Chapter 41: Shaking the Nine Heavens

"If I can't cultivate it..." Seventh Young Master stammered, seeming not to understand Lady's words: "What does that mean?"

"If you can't cultivate it, you can't cultivate it." Lady seemed not to see his expression, her gaze still fixed on the tea leaves floating in the teacup: "The Spirit Crane Body is not a Wu Gong for ordinary mortals to cultivate."

"Didn't Xu Jiaotou say this Wu Gong can enter the Dao through martial arts and reach the Immortal Gate?"

"Enter the Dao through martial arts? That's more like spreading rumors from error to error." Lady's face held a hint of mockery: "The world often mistakes the effect for the cause, indulging in wild fantasies."

"Why?" Seventh Young Master's face grew even more grim.

"It is not that cultivating this Wu Gong allows one to enter the Immortal Gate, but that one must enter the Immortal Gate before one can cultivate this Wu Gong."

Seeing the confusion on her son's face, Lady explained: "Do you know the origin of the Spirit Crane Body?"

Seventh Young Master shook his head.

"Everyone says cultivation depends on aptitude, but what is aptitude?"

"Spiritual Roots?"

"Yes, Spiritual Roots are most important, but besides Spiritual Roots, the Immortal Gate also values another aptitude—the Dao Body. The Immortal Gate's most top-tier geniuses are often those with a single Spiritual Root plus an Innate Dao Body." Lady continued: "The Dao Body is naturally formed from birth, but some predecessors of great power have created methods to achieve a Dao Body postnatally."

"The Spirit Crane Body is actually..." Seventh Young Master's expression showed a hint of interest.

"What are you thinking? How could a single Wu Gong possibly do that? However, the Spirit Crane Body was indeed created based on a certain Innate Dao Body, though its effect might be less than one-tenth, and it can only function during the early stages of cultivation."

"If it can only function during the early stages of cultivation, and ordinary mortals cannot cultivate it anyway, what meaning does this cultivation technique have?"

Seventh Young Master pointed out the contradiction.

"Because although this cultivation technique has no requirement for cultivation level to practice, comprehending it often has very high requirements." Lady stated the reason: "Take the Spirit Crane Body for example; it is said that to comprehend it, one must observe all birds under heaven. How can an ordinary mortal manage that?"

Seventh Young Master still did not understand, so Lady explained: "These Wu Gong were originally used by those great powers to cultivate their own descendants."

"Those descendants of great powers can summon at least a True Person with Nascent Soul cultivation level to use the Mirror Flower Water Moon technique to reflect the vast world, allowing them to observe all feathered creatures under heaven."

Lady stared at Seventh Young Master and asked: "Can Zheng Fa do that?"

Seventh Young Master understood: "So, from the beginning, Mother, you knew Zheng Fa could not cultivate it?"

"Yes."

"Why? Since you knew it wouldn't work, why give him the Spirit Crane Body?"

Lady seemed not to hear his anger, her gaze returning to the teacup. Her right hand gently swayed, and the tea leaves in the water, under her movement, helplessly drifted with the current.

"Back then, Xu Jiaotou mastered his Wu Gong in twenty years and developed the desire to leave the Zhao family and venture into the Jianghu." She seemed to answer irrelevantly: "I did not wish to use power to suppress him and hurt our bond, so I gave him the Spirit Crane Body, and then... he peacefully served as an instructor in the Zhao mansion for twenty years."

Seventh Young Master looked at his mother, half-understanding.

"Failure made him realize his talent was nothing; he saw himself clearly and accepted his fate."

"Zheng Fa... is the same?"

"The same." Lady looked up at Seventh Young Master, her gaze devoid of warmth: "His talent is better, but he is more ambitious, and he has not a shred of respect for you."

Seventh Young Master could not hold back: "Mother! I don't even mind!"

"But I do mind! If he lacks the aptitude to enter the Immortal Gate, I could tolerate this ambition, but if he can go, I cannot tolerate it!"

"I will go tell him!" Seventh Young Master suddenly stood up.

"Zhao Jingfan!" Lady's voice rose high: "You are the master, he is the servant! Zheng Fa should be your hands and your legs; he should assist you in managing the Zhao family and help you enter the Immortal Gate."

"But, I absolutely will not tolerate him stepping on my son's shoulders! You may forget your identity, but he must remember it!"

Seventh Young Master looked at his mother, cheeks puffed out, but could say nothing, finally silently sweeping his sleeve and leaving.

The teacup on the table still emitted steam. Lady watched her son's departing back, silent for a long time.

"Lady," the maid beside her said cautiously: "Don't be angry with the Young Master; the Young Master is just kind-hearted."

"Kind-hearted? I think he is just stupid!" Lady pouted, sat down, and said: "Stupid since childhood!"

"His father played with women outside and produced several concubine-born sons, and what does he do? He goes and plays the younger brother for someone! He gets tricked and doesn't even know it!"

"Later he learned to be a bit smarter, but he spent all day clinging to his older sister; wherever she went, he went! When his sister went to the Immortal Gate, he still cried and clutched his pillow and quilt to sleep in his sister's room for a whole year, just like a little girl!"

Lady, with a cold face, complained: "Does he hate me because he cannot go to the Immortal Gate? If he had that ambition, I would be happy! He hates that I separated him from his older sister!"

The maid beside her lowered her head, daring not to speak.

Lady continued to scold: "When he grew up, he wore a cold dog face every day, offending people, pretending to be smart, yet when he met a book boy he liked, he poured out his heart!"

"Lady, didn't you say before that with you watching over him, it wasn't bad for the Young Master to be innocent?" the maid said, somewhat puzzled.

Hearing this, Lady rubbed her head: "His sister sent a letter saying she will return early and wants to find a way to get this boy into the Immortal Gate."

"The Eldest Young Lady?" the maid said, somewhat delighted: "That is good news!"

"Good my foot! With his brain, if he enters the Immortal Gate with no one to protect him, what then?"

"So Lady, you..."

"Zheng Fa is a good seedling; he has aptitude and a steady temper, just a bit arrogant. I plan to let him go to the Immortal Gate with this boy, so I can be more at ease." Lady shook her head: "Just before going, I must prune this seedling. Unfortunately, it was a bit hasty."

Hearing this, the maid also understood and could only sigh lightly: "Lady has put so much thought into the Young Master."

"I owe him for giving birth to him in this life." Lady sighed.

"I fear... the Young Master might really tell Zheng Fa, and Zheng Fa will harbor resentment."

"Resentment? Who would he resent? Only me." Lady smiled, her gaze turning toward the training ground: "Didn't this boy extract the secret of cultivating the Spirit Crane Body from my mouth for him? Now isn't he preparing to sell me, his mother, to comfort him? Shouldn't he be even more grateful to his Young Master? The worse I, this Lady, am, the more loyal and righteous my foolish son becomes!"

"But, the Young Master doesn't understand you, Lady, and Zheng Fa also hates you..."

"I don't need him to understand; I need him to be well. As for Zheng Fa? The hatred of a book boy, I can certainly bear it." Lady blew on the tea leaves floating in her teacup, utterly unconcerned.

After a long while, the maid spoke with some doubt: "What if, what if Zheng Fa's aptitude is truly extraordinary, and one day he enters the Immortal Gate and soars to the heavens, what then?"

"What then? My son is a fool with fool's luck; he has always been building good karma with him, pouring out his heart to him. Could he really disregard this bond and beat me to death?" Lady seemed amused, joking: "If he truly has such talent, I would welcome it!"

Having spoken, she frowned, looking toward the training ground, her ears slightly turned, her gaze focused.

A faint crane cry came from the direction of the training ground; from melodious and pleasant, it gradually became high-pitched and intense, shooting straight to the Nine Heavens. The white sea of clouds in the sky rolled incessantly with the sound waves.

Everyone in Jingzhou City looked up, curiously gazing at the sky, searching for the source of the sound.

The Lady recalled the records she had read; her hand trembled, and she paid no heed as the teacup shattered on the floor, murmuring, "Has he succeeded?"

The maid kept her head bowed, watching the tea leaves floating wildly and freely in the puddle of spilled tea on the ground, and sighed deeply in her heart.

"My Lady, you do not look as though you are pleased to see this happen."