Song Daren was a newly minted teacher. Seeing Zhang Fan rest his cheek in his hand, listening with rapt attention, he felt his enthusiasm swell and began to speak with great animation:
The Taiji Xuanqing Dao advances from the simple to the arduous. Most practitioners can achieve the First Stage of the Yuqing Realm within their first year, yet the difficulties grow ever more forbidding after that. The Second Stage generally demands five years of cultivation, while the Third Stage is a true watershed: those of lesser aptitude may stagnate there for an entire lifetime, and even the more gifted spending fifty or sixty years on it is hardly unusual.
Zhang Fan was left speechless. Song Daren gave a faint smile and went on.
The primary cultivation methods of the Taiji Xuanqing Dao are largely transmitted in full by the third level; beyond that, progress depends mostly on one's own aptitude and self-directed cultivation. Senior masters of profound cultivation may occasionally offer a pointer or two, though these amount to nothing more than personal insights meant to spare disciples a few unnecessary detours. Of course, the "detours" in question tend to be measured in centuries.
Those who cultivated the Taiji Mysterious Clear Dao to the Fourth Layer of the Jade Clarity Realm would have attained the foundation of ten thousand methods, and could begin simultaneously cultivating other wondrous arts and techniques as well as forging Artifacts of their own. Artifacts and secret implements have a long and storied history—in myths and legends, most gods and deities possessed divine weapons of unparalleled might. Among mortals as well, those who walked the path of cultivation and the Dao could wield them to command the transformations of heaven and earth, and their power was tremendous. The smaller ones could traverse the skies with lightning speed; the larger ones could shake heaven and earth, shatter mountains, and sever rivers.
The materials used for Artifacts are wildly varied and diverse beyond count. One principle, however, holds absolute: the quality of an Artifact's material determines the power it attains after refinement. Should one attempt to wield the *Divine Sword Thunder-Commanding Art* with common iron, the sword and its wielder alike would be reduced to ashes before ever reaching the enemy.
As for the disciples of Qingyun Sect: in those early years, Patriarch Qingye had obtained the ancient sword "Zhu Xian" within the Illusory Moon Cave Dwelling and, wielding it, had swept through the realm with virtually no equal. Filled with admiration, most of his later disciples followed in his footsteps and devoted themselves to cultivating immortal swords. A thousand years on, swordsmen of great renown rose one generation after another until it had become an almost unwritten rule of Qingyun Sect—renaming it the Qingyun Sword Sect would not have been amiss.
Here, however, it is worth mentioning Tian Buyi of Big Bamboo Peak. He himself walked the sword path, and his protective Artifact "Crimson Spirit" was one of the renowned swords within Qingyun Sect — yet, strangely enough, he showed not the slightest inclination to steer any of his disciples toward cultivating immortal swords. Quite the opposite: he would often "encourage" them to pursue all manner of unconventional Artifacts instead. This drew no small amount of criticism within Qingyun Sect, but since there was no rule forbidding it, and since Tian Buyi's disciples were of mediocre talent and few in number, everyone simply let him do as he pleased.
Among all the disciples of Dazhu Peak, the eldest senior brother Song Daren had cultivated the most profoundly, having advanced the Taiqing Xuanqing Dao to the Fifth Layer of the Jade Purity Realm. Close behind was the fourth senior brother He Dazhi, who had reached the Fourth Layer. Though He Dazhi had joined the sect later than Wu Dayi and Zheng Dali, he was the sharpest mind among all the disciples, and so the latecomer had surpassed those who came before.
As for the second eldest Wu Dayi, the third eldest Zheng Dali, the fifth eldest Lü Daxin, and the sixth eldest Du Bishu, all were still toiling away at the Third Layer of the Jade Clarity Realm. Their junior sister Tian Linger, however, was a child of exceptional brilliance. Raised under the careful tutelage of her parents, she had only begun her bamboo-chopping exercises at the age of ten, yet had already spent many years cultivating the Tai Ji Xuan Qing Dao. Young as she was, she had astonishingly reached the Fourth Layer of the Jade Clarity Realm by the time she turned thirteen, and could already wield Artifacts. She was known as one of the most precocious children in the Qingyun Sect, deeply cherished by her parents and watched over with great affection by all her elders. Su Ru even presented her with her own renowned "Amber Crimson Silk" to serve as a defensive Artifact.
"Senior Sister is so incredible!" Hearing this, Zhang Fan couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
Song Daren smiled and said: "Indeed, Junior Sister is exceptionally clever and possesses a rare gift for the path of cultivation. Whatever Master and Mistress teach her, she grasps it after hearing it just once. Her aptitude far surpasses all of us senior brothers. Right now she has only walked the cultivation path for a short while and has not yet reached full mastery — but given time, her achievements will surely be boundless, far surpassing our own. The glory and flourishing of the Great Bamboo Peak lineage rests entirely upon her."
His eyes were filled with eager anticipation, clearly doting deeply on this charming and captivating junior martial sister.
Song Daren then spoke to Zhang Fan at length about matters to keep in mind throughout the cultivation process. At last, his expression turned grave, and he said, "Junior Brother, there is one final thing I must tell you: the cultivation of our sect prizes steady, gradual progress above all else—one step at a time, feet firmly on the ground. Should you covet quick achievement and rush recklessly forward, I fear greed will only breed greater greed, and disaster will follow in its wake. Whether one succeeds or fails is ultimately a matter of fate; there is no need to force it. Look at the demon fiends of heretical paths and the practitioners of deviant arts—insatiable in their desires, ever grasping for more—and in the end, most bring retribution upon themselves. Pitiable and lamentable indeed. You must take this to heart."
Zhang Fan was struck with a jolt of dread, and hurriedly said, "Senior Brother, I understand."
Song Daren nodded and stood up. "Let's leave it at that for now. The Taiji Cave is in the back mountain — only disciples who have cultivated the Taiji Xuanqing Dao to the third level or above are permitted to enter for training. Until then, practice in your own room. It is quite peaceful here; Master and Mistress rarely come by. Work hard on your own."
Zhang Fan rose to his feet. "Thank you, Senior Brother."
Song Daren gave a carefree smile, patted him on the head, and walked away.
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Zhang Fan saw Song Daren out, then turned back into the room and closed the door. An indescribable excitement welled up in his chest, and even the weariness from chopping bamboo that morning had vanished without a trace.
He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and slowly made his way to the bed. Settling into the meditation posture Song Daren had taught him, he closed his eyes and mentally ran through the complete method of the first tier of the Taiji Xuanqing Dao's Yuqing Realm—from beginning to end, exactly as Song Daren had transmitted it. Just as he was about to begin cultivating in accordance with it, something stirred in his heart. He snapped his eyes open and blurted out, "That's not right!"
The first layer of the Jade Clarity Realm that Song Daren had imparted to him was, within the Grand Void Mysterious Clear Dao, the most rudimentary and foundational method of cultivation—its entire purpose contained in two words: refining qi. A cultivator would sit in stillness, releasing the mind and banishing all distractions, drawing the earth's Spiritual Energy into the body to circulate through the grand cycle—aligning one's breath with the earth itself, and from there gaining insight into the earth's generative workings. Should one succeed in drawing Spiritual Energy to complete three continuous circuits within the body, one's Meridians would be firmly consolidated, and one could then advance to higher realms of cultivation.
This cultivation method had been refined by Taoism over thousands of years—there could be no error or doubt in it whatsoever. Yet at this moment, Zhang Fan's heart was like a raging storm, wavering and unsettled without cease. All of this stemmed from what he had heard today: it stood in complete and utter contradiction to the set of incantations that the monk Puzhi had once passed down to him, the very manner of cultivation itself diametrically opposed.
On the night before the Cao Miao Village massacre, when Puzhi transmitted his oral formula, he stated it with perfect clarity: during cultivation and qi refinement, one must sever all connection between oneself and the outside world and come to realize one's original nature. This is what is called: all dharmas bear the mark of emptiness — neither arising nor ceasing, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing. Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, perception, mental formation, or consciousness; no eye, tongue, body, or mind; no form, taste, touch, or dharma; no realm of eye-consciousness, and so on up to no realm of mind-consciousness; no ignorance, and likewise no extinction of ignorance; and so on up to no old age and death, and likewise no extinction of old age and death; no suffering, origination, cessation, or path; no wisdom and no attainment.
Such profound and abstruse principles were beyond Zhang Fan's full comprehension at this moment, yet the fundamental difference between the two cultivation methods was something he could discern well enough. His mind was thrown into utter turmoil, and he had no idea what to do.
What Zhang Fan did not know was this: though the Taiji Xuanqing Dao was indeed the supreme art of the Taoist path, Puzhi had placed upon him a great and solemn vow, entrusting to him the hopes of an entire lifetime — and the set of oral formulas he had passed down was, in truth, the highest dharma of the Buddhist school: the Grand Brahma Prajña.
Two kinds of \*\*, two completely different methods of cultivation, yet both must begin from the very roots.
Buddhism and Taoism, each with a history stretching back through the ages, have long kept to their own paths with little intercourse between them, and the arts of cultivation practiced by each trace their origins to their respective schools of thought. Take Taoism as an example. Its central tenet is the doctrine that reads: *the Tao begets One, One begets Two, Two begets Three, Three begets the myriad things. All things carry yin upon their backs and embrace yang in their arms, and the breath between them becomes their harmony.* Taoism as a religion grew from this philosophical root, so much so that even the three great realms of the Taiji Xuanqing Way take their names from the Three Purities of Taoist mythology — the Jade Clarity of the Primordial Heavenly Worthy, the Supreme Clarity of the Numinous Treasure Heavenly Worthy, and the Grand Clarity of the Moral Virtue Heavenly Worthy — the triad commonly known as the "Three Purities." Taoist cultivation holds that one must breathe in unison with the earth, harmonize the body with nature itself, and through that unity wield the transformative forces of the natural world — channeling them into a power of tremendous might.
The Buddhist path, by contrast, centers on the teaching: *one should produce a thought that abides nowhere, for all phenomena never depart from one's original nature.* It is further proclaimed: Who could have known that original nature is, in itself, inherently pure? Who could have known that original nature is, in itself, without birth or death? Who could have known that original nature is, in itself, already complete? Who could have known that original nature is, in itself, utterly unshaken? Who could have known that original nature is, in itself, capable of giving rise to all phenomena! The Buddhist path of cultivation lays its weight on turning inward — illuminating the Five Aggregates through direct experience. "From a single Prajna, eighty-four thousand wisdoms are born" — this is precisely what that means.
The philosophies of Buddhism and Daoism stand worlds apart—and so their cultivation methods naturally run counter to each other. For thousands of years, each tradition had kept its secrets closely guarded, unknown to the world at large. Yet now, a disciple on Dazhu Peak of Qingyun Sect named Zhang Fan found himself with a tremendous headache over exactly this matter.
"Which one was truly right, then?"
Zhang Fan leaped out of bed and paced back and forth across the room without stopping, his mind a whirl of confusion, thoughts tumbling over one another in wild disorder — yet he did not dare ask anyone. In the end he could only slump dully onto the edge of the bed, heave a long sigh, and sit there in silence, unable to utter a single word.
He had never been a clever man — born of a farming family, young in years, with little worldly experience or decisive judgment. He turned this weighty matter over and over in his mind, toiling away for a long while, yet could not arrive at any conclusion whatsoever. In the end, Zhang Fan said to himself inwardly: *"Forget it. Master Puzhi never encountered this situation either, so I'll simply cultivate both at the same time — that's all there is to it."* With that, he put the matter out of his mind entirely, and felt a wave of relief wash over him. He returned to bed, settled into a meditative posture, and set about cultivating the Taiji Xuanqing Dao first.
However, what he had imagined to be simple proved, in practice, to be an entirely different matter. The Taiji Xuanqing Dao's Qi Cultivation required opening all seven apertures and pores across his body, drawing Earth's Spiritual Energy inward to flow through the Meridians, thereby tempering and solidifying the body's primal energy and internal meridian network. The Mahabrahma Prajna, on the other hand, demanded entry into a state of absolute cessation—sealing away all conscious thought, perception, volition, and awareness—treating one's own body as a world unto itself, perceiving only one's inherent nature, and using the heart's profound true essence to consolidate the foundation and cultivate the origin.
The two cultivation methods were diametrically opposed, yet they left Zhang Fan in unspeakable torment. Over the following three months, aside from his daily treks up the mountain to chop bamboo rain or shine, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivating both—just as he had achieved his first breakthrough in the Taiji Xuanqing Dao, with all the apertures throughout his body beginning to open and Spiritual Energy flowing inward, the subsequent Da Fan Bore required him to forcibly seal every last aperture once more and enter a state of stillness and extinction. He could not help but feel that all his earlier efforts had been nearly washed away in vain.
Three months later, Tian Buyi one day came in high spirits to check on Zhang Fan's cultivation progress, only to be half-maddened with anger after a single round of questioning and testing. By common knowledge, even an ordinary person practicing the Tai Chi Mystic Purity Way should, at its most elementary first level, have made some progress after three months—able to begin drawing earth Spiritual Energy into the body and circulating it for three to five cycles. Yet Zhang Fan's aptitude proved so poor it was truly rare and unheard of. Despite a full three months of cultivation, he still could not control the apertures throughout his body at will, and drawing Spiritual Energy into his body remained barely manageable—to say nothing of completing any number of circulation cycles.
Tian Buyi's eyes went wide, his face dark with rage as he glared at Zhang Fan. The disciples standing nearby all wore expressions of sympathy, yet none dared utter a word. Song Daren had been about to speak up in Zhang Fan's defense, but seeing that the junior brother he himself had trained had sunk to such a state, he felt too ashamed to show his face and kept his mouth shut as well. As for Tian Ling'er, she simply stood to one side, grinning from ear to ear and enjoying the spectacle.
Zhang Fan knelt before Tian Buyi, his face burning with shame, wishing the earth would open and swallow him. He steeled himself for whatever tongue-lashing his master chose to deliver — it was no less than he deserved. Yet half an eternity passed in silence. The senior disciples standing around him said not a word. Even Tian Buyi held his tongue. Puzzled, Zhang Fan stole a furtive glance upward — and what he saw stopped his breath. The fury that had filled Tian Buyi's face was gone. In its place was something far worse: pure, bottomless disappointment. It was as the old saying went: *of all griefs, none is greater than a heart that has ceased to hope.*
Tian Buyi rose with a flick of his sleeves, shook his head, and—without a single word—moved his short, stout frame toward the inner hall. The disciples exchanged bewildered glances, none of them understanding what had just happened.
Song Daren had followed Tian Buyi the longest and dimly sensed what was on his master's mind, guessing that the Sect Leader had all but given up on this junior disciple. Over the past three months, Zhang Fan had devoted himself diligently to his cultivation lessons, and in his spare time he was always bustling about, eager to help others and honest by nature — everyone had grown quite fond of him. Life on the mountain was lonely, and even the ever-willful Tian Ling'er suddenly found herself with a companion close to her own age. Though she scolded him openly and often, in her heart she was not a little pleased.
Song Daren's brow furrowed deeply. He stepped forward and helped his junior martial brother Zhang Fan to his feet. "Master is only upset for the moment — it's nothing to worry about. As long as you apply yourself diligently to your cultivation, sooner or later you will earn his recognition."
Zhang Fan felt a surge of shame in his heart, nodded again and again, and from that day forward pushed himself ever harder.
Every morning he would climb the mountain with Tian Ling'er to chop bamboo. Ordinary disciples, after three months of practicing the Taiqi Xuanqing Dao, could already cut through black-jointed bamboo — yet Zhang Fan did not manage to sever his first stalk until half a year had passed. Even so, his daily efforts never faltered regardless of wind or rain, and his body had grown considerably stronger for it; at the very least, he no longer arrived at the mountaintop gasping for breath like an ox.
From that point on, Tian Buyi paid Zhang Fan no further mind. Song Daren had asked after his cultivation progress a few times at the start, but as the days stretched on and Zhang Fan's advancement remained agonizingly slow, even Song Daren eventually lost heart and stopped asking altogether.
Zhang Fan himself did not dwell on it. He knew his aptitude was poor, and though he sometimes wondered whether cultivating two methods at once might be the cause, every time that thought arose he would recall Puzhi's voice and face, feel a warmth stir in his heart, and push on. The path had been one of unrelenting hardship, but his nature was stubborn and tenacious, and he had endured.
He dwelt in seclusion, spending his days cultivating the Taiji Xuanqing Dao and his deepest nights practicing the Mahabrahma Prajna. So the days drifted on, unhurried and fleeting, until three years had slipped by without his notice.
During this time, Zhang Fan also set the worst record in the history of Qingyun Sect since its founding: it took him a full three years—three times longer than any ordinary disciple—to finally complete the first level of the Taiji Xuanqing Dao's Jade Clarity Realm, achieving full mastery over every aperture in his body and guiding the earth's Spiritual Energy through his meridians for thirty-six complete cycles. Yet what no one knew was that, through his concurrent practice of the Grand Brahma Prajna, he had also caught his first glimpse into the art of internal energy control, quietly laying a solid foundation for what was to come.
When Zhang Fan timidly made his announcement to everyone at dinner one evening, the disciples of the Big Bamboo Peak lineage of Qingyun Sect were left utterly dumbfounded, as if they had witnessed an iron tree bloom after a thousand years. Then, all at once, the crowd broke into laughter—Song Daren, beside himself with joy, scooped up the considerably grown Zhang Fan and tossed him into the air again and again, his delight boundless.
Tian Buyi, seated up front, watched with cold contempt. He let out a snort and muttered under his breath: "Utter fool!"
Over those three years, Zhang Fan grew to the age of fourteen. From his daily practice of chopping bamboo, his body had become sturdy and robust; though two years younger than his senior sister Tian Ling'er, he had already matched her in height. Tian Ling'er, for her part, had grown from a girl of thirteen into a young woman of sixteen, her beauty blossoming ever more radiant—in her every laugh and idle word, she carried a delicate, peerless grace.
Tian Ling'er had always found her other six senior brothers far too old for her tastes, stuffy and set in their ways, so she had always preferred the company of this dim-witted junior brother of hers. After three years spent together, the two had grown remarkably close. Yet it was always Tian Ling'er who held the upper hand. Zhang Fan knew full well that his senior sister far surpassed him in ability — though she bossed him around and ordered him about on ordinary days, whenever the senior brothers teased him, she was invariably the first to step forward, speak up on his behalf, and stand at his back.
Life in the mountains was solitary, yet peaceful. From time to time, Zhang Fan had asked Tian Buyi and Song Daren about the massacre at Cao Miao Village, but the matter had yielded no leads to this day. As time wore on, the weight of it in Zhang Fan's heart gradually faded.
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That morning, Zhang Fan took his woodcutting knife as usual and walked out of the house alone, heading toward the back mountain. Tian Ling'er had completed her bamboo-cutting lessons two years prior and no longer made the trip, so for the past two years Zhang Fan had mostly climbed the mountain alone — though Tian Ling'er would occasionally come up when she had nothing better to do, joining him for some fun.
That day, Zhang Fan did not see Tian Ling'er around, but paid it no mind and climbed the mountain path alone. In just over a month, he too would finish this bamboo-chopping assignment. He could now cut through two black-jointed bamboo stalks each day, yet still fell far short of Tian Ling'er — near the end of her own stint, she had been able to chop more than a dozen black-jointed bamboo stalks in a single day.
A month ago, he had finally cultivated to the first tier of the Jade Clarity Realm within the Taiji Xuanqing Dao, and in the wake of that achievement, Song Daren had passed on to him the secrets of the second tier. He had practiced for a month now, and while the second tier was far more profound than the first, he somehow had the vague sense that it was, paradoxically, easier. The first tier, for instance, required mastery over every aperture in the body—something that had taken him three full years to accomplish. The second tier demanded that one "transform qi into essence," causing the Earth Spiritual Energy drawn into the body to be transmuted into essence energy within the Meridians. According to his senior brother, this was more than ten times harder than the first tier. Yet Zhang Fan found it to be, to his own surprise, unexpectedly effortless. At its root, the reason seemed connected to the Maha Prajna technique. Over the past three years he had practiced the Maha Prajna every single day without interruption, and his inner qi circulation had grown quite seasoned; since essence energy is itself a manifestation of inner qi, that three-year foundation meant Zhang Fan's advancement was, in the end, remarkably swift.
Yet he himself did not believe it. Back then, while others needed but a year to train, he had required three — so this was most likely an illusion. And so he paid it no mind. In any case, he kept to his daily cultivation on schedule, with no one coming to disturb or question him.