Entering Stillness

The moon rose over the eastern hills, and a gentle breeze drifted through the hall.

Xu Yi was bare-chested, crouched in a horse stance, arms stretched out to either side, palms held flat, each supporting a stone lock weighing over fifty pounds.

After seeing Jiang Shaohuan and the others off, Xu Yi had eaten lunch, taken a short nap, and showered in cold water. Now, restless after a long spell of stillness, he turned his attention to the two stone locks in the courtyard.

His cultivation had now reached the Body Tempering Peak. At full strength, he could strike with the force of one and a half oxen. Two fifty-pound stone locks would normally be too light to train with, but Xu Yi had found a way around that and devised this posture.

As everyone knew, an ordinary person might be able to lift a hundred-pound sack, yet would find it nearly impossible to grasp a ten-pound object in one hand and hold it out horizontally.

As for holding something flat on an open palm, even five pounds would be hard to manage.

Yet Xu Yi maintained this extraordinarily difficult posture, supporting fifty-pound stone locks on both palms. Their bars were round and narrow, making them extremely difficult to balance on his hands.

And because the bars were long and thin, he had to hold his arms at different heights to support both locks at once.

The posture was exceptionally demanding. Even with Xu Yi's astonishing stamina, after an hour he began to feel his strength running out.

For the next hour, he relied entirely on his incredible willpower to keep going. His arms had grown so numb with pain that he could no longer feel them, and sweat poured from his body until there was none left to give.

As he held on, suddenly his whole body felt light. His mind grew clear and empty, and deep in his soul, a joyful elation welled up.

Xu Yi could feel that whenever his body was pushed to the point of exhaustion, a profound satisfaction stirred within his soul.

He guessed that as his body grew stronger, his soul did too.

The reasoning was simple: people with stronger bodies were often more energetic and mentally alert, and energy and alertness were direct reflections of Soul Power.

Xu Yi's guess was not wrong, but he knew only part of the truth.

In his present state, Zen Buddhism had a name for what he had entered: "Warrior's Stillness."

There were eminent monks in Zen who could sit in meditation and contemplate the Buddha, maintaining a single posture for days without sleep or rest, transcending the self and forgetting the world. This was a wondrous state of mind known as entering the Sage's Stillness.

Xu Yi, however, had transcended himself and entered a state of stillness while undergoing high-intensity training. Once there, his mind drove his body to continue training just as intensely. This was called "Warrior's Stillness."

It was said that the Battle King Buddha of Zen had been able to enter stillness in the midst of combat ever since he began cultivating, fighting on without end.

By a stroke of chance, Xu Yi had entered Warrior's Stillness that day.

On one hand, his body was undergoing intense tempering, nourishing his soul.

On the other, his soul was nourishing his body as it trained, without pain or fear.

Just as Xu Yi was immersed in that wondrous state, experiencing the mysteries of his body and soul, a sharp cry suddenly rang out. "Bearded Uncle, how much longer are you going to train? I want something to eat!" Qiu Wa had poked her little head out from the daybed nearby and was shouting at the top of her lungs.

The sound reached his ears, and his soul trembled. Every kind of pain surged over him at once. The two stone locks slipped from his hands one after the other, and Xu Yi's legs went weak; he nearly collapsed to the ground.

The Warrior's Stillness he had entered by chance came to an abrupt end.

Xu Yi steadied himself and recalled the wondrous state he had just experienced. He reached out and felt his arm, finding nothing different, yet somehow sensing that something had changed.

"Bearded Uncle, I'm hungry!"

Unable to wait any longer, Qiu Wa finally dashed out of the room, wrapped her arms around Xu Yi's leg, and shook it vigorously.

"The person bringing dinner is at the gate. Hurry and go get it."

As soon as Xu Yi finished speaking, the Copper Ring on the gate clanged, knock knock.

Qiu Wa let go at once, cheered, and dashed off.

"Something's different!"

Xu Yi murmured to himself, a rush of joy rising in his heart.

He knew what had changed: his perception had grown stronger.

Before, he could sense activity within a radius of about ten zhang, but his perception was crude. With his eyes closed, he could only tell that someone was in one place, or that something was in another.

Now, although the range of his perception had not grown, it had become countless times more precise.

Take the knock on the gate just now. Before, at most he could have sensed someone approaching the gate, but he wouldn't have been able to tell which direction they came from.

But just now, he had not only sensed clearly that someone was about to enter, he had even precisely detected the faint sound of that person's hand closing around the Copper Ring.

Xu Yi closed his eyes, stretched out his arms, and opened himself to the world. In that moment, the world came alive, transformed.

In the nest atop the old locust tree ten zhang beyond the gate, a fledgling eagle gaped its tender yellow beak, waiting for its mother to bring it a bug.

In a burrow beneath the ditch, a snake egg's shell was cracking, splinter by splinter.

In the fish tank at the center of the neighboring courtyard, three golden carp rose to the surface, taking in air and blowing bubbles.

The evening breeze drifted by, bamboo leaves rustled, and flowers fell like a shower of stars. Every pore in Xu Yi's skin was reading the world.

After dinner, Xu Yi helped Uncle Mu take his medicine and lie down, then carried a bamboo recliner into the courtyard to enjoy the cool air.

Qiu Wa, who loved being part of the fun, pestered him for two stories, then curled up on his lap and fell asleep.

By the faint light, Xu Yi read for a while, then lifted his head and gazed into the distance.

The Milky Way stretched across the sky, its stars brilliant. The Big Dipper hung like a ladle, and the moon was half hidden. As he watched, Xu Yi drifted into a daze.

Alone in a foreign land, a stranger among strangers. Perhaps only that vast starry sky could help him find a trace of his former life.

"Riding the flying immortals through the heavens, embracing the bright moon for all eternity. If I cultivated to that level, could I transcend the cycle of rebirth and return to my old world?"

Xu Yi murmured.

Just as Xu Yi was lost in homesickness, someone pounded hard on the gate. With barely a thought, Xu Yi knew who had come. He hurriedly carried Qiu Wa back to her room, then rushed back and opened the gate. "It's late at night. Shouldn't you be resting at home, sir? What brings you over to visit me?"

The visitor was Master Zhou. His clothes were disheveled, he was panting, and he looked terribly flustered.

Before Master Zhou could respond, another man barged through the gate, grabbed Xu Yi by the shoulders, and shouted, "Boss, this is a golden opportunity—a once-in-a-lifetime chance! Hurry and give me the money so I can place a bet. If we miss it, we'll lose big!"

The newcomer was lean, with a rather large face, and a huge bundle strapped to his back. Who else could it be but Yuan Qinghua, whom Xu Yi had hired in the eastern part of the city that morning?

Master Zhou and Yuan Qinghua had arrived at the same time, each in his own state of agitation. Xu Yi had a rough idea why they were there. He stopped them from talking, introduced the two, and led them inside to sit by the stone table in the courtyard.

Half an incense stick later, Xu Yi had the whole story.

It turned out that toward evening, news had broken in Guang'an City of a Purple Banner duel.

The Purple Banner was raised specifically for duels between Body Tempering Peak experts.

In recent years, the Three Great Sects had gained ever greater influence in Guang'an City, and with the three of them mediating, duels between experts had grown increasingly rare.

The duel between Body Tempering Peak experts that had just been announced would be Guang'an City's first high-level duel of the year.

The moment the news spread, the whole city was thrown into an uproar.

And since gambling matches were already popular in Guang'an, the announcement of an impending duel between Body Tempering Peak experts sent gamblers all across the city into a frenzy.