Six days remained until the First Emperor arrived at Langya.
That day, under Jiang Yan's guidance, Chen Jin had just finished visualizing the Zhuangzi. Feeling a little mentally drained, he sat across from Jiang Yan in a quiet room beside the Library Pavilion, drinking tea.
Chen Jin set down his teacup and broached the subject. "Libationer, there are rumors going around that the First Emperor's eastern tour is to visit Langya Terrace, offer sacrifices to the Lord of the Four Seasons, and welcome Alchemist Xu Fu back from overseas with the elixir of immortality. Have you heard anything about this?"
Jiang Yan raised his eyelids slightly and blew the tea leaves off his tea. "The news travels fast. Yes, it's true."
Chen Jin leaned forward slightly and voiced a question that had been on his mind for a long time. "There's something I don't understand. If Xu Fu really found the elixir of immortality on an overseas immortal mountain, why would he come back, with the whole world before him? Why not drink it himself and live freely as an immortal? Why return to Xianyang, where the laws are so strict, and bow his head in submission?"
At this, a knowing smile touched Jiang Yan's lips. He set down his teacup and looked at Chen Jin. "My young friend, you've got one crucial cause and effect backward."
"Oh? Please enlighten me, Libationer."
"It wasn't because the First Emperor believed Xu Fu could obtain the elixir of immortality that he sent him overseas," Jiang Yan said. "Rather, it was because the First Emperor had the means to ensure Xu Fu would return no matter what that he entrusted him with such an important mission and provided him with immense resources: huge ships, boys and girls, skilled craftsmen, and seeds for the five grains."
"Means to ensure he returned?"
"Exactly." Jiang Yan nodded. "The First Emperor was a man of great ambition and foresight. He wouldn't make a losing deal. Xu Fu was merely a pawn sent out onto the board, and the string remained firmly in His Majesty's hands. Xu Fu's return was never a choice. It was inevitable."
"But I've heard that Xu Fu was hailed as the greatest Alchemist in the land, especially skilled at tending sacrificial stoves, refining gold, summoning gods, and exorcising ghosts. He must be quite powerful, right?
"And it seems he was from Langya in Qi Territory. Do you happen to know him, Libationer?
"And did he ever study at Jixia Academy?"
Jiang Yan smiled without answering. He pointed to the open scroll of the Zhuangzi's 'Rifling Through Chests.' "Stop letting your imagination run wild and focus on your studies. I'll test you today. 'When sages do not die, great thieves do not stop.' You've been studying the Taoist School lately. What insights have you gained from this saying?"
Chen Jin pondered for a moment. "Libationer, this is merely my humble opinion. Perhaps Zhuangzi didn't mean that sages themselves are evil. Rather, when the world exalts one particular standard of 'sagehood' and makes it rigid—absolute wisdom, flawless morality, or some unquestionable model of the elite—it can bring about certain drawbacks."
He gathered his thoughts and continued. "This deified standard of 'sagehood' draws an invisible line. Those who meet it are revered, while those who don't are seen as 'mediocre,' 'foolish,' or even 'heretical.'
"Though this encourages people to strive for goodness and excellence, it can also create a great many 'failures' and foster an adversarial sense of identity.
"Since I can never meet your 'sage' standards, why should I follow your rules? I might as well become a 'great thief,' do as I please, and break free of my shackles.
"So it's not that sages themselves attract great thieves. Rather, the exclusion and oppression that come from setting up an unquestionable, perfect idol give rise to opposition and rebellion."
Jiang Yan listened in silence, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly against the bamboo slips.
Chen Jin's answer was original, even somewhat unconventional. After a long while, Jiang Yan neither agreed nor disagreed. He only sighed softly. "...An interesting perspective. The truths of the world really do look different from different angles. Your point of view never fails to surprise me."
"I'm a little tired today. Let's continue another time."
With that, Jiang Yan rose and left.
After seeing Jiang Yan off, Chen Jin couldn't help but slap his forehead in frustration.
He still had seven precious opportunities for guidance left that day, and his [Taoist Arts Proficiency] had only just reached 50%. With Jiang Yan gone, his progress for the day had been delayed.
He'd stuffed himself by chatting philosophy with the man and talked him right out the door.
He shook his head helplessly, then turned and plunged back into the Library Pavilion's vast collection, hoping to find some Taoist texts with a lower barrier to entry, suitable for his current level of visualization.
Hard work paid off. In an inconspicuous corner, he really did find a black jade slip that felt cold to the touch.
[Secret Record of Taiyin Eclipse]
Category: Skill Visualization Object
Quality: Rare
Basic Requirements: Taoist Arts Proficiency 50%, Classical Chinese Proficiency 60%
To pursue learning is to increase day by day; to pursue the Way is to decrease day by day. Keep decreasing until there is nonaction.
"That's the one!" Chen Jin paid the Yanfu Points without hesitation, took the jade slip in hand, and let his mind sink completely into the visualization of the "Taiyin eclipse"...
The scene in the Library Pavilion dissolved in an instant, and his consciousness was pulled into a boundless darkness.
At the center of that endless darkness, a bright, perfectly round moon quietly appeared, radiating a cool, pure glow. It became the sole source of light and the center of that world.
Moonlight spilled like water, carrying a sense of serenity, perfection, and inviolability—the state of "fullness," symbolizing the height of prosperity and flawlessness.
Chen Jin's consciousness hovered before the moon like a tiny speck of stardust, experiencing this ultimate "fullness."
Suddenly, an ineffable force of "nothingness" quietly spread.
It had no shape or temperature. It seemed more like the manifestation of a rule, like the shadow cast by the mythical "Heavenly Dog," gently touching the moon's edge.
The part of the lunar disc it touched naturally dimmed.
A tiny notch appeared in the perfect circle. The "first bite" had begun.
The shadow spread steadily, inexorably.
The notch gradually widened. The full moon became a crescent, then a thinner curve... At last, even the final silver sliver was "eclipsed," and the entire moon vanished into the darkness behind it. The world returned to utter gloom.
This was "greatest eclipse."
Fullness had been "diminished" to its extreme, turning completely from "substance" into "emptiness."
A majestic vitality, "waiting quietly to be reborn," was taking shape in this moment of deepest darkness.
He truly understood that "emptiness" was not "nothingness," but held within it the boundless potential for the next "fullness."
At the very height of this gloom, a glimmer of light stubbornly reappeared at the moon's edge, like the first seed sprouting in the darkness. Its radiance expanded slowly but steadily, driving back the "shadow" and restoring the lunar disc.
From a sliver of silver light to half a moon's clear glow, at last the bright, full moon once again hung in the darkness, completing its return from "emptiness" to "fullness."
The Heavenly Way moved in cycles, repeating endlessly. The essence of the Secret Record of Taiyin Eclipse was to teach him the mystery of "diminution," guiding his opponent from "fullness" into "emptiness" when they were at the height of their power.
You have learned a new skill. You may name it freely.
The skill was named: [Swallow Sun and Moon]
[Swallow Sun and Moon]:
When this skill is activated, the essence of anything you touch will be forcibly extracted and stripped away. The essence you plunder will be quickly tempered and purified within your body, where it will be used to heal your injuries and strengthen your physical foundation.