Heaven and Earth Literary Palace, Seven Statues

It was night.

The hour of the Ox had already arrived.

The sky was black as ink.

Xu Qingxiao returned home reeking of wine.

He had spent a full four hours drinking at the tavern, but he had not drunk too much. He had even gone outside to make himself throw up after each round.

Fortunately, he had already entered the ranks of martial artists. His constitution had improved considerably, and his tolerance for alcohol had increased somewhat.

Xu Qingxiao dared not get drunk, afraid he might blurt out something he should not.

Creak.

The first thing Xu Qingxiao did upon returning home was wash his face with cold water.

A little while later, after a quick wash, he sat at home pondering a few things.

Every word County Magistrate Li had said still echoed in his mind.

Xu Qingxiao had truly never imagined that Unorthodox Arts could be so terrifying.

Once he started, there was no turning back.

Cultivating meant death.

Not cultivating meant dying even faster.

Was this not blatantly forcing people down an evil path?

After all, he was a fine young man who had received Nine-Year Compulsory Education. Xu Qingxiao was utterly unwilling to practice evil arts.

Had it not been necessary to save his life, he would never have touched that damned Unorthodox Art.

But he had no choice.

He had already boarded the pirate ship, and getting off was impossible. His only option was to pin his hopes on the palace in his mind.

At that thought, Xu Qingxiao closed his eyes.

He began reaching out to the palace in his mind.

As his mind gradually settled, a wave of drowsiness swept over him.

Xu Qingxiao did not resist.

In an instant, his consciousness slipped into slumber.

He had no idea how much time passed.

When Xu Qingxiao awoke, a magnificent, imposing palace stood before him.

The palace was grand.

It was built of white jade, but its design was unusual. An ordinary palace should have been adorned with carved dragons and painted phoenixes.

Yet the carvings on this palace depicted brushes, ink, books, and paintings, filling it with scholarly elegance.

Brimming with curiosity, Xu Qingxiao approached the palace entrance.

The jade doors, a full ninety feet tall, stood open. Four large characters were inscribed on the plaque above.

[Heaven and Earth Literary Palace]

These were four ancient characters. Xu Qingxiao could not read them, yet he instantly understood their meaning. It was exceedingly strange.

"Heaven and Earth Literary Palace?"

Standing outside the doors, Xu Qingxiao was somewhat surprised. He had not expected this to be a literary palace.

The Confucian school?

Even with his limited knowledge, Xu Qingxiao could guess that this place had something to do with the Confucian school.

Could it be that I'm suited to becoming a scholar?

Xu Qingxiao's heart was full of curiosity.

But he frowned. He had no information whatsoever about the Confucian school in his mind.

After thinking for a while without coming up with anything, he gathered his thoughts and looked into the hall.

The great hall was exceptionally spacious, with statues standing along both sides of the literary palace.

Counting carefully, he found three on the left and four on the right, seven statues in total.

All were lifelike, holding scrolls, writing brushes, or ancient zithers, though a few were rather unusual.

Some held longswords, while others sat upright on royal thrones. There were scholars and warriors, and even women, which only made him more curious.

He entered the literary palace.

Xu Qingxiao studied the statues.

They were lifelike, but he did not recognize a single one, and their bases bore no names.

Xu Qingxiao knew nothing about the Confucian Dao.

Nor did he know who these seven people were.

He could only continue forward and see whether he might discover anything else.

As Xu Qingxiao proceeded, he soon found a series of stone panels set within the great hall, with four ancient characters prominently inscribed above them.

[Demon and Monster Compendium]

He swept his gaze over them. Every panel was made of jade.

The panels were completely blank, without any writing or images.

But when he looked all the way to the left, he found something on the first panel.

Xu Qingxiao turned his gaze toward it.

In an instant, surprise crossed his face.

It was a strange bird with three legs, surrounded by images of flames.

Below it were several lines of ancient writing.

Like the characters on the plaque, he could not read them, but he could understand their meaning.

[Three-Legged Golden Crow: a demon god of heaven and earth. Its body becomes a sun, illuminating all the heavens. Utmost in hardness and yang, savage in temperament. Once, ten suns hung in the sky, until a peerless mighty being shot them down, leaving only one. Its resentment towers to the heavens, its murderous intent endless.]

[Current realm: late tenth rank. Will advance to ninth rank within three months.]

[If suppressed, Golden Crow True Flame can be condensed.]

The three lines of ancient writing left Xu Qingxiao speechless.

He had never expected to find a Demon and Monster Compendium inside the literary palace, much less one that could provide detailed information about demons and monsters, even displaying their cultivation realms.

But soon, Xu Qingxiao grew miserable.

This Golden Crow's murderous intent would advance to ninth rank in three months. According to County Magistrate Li, once the demon seed's realm surpassed his own, it would possess him.

In other words, he now had only two choices.

Either advance to ninth rank within three months.

Or enjoy those three months to the fullest, then wait to die.

The sole benefit was that if he could suppress the Golden Crow's murderous intent, he could condense Golden Crow True Flame.

Although he did not know what Golden Crow True Flame was, it sounded quite impressive.

"Ninth rank."

Xu Qingxiao's head ached a little.

The tenth rank for martial artists was the [Body Nurturing Realm], which nourished the flesh and strengthened the body, cultivating the internal organs within and tempering the muscles and bones without.

Through the Golden Crow Body Tempering Art, he had completed his first body tempering and gained a tremendous boost, entering the ranks in fifteen minutes. But he had yet to reach perfection.

Now he had to advance to the ninth-rank [Qi Vein] realm within three months. That was asking for trouble.

Tenth rank was Body Nurturing.

Ninth rank was Qi Vein.

After strengthening the body and tempering the internal organs, muscles, and meridians, one had to undergo Vein Condensation—that is, condense a martial artist's Qi Vein.

Tenth-rank martial artists possessed powerful bodies. They could easily lift a hundred jin, withstand blades and spears, and even resist some injuries from water and fire.

The next realm involved condensing a "Qi Vein," which allowed one to nurture "internal qi."

Once someone entered the Qi Vein realm, their punches and kicks could injure an enemy without making contact.

It could be understood as qigong.

But the people of this world preferred to call it "internal qi."

The difference between possessing internal qi and lacking it was immense. A ninth-rank martial artist could defeat dozens of tenth-rank martial artists in a single encounter.

Even Ping'an County's head constable was only at the peak of tenth rank. Constable Chen, for instance, was probably at late tenth rank.

Their aptitude was fairly good, and they occasionally ate medicinal meals to nourish their bodies.

Yet even the youngest among them was forty now. Advancing to ninth rank would probably take them at least another ten years.

He had only just entered the ranks.

Taking twenty or thirty years to reach ninth rank would be nothing unusual-provided, of course, that he did not cultivate Unorthodox Arts.

"Isn't this forcing me up Mount Liang to become an outlaw?"

Honestly, Xu Qingxiao now understood completely why the imperial court strictly prohibited Unorthodox Arts.

After using an Unorthodox Art to enter the ranks, he was given three months to reach ninth rank.

To be honest, even three years would have felt rushed to Xu Qingxiao, let alone three months.

"Three months definitely won't be enough."

"I can only keep cultivating Unorthodox Arts."

"But if I do, will the literary palace still be able to suppress them?"

Xu Qingxiao immediately understood his predicament.

It was awkward.

The only upside was that he had previously had just twenty-four hours, whereas he now had three months. By comparison, that was somewhat generous.

But measured against reality, it was still extremely difficult.

I have to find a way. I can't let Unorthodox Arts lead me around by the nose. If I can rely on myself, that's best. If I can't, I'll have to use an Unorthodox Art again.

Xu Qingxiao thought to himself.

He still had another scroll detailing an Unorthodox Art.

The Taiyin Vein-Consolidation Art.

This Unorthodox Art happened to describe a Qi Vein technique, but Xu Qingxiao dared not try cultivating it. Even setting aside whether the literary palace could continue suppressing it, another demon's murderous intent would be born afterward even if it could.

That would be such a thrill it killed him.

One demon was already more than he could handle. Two would be worse.

He gathered his thoughts.

Xu Qingxiao continued examining the literary palace.

The literary palace looked magnificent from outside, but its interior seemed somewhat bare.

Seven statues.

The Demon and Monster Compendium.

Aside from those two things, there was practically nothing else.

If he had to name something, there was also a pool.

The pool was not particularly large, about three feet deep and three feet across, and square in shape.

It stood on the left side of the great hall, completely empty.

He had no idea what it was used for.

But anything that appeared in this literary palace had to serve some purpose. Perhaps it was some kind of mechanism, though Xu Qingxiao could not guess what the pool did.

Perhaps filling it with something would work.

But there was nothing like clean water inside the palace.

He could hardly pour something into it out of thin air, could he?

He carefully searched the place once more, but still found nothing.

Only then did Xu Qingxiao leave the literary palace. Before departing, however, he carefully committed the seven statues to memory.

If he had the chance, he intended to investigate them. Discovering their identities might prove helpful.

After leaving the palace.

Before long, Xu Qingxiao slowly awoke.

The room was pitch-black.

The oil lamp had gone out at some point.

He instinctively looked out the window. Deep night still blanketed the sky.

He glanced at the moonlight. Uh... he could not work out what time it was.

But judging by the darkness, not too much time should have passed.

Xu Qingxiao lay down on his bed to rest. The day's events had been a series of dramatic rises and falls, and his nerves had remained taut throughout. He needed a good rest.

As Xu Qingxiao closed his eyes.

He soon fell asleep.

In the blink of an eye, four hours passed.

Four hours later.

As sunlight streamed in, Xu Qingxiao gradually opened his eyes.

He looked outside. The sky was clear for ten thousand miles.

Four hours of sleep was enough.

For a ranked martial artist, two to four hours of sleep each day was enough to remain full of energy.

Upon reaching ninth rank, they could even go without sleep.

That was one benefit of practicing martial arts.

After a quick wash.

Xu Qingxiao stepped out of his room, basked in the golden sunlight, and practiced his punches and kicks, stretching his muscles and bones.

Then he left home.

He needed to pay Doctor Zhao a visit.

Having heard from a colleague yesterday that Doctor Zhao had been tortured, Xu Qingxiao felt a pang of guilt.

Everything had stemmed from his involvement.

If he neither asked after the doctor nor showed any concern, he would be an ingrate, forgetting the kindness he had received.

On the way, Xu Qingxiao took out what little silver he had left and bought quite a few things. They were nothing particularly fine, but they were a token of his sincerity.

And so it went.

Three quarters of an hour later.

Xu Qingxiao arrived at the apothecary.

Doctor Zhao's apothecary had usually been a lively place.

Today, however, it was rather deserted.

Ping'an County was not large, and news, good or bad, traveled quickly.

Word that Doctor Zhao had been arrested by the county authorities and brutally tortured for a confession must have spread.

What ordinary folk feared most was getting entangled in legal trouble, so far fewer customers came.

There was nothing to be done about that.

Yet the more Xu Qingxiao saw, the more guilt and self-reproach weighed on him.

He hesitated, unsure whether he should go in.

Just then, however, an apprentice inside the apothecary spotted Xu Qingxiao.

The apprentice immediately came out to greet him.

"Lord Qingxiao, you really did come. The proprietor would like to see you."

Those words took Xu Qingxiao somewhat by surprise.