Yin-Yang Five-Element Seven-Absolutes Sword Classic

Zhu Ying and Wang Chong had not expected that, after returning to Wutai Mountain, they would have to part from their master. Fortunately, they were already used to it. Led by a young monk, they settled into a meditation room.

This young monk's Dharma name was Miaoguang. He was not Tuotuo Patriarch's formal disciple, nor did he even count as a registered disciple—merely a monk of Southern Zen Temple.

Southern Zen Temple had more than a thousand such monks. Most lived in the lower courtyards along the mountainside and at the foot of the mountain, handling the temple's daily affairs.

Tuotuo Patriarch had twenty-seven disciples and more than fifty granddisciples. These disciples and granddisciples needed to cultivate every day and required attendants, which was why Southern Zen Temple had so many ordinary monks.

Miaoguang knew that the two had been entered into the ancestral register and held extraordinary status, so he arranged a spacious, comfortable, tranquil, and elegant meditation room for them. It was only somewhat far from the main courtyard where the scriptures were lectured on.

It was not that he meant to make things difficult for them. The meditation rooms near the main courtyard had all been occupied by Tuotuo Patriarch's disciples and granddisciples, leaving no vacant quarters for the two of them.

After arranging their lodging, Miaoguang asked whether they wanted a few novice monks assigned to them. Zhu Ying and Wang Chong both firmly refused, and he drifted away.

Once only the two of them remained, Wang Chong said, "It feels as though we've returned to the academy. It's just a pity there's nowhere to study."

Zhu Ying smiled. "Once your cultivation rises another level, you'll be able to go anywhere under heaven. Why worry over such a thing?"

Wang Chong thought for a moment and said, "Even if I returned to the academy, I wouldn't be in the same mood anymore."

"I wonder how Uncle Wang, Sixth Son, and Crescent are doing now?"

Zhu Ying replied, "I sent someone to deliver letters to your bookboy and your household staff, telling them you had gone traveling to study. Your household servant returned that very day to send word to your mother. She should not be worried for the time being."

Wang Chong said in surprise, "Sister Zhu, you're so thoughtful."

He had originally worried that his mother would learn he had vanished, then hear that something had happened at the academy, and would surely be beside herself with concern. Yet he had not known how to return, nor had he any way to send a letter. He had not expected Zhu Ying to have long since made arrangements.

Zhu Ying said, "When Sun Yougui took you away, I thought that your family had to be given some news. But it would not do to explain that you had been captured by a demonic fiend from an evil sect, so this was the only way."

Wang Chong felt somewhat reassured. He touched the Black Wind Bag and took out some everyday necessities. Other than gold, silver, jewels, Daoist robes and caps, shoes, and mundane weapons, Old Demon Luo's Black Wind Bag also contained many miscellaneous objects.

If cultivators wished it, accumulating wealth was easy. Those who prized pleasure had almost everything they could need in their portable treasure bags, and even when sleeping rough in the wild, they could live more extravagantly and comfortably than ordinary people did at home.

Zhu Ying had been born in the East Sea Dragon Palace, so her daily necessities were naturally even more luxurious than those of ordinary cultivators. Yet she did not care for such things. Back at Egret Academy, her life had been no different from that of an ordinary student.

When she saw Wang Chong take out bedding and blankets, along with teapots, water bowls, and the like, she smiled. "Are you planning to settle down and make a home here?"

Wang Chong's little face reddened. "How can you tease me like that?"

Zhu Ying reached out and stroked his little face. "I am teasing you. What will you do about it?"

Wang Chong's face flushed scarlet. I really can't do anything about it!

Having only just arrived at Southern Zen Temple, neither wished to go out. Each swallowed a fasting pill. The gourd of fasting pills in Wang Chong's hand had been given to him by Xiao Nan.

The next day, a monk came to invite them to the Scripture Lecture Courtyard.

The two left hand in hand, both feeling as though they had returned to Egret Academy. They exchanged smiles. It was the most relaxed and comfortable atmosphere they had experienced in a long while.

At Wutai Mountain, on Sea-Gazing Peak, within Southern Zen Temple, no one would dare make things difficult for disciples of the orthodox Five-Terrace Sect. Nor would there be any demonic fiends from evil sects. Even if celestial generals descended from heaven, they would have to be a little more polite.

The Scripture Lecture Courtyard had been personally overseen in construction by Tuotuo Patriarch. It was the centralmost courtyard of Southern Zen Temple. Within it stood only a single Scripture Lecture Hall. No gods or Buddhas were enshrined in the great hall; there was only a raised platform, with hundreds of meditation cushions below, enough for several hundred people to listen at once.

By the time Wang Chong and Zhu Ying arrived, half of Tuotuo's disciples and granddisciples had already come. The two were unfamiliar faces, and people had noticed them long ago. A burly Great Han asked, "This is where my teacher Tuotuo lectures on the scriptures. None but Five-Terrace Sect members may enter. Please leave."

Zhu Ying hurriedly said, "We are disciples of Master Xiao Nan. We were just entered into the ancestral register by Patriarch Tuotuo, and Patriarch Tuotuo has also permitted us to come listen to the newly created sword classic."

Upon hearing that they were Xiao Nan's disciples, the burly Great Han could not help saying, "Xiao Nan has yet to leave the mountain. What right does he have to accept disciples?"

Zhu Ying explained again, "My master specially begged the Patriarch for leniency, and the Patriarch has already agreed."

Only then did the burly Great Han fall silent. He gave the two a slight nod, and his attitude turned friendly.

The Third Patriarch had transformed into a monster, and more than half the Five-Terrace Sect had scattered. Although Tuotuo Patriarch was temporarily acting as deputy sect leader, the other branches did not acknowledge him.

Xiao Nan was a disciple of Master Bai Yue. For him to request that Tuotuo make an exception and allow him to accept disciples carried a faint implication that Bai Yue's line acknowledged Tuotuo Patriarch's position in its stead.

Thus, when Tuotuo's disciples heard of this matter, they developed a measure of goodwill toward Zhu Ying and Wang Chong. As for the two coming to hear the lecture, that was a trivial matter instead.

Tuotuo had always been proud of the sword classic he had created and wished for everyone in the Five-Terrace Sect to cultivate it. He had never forbidden members of other branches from attending his lectures, but the other branches simply ignored him, which had long displeased Tuotuo Patriarch.

Thus, once Zhu Ying stated that she and Wang Chong had been entered into the ancestral register, no one made things difficult for them again.

Half an hour later, fifty or sixty people had gathered in the Scripture Lecture Hall. They were mostly Tuotuo's granddisciples. His disciples had all been sent out, while the few remaining had supervisory duties and could not get away.

Only then did Tuotuo Patriarch take his seat and begin explaining the Yin-Yang Five-Element Seven-Absolutes Sword Classic he had created.

Zhu Ying knew this was a rare opportunity and listened with full attention. Wang Chong listened for a while, then quietly pondered, How is this any different from Patriarch Bai Yue's Primordial Sword Formula? The sword formula talismans are exactly the same as the Primordial Sword Formula—twenty-eight Heaven-Mixing Talismans, not one more, not one less, without the slightest difference.

It is only that the qi refinement art has two additional cycles...

Eh? Patriarch Tuotuo's Yin-Yang Five-Element Qi Refinement Art does not merely have two extra cycles. Each cycle requires several fewer spiritual apertures to be opened. It still opens one hundred and thirty-six spiritual apertures, yet allows one's mana to circulate through seven cycles. Its cultivation progresses faster than the Great Five-Element Qi Refinement Art, and its power is greater as well!

The Yin Sword Form is identical to the Primordial Sword Formula, without any difference at all. But the Yang Sword Form is different. It emphasizes forcing sword qi out dozens or even hundreds of zhang. With a sword in hand, one can still battle with spells, and its power does not lose to the Yin Sword Form.

If I adjust my spiritual apertures and circulate my cycles according to this method, I can complete two cycles in at most half a month.

The Yin-Yang Five-Element Qi Refinement Art also had the five cycles of Subduing Dragons, Suppressing Tigers, Binding Elephants, Guiding Cranes, and Locking the Heart Ape, but it additionally possessed the two cycles of Flying Clouds and Racing Thunder.

Taking cloud qi and thunder methods as the two aspects of yin and yang, one first established the foundation. Then, when cultivating the latter five cycles, each could borrow apertures from the Flying Clouds and Racing Thunder cycles.

With these two additional cycles, cultivating the later five cycles of Subduing Dragons, Suppressing Tigers, Binding Elephants, Guiding Cranes, and Locking the Heart Ape required several fewer steps each. Progress was faster, and one's mana was stronger as well.