Chapter 3: 3. Xu Yongsheng, Accomplished in Both Scholarly and Martial Arts
Chief Examiner Wang Chan circled the Academy once, and seeing that Xu Yongsheng and the others had successfully crossed the threshold into the ranks, he spoke:
“There is still time before the official entrance examination, and it should not be wasted. Therefore, this year the Academy will provide some additional teaching materials for you to Cultivate during the Nine-Rank martial artist stage.”
He smiled as he looked around at everyone: “However, etiquette and regulations cannot be lightly abandoned. The official teaching materials and martial arts in the Academy cannot be easily passed on by anyone. Therefore, I will provide my insights and essays from recent years for your reference.”
“Of course, it will not affect your continued study after formal enrollment. Whether to accept it is up to you, as it is not official teaching material after all.”
Most of them here were from prestigious families, so the Academy would not deliberately set them up. It wouldn't affect their transition to official teaching materials for continued Cultivation after formal enrollment. It seemed these insights and essays were indeed compiled and derived from the official teaching materials… Xu Yongsheng understood.
He and the others bowed to Wang Chan: “Thank you, Sir, for imparting the classics.”
Wang Chan gestured for everyone to be seated, and another lecturer immediately distributed the books.
“All martial arts in the world, regardless of whether they are Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, or purely martial paths, can be summarized as Three Gates and Five Phases.”
Wang Chan explained in detail: “The Three Gates are the Three Talents Pavilion that you have currently Cultivated. For Daoists, it is the Three Altar Platforms; for Buddhists, it is the Three Treasure Pagodas; and for Martial Artists who purely achieve blood Qi, it is the Three Bone Hall.”
“We scholars Cultivate the Five Phases, which should be based on the five constant virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness.”
The Five Phases can also be called the Five Qi. Regardless of the Cultivation path, a Hall, a Pavilion, an Altar, or a Pagoda only Cultivates one Qi and one Phase.
Nine-Rank Confucian Martial Artists only have one layer in their Three Talents Pavilion, so they choose three of the five constant virtues to integrate into the Heaven, Earth, and Human Pavilions for Cultivation.
Eight-Rank Martial Artists will have two layers in each of their Heaven, Earth, and Human Pavilions, Seven-Rank Martial Artists will have three layers each, and so on. At that time, they can continue to choose and study from the five constant virtues.
At this point, Wang Chan's expression became a little more serious: “Although we scholars should embrace all five constant virtues, a ruler has its shortfalls and an inch has its strengths. Deeply researching what one is good at is also the Righteous Path.”
“But remember, at the same Realm, choose three of the five constant virtues to enter the Three Talents Pavilion separately. Do not let one Phase enter two or even three Pavilions.”
As Wang Chan spoke, Xu Yongsheng understood the differences:
Benevolence symbolizes neutrality, peace, Legacy, development, and encompasses myriad things.
Righteousness symbolizes courageous advancement and sharp emergence.
Propriety symbolizes the construction of rules, accumulation, summarization, and self-improvement.
Wisdom symbolizes insightful observation, discerning principles, and agile perception.
Trustworthiness symbolizes steadfastness, stability, and constancy.
When breaking through from the unranked to the Nine-Rank Realm, Xu Yongsheng felt that all aspects of his body had improved.
To some extent, it could be said to be a Breakthrough between major Realms, and all Five Phases had increased to a certain degree.
But in the current Nine-Rank Realm, he needed to clearly choose three out of five.
How to choose not only affected his current changes but also was closely related to which martial arts secret techniques he could master during the Nine-Rank stage.
As the saying goes, the Five Classics nourish the five constant virtues.
The Book of Odes nourishes benevolence, the Book of Documents nourishes righteousness, the Book of Rites nourishes propriety, the Book of Changes nourishes wisdom, and the Spring and Autumn Annals nourish trustworthiness.
Wang Chan's essays, in addition to the daily Cultivation methods for accumulating the five constant virtues and Five Phases, also contained several martial arts, all of which specified the corresponding Five Phases standards required.
For Xu Yongsheng, entering the ranks was just the beginning.
Generally speaking, those with higher talent and spiritual sensitivity accumulate faster.
On the other hand, as his Realm grows in the future, the accumulation of benevolence, propriety, and wisdom in the Three Talents Pavilion, especially the deeper the accumulation of benevolence, will be more conducive to daily Cultivation.
However, the first Phase Xu Yongsheng chose for himself currently was…
Righteousness.
The reason was precisely the long blade warmed by the silver red blood obtained from melting red silver.
This method could help Confucian Martial Artists in the Nine-Rank Realm accumulate one of the five constant virtues, “Righteousness,” faster, causing one of the Three Talents Pavilion to quickly become full.
After Xu Yongsheng became a Nine-Rank martial artist, he recited the Book of Documents to nourish his vast and upright Qi, and practiced martial arts with the blade plated with silver red blood. His own Confucian vast Qi, following the blade's edge, became more agile, and seemed to form various mysterious resonances with his Physical Body.
Under the intertwining of inside and outside, Xu Yongsheng immediately felt that one of his Three Talents Pavilion, the Human Pavilion in his chest, also seemed to vibrate slightly.
In the illusory Human Pavilion, which was currently still empty, there seemed to be some indescribable existence.
So, he then calmed his mind and continued to focus on his Cultivation.
However, Xu Yongsheng, who hadn't joined in the fun during the New Year and Lantern Festival, rarely stopped his Cultivation when the Cold Food Festival arrived. He took the other blacksmiths from the shop to sweep graves.
They were honoring the old owner of the blacksmith shop.
Compared to other apprentices who had started learning earlier, Xu Yongsheng, quietly looking at the tombstone, felt more emotion in his heart.
His Physical Body had inexplicably come to this world from Blue Star.
For the Great Qian Dynasty, Xu Erlang, Xu Yongsheng, who claimed to have fallen on hard times due to famine and left his hometown, was a standard undocumented person.
Thanks to the old owner of the blacksmith shop for taking him in and helping to conceal him, he got through the initial difficult times. Afterwards, it happened that the current Qian Emperor's favored concubine was made empress, and a general amnesty was granted to all fugitives, giving him the opportunity to register his household.
Xu Yongsheng had a good physical foundation and was also clever with his hands, quickly standing out among the apprentices and unexpectedly saving the old owner's life.
The old owner had no heirs and eventually passed the shop to Xu Yongsheng.
Although there were some twists and turns, with Xu Yongsheng's unexpected entry into the Dongdu Academy Outer Courtyard, the minor disturbances subsided. Now that he had entered the ranks, there was no need to mention the past.
According to the customs of the Great Qian Dynasty, people sweep graves during the Cold Food Festival. The Qingming Festival, which immediately follows, is a joyful time for people to visit gardens and go on spring outings. Here, people advocate the joy of life to console their ancestors.
This time, Xu Yongsheng did not participate and continued to focus on Cultivation.
The existence of silver red blood saved him a lot of time.
By late April, Xu Yongsheng could clearly feel that the Human Pavilion in his chest, which he observed internally within the Three Talents Pavilion, was much clearer than before.
In the illusory existence, like a library, there was now clearly an ancient sword.
An ancient sword obtained by a Confucian Martial Artist Cultivating the “Righteousness” of the five constant virtues.
The moment the ancient sword completely solidified, fierce Righteous Qi filled Xu Yongsheng's chest, eager to burst forth.
The Righteousness of the five constant virtues directly enhanced a Confucian Martial Artist's destructive power, swiftness, and explosiveness in actual combat, excelling at frontal assaults.
Xu Yongsheng successfully completed the Cultivation of the first Pavilion during the Nine-Rank Realm of a Confucian Martial Artist, at a speed far exceeding the norm.
But there was a problem…
Just as he Cultivated his first “Righteousness” sword, that mysterious book suddenly reappeared in his mind's consciousness.
During the day, the book flipped, and the diting diagram on the first page was still a picture.
And between the second and third pages, which seemed to have been stuck together, it was as if it suddenly wanted to turn but failed, only a silver light flashed.
After that, the book remained still.
Xu Yongsheng thought for a moment after checking for a while with no results.
He shifted his attention to his newly Cultivated first layer of the Human Pavilion, the “Righteousness” sword.
Now, he could study the second Dongdu Academy martial art after the Mingde Blade.
Wang Chan's handed-down Southern Pavilion essays, in addition to basic Cultivation methods, also contained five Confucian martial arts secret techniques:
Zhi Zhong Palm, Zhi Zheng Blade, Self-Reflection Art, Fire Observation Pupil, and Righteous Heart Incantation.
The martial art corresponding to the Cultivation of the first “Righteousness” sword was the Zhi Zheng Blade.
It originated from the saying “inner will be upright, outer body will be straight” in the “Yi Li · She Yi” (Book of Rites · Archery). Holding the blade like a bow, striking like an arrow, between stillness and movement, it is dignified, solemn, yet incomparably swift.
Xu Yongsheng diligently practiced according to the blade manual. With just a starting stance, he could already feel his vast Qi surging, eager to burst forth.
After advancing to Nine-Rank and Cultivating the first “Righteousness” sword, his overall explosive power, blade strike power, and speed all significantly increased.
However, it was precisely this starting stance that Xu Yongsheng immediately noticed something unusual.
He slashed forward with his blade, the blade wind fierce and incredibly swift.
…But this was not the power the Zhi Zheng Blade should have.
Both the sharpness of the blade and the speed of the strike were much greater.
Diligence and hard work naturally surpassed just starting out, but Xu Yongsheng was sure that he did not immediately wield the Zhi Zheng Blade as if he had been immersed in it for many years. Instead…
It was superimposed with another kind of power.
When he just performed the Zhi Zheng Blade, in the Human Pavilion in his chest, in addition to the vibration of the “Righteousness” sword, there was clearly another Qi, which transformed into an illusory long blade standing alongside the “Righteousness” sword, jointly boosting the power of the blade's edge.
That was a surge of… Martial Artist Evil Qi!
In contrast to the Confucian five constant virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, a pure Martial Artist Cultivating the Five Phases can obtain the Five Qi of spirit Qi, Evil Qi, essence Qi, Nianqi, and Righteous Qi. Among them, Evil Qi corresponds to the Confucian Cultivation of the “Righteousness” of the five constant virtues.
But there were significant differences between them.
Martial Artist Evil Qi, although it also enhances a Martial Artist's explosive power, swiftness, mental deterrence, and certain stealth in actual combat, has great hidden dangers. It is fierce and cruel, easily turning into malevolence and Killing Intent, affecting the Martial Artist's temperament, making him gradually bloodthirsty, murderous, fierce, and cold. At the same time, it is also most likely to cause a Martial Artist to suffer Qi Deviation during daily Cultivation.
The Gale Fast Blade, a unique skill previously obtained from the diting diagram, required a Martial Artist to first Cultivate and accumulate a complete Evil Qi in the Three Bone Hall, obtaining a virtual Evil Qi blade, before it could be Cultivated.
Xu Yongsheng had only briefly browsed the blade manual before and had not Cultivated it.
However, the reason his Zhi Zheng Blade's power greatly increased just now was precisely because of the shadow of the Gale Fast Blade.
It wasn't that the Zhi Zheng Blade had become the Gale Fast Blade.
Nor was it that the Confucian “Righteousness” sword had become the Martial Artist Evil Qi blade.
Instead, on the foundation of the Zhi Zheng Blade, the characteristics and advantages of the Gale Fast Blade were superimposed, and the two combined, both reaching a higher level.
There was not a trace of Evil Qi normally seen within the Three Talents Pavilion.
Only when striking, the Martial Artist Evil Qi blade would appear out of nowhere, pushing together with the Confucian “Righteousness” sword, causing Xu Yongsheng's blade practice to far exceed expectations even though he had just started!
…But he didn't feel that the Martial Artist Evil Qi had affected his mind, temperament, or state of mind.
Xu Yongsheng's expression became strange.
He gained the advantages of Martial Artist Evil Qi but was exempt from its disadvantages?
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