"Lin Jue, out cutting grass so early?"
Lin Jue had filled a basket with grass on his way down the mountain. Returning to the village, he ran into the story-loving village elder.
He quickly stopped and replied, "Yes."
"Didn't you always go to the academy in the mornings to study, and only cut grass in the afternoon?" The elder, who had been taking a morning stroll to admire the crops, stopped and looked at him, his expression turning somewhat stern. "I heard the teacher say just yesterday that you haven't been attending the academy much these past few days. You have to understand, the village asked you to cut grass to feed the oxen to give you something to do without hindering your studies. You cannot neglect your schooling."
"Great-Grandfather Shu is right," Lin Jue said truthfully. "It's just that night at the Heng Village Ancestral Hall, I inhaled the smoke spat out by that monster. For the past few days, my head has felt heavy and clouded, and even now, just the thought of studying drains all my strength. That's why I'm taking a short break."
"Then you must get plenty of rest."
"I will." Lin Jue paused for a moment. "With the Luo Xian Temple Fair in the city these past three days, why hasn't Great-Grandfather Shu gone to have a look?"
"How could I walk that far? Besides, it's just a temple fair; it's not as if I haven't seen enough of them in my youth. Once you reach my age, you won't find much worth seeing either." The village elder paused. "Did you go?"
"I went to buy medicine for my uncle."
"Was there anything to see?"
"I saw street performers who could chop off a hand and reattach it. It was truly miraculous."
"Some of their tricks do have a genuine sense of wonder to them."
"Does Great-Grandfather Shu know of Qiyun Mountain?"
"How could I not know Qiyun Mountain? It isn't as if this old man has never left the village."
"May I ask where Qiyun Mountain is, Great-Grandfather Shu? And what kind of place is it? I heard people at the temple fair say there's a Daoist assembly there?"
"Qiyun Mountain is an extremely famous Daoist sacred mountain. People say the temples and shrines upon it are highly responsive to prayers, and the Daoists who live and cultivate there are all Celestial Masters." A thoughtful look crossed the elder's face as he spoke. "As for where it is... I recall it's in the opposite direction of He County. I reckon it's around four or five hundred li away. Tsk, you can't exactly call it far. If you can step out of this village, a leisurely walk will take you seven or eight days. But if you can't step out of this village, you'll never reach it in a lifetime, and you might live your whole life without even hearing of it."
"And the Daoist assembly?"
"What Daoist assembly?"
"The Daoist assembly at Qiyun Mountain."
"I haven't heard of that. Where did you hear about it?"
"I heard it from the street performers."
"You rascal, you must realize that among the Three Teachings, Confucianism is revered above all, and in this world, being a scholar is the highest calling. Studying is your first priority—don't let your mind wander to those places. Study hard, and when you ascend to the Emperor's court, you'll be an honored guest at any famous mountain shrine or immortal grotto you visit."
"I will take that to heart."
Leaning on his cane, the village elder headed back.
Lin Jue walked away as well, carrying the basket of grass on his back.
"Qiyun Mountain..."
It truly did seem to be a famous place.
Under a great reputation, he did not know whether the fame was genuine, or whether it could live up to its name. Yet judging by how itinerant performers who traveled far and wide were eager to join the excitement at Qiyun Mountain, the people there likely possessed some genuine capability.
But in a place of such immense fame, regardless of whether they had real substance, there would surely be no shortage of people at its gates. If he were to openly go and seek instruction, it would probably be far from easy.
As for that Grand Daoist Ritual they called a Daoist assembly, if it could draw performers from thousands of miles away just to join the commotion, there would surely be no shortage of extraordinary people and wondrous talents present.
What a pity. For one thing, his uncle was still bedridden. Under the strict ritual propriety of this era, a nephew like him should under no circumstances embark on a long journey lightly, and his aunt would certainly never feel at ease letting him leave. For another, he did not know the exact dates, let alone how much traveling money a round trip of at least half a month would cost.
He would likely have to miss this opportunity.
Still, a grand assembly like this surely did not happen only once; it was bound to follow some regular cycle.
Returning home, Lin Jue began decocting the medicine for his uncle.
He carried the small stove outside, placed firewood and kindling within, and slowly, patiently lit it.
Lin Jue watched with intense focus. As dense smoke rose from the stove, he blew a gentle breath, scattering the thick plume to reveal the blazing light within and sending a few sparks flying. Soon the dense smoke rolled back, shrouding the flame once more, yet a glimmer of firelight still shone faintly through the haze, as if some energy were brewing within, eager to burst forth.
"Whoosh..."
The accumulated flames burst out with a roar, blazing furiously.
Lin Jue watched attentively, even reaching out a hand over the fire to feel its heat.
On a mid-spring morning, wearing so few clothes, Lin Jue always felt a bit chilled; tending the fire at such an hour was a comfort in its own right.
Beyond savoring the warmth, by fixing his gaze upon the flames, he was also following the instructions in the Ancient Book, carefully observing the fire within the stove. He watched it brighten and dim, flicker and sway, rise and fall, sensing the spiritual resonance of the fire.
"Hss..."
Just like that old man yesterday.
Naturally, nothing happened.
He had only drawn in a mouthful of hot air.
"Haha..."
Lin Jue gave a soft laugh, then turned to fetch the pot.
White steam slowly rose, and the fragrance of medicinal herbs drifted through the house.
Day after day passed much like this—
Rising just as dawn broke, he would shoulder his basket and head for the mountain stream. At the turn of night to day, he sat cross-legged to practice his breathing, then cut grass on his way back, inevitably running into a villager or two and exchanging a few words.
Returning home for breakfast, he would decoct the medicine for his uncle while meditating on the spiritual resonance of fire. By the time it was brewed, his cousin would usually have returned and could feed it to his uncle. Lin Jue would then help his aunt tend the fire to cook the midday meal, an even better opportunity to sense the fire's spiritual resonance. In the afternoon, he handled various odd chores, and toward evening, he sat cross-legged once again to practice his breathing.
Waking before sunrise, sleeping once dark fell, with tasks to occupy him from morning to night—Lin Jue had found such a routine unfamiliar at first, but once he grew used to it, he found it remarkably fulfilling and satisfying.
Yet changes gradually began to unfold.
A few days later, while practicing his breathing, Lin Jue could clearly feel the process of drawing in the five qi of heaven and earth. In this season, fog ought not to have formed in the mornings, yet with each breath he exhaled, a faint streak of white mist lingered.
When he returned to brew the medicine and drew in a breath, he could sometimes pull the flames upward toward him, nearly scorching himself.
Another half month went by.
Sitting in deep meditation in the mountain stream valley, Lin Jue could clearly perceive the spiritual resonance of all things between heaven and earth.
By then, whenever he brewed medicine alone each day and lit the fire, a deep breath allowed him to draw the flames into his mouth and nose, transforming them into fire qi stored within his abdomen, where it could remain for several quarters of an hour.
When he exhaled that qi, it burst forth as a plume of bright fire.
Even though he had anticipated it all along, when he first succeeded, Lin Jue was still shaken to his core—
A plume of flame spat from his own mouth. The sensation of grasping a magical art and transcending the ordinary stirred within him an exquisite, transcendent wonder, ethereal as an illusion, unreal as a dream.
Such a feeling was undeniably irresistible.
...
Without him realizing it, two months slipped by.
In this corner of the world, mid-spring gave way to early summer.
Though the medicine prescribed by that miracle physician was costly, its efficacy was genuinely remarkable. His uncle's illness visibly improved until he could finally leave his bed, and in recent days he had even stubbornly insisted on going out to do some farm work.
Yet for the Lin Family, this only resolved the pressing crisis of the moment.
Lin Jue was a scholar, and the expenses of scholarly study were inherently heavy. Even before his uncle fell ill, the household had barely scraped by. Now, even with his uncle fully recovered, they had merely returned to their previous predicament.
To make matters worse, the code of filial piety, brotherly duty, and ritual propriety prevailing here bound the elders just as tightly as the younger generation. So long as Lin Jue remained in the village, his uncle and aunt were obligated to provide for him; they could neither let him abandon his studies nor permit him to take on too much farm labor. Otherwise, in Shu Village, reproaches and gossip would inevitably follow.
Of course, alongside filial piety, brotherly duty, and ritual propriety, the bonds of family affection exerted no small hold of their own.
This was also a dilemma Lin Jue had often pondered lately.
Yet life carried on as usual.
"Babble..."
The stream's waters rushed along without end. The youth let the black ox graze nearby while he caught a few small fish, skewered them on bamboo twigs, and gathered a pile of dry firewood.
Facing the firewood, Lin Jue did not reach for a fire striker. He merely looked up, glanced around to his left and right, and lowered his head to exhale.
"Whoosh..."
A blast of flame poured from his mouth in an unbroken stream.
Before long, the wood caught fire.
Lin Jue placed the fish over the fire to roast, his eyes fixed on the flames as his mind slowly drifted.
Beside him, the black ox seemed surprised and cast a few lingering glances his way.
Cultivating in accordance with the Ancient Book, his progress had not reached the absolute peak, yet it was certainly rapid.
Now, even if Lin Jue had not reached the stage of generating fire qi on his own, a single deep breath could draw in a vast quantity of fire qi, which he could store inside his body for an entire day and night without it dispersing. As for the range and frequency of his Fire Spitting, they were already a bit farther and more numerous than what that old man had shown that day.
Lin Jue understood broadly that the old man was probably one of those Jianghu folk mentioned in the book who lacked the talent to cultivate the Spiritual Method; hence, he could only painstakingly cultivate the Breathing Method, and after toiling for more than half his life, his attainments remained modest.
Being young was another advantage.
Yet he did not know what the Spiritual Method truly was.
At the same time, he had discovered the limitations of the Ancient Book—
Though thus far, whether it was Qi Exhalation, the Fire-Spitting Art, or the Qi Nourishing Method, the Ancient Book explained everything thoroughly and clearly, it was, after all, an inanimate object.
So long as Lin Jue could fully grasp what it conveyed, there was no issue. But whenever he ran into something he failed to understand, or had related questions that required answers, it could not respond.
Consequently, Lin Jue occasionally needed to ask others where a certain acupoint was located or what a certain term meant; at other times, he had to feel his way forward on his own, constantly worrying that a misstep in his training might lead to Qi deviation, making him exceptionally cautious.
Had it not been for this, his progress would surely have been even faster.
"Heh..."
Lin Jue suddenly thought that even if he went out into the world right now and performed magic tricks on the street, he probably would not starve.
If he mastered the tricks of the trade, knew where the temple fairs were being held, and learned how to stir the spectators' emotions, he might even earn quite a bit of money.
At that thought, his heart sank again.
The urge to leave this small mountain village and venture outside to behold the vast world grew ever stronger.
Gradually, an appetizing aroma drifted up.
By the time he finished the skewered fish, the black ox beside him had eaten its fill as well. Lin Jue let it wade into the river to play in the water for a while before leading it back.
At the dinner table, his cousin happened to ask, "Have you seen Shu Datou recently?"
"I saw him a few days ago."
"He left today. It will probably be a long time before we see him again."
"Where did he go?"
"To study in the neighboring county."
"Why go to the neighboring county to study?"
"They say our village lacks scholarly fortune; over all these years, barely anyone has passed the examinations and earned an official title. A few days ago, an esteemed official in the neighboring county retired and returned to his hometown, where he's taking in students, so Datou went there to become his disciple."
"Traveling elsewhere to study..."
Shu Datou was a youth of the Shu clan in the village, hailing from a relatively well-off family. Similar in age to Lin Jue and his cousin, and living in the same village, they had often played together as children, drifting apart only as they grew older. When his cousin spoke of him, there was a strange wistfulness in his tone—the natural sigh of youth.
Lin Jue, on the other hand, suddenly felt that this provided him with a justification his uncle and aunt would find far easier to accept.
"I want to travel outside to study as well."
"You want to as well? Why? Where would you go?"
Lin Jue set down his chopsticks and explained earnestly, "First, our family is poor. My cousin has yet to marry, and my uncle has only just recovered from a long illness; continuing to support my studies is simply unsustainable.
"Second, perhaps the village truly lacks scholarly fortune. In recent years, few have passed the examinations, and hardly anyone has even cleared the prefectural qualifying examination. Unlike the great Shu Family, we have no connections in the county seat. In the long run, I fear I will never make a name for myself through study here. In that case, I might as well go out.
"Lastly, I have thought it over for a long time. What that presence said that night at the Wang Family Ancestral Hall of Heng Village was likely not a lie. After nearly drowning, it is only natural that my soul is unsettled. If I do not venture out, I will never find my Soul-Pacifying Method."
Where there was traveling to study, there was naturally traveling to seek wider learning as well.
Throughout history, many famous figures had undertaken journeys of study. Some, already deeply learned, traveled far and wide to seek out renowned masters to enrich their scholarship; some used the pretense of itinerant study to tour mountains and rivers and make friends; while others simply sought renowned masters across the land in hopes of securing guidance or building connections to pass the examinations and enter officialdom.
Lin Jue no longer had any heart for civil service studies. His mind was entirely consumed by the path of immortality and longevity, and by the desire to witness the wondrous, extraordinary facets of this world. Languishing in this village was both a torment to himself and a burden upon his uncle and aunt.
What was more, there were the words spoken by that presence that night:
His soul was unstable; he needed to seek a Soul-Pacifying Method.
This was indeed a fine justification.
And conveniently enough, a fellow villager had already paved the way ahead.
Yet at this time, and especially in this place, the clan ethics and ritual propriety were exceedingly strict; doing such a thing would be no simple matter.
At the very least, he had to make it unmistakably clear to the Shu clan elders and familiar neighbors that he was departing for itinerant study of his own free will. Otherwise, the moment he left, his uncle and aunt would likely face malicious gossip.
Furthermore, he needed to have a travel permit issued.
Once Lin Jue made up his mind, he acted with absolute resolve.
Over the next few days, he began by laying out the advantages and disadvantages. Using fellow villager Shu Datou as a recent example and citing ancient precedents of traveling scholars, he persuaded his uncle, aunt, and cousin. Next, he went door to door to express his gratitude and say his farewells to neighboring families, explaining his plans and reasons in detail while carefully steering clear of any mention of his family's financial burdens.
As for the books he had borrowed, he also had to return them.