Illuminating Spirit Scripture

The moment Xie Yu entered, Li Dao, Qiu Lan, and Chen Mo clasped their hands in greeting.

The three did not know where the woman in the black cloak came from, but they knew Xie Zhengtang and Uncle Shui held her in the highest regard. Naturally, they dared not slight her.

Xie An welcomed Daoist Master Yusu into the sitting room and had Qiu Lan serve tea.

Xie Yu sat to one side. She lifted her cup and blew gently on the tea, but did not drink. "Is Young Master Mingxi so eager to learn martial arts that can deal with Specters?"

Xie An did not hide it. "After what happened at Li Family Village and the Zhao Residence, I can't rest easy. Please teach me, Elder Sister."

Xie Yu nodded. "But Young Master Mingxi cannot yet practice martial arts that deal with Specters."

Xie An paused. "Why not?"

"You must at least reach the Manifest Force stage and develop Inner Force before you can learn them."

Seeing his disappointment, Xie Yu explained, "Most evil spirits arise from accumulated yin energy, and most fear yang energy—fire, sunlight, and the like. In the human body, that means vigorous yang energy. But an ordinary martial artist's vitality is too weak to affect anything outside the body, much less a Specter. Only after reaching the Manifest Force stage can you release Inner Force and let yang energy spill outward. Paired with the right martial art, it may be enough to intimidate a Specter."

Xie An nodded slightly, then asked, "But Uncle Shui said that even at the Dark Force stage, one can only disperse the yin energy of a Specter possessing someone, not kill the Specter itself. Why is that?"

"Because a Dark Force master cannot break through a Specter's Cocoon Force. As long as you remain inside the Six-Sense Cocoon Chamber it has woven, how can you kill it?"

Xie An understood. "Then how do you break out?"

"The key is to break its Cocoon Force and escape the Six-Sense Cocoon Chamber it has woven around you. When you fight someone, you must at least know where their attacks are coming from before you can respond."

That made sense...

"How can you break a Specter's Cocoon Force?"

"To mortals, Specters are supernatural beings. Mortals cannot break Cocoon Force through their own abilities. They need help from an outside force."

Xie An grew more intrigued. "An outside force?"

Xie Yu nodded. "Simply put, you practice the Spirit Preservation Method."

"What is the Spirit Preservation Method?"

Xie Yu explained, "The Spirit Preservation Method is a spiritual martial art from the Daoist tradition. In ancient times, when gods and ghosts tormented humanity at will, great shamans tried divination, appeals to the gods, and living sacrifices to ghosts in hopes of gaining supernatural powers and improving humanity's lot.

"But most were deceived by gods and ghosts. The fortunate went mad; the less fortunate died suddenly. Not one succeeded.

"Mortals' six senses were limited, bound by the Cocoon Force of Specters. The more the shamans communed with gods and ghosts, the deeper they fell, until they became puppets of the Specters.

"Countless ages later, a Daoist who called himself the Withered Mulberry Adept studied the heavens and the veins of the earth... Watching the sun and moon alternate without disrupting Yin-Yang, he realized that mortals were deceived by Specters not because they lacked strength, but because their spirits lacked clarity."

Listening, Xie An felt as though a great sage were imparting wisdom to him.

In both his past life and this one, throughout humanity's long history, generation after generation of wise people had struggled against heaven and earth, discovered their laws, cultivated their own abilities, and led humanity's rise, step by step, to vie for dominion.

"What happened next?"

"The Withered Mulberry Adept secluded himself for seventy years. Beside a vast marsh, he saw a giant turtle bearing a stone tablet. The tablet had no writing, only nine openings. The turtle faced north, and the openings breathed in and out the energy of the earth without cease, day and night. The Withered Mulberry Adept watched it for thirty years before he finally grasped the principle:

"The human path lies in preserving the spirit. To preserve the spirit, one must first know oneself—and, more importantly, commune with the divine.

"Mortals turn their six senses outward, so everything they see and hear comes from outside. A Specter turns its Cocoon Force inward, distorting the six sensory impressions until a person mistakes what is outside for part of themselves. But if one draws the six senses inward and observes oneself with the spirit rather than the eyes and ears, the Specter's Cocoon Force breaks like ice in boiling water! Thus, the Withered Mulberry Adept created the most influential scripture in Daoist history: the Illuminating Spirit Scripture. The Spirit Preservation Method is its foundation."

Xie An let out a long breath.

That Withered Mulberry Adept was something else.

Xie Yu continued, "Over thousands upon thousands of years, the Illuminating Spirit Scripture became humanity's first lesson in resisting Specters. With it, humanity rose step by step in a world of Specters and demons, eventually vying for the central lands and becoming masters of this world."

Xie An rubbed his hands together. "Why have I never heard anyone mention the Illuminating Spirit Scripture?"

"Young Master Mingxi has entered neither the inner schools nor the Big Three. Naturally, you would not know of this Daoist scripture."

"You mean the Big Three control it?"

Xie Yu nodded. "I had the good fortune to study the scripture only because I joined Returning Dragon Abbey, one of the Inner City Big Three, in my early years. If Young Master Mingxi wishes to study it, you must first join one of the Big Three."

Xie An thought for a moment. "Since you've studied it, Elder Sister, could you copy it out for me to read?"

His idea was simple.

He had the Ten-Thousand Questions Martial Arts Model.

As long as he could see the scripture, he could import it.

The only question was whether he had enough vitality to power the computation.

But Xie Yu shook her head repeatedly. "The scripture's formulas and principles are only aids. Its core is the spirit within it. Even if I wrote out the entire method from memory, it would be useless."

Xie An sensed that something was off. "The spirit?"

"Has Young Master Mingxi ever visited a temple to worship a Bodhisattva?"

"Of course."

"Think of the spirit in the Illuminating Spirit Scripture's Spirit Preservation Method as the Bodhisattva in a temple. To practice the method, you must join one of the Big Three and pay homage to the Bodhisattva enshrined in its ancestral hall. Only after seeing the Bodhisattva's divine presence can you preserve it in your mind. With that spirit preserved, you can look inward and break a Specter's Cocoon Force."

At last, Xie An understood what the Spirit Preservation Method was.

It was something like visualization.

You observed a divine presence in person, then preserved a trace of it in your mind. With that trace, you could break a Specter's Cocoon Force. You would not be deceived, could see the Specter's true nature, and could then grievously wound it with fierce yang Inner Force.

Great Qian had clearly developed a rigorous system.

Yet a chill ran through Xie An.

He had crossed over from another world, and he knew that many Bodhisattvas in temples... were themselves evil spirits.

Were the people of this world merely borrowing power from stronger evil spirits to fight weaker ones?

The thought sent a chill down Xie An's spine.

Xie Yu noticed his expression. "Is there something Young Master Mingxi still doesn't understand?"

Xie An swallowed. "The beings enshrined in the Big Three's ancestral halls... Could they be even greater evil spirits? Is the so-called Spirit Preservation Method nothing more than drawing on the power of stronger evil spirits to break the Cocoon Force of weaker ones?"