Before Ding Songyan could ask anything else, Qin Nuansheng gave an emotional chuckle.
"You actually asked me about martial arts before. I even went out of my way to ask your brother-in-law about it, but who knew you'd forgotten it all?"
"There isn't much I can remember." Ding Songyan wore an expression of "sorrow."
Qin Nuansheng rose from her chair and paced back and forth a couple of steps.
"Body tempering and qi refinement are merely the entry level of martial arts, collectively called the 'Initial Realm,' though some also refer to it as the 'Mundane Realm.'
"Only upon reaching the 'Life Realm' and beginning to refine the body's apertures does one earn the qualification to be included in the Register of Orchids Under Heaven. Yet so many people reach this realm that only those with extraordinary talent or exceptional backgrounds can actually receive a ranking and achieve renown.
"Rankings are not determined by your progress in refining apertures, but by actual combat performance. There are three ranks in the Life Realm, from lowest to highest: 'Glimpsing the Path,' 'Ascending the Hall,' and 'Entering the Chamber.' These are the so-called lower three ranks, the most common martial artists and wanderers.
"We ordinary folk don't understand and can't tell those titles apart, so we prefer to call them the ninth, eighth, and seventh ranks.
"Your brother-in-law mentioned that the lower three ranks don't surpass ordinary people by all that much, so they are also called the 'Mortal Realm.' In this realm, the cultivated techniques have yet to show much extraordinary power. Real combat relies far more on forms, willpower, experience, intellect, weapons, and armor. With the slightest slip or mistake, a ninth-ranker can kill a seventh-ranker..."
Ding Songyan listened with intense focus, occasionally interrupting Qin Nuansheng to pose questions of his own.
After finishing her explanation of the Life Realm and the lower three ranks, Qin Nuansheng's eyes shifted, studying her cousin for a moment before she offered a solemn warning.
"I don't know much about what lies above, but your brother-in-law mentioned that if you want to cultivate deeper, superior techniques and go further on the martial path, you can pick any random martial art to start body tempering and qi refinement during the Initial Realm, but once you reach the Life Realm, you must never blindly refine apertures."
"Why is that?" Ding Songyan pressed with concern.
Qin Nuansheng tilted her head slightly, recalling for a moment before saying, "He said that each technique requires refining different bodily apertures and uses different methods. If a superior technique you acquire in the future shares apertures with your current martial art, the two will clash. At best, you suffer qi deviation and your martial arts are completely ruined; at worst, you go mad or die on the spot.
"Well, if two techniques don't share apertures or clash, you can cultivate both or transition between them. In fact, even if the required apertures overlap, special circumstances exist where you can break through those restrictions."
"What kind of special circumstances?" Ding Songyan wore a look of utter thirst for knowledge.
Qin Nuansheng chuckled softly.
"I'm not clear on the rest, but your brother-in-law only gave one example back then:
"Martial arts related to flood dragons and serpents can all transition to the study of the True Dragon. Overlapping apertures won't clash; instead, they will be accommodated and subsequently transformed."
*A flood dragon transforming into a dragon—a superior martial art?* Ding Songyan grasped the root of this exception and asked casually, "Which sect possesses the study of the True Dragon?"
Qin Nuansheng could not help rolling her eyes and glaring at Ding Songyan.
"You only know how to put me on the spot! I'm a woman confined to the inner quarters; what would I know about the jianghu? I only know that the most renowned one, New Yu's Six Dragons Sect, carries the legacy of the Yinglong. You know of the Yinglong, don't you?"
*Of course... 'Yinglong: summons wind and rain, gathers clouds and mist, commands thunder and lightning, rules the ten thousand voids, brings dragon-and-phoenix auspiciousness'... The annotation says, 'Ancestor of dragons, origin of phoenixes'... 'Form of a dragon with the wings of a phoenix'...* Lines about the Yinglong from The Esoteric Classic of Mountains and Seas flashed through Ding Songyan's mind.
This was an ancient deity he had been quite familiar with in his past life, so he had read the relevant contents very carefully and remembered them vividly.
After chatting for a while longer, Qin Nuansheng said to Ding Songyan, "I nearly forgot. Divine Physician Shao asked that you drop by his medical hall sometime tomorrow or the day after if you're free; he wants to check on your current condition again."
"Alright." Having already experienced being examined before, Ding Songyan was not afraid of meeting Divine Physician Shao.
Led by the maidservant Cuihe, he left the Lotus Pond Courtyard. Just as he approached the manor gates, he saw his nominal brother-in-law, Zhen Quanwang, beaming obsequiously and bowing as he saw a group of people out.
The main gates were already flung wide open.
The leader of the group was a man in his twenties wearing a feather robe and a tall crown, dressed like an unworldly scholar. Yet he lacked any ethereal, transcendent grace. He was noticeably shorter than Ding Songyan, plump and fair, with puffy eyelids and a sleepy face. Most striking of all were his ears—oversized and shaped like a dog's.
Behind him were four maidservants, variously carrying a zither, holding a fan, presenting a sword, or supporting a box. All were exceptionally attractive and dressed in eye-catching, vibrant colors.
In addition, four guards followed behind, ranging from old to burly. Some also bore dog-like ears; some had the backs of their hands covered in brown animal fur; some had bizarre markings painted on the sides of their faces; and some moved with a ghostly, wavering gait, looking like specters.
Ding Songyan had barely seen anyone with unusual traits over the past two days, yet in this single moment, he had encountered five all at once.
*Quite the grand spectacle...* Watching the group exit Zhen Manor through the main gate, he turned curious eyes toward the maidservant beside him. "Where are these distinguished guests from?"
*Is something else happening in Zhen Manor?*
"This servant does not know." Cuihe shook her head repeatedly.
***
After returning to Duokang Temple and listening to stories for a long while, Ding Songyan returned to Chengyu Lane just as the setting sun hung low on the horizon.
Before he even reached the courtyard gate, he heard a steady *thump-thump-thump* of blows from within.
*What happened?* Ding Songyan raised a brow in confusion and pushed open the unlatched wooden doors.
The first sight that met his eyes was Ding Daniu, stripped to the waist and kneeling before the elm tree. His head hung low, letting Liu Yuzao strike his back repeatedly with a piece of firewood.
"You shall not kill the innocent."
"You shall not fight in anger."
"You shall not bully others."
With a cold face, Liu Yuzao struck Ding Daniu's back with every reprimand, raising vivid red welts until the flesh gradually turned bloody and raw.
*Didn't Eldest Brother killing that Xiaochuan Gang man get resolved last night?* Ding Songyan did not immediately stop his mother. He circled around to Ding Qingyan, who had both hands over her eyes, not daring to look at the wounds. Setting down the tools of his trade, he lowered his voice. "What happened?"
Ding Qingyan turned her body away from the elm tree, lowered her hands, and said, "Eldest Brother lost his temper with someone at the docks today and nearly came to blows, scaring the person half to death. The foreman told him to apologize, but he refused, so the foreman came to our door to complain."
"Is that so..." Ding Songyan did not ask who was in the right or wrong. He merely marveled at how blind that foreman was. If it were him, he would never dare force an apology from such a ferocious-looking powerhouse whose temper could frighten someone to death. Did the man truly not fear having his entire family wiped out?
*Sigh, I still need to learn martial arts. Otherwise, all one can do is back down...*
After pondering for a moment, Ding Songyan was about to ask his father to talk his mother down—teach a lesson, sure, but don't beat him to death—when he saw Ding Shengyi pick up another piece of firewood and hand it to Liu Yuzao, who had just snapped the stick in her hands.
Ding Songyan let out a breath and glanced at Ding Qingyan from the corner of his eye. "Do Daoism or Buddhism have methods to subdue inner demons and clear the mind?"
He felt that for a born villain like his eldest brother, relying solely on family discipline and emotional bonds was not enough; an internal cultivation method was essential. Cultivating the mind was the only way to treat the root cause, just as Zen meditation was the path to becoming a Buddha.
Ding Qingyan shook her head.
"They don't?" Ding Songyan pressed.
"I don't know." Ding Qingyan sighed helplessly. "Second Brother, I haven't even had my hairpin coming-of-age ceremony yet. Don't treat me like a know-it-all."
Once Liu Yuzao finished punishing Ding Daniu, Ding Songyan took clean strips of cloth, jinchuang medicine, and other supplies, walked over to his eldest brother—who was still kneeling before the elm tree—and said softly, "Eldest Brother, I'll apply the medicine for you. Bear with it."
Discipline was discipline, but warmth and care still had to be shown; otherwise, everyone would be doomed together.
Ding Daniu answered in a muffled rumble, "It's nothing. Mother beat me, and I didn't even move.
"Erlang, you're truly good to me."
*I'd rather stay far away from you...* Ding Songyan inhaled, cleaned Ding Daniu's wounds, applied the jinchuang medicine, and bandaged him up.
Throughout the entire process, Ding Daniu uttered not a single sound, his body trembling only slightly.
It was not until just before bedtime that he was finally allowed into the room to lie on his stomach.
Ding Songyan closed the door to the west wing, lit an oil lamp, and said to his younger sister, "I need to write tomorrow's story. It won't disturb your rest, will it?"
He had returned home late and had not yet found the time to organize the detailed outline for the next part of The Legend of the White Snake.
"Not at all, I fall asleep quickly," Ding Qingyan said with an expectant face. "Remember to let me read it tomorrow morning!"
Using stacked large wooden chests as a desk and a small wooden chest as a stool, Ding Songyan spread out his paper, ground the ink, picked up his brush, and began conscientiously recording his ideas.
This segment of the story began with Madam White stealing the immortal herb to revive Xu Xian, who had forgotten the incident of being frightened to death by her serpent form. It recounted how they conceived a child, followed by ten months of pregnancy, before giving birth to the Martial Melody Star.
*Hiss, what was Fahai doing all this time...* As Ding Songyan wrote, he felt something was off.
Fahai simply stood by and watched, letting Madam White and Xu Xian live together as husband and wife and even give birth to the Martial Melody Star?
How was he supposed to spin this tale...
Setting down the brush, Ding Songyan was deep in thought when he suddenly felt someone watching him.
He spun around sharply and looked toward the bed.
At some point, a figure had sat down there.
The person wore a plain white dress. The outer corners of her eyes curved slightly upward, her nose was delicate and petite, and her raven hair was bound with a white silk kerchief. She was resting her chin in one hand, smiling faintly as she looked at Ding Songyan.
It was none other than the young woman who had listened to his storytelling that day.
"You've already thought of the rest of the story, haven't you?" the maiden asked with a gentle smile.
Ding Songyan's mouth twitched slightly.
*Did she come to my room just to demand an update?*
*So what if you know martial arts!*
He glanced toward the folding screen, and seeing no movement from Ding Qingyan, he lowered his voice. "The night is already late. Why doesn't the heroine rest early and listen again tomorrow?"
He noticed that this maiden's temperament was remarkably mutable. Yesterday, she had been purely charming and naively sweet; today, she had appeared delicate and frail; but now, in the dead of night, she was inexplicably dangerous and seductive...
"I can't sleep. I keep wondering whether Xu Xian can be saved, and what will become of him and Madam White afterward..." The maiden shed her soft, tender tone, speaking with a touch of alluring, airy grace.
With that, she broke into a radiant smile.
"Do you know why I love this story so much, why I'm so captivated by it?"
"I do not." Ding Songyan suddenly felt a premonition of danger.
Before he could react, he felt something icy and slimy coil around him.
In a panic, Ding Songyan looked down and saw an enormous, white-scaled serpent's tail.
This serpent's tail extended straight from beneath the maiden's skirt!
Ding Songyan was struck utterly dumb.
*Did I actually run into the real deal?!*
*I tell a random story about The Legend of the White Snake, and I run into an actual white snake?!*
"Do you understand now?" the maiden asked, her smile brimming with delight.
Chapter 15