Dharma Assembly

Clang—

At Lingshan Temple, the eight-sided iron bell left behind by the Former Ming was struck with a heavy blow. A grand procession of people and horses swept through the temple gates.

It turned out that the Great Shun official presiding over today's Dharma assembly had arrived.

At the head of the procession was a red plaque with gold lettering, inscribed with the words "By Imperial Decree: Prince of Fushi, Grand Patriarch." It was a truly imposing sight.

The senior monks of Lingshan Temple all stood waiting at the gate to greet him. A smiling old man in blue robes stepped down from the carriage.

The monks hurriedly bowed when they saw him.

The man nodded, then followed the monks to the main hall.

His guards followed close behind, but did not enter the hall. Instead, they surrounded its doors.

"Master Mingcheng, is that the Grand Patriarch?"

Chen Wu was mingling with the crowd when he spotted Monk Mingcheng keeping order in front of the main hall. He went over to ask.

"Benefactor." Monk Mingcheng pressed his palms together. "That is indeed Grand Patriarch Li Chengxian. His Majesty recently entrusted him with making offerings at the Imperial Temple and Merit Temple in Yan'an Prefecture. When he heard about the matter at our Lingshan Temple, he volunteered to preside over the Dharma assembly."

"Thank you for explaining, Master."

"The assembly is taking place inside the hall. There is no need for you to go any closer," Monk Mingcheng said. "After the seventh toll of the bell, the new abbot will be chosen and come out to meet the faithful."

"I see."

"Who are the candidates for the new abbot?"

"Amitabha!" Mingcheng pressed his palms together again. "Our Lingshan Temple is a hereditary temple, so the new abbot should have been chosen from among Master Yongyan's two disciples, Chang Yu and Chang Le. But as you know, there have been rumors about Master Yongyan. The other lineages are dissatisfied, so they have put forward a third candidate: Master Changxin."

Oh, so there were three candidates.

Chen Wu was about to continue chatting with Master Mingcheng when, suddenly, a chime rang inside the main hall, followed by the deep, resonant sound of chanting sutras.

Seeing this, Master Mingcheng hurriedly stood at attention and joined his palms toward the main hall, chanting along.

The faithful nearby were swept up in the moment and lowered their heads to chant with him.

Chen Wu immediately understood. This was probably the crucial moment of the selection.

Before long, the chanting stopped.

Clang—clang—clang—clang—clang—clang—clang—

Seven deep tolls rang out. A middle-aged monk in his forties or fifties slowly emerged from the main hall, draped in a Brocade Kasaya. Surrounded by the monks, he pressed his palms together and bowed to the worshippers and faithful gathered at the foot of the steps.

The Grand Patriarch did not come out. It seemed he had stayed inside the hall so as not to steal the new abbot's thunder.

"Master Changxin!"

Someone in the crowd shouted. The faithful below grew even more fervent, a clear sign that Master Changxin enjoyed an extraordinary reputation among them.

Changxin smiled in response and pressed his palms together in another bow. He murmured something, seemingly chanting blessings for the faithful.

"Ah—"

Just then, a scream came from inside the main hall. The monks on the steps were thrown into an uproar.

The guards at the entrance looked horrified and rushed into the hall.

Crash—

At that moment, a wooden window in the hall shattered. A person in a novice monk's robe, holding a long sword, burst through it and flew outside. Two guards immediately pursued.

The fugitive's lightness skill was superb. He stepped on the shoulders of the worshippers below and sped through the air, while the guards fell farther and farther behind.

Chen Wu stared, dumbfounded. He began to wonder if he had some kind of Conan-like curse. How could someone die just while he was watching a Dharma assembly?

But the very next moment, Chen Wu couldn't hold back any longer.

A sword rang out. The assassin leaped onto the wall surrounding Lingshan Temple and roared, "The killer is Chen Wu of the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower—"

His bravado soared to the heavens, his voice shaking the four corners of the world!

"I'm such an idiot. Really." Chen Wu grumbled to Wang Jiuyuan, who had arrived that evening. "I knew someone might imitate me, but I never thought it'd happen this soon!"

"Hahaha!" Wang Jiuyuan laughed. "You've got it easy. At least two-thirds of the cases pinned on me had nothing to do with me."

The Tower Lord really knew how to comfort someone. Chen Wu felt much better as soon as he heard that.

"But," Wang Jiuyuan continued, "for this guy to impersonate you right under your nose—he clearly doesn't take the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower seriously. We have to teach him a lesson."

Chen Wu nodded repeatedly. "That's exactly what I think!"

"I'll look into it over the next couple of days and find that impostor," Chen Wu said. "Could you ask Old Liu to help me make inquiries, too?"

"No problem. I'll tell the shopkeeper when I get back. Go to the Clock and Watch Shop tomorrow; there should be some news," Wang Jiuyuan said.

"Thanks. Sorry for the trouble, Old Liu."

"Don't worry about it. For now, set all that aside," Wang Jiuyuan said. "Yesterday we discussed swordsmanship. Today, we'll talk about internal cultivation."

"Do you know what internal cultivation is?"

The question was so vast that Chen Wu was stumped.

He thought it over, then ventured, "A way of harnessing the world's special energies for your own use?"

"That's how the Academy of Sciences would put it," Wang Jiuyuan said with a nod. "But it's not quite right."

"Now that ships sail the seas and connect the whole world, it's clear that internal cultivation exists everywhere," Wang Jiuyuan said, picking up a branch and drawing on the ground.

Swish, swish, swish—A diagram of meridians took shape.

"These are the eight extraordinary meridians of Great Shun. Wherever Great Shun's rites and laws have spread, you'll find plenty of people who practice them."

He drew another human figure, with wheels and channels intersecting.

"These are the Three Wheels and Seven Channels, which originated in India. This kind of martial art flourishes wherever India's influence has reached and Buddhism has spread."

Finally, he drew a human figure crossed by intersecting circles and lines.

"This is the Tree of Life, which originated in the Mediterranean. In lands where monotheism holds sway, people generally take it as the foundation of their cultivation."

"In truth, every cultivation system on the whole Old World stems from these three methods of circulating energy," Wang Jiuyuan said. "The New World and a few remote places have other things, but they're not nearly as systematic."

Chen Wu listened, fascinated. He had known that other countries had their own methods of cultivation, but this was the first time he had seen them laid out so plainly.

"All these methods, when you get right down to it, are—as the Academy of Sciences says—ways of harnessing the power of the world for your own use. But..." Wang Jiuyuan changed tack. "Do you know why only humans can cultivate martial arts, while animal spirits are so rarely seen doing the same?"

"Could it be... because humans have intelligence?" Chen Wu asked.

"No!" Wang Jiuyuan said. "It's because humans have souls."

"Concentrated Spirit is, in essence, the ascension of the human soul, the outward manifestation of the will."

"Animals capable of sensing a little of the world's power do exist, though they're rare. But no matter how much power they accumulate through instinct, no matter how strong they become, they can never develop Concentrated Spirit."

"Concentrated Spirit is what makes a person truly human."

Chen Wu understood. Then he suddenly remembered that his own Concentrated Spirit was borrowed. Could there be hidden dangers?

"Old Jin wrote to me about your cultivation method," Wang Jiuyuan said, seeming to see right through Chen Wu's thoughts. He abruptly brought up Chen Wu's method. "Your Heaven-Intercepting Dao-Exposition Method is a marvel of ingenuity, one of the finest methods in the world. The fact that you managed to cultivate it proves you're no ordinary person."

"But your borrowed Concentrated Spirit is both your strength and your weakness. The road ahead will be full of obstacles, especially when it comes to the Concentrated Spirit stage."