Li Wu had been craning his neck to watch the spectacle when those words caught him completely off guard like a splash of cold water.
He froze for a second before his face flushed red, and he pointed at Jiang Lai, shooting back furiously.
“Who are you calling filthy? I call this people of the martial world not fretting over trifles! What about you? A young lady barging into a temple, slamming tables, breaking fortune tubes, and refusing to leave—did your parents never teach you any manners?”
Hearing this, Jiang Lai paused in her tracks. She slowly turned around, scanning him from head to toe.
Her gaze drifted slowly from Li Wu's flushed, angry face to the rusty sword hanging at his waist.
Then it moved from the rusty sword to the true qi fluctuations emanating around his body, her lips curling into a disdainful arc.
She did not argue back. Instead, she dropped a single, airy sentence that completely shattered Li Wu's composure.
“A mere Candlelight Realm, yet you dare wander the martial world? How laughable.”
With that, she turned without looking back, leading her few attendants behind the young monk toward the meditation rooms in the rear courtyard.
The silver bells covering her jingled crisply under the corridor, fading into the distance.
Hearing this mockery, Li Wu stood frozen on the spot, his face bright red.
Only after a long while did he mutter under his breath.
“What's so great about her...”
Monk Yuanzhen watched Jiang Lai's figure disappear at the end of the corridor before exhaling a long breath of turbid qi. Turning around, he waved his hand to the onlookers, pilgrims and monks alike.
“Disperse, disperse.”
Once the crowd dispersed, he turned to Chen Zui, pressed his palms together, and lowered his voice.
“Benefactor Chen, I would like to invite you to my meditation room for a private chat. Would that be convenient?”
Li Wu, who was slowly recovering from the blow of that phrase “a mere Candlelight Realm,” was startled upon hearing this.
A private chat?
What could this monk have to say that couldn't be said in front of him?
But on second thought, the monk was a Mountain-Viewing Realm high monk who had just saved their lives, so it was unlikely he harbored ill intentions toward his brother.
He waved his hand generously.
“Go ahead, go ahead. I'll just wander around the temple.”
With that, he clasped his hands behind his back and strolled off toward the main hall.
Afterward, Chen Zui followed Yuanzhen through a quiet corridor to a simple meditation room in the rear courtyard.
The furnishings inside were extremely frugal: a low table, two prayer cushions, and an ink-wash splash painting of Bodhidharma Facing the Wall hanging on the wall. The brushstrokes were bold and wild, unlike the meticulous style monks usually practiced.
Yuanzhen invited Chen Zui to sit, while he himself sat cross-legged opposite him. Picking up the coarse ceramic teapot on the low table, he poured a cup of plain tea for Chen Zui.
The tea was a bitter tea harvested by the temple itself. It tasted slightly astringent on entry, but left a faint lingering sweetness in the aftertaste.
“The Abbot of our temple has traveled afar to attend a scripture debate assembly at Duwei Refectory. As I am currently acting in his place to manage Guang'en Temple, I hope Benefactor Chen can forgive any lack of hospitality.”
Yuanzhen set the teapot back on the small stove, pressed his palms together, his tone laced with a hint of apology.
Chen Zui picked up the teacup, took a sip, and waved his hand.
“Master is too polite. Having a roof over our heads and hot tea in our bellies is already the finest hospitality. But I doubt Master asked to see me alone merely to exchange such pleasantries, right?”
Yuanzhen froze slightly, then let out a bitter smile, bowed his head, and chanted a Buddhist epithet.
When he looked up again, a rare trace of awkwardness appeared on his face, which usually maintained the solemn demeanor of a monk.
He rested his clasped hands on his knees and leaned forward slightly, as if having made up his mind, and spoke.
“Amitābha. Since Benefactor Chen asks, I will not beat around the bush. I have loved martial arts since childhood. Though I am ashamed to admit it, beneath these monk's robes beats the heart of a martial addict. My senior brother, the Abbot, once said my worldly attachments are too heavy, and I would likely never attain true enlightenment in this lifetime. I have come to accept that. Sitting in meditation and chanting scriptures feels far less real to me than sparring with others. Over the years, whenever I encountered a martial arts expert, I always shamelessly invited them to the temple to exchange pointers.”
“Today out on the grassland, when facing that gray-robed old man, I caught a fleeting glimpse of an aura on Benefactor Chen. That aura was vast, profound, and far beyond the scope of what I have learned. Though I do not know why Benefactor Chen deliberately hides his cultivation, monks do not tell lies—I had my own selfish motives when inviting you two into the temple. I wish to ask Benefactor Chen for a bit of guidance.”
As he spoke these words, his gaze was clear and candid, without a trace of deceit.
Chen Zui held his teacup and looked at him for a moment before suddenly chuckling. He drained the bitter tea in one gulp.
“Master is truly candid. Since you have put it so plainly, tell me: what bottleneck have you encountered in your martial path?”
A look of gratitude flashed in Yuanzhen's eyes. Without declining further, he sat upright and explained every detail of the bottleneck that had trapped him at the mid-stage Mountain-Viewing Realm.
For five years, as he pondered his cultivation technique, he always felt he was just one step away. He could clearly touch the threshold of the late stage, yet he could never step across.
He had tried secluded meditation, sitting in his room for seven times seven—forty-nine days—to no avail.
He had tried traveling down the mountain, sparring with various experts across the grassland. Though he gained minor insights, he never achieved a breakthrough.
Then, he dissected the three key barriers he was facing one by one, his attitude as earnest as a child learning from a master.
Chen Zui listened quietly without answering immediately. He simply picked up the coarse ceramic teapot on the table and filled Yuanzhen's cup as well.
Only after the tea rippled gently and settled in the cup did he speak, pointing directly to the crux of the problem in just a few words.
He first pointed out the issue of Yuanzhen's true qi circulation exclusively following the primary channels while neglecting the extraordinary channels.
Buddhist techniques excelled in stability, but relying solely on primary channels was like a stream following only the main riverbed; no matter how large the volume of water, it could hardly overflow the banks. Only when the eight extraordinary channels circulated simultaneously could true qi surge over the dam like a flood, breaking into a higher realm.
He suggested that every morning, Yuanzhen should circulate his true qi in reverse for half a cycle, then forward for a full cycle, alternating between standard and extraordinary paths. No need for more—just three times a day.
Next, Chen Zui pointed out several other crucial bottlenecks Monk Yuanzhen had run into.
Yuanzhen sat upright for a long time, saying nothing as he quietly listened to Chen Zui's guidance.
Then, his hands instinctively formed several hand seals as the true qi around his body began to circulate in rhythm with his breathing.
When he opened his eyes again, an indescribable radiance shone within them, as if a dusty copper mirror had been gently wiped clean, finally revealing its original brilliance.
He pressed his palms together, bowed deeply to Chen Zui, a rare note of excitement in his voice.
“Amitābha! Benefactor Chen's words have truly awakened me from my dream. I have been trapped at this stage for years, never expecting that a few words today would bring such sudden enlightenment. I shall keep this favor deep in my heart.”
Chen Zui waved his hand, his tone calm.
“Master is too polite. I haven't traveled the Martial Dao for all that long either; I've simply happened to walk the path Master is currently walking.”
The two grew more congenial as they talked, moving from qi circulation to internal energy shifts, from Buddhist martial arts to the similarities and differences in the Martial Dao across the Two Realms.
Pot after pot of tea was refilled. Even as the moon reached mid-sky, the meditation room continued to echo with Yuanzhen's soft gasps of sudden revelation and their lighthearted chatter.
Rate on N.U.
