Vol 1 Chapter 10 (1/2)

Volume 1, Chapter 10 – Heavenly Sects’ Contention at the Clear Sky Peak (Part 1)

For 10 consecutive days, Zhang Yan was closed up, cultivating and meditating to breakthrough to the next cultivation realm.

However, he couldn’t figure out the reason why he wasn’t able to breakthrough. The flow of Qi was smooth and could move freely along his meridian paths. He could even feel that the Qi in his Dantian was also growing more powerful. Yet, he still couldn’t break through the last step.

It was not like the last breakthrough. Zhang Yan felt quite disappointed, but he also realized that this was reasonable. He had built a very solid foundation after three years of hard work and successfully broke through once he obtained an advanced law. It seemed that such good luck would not come too often.

If that was the case, there was no need to force it.

On the path of cultivation, sometimes one must be determined and persevere, to forcefully brave forward through all obstacles. But sometimes, one must also know when to quit and not to be restless because of failures. In this case, one must put the whole picture into mind and patiently move forward. The choices must also be decided by one’s own mind and heart. Besides, Zhang Yan had the required Dao laws and sufficient compounded pills to aid his cultivation. To breakthrough into the next cultivation realm only required one last step, so, there was no need to rush it in the next 2 or 3 days.

A few days ago, Ai Zhongwen had come to invite him to the cultivator’s a.s.sembly together, of which he had accepted.

And seeing the time now, the convention should have been opened for three days. However, since this a.s.sembly would be a month long, even if he was eager to make a name for himself, there was no need to rush it.

Early morning the next day, at about 4 AM, Zhang Yan just came out from a bath and changed his robe calmly. He put on a cloud-patterned Daoist robe. After he felt that he had been fully prepared, he then went out and headed straight for Clear Sky Peak.

Clear Sky Peak was the sixth main peak in Cangwu Mountain. There was a Daoist Temple built on top of the mountain peak called Heaven Grace Temple. The temple occupied a wide opened s.p.a.ce in this peak. A waterfall flowed there and made the peak’s scenery look beautiful. As it was the most beautiful peak of all 18 peaks. The current a.s.sembly event was being held at this temple. As Zhang Yan was walking on the mountain road, he stopped to take in the broad view. Many disciples from various sects and families had come and gathered here. Some were walking, while some others were engaged in conversation. The cultivators who came here looked very much alike, most of them gave off a scholarly-like aura. As they looked powerful with their big sleeved robes unceasingly fluttering, due to the Qi that was emitted from their body.

An hour later, Zhang Yan finally arrived at the front gate of Heaven Grace Temple.

The temple’s front gate led to the a.s.sembly place, which was divided into three pa.s.sageways. Each had a written sign on top of it, which were: the ‘heaven’, the ‘earth’, and the ‘man’. The ‘heaven’ gate was reserved for the convention’s officials and the sect’s hosts’ disciples. The ‘earth’ gate was for cultivators or disciples from various sects and families who would partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion, as for the ‘man’ gate, it was used for n.o.bles, aristocrats, and royalty.

Zhang Yan was a disciple from the Profound Virtue Temple so he must enter from the ‘heaven’ gate. He took out the bronze invitation token. The child servant didn’t stop him and quickly let him pa.s.sed through the gate.

However, when his foot stepped into the gate, someone suddenly stopped him and coldly spoke, “Stop! From which school are you from?”

Zhang Yan glanced at a person who stopped him. It was a beautiful Daoist nun, who was about 30 years old with white skin, who was holding a horsetail whisk. But this Daoist nun’s brow was raised, with a man-like straight nose and fierce eyes. Anyone could see that this nun gave off the impression that she was a strong and upright person.

Zhang Yang made a disciple greeting to the Daoist nun, “Disciple is Zhang Yan from the Profound Virtue Temple.”

“You are Zhang Yan?” This Daoist nun seemed to have heard Zhang Yan’s name. She sized up Zhang Yan for a while before speaking, “I heard you are very proficient in the Eclipse codes, then I want to ask you: What kind of law or meaning is derived from the ‘Elephant in the River’ mnemonic?”

Zhang Yan didn’t even waste time to think as he immediately answered, “The mnemonic stems from the ‘New Stories Compilation’, which was written by Kong Lan a hundred years ago.

“The ‘New Stories Compilation’ was a travelogue and contained this ‘Elephant in the River’ story.

“It was said that during the ancient primordial times, a group of villagers lived at the foot of a mountain. Due to the water’s scarcity, those villagers relied on the Spirit River to survive. However, this Spirit River could only provide water sporadically. This condition made the villagers extremely miserable. They blamed it on the elephants that had always been playing and strolling near the river. They repeatedly tried to drive away the elephants, but to no avail. Finally, they captured and killed one of the elephants to make the river water smoothly flow from the mountain.

“However, the villagers didn’t know that there was a giant serpent which was closed up in cultivating. Every time this giant serpent came out to drink the water from the river, the elephants always drove it away. Because one of the elephants was dead, this elephant herd couldn’t stop the giant serpent anymore. After the giant snake successfully broke through and became a demon cultivator, it descended the mountain and ate humans every day, of which made the villagers completely disperse.”

The Daoist nun stared into Zhang Yan’s eyes, “Since you know about it, I now ask you: If you were one of those villagers, what would you do?”

The story’s true intention was to give a warning to cultivators, that they should not be distracted and confused by immediate circ.u.mstances at present. However, they must trace and a.n.a.lyze the cause, to find a proper way to deal with the problem. This was the true reason why teachers and masters constantly checked the disposition and character development of all senior disciples through this type of inquiry.

Some disciples believed that although the river water was intermittent, the villagers would survive. Therefore, they should’ve maintained the present status quo and endured. Some other disciples believed that since the villagers were able to kill the elephant, they should also be able to kill the giant serpent. Of which, the villagers should then leave for the upstream to kill the giant serpent. Other disciples thought that the villagers didn’t know what they had done and because it had happened, they should offer one villager to feed the serpent every day.

In short, all answers were strange and unusual, as well as humorous.

Zhang Yan pondered for a short while before immediately replying without hesitation, “I would kill those elephants.”

The Daoist nun eyes flashed and demanded more answers, “Why?”

Zhang Yan replied in a deep tone, “At present, there were perhaps only ten elephants, but if they were allowed and given time to multiply, who knows if they would still be docile tomorrow. And if they would consume more water? If there were more than one group of elephants, one day, the Spirit River would finally be dried up because of this. Thus, there’s no other alternative but to kill one of these elephants. Ten elephants can chase and drive away the giant serpent, indicating that this herd of elephants is very strong. Losing a few lives here wouldn’t affect the overall situation because the water was originally very scarce. Therefore, the rest of the villagers could perhaps continue on living, and that would not cause the giant serpent to come out and swallow the humans.”

Since the storybook didn’t have a fixed correct answer, the Daoist nun’s expression didn’t change. She opened the access gate and said, “You can go in.”

Zhang Yan made a courtesy gesture, lifted up his Daoist robe, then walked across the gate and straightly strode forward.

It wasn’t long after he left that a young girl flashed toward the Daoist nun’s side near the gate. She was Zhao Ying, Zhao Yuan’s younger sister.

She held the Daoist nun’s arm and shook it, complaining, “Martial Aunt, why did you let that little thief pa.s.s so easily? He had made my big brother vomit blood. I want to him to pay for that.”

The nun patted Zhao Ying’s head, spoiling her, “Did you know that your master had asked the same question to your Martial Ancestor years ago?”

Zhao Ying’s curiosity was evoked, “What did Master answer before?”

“Kill the elephants.”

Zhao Ying was surprised, “My Master also had the same answer?”