Empathy

Empathy

In the study, Zheng Fa opened the cover page of Spirit Crane Body. Instructor Xu's final words, laden with indescribable emotion, seemed to still echo in his ears:

"Don't become like me."

Even if he had not heard Instructor Xu recount his past, Zheng Fa felt he would not waste half his life on Spirit Crane Body.

For he already had another, better path into the Immortal Sect: becoming a Talisman Master.

To Instructor Xu, Spirit Crane Body had been his only chance to rise above the mundane, so naturally, it had been difficult for him to let go.

But according to Seventh Young Master, becoming a Talisman Master also gave one a chance to enter the Immortal Sect.

The greater reason Zheng Fa did not value Spirit Crane Body as highly as Instructor Xu did was Madam's attitude—he had merely displayed a trace of talent as a Talisman Master and deciphered two of the simplest Origin Talismans, yet Madam had rewarded him with Spirit Crane Body. That alone showed that, in Madam's eyes, this martial path to the Dao was far inferior to Zheng Fa's talent for talismans, perhaps even inferior to those two simplest Origin Talismans.

Another thought made Zheng Fa even more skeptical of this so-called martial path to the Dao:

If cultivating Spirit Crane Body could grant entry into the Immortal Sect, why was Seventh Young Master working himself to the bone studying Talisman Diagrams?

There had to be issues even Instructor Xu did not know about.

But those thoughts did not stop Zheng Fa from being interested in Spirit Crane Body itself, a martial art legendary in the martial world.

Beside him, Seventh Young Master leaned over and flipped through the Spirit Crane Body manual with Zheng Fa.

After only a few glances, Seventh Young Master frowned. "This man sure talks a lot of nonsense."

Zheng Fa nodded. He had yet to see how powerful the martial art was, but he had already grasped the author's narcissism.

Spirit Crane Body consisted of four volumes. Zheng Fa had assumed they would all discuss martial arts, but the first—and thickest—volume was actually nothing but the author's own preface!

The man droned on and on, writing every minute detail of his life into the preface.

He claimed that he had originally been a martial artist, then entered the Immortal Sect but still loved martial arts, so he had created this set of Spirit Crane Body techniques in hopes that later generations would carry it forward, and so on.

The overwhelming majority of it was him boasting about his great prowess in the martial path, how highly valued he was in the Immortal Sect, and how exquisite the techniques he created were...

"Did he create this technique just because he wanted people to listen to him brag?" Seventh Young Master asked, stroking his chin.

Zheng Fa actually felt there was a faint trace of reason in the idea of getting martial arts as a bonus for listening to someone boast...

He flipped through the later volumes. To his surprise, the martial art recorded in the second volume was Pine Crane Stance, which Zheng Fa had already begun to learn. Was that why Madam had told him to study Spirit Crane Body?

Because he had shown a certain talent for Pine Crane Stance?

He skipped the second volume and looked at the third and fourth.

The fourth volume contained a martial skill, Spirit Crane Cloud-Piercing Hand. According to the book, its power was immense, but it was not the core of the Spirit Crane Body technique.

Only the third volume, whose cover bore the title Spirit Crane Heart Scripture, was the essence of this technique.

Yet when Zheng Fa opened the third volume, he could not help frowning. Beside him, Seventh Young Master wore a thoroughly baffled expression and muttered, "What the hell is this supposed to be?"

On the page was some unknown feather-covered creature with a human head and torso, two wings sprouting from its shoulder blades, and a pair of crane feet below. It struck several poses that made no sense at all, without any explanation or annotations.

Zheng Fa studied it for a long time but could not make heads or tails of it. Still, he was not discouraged. It was perfectly normal that he could not see through a martial art Instructor Xu had failed to comprehend for twenty years.

In Madam's small tower, Seventh Young Master threw aside the curtain and strode inside.

"Oh? Look who's here." Madam wore a mocking smile. "What a rare visitor!"

Seventh Young Master's face reddened. "Isn't it only right for me to come see my mother?"

"Only right? Who has been avoiding me all these years?"

"I was just..."

"Enough. You never come to the temple without a reason. Say what you came for."

"I've wanted to learn Spirit Crane Body these past few days, but I can't understand this thing at all. Mother, do you know any secret to it?"

"You want to learn it?" Madam raised a brow at her son. "Didn't I give Spirit Crane Body to Zheng Fa?"

"I'm the Young Master. If I want to read it and learn it, can he stop me?" Seventh Young Master put on an overbearing air.

"Is that so?"

"I was thinking that fool Zheng Fa won't be able to learn it no matter how hard he tries. If there's some secret to it and I master it, won't that make him mad to death?" Seventh Young Master coughed and said.

"I see..." Madam nodded, seemingly convinced.

"Mother? What's the secret?"

"The secret?" Madam patted her forehead and said, "I seem to recall someone saying that the creator of this technique once claimed that if one wished to master Spirit Crane Body, all its mysteries lay in the first volume."

"Really?"

"Would your mother lie to you?"

"Mother, I still have something to do. I'll be going!" Seventh Young Master turned and ran off. Madam watched his departing back, her smile neither quite a smile nor not a smile.

"Zheng Fa! My mother said that if you want to master Spirit Crane Body, you have to read the first volume of the manual!"

Seventh Young Master rushed in and said impatiently.

"You went to ask Madam, Young Master?" Zheng Fa was somewhat surprised.

"We were just chatting. We happened to chat about it." Seventh Young Master waved his hand. "Hurry and take out the first volume. Let's study it properly."

Zheng Fa glanced at Seventh Young Master and took out the first volume of Spirit Crane Body.

Gao Yuan stood far away, conscientiously avoiding looking at Spirit Crane Body, though his gaze still drifted over curiously.

Zheng Fa and Seventh Young Master carefully went through the first volume once, and both frowned.

It was simply an ordinary autobiography. Since the author had come from a martial background and probably never received much proper schooling, the story was both trite and tedious.

"Could there be some coded message?"

Seventh Young Master guessed.

Zheng Fa shook his head. "It's not impossible, but for a coded message, we would at least need to know the pattern."

Seventh Young Master did not give up at those words. He dragged Zheng Fa into turning the book over and over, trying to find some pattern.

After a long while, Seventh Young Master flung the book down viciously, furious as he launched into personal attacks on the author of Spirit Crane Body:

"What a rotten book! It's worse than even third-rate storybooks!"

"Your Young Master is about to read himself sick!"

"Was this man really that idle? He even wrote about ascending Thousand Mountain Thousand Feather Observation and comprehending peerless arts there. If he had that much time, why didn't he get some education and learn how to write a book?"

Zheng Fa shook his head and straightened the book on the table, but inwardly, he had to admit—it truly was impossible to see any cultivation secret in this book.

Seeing the somewhat dejected expressions on the two of them, Gao Yuan could not help letting a faint smile curl across his lips.

Seventh Young Master noticed his expression and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing." Gao Yuan shook his head.

"Do you think it makes you happy that this Young Master and Zheng Fa, who has more talent than you, both can't understand it?"

Gao Yuan's face reddened. He honestly murmured, "My martial training hasn't been going very smoothly lately either. Looking at it now, it seems everyone is more or less the same..."

Zheng Fa understood Gao Yuan rather well. Gao Yuan was the sort of person who liked comparing himself to others, was easily influenced by them, and was especially prone to anxiety.

Zheng Fa was even confident that Gao Yuan bore him no ill will. Calling it jealousy would be even less appropriate.

But from Zheng Fa's observations, when someone failed an exam, no amount of consolation worked as well as seeing his good brother's failing paper...

"More or less the same?" Seventh Young Master glanced at Gao Yuan. "Have you mastered Pine Crane Stance?"

"Not quite."

"You haven't mastered Pine Crane Stance, and he hasn't mastered Spirit Crane Body. That's like one person failing the county-level examination and another failing to become the top scholar." With sincere yet piercing confusion on his face, Seventh Young Master asked, "And you... empathize with him?"

The smile slowly vanished from Gao Yuan's face, then appeared on Seventh Young Master's dog face.