Chapter 21: Tianyi Shenshui: One Yi Yin Zhi

Zhao Ti opened the cover of the first supplementary volume, and a dozen or so characters leapt into view.

Immortal Capital Jade Void Grand Unity Light Heaven Purple Firmament Sitting Refinement Thunder Law.

This is… Zhao Ti frowned and turned a page back.

Concentrate the spirit and steady the breath, the tongue pressed against the upper palate, the mind and eyes focused inward, gazing down at the dantian. After a moment, preserve the ancestral qi in a hazy, continuous flow—right at the single point of brightness between the two kidneys, also called the Earth-Summoning Thunder Law…

Zhao Ti scratched his head and turned another page.

The jade liquid of the flower pool is swallowed again and again, regulating the five qi within, blending the hundred spirits, tenfold returning the spirit, myriad qi ascending to immortality. The blade and ladle, the bellows, the work of opening and closing—all lie herein…

This isn't martial arts! He hurriedly flipped to the last page.

Gaze up at the Great Void; the golden-light secret characters are distinct, filling the universe. Within the blazing flames a messenger appears; whoever attains this may return to the immortal realm.

Zhao Ti didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He closed the volume. This should be a Daoist method for cultivating inner thunder—quite rare, a treasure for the Daoists, perhaps priceless, but of no great use to him.

This thing might also produce internal force, but it would absolutely never produce any thunder.

Daoist Thunder Law is divided into inner and outer. The outer method uses hand seals and drawn talismans to summon thunder; the inner method cultivates one's own body to store thunder and release it outward. Either way it's just pie in the sky—never seen anyone who could truly interfere with thunder.

This method's opening and inner-cultivation approach seem somewhat similar, but who knows what will happen when practiced to the end. If one stalls and makes no progress, or goes astray into qi deviation, there'll be nowhere to argue the case.

Tossing the volume aside, he picked up the second one. After opening it his heart sank slightly, for he saw only a few characters written on it: Taishang Suling Dongxuan Miaojing Soubu.

It didn't seem to be martial arts either. He flipped further on. This second volume was even worse than the first's inner-thunder cultivation—inside were Daoist terms, the whole piece grand and empty, full of pompous verbiage.

Two volumes in a row and neither was martial arts. Zhao Ti could not help reconsidering in his mind Gao Taotao's earlier words: that the compiler of the Tiangong Treasury, Zhang Junfang, had gone to the secret vault to look for books—not to seek martial arts, but to find Daoist scriptures.

The Shanhai Temple was a grand repository of martial arts, but the two characters "Daoist" preceded it, and it likewise stored a great many Daoist scriptures. When Emperor Taizong collected the martial arts of Shanhai Temple back then, because it happened during wartime and time was pressing, he certainly did no careful sifting, and simply brought them back together with the scriptures to the Prince of Jin's residence in the Eastern Capital, then stored everything in the vault.

Zhang Junfang searched the world for Daoist scriptures to find unique copies that existed only at Shanhai Temple. How could he possibly attach martial arts within this Daoist scripture that was the Tiangong Treasury? Thinking of this, Zhao Ti's heart could not help but cool slightly.

If there were no martial arts manuals, it wouldn't be good to just head off to Wuliang Mountain like this. The people of Sword Lake Palace and the Shennong Gang would be manageable, but if he ran into the Four Great Evils, that would be rather awkward. Besides, Wuliang Mountain was not within Song territory but was Dali's land.

Should he first ask Zhou Dong for an internal-force cultivation method, and if he happened to obtain the Beiming Divine Art later, then disperse his current cultivation and start over?

He thought for a moment, picked up the third volume and opened it. Hmm…

Tianyi Shenshui Cantongqi!

This… "Tianyi Shenshui" comes from the Hetu, and the Cantongqi is a Daoist classic formed by merging and annotating the Yijing, the Daodejing, and the Nanhua Jing as one.

"Tianyi Shenshui" means that all things arise from water; heaven and earth combine the five directions, yin and yang combine the five elements. The Yijing offers an even deeper explanation: one and six dwell together in the north, for heaven gives birth to water and earth completes it with six—meaning that in the primordial cosmos of the four directions and the vast void, water was the first natural thing to appear.

Looks promising! Zhao Ti raised his brows, only to see small characters beside the title on the left: Cheng Han Fan Changsheng.

Cheng Han was one of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin era.

As for Fan Changsheng, he narrowed his eyes—this was a truly famous figure!

One of the Eight Immortals of Shu. The Eight Immortals of Shu refer to eight persons who attained the Dao in Shu: namely Rong Cheng Gong, Li Er, Dong Zhongshu, Zhang Daoling, Yan Junping, Li Babai, Fan Changsheng, and Erzhu Xian—each and every one a figure of sect-founder caliber.

Fan Changsheng was born in the Jian'an era of Emperor Xian of Han. He was the patriarch of the Celestial Masters of the northwest. Liu Bei once summoned him but he did not rise; Liu Shan changed his residence into the Changsheng Temple. The Liexian Zhuan says he lived past a hundred years, and people revered him as an immortal, calling him Changsheng. The Zizhi Tongjian says he was broadly learned and skilled in many arts, lived past a hundred, and people honored him as a god.

At the end of the Western Jin, in the chaos of the era, Fan Changsheng once declined the imperial throne, pushed Li Xiong to establish the Dacheng state—namely Cheng Han, one of the Sixteen Kingdoms—and he himself was ennobled with the title Grand Preceptor of the Four Seasons and Eight Festivals of Heaven and Earth.

Zhao Ti quickly flipped onward: Tianyi Shenshui, qian and kun as the cauldron, yin and yang as the embankment, water and fire as the transformative mechanism, the five elements as the aid, mysterious essence as the foundation…

What is all this? This prince doesn't want to read this! Zhao Ti knit his brows tightly.

Flipping straight to the halfway point, he saw a page set apart, written in plum-blossom small seal script: "Recorded from Daoist Changsheng's Tianyi Shenshui method, the One Yi Yin Zhi chapter, for cross-reference with the scriptures."

One Yi Yin Zhi!

The One Yi Yin Zhi chapter of the Tianyi Shenshui method!

Even though Zhao Ti believed he had mountains and rivers in his heart and a city wall in his breast, he could not help but slap the table and rise.

It really is the One Yi Yin Zhi. So the One Yi Yin Zhi actually has such origins—no wonder it can rival Dali's One Yang Finger!

But why add the four characters "Tianyi Shenshui" before it?

He understood the meaning of "Tianyi Shenshui," but placed here it absolutely could not carry its original meaning.

Dali's One Yang Finger is the wind-up for the Six Meridian Divine Sword, and Lingbo Weibu is the companion to the Beiming Divine Art. Could it be that this One Yi Yin Zhi also has a follow-up?

Never mind, never mind. In the time of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, the Mixed Yuan Thunder Hand Cheng Kun's Illusory Yi Yin Zhi was incomparably fierce, requiring pure-yang internal force to expel the yin-cold internal force from the body. But where in the world is pure-yang internal force easy to find? Having learned this finger now, what corner of the four seas and eight directions could he not go!

Zhao Ti carefully tucked the volume into his bosom, then looked toward the two sword cases on the table.

He wanted to test the sharpness of the two precious swords. He opened the short case first; a flash of white and red light, and the short sword came into view. This was not like being in the palace—examining it closely, the short sword was elegant and slender, delicate and exquisite, like a city-toppling beauty, peerlessly gorgeous; the more he looked, the more he loved it.

He reached out and lightly gripped the hilt, then lifted it with a flourish. The white and red light reappeared faintly. He did not know what refined metal it was forged from, but the blade actually showed a pale red hue within the white, dazzling to the eye.

He took the hanging sword from the study, then gave a light swing; the ordinary hanging sword was cut clean in two—clearly a precious weapon that could slice through iron as though it were mud.

"Good, good, good!" Zhao Ti reluctantly returned the short sword to its case, then took out the long sword.

This long sword was likewise of a simple, ancient design—the sword Taizong had worn at his side for decades. He drew it and examined it carefully. Just as Gao Taotao had said, there was no inscription on it; it was a nameless sword.

After a moment's thought, Zhao Ti swung the long sword at the study's hanging sword once more.

With a "clang," this time there was no slicing-through-iron display. The two swords locked together, in a rather evenly matched stance.

Zhao Ti withdrew his wrist and shook his head, not expecting it to be an ordinary long sword. He examined it for a while, could not see anything else special about it, and sheathed the sword.

When Taizong was young he had no great backing—where would a precious sword have come from? This old sword was perhaps simply worn so long out of habit that he kept it by his side.

After thinking it over, Zhao Ti was about to head to the cultivation chamber in the Wang Fu to carefully study the Illusory Yi Yin Zhi cultivation technique, when suddenly a knock sounded from outside.

Bai Zhan spoke softly from outside: "Your Highness, someone has come from the palace with an edict. The Empress Dowager summons you."

The Empress Dowager summons him? Empress Dowager Xiang? Zhao Ti's lips curled. It seemed Zhao Ji had gone to complain, and Empress Dowager Xiang meant to stand up for him!