Human Virtue Fails, the Gate of the Innate (Please Keep Reading)

[Archive time: thirty years.]

[This year, you were thirty years old, in the prime of manhood. In pursuit of the path of cultivation, you resolutely secluded yourself within the Immortal Tomb on Mount Zhongnan, cutting yourself off from the turmoil of the mortal world.]

[On this very day, Lu Yu found the place where he was in seclusion, travel-worn and dusty.]

[He brought a piece of news, his expression secretive. "Brother, there is now a change unseen in a thousand years."]

[A trace of doubt flashed through your eyes, but it immediately turned into a calm smile.]

[Seeing that your expression remained as steady as ever, Lu Yu felt deeply depressed. He had rarely seen you moved in all these years.]

[Greatly disappointed, Lu Yu finally spoke slowly.]

[The heavens had changed!]

[Spiritual energy had descended upon the world once more.]

[Lu Yu took a yellowed ancient book from his robes, gently opened it, pointed at the words upon it, and said, "This is an ancient book I discovered by chance in an ancient ruin."]

[You gazed at the words in the ancient book: "When the guiding ropes of all under heaven are severed and the binding cords slacken, men of different surnames rise together, and outstanding heroes gather like crows. Human virtue fails, and all under heaven pursue it together; thus the spiritual tide recedes, and the Age of Dharma's End begins."]

[Lu Yu added, "However, from how things look now, all of this seems to be quietly changing."]

[At first, you held a doubtful attitude toward this.]

[It was like talk of ghosts and gods. Spiritual energy was nothing but the imaginings of ancient people toward unknown things, or a means used by predecessors to fool those who came after.]

["Human virtue fails?" you sighed softly, feeling this saying to be utterly absurd.]

[In the rivers and mountains of state, how many rulers had sought ghosts and gods instead of governance, only to end in destruction?]

[Not asking after the common people, but asking ghosts and gods—ridiculous!]

[However!]

[When Lu Yu extended his palm, fist intent flowed within it. When he spread it open again, a soft and bright radiance shone out like candleflame.]

[This sight was strange, almost impossible to believe.]

[Lu Yu looked at you with a smile. That faint light not only lit the tomb chamber, but also seemed to touch your heart.]

[You murmured to yourself, "A change unseen in a thousand years..."]

[Lu Yu nodded and said, "This is spiritual energy."]

["It has neither form nor substance, yet it is everywhere, containing the essence of heaven and earth."]

[Lu Yu circulated the spiritual energy in his hand and pointed lightly. As the faint light flickered in and out, it struck a stubborn stone inside the room.]

[The stone did not shatter, but a deep hole was left in it.]

[You were finally moved. This was already beyond what ordinary men could do.]

[You tried to sense spiritual energy, only to feel empty, gaining nothing at all.]

[Seeing this, Lu Yu demonstrated for you again. You tried several times, but still gained nothing.]

[Perplexed, you asked Lu Yu, "You'an, how did you sense the existence of this spiritual energy?"]

[Lu Yu, courtesy name You'an; in ordinary Taoist temples, fellow disciples addressed one another as junior and senior brothers, and when no outsiders were present, you called him by his courtesy name.]

[Lu Yu rubbed his nose, thought for a moment, then said, "I can't really explain it either. I just suddenly felt that heaven and earth were different, as if something inside my body had been connected through in an instant."]

[Lu Yu demonstrated several more times, but you still gained nothing.]

[You sighed faintly. Perhaps this was talent. You knew Lu Yu was a true genius of Taoist cultivation.]

[You asked Lu Yu about his current martial realm. Lu Yu smiled and said, "Only above grandmaster..."]

[You could not help feeling somewhat shocked. This younger brother of yours possessed martial talent that was far too astonishing. He was the true number one of Mount Zhongnan; even your master Liu Jinchan was no match for him.]

[Liu Jinchan sparred with him, lost, and remained melancholy for several days.]

[Liu Jinchan was also in the grandmaster realm.]

[Between grandmaster and great grandmaster, there was only one word's difference, but it was the difference between heaven and earth.]

[Great grandmasters already stood at the peak of the entire Great Qing martial world. It was just that Lu Yu disliked fame, so few people knew.]

[As far as you knew, since ancient times, the Great Qing martial world had produced generation after generation of talented men, and those who had made names for themselves were countless. But there were only four great grandmasters in the open, and each one was a martial legend.]

[Jiang Xiaoyue, who built a hut on Duckweed-Ox Ridge, was praised as "the number one palm under heaven." With the palm arts of his family alone, he stood supreme under heaven; those under heaven who studied fists could scarcely escape his cage. From childhood, he possessed the deep origins of family learning, but unfortunately, in his youthful arrogance, he provoked enemies in the martial world, and his whole family was wiped out. He endured every hardship, became a disciple and studied martial arts for forty years, and at fifty, his palm arts reached great completion. In the end, he avenged his blood hatred. After that, he built a hut on Duckweed-Ox Ridge and lived there, devoting himself to cultivation and ignoring worldly affairs.]

[Chen Sanzhong, the Nine-Thousand-Year-Old of the capital and Ma Bao's master, was already ninety years old, a personal eunuch of the current empress dowager. He went against the usual path and struck out on his own, using an incomplete body to walk a path of matchless hardness and ferocity, entering the great grandmaster realm at ninety.]

[Foolish Monk of Numinous Rhinoceros Temple had once been a young and proud third-place scholar, but because the woman he loved married another, his heart turned to cold ashes and he became a monk at Numinous Rhinoceros Temple.]

[There were very few rumors about him in the martial world. It was not until twenty-four years ago, when he went north to try to rescue Emperor Huizong of Qing but failed, fought a battle against the great grandmaster North Wind and emerged unscathed, then defeated seven grandmasters in succession without taking a single life, that his name spread through the martial world and he was classified as being in the great grandmaster realm. Now he was already over seventy, yet not one life had been taken by his hand, showing how he held compassion in his heart.]

[The demon master Huang Dao of Among Flowers Sect was a rare genius of the demonic path. He integrated the supreme arts of the Yin Sunflower Sect, the Immortal Gate, and others within the Demon Sects, and at a mere thirty-five years old, he had already stepped into the great grandmaster realm.]

[Afterward, he studied the supreme treasured canon of the Demon Sects, the Heavenly Demon Strategy, and this titan of the demonic path vanished without a trace, his whereabouts unknown.]

[You could not help asking, "What realm is there above grandmaster?"]

[Lu Yu said, "What is recorded in the ancient books is the Gate of the Innate, the innate realm."]

[The innate realm was a height impossible to climb!]

[You were now thirty years old and had only just entered the ranks of second-rate experts. To you, the "innate realm" was still like the bright moon at the edge of the sky, far beyond reach.]

[Thus, you and Lu Yu spoke deeply about the path of cultivation. He held nothing back and poured out everything he had.]

[After this round of guidance, you finally understood:]

[If one had no talent for Taoist cultivation, then so long as one cultivated with both feet planted firmly on the ground and reached the great grandmaster realm, perhaps one could also sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.]

[You knew well that diligence could make up for clumsiness; even if each effort was a cup of water thrown on a cart of burning firewood, it could still gather into rivers and seas.]

[You recovered a heart as still as standing water, cultivated every day without pause, did not dare slacken in the slightest, and devoted yourself wholeheartedly.]

[On the morning of the fourth day, your master Liu Jinchan and Lu Yu arrived together, bringing a piece of news—the eighth prince of Great Qing wished to meet you.]

[You only wanted to cultivate and comprehend the innate, so you declined the meeting.]

[Seeing this, Liu Jinchan softly advised, "Shenzhou, do you know that Prince Jing's power is now like the sun at high noon? The crown prince has already lost power, and the Eastern Palace has been abolished. He is one of the few people closest to that imperial dragon throne. How many heroes and great men in this world dream of such a thing but have no gate through which to offer service? We are only meeting him once, that is all."]

[However, Liu Jinchan still had words hidden in his heart that he had not spoken. If they could form a connection with this prince, then Three Truths One Sect might perhaps advance another step.]

[At this moment, Lu Yu stood to the side, smiled faintly, and said, "Brother, you will absolutely meet him."]

[Liu Jinchan was slightly startled, and a trace of curiosity rose in his heart.]

[Back then, the second prince had possessed power no lower than the eighth prince, and he had also been refused by Lu Chen.]

[Lu Yu said, "The visitor this time is not only the eighth prince. Our uncle is accompanying him as well. In the past, he protected Mother on her journey south, and to ensure Mother's safety, he placed himself under the eighth prince. This time, he has also brought a letter written personally by Mother."]

[In the past, when Mother moved the whole family south, the Lu family had not yet become prominent. When they first entered the capital, life was full of hardships, and it was also thanks to Uncle's care.]

[However, times changed, and now the Lu family was already one that no one in the capital dared slight.]

[Father did not move away from the capital also for the sake of you brothers and the Lu Family Army—free skies and earth, without suspicion.]

[Hearing these words, a sigh could not help rising in your heart. Uncle's affection toward your family was as deep as the sea; with such a weighty bond of feeling there, it could not be betrayed.]

[It seemed that this meeting with the eighth prince was truly something you could not avoid.]