"Start a family?"
Qin Lian froze for a moment, then hurriedly shook his head. "My heart is set on martial arts. I have no such intention."
As he spoke, he immediately added, "Sect Master, you mentioned the Abyss of the Great Void just now. I have a few novel ideas about it, and I would humbly ask you to weigh them..."
Looking at Qin Lian's face, so thirsty for knowledge, Li Wangxu ultimately said nothing more.
What he did not know was that Qin Lian had experienced one delightful surprise after another during these mere six hours of "discussing the Dao" with him.
[Great Void Visualization Diagram (uninitiated 46/100)]
Nine points.
Compared with the meager progress he had made through months of diligent training, his Great Void Visualization Diagram had actually advanced a full nine points in just six hours of discussing the Dao!
Had he practiced painstakingly on his own, he probably would not have gained that much in nine days.
Moreover, he discovered that the progress did not come entirely from the improvements brought by "guidance." Sometimes, when an imaginative idea he proposed stirred something in Li Wangxu, his progress would also increase.
However, over those six hours, the sudden insights Li Wangxu gave him accounted for seven points, while the feedback from his own flights of fancy yielded only two.
"The Great Void is the unseen emptiness. The essence of emptiness is vastness and nothingness. Yet the counterpart of the grand is the minute, and the meaning of nothingness arises from possession. When mortals look up at the immensity of heaven and earth and look down at the abundance of all things, all of it lies within this meaning..."
Qin Lian expounded his views.
Li Wangxu, however, had his brows tightly furrowed.
What was he talking about?
Two of the theories Qin Lian had mentioned earlier had been quite novel and had given him a little inspiration.
But as their "discussion of the Dao" deepened, he had realized that they could only be considered Qin Lian's flights of fancy.
There might be hidden profundities within them, but organizing them into a coherent system would be far too difficult.
Seeing that it was about time...
"Let us leave it here for today..."
Li Wangxu intended to leave.
He no longer held any hope that Qin Lian could develop Divine Intent within the next year or two.
His suggestion that Qin Lian start a family soon had also been a tactful reminder to place his hopes in the next generation.
Qin Lian, too, noticed his sect master's perfunctory attitude and suddenly said, "Sect Master, do you know what lies beyond the Great Void?"
"Beyond the Great Void?"
Li Wangxu reluctantly gathered his attention again.
"Since ancient times, people have said that heaven is round and earth is square. But in my view, our world should have a square heaven and a round earth."
Qin Lian casually traced a circle on the ground. "The world we inhabit should be within this circle, while the Great Void outside extends endlessly above, below, and in every direction, beyond all measure."
"Round?"
Li Wangxu chuckled. "If it really were round, wouldn't we all fall into the Great Void?"
"When we look up at the stars overhead, or even the sun and moon, isn't every one of them round? If the sun and moon are so, why couldn't the earth beneath our feet be the same?"
Qin Lian said.
Those words, however, made Li Wangxu pause slightly.
The sun and moon were round? The earth beneath their feet was round too?
He had never considered this question.
"If the world we inhabit lies within this circle, then the Azure Firmament Great Void above our world should be the emptiness between the sun and moon. The sun and moon lie beyond the Great Void. If we look farther still, beyond the sun and moon there is also an endless Great Void. Those distances would exceed even the distance between us and the sun and moon. How boundless, how vast, how majestic would such a Great Void be?"
Qin Lian spoke in a tone of yearning fascination. "And if one cultivated Divine Intent through such a Great Void, how powerful would that Divine Intent become?"
"The Great Void beyond heaven and earth, the Great Void beyond the Great Void..."
Hearing Qin Lian's words, Li Wangxu stood stunned for a moment.
Qin Lian's description remained specious, yet for some reason, he felt an indescribable stirring wash over him, a breadth and boundlessness unlike anything he had ever experienced...
Merely following Qin Lian's description and imagining that scene of the Great Void for a moment gave rise to a suffocating, despairing sense of emptiness and nothingness.
Compared with that Great Void, the emptiness of heaven and earth he had comprehended, that boundless azure firmament...
How could the difference in the scope of their visions be merely a little?!
"I... let me think. Let me think..."
Li Wangxu's brows knitted tightly.
He vaguely felt that this vision would greatly expand the upper limits of the Great Void Visualization Diagram, yet no matter how he tried, he could not work out which direction to take.
So much so that he became somewhat dazed, immersed in it.
"It's all right. Sect Master, take your time considering it. My own understanding happens to be rather uncertain as well. At this time tomorrow, I will come to the Pure Yang Hall myself and seek you out to discuss the mysteries of the Great Void again."
Qin Lian hurriedly seized the opportunity to propose continuing their "discussion of the Dao."
This time, after hearing him, Li Wangxu did not refuse.
He considered Qin Lian's understanding of Great Void visualization crude, but this concept...
It truly was extraordinary.
"Very well. I will go back and think it over. Grandmaster Qin, organize your theory of the Great Void Beyond the Heavens as well. We will discuss it again tomorrow."
"We will discuss it again tomorrow."
Qin Lian nodded.
Nine points of progress in one day...
If we discussed it for a month or two, why would I need to worry about being unable to grind the Great Void Visualization Diagram's progress to perfection?
Qin Lian rose and saw Li Wangxu off.
Even after he left, the anticipation in Qin Lian's heart lingered for a long time.
Second Grade Divine Intent not only represents entering an entirely new realm on the path of cultivation, but is also rumored to offer considerable help in becoming a "True Person." When I cultivate truth and practice methods in the future, refining qi and transforming spirit, I will surely achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Thus, since the opportunity existed, Qin Lian naturally did not wish to miss it.
Second Grade and First Grade already represented the ranks of the world's foremost experts.
One could glean as much from the fact that all cultivation methods capable of producing Second Grade Divine Intent were bestowed the title of "sect-guarding" legacies.
Below those, top-tier cultivation methods could only reach Fourth Grade or Third Grade, while advanced cultivation methods reached Sixth Grade or Fifth Grade. As for ordinary cultivation methods...
Only the powerful local families in county towns treated those as treasures. In the Pure Yang Sword Sect, they naturally required no further mention.
The next day, after practicing his Swordsmanship and Movement Technique, Qin Lian headed for the Pure Yang Hall.
However, when he arrived at the Pure Yang Hall, he learned that the sect master was not there, so he immediately headed toward the courtyard where he lived.
Within the courtyard, Li Wangxu seemed to have matters to attend to, so he had a disciple take Qin Lian to a small, elegant garden to stroll and wait for the time being.
The position of sect master truly does mean attending to ten thousand affairs a day.
Qin Lian thought.
He only needed to consider cultivating behind closed doors, but the sect master had far more matters to consider.
As he strolled through the garden, his gaze was soon drawn to a girl of thirteen or fourteen.
What a bright, graceful little girl.
The moment he first saw her, those words arose in Qin Lian's mind.
Bright and graceful!
The girl sat on the grass, yet a black cat and even three little birds had gathered around her, keeping her company peacefully.
An indescribable sense of natural harmony faintly arose in the scene.
The disciple accompanying him was also somewhat surprised to see the girl. "Yao, why are you here?"
"Who is this?"
Qin Lian was rather curious about the birds on her, which showed no fear of strangers.
"Miss Tang Yao came up the mountain a month ago, bearing a token from Peak Master Tang Yue to pay him a visit. Unfortunately, Peak Master Tang Yue had already passed away by the time she arrived. Since she was unwilling to stay long on Forget-the-World Peak, and the sect master did not know how to arrange things for her for the moment, he settled her in the courtyard for now."
The accompanying disciple replied.
"Peak Master Tang Yue?"
He was the only expert in the Pure Yang Sword Sect to have attained the state of a "True Person" in nearly a hundred years.
And any "True Person" held a rather transcendent status.
Take Peak Master Tang Yue: of the twin excellences in alchemy and swordsmanship for which the Pure Yang Sword Sect had been known in earlier years, he alone had upheld its alchemy.
In terms of the benefits he had secured for the sect's countless disciples, he had even surpassed the supreme elder.
Having come to visit bearing Peak Master Tang Yue's token...
Even if she was merely a girl of thirteen or fourteen, once she said she disliked Forget-the-World Peak, Li Wangxu could hardly force her to stay there.
Looking at Tang Yao, Qin Lian seemed to think of something and asked, "Is this the Beast Gathering and Bird-Taming Art?"
The question immediately surprised Tang Yao somewhat. Her gaze fell on him. "You recognize it?"
Before you continue