Chapter 92: Aperture Forging

The cultivation-teaching Elder in the Kindling Hall had a full head of white hair and had not descended the mountain in nearly twenty years. He looked at Ding Songyan and said, after a moment’s thought, "Ghost King Grass grows in places of extreme yin and yet blooms with flowers of pure yang. Bloodsand is of pure yang that burns ferociously, yet generates yin-cold water within. These should meet your requirements."

The cultivation-teaching Elder did not understand why Ding Songyan had been permitted to read the aperture forging Chapters of the Celestial Stars Scripture and the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra under his and his peers’ charge, nor why the sect master had instructed him to render full cooperation without asking for specific reasons. He only knew that since all three Grandmasters within the sect had agreed to it, the matter complied with sect rules.

"Thank you, Uncle Grandmaster." Ding Songyan bowed sincerely.

This cultivation-teaching Elder, Hu Chengzong, was of the same generation as Wang Zhou—a junior brother of Tao Wenshu’s master. He had always been stuck at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm and had never been able to become a Grandmaster. At over seventy, his age showed clearly.

Before long, Hu Chengzong brought out two wooden boxes and led Ding Songyan into a side chamber off the main hall.

"Which aperture forging method will you be using?" the elder opened the wooden boxes as he asked the young man before him.

From the resources requested, Hu Chengzong deduced that the aperture being forged was not any of those recorded in either the Celestial Stars Scripture or the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra.

Some of those alien apertures used Ghost King Grass, and some used Bloodsand, but none used both.

Under the lamplight, Ding Songyan saw that one box held Ghost King Grass with deep black stems and leaves and brilliant gold flowers, and the other held Bloodsand, deep crimson and shot through with shifting light.

He considered briefly and said, "One ring of Bloodsand and one stalk of Ghost King Grass, each dissolved separately. Use guided needles to insert at the aperture, channeling liquid into the body."

This was the simplest aperture forging method. More complex approaches included external aperture forging and implanting flesh and blood.

"To channel the liquid... What kind of water is used to dissolve them?" Hu Chengzong asked further.

Ding Songyan thought for a moment.

"Ordinary well water, spring water, or lake water will do."

Chaos encompassed all things—there was no need to remove impurities.

"No need for nine rounds of boiling and cooling?" Hu Chengzong’s deeply wrinkled face showed quite the surprise.

He had never seen ordinary well water, spring water, or lake water used in aperture forging. At the very least, there should be specific timing requirements.

"No need." Ding Songyan was quite certain.

Hu Chengzong kept the sect master’s instructions in mind and asked nothing further. He fetched mountain spring water from beside the Kindling Hall, first ground the Ghost King Grass into powder and placed it in a cup of water, then took a second cup and dissolved the Bloodsand.

Done with this, he took a packet of silver needles from his robes and selected two of the thicker, hollow ones.

Ding Songyan had already loosened his collar and bared his chest. He pointed to a spot and said, "1.3 inches to the left of the Danzhong point."

Aperture forging and viscera installation often required baring the body, so the cultivation-teaching Elders included both men and women.

Hu Chengzong had a great many questions, but in the end said nothing and stayed silent. Following Ding Songyan’s direction, he inserted the two needles side by side into the indicated position.

Amid a faint prickling sensation, Ding Songyan sensed the circulation and changes in the alien aperture and said to Hu Chengzong, "Both liquids must be channeled in simultaneously. Wrap the Ghost King Grass liquid with Candleflame True Qi, and the Bloodsand water with Myriad Star True Qi."

Candleflame True Qi and Myriad Star True Qi could be converted into each other, though before the Dharma Realm the secondary cultivated true qi would be considerably lower in quality. The 108 apertures of the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra’s aperture refinement stage could be accommodated within the 360 apertures of the Celestial Stars Scripture without conflict, but the methods of condensing them and the circulation of the true qi were different, like a single branch blooming two flowers.

Hu Chengzong tapped his right index finger, and sword qi shot out with a whoosh, carrying a warm quality that "lifted" the Ghost King Grass liquid and sent it snaking like a dragon toward the right needle, injecting it into the hollow.

He didn’t rush to channel it into the body, but held it in place and switched to Myriad Star True Qi, repeating the same procedure to inject the Bloodsand water into the other hollow needle.

When this was done, he extended two fingers on each hand and gripped the corresponding needle, rotating them gently with a rhythmic tremor to channel both liquids into Ding Songyan’s body simultaneously.

Ding Songyan had closed his eyes and let the Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi circulate through the alien aperture. It merged into the Ghost King Grass powder and Bloodsand water almost simultaneously, stirring them together in the form of a Taiji, gradually forming a configuration of distinct yin and yang—yin harboring yang within it, yang concealing yin within it.

In this circulation, the physical resources and the intangible aperture gradually merged, transforming into flesh and blood, truly becoming a part of the body. It was neither entirely real nor entirely illusory, a superposition of both.

Ding Songyan slowly opened his eyes, his heart full of peace and joy.

From this point on, even if his strength should diminish in the future, he would be able to maintain his Great Proliferation Realm. The corresponding alien aperture, Dark Brightness, was now real and no longer illusory.

He needed to forge 108 alien apertures in total, of which 14 were associated with the three sets of six non-human organs that required viscera installation. Before the installations, he only needed to complete 94 and condense the corresponding false meridians.

As for how to condense the meridians, it meant finding the most suitable route and forcing it open with true qi. Not a single path existed in the world to begin with; they were walked into existence.

With a shift of thought, the Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi shot from Dark Brightness toward the Danzhong point. Though it did not tear through flesh and blood along the way, it brought a very noticeable stinging sensation, as though silver needles were being driven in continuously.

In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Ding Songyan completed the condensation of the first false meridian amid light cold sweat.

The corresponding "path" had already been paved by the Chaos force—all he needed to do was consolidate it.

He said to Hu Chengzong with a smile, "Uncle Grandmaster, you can remove the needles now."

As he said this, a wave of feeling rose in Ding Songyan’s heart.

According to the Celestial Stars Scripture and the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra, the two goddesses and the various patriarchs who explored or completed the aperture forging methods went through many rounds of trial and error before they could determine how to forge each alien aperture and what resources were needed. Yet I succeeded on the first try.

Manifesting the Way and its Virtue really is overpowered!

At this pace, given sufficient resources, I could forge a dozen to twenty alien apertures a day. But I can’t rush. I have to go step by step. Although my mind is also elevated by the Chaos force and can handle this, I can’t neglect the work of cultivating my heart and refining myself. Right, I’ll do two to three days per alien aperture. In my spare time, besides martial practice and reflection, I’ll need to study the resources and write up the aperture forging methods I’ve worked out in text and diagrams.

After Hu Chengzong withdrew the needles, Ding Songyan said, "Uncle Grandmaster, I’ll come again tomorrow afternoon to look through the two volumes’ aperture forging Chapters, and I may need to trouble you to assist with another forging the day after."

"Another forging the day after?" Hu Chengzong blurted out in astonishment.

Under normal circumstances, being able to endure one aperture forging per month already marked someone as gifted. Who had ever forged two apertures in three days?

Is this person even human? He’s probably some divine creature, right?

Both the Celestial Stars Scripture and the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra only required 36 alien apertures to be forged, of which twelve corresponded to four viscera installations—Azure Dragon, Black Turtle, White Tiger, and Vermilion Bird. Each of these four non-human organs had four alien apertures forged around them, which together with the three apertures directly on each organ formed the Twenty-Eight Mansions configuration. As for the remaining eight alien apertures, many disciples might need two years to complete them.

The considerably gifted Wan Guhong had taken a full five years to near the perfected Great Proliferation Realm, with only the final viscera installation remaining. It was expected that he would complete it within the year.

Zheng Zhuxi, currently the most gifted with a temperament most aligned to the arts, had been forging just under one alien aperture per month since entering the Great Proliferation Realm. She had just completed all those outside the Twenty-Eight Mansions, and planned to push through the remaining four months to forge the four alien apertures surrounding the Vermilion Bird organs, then install the Vermilion Bird and condense the remaining three.

This cultivation pace ranked among the fastest in Brightnight Sect history. Perhaps in two years—three at most—Zheng Zhuxi would reach the perfected Great Proliferation Realm. This included the time spent wandering the jianghu and tempering herself.

All of this was within the range of the comprehensible. But at a speed of two apertures in three days, besides the Brightnight and Candleflame goddesses, who were divine by nature, no one could likely manage that.

Unless... Hu Chengzong suddenly had an idea, then thought better of it.

Even if his guess were correct, two apertures in three days was impossible. Even trial and error, adjustment, and recovery all took time!

Ding Songyan offered no explanation. He straightened his collar, picked up Frostshade under Hu Chengzong’s bewildered gaze, and walked slowly out of the Kindling Hall.

As he descended the stone steps, he heard birdsong from the forest and felt a sudden stirring. He turned his gaze toward it.

Birds soared, diving for prey at one moment and dancing through the air the next. They were nimble and weightless, as though demonstrating some principle between heaven and earth, or a martial art latent in nature itself.

Ding Songyan watched in absorbed self-forgetfulness, and it was some time before he came back to his senses and noticed that guest adviser, Pan Yunzhou, was watching him from nearby.

He gave a nod of acknowledgment and continued down the steps toward Alpine Lake.

Pan Yunzhou watched him go, then moved thoughtfully to the spot where Ding Songyan had been standing and looked earnestly at the still forest and the birds in flight.

Ding Songyan had barely returned to his own residence when he saw Senior Sister Zheng Zhuxi waiting at his door.

Zheng Zhuxi was wearing a pale green jacket with white trim over a pleated skirt. She said with a smile, "Junior Brother, do you remember what day it is today?"

Ding Songyan thought for a moment and smiled.

"I nearly forgot. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival."

"All the senior brothers and sisters happen to be here, so my mother asked you to join us at the Myriad Ravines Courtyard for the festival." Zheng Zhuxi smiled and led the way, pausing along the route to discuss the gains from her sword practice that day.

The Myriad Ravines Courtyard sat amid the mountain forest above Alpine Lake. Today Tao Wenshu was not wearing her star-covered black robes or heavy iron crown, but a deep red jacket over a blue pleated skirt. It made her less austere, appearing more at ease.

Eldest Senior Brother Xu Julong was nearly thirty, with thick brows, bright eyes and a calm smile that put people at ease. Third Senior Sister Lin Shuyue was delicate and demure, sitting in silence at the table with a gentle smile as she watched Xue Xian and Wan Guhong talk nonsense.

Fourth Senior Sister Xue Xian appeared at first glance to have a temperament similar to Lin Shuyue’s, but Ding Songyan knew that once she was comfortable, she became a one-woman chaos. She was skilled at mahjong, dice, and dominoes alike, yet never went near gambling dens. She only liked making mischief with fellow disciples, betting on embarrassing things.

Seeing that all her disciples had gathered, Tao Wenshu raised a cup of osmanthus wine and said to Zheng Zhuxi, "It’s a festival today. I’ll allow you three cups."

I don’t want any... The moment Zheng Zhuxi saw the wine, she was reminded of her embarrassing drunken episode that night, and she couldn’t help shooting Ding Songyan another silent glare.

When Ding Songyan and the others had all raised their cups, Tao Wenshu said with feeling, "As luck would have it, today is a patrol rotation day, so Xue Xian was able to make it back in time.We finally have everyone together this Mid-Autumn Festival.

"For this toast, may we have this day, year after year!"

Ding Songyan, Zheng Zhuxi, and the others all responded in unison with a laugh, "May we have this day, year after year!"

Cups clinked with a clear ring, and they tilted their heads back and drained them in one go. Outside the window, the late afternoon sun blazed brilliantly like fire.

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