Understanding

Understanding

The films were excellent.

Tang Lingwu had clearly put a lot of thought into them, finding only high-quality documentaries.

The resolution was cranked to the max, the production teams were top-tier, and every frame carried the beauty of money going up in flames.

Several of them had exceptionally high online ratings and were hailed as holy scriptures for bird enthusiasts.

What pleased Zheng Fa even more was that the cameramen hid their lenses in trees, beside nests, even on sheer cliff faces. Some were even mounted on the birds themselves.

They got as close as possible to the natural lives of their subjects.

Even setting aside his desire to gain insight into the Spirit Crane Body, these meticulously made documentaries were more than enough to captivate a country bumpkin like Zheng Fa.

One film, then two...

Every night, Zheng Fa watched these documentaries.

He watched the birds on screen, watched their everyday lives.

Watched them soar into the sky, glide through the air, and land.

Hunt, feed, play.

He felt as though he had seen some familiar images in them, ones that vaguely resembled the diagrams in the third book of the Spirit Crane Body, the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture.

But exactly what they were, he still could not grasp. It was as though a layer of window paper stood between them, leaving Zheng Fa unable to see through it.

Even after he had nearly finished all the documentaries, he still could not connect the two.

That evening, he absentmindedly clicked on the documentary series he had not yet watched, The Vanished Lords of the Sky—Pterosaurs. Its opening narration made him freeze.

"Among the many hypotheses on the origin of birds, the theory that birds descended from dinosaurs is the one most widely accepted by mainstream scholars."

"So some say that birds are close relatives of dinosaurs."

Zheng Fa blanked out for a moment. When he came back to himself, he was still somewhat astonished.

They really were birds!

"Pterosaurs went extinct in our world long ago. We have no way of knowing exactly how they lived, but through fossil evidence and observations of bird behavior, we can use modeling to simulate the forms and movements of pterosaurs."

Zheng Fa stared at the CGI pterosaur models on the screen as one bizarre image after another flashed through his mind!

That was it!

The author of the Spirit Crane Body seemed to have used the same approach as this documentary—by observing the movement patterns and living habits of countless flying birds, then modeling them... no, creating something that had never existed before—a birdman?

The images in the book gradually overlapped with the pterosaurs on the screen.

Zheng Fa practically wanted to grab that man by the collar and demand:

"You drew animation—couldn't you at least write some notes?"

For several days, Zheng Fa watched documentaries day and night. Especially after truly comprehending the mysteries of the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture, he rewatched the documentaries he had already seen, breaking apart and recombining every diagram in the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture, comparing them against the movements of birds in the films to deepen his understanding of those images.

After several days of staying up late, even with the physical condition he had gained from beginning the Pine Crane Stance, he could not help looking haggard at school, with faint dark circles beneath his eyes.

"Zheng Fa, what have you been doing lately?" Wang Chen asked with concern when he saw his complexion.

"What do you mean, what have I been doing?"

"I mean, have you not been sleeping well at night? Why do you have no energy at all? Are you sick?"

"Oh, I've been watching videos at night these past few days." Zheng Fa touched his face and explained.

"Watching videos? What videos... you, uh?"

Wang Chen's expression suddenly turned strange, as though he had thought of something.

"Tang Lingwu gave them to me."

"Tang Lingwu gave them to you?" Wang Chen seemed to fall into a vast abyss of incomprehension.

"That day, when Old Chen confiscated your phone."

Wang Chen's mouth twitched. That day was far too unforgettable, and he did remember that Tang Lingwu had indeed sent Zheng Fa a message that day.

But he had no mind to talk about that now. With gossip written all over his face, he said, "Don't tell me. Let me guess!"

"?"

"They were the kind... where they don't wear clothes?"

"Why would they wear clothes?"

Zheng Fa was baffled. He had no idea why Wang Chen was asking such a question.

"The kind with very few people?"

"Mm... I suppose that counted."

An inexplicable gleam of excitement flashed through Wang Chen's eyes.

"Indoors?"

"No, they were basically all out in the wild."

"Tang Lingwu actually liked that sort of thing?"

Wang Chen muttered, as though he had uncovered some earth-shattering secret. He patted Zheng Fa on the shoulder and said leisurely, "The world of adults may be wonderful, but you still need to take care of your body!"

Zheng Fa said nothing, merely looking at Wang Chen as though he had some serious illness.

Then he heard Wang Chen sigh. "Tang Lingwu gets good grades, she's pretty, and Old Chen keeps a close eye on her. The boys in our class don't even dare talk to her, but from what I've observed, at least half the boys in our class have a thing for her."

"That many?" Zheng Fa had truly never paid attention to such things. Who liked whom in class had never fallen within the scope of his concern.

"You only have studying on your mind. I guarantee there are far more than you think. Who would've thought her private hobby would be this thrilling..." Wang Chen stroked his chin, wearing the look of a man whose horizons had been broadened. "If all the boys in the class found out, tsk tsk..."

"Tsk what?"

"It'd drive the other half of the boys crazy!"

Zheng Fa looked at Wang Chen's utterly convinced face.

For some reason, what he said sounded contradictory—vulgar, yet somehow reasonable.

When Seventh Young Master saw Zheng Fa in his study, Zheng Fa looked even more haggard.

"You...?"

To watch those documentaries, Zheng Fa had spent nearly both of his final two days in the modern world awake all night.

"I gained some insight into the Spirit Crane Body," Zheng Fa explained.

Seventh Young Master and Gao Yuan, standing beside him, exchanged a glance and shook their heads, clearly unconvinced.

After all, Zheng Fa had already returned the book. What was there for him to gain insight into?

Seventh Young Master glanced at Zheng Fa, shook his head, then took a book from the shelf behind him and handed it over.

"What's this?"

"Forget about the Spirit Crane Body. I'm telling you, martial arts have no future. Learn talisman arts with me instead!" Seventh Young Master said with a sigh.

Zheng Fa looked at the book before him. On its cover were the words: Complete Explanation of Talisman Diagrams, Book One.

"What's this?"

"Didn't I tell you before? Talisman diagrams."

Zheng Fa flipped through it. Sure enough, it was filled with those complex, abstract patterns.

Having just been tormented by birdmen, Zheng Fa felt a headache coming on at the sight of them. He set the book down and asked, "Once I finish learning this book, I'll understand the Way of Talismans?"

"Heh, finish learning it? Do you know how many books there are in this series?"

"No."

Seventh Young Master held up one finger.

"Ten books?"

Seventh Young Master shook his head.

"One hundred books?"

"A whole roomful!" Seventh Young Master pointed toward a room off the side of the study and said mournfully, "They're all in there!"

Zheng Fa turned his head, looked at the rows upon rows of bookshelves stretching all the way to the ceiling, and swallowed.

"And they add new ones to this series every year! I've been studying it since I was little, and even now, the number I haven't read is only increasing!"

Seventh Young Master's tone was so aggrieved it made one's heart ache.

Zheng Fa truly understood. This really was an endless sea of learning.

"Young Master, what exactly are talisman diagrams?"

"I don't understand either." Seventh Young Master shook his head. "According to this book, all talisman diagrams come from Immortal Sect cultivators' comprehension of heaven and earth. They contain the Great Dao. In fact, many of the earliest talisman papers simply had talisman diagrams drawn on them."

"But later, people discovered that some talisman diagrams looked different yet had the same effects. That was why cultivators proposed the concept of the Origin Talisman, trying to find the similarities between them."

"As for these, it's because Immortal Sect cultivators are still comprehending new talisman diagrams every day..."

Zheng Fa suddenly understood. At last, he understood that roomful of books.

"An exhaustive method..."