"The Way is empty, yet in use it is never exhausted. Deep, ah! It seems the ancestor of all things. Blunt its sharpness, untangle its knots, soften its glare, mingle with its dust. Subtle, ah! It seems to exist. I know not whose child it is; it seems to have existed before the Supreme Deity."
The old Daoist lecturing on the classics spoke in a faint voice, yet his words clearly reached the ears of everyone listening in the Scripture Hall. When he finished the final word, his eyelids drooped, as though he might fall asleep at any moment. He looked every bit like a candle guttering at the end of its wick.
Jiang Wang did not dare be careless. He followed his senior brothers in bowing respectfully, then rose from his seat.
Though the old man looked unremarkable, he was Song Qifang, vice dean of the Maple Forest City Daoist Academy. More precisely, before Dong A arrived, he had been the academy's dean, and had been rooted in Maple Forest City for decades. Yet he was already over eighty, and his cultivation had remained stuck at the seventh level, unable to open the Heaven and Earth Gates. He had long since lost his drive to advance, instead burying himself in the classics and devoting himself wholeheartedly to teaching the Dao. For that, he was deeply loved.
After Dong A arrived, he neither fought nor competed, and did all he could to support him, allowing Dong A to take control of the Maple Forest City Daoist Academy smoothly. In return, Dong A treated him with the utmost respect.
Throughout Maple Forest City, no one could surpass Song Qifang in virtue and prestige.
Even after walking out of the Scripture Hall, Jiang Wang's heart could not settle. He remained immersed in a profound sense of awe.
What was the Dao? It could not be seen or touched, yet it was everywhere, boundless and inexhaustible. How was one to know it, understand it, pursue it? The more one pursued it, understood it, and came to know it, the more ignorant and insignificant one felt.
All one could do was sigh, "Deep, ah!" Profound and far-reaching!
Ling He walked and recited, wishing he could chew over the words again and again. Zhao Rucheng, who had never cared much for his studies, seemed thoughtful too. Only Du Yehu yawned nonstop, as though he had just woken from a nap.
Each term, the inner academy selected ten students. Judging by their progress in the Basic Breathing Technique alone, Du Yehu ranked just behind Jiang Wang, whose Dao Vein had already manifested ahead of schedule. There was no denying his extraordinary talent. But those so-called classics of the Great Dao simply would not go into his head. By contrast, as soon as lessons turned to Daoist Arts, he came alive.
The inner academy was the true Dao Academy, and that was no exaggeration. Back in the outer academy, they had been taught only a few simple martial techniques, and every so often an inner disciple would come by to offer some guidance. After joining the inner academy, though, they had a classics lesson every five days and a Daoist Arts lesson every ten. The former covered the classics, the latter the arts. Both were taught by senior Daoists. And if they ran into any cultivation difficulties in their daily practice, they could seek their teachers' advice at any time. Martial techniques, which outer disciples had needed to exchange contributions for, were also made freely available to inner disciples.
Still, they held little appeal for the inner disciples. It was not that the Martial Dao was weak; rather, throughout the Zhuang Kingdom's cultivation world, Daoist Sect cultivation methods were dominant. Though the Maple Forest City Daoist Academy had collected some martial techniques, they served only as supplementary training for outer disciples. Naturally, they were not especially powerful, and were far inferior to the might of Daoist Arts. There was little reason to take the long way around.
"Senior Brother Jiang, please wait!" a voice called from behind.
Jiang Wang turned and recognized Fang Heling, who had entered the inner academy in the same term as he had. Fang Heling came from one of Maple Forest City's three great surnames, and Fang Pengju was his cousin.
As it happened, he would not have qualified for the inner academy of the City Daoist Academy. But each term, one of the ten places selected for the inner academy had to go to one of the three great surnames. It was practically an unwritten rule. Fang Pengju's selection had been entirely proper; as for Fang Heling, who knew what price the Fang Family had paid behind the scenes?
That was reality. Cultivation might be a path beyond the mortal world, but wherever humans walked, tangled relationships were never far away, and things were never quite so pure. The Maple Forest City Daoist Academy was no exception.
"Is something the matter?" Jiang Wang asked coolly.
"Oh, it's nothing much." Fang Heling wore a moon-white robe and cupped his hands. He had a rather graceful air about him. "I just wanted to apologize to you for Fang Pengju's wolfish ambition. He's already been struck from the family register. The Fang Family has no place for someone so unkind and unjust."
"He is he, and you are you. You don't need to apologize for him. What he did has nothing to do with you."
Jiang Wang left after saying that. He had no desire to humor a young master putting on a show.
But Fang Heling clearly felt insulted. He came from one of Maple Forest City's three great surnames, and had personally apologized to someone like Jiang Wang, born into a fallen household. Jiang Wang ought to have been overwhelmed with gratitude, or at the very least clasped his hand and shared a moment of mutual understanding. Why was he being so cold?
"Why the hurry, Senior Brother Jiang?" Fang Heling hurried a few steps and circled around in front of Jiang Wang and the others, smiling. "I forgot to tell you: I took a Vein-Opening Pill yesterday, and my Dao Vein has already manifested."
He tried to hold it back, but his pride practically spilled out of him.
"And then?" Jiang Wang asked.
Fang Heling froze for a moment, then said, "Of the students selected for the inner academy this term, only the two of us manifested our Dao Veins ahead of schedule. We should get to know each other better."
He was still young. Though the lessons he had received since childhood had taught him to maintain his manners, his words already made it clear that he thought nothing of anyone else. As the saying went, there were no heroes in All-Under-Heaven but the two of them.
He truly did not resent Jiang Wang for Fang Pengju's death. If Fang Pengju had not died, he would not have gotten this chance. If not for the need to preserve the prestige of one of the three great surnames and hold on to the Fang Family's inner academy place at the Maple Forest City Daoist Academy, even with his father all but certain to be the Fang Family's next patriarch, it would have been difficult to persuade the family to pay such a huge price for a Vein-Opening Pill.
Otherwise, he would have had to wait until next year to enter the inner academy, or might not have gotten in even then. There were only ten places a year, and how many eyes in Maple Forest City were watching? If the family had other, more capable descendants, even his father could not have made things too obvious. Fang Pengju's having secured that place in advance was proof enough.
"Oh."
Jiang Wang gave a brief reply, went around Fang Heling, and continued on his way.
Of course he knew Fang Heling was the legitimate son of the Fang Family's next patriarch, born of one of the three great surnames' main lines. He also knew that Fang Heling had no intention of picking a fight with him, at least for now. To preserve the Fang Family's reputation, he would probably even call Jiang Wang his brother and act all smiles.
But why? Why had someone as outstanding as Fang Pengju begged in vain for a single Vein-Opening Pill, until he grew ever more extreme and reckless, only for Fang Heling to get one just a few days after Fang Pengju died? How could the brothers not know Fang Heling's true worth, when everyone else might not?
If he had even a shred of promise, how could Fang Pengju ever have been the one the Fang Family put forward?
Even if Fang Pengju had repaid kindness with betrayal and died overnight, did a good-for-nothing young master like this really have the right to trample on him?
The fact that Jiang Wang had not blown up on the spot showed remarkable restraint.
Ling He, Du Yehu, and the others had not even looked at him once.
The group walked away, leaving Fang Heling standing where he was, the smile on his face slowly stiffening.
He had never imagined he would be ignored.
Even after swallowing a Vein-Opening Pill, manifesting his Dao Vein at last, and entering the inner academy, he was still ignored!
He remembered when he had first entered the outer academy. Outside the Dao Academy, he had run into these prominent outer disciples and eagerly gone up to greet his cousin's friends and introduce himself.
But his cousin had not even noticed him. He had walked off with the others, arms around their shoulders.
Fang Heling had never forgotten the disappointment he felt then. That was why, as soon as he had stabilized his Dao Vein after opening it, he had come to find Jiang Wang and the others.
He did not know whether he wanted to prove something. But at the very least, you people had to look at him.
And yet nothing had changed.
Everything had clearly changed, yet it was as if nothing had changed at all.
"Jiang Wang!"
Fang Heling shouted inwardly.
He tried with all his might to keep his expression in check, but his face had already twisted into something hideous.
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