Chapter 91: The Beginning of a Change in Sect Culture

A man of integrity? Ding Songyan suddenly found that a little funny.

It had been years since anyone described him that way...

The last time he’d heard it was when he and his ex-girlfriend had just started dating. After that, all she would say was "I can’t believe I fell for your tricks."

It wasn’t that he lacked sexual desire or sexual boldness. There was just a knot in his heart he hadn’t let go of yet.

Ding Songyan sighed, shook his head with a self-deprecating smile, and strolled back to the main room to wash up and sleep.

The following morning, Ding Songyan found Zheng Zhuxi already in the courtyard, tempering her body, circulating her qi, and practicing her swordsmanship.

She earnestly discussed all manner of details about the Seven Swords of Candlelit Night with him and took his feedback very seriously.

Ding Songyan was not surprised.

After what he’d said last night, and after demonstrating three moves that killed a fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed warrior on the spot, even the most oblivious person could guess he had gained something that took him to the top in a single leap.

But since his senior sister didn’t spell it out, Ding Songyan was happy to say no more.

After breakfast, Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo arrived in turn—one practicing the Nine Primal Arts and the Forward-Reverse Circulation, the other supervising and offering guidance.

Ding Songyan discovered to his surprise that Yang Shiduo was better at teaching than he was. The latter deserved his role as someone who often stood in for his master.

He had enough self-awareness about this. Back in school, classmates often came to him with problems, and he would say "like this, like this, see? Isn’t it solved," only for them to stare back blankly, not having understood a word, completely unable to follow his train of thought.

Now, communicating with people like Senior Brother Wan, Senior Sister Zheng, and Yang Shiduo—all of whom had entered the Great Proliferation Realm and had years of martial training behind them—Ding Songyan could get by well enough. The moment he faced Xu Chang’an, he was at a loss for how someone could be so dumb.

With Yang Shiduo doing the bulk of the teaching, Ding Songyan only needed to add a word or two at key moments for Xu Chang’an to actually learn something.

Zheng Zhuxi had intended to leave, but Ding Songyan insisted she stay and observe. His reasoning left her with no way to refuse.

"Senior Sister, give the Nine Primal Arts and the Forward-Reverse Circulation a try yourself. It can only do you good, not harm. You don’t want to go out into the jianghu one day and find your strength incapable of living up to your reputation, do you?"

Thinking of her recent "illustrious combat record," Zheng Zhuxi quietly accepted her junior brother’s good intentions. She not only took the diagrams and practiced it with proper focus, but also occasionally fed back small details from her own physical experience, or offered Xu Chang’an a few pointers.

Good, someone at the early stage of the Great Proliferation Realm really can complete all nine forms in one session... Ding Songyan gave a satisfied nod and said to Zheng Zhuxi with a smile, "Senior Sister, the aperture refinement portion isn’t urgent for now. Wait until your aperture forging or viscera installation hits a bottleneck, then come back to it."

He hadn’t yet worked out a complete aperture forging method himself, and had no intention of having his senior sister spend major effort on the Diagram of the Great Change, Way Attainment right now. Raising her own cultivation level first was the right path.

Zheng Zhuxi was holding the Diagram of the Great Change, Way Attainment and staring at it until her head spun.

She had thought the aperture refinement visualization diagram of the Celestial Stars Scripture was already extremely complex; to her surprise, there was something even more complex. And yet as her corresponding apertures were stirred into motion, she found that this visualization diagram and her own Candleflame True Qi didn’t seem to conflict.

What kind of art is this... Zheng Zhuxi pushed down her curiosity, glanced at Ding Songyan, and said nothing.

She was certain of one thing: this was not an art from the Brightnight Sect’s scripture repository.

And based on her suspicions from the night before, she believed her junior brother had developed it himself through his own exploration.

Is that why he has people of different cultivation levels practice it—to gather different feedback? Zheng Zhuxi returned the Diagram of the Great Change, Way Attainment to Ding Songyan and watched him walk over to Yang Shiduo and Xu Chang’an.

"The small flaws in your Iron Wound Fist are mostly corrected now, but you still need to put in hard work to consolidate them. After that, when you have nothing pressing, you can practice the Nine Primal Arts and the Forward-Reverse Circulation. They’ll help you condition your body and allow you to also cultivate more agile footwork, compensating for the gap left by your hardening skills not yet reaching greater mastery." In order to test his own martial thinking, Ding Songyan put considerable care and effort into his guidance for Yang Shiduo.

Yang Shiduo was deeply grateful. He had never in his life encountered someone so selfless, and this selfless person’s only request was that he help keep watch over Xu Chang’an’s training.

To have a friend like this, Xu Chang’an truly had heaven-sent fortune!

Ding Songyan then turned to Xu Chang’an.

"Once your strength surpasses your fellow disciples, you can sell them the body-tempering, qi cultivation, and aperture refinement Chapters of the Blameless Profound Art. That way, you won’t need to worry about money for at least a year."

"Sell it to them?" Xu Chang’an’s mouth fell open wide enough to fit a goose egg.

What kind of person sells a divine art to others?

Ding Songyan laughed.

"I’m not telling you to sell the Great Proliferation Chapter. A person has to know what to keep and what to let go; otherwise, where are you going to find the money for aperture forging?"

As my first and founding disciple, the Blameless Profound Art is just a starting point for you. You can’t actually think it’s a treasure, can you? If you don’t exchange it for resources to help your own cultivation, how are you ever going to catch up?

Thinking of the Nine Primal Arts and Forward-Reverse Circulation he had just practiced, Xu Chang’an said hesitantly, "I’ll wait until my aperture refinement reaches greater mastery and I can start aperture forging. Then I’ll sell it to them."

After lunch, Ding Songyan gave Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo a few more reminders, shouldered his pack, picked up his sword, and rode back to Alpine Lake Mountain with Zheng Zhuxi.

Along the way, Zheng Zhuxi alternated between chatting with him about sect matters and exchanging thoughts on swordsmanship. Her diligence and earnestness made Ding Songyan quietly question himself.

Have I been putting too much pressure on Senior Sister?

Sigh, a fine sword is forged through grinding, and the plum blossom’s fragrance comes from bitter cold. If Senior Sister achieves something great one day, she’ll understand my good intentions.

By the time they returned to the sect, the sky was nearly dark. Ding Songyan headed back to his own small courtyard, while Zheng Zhuxi went to the Hall of Myriad Stars to find Tao Wenshu.

Tao Wenshu, wearing her simple iron crown, smiled at her daughter and held up a letter.

"Magistrate Lin sent a pigeon post specially to commend you. He said that your talent is exceptional and your swordsmanship has matured, that you were able to kill a formerly ranked Mortal Surpassed warrior in a confined room."

"Mother." Zheng Zhuxi immediately felt aggrieved. "Can’t you guess who actually killed him?"

In front of others she had to maintain decorum; surely she could wheedle a little in front of her own mother?

"How did Songyan do it?" Tao Wenshu’s thoughts turned to her disciple’s martial progress.

Zheng Zhuxi shook her head, at a loss.

"I didn’t see it. When I asked him afterward, he only said he used changes in speed."

The young woman gave a full account of what had happened.

"One move to deflect the sleeve arrow, at most two to finish the opponent..." Tao Wenshu had a rough idea of what "changes in speed" referred to.

She turned to her daughter with a smile.

"Did Songyan tell you everything?"

Zheng Zhuxi suddenly realized that if she answered "yes," her mother would probably stop holding back and let a great deal slip in the course of their conversation. But she thought again and answered honestly, "He only said his strength surpasses mine, and that it came from something he gained in the Zhen estate affair."

When she said this, Zheng Zhuxi was a little unhappy.

A senior sister’s dignity is all but gone!

How long has it been, and already I can’t keep up with my junior brother!

"That’s true." Tao Wenshu noticed her daughter’s change in mood and smiled. "Opportunities can’t be compared, but haven’t you noticed how much your swordsmanship has advanced lately? Teaching and learning go hand in hand. With a junior brother like Songyan, I believe you’ll surpass me one day. As the saying goes, the student will surpass the master."

True, with Junior Brother raising questions and giving feedback, my swordsmanship really has improved enormously... She had noticed this even before leaving for the prefecture, but hadn’t clearly identified who deserved the most credit.

She went on to recount the matter of the Renewal Way, the Dark Capital birdcall, and the rest. Tao Wenshu listened with considerable wistfulness.

The Zhen estate affair ran far deeper than anyone had imagined.

After dinner with her mother, she rested for a while, then recalled the sword technique difficulties she and her junior brother had discussed on the way back. She suddenly stood up, picked up Autumnwater, left the Myriad Ravines Courtyard, and headed straight for the Dipper-Mansion Training Ground.

Watching her go, Tao Wenshu smiled with satisfaction.

With passion like that for martial practice, how could she fail to become a Grandmaster?

Zheng Zhuxi arrived at the Dipper-Mansion Training Ground, lit every one of the column lamps cast in bronze and iron and carved with the shapes of birds and beasts, and worked earnestly through the sword techniques, resolving each difficulty in turn.

After a while, she heard footsteps approaching from outside, drawing steadily closer.

Zheng Zhuxi turned to look and saw it was Wan Guhong, with his characteristic languid manner.

"Senior Brother Wan, what brings you here?" Zheng Zhuxi asked in surprise, sheathing her sword.

Wan Guhong hadn’t expected to run into Junior Sister Zheng at this hour. He smiled somewhat awkwardly.

"Came to practice my sword."

Wh... is the sun rising in the west today? Zheng Zhuxi was both amused and bewildered.

Senior Brother Wan, who never trains more than four hours a day, is actually coming here at night to practice his sword?

Is this really the Senior Brother Wan I knew?

Shouldn’t you be in your room reading for leisure right now?

Wan Guhong was equally surprised. In his eyes, Junior Sister Zheng was not only gifted and talented with the sword, but her temperament aligned remarkably well with the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra. She also spent a great deal of time around Master Tao and absorbed much simply by being near her. In martial training, what took others two hours took her half that—or less, sometimes no more than a stick of incense.

A junior sister like her has no need to come practice at night, and she genuinely hasn’t been this diligent before.

Has something spurred her on?

Something feels off lately...

The fellow disciples exchanged a glance, each found a corner, and silently went about their own practice.

Mid-practice, Zheng Zhuxi suddenly paused.

I was the one who guided Junior Brother Ding on the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra, and Senior Brother Wan was the one who guided him on the Celestial Stars Scripture...

......

Two days later, Ding Songyan was in the underground chamber of the Kindling Hall, reading the aperture forging Chapters of the Celestial Stars Scripture and the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra by lamplight.

Within them were not only the aperture forging methods themselves, but detailed accounts of how the two goddesses and the subsequent patriarchs, who completed the cultivation art, had explored, determined the techniques, and settled on the required resources with every step described at length. Ding Songyan gained a great deal.

Through this, he also confirmed one thing.

The flesh and blood of divine creatures contained power beyond the Dharma Realm. Currently, one could only reach the Dharma Realm in a quantum leap. It was caused by the severing of the heaven-and-earth connection, not by any inherent reduction in the potency of that flesh and blood.

So those who consumed divine creature flesh and blood to reach the perfected Dharma Realm could observe the resulting changes in their bodies and develop corresponding aperture forging methods. Those Grandmasters who had cultivated step by step to the peak, however, could not reconstruct the aperture forging Chapters. They could only do so after achieving complete mastery of themselves, which typically corresponded to the Heaven-Man Realm.

Ding Songyan set down the books and focused on sensing the circulation and changes in one of the alien apertures in his chest.

It was the simplest one.

Over an hour later, he returned to the Kindling Hall and said to the cultivation-teaching Elder who had specially been assigned to him, "I need something that embodies extreme yin that gives rise to yang, and something that embodies pure yang harboring yin."

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