“Senior Apprentice-Brother Sanwen, since your life is coming to an end soon, why don’t you ask for an external alchemy pill from the headmaster so that you can extend your life for another three hundred years?” the young Dao practitioner asked in a serious manner.
“Even with the pill, I will only be dragging my life on. I might as well enter into the reincarnation cycle earlier,” replied Daoist Sanwen coldly.
“Does reincarnation really exist in this world? All I ask for is this life and not the next.” The young Dao practitioner stood up and walked out of the door.
The moonlight shone into the courtyard, landing right below of the Daoist Sanwen’s feet.
The moonlight accumulated like sand. Eventually, a human shape was formed. It was Daoist Sanwen himself. His physical appearance down to the corner of his clothes was replicated perfectly and was very life-like.
He closed the room door and the moonlight dispersed. The room was quiet and dark.
With an out-of-body-experience, the spirit could take shape and absorb the moonlight which made it as good as a living human. One might wonder how much stronger was it as compared to Shen Lian’s spirit.
Of course, Shen Lian could absorb the force of heaven and earth too, such as the moonlight. However, he could not maintain his human shape for long, and it was hard to attain such a state.
If one was referring to the state of the spirit, both of them were similar in essence.
Doubtlessly, Shen Lian could not see the situation here.
As the vital Qi gathered in his body, Shen Lian’s strength of the spirit observed the process closely and paid close attention to any possible changes to the body.
It felt as though he was wandering in the desert for a prolonged period of time and was dying of thirst. Out of a sudden, he ran into an oasis which had a water source. He then replenished his body with the water that he found.
That was not the only mystery of the Qi. When the Qi seeped into his spirit, he was caught in a strange state.
Not all the Qi remained within him, some of it leaked out. Shen Lian’s spirit too escaped his body along with the Qi.
This was different from all the other times where his spirit was loitering outside of his body. The world was different from what he perceived with his eyes.
It could be the Qi in the bamboo hut was denser than anywhere that he had been. It was as though he was under a magnifying glass and everything that he had never seen before laid bare before him.
This led him to think that the world was made up of eight other immutable forces besides Qi.
It was hard to describe. One moment he would be drifting in the endless sky, the next moment he would be back on solid ground.
He saw the rise of the ground, the accumulation of sand into mountains, the rain and wind, and even thunder from the ninth heaven. Lakes and seas slowly formed as rain flood the ground. The land was covered with forest, and forest fire burned through all of it.
He thought about The Book of Changes – sky, earth, mountain, swamp, water, fire, wind, and lightning.
Eight difference forces were connected by Qi. Through endless permutations, they formed the material realm.
As for the theory behind the permutations and the changes, he did not understand it at all.
He could not utilize these eight forces as well.
The Qi that came out from his body returned to nature, it blended in with the heaven and earth Qi in nature. His spirit returned to its normal state.
The spirit that Shen Lian dispersed absorbed the moonlight that seeped through the window. A flickering flame formed as moonlight accumulated.
Unlike before, it did not feel as though the spirit was being drained.
It drifted and landed in front of him. Shen Lian opened his eyes and exhaled gently to extinguish the flame. The spirit returned to his body, and it felt more solid and powerful than before.
…
The next morning, Lu came knocking on Shen Lian’s door.
It seemed that he was recharged after a night of good rest.
“Brother Shen, do you no longer need to eat?” Lu asked as he loitered around the long corridor.
“I’m not there yet. However, Brother Lu, you were at the Wenxin Road for such a long time and yet, you have not been eating. You have most likely reached the state of Bigu, no?” Shen Lian replied.
Despite how Lu seemed, those who can enter Qing Xuan were definitely not just any Tom, Dick, and Harry. Even though Wenxin Road was not a big hindrance for people like Shen Lian who had a strong spirit and will, it was not exactly a piece of cake either. Knowing that it was an illusion was different from getting out of an illusion.
“Brother Shen might not know, but I’m not like you people. Since young, instead of cultivating inner Qi, I have been studying the Four Books and Five Classics. I was a Juren at twelve. Last year, when I was seventeen, I was on my way to sit for the Imperial Examination. I stayed at an inn during my journey. Something happened in that inn, otherwise I would have passed the examination by now.” Lu’s expression was slightly strange when he told Shen Lian about this.
“I wonder what did Brother Lu experience that gave rise to a heart that sought for Daoism?” Shen Lian was calm and collected, and he replied casually.
“I was tired and found an inn to stay. The inn was famous for its golden millet rice, and I wanted to try it. I ordered one bowl for myself after I walked in. The golden millet rice was freshly cooked, which was why it tasted so good. While waiting, I found a table, and there was a Daoist priest sitting at the table too.
“Looking at how sleepy I was, the Daoist priest took out a porcelain pillow for me to nap on. I lay it on the table and rested my head. Within seconds, I fell asleep. I had a good dream where I enjoyed all the status and wealth one could ever wish for. When I woke up, the golden millet rice was still not cooked yet.
“To be honest, I got famous when I was young, and that was the time where I should be working toward attaining status and wealth. Yet, after the dream, I lost all interest in it.
“My desire to pursue Dao was birthed then. I want to pursue Dao and to search for the truth – I want to know if this world was just a dream too.”
Lu seemed relieved after telling his story as if he had been holding in for a long time.
Shen Lian smiled in his heart. He remembered a piece of news that he saw in his past life. It was about a student who read a novel, in which the main protagonist had a dream and decided to walk on the path of cultivation to pursue Dao and to seek for the truth. After reading the novel, the student followed suit and joined the nearest Daoist temple. In the end, the Daoist priest in the temple informed his parents, and the student was punished by his parents.
Despite his built, Lu was actually very young. Shen Lian wondered if his parents knew that he had left home to pursue Dao at Qing Xuan.
If Lu could pass the Imperial Examination at such a young age, it said a lot about the quality of the education that he received. After all, most Zhuangyuans came from a well-off family. The Imperial Examination had a long history. More often than not, children from a normal family would not receive education as great as those from a prestige family. Those who were fortunate could afford to hire a famous and learned teacher to guide them through the test questions – something an ordinary family could never afford.
Shen Lian thought about himself and knew that he was extremely irresponsible too. After all, he left the Shen family for the sake of pursuing Dao, which would make him no better than Lu.
“Brother Shen, what are you laughing at?” Lu queried after he saw Shen Lian laughing.
“I was just wondering if your family would be worried about you since you have come so far,” Shen Lian dropped his smile and elaborated slowly.
“If this was not a dream, I planned to help my parents attain immortality after my success in cultivation, which I foresee will take about ten years. I left them a letter detailing my reasons, and I’m sure they’ll understand,” replied Lu in a serious manner.
“Junior apprentice-brother seemed very confident; to think that you would take only ten years to cultivate Daoism. Even Buddha and Daoist master would take longer than that.” On the side of the long corridor, a young Dao practitioner stood against the railing. He was smiling at the two of them as he spoke.