The sonorous morning bell rang out, jolting Huang Huai awake. When he came to, he realized that he had been sitting cross-legged in meditation for more than two hours.
Those two hours had felt like a single instant to him, gone in the blink of an eye. Hearing the senior brothers' voices faintly from within the temple, Huang Huai rose to his feet.
Although his cultivation attempt had failed, it did nothing to dampen his spirits. Now that he had a cultivation method, he could always go to another world to break through. Huang Huai firmly believed that his path to transcendence was right before him.
That was precisely why Huang Huai had not forgotten about the Yellow Turban Warrior statue.
Huang Huai knew very well that now he had embarked on the path of cultivation, the importance of statues like the Yellow Turban Warrior and Holy Lord Emperor Guan would surely become apparent. Naturally, the amount of Incense and Fire Prayer Power the statues could receive would be especially important.
After breakfast, everyone went their separate ways. Huang Huai sidled up to his third senior brother, Sun Chen, and followed him toward Sanqing Hall.
Sun Chen gave Huang Huai a strange look. "Hey, Xiao Jiu, shouldn't you be helping Chen Wei in the side hall? Why are you following me?"
Huang Huai gave a quiet cough and lowered his voice. "There's just something I need Sixth Brother's help with."
Sun Chen raised an eyebrow and looked at Huang Huai in surprise. "Oh? That's a rare thing. Don't tell me there's something you can't handle. Go on, what do you need me to do? Your Sixth Brother will make a bold promise today: if it's something I can do, I'll take care of it for you."
Huang Huai was quite popular at Xunzhen Temple. Whatever the reason, he got along very well with all his senior brothers.
Hearing that, Huang Huai grinned. "Then I'll thank you in advance, Sixth Brother."
Seeing Huang Huai's reaction, Sun Chen felt a little uneasy. "You'd better tell me what you actually need me to do. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
As they spoke, the two had already entered Sanqing Hall. Huang Huai pointed straight at the Yellow Turban Warrior statue standing where he had replaced the Golden Boy. "Sixth Brother, look!"
Sun Chen glanced at it and froze for a moment. "What the—who did this? How did my big Golden Boy statue turn into a Yellow Turban Warrior statue..."
Before he could finish, Sun Chen turned to Huang Huai, looking bewildered. "Xiao Jiu, don't tell me you did this."
Huang Huai nodded without a trace of shame. "That's right. I did it. What do you think, Sixth Brother?"
Sun Chen could only laugh helplessly. He looked at the Yellow Turban Warrior statue on the left of the Three Pure Ones, then at the Jade Girl statue on the right. Compared to the Golden Boy and Jade Girl that had been there before, the new arrangement looked strange no matter how he saw it.
Looking at Huang Huai, Sun Chen said, "Why would you replace the Golden Boy statue with a Yellow Turban Warrior statue for no reason? If Master finds out, he'll probably lecture you again."
Huang Huai smiled. "Don't worry about Master. For now, the Yellow Turban Warrior statue can stay here in Sanqing Hall. I'll go see Master tonight. Maybe then the statue will be moved to True Warrior Great Hall and placed beside the True Warrior Great Emperor!"
Sun Chen looked at the Yellow Turban Warrior statue, then at Huang Huai's serious expression. He took a deep breath and nodded helplessly. "I have no idea what you're up to. Fine, I'll keep it from Master for now, but you'd better tell him soon. You can't keep something like this hidden for long."
Huang Huai smiled at Sun Chen. "Then thank you, Sixth Brother!"
Sun Chen waved him off. "All right, hurry back and help in the side hall. Once the tourists start pouring in, Chen Wei's going to lose it again."
When Huang Huai walked into the side hall, Chen Wei hurried over, looking curious. "Hey, Xiao Jiu, what did you go to see Sixth Brother about?"
Huang Huai glanced at Chen Wei. "I had something to ask him. Why don't you take care of it for me instead?"
Chen Wei reacted almost instinctively. "No, I spoke too soon. Whatever it is, you'd better let Brother Sun handle it!"
As the two joked around, more and more visitors began to file into the side hall.
Huang Huai stood in the hall with his head bowed, appearing to be keeping watch. In truth, he was practicing the White Bone Visualization Method.
Earlier, his attempt to break through to the transcendent realm had fallen just short. Not only had he failed to break through, but his mind had also been injured. Fortunately, Huang Huai had a solid foundation in visualization. As soon as his mind was injured, he had instinctively gathered his thoughts, minimizing the harm caused by the backlash.
In another world, few people managed to break through in a single attempt, so injuries to the mind like this were nothing unusual.
When the mind was injured, all one had to do was use a visualization method to nurse it back to health. Huang Huai tried using the White Bone Visualization Method, and felt the mental exhaustion and weakness ease somewhat.
Judging by his experience with visualization, it would probably take more than a month to recover fully using the White Bone Visualization Method alone.
With a shift of thought, the white bones scattered from his mind, replaced by a Taiji Diagram with yin and yang in constant flux. Huang Huai was preparing to use the Tai Chi Diagram Visualization Method to heal his mind.
The instant the Taiji Diagram took shape in his mind, Huang Huai felt a warm current flow through his thoughts. His injured mind was recovering at incredible speed—several times faster than when he had just used the White Bone Visualization Method.
Huang Huai abruptly opened his eyes, surprise and delight rising in his heart. He had already felt that the White Bone Visualization Method in the Xuan Yuan Casting God Method was far inferior to the Taiji and Internal Landscape Visualization Methods, but he had lacked proof at the time.
Now that his mind was injured, comparing the two methods had let him truly feel just how great the difference between them was.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart. With the Taiji Visualization Method, Huang Huai was confident he could heal his injured mind before the May Day holiday ended.
The day passed in a flash as Huang Huai periodically visualized to heal his mind. He tended to his injuries while also helping out with the visitors, and the two activities did not interfere with each other.
At dusk, Huang Huai went to Sanqing Hall and found Sun Chen arranging the prayer cushions and incense burner.
As he approached, Huang Huai offered to help. "Sixth Brother, is there anything you need a hand with?"
Sun Chen seemed to know what Huang Huai was getting at. He glanced at him. "You replaced the Golden Boy statue with a Yellow Turban Warrior statue, so the arrangement looks a little off. But what do those tourists know? Even if someone thinks it's strange, do you really think they'll say anything?"
Huang Huai thought it over and realized Sun Chen was right. He was used to seeing the Three Pure Ones attended by the Golden Boy and Jade Girl, so replacing the Golden Boy with a Yellow Turban Warrior statue seemed strange to him. But as far as the tourists were concerned, hardly any of them would notice.
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