Chapter 9: A Happy Event Draws Near

In the blink of an eye, nearly another month passed. Niu Youdao became increasingly certain that he was under house arrest. Just as Song Yanqing had said, he was allowed to walk around inside the courtyard and immediately outside it, but he was not permitted to take a single step down the mountain. The excuse that a new disciple should not wander about was, in his view, nothing but an excuse. If this were merely a sect rule, why assign people to take turns guarding the gate?

He was certain there was something wrong here, but he knew far too little to make sense of it and had no idea what was really going on.

Nor was this a place where a young boy like him could behave recklessly. He could only be patient and take things one step at a time. The one thing still under his own control was his cultivation. He would train himself and wait for the day this unknown mystery finally unraveled.

Stars glittered across the night sky. No one slept on the bed inside the room. Instead, a figure stood upside down on the floor beside it.

Bare from the waist up, Niu Youdao held a sword with its point braced against the floor and kept his body perfectly inverted above it. The arm supporting him trembled faintly as he worked to maintain his balance. When that arm could endure no more, he switched hands in midair and caught the hilt with the other. His body swayed violently several times before he brought it back under control. What he was training was not merely arm strength. It was finesse: the subtle skill required to maintain balance, the coordination of every muscle in his body with the movement of his frame. There was far more to it than appeared at first glance.

More importantly, he was cultivating sword intent, training his body, mind, and sword to work as one. It was the state known as the unity of man and sword. Once that state was attained, the sword in one's hand would naturally move as one wished, every fraction of its motion easily brought under precise control.

This was a special sword-training method from Taiyi. Its mental method was called the Primal Chaos Green Lotus Intent. Hanging upside down like this inevitably sent blood rushing toward the head. Remain that way for long enough and the mind would grow muddled and chaotic. Inverted like a lotus bud, once the art was mastered, the lotus would bloom of itself.

The difficulty of cultivating it in the beginning could be imagined. But once a practitioner could control it freely, even the slightest shift in where force traveled through the sword could be sensed with perfect clarity. The benefits this offered when actually wielding a sword later were beyond measure.

Being able to perform an inverted sword-stand after only a little over a month might not look like much, but the progress was astonishingly fast. The first time Niu Youdao had trained this method, it had taken him more than a year to reach the same point. But he had already walked this road once before. Experience and hard-earned insight were often the most valuable things of all. He knew what the correct sensation should be, knew what to do, and knew how to train. By skipping the long period of blind exploration, his progress was far more than merely twice as efficient.

After holding the position for about an hour, he was drenched in sweat. His face had turned crimson. Beads of perspiration dripped from the crown of his head and ran down the hand gripping the sword, then streamed along the blade until a broad patch of floor beneath him was soaked.

At last his body began to shake violently. Experience could not change the strength of his present arms. Unable to hold on any longer, he bent at the waist and lowered both feet to the floor. Supporting himself on the sword, he stood still and breathed deeply for a while until his condition steadied.

He did not dare let the sword make too much noise for fear of alerting the people outside. He gently slid it back into the scabbard, pulled over a towel, and wiped the sweat from his body. After dressing and loosening his limbs, he sat cross-legged on the bed. Soon he entered a state of complete absorption, forgetting the weariness of his body as he breathed according to his qi cultivation method...

The darkness began to thin. Dawn gradually brightened.

Compared with when he had first begun a little over a month earlier, Niu Youdao's breathing had become much longer and deeper. Each inhalation surged inward like a great river pouring into his organs. Each exhalation emerged slowly, like silk being drawn from a cocoon, as though something were being filtered out little by little.

Morning light spread. The sky grew fully bright, and the blazing sun leapt above the horizon, casting ten thousand rays as it slowly climbed. As all things awakened, Niu Youdao gradually felt a trace of restlessness rising within him. He knew the best window for losing himself completely in cultivation had passed, so he slowly brought the exercise to a close and opened his eyes.

After getting off the bed, he stretched his limbs. All the fatigue left by the previous night's inverted training had vanished. He felt refreshed from head to toe.

It was not that cultivation became impossible once that ideal period had passed. Rather, his young body was not yet fully grown. It was in the vigorous stage of development and at the age when people were naturally most active. Innate tendencies were difficult to change, and youthful blood and qi were especially susceptible to the rhythms and seasons of Heaven and Earth. It was enough to seize the best period for cultivation. There was no need to force matters beyond that. Besides, meals were delivered on a schedule. If he stayed behind closed doors all day, it might arouse suspicion.

Why would a wild village boy understand cultivation? And since he still had no idea what attitude the Shangqing Sect truly held toward him, there were some things better left concealed. He currently had no ability to protect himself at all. Better to avoid unnecessary trouble and make a decision only after he understood the situation.

Mountain spring water had been channeled through the courtyard. After washing, Niu Youdao opened the gate at the usual time. Xu Yitian had spent the night sitting cross-legged beneath the peach tree.

Hearing the gate open, Xu Yitian glanced back and slowly rose.

Niu Youdao walked over and greeted him. They had exchanged only a few words when Chen Guishuo came up the mountain carrying a food box, apparently here to relieve him.

Xu Yitian left. He would return around lunchtime, while Chen Guishuo would come again with the evening meal. In short, the two took turns standing guard and bringing him food.

If Niu Youdao still could not tell there was something strange about the Shangqing Sect placing this much importance on watching him, then all those years he had spent as Master Dao in the jianghu would have been wasted.

Knowing was one thing. He did not expose it. He opened the food box and quickly finished breakfast.

He was diligent about small matters as well. When he finished eating, he washed the bowls and chopsticks, put them back into the food box, and set it beneath the peach tree for Chen Guishuo to take away later.

"Senior Brother Chen, could you get me a reclining chair when you have the chance?" Niu Youdao made the request as he set down the box. Ever since his visit to Shangqing Palace, when he had rejected that "excessive" request, Song Yanqing's attitude toward him had noticeably improved. Song had even told him to ask freely for anything he needed and said that whatever could be granted would be granted.

Chen Guishuo had plucked a peach blossom and was holding it beneath his nose. Hearing this, he turned and laughed. "A reclining chair? At your age? Since when did you grow such lazy bones?"

Niu Youdao pointed beneath the peach tree. "I want it put here. You senior brothers have to sit on the bare ground under the open sky. I feel bad about it."

Realization dawned on Chen Guishuo. So the boy was asking in his own name for something they could use. He immediately patted Niu Youdao's shoulder approvingly. "Now that's considerate. Fine, I'll get one for you."

Niu Youdao gave him a brilliant smile and looked around at the spiritually vibrant mountain scenery. "Senior Brother, this really is a wonderful place. The Shangqing Sect must count as one of the great famous sects of the cultivation world, right?"

He only asked questions like this when Chen Guishuo was on duty. By now, he had clearly sensed that the Shangqing Sect was hiding something from him.

Song Yanqing did not come often and could be temperamental, making him difficult to deal with. Xu Yitian kept his mouth firmly shut and refused to answer almost anything. Chen Guishuo alone could not keep from talking. Recently, Niu Youdao had managed to draw quite a bit out of him, though it was all inconsequential information. The moment a topic touched on anything directly connected to Niu Youdao, Chen Guishuo immediately avoided it.

"Heh." Chen Guishuo first gave a somewhat reserved laugh, but after thinking it over, he shook his head. "Forget it. There's no harm in telling you this much. The Shangqing Sect was truly glorious in its early days, the foremost sect in the State of Yan. Our Founding Patriarch was even the National Preceptor of Yan..."

What followed was a long, rambling piece of self-praise. The gist was that after the State of Wu unified all beneath Heaven and then collapsed, the realm fell into a state of warlord division. After many twists and turns, descendants of Shang Song, who had once dominated the world, founded the State of Yan. The Shangqing Sect's Founding Patriarch had rendered great service in that cause and was appointed National Preceptor. That was also the period when the Shangqing Sect reached its greatest prosperity. At its height, the sect had more than ten thousand disciples. For various reasons, however, it had gradually declined, until now only a few hundred remained.

As for what level the Shangqing Sect currently occupied within the cultivation world, Chen Guishuo simply skipped over the subject, apparently unwilling to say. Niu Youdao hardly needed to ask why. The answer was probably embarrassing.

Seeing that Chen Guishuo did not want to continue on that topic, Niu Youdao changed the subject. "Senior Brother Song used to come by every few days. I haven't seen him in quite a while lately. I almost miss him."

Chen Guishuo gave a sly chuckle. "Senior Sister Tang is renowned as the foremost beauty of Ziyun Commandery. With a happy event drawing near, how could Senior Brother Song not be a little more attentive..." Halfway through, he seemed to realize what he was saying. He spat lightly to one side and waved a dismissive hand. "Why am I telling a little brat like you this? You wouldn't understand anyway."

Niu Youdao blinked and pretended to be offended. "Why wouldn't I understand? Is Senior Brother Song going to marry Senior Sister Tang?"

"Well, look at you. Little in years, big in ideas!" Chen Guishuo laughed loudly and patted him on the shoulder. "Barring any surprises, Senior Sister Tang should become the next Sect Leader. Just wait for the wedding wine."

Niu Youdao was quite curious about Song Yanqing himself. He had noticed that the way Chen Guishuo and Xu Yitian treated Song did not resemble ordinary respect toward a senior brother. It was closer to servility. So he deliberately probed, "Are you afraid of Senior Brother Song because he's going to become the Sect Leader's husband?"

Chen Guishuo glared at him. "Brat, what nonsense are you talking about?"

"Am I wrong? Is it because he's an inner disciple and you and Senior Brother Xu aren't?" Niu Youdao asked. "I've been wondering about that too. You and Senior Brother Xu don't look any less capable than Senior Brother Song, so why could he become an inner disciple while neither of you has?"

At this, Chen Guishuo seemed to grow somewhat melancholy. He lowered himself against the peach tree and sat on one of its coiling roots. "Junior Brother, some things aren't decided by ability alone. Background matters too..."

A trace of dejection entered his voice as he revealed a little of Song Yanqing's background. Song Yanqing's father, Song Shu, was Elder Tang Susu's personal disciple. More importantly, Song Yanqing's grandfather, Song Jiuming, was a trusted confidant of Grand Minister of Works Tong Mo and enjoyed Tong Mo's deep confidence. Song Jiuming himself served at court as the Commandant of Justice, one of the Nine Ministers. After Song Yanqing's father Song Shu left the Shangqing Sect, he remained at Song Jiuming's side as a retainer cultivator. In this age, it was perfectly normal for senior court officials to have cultivators protecting them.

Of course, that Commandant of Justice had more than one son, more than one grandson, and more than one retainer cultivator. But a cultivator who protected him and also happened to be his own biological son would naturally enjoy even greater trust. As for the Shangqing Sect in its present decline, it survived almost entirely under the protection Song Shu secured through the Song clan's influence. Most of its cultivation resources likewise depended on channels controlled by the Song clan. Without the Song clan standing in the way, the Shangqing Sect might long since have been destroyed by other cultivation factions. Under such circumstances, even if Song Yanqing's aptitude were poor, was granting him the status of inner disciple really a problem?

Niu Youdao understood at once. The Grand Minister of Works was, in practice, the equivalent of a state's chancellor. Song Yanqing's grandfather was the chancellor's trusted confidant, and as Commandant of Justice he effectively held the state's judicial authority in his hands. No wonder.

"Ah, you wouldn't understand these things even if I told you." Chen Guishuo gave a faintly self-mocking wave of his hand.

[End of Chapter 9]