Chapter 22 (Part 1)

Daoist Master Fanjian brought his disciple to the main peak’s great hall. They did not see the sect master, and only after asking did they learn that he had taken Song Yuanruo to the sect’s secret realm. And so, they sat in the hall drinking tea while they waited.

Song Yuanxi finally began to feel uncomfortable. After losing his cultivation, he was not even blessed enough to enjoy the main peak’s spirit tea.

Unable to hold back, he said, “Master, why don’t we just go find the sect master directly?”

Daoist Master Fanjian leisurely drank his tea. “No rush. It is not a major matter.”

Song Yuanxi looked at his master, who had been hurrying along anxiously on the road, only to stop being anxious the moment they reached the main peak. He could not help rolling his eyes inwardly. “Master, you change faces way too fast.”

Just earlier, he had still been bristling with rage for his disciple. Such deep master-disciple affection, enough to move heaven and earth. His heart was still warm from it, and the other man changed faces just like that.

Trash master, does your conscience really not hurt at all?

Daoist Master Fanjian drank tea and took a light rest. Seeing his disciple wandering back and forth through the great hall without a moment’s peace, looking like an ant on a hot pan crashing around without a head, he directly sent out a thought and fixed him in place.

“Hey, why can’t I move? Master? Master! Master, save me!”

“Noisy.” Daoist Master Fanjian’s expression was relaxed. “If you are feeling bored, holding a horse stance can cultivate your character.”

Song Yuanxi’s heart was one giant, capitalized mess of confusion. His master even kindly helped him adjust his horse stance posture. He was already this miserable, yet he still had to hold a horse stance with a mortal body. What grudge, what hatred was this?

“Master. Master. Maaaaster.”

“You can temper the body even without cultivation. If you still have strength to spare, put on the gold bangles I gave you.”

Song Yuanxi immediately shut his mouth, standing quietly in the great hall as an obedient little quail holding a horse stance.

True Lord Wenyuan finally returned. Seeing Song Yuanxi’s particularly unique pose in the center of the hall, he could not help laughing. “What is this? Have you come to my place to temper the body?”

“Sect master.” Daoist Master Fanjian stood and saluted him. “I brought Yuanxi here to ask about the situation.”

“Fanjian, you have come out of seclusion.” True Lord Wenyuan nodded at him, then explained the matter involving Song Yuanxi in detail. His expression soon turned apologetic. “This matter was my dereliction of duty.”

“Sect master need not draw conclusions so easily for now. As for what the truth of the matter is, we will still need to verify it first.”

“How so?” True Lord Wenyuan’s eyes immediately brightened.

Daoist Master Fanjian did not say it outright. He only said he needed to borrow Song Yuanruo to take a look. Before the other man could refuse, he added, “I know this matter places the sect master in a difficult position, but Yuanxi is my disciple, and I am also unbearably anxious. May I ask the sect master to step forward and speak to Lord Baiyan? Fanjian would be endlessly grateful.”

Song Yuanruo was Lord Baiyan’s disciple. Even if he only had Foundation Establishment cultivation, his identity was still not ordinary. Fanjian was merely at Golden Core, so if he wanted a person, he still had to be strategic about it.

How could True Lord Wenyuan not hear the implications in this? But looking at the humble and courteous Fanjian, he felt a different, indescribable emotion in his heart.

Back then, how spirited and high-spirited this person had been. Even when charging alone into the Taihang Secret Realm, his expression had not changed in the slightest. With Lord Wuji protecting him, no one had ever seen him act modestly. And now…

“All right. I will make the trip for you.”

“Many thanks, sect master. Then I will take Yuanxi back first.”

Five days later, Song Yuanruo visited Wanhai Peak to pay respects to Daoist Master Fanjian.

When the brothers met, both of them were somewhat emotional.

“Brother, how does your body feel now? Is anything wrong anywhere?” Song Yuanruo took the initiative to step closer and held his elder brother, asking about this and that.

Song Yuanxi had originally wanted to cry a little about how he had been “abused” by his trash master these past few days through body tempering. But seeing Song Yuanruo’s expression, as if he was terribly anxious yet still trying hard to restrain himself, he could not bear to say it.

After seven years, he was once again running mountains with a mortal body while wearing thousand-jin gold bangles. All kinds of bitter tears did not need to be spoken of to outsiders.

“Little brother, I’m fine! Look at me, I’m perfectly well. My body is still strong and powerful. Before you came, I even went to run the Ten-Thousand-Step Platform. I was so fast when I ran.”

Song Yuanruo still wanted to continue fussing over him, but Daoist Master Fanjian had already come out, so he could only pause the topic and step forward to salute.

“Disciple Song Yuanruo greets Daoist Master Fanjian.”

“Mm. Do you know why you have come here?”

Song Yuanruo nodded. “The sect master has already explained it clearly to this disciple. Daoist Master Fanjian, please ask whatever you wish. Yuanruo will certainly say everything he knows.”

“There is no need to ask. Come forward first. I will examine your pulse and see.”

Aside from close elders and one’s master, cultivators generally did not casually let others examine their pulse. Song Yuanruo and Daoist Master Fanjian could not be considered familiar. If not for Song Yuanxi between them, the two of them would have had absolutely no connection.

But he stepped forward without the slightest hesitation and directly held out his hand.

Daoist Master Fanjian raised his brows. “Not afraid?”

“I am not afraid. I can do something for my elder brother, so my heart is happy.” Song Yuanruo’s clear eyes were full of pure, clean sincerity.

Daoist Master Fanjian nodded inwardly. He placed his fingers on the other’s pulse, and Song Yuanxi, standing nearby, immediately quieted down, not daring to step forward and disturb them. About a quarter of an hour later, Daoist Master Fanjian lifted his fingertips, while the two Song brothers’ breathing grew even more hurried.

“Master, how is it, how is it?” Song Yuanxi walked over and asked. Song Yuanruo also stared at him with burning eyes. Daoist Master Fanjian did not answer. Instead, he looked toward Song Yuanruo. “The backtracking array in your dantian—was it set up willingly?”

Song Yuanruo’s heart shook. He had never imagined that the other man could know the condition inside his dantian merely by examining his pulse. His master had clearly said…

Coming back to himself, Song Yuanruo said calmly, “Yes. I set it up myself for the sake of a more perfect Foundation Establishment.”

“In that case, it is not the problem.” Daoist Master Fanjian’s expression turned thoughtful.

Song Yuanruo’s task was complete, and it was inconvenient for him to stay on Wanhai Peak for long. Although he was reluctant to separate from his elder brother so soon, for the sake of resolving the matter of his brother’s cultivation as quickly as possible, he could only agree to meet again next time.

Song Yuanxi saw his brother down the mountain. As soon as the person left, he hurriedly ran back and clung to his master, asking question after question.

“Master. Master. Don’t stay silent with such a serious face. It’s scary. At least let your disciple put down this heart that’s hanging in the air.”

“You really want to know?”

“Of course. I’ve only just begun to feel the joy of Body Cultivation. How could I not be nervous and worried about my own condition?”

Daoist Master Fanjian scoffed, feeling helpless. He wondered who exactly had been wailing for his father and calling for his mother, acting as though he would live and die over these past few days. The joy of body tempering—could joy possibly mean bawling loudly every day?

He did not expose his disciple’s little thoughts and said directly, “Song Yuanruo’s backtracking array does have a certain effect on the spiritual energy around him. When your body was being tempered by the lightning tribulation, you were too close, so it is possible that it caused your cultivation to shake. However, making your cultivation regress or even vanish completely is impossible.”

“Master, don’t drag it out. Just tell me directly.” He really did not want to listen to all this cause and effect.

Daoist Master Fanjian said, “In simple terms, it was the Yin-Yang Art’s own choice.”

“???”

Song Yuanxi blinked and blinked, his expression turning stupid. He knew each of those words individually, but when they were strung together, he did not understand what they meant at all.

Daoist Master Fanjian said, “The Yin-Yang Art was obtained by your grandmaster from the Taihang Secret Realm. It is a Body Cultivation method that is nearly heaven-rank. However, very few cultivators have truly cultivated the Yin-Yang Art, so the various circumstances that may arise during its cultivation cannot be predicted in advance…”

Song Yuanxi listened in a daze and finally understood. “So what you’re saying is, I count as an experimental lab mouse, and cultivating the Yin-Yang Art means constantly testing and correcting mistakes?”

“A lab mouse? Experiments?” Daoist Master Fanjian understood and did not deny it. “That is indeed the case.”

“Master! How can you treat your disciple like this? You’re using me as a lab mouse. Do you know how fragile lab mice are? If you’re not careful, they croak!”

“What are you afraid of? If we truly are lab mice, then your master is the first generation, and you belong to the second generation of experimental subjects. If death comes, then your master will die first. Now your master is already at Golden Core cultivation. Facts prove that the lab mice you speak of have extremely tenacious vitality.”

Song Yuanxi: I actually have no way to refute that.

But thinking of his master as a first-generation lab mouse, with someone in front of him to test and correct the mistakes, his own little problem should not count as a problem, right?

Who knew that in the next second, Daoist Master Fanjian would drop a heaven-shaking sentence. “Yuanxi, this Yin-Yang Art seems to secretly contain endless profundities. As for a situation like yours, this is also the first time your master has encountered it. Thinking on it now, I had previously been mistaken. Although the path of cultivation has countless transformations, it never departs from its source. No matter what cultivation method one cultivates, whether it is Dharma Cultivation, Sword Cultivation, or Body Cultivation, the Dao in this world does not change. We should take heaven and earth as our teachers and not be bound to one pattern.”

“Master, can you speak human words more clearly?” He really did not understand these great principles. Having to translate and understand them himself was such a waste of brain cells.

Daoist Master Fanjian said, “…The contents of a cultivation method are written symbols. Each person’s understanding is different. For the same cultivation method, different people can cultivate different fortunes. Although you and I both cultivate the Yin-Yang Art, each person’s method of cultivation should be different.”

Song Yuanxi’s heart immediately had a bad premonition. Why did these words sound so terrifying?

“Master, what do you mean?”

“Cultivation methods above earth-rank possess their own spirituality. When you cultivated it, the Yin-Yang Art had already chosen the most suitable path for you. How to cultivate and in what way must be carefully comprehended by you yourself.”

“Wait, no! Master, what do you mean by that? You’re scaring me. Then what you told me before, that the Yin-Yang Art has a total of fifteen layers, with a barrier every three layers, and at full mastery, returning to simplicity and truth can break through… was all of that fake?”

Daoist Master Fanjian shook his head. “No. That is what I comprehended while cultivating the Yin-Yang Art, and it is also clearly recorded and knowable in the cultivation method. But your Yin-Yang Art has chosen another path for you.”

Song Yuanxi truly wanted to cry.

Body Cultivation was already so miserable. So hard, so tiring, yet he had cultivated for all these years without a single complaint, huffing and puffing until he finally reached the third level of Qi Refining. Now he was being told everything had to start over?

Did cannon fodder have no human rights? The Heavenly Dao was unfair!

The thought had only just arisen when thunder suddenly rumbled in the sky. Without leaning even slightly to one side, it struck the crooked-neck tree that had grown for five hundred years right at the entrance of Daoist Master Fanjian’s cave residence on Wanhai Peak. With a crack, the tree broke in half at the waist.

“Lightning in broad daylight?” Daoist Master Fanjian murmured hesitantly.

Song Yuanxi, standing beside him, felt his heart tremble with fear. He no longer dared to mutter another word.

Damn it! He had almost forgotten this was the cultivation world. The Heavenly Dao here was alive!

“Father Heavenly Dao, I was young and ignorant. The ignorant are not guilty. I won’t dare next time.” The little person in Song Yuanxi’s heart pressed its hands together and frantically knelt in worship toward the heavens.

Daoist Master Fanjian explained everything that needed explaining, then proposed that Song Yuanxi cultivate the Yin-Yang Art on his own. However, he would lend a helping hand before that and thoroughly open his disciple’s cultivation method.

“For this matter, we will still need True Lord Junhong’s assistance. With my Golden Core cultivation, I may not be able to completely open the Yin-Yang Art.”

Daoist Master Fanjian personally went to Qingtian Peak and discussed opening the cultivation method with True Lord Junhong. True Lord Junhong agreed on the spot and thumped his chest, guaranteeing there would be no problem.

“Many thanks.” Daoist Master Fanjian nodded at him.

True Lord Junhong said, “No need. Yuanxi is my grandson. Family matters are family matters. However, to completely open an earth-rank cultivation method, it would be best for two Nascent Soul cultivators to do it. Why don’t True Lord Songquan and I together…”

“No. The Yin-Yang Art is a special cultivation method. If someone who is not a Body Cultivation practitioner leads it, mistakes can easily occur. I am the best candidate. I only fear my cultivation may not be enough. At that time, I ask True Lord Junhong to lend me aid.”

Seeing the other man so persistent, True Lord Junhong was deeply moved. Yuanxi’s master truly was not bad. He treated Yuanxi extremely well. If not for Lord Wuji’s accident, how glorious would this lineage be in Xuantian Sect?

Song Yuanxi did not know any of this. He was merely notified that three days later, he would go to Qingtian Peak and receive the opening of the Yin-Yang Art cultivation method there.

“Master, then what preparations should I make?” Song Yuanxi rubbed his palms together, in extremely high spirits.

Daoist Master Fanjian fell silent for a moment, then said, “Sleep early, wake early, and stay up less.”

“Huh?”

“Read fewer of those storybooks you collected from the market. Cultivate your body and nurture your nature.”

“…”

Song Yuanxi obediently listened and did not dare ask too much, afraid that all his little secrets would be exposed.

The three days passed in the blink of an eye. Daoist Master Fanjian brought his disciple to Qingtian Peak. True Lord Junhong led the two of them to a quiet, secluded place. After entering, he directly opened the Defensive Array to prevent external interference.

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