Chapter 38: Swift Snow, Clearing Skies
“None of the other sects have such a rigid rule. It seems ours is the only one…” “I heard it was a rule the sect master established when the sect was first founded. No one knows the reason.”
Song Yan heard this. When he had first joined the sect, Lin Qing had told him the same thing.
“Our Eastern Abyss Sect has the Ten Arts of Heart Cultivation.”
“‘Ten Arts’ though they are called, they are not literally limited to ten skills. The number ten is both the sum of the ten most common arts and a collective term for all ‘lateral paths’ within this world.”
Listening Dao Gorge was already faintly visible in the distance.
The Ten Arts of Eastern Abyss Sect were: the qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, archery, mathematics, flowers, wine, cuisine, and tea.
In the cultivator’s world, there were many others as well, such as carving, agriculture, smelting, and even farming, poetry, and meditation.
“Meditation?”
The new disciple let out a confused voice.
“It is actually just… staring blankly.”
“…?”
“These arts offer no substantive help to cultivation. They are merely refined pursuits for cultivating one’s character.”
“So, Junior Brother, you must know where to draw the line. After all, neither you nor I are geniuses of supreme talent, so there is no need to think that far ahead. In your daily life, just complete the sect’s tasks and that will be enough.”
“Yes, Senior Brother. I will keep that in mind.”
Upon arriving at Listening Dao Gorge, Song Yan parted ways with them.
Before going to Silent Valley, he had always considered this a waste of time, and each time, merely to complete the task, he would casually pick the heart cultivation courtyard closest to him.
Later, after learning from the Five Star Pulse-Grasping Technique that playing chess and practicing calligraphy and painting could help cultivate the strength of divine sense, he had always chosen to play chess against others.
In fact, before Song Yan had entered Eastern Abyss Sect to cultivate, he already knew a little about Go.
When he was in Stone Beam Town, during his childhood studies, his old private tutor Teacher He knew how to play chess, and so did his grandfather. Occasionally Teacher He would come over to play against his grandfather.
Song Yan had been exposed to it over the years and picked up some rudimentary knowledge.
However…
Song Yan was mentally exhausted today and did not intend to play chess—it took too long.
The chess heart cultivation courtyard was called the Chess Heaven Hall, and among its disciples there was a saying…
Once you enter the Chess Heaven Hall, you play chess all day long.
Chess was the kind of thing that was easy to become obsessed with, delaying one’s cultivation.
For Song Yan, painting was too difficult. Drawing bizarre and grotesque things would harm his mental state.
He would go practice calligraphy instead and cultivate his character.
The Ink Dao Courtyard was beside the Painting Courtyard.
The ten heart cultivation courtyards were all built along both banks of Listening Dao Gorge.
It was said that when the Eastern Abyss Sect master first arrived here, he roamed freely along the shores of Spirit Source Marsh.
When he reached Listening Dao Gorge, he achieved an epiphany, broke through his realm, and named the place Listening Dao Gorge.
Added to this, the spiritual qi here was already abundant, and now many disciples and elders cultivated and sought enlightenment along both banks in pursuit of breakthroughs.
The Ink Dao Courtyard was on the northern bank of Listening Dao Gorge.
Before stepping into the Ink Dao Courtyard, Song Yan faintly heard someone lecturing in the Painting Courtyard across the way…
“…Some cultivators today believe these heart cultivation arts are a waste of time and hinder cultivation.”
There were many elders in the sect who were advanced in age, unable to make further progress in their cultivation, and who were fond of the heart cultivation arts. They would frequently lecture and teach in the various heart cultivation courtyards.
“In this old man’s view, these people fail to achieve the Great Dao solely because of their own mediocre talent and lack of fortuitous encounters.”
“To blame the heart cultivation arts for their hopelessness on the Dao is truly laughable.”
“Little do they know…”
“In this cultivation world, how many great powers and ancient ancestors have infused their own comprehension of the Great Dao into the heart cultivation arts, embedding it within chess manuals and painted scrolls…”
Song Yan stood outside the courtyard and listened with interest for a moment.
According to this elder, the heart cultivation arts were mostly practiced by high-level cultivators who had encountered bottlenecks and been unable to break through for hundreds or thousands of years.
These great sages and true masters, spending time and energy that could have been used for cultivation, created painted scrolls and recorded chess manuals…
These were naturally imbued with the rhythm of the Dao and possessed wondrous, unexpected effects.
“…”
At first hearing, it seemed to make some sense.
But upon closer reflection, what did this have to do with ordinary disciples like them, for whom Foundation Establishment was still a distant dream?
Could these so-called true treasures left by Dao Ancestors and Immortal Lords really be picked up casually by mere ants like them?
Shaking his head, Song Yan turned and headed toward the Ink Dao Courtyard.
Among the various heart cultivation courtyards, the norm was the absence of elder lectures, just like the Ink Dao Courtyard before him.
Unlike the crisp sound of chess pieces falling in the Chess Heaven Hall, the disciples here would arrive silently, quietly complete their assigned tasks, and leave just as silently.
In the center of the courtyard among the rooms, a disciple sat practicing the art of calligraphy with brush in hand, with some unfinished talisman papers set to his side.
This was the managing disciple of the Ink Dao Courtyard for this month.
This position was primarily responsible for managing and selecting the content for this month’s calligraphy heart cultivation practice. It was a leisurely post with additional spirit stones as compensation.
Song Yan had once envied such a post, but this position required the person to have a certain level of proficiency in the relevant heart cultivation art before it could be arranged.
As someone mediocre in everything, he naturally did not have such good fortune.
He casually found a spot and sat down. Before him was an exquisite copybook, along with the four treasures of the study—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone—for tracing practice.
The “Swift Snow, Clearing Skies” copybook.
“The senior brother who chose this really picked something fitting for the occasion.”
The sixteenth of the winter month, just as snow was falling.
Outside the room, snow fell heavily over the cold mountains; inside, warm braziers glowed beside brush and ink. Song Yan raised his brush and touched ink to paper, creating quite the atmosphere of a refined scholar.
The Swift Snow, Clearing Skies copybook contained a total of twenty-eight characters.
It had originally been written by a great calligrapher of the ancient Jin Kingdom in the mortal world, and was later acquired by a great power of the cultivation world.
It was said that this person had been trapped at a bottleneck for hundreds of years. One day during a heavy snowfall, while tracing the copybook, he attained a sudden epiphany of the Great Dao and broke through in a single morning.
It happened that the snow stopped and the sun cleared, and the sky blazed with light.
From then on, this copybook of merely twenty-eight characters gradually grew famous, and the cultivators called it the “Twenty-Eight Luminous Pearls.”
“Phew…”
After about half an hour, Song Yan slowly set down his brush and exhaled softly.
Outside, the heavy snow had stopped at some point. Looking into the distance from Listening Dao Gorge, the snowy landscape along the banks of Spirit Source Marsh spread out in full view.
His heart was at peace, his mind tranquil.
“These heart cultivation arts do seem to have some genuine effect.”
His goal had been achieved, and the sect’s assigned task had also been completed in the process.
He would call it a day.
Song Yan rose, left the Ink Dao Courtyard, and headed back toward Outer Disciple Peak.
“Hey, Senior Brother, that person just now… why does he look somewhat familiar?”
Seeing him leave, two disciples nearby began whispering to each other.
“Strange, I also thought he looked familiar. I assumed it was just my imagination.”
“Ah…”
That person snapped out of his daze: “I remember now. Isn’t that the outer disciple named Song Yesheng?”
The other disciple suddenly realized: “So it’s him.”
That day when Profound Abyss Sect had come demanding an explanation, all the disciples at Initiation Ground had remembered their own sect master’s earth-shattering sword qi cloud waterfall, and had also remembered this outer disciple who had been at the center of the storm.
“I heard he had already reached the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Stage, but got caught up in the sect’s external affairs. In the ensuing conflict, his cultivation dropped to the first layer.”
“Experiencing such extreme ups and downs, no matter how strong one’s mental state, it’s inevitable to be affected.”
“Yes, truly pitiful. An undeserved calamity…”
“I’m afraid Foundation Establishment is beyond hope for him in this lifetime.”
Suddenly, the two cultivators felt darkness fall behind them, and a firm, righteous voice rang out: “You idle gossips, speaking behind a fellow disciple’s back—this is both disrespectful and unkind to a fellow disciple, and it disturbs the heart cultivation of the other disciples in the courtyard…”
The managing disciple of the Ink Dao Courtyard appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old, yet his expression was severe.
“Today’s task is voided!”
“Senior Brother Sun! Don’t…”
Ignoring their wailing, Managing Disciple Sun walked straight to the desk where Song Yan had been sitting and collected the few calligraphy pieces he had left behind.
“Hmm…”
“At first, the spirit was restless and the qi turbulent. The middle pages gradually became more measured. The final piece was serene and tranquil…”
His stiff expression finally showed a trace of softness.
“The heart cultivation arts should produce this kind of effect.”
…
Song Yan did not hear the words of others.
He walked straight back to his cave dwelling.
“Come to think of it…”
“Wasn’t there some kind of copybook inside the clay figurine that little girl from the Xie family gave me…”
That day, he seemed to recall Xie Xing mentioning it in passing.
(End of Chapter)