Chapter 126: 《Martial Classic》《Dao Scripture》

On the south side of the valley is a stone cave, clearly the place where the foxes live.

The stone cave is large and spacious, measuring a full five or six hundred paces in circumference, and it is five or six people high; walking inside feels like entering a grand hall, very empty and not at all cramped.

The stone walls of the cave are chiseled with many small holes, and each hole holds a lit oil lamp.

One does not know what kind of oil this lamp oil is, as it carries a faint fragrance.

Yet there is no smell of smoke, and it is very bright.

Walking further inside is a slightly smaller stone cave, which contains many bookshelves filled with various books.

Besides the bookshelves, a large quantity of books is also piled up in the corners of the four walls.

It is just that these books look quite old; many have already yellowed, and many more are incomplete.

Yin Qi sighed in admiration in his heart.

This Pure Fox Clan truly loves books.

They transported these books from the Great Zen Temple in the Central Plains, and one does not know how much effort it cost them.

Seeing the look of admiration on Yin Qi's face, Tu Lao felt a great sense of accomplishment and said proudly, "Young Master Yin, these books were all transported by us from the Great Zen Temple, totaling one hundred and thirty thousand volumes.

Back when the Great Zen Temple in the Central Plains was raided, countless divine arts and secret techniques were plundered.

Only these ordinary books were left scattered on the ground, and I collected them.

Thinking back to those days, the Great Zen Temple was a supreme Sacred Land comparable to the Supreme Dao, with tens of thousands of monks; every autumn, there were over a thousand monks who went down the mountain to collect rent.

The halls were layered one upon another, requiring one to ride a horse to light the incense.

The eternal lamps never went out day or night, and it was brightly lit all day and all night.

It is a pity that it was breached by a great army, the glorious temples were burned to the ground, and the treasures were scraped clean.

Alas, success and failure, rise and fall—it is truly like a dream."

Speaking of the Great Zen Temple, Tu Lao was filled with emotion.

Back then, they lived near the Great Zen Temple and had witnessed its glory.

Who could have imagined it would be destroyed overnight.

Yin Qi nodded; such is the impermanence of worldly affairs.

He looked around the stone chamber, anxious to find the Past Amitabha Sutra, so he said, "Tu Lao, I think it should be like this. I will first help you organize these books, categorize them, and register them in a ledger. After they are organized, how about I teach them to read?"

"That would be good, then I will trouble Young Master Yin."

"It is no trouble, it is just within my duties."

"Young Master Yin, I will go tidy up the stone cave next door; you will stay there tonight. If you need anything, you can also come directly to me."

"Good, then I will trouble you, Tu Lao. Seeing so many books, my sleepiness has vanished, so I will look around for a bit first."

"Very well. Xiao Sang, Xiao Fei, Xiao Shu, go prepare some late-night tea and snacks for the gentleman."

"Ji-ji! Ji-ji!"

The three little foxes that had followed him in chirped happily and ran out.

"I am going to meditate and practice. If Young Master Yin needs anything, just give a shout. Although the children outside cannot speak yet, they can understand language."

Tu Lao gave another instruction and then wobbled away.

After Tu Lao left, Yin Qi searched the bookshelves and soon found his target—the Martial Classic.

According to the original work, the Past Amitabha Sutra is hidden within one of these volumes of the Martial Classic.

The Martial Classic is not a single book, but dozens of volumes.

Next to the Martial Classic is the Dao Scripture, also consisting of dozens of volumes; they are placed on the central bookshelf in a very conspicuous position, clearly showing that Tu Lao also knows the value of these two books.

When the Great Gan was first established, the founding emperor was ambitious.

He collected the world's martial arts and Daoist books, compiling two great works—the Martial Classic and the Dao Scripture.

It is just that the founding emperor had selfish motives; not only did he mix in a lot of his own private goods into the Martial Classic and the Dao Scripture, but he also deleted many critical points.

If one practices carelessly, one will be injured at best, and lose one's life at worst.

Later, perhaps to ban martial arts, or perhaps to avoid causing a catastrophe, he ordered these two great works to be destroyed.

And he issued a ban: anyone who privately hides them commits a grave crime.

Yin Qi suppressed the excitement in his heart, took down the nearly one hundred volumes of the Martial Classic and the Dao Scripture, and sat directly on the floor.

He first picked up the first volume of the Martial Classic; the opening passage stated: The ultimate goal of martial arts is to strengthen the physical body and transcend life and death, never for killing or showing off. The world is like a Bitter Sea, and the physical body is like a raft to cross the sea. If the physical body is strong, it can carry one directly to the other shore of the Bitter Sea.

According to the Martial Classic, martial arts cultivation is divided into seven levels: Flesh Refining (Martial Student), Tendon Refining (Martial Disciple), Membrane Refining (Martial Scholar), Bone Refining (Martial Master), Organ Refining (Innate Martial Master), Marrow Refining (Grandmaster), and Blood Exchange (Martial Saint).

As for the Human Immortal Realm above the Martial Saint, this Martial Classic does not record it.

However, there are annotations by the monk Yinyue that a Human Immortal must refine apertures.

Yin Qi read ten lines at a glance, flipping through them quickly.

Although his reading was rough, Yin Qi was deeply shocked; the martial arts of this Yang God World are truly perfected to the extreme.

If the Yang God Martial Dao were integrated into the Prehistoric Martial Dao, it would certainly be possible to completely perfect the Prehistoric Martial Dao.

Not only that, he also needs to integrate Internal Force, Hidden Force, and Transformative Force.

As for Dan Embracing, Yin Qi has always been hesitant.

Because there is only one dantian.

If a Blood Pellet is condensed, there will be no way to store True Qi; he only hopes to find a solution in the future.

After roughly finishing the Martial Classic, Yin Qi did not rush to look for the Past Amitabha Sutra within it, but instead picked up the Dao Scripture; he is equally curious about the Daoist cultivation methods of the Yang God World.

The first volume of the Dao Scripture opens with: The world is like a Bitter Sea, and a person's physical body is like a raft to cross the sea; however, the Bitter Sea is boundless, and the raft will eventually rot. Only if the spirit is firm can one abandon the raft and, with one's own strength, swim to the other shore of the Bitter Sea.

Martial Dao refines the body, using an unrotting physical body to transcend to the other shore;

Daoist cultivation refines the soul, using an undying spirit to transcend to the other shore.

Although the two paths are different, they reach the same destination, both for the sake of pursuing an immortality that does not rot or die.

But Yin Qi knew that he must cultivate both Daoism and martial arts.

Only with Yang God combined with Shattering Vacuum is it possible to see the Other Shore.

As for transcendence.

In the original work, Hong Yi never achieved it in the end.

According to Yin Qi's guess, Yang God and Shattering Vacuum are both equivalent to the Immortal Realm, which is the Earth Immortal Realm.

Transcending to the Other Shore should be the Heavenly Immortal Realm.

But limited by the world's level, the Heavenly Immortal Realm is the unreachable Other Shore.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Yin Qi continued to look further.

Daoism and soul refining are divided into ten great realms, which are: Settling the Spirit, Exiting Shell, Night Wandering, Day Wandering, Object Driving, Manifestation, Possession, Ghost Immortal, Thunder Tribulation, and Yang God.

Compared to the Martial Classic, the Dao Scripture is filled with a large amount of nonsense.

The vast majority is about instilling how to be loyal to the monarch and patriotic, as well as cultivating noble character; the true methods of Daoism are few and far between.

Especially for Ghost Immortals after Possession.

It is either hollow theory or simply complete nonsense, with very few useful pieces of information.

Very quickly, Yin Qi finished flipping through the Dao Scripture.

"Now, I have also initially understood the cultivation system of Yang God; it is time to take out the Past Amitabha Sutra."

Yin Qi picked up the Martial Classic again and began to carefully check it volume by volume with his weak True Qi.

If the Past Amitabha Sutra were hidden inside, he would definitely be able to discover the anomaly.

After a long while, Yin Qi's eyes lit up: "Found it!"

The first day of the month, four chapters released.