In the Name of Divine Abilities, Part 11

"They'll probably start a large-scale search of the mountain tomorrow. You know Ant Ridge, and you're a psychic-type transcendent. If you find it first, it's best not to make it public."

Lu Zhao said nothing, a questioning look in his eyes.

"If the item is handed over now, the credit will still be yours, and Lü Jinshan will have made amends for his mistake. But if it's delayed for a while, he'll at least be blamed for negligence, and he might even be disciplined."

Without Lu Zhao having to steer him, Zhang Like had arrived at the same thought.

The border post was organized as a full battalion, with three branches of authority: command, operations, and supervision.

At the core of the power structure were the station chief, the political instructor, and the deputy station chief in charge of duty operations.

As station chief, Lü Jinshan was the highest-ranking military commander and oversaw all operations.

Supervision was responsible for discipline and ideological development and had significant authority to oversee the station chief, though it was normally all but invisible.

Zhang Like, captain of the duty battalion, was responsible for operational matters such as duty deployment and cases. In particular, he had considerable authority over how specific cases and operations were handled and control over the associated information.

As station chief, Lü Jinshan had the most power, but he was still subject to checks from his subordinates. Otherwise, the border post could easily become a local despot on the frontier and even facilitate and direct smuggling.

This had practically become a rule over the years: whenever something went wrong at a border post, smuggling was bound to be involved.

If Lü Jinshan left no opening, Zhang Like would not be stupid enough to oppose his immediate superior. But if he did leave an opening, he could hardly blame Zhang Like for handing others a knife.

After all, because of Lu Zhao, Lü Jinshan had frequently given Zhang Like a hard time over the past year.

Back in his room, Lu Zhao sank his consciousness into his mental world.

He crossed the layer upon layer of mental tsunamis and arrived once more at the Realm of Primordial Unity.

The old Daoist sat cross-legged within it and looked at him warmly. "Layman, I sensed a faint disturbance in your Spirit Aperture today. Has it been affected by something external?"

Something external?

Lu Zhao froze for a moment, then immediately thought of the Fate Bone.

But how had the old Daoist known? Could he observe the real world?

The Spirit Aperture was the mental body, but Lu Zhao himself had noticed nothing unusual.

Some wariness instinctively rose in him, and he answered truthfully, "I found a Fate Bone in the mountains. I took it from a bandit."

The old Daoist stroked his beard. "This object is beneficial to the spirit and soul. You can put it to good use, layman."

"My Life Development is only thirty-five points. With my body as it is now, it isn't suitable for me to absorb and devour another Fate Bone yet... Uh, Daoist master, do you understand what Life Development is?"

Lu Zhao racked his brains, but could not think of a way to explain it on the spot.

In ancient times, Divine Ability Fate Bones had not been sorted into five simple categories as they were now. People had distinguished them according to fate and destiny, producing dozens or even hundreds of terms.

Life Development could roughly be divided into six stages, each with its own characteristics, but all shared the principle of combining like with like.

That was, with each advancement in stage, one could strengthen one's own Divine Ability by devouring Fate Bones of the same type.

If Lu Zhao wanted to improve his Divine Ability, he would have to wait until he advanced to the second stage.

Building on this, every Divine Ability had a path leading to a Great Divine Ability, with its final form being one of the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Divine Abilities.

"The names differ, but the meaning is the same."

The old Daoist nodded and raised a hand, inviting him to sit.

Lu Zhao sat cross-legged on a cushion, his back straight as a spear, his military bearing showing through without his noticing. Even if he were given a Daoist robe, probably no one would take him for a Daoist.

He still was not quite used to sitting cross-legged.

"Layman, you may make yourself comfortable here."

Lu Zhao stopped holding his back straight and bent forward, relaxing his posture.

The two sat facing each other and began another lesson.

Their relationship was much like that of a teacher and student at school. The old Daoist taught without stating a reason, and Lu Zhao attended his lessons without paying tuition. It was as though being in this space had already settled their roles as teacher and student.

"Today we shall discuss nature and life. What is called nature is spirit, intent, and awareness."

"Zhuangzi said, 'The body preserves the spirit, and each has its proper rule. This is called nature.'"

"Nature is the Dao bestowed upon man by heaven and earth, and it has inherent dictates."

"Nature Cultivation was originally meant to break free of the inherent dictates of human nature and transcend the cage of troubles formed by the seven emotions and six desires. Only by neither drifting with the current outwardly nor distorting one's true self inwardly, and by following the Dao of nature, can one attain great freedom."

The old Daoist delivered the thousands of words of abstruse scripture fluently, without pausing once.

When he finished, he gave Lu Zhao the time it took an incense stick to burn to reflect.

The difficulty of the old Daoist's lesson had risen sharply today. Lu Zhao's head swam as he listened, and he had to chew over and break down every word.

Imperial Capital Academy's education aimed to produce well-rounded students, requiring them to study both civil and martial subjects. Lu Zhao had also studied some ancient Divine Ability fate theory, and his major, mental studies, had connections to the human nature the old Daoist spoke of.

He could follow the thread, understand the literal meaning, and connect it to theories in modern psychic transcendent mental studies.

But these theories were not enough for Lu Zhao to understand. What the old Daoist described was like a skyscraper, and all he could do was stand beneath it and touch a corner of its wall.

Lu Zhao could only commit the lesson to memory and raise his questions later.

When the time was up, the old Daoist asked, "Layman, did you understand?"

Lu Zhao shook his head honestly. "Only partly. I can just about understand the literal meaning and the connections between some concepts, but as for 'enlightenment,' I'm afraid I've barely scratched the surface."

He was accustomed to the clear definitions, logical reasoning, and experimental verification of the modern education system. He always felt a little out of his element with this kind of metaphysical teaching that required "comprehension."

But Lu Zhao was also very gifted, and he could sense that what the old Daoist taught was more profound.

He could not use his existing knowledge to understand the scripture, yet a small part of it could help him grasp points of knowledge that had once been obscure to him, answering questions his past self had been unable to resolve.

Mental cultivation lay in understanding. The more one understood the world, the more resilient one became.

The old Daoist smiled without answering. "It does not matter. The time has not yet come. As your cultivation advances, understanding will come naturally in due course."

"..."

Chapter 13: Mental Tempering Technique

Lu Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words.

On specific questions, the old Daoist was a good teacher, often unraveling things strand by strand until Lu Zhao understood.

But whenever the "Dao" was involved, he was invariably vague and liked to speak in riddles.

Lu Zhao wondered if all immortals were like that.

Some things Lu Zhao could be awakened to, but most he could not figure out. The old Daoist would then invariably say, "When your cultivation reaches that point, you'll understand naturally."

Perhaps this was the difference between ancient and modern methods of education.

"Since Life Development in this age is Life Cultivation, there is no need for me to repeat it."

The old Daoist returned to the subject. "Cultivating in this way is wrong."

It was a short sentence, but it was much like what Lu Zhao had told him yesterday about a country without a ruler.

Lu Zhao frowned slightly and countered, "The modern age is more powerful than any dynasty before it, and there are more than dozens of times as many Life Developers."

The old Daoist asked, "How is it more powerful?"

"Our dynasty arose amid war and chaos. A hundred years ago, it pacified the land and looked out upon the world..."

Lu Zhao knew modern history well and had also witnessed the transition between two eras.

After the Zhu Ming Dynasty, the Divine Land had been in turmoil for centuries.

But because transcendent powers such as the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend had never been lost, it had consistently remained relatively near the forefront in military strength. During the brief periods of unification in between, it had even managed to expand outward.

This continued until the Federation appeared. As a fourth power alongside Fourth Rome, France, and the Northern Commonwealth, it eventually rose through war in the Far East to become the undisputed hegemon.

Across all times and places, the Federation's power was unprecedented. Although it had declined after the Great Cataclysm, it still retained most of its core territory and was stronger than even the Zhu Ming Dynasty.

There was even less need to compare transcendents. The powerful figures that modern industrial productivity could support were on a different level in both number and quality.

Not to mention that modern firearms were more advanced than those of the Ming era.

Lu Zhao drew comparisons one by one, from territory to military strength.

He had never followed blindly, so naturally he would not accept everything the old Daoist said as truth.

The old Daoist listened quietly to the end and nodded in praise. "The Yan Dynasty is indeed powerful and prosperous, scarcely inferior to the Tang at its height. The martial marquises you speak of today are no worse than the powerful figures of past dynasties, either. But I have only one question."

He paused, his voice clear and firm. "Can they attain immortality?"

Lu Zhao asked in return, "Throughout history, how many emperors, kings, generals, and ministers have attained immortality?"

The old Daoist pointed at himself. His usual composure was gone, and the smile on his face made him look like a mischievous old child.

"Throughout history, there have been quite a few immortals, but I have lived the longest."

Lu Zhao had no answer and lost the will to argue.

That was because the strength he referred to was collective, while the old Daoist meant the individual. When it came to Life Development, Lu Zhao really should listen to him.

In the Federation's two hundred years of history, no ancient god had appeared.

He said, "From what you say, Daoist master, the modern Life Development system simply cannot lead to immortality. That doesn't mean it is wrong in itself."

The old Daoist said, "Heaven and earth bestow the physical body, making it naturally easy to gain the power to order heaven and earth through it. But heaven and earth obscure a trace of vital energy, making it difficult to achieve perfection."

"Cultivating nature is meant to break free of the rules ordained by heaven and attain perfection. But you, layman, are not only trapped by heaven and earth, but also troubled by mortal desires."

Something dawned on Lu Zhao, and he asked, "How do I break free?"

The old Daoist answered, "To be without desire is to be free of bodily desires; to seek nothing is to be free of worldly pursuits. When you no longer desire things for the body or pursue worldly things, that is the great vehicle."

Lu Zhao fell into thought once more.

The old Daoist was telling him to give up mortal and worldly desires, and also to abandon the convictions he had held to all along.

For psychic transcendents like Lu Zhao, conviction was the equivalent of a heartbeat. A person without conviction would soon be engulfed by the mental tsunami and become a madman no longer in his right mind.

His experiences in his previous life allowed him to hold a greater cause in his heart and fear neither life nor death, while his background and family in this life had given him a love for the Federation.

He had been angered by some things and disgusted by some people, but he had never believed he should cast aside the country that had raised him.

What the old Daoist was saying now was clearly meant to make him leave secular life behind.