Qi Locks the Nine Orifices

At dusk, the strange phenomenon atop Plum Mountain slowly faded away.

The heavy clouds withdrew, leaving the sky for a hundred miles around as blue as freshly washed azure. Even the wind stilled, and all was desolate and silent.

Xu Yan emerged from the Master's Hall, his face slightly pale. Using the method of opening orifices, he turned his sight inward upon himself.

Within that dim void, thirty-six orifices hung overhead like stars pressing down from the heavens.

Yet now, twenty-seven of them had been sealed by ancient runes of derivation. Those runes were like chains, binding the spirit orifices so that not a wisp of heaven and earth spiritual energy could enter.

Only nine orifices remained.

"Baihui, Juque, Fengchi, Zhongshan, Qihai, Taichong, Sanyin, Hegu, Yongquan."

These were the nine great acupoints, the life gates of the human body and the places where spiritual energy converged.

The reason the Formless Orifice was so difficult to open was not merely because its capacity resembled a bottomless abyss. More importantly, the thirty-six orifices of a Formless one crisscrossed and interconnected.

Because they were formless, they had no taboos. Whether it was the spiritual energy of the five elements or innate astral energy, they accepted all who came.

Though the spirit orifices of ordinary mortals also intersected, a mere thought would allow them to sever the connections between their orifices. But the Formless were not only born fully connected—they also could not control their spirit orifices as they pleased.

Master Xun had made Xu Yan seek the Dao in Plum Mountain Ravine for more than a year, tempering his heart into glass, all so he could seal those archaic runes of derivation within his body.

One whose heart was like glass would naturally remain untouched by the runes. If stray thoughts ran rampant, he feared the runes would backlash against him.

This was only a temporary measure. The twenty-seven sealed orifices would eventually have to be discarded and destroyed. But with Xu Yan's current body and cultivation, before his spirit orifices were destroyed, his Dao body would likely be torn into four pieces and scattered in five directions.

"Now, at least spiritual energy won't spill out of the Formless Orifices. But opening even one will still require enormous resources..."

Before this, no matter how much heaven and earth spiritual energy Xu Yan absorbed and poured into his hundred orifices, it would ultimately slowly dissipate.

Take the earthly treasure spirit pills he had consumed a year ago. The few soybean-sized pellets of spiritual power they had opened within his turbid orifices had already vanished completely. Thus, he would have to strike while the iron was hot, prepare countless cultivation resources, and enter seclusion before he could force an orifice open.

Historical records stated that during a dynasty before Great Yin, there had once been a Daoist who exhausted his family fortune, spent more than twenty years gathering heavenly treasures, spirit pills, and wondrous medicines, then secluded himself for a full three years before finally opening a single Formless Orifice.

But his cultivation had stopped there. A Formless Orifice that could not retain spiritual energy simply could not be used to break through the channels.

The human body's turbid channels ran from Baihui directly to the dantian. To break through the channels, one had to drive spiritual power from within the Baihui Orifice to shatter the barriers. Though that Daoist had barely opened an orifice, he had been completely unable to control his own spiritual power.

But now, with the Master's aid, Xu Yan had used the Nine-Palace Dragon Lock: Qi locked the spirit orifices.

At the very least, the spiritual power he absorbed would no longer escape, and he himself would be able to command the Formless spiritual power he cultivated in the future.

By the time he descended the mountain and returned to the courtyard, the sky had already gone completely dark.

Xu Yan dragged his exhausted body onto the bedding. He felt as though a huge boulder had finally fallen from his heart. In the past, he had always seemed indifferent toward cultivation and seeking the Dao.

Rather than saying he disliked cultivation, it was more accurate to say that he had long seen through his own Formless innate foundation and had no choice but to accept and face reality.

The sky was like a vast felt canopy, shrouding the four seas.

In this flourishing age of the immortal Dao, those with high cultivation were revered by thousands, free and untrammeled, their bodies bound by nothing.

Who would willingly be a frog at the bottom of a well?

The next day, before dawn had broken, Xu Yan was jolted awake by a piercing sword cry.

Many disciples of the academy heard it as well and hurried out of their rooms.

"That is..."

"A worldly traveler of the present age!"

"Sword Qi reflects the vast sky—which senior of the sword Dao has gone deep into Mang Mountain?"

The disciples murmured among themselves, voices buzzing with speculation.

Xu Yan stepped outside and saw only that startling Sword Qi at the horizon. It tore through the sky, illuminating everything within a hundred miles as brightly as noon.

The razor-sharp Sword Qi ripped apart the heavy clouds as though it had cleaved even the great firmament in two, lingering for a long while before finally dispersing.

Many disciples had been startled fully awake. They simply went straight to the classrooms for morning reading.

Xu Yan was in an excellent mood today. Rather than going to Listening-Rain Pavilion, he went to the grounds where words carried the Dao and, alongside the other disciples, studied the sage Dao treatises they already knew by heart.

After the hour of the dragon had passed, Qiu Yunji arrived and ordered everyone to gather at the Book Cliff Grounds.

Shangyin Academy did not open its gates to recruit students every year.

At present, Shangyin had only eight hundred students. And if one failed to make the literary rankings in the Dragon Gate Examination, one would most likely be dismissed from the academy.

The Book Cliff Grounds lay in the back-mountain valley, atop a low hill.

It was the broadest training ground in all of Shangyin Academy, paved entirely with white stone and spanning a full fifty zhang in diameter.

Only when the academy held grand literary ceremonies or when the Masters lectured would they come here.

The crowd was bustling, and the scholars' discussions never ceased. Naturally, they were debating yin and yang studies and discussing the Dao through New Confucian teachings. Any disciple who had not yet reached adulthood or entered the five realms of the mortal world could participate.

"Who has Pursuing Sun sent this time?"

"Jiang Qingshu is one of them. I heard that sword cultivator who tore through the sky at dawn was this man's clan elder brother."

"He's from the Jiang Clan Sword Mound? Isn't the Sword Mound outside Dragon City, the imperial capital? Why did he go to Pursuing Sun Academy in Dongyang Commandery?" someone asked in confusion. For an imperial capital native like Jiang Qingshu, Great Yin Academy should have been the first choice for studying literature.

"You'll have to ask him yourself. There, isn't he right over there?" The senior student lifted his chin and smiled.

Not far away, a group of scholar-disciples from Pursuing Sun Academy had already emerged.

They stared straight ahead, their expressions stern. They did not spare the Shangyin scholars even a glance, merely following the crowd toward the Book Cliff Grounds in the back-mountain valley.

Such bearing made quite a few Shangyin students knit their brows, a trace of displeasure rising in their hearts.

This was supposed to be an exchange through seeking the Dao, so why did they seem to be here to smash the place up this time, hoping to reclaim the face they had lost in their last debate on the Dao?

Xu Yan walked at the very back of the procession, tall and spirited. His entire bearing had changed somewhat. In the past, people often said he was mature beyond his years, and indeed that was true—after all, an otherworldly soul dwelled within his body.

Ever since Qi had locked his spirit orifices, he had gained a little more of a youth's spirit.

"Young Master Yan."

A sweet, delicate female voice came from behind him. Wang Ru clutched a Dao scripture timidly, her eyes lowered and her demeanor meek.

"Hm?" Xu Yan turned back.

"Young Master Yan, don't you remember me? I'm Wang Ru. We entered the academy together last March." Wang Ru looked at him blankly, a little dejected.

Xu Yan paused slightly, then smiled. "I remember you. What is it?"

"Young Master Yan, will you take part in this New Confucian debate on the Dao?" Wang Ru gathered her courage and raised her head, but when she met Xu Yan's direct gaze, she immediately lowered it again, her eyes darting about.

"Is there any extra reward?" Xu Yan asked with a smile, teasing her.

"I heard from the senior brothers in the academy that if one defeats a Pursuing Sun disciple, one may ascend to the Master's Hall atop Plum Mountain and ask Master Xun to answer questions and clear away doubts." Wang Ru spoke, then hurriedly added, "I nearly forgot—Young Master Yan is Master Xun's personal disciple, so you do not need such a reward. As for other rewards, last time the Master bestowed several heavenly treasures."