Wood Shadow Sect

At dawn, Li Yan woke from his dream. The sky was already faintly bright. Still groggy, he opened his eyes and found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. Above him were no longer the familiar wooden beams, some already dark as black ink, but a smooth bluish-black ceiling. Confusion immediately filled his mind. Slowly, he turned to look around the room and realized that this was no longer the old house he had lived in for more than a decade. A sense of unfamiliarity and loneliness welled up in his heart. He drew a breath, sat up expressionlessly, walked to the table, and pushed open the window. A chill that seeped into his face and lungs blew in from outside, making his spirits rise.

Looking out from the window, he saw a valley embraced by towering peaks on three sides, their heights thrusting straight into the dark-blue sky. A few stars still lingered in the faintly bright heavens, scattering down with threads of morning light. Dark bluish-green vines and shrubs spread upward from the valley floor in layer upon layer, like the rolling massive back of some monstrous beast. Birds chirped and twittered through the valley, their calls carrying a touch of ethereal clarity.

Nearby, beyond the stone table outside the window, there truly was a pool. Wisps of thin mist coiled and drifted above it, like a gauzy veil draped over the water, or cool vapor rising in curling tendrils.

Li Yan stood blankly at the window, looking outside. After a while, he felt much calmer. He turned back to the bed, dressed himself, opened the door, and stepped outside. He glanced toward the doors of several rooms to the left. All of them remained tightly shut, so he lightened his footsteps and slowly walked toward the pool.

When he reached the pool, Li Yan found that it was roughly four or five zhang wide and oval in shape. One side of it rested against the mountain wall, where two or three streams of spring water flowed slowly down from the mountaintop. Along the way, they had washed the stone wall smooth and gleaming. Many vine roots had been exposed by the current, their rootlets swaying in the clear water flowing down from above. Lush green moss carpeted both sides of the streams, forming several channels of spring water running down from the peak.

The surface of the pool rippled gently as it lapped against the many broken stones along the shore, sending wavelets spreading across the water. Thin white mist drifted and curled above it like several translucent white ribbons. The pool water was crystal clear, yet its depth was impossible to gauge. Looking down, the water gradually became dark, cold, and secluded.

Li Yan crouched down, scooped up a handful of water, and splashed it onto his face. Its icy clarity penetrated his skin, making him shudder, yet it felt wonderfully refreshing.

Li Yan stood and looked again toward the southern side of the pool. Only then did he discover a large patch of land that looked both like a vegetable garden and a flowerbed. Just as he was about to go over for a closer look, a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. "That patch is merely some vegetables and a few wildflowers your teacher planted when I had nothing better to do."

Startled, Li Yan hurriedly turned toward the voice. He saw a man in black robes standing between two stone tables before the row of rooms behind him, smiling in his direction.

"Tea-Teacher!" Once Li Yan recognized the newcomer, he quickly turned and bowed. "This student has disturbed Teacher's rest. Please punish me."

The man in black was naturally Strategist Ji. He waved a hand and said, "Your teacher rose long ago. I was merely meditating and practicing inside."

"This valley is only so large. You will have plenty of time to familiarize yourself with it later. Someone will soon bring breakfast. After washing up and eating, come to your teacher's room."

Li Yan promptly replied, "Yes, Teacher."

After speaking, Strategist Ji gave him a gentle smile, then turned and walked back. Watching his teacher's retreating figure, Li Yan somehow felt the same affection his parents had shown him in the old house at home. Warmth rose in his heart for no reason at all.

Not long after he returned to his room, the woman from the night before brought breakfast. It was simple and light: several steamed buns, a few small dishes of vegetables, and a large bowl of preserved egg and lean pork congee. Li Yan ate with great relish. Even such ordinary food was not something he often saw at home. Yet with Teacher's summons on his mind, he finished quickly.

After breakfast, Li Yan hurried toward the first stone house by the eastern entrance of the valley. When he arrived at the door, he saw that it was open. His teacher must have been waiting for him. Standing outside, he said, "Teacher, this disciple pays his respects."

"Oh, you have come. Come in, then." A gentle middle-aged voice came from inside. Li Yan entered as instructed. The room was about the same size as his own. There was also a broad wooden bed on the north side, and a four- or five-tiered bookshelf on the west side, though this one was filled with books. The east side likewise held a few simple washing items. The difference was that a low table stood atop a large carpet in the middle of the room. On it rested an ancient zither, simple and old in style. Several mottled marks covered its body, yet it was polished smooth, clearly from having been caressed over many years.

Before the zither sat a small, exquisitely crafted incense burner, with three sticks of incense planted in it. Thin streams of smoke drifted slowly upward from their tips, and a faint sandalwood fragrance lingered through the room, calming the mind and spirit.

Behind the table sat a man in black robes, his hands tucked into his wide sleeves as he sat cross-legged. He looked at Li Yan with smiling eyes. It was Strategist Ji.

"Come, sit before the table." Strategist Ji raised his right hand from within his sleeve, beckoned Li Yan over, and pointed to the carpet before the table. Li Yan quickly walked onto the carpet, removed his shoes, and knelt before his teacher. The old scholar had taught him these manners before. Seeing this, Strategist Ji could not help smiling faintly.

"Li Yan, today I will tell you some matters concerning our sect," Strategist Ji said after Li Yan had settled himself.

"Yes, Teacher. This disciple is all ears," Li Yan answered respectfully.

"Our sect is called the Wood Shadow Sect. It was founded six hundred years ago, yet every generation has remained hidden from the world, usually dwelling deep within the mountains and unknown to ordinary people. Our sect's martial arts are even more closely guarded secrets. Moreover, the requirements for cultivators are extremely harsh, and finding suitable disciples is like fishing a needle from the sea. Each generation has had no more than two or three disciples. In my generation, there is only me. There is no need to speak of our sect's martial arts. Once mastered to profound heights, they may not make one invincible beneath heaven, but they can still stand peerless in an age." Strategist Ji spoke slowly in his gentle voice, then paused.

Li Yan listened intently and quietly added, "Yes. When this disciple entered the city, I heard people say that Teacher moved through an army of ten thousand as though entering uninhabited land. Such divine skill is truly something this disciple has never heard of."

Strategist Ji smiled and continued, "If you cultivate diligently and train bitterly in the future, your accomplishments may not necessarily fall below your teacher's."

Hearing this, Li Yan hurriedly said, "Teacher overpraises me. How could this disciple possibly stand shoulder to shoulder with Teacher? No matter how hard I train, Teacher will surely advance with each passing day. This disciple could never, ever catch up."

Strategist Ji smiled. "Those of our generation should possess hearts proud enough to look down upon the world. You must not think this way."

Li Yan naturally did not dare say more and nodded. "Yes."

Strategist Ji continued, "Your teacher left the mountains this time for a reason. Besides being formidable in martial arts, the Wood Shadow Sect has, throughout the generations, delved deeply into the path of medicinal herbs. For hundreds of years, each generation of patriarchs has devoted themselves in the deep mountains to studying the ways of plants and trees. Though we do not enter the world, we do travel it to gain experience. At the same time, we hang the healing pot to aid the world, relieving illness and saving those in peril. This has always been the custom of our sect. Learning without putting it to use is useless learning. Martial arts are merely the means by which we protect ourselves while traveling the jianghu."

Though we do not enter the world, we do travel it to gain experience. At the same time, we hang the healing pot to aid the world, relieving illness and saving those in peril. This has always been the custom of our sect. Learning without putting it to use is useless learning. Martial arts are merely the means by which we protect ourselves while traveling the jianghu."

Upon hearing this, Li Yan could not help feeling solemn respect. So our sect does not merely pursue martial arts. It also carries out such deeds to bring blessings to the common people. It truly is a righteous sect.

"Your teacher also cultivated and traveled according to this principle. Unfortunately, five or six years ago, while I entered the deep mountains to gather herbs, I was carelessly bitten by an unknown poisonous insect. After several months of treatment, not only did I fail to improve, the poison showed signs of worsening. Left with no choice, I visited many friends and renowned physicians. Their medical skills might not have surpassed mine, but who could say whether they knew the origin of this poison? If I could learn the creature's origins and nature, perhaps finding a cure would not be impossible. But things went contrary to my wishes. No one recognized the poison. As it slowly eroded my internal organs, I still could not find a means to cure it. I can only use my inner strength to suppress it temporarily, but that can last only seven or eight years. By now, roughly six years have passed. If no cure can be found during this time, then I can only say it is my fate."

Li Yan was greatly shocked by this. Looking again at the faint blackness hidden beneath his teacher's pale complexion, his expression changed. "Then Teacher must not have found a cure. Otherwise, your complexion would not be like this."

Strategist Ji nodded with a smile. "It is not a great matter. Life and death are governed by fate."

Li Yan anxiously asked, "Then what should be done?"

Strategist Ji extended a hand and waved it lightly. "Hehe, stay calm. This is precisely why your teacher entered the world: to find a disciple and pass down the sect. Otherwise, if its legacy ended with me, how could I face the generations of sect masters and seniors beneath the Yellow Springs? Alas! Yet our sect's cultivation method is tyrannical. Without a special constitution, one cannot practice it. If forced to cultivate it, the meridians will surge backward, and death will be certain. Such people are exceedingly difficult to find. In the past, our sect masters would seek disciples while traveling the world and hanging the healing pot to aid the people. Though those with this constitution are hard to find, in this vast world, they could eventually be found. But if I followed the sect's former method of seeking disciples, I would not have enough time. Thus, I came to the army. There are many strong young men in the military, so the chances should be much greater."

Hearing this, Li Yan thought, So Teacher came to the army in order to find disciples more easily. That strange method of piercing the meridians with silver needles yesterday must have been how he searched for those with special constitutions. Yet when he recalled the pain in his abdomen, a faint dread rose in his heart.

Strategist Ji seemed to see through his thoughts. "This special constitution is concealed. Without the methods of our sect, it cannot be stimulated. Though the stimulation inevitably causes pain, it is also a necessary prerequisite for ensuring that one can cultivate our sect's method. Your teacher has been in this army for five or six years. Of these hundreds of thousands of soldiers, I have examined nearly seven or eight tenths. After spending so long, I found only two people. One was found last year. The other is you."

Li Yan froze upon hearing this. Two people? Isn't there only Teacher and me in this valley? And Chen An and Li Yin did not mention anyone yesterday. Aside from Teacher's room and the cultivation room beside it, I had entered the other two rooms. I was even staying in one of them.

Thinking of this, something seemed to stir in his memory. After pondering carefully, he suddenly recalled that when he had been letting his imagination run wild outside the tent on the drill ground yesterday, Teacher had been speaking with Marshal Hong. Marshal Hong seemed to have said something about "the person taken in last time."

When Strategist Ji saw Li Yan staring blankly, he found it strange. Hong Linying mentioned this matter yesterday as well. Why does this boy still look so startled? After a brief consideration, he understood the reason, though he did not know that Li Yan had not actually heard Marshal Hong clearly yesterday.

"You find it strange that you have not seen the other person your teacher mentioned, do you? I must indeed tell you about this." At this point, he slowly drew a breath and continued, "By rights, that person should have been your senior brother. Your teacher found him early last year, and he entered our sect. Do you remember that after testing your constitution yesterday, your teacher asked whether you had studied?"

Li Yan nodded. Of course he remembered that.

"Your senior brother had never studied. After he entered the sect, I believed that under my personal guidance, he would be able to cultivate. But in my impatience, I still underestimated the tyranny of our sect's cultivation method. More than a month after your senior brother began cultivating, while I entered the city to discuss matters with the Commander-in-Chief, he privately circulated the subsequent method he had only just learned. Because his comprehension was insufficient, his qi and blood surged upward in reverse. By the time I returned, he had already... alas."

As Strategist Ji spoke, guilt and regret filled his face. "This was also because I was too impatient. The poison in my body had never been cured, and my health had worsened by the day. I could not help being as anxious as though fire were burning my heart over the sect's inheritance. Our sect's cultivation method requires not only the master's personal guidance, but also for the disciple to study its mysteries word by word and line by line, then slowly guide the inner qi through the body according to one's own physical condition. Only by proceeding step by step can one succeed. Yet this time, I was too confident that my personal instruction would ensure everything was safe. In the end, I made an irreparable mistake." As he spoke, tears faintly glimmered in his eyes.

Hearing this, Li Yan was alarmed. So the person Teacher found earlier had already died. Yesterday, Marshal Hong seemed to say something about comparing aptitudes. Then he must have been referring to how my aptitude compared with that deceased senior brother's. But how could one compare with a dead man? If that senior brother's aptitude had been better than mine and he still met such an end, then would I not be even more hopeless? Cold sweat broke out across his back.

He looked up at his teacher, his lips moving as though he wanted to say that he likely could not cultivate either. But when he saw the faint tears and trace of expectation in his teacher's eyes, he hesitated. This was a task that could cost him his life, and his heart wavered for a long while. At last, he gritted his teeth. If I shrink back now, Teacher may send me straight back to the village. How would I face Father and Mother then? Even if things go better, I would still have to return to the army and begin as an ordinary soldier, slaughtering my way across battlefields. Then whether I lived or died would still be beyond my control. Neither outcome is what I want. Better to gamble on it. Besides, I studied at the private school. When I study and comprehend the method in the future, if I cannot understand it, I will absolutely not rashly continue cultivating. And Teacher's heaven-reaching abilities, his invincibility like that of legend—does that not come precisely from the tyranny of our sect's martial arts? Nothing under heaven comes without toil. With that, his gaze upon his teacher slowly became firm.

Seeing his expression, Strategist Ji understood his decision and smiled with relief. He continued, "After that incident, your teacher truly held little hope. Finding another suitable person when there was so little time left seemed far too distant and uncertain. Yet Heaven has eyes. Before I could die in despair, the dark willows and bright flowers revealed another village."