Vol Chapter 3 (1/2)
Chapter 3: The Book of Revelation
“What a hot day”
As the day reached midday, when heat reached its peak, Fang-Xing sat relaxed on a bamboo chair. He stared over the [Herb Field] where w.a.n.g and the rest of his Daotongs were doing their best to catch as many of the pests as possible. Catching the pests was hard work as you could only work under the scorching midday when the flowers bloomed to its fullest.
Of course, all of this was none of Fang-Xing’s concern. After the incident with w.a.n.g, Fang-Xing a.s.sumed the position of Laoda of the [Herb Field]. There was even someone who washed and dried Fang-Xing’s dirty socks.
It wasn’t that w.a.n.g and his gang were complete cowards who were willing to completely obey Fang-Xing after one incident; however, after Fang-Xing re-stabbed w.a.n.g in the leg for looking at him weirdly, Fang’s position as Laoda of the group was surely cemented. It was soon revealed that w.a.n.g was actually a pacifist who never held a weapon in his life. So after w.a.n.g gave up, his group soon followed suit, especially the freckled boy.
‘I’m so bored,’ Fang-Xing flipped his [Qin-Yun Sect’s Qi Formation] manual aimlessly.
After a few attempts at meditating, he still couldn’t feel the tiniest Qi vibration.
‘It doesn’t work.’ Fang-Xing decided that the booklet must’ve been nothing more than a hoax.
It wasn’t just Fang-Xing alone as no one else in the [Herb Field] felt any semblance of Qi all these past years. Even w.a.n.g later admitted to bluffing when he said “[he] already felt the flow of Qi.’
But despite all of the evidence, Fang-Xing still couldn’t give up on the book. He heard through the grapevine that there was a rumor of Datongs who had successfully mastered the first stage of Qi, using this booklet, and finally became Outer Court disciples. These rumors were far too few in number but still happened few times a year.
“Maybe I was just born with bad Zi’Zhi,” sighed Fang-Xing.
Zi’Zhi is something innate that divides those born with a silver spoon and those born in poverty. Although it is believed that Zi’Zhi can be changed in various ways, eg: divine intervention, the individual’s strength or sheer luck, most people were unable to break free from their fate. But for the few blessed with good Zi’Zhi upon birth, they were viewed to have Providence and were highly sought by Sects, like Xiao-Mahn.
[TL’s Notes: Zi’zhi: 资质, “is one of the most important deciding factor between someone who will work his life for pennies as an ordinary man, or to become the center of his clan, bringing them wealth and ongoing prosperity.” One is born with a set ‘zi’zhi’ (like DNA), which may be changed later in their lives by the intervention of a great power.]
After a few more attempts, Fang-Xing gave up and threw the manual back in his cloth-bundle. Suddenly, he noticed the book which was given to him by Ninth Uncle, Joshu, before his untimely pa.s.sing. The book was thin and rather una.s.suming, yet it held a great secret that was only known between Fang-Xing and Xiao-Jianmin, the hero of [Qin-Yun Sect]. This book, in fact, was the sole reason for the ma.s.sacre of the [Guiyan Valley] bandits, including Fang-Xing’s nine uncles.
[TL note: Joshu: 九叔, lit. ninth uncle. Romanized for the same reason as Sanshu (三叔)]
Yes, Fang-Xing was the sole survivor from [Guiyan Valley], the most mysterious tenth bandit.
Knowing that Xiao-Jianmin would never suspect such a young boy like Fang-Xing to be the infamously mysterious tenth bandit of the [Guiyan Valley], his uncle, Joshu, entrusted Fang-Xing with the task of running away with the book.
Joshu’s, and now, Fang-Xing’s book seemed quite ordinary at first glance. Until, with further examination, the t.i.tle was unreadable to most as it was written in an ancient Chinese writing system known as “Seal Script”. Luckily, Joshu didn’t forget to teach Fang-Xing to read and write in Seal Script before the catastrophy struck.
‘[The Book of Revelation]’
As Fang-Xing’s curiosity hit full throttle, he hastily opened the book to find yet another surprise: blank pages. He even placed the book under sunlight to see if there was any invisible ink that one of his uncles would frequently use to scam rich traders with.
Still nothing.
‘Wait… It can’t be the invisible ink because it doesn’t last long and, clearly, this book looks like it’s been through a lot,’ Fang-Xing thought.
After racking his brain for awhile, Fang-Xing couldn’t come up with an answer. Frustrated and disappointed, he placed the book back in his cloth-bundle on top of his [Qing-Yun Sect’s Qi Formation] manual.
Suddenly, it happened.
[The Book of Revelation] opened up and a faded paragraph started to appear.
“[Qing-Yun Sect’s Qi Formation]. Suitable for [Spirit Stage]. A manual for beginner cultivation…”
[TL Note: Spirit Stage: or 灵动 is the first stage of spiritual cultivation, literally means the movement of spirit. Each of these stages has different tiers. For the Spirit Stage, there are a total of 9 tiers. Once they’ve pa.s.sed the peak of 9th tier, they will step into the next stage.]
“What the f--” Fang-Xing’s eyes widened to a size of a chestnut and started cursing.
There wasn’t a lot of writing but in just a few short paragraphs, [The Book of Revelation] perfectly explained the principles behind and the common training mistakes of the [Qing-Yun Sect’s Qi Formation]. However, the most eye-catching detail was that [The Book of Revelation] explained what could be done to perfect one’s training of the manual.