Chapter 6: Reading Books

Emerging from the palace, the setting sun had already pressed against half the horizon.

Standing atop the stairs and looking out over the landscape, the layers of buildings in the royal city were all in view. The evening glow illuminated the green tiles, and fallen pear blossoms covered the ground. This seemingly lofty dome was also situated beneath another, greater world.

The path of martial arts had already entered its twilight; the truly cruel era was only just about to arrive.

Zhao Chun let out a long sigh. Zhou Pianran, not understanding why, cast an inquisitive glance her way. Zhao Chun shook her head: "It’s nothing, just thinking about some things."

"Don't fall behind. I saw you lost in thought while walking just now."

Given that the hour was late, the Master of the Temple, Liang, had someone lead them to settle in, saying they would meet again in the future if fate allowed. As for what counted as "fate," no one knew.

The guide was a young, clean-shaven Daoist who called himself Min Shunxing. He was extremely courteous to them, smiling throughout the journey, and even answered the group's questions for a quarter of an hour once they reached their lodgings.

"If you all need anything, just give a word to the miscellaneous affairs office up ahead. Meals, clothing, carriages for travel—anything you need, we have it all." Min Shunxing spoke with a sense of reflected pride, his expression smug.

The spacious courtyard was divided in the middle by an overhanging wall. To the left, green bamboo grew in seclusion, where Liu Ziyi and his group stayed. To the right was a scene of flourishing flowers; Zhou Pianran pulled Zhao Chun inside and refused to leave.

Thanks to Wang Fang, Wang Chuyan was able to stay with them. The three of them each had their own room. Zhou Pianran chose the one beneath the flowers, while Zhao Chun preferred the one in the corner by the well.

Although the sun had completely set, Zhao Chun felt no sleepiness. After finishing the meal that had been delivered, she lit a candle, hunched over the desk, and began to study the *True Perception Method of Sensory Connection* she had been given.

The first page was a warning, admonishing the reader that nothing can be achieved overnight. Turning the page revealed an interpretation of the Five Elements. It explained the principles of mutual generation and restriction, and why having fewer spiritual roots was better.

Ultimately, it came down to the principle that one cannot digest what one cannot chew; the more spiritual roots one has, the more attributes of spiritual energy one can draw in.

But this was not a good thing. The total amount of spiritual energy drawn in during a single breath was fixed. With pseudo-spiritual roots, the attributes were too mixed, and once the energy was divided, the amount of each type was meager. Single spiritual roots were precious precisely because they were naturally inclined to draw in only one type of spiritual energy, making the speed of cultivation far exceed others.

Further on, it detailed how to draw spiritual energy into the body.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth drifted outside the human body, invisible to the naked eye. The method taught a breathing technique that could nourish the body, allow one to sense the external spiritual energy, and then trigger the spiritual roots to summon that energy into the body. For the fast, this step took only a moment. As for the slow, the book recorded that the longest a disciple of the Green Toad Sect had taken was three years without successfully drawing energy into the body.

Zhao Chun recalled Cao Wenguan saying that preparatory disciples only had five years. Drawing energy into the body was merely the first step; one also had to cleanse the meridians and open the acupoints. If one spent too much time at the very beginning, the road ahead would be difficult.

She took out a sheet of white paper and wrote down a line

Drawing energy into the body must be fast.

Further down, it discussed the meridians. After spiritual energy entered the body through the skin and flesh, it was guided by the spiritual roots to the Dantian. A cultivator had to circulate it into the meridians. Humans were born with mortal bodies, and there was too much filth in the meridians for spiritual energy to circulate and form a complete cycle. One had to use spiritual energy to wash and clear the twelve meridians before entering the stage of opening acupoints.

The principle of the acupoints section was the same as the meridians but more complex. There were twelve meridians, but hundreds of acupoints that needed to be cleared, and they could not be treated arbitrarily. The fifty-two single acupoints came first, followed by the three hundred paired acupoints, and finally the fifty extraordinary acupoints outside the meridians. Acupoints served to store spiritual energy, boost its flow, and accelerate the circulation of the cycle, so opening them was an indispensable part of cultivation.

Zhao Chun sketched a simple diagram of the human meridians and acupoints on the paper and memorized the order of opening them on the side.

"Things have roots and branches, affairs have ends and beginnings; to know what comes first and what comes last is to be near the Dao," she whispered to herself. The wisdom of the ancestors was truly applicable everywhere.

Zhao Chun wanted to flip further but found she had reached the end. At the bottom of the book, a note was added: "After preparatory disciples are initiated, they may view the second volume." She knew then that she wouldn't be able to see the rest for a long time.

However, this knowledge was enough for her. She could try the breathing technique to sense energy and nourish her body first. She also had to memorize the meridian and acupoint charts. She would do as much as she could this month to save time later.

There was no time to lose. She flipped back to the page with the breathing technique and began to memorize it.

The characters were the same, but when combined, they became obscure. She felt as if she had returned to her school days, back to the time when she dealt with texts.

If she couldn't decipher the meaning, the difficulty of rote memorization would only skyrocket. She broke down each paragraph, contemplating it word by word, then connected them to form a general conclusion.

The technique was too profound, and as this was her first time encountering such a secret, she felt mentally exhausted after understanding only two sentences.

"One must not be greedy. If I keep trying to decipher it, I'll only make mistakes. Better to rest and recover my energy to start again tomorrow."

She rubbed her eyes and blew out the candle.

Perhaps because she had exhausted her mind, Zhao Chun slept very deeply. When she opened her eyes again, the sun was already high in the sky, casting a reddish-yellow glow.

She exhaled a breath of stale air, rolled over, and got up to dress. After pinning up her hair, she pushed the door open, intending to fetch water to wash. If she remembered correctly, there was a well outside this room.

When she reached the well, she realized there were no utensils for drawing water. Zhao Chun turned back to get a bucket, only to be stopped by someone.

"Are you looking to draw water?"

Wang Chuyan had changed out of her bright, ornate clothes into a simple moon-white cloth dress. Her face was clean; she must have washed up early.

"Yes, but I didn't see anything to hold water, so I was just going to get one."

"No need, there's no water in this well." She pointed into the distance. "There's a place to wash up if you go around that small path. Since today is the first day and they don't know when we wake up, we have to register at the miscellaneous affairs office first. After that, someone will deliver water."

Zhao Chun thanked her, and she smiled: "No need for thanks. We all came from the same place; we have to help each other out."

This statement was quite profound. The two clearly came from different places; if one had to force a connection, one could only say they were both from the Chu State. Zhao Chun asked, "The same place?"

Wang Chuyan said in surprise, "You didn't know? My brother told me that it's not just the Chu State; all the kingdoms are within the scope of the disciple selection. Places like the Jin State and the Wu State have more people selected than we do." She lowered her voice. "My brother said Deacon Cao was quite angry about it."

Zhao Chun’s expression turned solemn. "If you hadn't told me today, I wouldn't have known." The path of cultivation was also a path of competition. Only by studying diligently and practicing hard could she avoid being pushed aside by others.

"You don't need to worry too much. Go wash up. Deacon Cao has an extraordinary background and holds a high position in the outer sect. With him around, others certainly won't dare to look down on us."

Her brother was a direct junior disciple of Cao Wenguan; naturally, she received his protection.

But Zhao Chun had only been selected by him. Strictly speaking, Cao Wenguan had only done her the favor of guiding her. She dared not hope that Cao Wenguan would be so kind as to take special care of their group of preparatory disciples.

After bidding farewell to Wang Chuyan, she walked through a grove of camphor trees and indeed saw several empty water basins. Zhao Chun washed up hastily and planned to return to her room to continue memorizing the breathing technique.