Chapter 7: The Paths of Cultivation

"So this fox came to invite me to categorize the books. The teaching was only secondary; the most important thing was organization to make it convenient for them to read the books. I never thought that making this visit to the western mountain to clean my mother’s grave and to study in peace would lead to such a situation. The women called Yuanfei has the imperial palace coins. What is her relationship to the foxes? This situation is so unclear, I don"t ever know if it"s a good thing or a bad thing."

Organizing this collection of books is a complicated matter.

The collection of books owned by famous individuals number in the thousands. They would need to be organized by senior scholars.

Although Hong Yi has read of lot of strange stories about the foxes, they were mostly about how female foxes would turn into the form of humans and seduce scholars. But seeing the foxes himself, Hong Yi felt that reading and practicing weren"t the only things that the foxes did.

These complicated thoughts originated from the imperial palace coins given to them from Yuan Fei.

However, these are just conjectures that aren"t going anywhere. The most important thing is to read books. The amazing number of books is something thrilling, especially since Hong Yi has been relying on copying books borrowed books, and then reading them.

"Mister, you have some rest. These days, if you have nothing to do, you can rest in the valley. All the tea and food will be taken care of by me." Seeing Hong Yi browse book after book, Elder Tu nods his head in approval.

"In that case, I will start organizing the books tonight." Hong Yi speaks.

"Alright, little Sang, little Fei, little Shu, make some midnight refreshments for the mister."

"Ji Ji, Ji Ji." A few cheerful fox sounds can suddenly be heard from outside.

"I need to go meditate. If the Mister needs something, directly command the others. The little ones outside may not be able to talk currently, but they can already understand your words."

After his reminder, Elder Tu staggers outside.

By this point, Hong Yi has already turned his attention to the books inside the stone room. After Elder Tu leaves, he immediately walks around the room, his eyes scanning the books that attract his attention.

"This stone room"s books truly touch upon a vast number of topics, particularly ones about martial arts fighting techniques. It even has books about the method of practicing the dao."

After about an hour, Hong Yi has toured roughly the entirety of the cave, and he has discovered that a large portion of this stone room"s books are on martial arts fighting techniques. The rest are methods about practicing dao. The library is certainly huge, vast, and expansive.

"Wow? I can"t believe that there are also volumes from the > and the >. I"ve set my eyes on and have wanted to read them since a long time ago, but have always been incapable of finding them or borrowing them."

While Hong Yi is in the middle of reading, he suddenly sees two large books positioned in the middle of the bookcase. They are the > and >.

Both are enormous sets of books containing dozens of volumes each.

When Hong Yi sees them, he feels that he got the most precious treasure and grabs them immediately. He has been wanting to read these books for a very long time.

These two books are books that were written during the founding of the Da Qian Dynasty.

> is a collection of different martial arts that was put together by the greatest martial artists under heaven.

> is a collection of Dao books about martial cultivation.

Hong Yi has already read many scholars" notes detailing the events that happened back then: the Da Qian Dynasty gathered all the books under heaven and filled the dynasty library. The scholars writing books were innumerable. Among them were masters in martial arts, working together with Buddhist and Daoist leaders to spread the teachings of the books of the Proper Path of Unity and the Fang Immortal Path.

Unfortunately, just a few years after these books were written, the Da Qian Dynasty started prohibiting the printing of the books, while at the same time collecting the already printed books from people to be burned at once. Anyone found hiding these books would face serious consequences.

In addition, proposing the "correct the mind of the people and discard heresy " slogan, the Da Qian Dynasty repeatedly raided the people"s temple for ancient books and censored them. Never again were books like > , > , ever seen again. Only cla.s.sic scriptures that preached righteousness, benevolence and mercy remained.

The Taoist Books and martial arts fist technique books collected by the people were incinerated.

Not to mention, the Da Qian Dynasty forbid the people to practice martial arts unauthorized, and imposed strict rules upon all temples under heaven to prevent them from privately practicing martial arts.

Since twenty years ago, after the large army burned down the Big Buddhist Temple, the Da Qian Dynasty"s control over the people"s martial techniques has reached its peak.

Although the Da Qian Dynasty forbids the private practice of martial fist and staff arts, they encourage the palace n.o.bility, the practice of martial arts, archery and horseback riding. At the same time, the "Martial Hall" was also established in the army .

The "Martial Hall" has a very strict division of the levels of martial arts, one that is even more strict than the imperial examinations. It is a path that will allow martial artists to attain prominence.

Hong Yi has read a little about these methods in the notes of scholars, but he still doesn"t have a clear understanding of complete specifics of the matters in the army"s "Martial Hall".

"Scholars were used to suppress the power of military officials. However, military officials were secretly developed in order to preserve the the country’s military power. All the martial books in the world were collected and then revised, so that martial arts were completely controlled by the country. The public was forbidden from learning martial arts, while the state developed their own military strength. These tactics truly represent summoning the wind and rain with a flip of a hand to oppress the people."

Hong Yi looks at the two books, having many thoughts in his heart..

These two books are books difficult to even catch a glimpse of. The Da Qian Dynasty had laws which stated that the copying or engraving of martial scriptures would result in the exile of one"s entire family to the army and banishment of the perpetrator to a distance of three thousand miles away. But in extreme cases, the perpetrator could even lose their head.

Hong Yi has wanted these two books for years, but based on his status, he wouldn"t be able to see them.

If he tried to conceal these two books in Houfu and was found out by Mrs. Zhao, then he would be in trouble.

"Scholars shouldn"t be people who don"t even have the power to kill a chicken. Since this place has martial scriptures, I need to thoroughly read them and find one or two cultivation techniques."

Hong Yi, with this line of thinking, opens the >.

The starting chapter introduces the martial scriptures with the following statements: the ultimate goal of martial arts is to attain a firm physical body and transcend life and death. It is not to be used in ma.s.sacres or showing off. The world is like a suffering, bitter sea, and the physical body is like a raft. If the physical body is strong, then it can bring you to the other side of the bitter sea.

"Huh? If martial arts are about transcending life and death, then what is immortal cultivation?"

Hong Yi wonders in his heart as he flips open the Dao Scripture.

The introduction for the starting chapter states: the world is filled with suffering, the physical body is like a raft, the bitter sea is boundless, the raft decays, only the spirit is firm, thus give up on the raft, and swim to the other side of the bitter sea with the strength of the spirit.

"So it"s like this. Two different reasons for practicing, yet they both are sensible."

Hong Yi is a scholar, so naturally, he can understand the meaning behind the words very easily.

After reading the Martial Scripture and Dao Scripture"s introduction, he finally has a clear understanding of the two different teachings of martial arts and immortal arts.

The final goal of both is to transcend life and death.

The world is a vast sea.

Living in the world, the human body is like the boat crossing an ocean, and the spirit is the person in the boat.

Martial arts talk about enhancing the physical body. Physical firmness can provide safety in crossing the bitter sea.

While immortal arts address a bitter sea with no end, the boat, the physical body, will decay. Therefore, it is better to simply cultivate the spirit, similarly to mastering the art of swimming. This way, even if the boat is destroyed, the person will not drown.

Hong Yi continues to flip the page to read further, comparing and contrasting both sides. He notices that the martial arts teachings are divided into seven levels: training the flesh, training the muscle, training the membrane, training the bone, training the viscera, training the marrow, and training the blood.

Inside the Martial Scripture, the explanations of the seven levels are very detailed.

Training the flesh: This is the martial foundation. Exercise the entire body, allowing it to develop into a st.u.r.dy physique, and have quicker reaction time to match two or three people. The "Martial Hall" of the Da Qian Dynasty army named this stage "marital student."

Training the muscle: All of the muscles become more robust, allowing them to explode with ferocious strength at anytime. The body will become more nimble, and thus one should be able to match 6 or 7 enemies. These existences are known as "martial apprentices" in the army.

Training the membrane: The body"s skin should be rugged and able to withstand blows. Once power is used, the skin should become like tough and durable cowhide, and one should be able to take on and potentially defeat over 10 enemies. This kind of existence is known as a "martial warrior."

Training the bone: All the bone structure of the body should be solid, with great penetrative force. The body should be even more nimble, and one should be able to take a beating. One man can match 10. This kind of existence is known as a "martial master."

Training the viscera: Through breathing techniques, the organs are strengthened. Breaths are long and continuous, the endurability is endless, and one"s physical prowess should nearly match 100 people. One"s walking speed should be equal to a speeding horse, and one"s leap should be like a bird"s. This kind of existence is known as an "innate martial master."

Training the marrow: Martial fighting techniques have been practiced so much that they have penetrated the bone marrow. This kind of person is known as a "supreme martial master."

Training the blood: Once the bone marrow has been strengthened through practice, all the blood in the body will be renewed. One must train until the point at which their marrow turns into a white powder and their blood becomes a mercury paste. One sheds the carelessness of the mortal body and attains quintessence. These people can match 100 people. This kind of person is known in the martial world as a "saint."

"Martial student, martial apprentice, martial warrior, martial master, innate, supreme master, and martial saint! The divisions are extremely detailed. Maybe these divisions are the same as the ones from the imperial examination: scholars who are preparing to take the imperial examinations, scholars who have pa.s.sed the country level imperial examinations, scholars who have pa.s.sed the imperial provincial examinations, and candidates who have pa.s.sed the highest level of civil service examinations? Da Qian Dynasty is formed by military. They spent so much time on the divisions, which is something that is unknown to scholars. They even have a rough estimate on how many people each level can fight at once. It seems like strict exercises have been done by the army. But even the martial saint seems unable to transcend life and death. I get the feeling there appears to be some kind of existence beyond even that." Hong Yi can"t get enough reading the scripture. At the same time his heart starts feeling indescribable fear.

It is a fear directed at Da Qian Dynasty"s degree of control over the martial strength.

Such a strong control system over the martial arts.

A path to prominence that is even more strict than the imperial examination promotion method.

Hong Yi knows that the 10 or 100 men that are described as enemies are not based on the level of common people, but the level of trained soldiers. Reading the introduction to >, Hong Yi finally understood just how much effort the Da Qian Dynasty put into controlling martial strength.

Huh?" Hong Yi is reading when he suddenly notices that the martial scripture has annotations written in the margins. It is clear that a scholar added them.

"Practicing martial arts but not understanding the essence cannot lead one to ascend to a saint, or understand the mysteries of the physical body, if one can ascend the heavens into the starry sky, with numerous mysteries among heaven and earth, if someone can practice to the point of understanding the realm they can ascend the heavens into the stars, one’s every movement, will have boundless might, that can capture a dragon and throw a elephant, to become a yang G.o.d and stand aloof and detached from the world, to attain the status of a immortal. To engrave the status of master within the Da QIan Dynasty"s thirtieth autumn.

Apparently, these paragraph had been annotated by a buddhist monk named Yin Yue.

The meanings behind these paragraphs are not profound. They just mean that there are multiple other methods in training the physical body excluding training the flesh, muscle, membrane, bone, viscera, marrow and blood. There are many many other realms, as many as there are stars in the sky, with immortals among them, each with their own comprehension of martial arts. After practicing and reaching these new realms, one"s every movement will have boundless power. The physical body becomes immortal, for this is what it means to be an immortal.

"Immortal!"

"The highest realm of martial arts is the immortal realm?"

Hong Yi reads through the annotations of this paragraph thinking: "My father, the Martial Duke, had already mastered the Nine Stone Controlling Shot when he was young. I wonder exactly what realm he reached?"

"It seems that I need to start practicing martial arts. Being a scholar without the power to even kill a chicken have isn"t exactly a good thing. Scholars may be in charge of the royal court in the Da Qian Dynasty, but to get a t.i.tle I"ll still need military achievements. If I learn martial arts, pa.s.s the test for the advanced imperial examination, and enter the army, then I will have a higher position. And if I perform outstanding military service, I can be granted n.o.bility, and then my mother’s status won"t just be Lady, but she will also be granted the t.i.tle of a d.u.c.h.ess…… Her status will be forever higher than a Lady….

After Hong Yi reads the martial scripture"s introduction, he feels the urge to learn martial arts again.

Actually, it wasn’t that Hong Yi didn"t want to learn martial arts in the past, but that he didn"t have the luxury to hire a martial arts teacher, or to buy a horse or to practice archery.

Luckily, now the imperial examinations have eliminated archery and horseback riding. Otherwise, he wouldn"t have the opportunity to pa.s.s in a lifetime.

But he knows that if he masters martial arts and pa.s.ses the imperial examinations so that he is well-versed in both the sword and the pen, then after entering the Da Qian Dynasty"s army his position will be very high. If he performs outstanding military service, he will be granted n.o.bility, and if he has good luck, his mother"s status will become "d.u.c.h.ess".

"Monarch" is a status many times higher than "Lady." It is one of the highest statuses that a household can attain.

Within the martial duke"s manor, only the dead Mrs. Hong, Hong Xuanji"s mother, had that t.i.tle.

"I have to strive to get my mother the highest status. But practicing martial arts isn’t something that can be done in one day. Let’s take a look at the immortal cultivation technique first. I wonder what the differences are?" Hong Yi once more opens the Dao Scripture.

Sure enough, it"s like what that old Tu fox said, Dao Scripture cultivation, is divided into 10 stages, they are Entering Immortal, Mortal Shedding, Night Walking, Day Walking, Matter Manipulating, Soul Revealing, Body Possessing, Spirit Possessing, Thunder Plundering, and Yang G.o.d.