remained silent for a long time, his eyes filled with nothing but astonishment. He had originally asked Qin Haoxuan to explain in order to gauge his understanding of the cultivation incantations. If there were any deviations in his understanding, he could guide and correct him to prevent him from straying onto the wrong path and affecting his cultivation progress. But when he heard Qin Haoxuan’s explanation, his eyes widened in disbelief.

A storm raged in Master Xuanji’s heart. He was utterly shocked, thinking to himself, ‘At the zi hour, when yin is at its peak and yang is born, one should transition from motion to stillness. At the wu hour, when yang is at its peak and yin is born, one should transition from stillness to motion… Has Haoxuan truly only been in the sect for two years? These are concepts that even cultivators who have practiced for a hundred years cannot fully grasp. Even I have not completely comprehended them. His explanation has been helpful even to me. I originally wanted to guide him, but I never expected to be enlightened by him instead!’

Being the focus of everyone’s gaze, Qin Haoxuan felt a little uncomfortable and quickly sat down.

Qin Haoxuan’s words had benefited even Master Xuanji, let alone the other senior brothers of the Nature Hall. After hearing his explanation, they were all dumbfounded. Some even sat cross-legged and began to try the method Qin Haoxuan described to experience the secret of motion and stillness, the Dao of yin and yang.

After a long while, Bai Qianchang opened his eyes, which were filled with excited tears. He looked at Qin Haoxuan gratefully and said, “Thank you, Junior Brother Haoxuan, for your guidance. I feel like I’ve touched the threshold of a breakthrough again! It’s been so long, so long since I’ve broken through. Finally, there is hope again!”

Bai Qianchang’s words once again pushed the atmosphere of the Preaching Altar to a climax. Everyone looked at Qin Haoxuan with even more fervor and admiration!

“Junior Brother Haoxuan has been in the sect for less than two years, yet he has such a deep understanding of the path of cultivation. Truly amazing!”

“We senior brothers are ashamed of our inferiority! Haha!”

“Who says a weak seed is inferior to others? Junior Brother Haoxuan’s cultivation speed is so astonishing, and his cultivation aptitude is top-notch. With Junior Brother Haoxuan in our Nature Hall, there is hope for our prosperity!”

Bai Qianchang remembered how he had just told Qin Haoxuan to come to him with any questions, only to be guided by Qin Haoxuan in the very next moment. He thanked him repeatedly, “Many thanks for Junior Brother Haoxuan’s guidance!”

Amidst all the praise, Qin Haoxuan felt even more uncomfortable. This explanation had been told to him by Xing; he was merely repeating it verbatim. It was not his own genuine insight. Therefore, facing the praise from his master and senior brothers, Qin Haoxuan felt he was unworthy of it.

Master Xuanji observed Qin Haoxuan’s reaction, and his appreciation for him grew even stronger. Although Qin Haoxuan was a cultivator, he was still a young man not yet twenty years old. To achieve so much at such a young age and receive so much praise and acclaim, yet remain neither arrogant nor rash—his Dao Heart was firmer than any he had ever seen!

The smile on Master Xuanji’s face became even more amiable, and the wrinkles on his face smoothed out considerably. He cleared his throat and said, “Alright, quiet down! Anyone with questions may raise them.”

After Master Xuanji spoke, the Preaching Altar, which had been as noisy as a marketplace, immediately fell silent. Another disciple stood up, looked at Master Xuanji, and said respectfully, “Master, this disciple also has a question about cultivation.”

You can support the translator and get advanced chapter by join his patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair