Chu Qiuzi couldn't help but smile. She replied: "Everyone says it was the greatest sect in the world two hundred years ago. The patriarchs of the Xuanhuang Sect were all imperial preceptors of the previous dynasty, so naturally they fell with the previous dynasty and were destroyed by the current one! When the previous dynasty collapsed, the Xuanhuang Sect backed the wrong side, supporting the Chongxiao King Yang Sui, placing itself against the founding and second emperors of the current dynasty. After the founding emperor seized the realm, he sent a great army to encircle and suppress the Xuanhuang Sect, destroying its orthodoxy.
"The Xuanhuang Sect had countless experts. Though besieged by the great army, a group of disciples still escaped, including the Xuanhuang Seven Disciples, who each founded a sect and became a grave hidden menace to the current dynasty."
Wang Chong asked somewhat anxiously: "Since the Xuanhuang Sect is a great enemy of the current dynasty, if someone practices Xuanhuang Sect martial arts, will they be regarded as a rebel?"
Chu Qiuzi shook her head. "The founding emperor of the current dynasty destroyed the Xuanhuang Sect and seized many of its secret manuals. Although the Three Sect-Protecting Divine Arts were still taken away by the Xuanhuang Seven Disciples, the Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic was scattered and lost during their flight. The remaining martial arts, however, are widely circulated at court, and some in the jianghu practice them too. Even Wudang and Qingcheng keep two or three each, so cultivating them causes no trouble."
Wang Chong finally relaxed, thinking to himself: "I see."
Wang Chong thought to himself: "She actually got her hands on an ancient grand sect's sect-protecting secret manual—Sun Yanqi really has the makings of a protagonist! I wouldn't have killed this world's chosen one, would I?"
"Pfft! I didn't kill anyone; don't blame me," Wang Chong said.
Wang Chong said in a low voice: "The Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic has quite a background; it's not convenient to reveal that for now... My family has a manual called Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects. It may be a fragment of a Xuanhuang Sect martial arts classic. I've studied it for a long time but still can't get started, so I'd like to ask Immortal Sister Chu for her guidance."
Chu Qiuzi pursed her lips and smiled slightly. "Since it's Young Master Wang's family heirloom, how could this humble girl presume to look at it?"
Wang Chong blurted out: "Immortal Sister Chu is not an outsider."
The girl had come over to read by lamplight with him, yet he still didn't make a move—all his previous girlfriends had been for nothing.
As expected, Chu Qiuzi's face flushed red. Wang Chong handed over the manual; she did not refuse, and after pondering for a long while, she gently opened it.
Although Wang Chong had memorized both the Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic and Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects, he did not fully understand their content.
Especially this Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects: according to its content, it merely expounded the fundamentals of the aspects of gods and buddhas, true treasures, demons and monsters, and birds and beasts, with no specific cultivation methods. He simply could not figure out what it was actually saying.
Chu Qiuzi read for more than half an hour, pondered for a long time, then said in a low voice: "Young Master Wang, your family is probably not from the jianghu, so no one has told you about jianghu matters. Since you trust me, I will give you a warning: the existence of this secret manual must not be told to anyone, including your parents, wives and concubines, close relatives, and friends." When she said the words "wives and concubines," this Second Senior Sister of Qingcheng couldn't help but blush slightly.
Wang Chong was very surprised and asked: "Why is that?"
Chu Qiuzi replied: "The Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic is the sect-protecting great art of the Poqiluoshan Monastery in the West."
"It is said that over a thousand years ago in the West there were two eminent monks, Ronaqi Shangdi and Yuecang Jixiangzhi, each the head of two great Buddhist sects. Their followers included tens of countries, and their status was revered, surpassing even kings. To debate Buddhist doctrine, the two great monks held a Buddhist debate at a small temple in a remote border region. Both had extremely profound Buddhist understanding and marvelous insight into the Way of Heaven; neither could persuade the other. They debated scriptures for a thousand days, when the two great monks suddenly attained enlightenment together and entered a transcendent mirror. The eminent monk Ronaqi Shangdi then closed himself in seclusion for seventy-seven days and created this Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic, which shook the Western countries and subdued thousands of sects. The Great Secret Diamond Vehicle thereby flourished, and that remote temple became famous far and wide. Countless monks gathered there, hundreds of monasteries were built, and it became the fundamental great temple of his lineage—the Poqiluoshan Monastery, the fundamental monastery of the Great Secret Diamond Vehicle and one of the three great temples of Western Buddhism."
Wang Chong listened with surging emotions, thinking to himself: "The Buddhism of this world is different from ours."
Chu Qiuzi pointed at Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects and said: "Ronaqi Shangdi comprehended the Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic, but Yuecang Jixiangzhi, after the Buddhist debate, sat in meditation for three days and then departed without a trace, his whereabouts unknown. His Mind-Consciousness School thereby went into decline. Several decades later, Yuecang Jixiangzhi appeared again, entered the Poqiluoshan Monastery a second time, and debated scriptures with Ronaqi Shangdi in a secret chamber for one hundred and twenty-one days. This time, no one observed the debate process, and no one knew the result. After the debate, Yuecang Jixiangzhi departed again, and thereafter there was no trace of him. Ronaqi Shangdi was already over 170 years old at the time. Given the depth of his Buddhist attainment, living several more decades and passing 200 would not have been surprising, but because the debate consumed his vital energy and spirit severely, he passed away within a hundred days after the debate. His junior disciples found this Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects beside Ronaqi Shangdi. However, the handwriting was different—obviously not written by Ronaqi Shangdi. His seventh disciple had read Master Yuecang Jixiangzhi's handwritten Buddhist scriptures, took them out for comparison, and determined it was the work of Yuecang Jixiangzhi. Because this classic subtly disparages the fundamental great art of the Great Secret Diamond Vehicle, although the temple revered it as the possession of a predecessor eminent monk, no one practiced it."
Wang Chong nodded repeatedly and asked: "How were these two classics later transmitted to the Central Plains?"
Chu Qiuzi smiled and said: "The Fourth Sect Master of Xuanhuang traveled to the West, specifically going to the three great Buddhist temples to debate scriptures. He won every match, and no one could defeat him. He even took action to sweep through the Western temples, challenging the Buddhist world. The abbot of Poqiluoshan Monastery was unwilling to accept this, so he specially brought out the sect-protecting treasure classic and asked the Fourth Sect Master to read it, declaring that the present-day Buddhist world had no outstanding disciples, not that Western Buddhism was inferior to the Xuanhuang Sect."
"The Fourth Sect Master was astonishingly talented. After reading Ronaqi Shangdi's handwritten copy of the Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic, he innovated based on his own techniques—discarding the old and bringing forth the new—and consecutively broke twenty-seven great divine arts of the Buddhist sects."
"The abbot of Poqiluoshan Monastery was in a panic with no strategy. A disciple offered a plan, so he brought out Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects. The Fourth Sect Master read it for seven days, then suddenly laughed heartily and left, returning to the Central Plains. Thus the Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic became the property of the Xuanhuang Sect."
Wang Chong's emotions surged as he imagined how imposing this Fourth Sect Master was, thinking to himself: "This old fellow is something else!"
Chu Qiuzi said: "Since then, the Buddhist world continuously sent eminent monks eastward, successively transmitting Buddhist scriptures and techniques to the Central Plains. Now several hundred years have passed. Of the four great divine arts of Buddhism, complete versions still circulate in the Central Plains, while Western Buddhism is no longer complete. Now it is often the case that Western disciples come to the Central Plains to study Buddhist law, hoping to take the Buddhist scriptures and divine arts back to the West."
Wang Chong said: "So this classic is so precious. I certainly won't show it to others lightly. Fortunately, Immortal Sister Chu and I are not outsiders."
But this time Chu Qiuzi ignored his flirtation and said calmly: "That's not the meaning. The Fourth Sect Master also brought Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects back to the Central Plains and told his disciples: This is an ultimate demonic classic. He instructed his disciples that under no circumstances may they read it."
…Yuecang Jixiangzhi: I am the Buddha-demon, I am the enemy of Buddha, I am the destroyer of the Dharma, I am the destroyer of Buddha, I am an unprecedented heavenly demon…
Chapter 21