"What answer are you seeking?" Hearing Hong Yi's four lines of poetry, Bai Ziyue shuddered all over. He savored them carefully, feeling an endless surge of heroic spirit. Glug, glug—Hong Yi downed three more mouthfuls and still wasn't satisfied. The more he drank, the warmer his body felt, as if he might float right up into the sky. Yet his mind grew clearer and clearer, without the slightest hint of drunkenness. "Hong Yi, you want to practice martial arts?" Bai Ziyue looked at Hong Yi, then at the Martial Classic on the table. "Much of this Martial Classic has been abridged, and most of what it records is crude. Your flesh is slack and your tendons weak; you have no martial strength at all. You're starting from a blank slate, with no foundation. It'll be difficult to build great strength in a short time." Hong Yi understood. "But do those who cultivate immortality also need to practice martial arts?" In the Great Gan Dynasty's army, five soldiers made a "squad," led by an officer called a "squad leader"; a hundred made a "company," led by an officer called a "company commander"; five hundred made a battalion, led by an officer called a "commandant"; a thousand made a "division," led by a general; and ten thousand made a "regiment," led by a "regimental commander." Seeing Bai Ziyue so unrestrained, yet utterly composed in his bearing, Hong Yi recalled the supernatural powers he had just displayed and couldn't help feeling a secret pang of envy. "Martial training begins with tempering the flesh, tendons, and skin. In the Great Gan Dynasty's Martial Hall, those who train until their skin is tempered are classified as martial disciples. They're also considered qualified candidates in the imperial examinations, and in the army they can easily serve as officers commanding a hundred men." Bai Ziyue spoke as if he knew the army's system well. As he spoke, he passed the wine gourd back to Hong Yi. "I see." "Even cultivating both life and nature may not be enough to transcend!" Bai Ziyue shook his head. The Great Gan Dynasty had a strict system for ranking martial prowess in its examinations: martial student, martial disciple, martial warrior, martial master, Xiantian Martial Master, Grandmaster, and Martial Saint. Though the ranks were finely divided, even the best in the army were only martial warriors or martial masters. Those who reached the Xiantian realm, with powerful internal organs and seemingly endless stamina, were few and far between, to say nothing of Grandmasters and Martial Saints. Hong Yi felt at ease, too. Bai Ziyue's arrival alone, displaying his supernatural powers and driving off those fiendish hunters, had saved the foxes from certain disaster. He had heard these three names in Li Yan's Caotang Notes. The notes recorded: "The Great Zen Temple has three sutras: the Past, the Present, and the Future. They are like the scholar's cultivation of virtue, merit, and words. Alas, I never saw them with my own eyes. What a pity, what a pity." "A long sword spans the nine wilds, a high crown brushes the dark firmament; striding alone through a world of sages and brightness, acclaimed as a hero beneath the four seas? Good, good, good... Acclaimed as a hero beneath the four seas—who in all the world is a hero?" Hearing those three names from Hong Yi, Bai Ziyue's eyelids twitched. After Hong Yi finished drinking, Bai Ziyue took back his own large gourd and gulped from it. With each drink, he recited a line of poetry, as if using verse for food to wash down the wine. "Just call me Ziyue. 'Mr. Bai' sounds too formal. With the poem you gave me, you're a kindred spirit of mine, Bai Ziyue." Bai Ziyue took another drink. A faint flush spread across his face, but his eyes still gleamed with warm light. "Demon Immortals are Ghost Immortals. They aren't human; they cultivate the Yin Spirit, seize a body, and reincarnate as Ghost Immortals. I cultivated in the mountains for sixty years before becoming a Ghost Immortal, then reincarnated into a fetus. I'm fifteen now. How old are you, Brother Yi?" "One step at a time," Hong Yi said with a smile. "You're said to be one of the Eight Great Demon Immortals of the World. May I ask what a Demon Immortal is?" Hong Yi asked. "Don't ask me. I don't know either. I've only cultivated my spirit to the Ghost Immortal stage, and haven't yet endured the tribulation of thunder. As for martial arts, I've only reached the Martial Saint realm of marrow cleansing and blood exchange; I haven't become a Human Immortal. I came to Yujing this time to seek an answer." Bai Ziyue said. "I've been studying the Martial Classic these past few days, and I want to train, too, but I lack anyone to guide me. When three walk together, one of them can be my teacher. Now that I've met you, Ziyue, I must ask for your instruction," Hong Yi said to Bai Ziyue. "No wonder! Scholars all pay attention to archery, to strengthen their bodies. That's the reason. Only by cultivating both life and nature can one transcend," Hong Yi said. "So you're just past fifteen, Ziyue. I'm fifteen as well. I've read the Daoist Classic, which says that demons and ghosts can seize a person's body and destroy their spirit. But you reincarnated into a fetus and grew up in it. That truly seems to be a proper way for a Demon Immortal," Hong Yi said. Clearly, this wine was no ordinary brew. "Still, Ziyue is also a master of martial arts. You've actually reached the Martial Saint realm. If I want to practice martial arts, I'll have to ask you for guidance." Hong Yi thought to himself. "What an unrestrained young man. His supernatural powers come naturally to him—how carefree." "To cultivate nature without cultivating life is the foremost ailment of cultivation. To cultivate the spirit without cultivating the body is to fail to cross the sea of suffering and reach the other shore." Bai Ziyue said, "A person's thoughts are the soul; their body is the corporeal form. Nature and life must be cultivated together. Otherwise, talking about reason while neglecting the body is no good." As for Human Immortals, he had never even heard of them. Hearing Bai Ziyue speak so frankly and openly, with the air of someone who had "nothing to hide from anyone," Hong Yi felt a little closer to him. "I've heard that the Great Zen Temple has three volumes of scripture: one is the Past Amitabha Sutra, one is the Present Tathagata Sutra, and one is the Future Non-Birth Sutra. They teach the supreme way of transcendence. The Past Amitabha Sutra is the supreme secret for cultivating the spirit; the Present Tathagata Sutra is the supreme boxing art for becoming a Human Immortal; as for the Future Non-Birth Sutra, I don't know. But it's said that to truly transcend, you must study all three together. The Great Zen Temple was destroyed, and the three sutras vanished. They may be kept in the royal Library. I came to Yujing this time to find those three books." But that single stroke gave no further information. "Hmm?" Hong Yi asked in puzzlement. Likewise, those who cultivated immortal arts could let their spirits leave their bodies after their flesh decayed, seize someone else's body, and take it over. "When it comes to training the flesh, tendons, and skin, no martial arts can compare to the Great Zen Temple's Ox Demon Great Strength Fist and Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist. Once you've trained in these two styles, your tendons, bones, skin, and flesh will be strong. When your external training is complete, you'll be a martial master. As for entering the Xiantian realm, that requires breathing methods to train the internal organs, and there are many kinds. I'll teach you the Ox Demon Great Strength Fist first." "What song is that?" Hong Yi asked. "Striding alone through a world of sages and brightness, acclaimed as a hero beneath the four seas..." "The Past Amitabha Sutra, Present Tathagata Sutra, and Future Non-Birth Sutra?" Everything was ranked by strict grades, far more rigidly than the imperial court; positions were all won through martial prowess and military service. This mysterious young man, one of the Eight Great Demon Immortals of the World, rose to his feet and laughed three times. "Good! Drink, drink! Just for that poem, you've spoken straight to my heart. To meet a kindred spirit so far from home—what a joy!" "It's not that there's a proper way to do it. It's forcibly seizing another's body and destroying their spirit, wearing down your own spirit in the process. It harms others without benefiting yourself. Besides, an adult's body is already fully formed and can't be reshaped, so they can never reach great heights in martial arts. A fetus is only a mass of flesh and blood, without soul or spirit, utterly pure. Only after birth does it gradually develop thoughts and awareness; only then does it become human," Bai Ziyue said. "I made up a drinking song," Bai Ziyue said with another laugh. Whenever an animal gained sentience and its spirit left its body, if it gradually cultivated to become a Ghost Immortal, it could possess another body and reincarnate as a human—or even forcibly seize someone's body, destroy their spirit, and take over their shell. "No wonder he's a Demon Immortal. He speaks without the evasions people use. If he were an ordinary person, how could he casually tell me he'd come to Yujing to search the royal Library for secret texts?"
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