Chapter 3: Thank You for Your Inquiry; You Ling is Lacking in Talent

Jiang Youling’s heart stirred. Just as she was about to listen more closely, she heard her nominal mother, Chen Ling, interrupt with an impatient tone.

“Big Brother, Mother is already in her seventies. Providing for us is exhausting enough as it is. Do you have the heart to burden her further?”

Chen Yong shut his mouth sheepishly, not daring to bring it up again.

Jiang Youling felt a sense of loss, but having lived with the Chen family for the past two years, they had treated her well. She did not want to be the reason Grandmother Cui had to work even harder.

Thus, she quickly set aside her disappointment and returned to reading with her usual expression.

Chen Ling observed her demeanor, and seeing no resentment on her face, she nodded to herself.

After the morning lessons concluded, the group proceeded with their usual routine of standing meditation and physical conditioning.

Just as Jiang Youling was unsure of what she should be doing, she heard Chen Ling say, “Youling, come with me.”

Chen Yu tried to sneak along, but after a glare from Chen Ling, he behaved himself.

Jiang Youling followed Chen Ling out of the inner gate and into a separate courtyard outside.

After confirming that no one was around, Chen Ling gave a light cough and, with a stern and serious face, said, “Youling, I am going to test your learning.”

Jiang Youling had been somewhat uneasy, fearing that her outshining the two Chen descendants had displeased her mother. Upon hearing that she was only being tested on her studies, her heart suddenly settled.

“I am honored by your inquiry. Though I am untalented, I will do my utmost to answer your questions. If there are any oversights, I humbly beg for your guidance.”

Chen Ling steadied her mind and racked her brains to come up with questions.

“‘The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.’ Since the Tao cannot be spoken of, why did Laozi write five thousand words? Is this not self-contradictory?”

Jiang Youling replied, “Not so. It is like using a finger to point at the moon; the finger is not the moon, but it can indicate the moon’s direction. The five thousand words are words of ‘diminishing and diminishing’ to sweep away appearances, ultimately meant to lead one to realize the mystery of the unspeakable.”

Chen Ling asked again, “The *Cantong Qi* says, ‘When gold returns to the nature of the beginning, it can be called the returned elixir.’ What does ‘gold’ refer to? And how does one ‘return to nature’?”

Jiang Youling answered, “Gold is the primordial breath. Nature is one’s original face. ‘Refining essence into breath is the first pass; refining breath into spirit, the nature reveals itself.’ When the mind and breath are in harmony, the primordial spirit appears; that is returning to nature.”

Chen Ling frowned, racking her brains to recall a difficult question.

“Lü Zu said, ‘Nurture the breath, forget the words, and guard; lower the heart to non-action.’ Why then must one chant scriptures and hold mantras?”

Jiang Youling replied without hesitation, “Forgetting words is the ultimate goal; chanting and holding are the raft. It is like using medicine to treat an illness—once cured, the medicine is no longer needed, but while not yet cured, one must follow the prescription.”

“*Liezi* says, ‘Beyond the infinite, there is again no infinite.’ How does this unify with the Tao’s ‘guarding the center’?”

“Beyond the infinite, there is yet more infinity; this precisely shows that the ‘center’ is not a location. Just as a hundred thousand *dharanis* do not depart from the square-inch spiritual platform.”

...

Chen Ling pursed her lips in frustration. Of all the difficult questions she had encountered in her own examinations, not a single one could stump her!

What was this Jiang Youling’s brain made of? How could it be so sharp?

And all that talk about “begging for guidance”—if she had even a fraction of this girl’s cleverness, she wouldn’t have failed the literary portion of the grand examination every year for so long!

Chen Ling exhaled softly. “Consider yourself passed. However, next, I will test your physical skills. Take this!”

No sooner had Chen Ling finished speaking than a right straight punch smashed directly toward Jiang Youling.

Jiang Youling panicked, her body instinctively leaning back to avoid the blow.

But Chen Ling’s next move was already upon her; with a wrist-grab and an elbow strike, she knocked Jiang Youling to the ground.

“Too weak!”

Chen Ling finished her move and looked down at the girl on the ground, feeling a small sense of vindication and relief.

“With a physique like yours, even if you passed the literary exam, you’d be weeded out by the martial exam!”

Jiang Youling pursed her lips, her expression somewhat dejected.

When her mother and uncle were standing in meditation or conditioning their bodies, she had actually been secretly practicing along with them.

But firstly, her imitation of their movements lacked the proper method.

Secondly, she had never soaked in medicinal baths; her body lacked the nourishment of medicine and was, in the end, a bit too weak.

If... if only she could soak in the medicinal baths and train her body with them, she wouldn’t have lost!

Jiang Youling silently climbed up from the ground, bowed to Chen Ling, and left in silence.

Watching Jiang Youling’s figure disappear, Chen Ling curled her lips in a satisfied smile. “Still a child’s temperament; she’s quite unconvinced after being beaten by me.”

After standing dazed for a while, Chen Ling entered her mother’s room.

Old Lady Cui was in the room, practicing breathing exercises.

As a mortal, even if one used spiritual energy to permeate the body day and night, allowing it to temporarily hold spiritual energy and practice techniques, this energy stored within the body would slowly dissipate over time.

To maintain this level of cultivation, one had to practice and absorb energy every single day.

After entering the room, Chen Ling did not disturb her mother but waited patiently to the side.

An hour later, Old Lady Cui opened her eyes. Still not looking at Chen Ling, she walked to the central hall, lit three sticks of incense, and performed a kowtow to the shrine above before finally looking at Chen Ling.

“You’re not practicing during practice time. Speak, what is it?”

“Mother, Youling’s brain is just too sharp! I tested her on her studies just now, and I asked so many difficult questions, but none of them could stump her!”

Old Lady Cui glanced at her, as if seeing through Chen Ling’s exaggerated words to the core.

“Are you here on that girl’s behalf?”

Having her intentions seen through by her mother, Chen Ling admitted it openly.

“Yes. I think she is a good seedling. Although her physique is a bit lacking, she is young. As long as she soaks in medicinal baths for two or three years, she will be able to catch up.”

Old Lady Cui emphasized, “Her surname is Jiang, not Chen. She is an outsider and does not meet the requirements for the Taixuan Sect to recruit immortal disciples.”

Chen Ling argued her case.

“But since she followed her father into our Chen family as a son-in-law, she is considered a member of the Chen family. As long as Mother opens the ancestral hall and holds the ancestral sacrifice ceremony, we can write her name into the genealogy.”

Old Lady Cui’s brow furrowed into a sharp vertical line. “Absurd! She is not of our Chen bloodline; how can she enter the genealogy?”

“Why not?”

Chen Ling did not yield an inch. “Since Jiang Mingyu married into our Chen family, his daughter should naturally be a Chen. As long as Mother asks the clan uncle to act as a witness, no one will stop Jiang Youling from being added to the Chen genealogy.”

“Even if she is added to the genealogy, so what?”

Old Lady Cui’s posture, usually straight as a pine, revealed a hint of desolate old age at this moment.

“My only wish is for the Chen family to have successors. I don’t ask for us to attain the Tao and ascend to heaven, only for the protection of the immortal sect so that our descendants may live without worry. That is why I have exhausted all my efforts to provide for you and your brother, hoping you would be admitted to Taixuan...”

Chen Ling’s eyes grew moist. Her mother had sacrificed too much for them.

It was her own incompetence that failed her mother’s earnest hopes.

Chen Ling knelt on the ground and kowtowed deeply.

“Mother! Your daughter is incompetent. After ten years of bitter study, I have always been rejected by Taixuan. I truly have no confidence in competing for a position as a Taixuan immortal disciple! Although Jiang Youling is not my own flesh and blood, she calls me mother. I beg you to bestow the effort you spent teaching me upon Youling, and our family’s gate shall flourish together!”

(End of chapter)