Qiao Yiting naturally understood the logic of reading ten thousand books, but looking at these books teaching how to practice Qi cultivation, he was completely baffled and troubled, because the introductions in the books were far too short, making them impossible to understand.
Fortunately, flipping to the very back, Qiao Yiting discovered some illustrations and postures on the back cover. Following the explanations in the book, he imitated the posture of the figures in the drawings, sat cross-legged on the floor, and slowly began to find the feel of it.
Faint blue light radiated around his whole body. He suddenly felt the Dantian mentioned in the book, feeling as though he were swimming freely in the vast ocean, the universe was ethereal, and he was just a drop in the ocean.
Just as he was entering a state of serene mastery, the image of Zeng Youran crying out “Senior Brother” right before his death on the first night suddenly flashed through Qiao Yiting’s mind. His breathing instantly became hurried, and a fit of coughing ended this session of practice.
He felt puzzled inside. Clearly, he had followed everything taught in the book without missing a single step, so why couldn’t even the most basic Qi cultivation be achieved?
“Junior Brother, do not force yourself when your mind is unsettled.”
Yin Rong’s voice suddenly rang out, giving Qiao Yiting a start. He hurriedly stood up and bowed, “Third Senior Sister, I do not know why either. This sword dao seems to have become unfamiliar to me.”
He was not an immortal cultivator to begin with. The novels he had read always depicted the protagonists’ paths to cultivation as excessively simple, leading him to believe that cultivating and attaining the Dao were effortless matters.
Yet, of all things in the world, how could attaining the Dao ever be described as easy?
“There is no need to rush things, Junior Brother.” Yin Rong walked closer to Qiao Yiting, pulling the book from his grasp. “You have not yet recovered from your previous qi deviation, and now you are rushing to make a breakthrough. Do you feel you have lived too long?”
With that, she placed the book back onto the bookshelf, immediately retrieved another volume from a different shelf, and handed it to him.
“Sword cultivation abhors inner demons the most. Junior Brother, you must keep your mind calm and tranquil when practicing, otherwise these inner demons will take advantage of the opening.”
Qiao Yiting looked at the book in his hands, then looked at Yin Rong, and smiled knowingly, “Thank you, Senior Sister.”
He thought of the Third Senior Sister Yin Rong before him, who had been picked up at the mountain gate by Master and raised by hand. Therefore, her personality was very similar to the Sect Master’s, not only steady and introverted, but compared to Eldest Senior Brother Fang Ping’s outward display of emotions, she handled everything with exceptional propriety.
Yet what she said next caused Qiao Yiting’s smile to freeze on his face.
“The Little Junior Brother is yet uninitiated, so you need not worry that he will threaten your status in Master’s heart.”
Before Qiao Yiting could react, Yin Rong continued, “Besides, Master has only been in office for a hundred years, and the selection of the next Sect Master is still far off. You have no need to be overly anxious for quick success.”
“If you feel your mind is unsettled during cultivation, you might as well come to me and take a copy of the Scripture of Purity and Tranquility back to copy out.”
Having said that, Yin Rong turned around and walked toward the second floor of the library without looking back.
Watching the retreating figure, Qiao Yiting let out a sigh of frustration. He was truly baffled as to what kind of impression he left in their eyes.
Yet he could conclude that this Yin Rong did not hold a particularly favorable impression of him, perceiving him as eager for quick success and plotting for the position of Sect Master.
Still, Qiao Yiting didn’t care at all about their attitude toward him, nor did he care about the position of Sect Master. “Who knows if this broken sect will even still exist by then.”
Clutching the book in his hands, he read it through carefully, adjusted his state of mind, and began guiding Qi into his body once more. Sure enough, he succeeded.
Immediately after, he attempted to merge the chaotic Qi within his body with the Dantian Qi, striving to make it work for him.
He felt the area around his heart gradually growing warm and increasingly heavy, a sensation Qiao Yiting had never experienced before. It was somewhat strange, but with every breath, he could feel a wave of warmth flowing downward from his heart, ultimately converging in his Dantian.
Until Yin Rong came down from the second floor of the library, he did not let the sound of footsteps disturb his peace of mind. On the contrary, Yin Rong saw a water-like calmness upon his face, and she thought: It seems this time he has truly entered the Dao.
When Qiao Yiting woke up from this session of practice, he found himself drenched in sweat, with his clothes sticking to his body in an extremely uncomfortable manner.
Emerging from the Library Pavilion, a new moon hung high in the sky, casting cold moonlight down. Gusts of cool wind blew, making the shadows of the trees sway, a truly refreshing and carefree feeling.
Qiao Yiting hurried through the night, solely wishing to reach Zhiyi Hall quickly to clean up.
Passing right by the small firewood hut where Zeng Youran used to live, Qiao Yiting noticed a faint light glowing inside. Without a second thought, he barged in and saw Zeng Youran sitting cross-legged right among stacks of firewood, holding a book and studying it under the dim candlelight.
Seeing the newcomer, Zeng Youran quickly hid the book behind his back as if caught in the middle of a secret, stammering, “Sixth Senior Brother, why are you here?”
Originally, Qiao Yiting intended to put on a cold, aloof expression, but seeing his impoverished and pathetic state filled him with heartache. “Why are you here?”
His original intention was to ask: Why aren’t you resting in Zhiyi Hall? Why are you hiding your book while reading?
Zeng Youran still gripped the book tightly, answering the question with a counter-question, “Where has Senior Brother been these past few days? Why haven’t you been at Zhiyi Hall at all?”
What? Past few days? Qiao Yiting had thought he spent only a single day in the Library Pavilion, not realizing several days had already passed.
Yet he showed no surprise, instead adopting an even more unfathomable and profound tone, “Merely going off to perform some routine daily practice. I suppose Junior Brother would have no interest in such things.”
Zeng Youran nodded, “I hurt Senior Brother’s feelings the other days, and I thought Senior Brother wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore.”
“So, you never went to Zhiyi Hall again?”
Zeng Youran hurriedly lifted his eyes, explaining in a panic, “No, these past few days, I went to Zhiyi Hall every night to wait for Senior Brother, but I could never wait for you.”
“Oh, then why didn’t you go wait tonight?” Qiao Yiting paced forward and, catching him off guard, snatched the book hidden behind his back, discovering it was actually a copy of the Three Character Classic.
Looking at the snatched book, Zeng Youran bit his lip and said with difficulty, “I thought Senior Brother didn’t want to see me anymore.”
“Not at all, it was just poor timing.” Noticing his embarrassment, Qiao Yiting raised a hand and patted his head, “Having a drive to improve yourself is a good thing.”
Zeng Youran wanted to raise his hand to touch the palm resting on his head, but felt somewhat timid. In the end, he lifted his eyes to look at the person before him, “Senior Brother, during the day I’ll go to Eldest Senior Brother’s place, and at night you can teach me, alright?”
Qiao Yiting looked at Zeng Youran, whose eyes were sparkling, and was thoroughly shocked. He couldn’t help marveling inwardly: Is this the charm of the original novel’s male lead? That thirst for knowledge is truly hard for anyone to refuse.
Yet worrying about his physical condition and whether he could handle the strain, he said, “I am going to bathe now. Go wait for me at Zhiyi Hall first.”
Hearing the words “bathe,” Zeng Youran reacted reflexively, “I will help you bathe, Senior Brother!”
In young Zeng Youran’s mind, he had previously thought Eldest Senior Brother was an unpardonable monster, but now he felt what Sixth Senior Brother said also made a lot of sense.
As for why Sixth Senior Brother wanted to teach him now, in his view, it was simply to have one more person serving him. That didn’t matter either; as long as he could learn something, it was fine.
It was only in their future days together that he truly realized his own mistake: the Sixth Senior Brother genuinely wanted to lead him into the Dao.
Ultimately, under Qiao Yiting’s persistent boundary-setting, he did not let Zeng Youran follow him, and went to the Herb Pavilion alone.
After all, as a modern youth who had time-traveled from the 21st century, he could never bow down to such outdated etiquette as having someone serve him during a bath or dressing him, that would severely corrupt his inner principles!
Yet walking along the road, Qiao Yiting also felt a bit regretful for not letting him tag along, because in the original novel, Su Qingyu was one of Zeng Youran’s beauties; perhaps bringing him along could have helped foster a relationship between the two.
However, he immediately shook his head forcefully, resolving within himself: He originally shipped the Fourth Senior Sister and Fourth Senior Brother in the original book. He must protect their pairing and absolutely not give Zeng Youran any chance to exploit!
The Herb Pavilion’s location was also quite interesting. Deep within its grounds lay a hot spring waterfall. Hot springs naturally possessed the effect of clearing meridians and promoting blood circulation, and Xue Yun and Su Qingyu had planted a circle of medicinal herbs around it that had miraculous effects on body cultivators like sword cultivators, using their magical arts to maximize the efficacy of these herbs.
This made many outer disciples yearn to try their luck in this pool, but unfortunately, this hot spring pool was only open to inner disciples.
Based on descriptions in the book, Qiao Yiting could only sense that his Dantian existed in a liquid-like state. He had originally thought all cultivators started out from the Golden Core stage; now it seemed that the original owner’s previous qi deviation was caused by failing a forced breakthrough to the Golden Core stage, meaning Qiao Yiting’s current realm was merely at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Once a breakthrough fails, all preceding efforts are wiped out, and one must start all over again.
“Slow and steady wins the race. I might as well take this opportunity to properly guide Zeng Youran onto the righteous path. Whether it succeeds or not depends entirely on him.”
He stayed in the hot spring pool for a full hour or two, feeling his entire body relax significantly. But he understood that Qi cultivation was an indispensable daily task that could not be neglected. As for Zeng Youran, since he wanted to learn at night, they would study together, which would also spark his own motivation to study.
Pressure brings motivation!
On the way back, he happened to run into Yin Rong. “Where is Senior Sister going so late?”
“I am naturally going to the training ground to practice swords.” Yin Rong merely offered him a faint smile. “It seems Junior Brother practiced quite well today. Would you like to come along?”
He gave an awkward smile, “I will definitely ask Senior Sister for guidance another day.”
He had already been immensely shocked by Zeng Youran’s thirst for learning, but he hadn’t expected Yin Rong to be equally diligent. Studying swordsmanship and sword techniques in the library by day, and going to the training ground to practice swords at night, to be honest, he really wanted to go check it out.
Before leaving, Yin Rong stopped him once more. “The sword is not restricted to formed objects; a blade of grass, a single flower, a single tree can all transform into a sharp sword in one’s hand. However, sword cultivation is ultimately centered on physical cultivation. While Qi is extremely important for a sword cultivator, Junior Brother must not abandon the foundation to pursue the trivial.”
Watching the woman disappear into the moonlight, he increasingly felt that Yin Rong was somewhat mysterious. She could always see through his awkward predicaments and pinpoint his problems. Although her words sounded harsh, they were genuinely useful.
Inside Zhiyi Hall, looking at the room neatly tidied by Zeng Youran, his mood instantly improved a lot. “Shall we start tomorrow, then?”
“Alright! Whatever Senior Brother says.”
He pulled Zeng Youran, who was about to leave, and drew him onto his own couch. “Just make do here for tonight. Tomorrow you can go fetch your bedding.”
Although he still remained somewhat clueless about his current situation, Zeng Youran’s presence gave him pressure, forcing him to be more diligent and hardworking. Otherwise, not only would he ruin his own progress, but he might also lead Zeng Youran astray, hastening his own demise.