Chapter 717

Many cultivators chose a meditation cushion and sat cross-legged.

The old Confucian Songtaosheng first taught everyone the methods of hanging the head from the beam and piercing the thigh with an awl.

Both spells require corresponding magic tools; the former uses hemp rope, and the latter uses a wooden awl.

Kong Ran's face became paler, and he looked left and right, a bit unable to sit still.

He hoped from the bottom of his heart that someone could take the initiative to leave, but he was disappointed to see: the remaining cultivators were either solemn or expressionless, and had no intention of leaving at all.

Songtaosheng said slowly: "Everyone, choose your own classics and use the two methods to assist in learning. This temple has long been arranged. If anyone cheats, they will be severely punished!"

A warning couldn't help but make everyone feel awe-struck.

Next, Songtaosheng was quite straightforward and directly announced the start of this Xingyun Trial.

Ning Zhuo didn't rush to act, but fell into rapid thinking.

He felt a bit troubled in his heart: "I have classics, of course, but—what should I choose to learn?"

"Is it one I have already learned and know by heart?"

"Or a half-understood classic, one I haven't mastered?"

"Or choose a completely unfamiliar one?"

Ning Zhuo's trouble was not just his own, but also other Confucian cultivators.

Mainly because the selection criteria for this Xingyun Trial had not been publicized. Everyone didn't know, so they couldn't grasp it.

So the next moment, Bai Jiyun took the initiative to stand up and salute Songtaosheng to inquire.

Songtaosheng was expressionless and shook his head: "This is also one of the test contents of this trial. Most of you are Confucian cultivators. If you were to participate in the national examination of Huawen Country, would you also hold the test paper and ask the invigilator in the examination room?"

Bai Jiyun had to sit down.

The cultivators were sad-faced, almost all thinking about what the evaluation criteria for this Xingyun Trial were.

Only Ning Zhuo understood in his heart: this rule was very inclined toward him!

Liu Fushu gritted his teeth secretly and made a decision: "It seems I can only perform with all my might."

Kong Ran held illusions: "Do I really have to do this? If this trial tests our ability to make wise choices to give up decisively, that would be great."

Kong Ran also knew that this was just his wishful thinking.

But he really didn't want to hang his head from the beam or pierce his thigh with an awl.

During his childhood, when he was in elementary school, he was personally left with a shadow by his father, Kong Zhaoming.

Kong Ran used expectant eyes to scan the audience from time to time: "Whoever leaves, I will follow. I will leave here too!"

"Sigh, if I had known this was the competition, I definitely wouldn't have come."

"Even sleeping in would be better than this."

Kong Ran, at such a young age, was already unable to control himself.

He carried the name of a prodigy and was one of the faces pushed out by the Kong family. His father was one of the current Prime Ministers of Feiyun Country, so his performance was also related to Kong Zhaoming.

Burdened by fame!

Ning Zhuo realized that this Xingyun Trial was also quietly taking care of him, so he let go of his previous concerns.

He released his spiritual sense to probe into his storage belt and had already begun to actively select the classics to learn next.

There were a large number of classics in the storage belt.

For example, the "Ice Sculpture Secret Canon" gifted by Ning Jiufan, the "Collection of Curved Snake Spring Array Methods" from Chen Lao, and the Blood Demon Disintegration Small Method, Death Moon Offering Song, and Heaven Burial Grand Canon that Ning Zhuo bought himself.

In the jade slips of the Jiao family, there were several techniques of the Jiao family, as well as treasure maps.

The Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment chapters of the "Myriad Phenomena Scripture."

Chef Lao's inheritance jade slip, which recorded techniques, recipes, and cultivation insights from the dark cuisine school. It was both proof of identity and an admission ticket and competition ticket for the Hundred Countries Culinary Competition.

By the way, there were also the Ling Shuang and Ao Xue Enlightenment Diagrams, which were one of the foundations of the Ning family. Although they were pictures, they could also be learned and studied.

The precious military book "Gao Sheng's Testament."

The special "Underworld Criminal Book."

"Yin Bone Technique," "Nether Heart Scripture," "Detailed Explanation of Soul-Guiding Technique," etc., a large number of classics related to soul cultivation. Most of these had to be credited to the contribution of Tian Shuang, one of the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts.

There was also the newly obtained "Mother Sound Reed Book," which Ning Zhuo had already mastered.

Thinking about it, Ning Zhuo felt that taking out those soul cultivation techniques seemed to have a bad influence. So, he still chose the "Ice Sculpture Secret Canon."

Ning Zhuo had read it several times before and clearly recognized his own shortcomings—the art of carving, especially the "inner carving technique" that required carving array patterns and talismans inside the ice layer, was his biggest weak link at present. Traveling abroad, he was unable to attend to everything, so this technique had always been regarded by him as a minor detail, temporarily shelved, and only used as a reference to broaden his horizons.

Recently, Ning Zhuo used the Intent-Grasping Brush to copy this book and learned more information that could only be grasped intuitively and not put into words.

This time, he used the Confucian technique of hanging the head from the beam and piercing the thigh with an awl to comprehend this book.

Ning Zhuo sat cross-legged, his waist and back straight like a pine. He channeled magic power, mobilized spiritual sense, and urged the magic tool rope.

So, the cinnabar hemp rope became agile and took the initiative to tie Ning Zhuo's hair bun. Then the other end of the rope bypassed a protruding beam on the top of the stone room behind him, hung down, and began to tighten with just the right amount of force.

The pulling sensation of the hair roots held by the hemp rope brought Ning Zhuo a continuous, subtle, yet clear pulling sensation and the slight pain of the scalp tightening.

At the same time, Ning Zhuo held the wooden awl and used force gently to pierce the outside of his left thigh.

The yellow poplar wood awl pierced steadily into the flesh for about an inch.

A sharp, direct pain continued to stimulate Ning Zhuo.

Hanging the head from the beam, piercing the thigh with an awl!

Ning Zhuo was almost the first cultivator to act, inevitably attracting the attention of many cultivators.

On his young face was a calm and indifferent expression, and not even his eyebrows had twitched in the slightest.

Some cultivators were secretly surprised, and Kong Ran opened his mouth slightly, thinking in a panicked and resistant way: "You've already started?"

Songtaosheng had naturally been watching Ning Zhuo for a long time.

Seeing Ning Zhuo's performance, he nodded in his heart, but still remained observant: "The hanging the head from the beam and piercing the thigh with an awl I taught are ancient versions, so even if you are not a Confucian cultivator, you can use them."

"The key is whether the cultivator using this method can overcome the pain and concentrate on learning?"

"If you are disturbed by the pain, and your learning ability does not increase at all, and you learn nothing, you will suffer in vain."

Ning Zhuo fell into deep thought.

His mind was concentrated on a passage in the "Ice Sculpture Secret Canon," the content of which was roughly how to use micro-carving techniques to construct array patterns on the inner wall of intersecting ice ridges.

Previously, this content was like being covered by a layer of thin ice to him, seemingly transparent but actually blurry.

How did the array patterns inside entangle and connect with each other without damaging the structure of the ice wall? How did spiritual power maintain balance and smoothness in the nine-turn loop patterns? He had pondered these questions repeatedly, but he was always separated by a layer of fog and couldn't grasp the core essence.

But now, with the addition of hanging the head from the beam and piercing the thigh with an awl, everything became different.

The pain of the scalp pulling was like an invisible hand, constantly brushing away the distracting thoughts and fog he generated during the thinking process.

The sharp pain in his leg was like a cold clear spring, repeatedly washing his thinking, keeping him in a state of near-excitement and high sensitivity.

"So that's it!" Brilliance exploded in Ning Zhuo's eyes, "The key lies in 'layering without breaking, guiding without stagnation'! It's not a simple intersection, but to use the texture of the ice wall itself as a base, allowing the array patterns to naturally 'grow' like natural ice ridges. The depth of every carving mark and the angle of every turn must fit the internal structure of the ice ridges! Instead of forcibly embedding them!"

Like thin ice melting in the sun, this difficult point that had troubled him for a long time was thoroughly thought through!

"Effective!"

"These two Confucian spells have good effects."

Ning Zhuo collected his miscellaneous thoughts, suppressed his excitement, and continued to learn.

He could clearly feel that his learning ability had increased significantly.

The condensation and shaping control of ice souls, the spiritual power micro-manipulation of inner carving knife paths, how to stably record talismans in extremely cold environments, and even how to use the refraction characteristics of the ice body itself to strengthen the array pattern effect—the profound contents he had previously swallowed whole were now dismantled, analyzed, and comprehended one by one!

Layers of thin ice were broken one after another.

"Hmm? Interesting." Seeing Ning Zhuo immersed in learning without being disturbed or dragged down by the pain, and even having a sense of immersion, Songtaosheng couldn't help but feel a sense of appreciation in his heart:

Pain?

Ning Zhuo's state of mind had long been tempered in Fire Persimmon Immortal City.

The continuous pulling pain of the scalp? To him, it was like an alarm bell used to dispel fatigue and remind him to concentrate at all times.

The sharp pain like a red-hot needle piercing the outside of his thigh? It was like a breeze blowing on his face, unable to stir up even a ripple. It existed objectively, but was easily isolated and ignored by his powerful willpower.

This degree of "suffering" was no longer an obstacle, but was tamed by his powerful willpower, turned into a whetstone to sharpen his thinking and pierce through obstacles.

"Memory has become much stronger; this is the spell power of hanging the head from the beam. Thinking is like an awl, becoming penetrating, able to pierce through many obstacles in learning. This is the power of piercing the thigh with an awl!"

After learning the entire "Ice Sculpture Secret Canon," Ning Zhuo still felt unsatisfied.

His eyes shone, and he scanned the surroundings quickly, finding that almost every cultivator was hanging their head from the beam or piercing their thigh with an awl.

Sounds of gasping for cold air came from time to time.

Ning Zhuo only heard this now—previously, he was too immersed in bitter learning, and his spirit was too focused and concentrated.

"Next, what should I choose to learn?"

A flash of inspiration passed through Ning Zhuo's sea of spirit.

"Why don't I study the methods of hanging the head from the beam and piercing the thigh with an awl directly?"

While using hanging the head from the beam and piercing the thigh with an awl, Ning Zhuo studied them.

With greatly increased learning ability, Ning Zhuo soon made progress.

"Alert to laziness, reflect on oneself three times a day!"

"This continuous, unavoidable micro-pain is like a ruler, constantly beating the mind, not letting it have the slightest chance to slack off, forcibly concentrating attention on the present. This is exactly in line with the profound meaning of 'caution when alone' in Confucianism."

"Without supervision, one still needs to reflect on oneself at all times and remain alert. The mind is forced to highly concentrate, so distracting thoughts are difficult to breed, thinking is focused as one, memory is naturally profound, and understanding is naturally thorough."

Then it was piercing the thigh with an awl.

"Reflect on the pain, and then you can understand!"

"The sharp, intense pain, like a thunderclap exploding in the calm heart lake, instantly shattered all inherent laziness. The spirit highly concentrated in an instant, bringing penetrating power to thought!"

While piercing himself with the wooden awl, Ning Zhuo paid attention to his upper dantian sea of spirit.

He saw that every time he pierced, influenced by the spell of piercing the thigh with an awl, a large number of thoughts would be ejected in the sea of spirit.

These thoughts were like awl tips that had been tempered, abandoning all vanity and hesitation, becoming extremely sharp, direct, and focused. Consuming them to think about problems could gain penetrating effects.

The rope for hanging the head was pulled tighter and tighter, and the wooden awl pierced his thigh again and again.

Ning Zhuo gradually fell into a state of self-forgetfulness.

The old Confucian Songtaosheng's gaze stayed on Ning Zhuo more and more, with undisguised appreciation in his eyes:

In the field, very few people were like him, torturing themselves for such a long time.

Many people had to stop halfway, and while treating themselves, they observed the surrounding competitors. Thus, many people's gazes were concentrated on a few cultivators.

Among them was Ning Zhuo.

Kong Ran's little face was pale, holding the wooden awl in his hand, staring at Ning Zhuo, revealing a look of surprise.

In his impression, Ning Zhuo was a child of a great family, and he really didn't expect that the latter could endure and suffer like this.

As learning deepened, the enlightenment in Ning Zhuo's heart accumulated enough and began to see the light of day.

"The Confucian school emphasizes 'self-restraint,' and these two techniques are the embodiment of 'self-restraint'."

Hanging the head from the beam is to restrain the 'self' of laziness and looseness in constant micro-suffering. And piercing the thigh with an awl is to overcome the 'self' of pretending to understand, fearing difficulty, and blurred thinking in intense sharp pain.

"The sea of learning is boundless, and bitterness is the boat!"

"Pain is not the goal, but the boat to cross the river, the bell to sound the alarm, and the whetstone to sharpen thinking!"

"Therefore, pain is just a tool to sharpen willpower, clarify the mind, condense thinking, and break through obstacles!"

"Therefore, what they improve is not my own intelligence, but the cultivator's own potential (willpower, concentration, understanding, penetrating power) through the catalyst of 'pain,' stimulated, tempered, and raised to an extreme state far beyond ordinary days!"

On the surface, the two are just spells to assist learning, but in essence, they are the principles of "the mind dominates, tempering the heart with bitterness, and understanding through pain."

Ning Zhuo took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.

Finished learning.

He had a deeper understanding and grasp of hanging the head from the beam and piercing the thigh with an awl.

Ning Zhuo rarely took the time to scan the surroundings.

He found that most of the cultivators had interrupted their learning and couldn't hold on anymore.

Only less than thirty percent of the people were still persisting.

"Next, use them to learn more things!" With a trace of excitement, Ning Zhuo began to study other classics.

This time he chose the "Collection of Curved Snake Spring Array Methods."

It's shameful to say, but Ning Zhuo had obtained this classic and had always been too busy to study it deeply, leaving it to gather dust at the bottom of the box.

The author of the book was White Scale Hermit, a male snake demon. He was injured and disabled, so he could only use mechanisms as a substitute.

What was recorded in the jade slip were various array methods arranged on mechanism snake bodies and flesh-and-blood snake bodies.

Hanging the head from the beam! Piercing the thigh with an awl!

Ning Zhuo went all out to learn, and the progress was gratifying.

The rope on his hair was tied tighter and tighter, gradually making a creaking sound. There were more and more blood holes on his thigh, and blood kept flowing down.

More and more cultivators stopped.

Liu Fushu was in cold sweat from pain and had to stop.

As for Bai Jiyun, he took it lightly and was one of the first batch to give up. If Songtaosheng hadn't opened the temple door, he would have left long ago.

"Is the rope and wooden awl he used really the same as the one I used?" Kong Ran opened his mouth slightly, puzzled and shocked.

Songtaosheng's gaze was no longer uninhibited, staring directly at Ning Zhuo, with undisguised appreciation in his eyes: "I didn't expect this kid to be able to eat the bitterness of learning! Wen Ruanyu didn't recommend the wrong person."

"Such a youth, even without our help, will definitely be able to stand out!"

Ning Zhuo was already self-forgetful, completely immersed in the pleasure of learning.

"Refreshing, this progress really makes me unable to stop!"

"If I return to the Bluestone Cave and use the Intent-Grasping Brush and Luoshu pages again, what kind of grand scene will it be?"

Thinking of this, Ning Zhuo couldn't help but show a smile, full of expectations for the future.

"Is this person a pervert?!" It was this smile of Ning Zhuo that defeated the last competitor who was holding on.

Fighting to the end, only Ning Zhuo remained.

Songtaosheng nodded and whispered: "Good."

In such a situation, there was no need to use means to control it at all.

He immediately announced: "This big-headed youth, you are the winner of this Xingyun Trial!"

No one objected.

But Ning Zhuo, due to excessive immersion, didn't hear Songtaosheng's words.

Pfft, pfft. His arms didn't stop, and he continuously pierced his thigh, which made Songtaosheng's eyes twitch.