The Xiaoming Sect disciple guarding the boundary marker dared not be careless, but neither could he simply let a visitor see the sect master just because the visitor wished it. So he turned his gaze toward Ding Songyan, who stood off to the side and a little behind, and raised his voice:
"Junior Brother Ding."
Ding Songyan had just felt a stir of insight, and using his finger as a sword he poked among that column of ants, thoroughly disrupting their march, when he heard someone calling his name.
A little dazed, he raised his head and looked toward the boundary marker.
"Junior Brother Ding, this young hero is Pan Yunzhou of the Pan family of Dongyuan Prefecture, Bao Prefecture. He has urgent business and seeks an audience with the sect master. Please go and announce him." The disciple repeated the matter.
Ding Songyan gathered his focus, rose, and said with a smile:
"Sure thing!"
He shook out his hands and headed for the stone steps that led up to the peak area.
The disciple guarding the boundary marker then said to Pan Yunzhou:
"That was the sect master's newly accepted direct disciple. Let me lead you to Warm Lamp Tower to wait a while."
Warm Lamp Tower was where the Xiaoming Sect received its guests, and several reception stewards were on duty there.
Pan Yunzhou nodded slightly and handed over the saber at his waist.
Following the rain-washed stone steps, strewn with fallen leaves, Ding Songyan made his way up until he reached the Hall of Gathering Stars, near the mountain's summit, and there in the Ziwei Pavilion he saw his master, Tao Wenshu.
A steward in his forties had just left the place.
"Steward Gao, who oversees the west-city ironworks." Tao Wenshu, wearing an iron crown, rubbed at her temples and said to Ding Songyan, "Though I have external-affairs elders handling the various day-to-day matters, I as sect master cannot simply be a hands-off figurehead who leaves everything to others."
Dingjiang Prefecture had long been renowned for its rich good ore, its fine iron, and its trade in fine weapons. The unbroken rows of ironworks west of the prefectural city were either directly subordinate to the Xiaoming Sect or had long been affiliated with it; they were one of the Xiaoming Sect's most important sources of revenue.
"The capable do the most work." Out of habit, Ding Songyan tossed in a bit of flattery, then reported the matter at the boundary marker.
Tao Wenshu's fingers stirred the loose strands of hair at her temples, and she said thoughtfully:
"I have never heard of the Pan family of Dongyuan. But since that Pan Yunzhou made a point of stressing this, then it cannot be without purpose...
"Could he be a descendant of the Pan clan, one of the great surnames of the realm several centuries ago?"
The Xiaoming Sect's sect master, clad in a star-strewn black robe, rose to her feet and paced a couple of steps:
"I had best see him."
She then instructed a sect member waiting outside the Ziwei Pavilion to go and invite Pan Yunzhou over, while she herself turned to Ding Songyan with a smile:
"I happen to have some free time just now. Have you run into any difficulties in your martial practice lately?"
After Ding Songyan consulted her on a few martial questions, he said, somewhat puzzled:
"Master, last night I read a book that mentioned matters of Juesheng Dao. It says that the inheritors who cultivate Juesheng Dao's Scripture of Heaven Heart Wisdom must all sever their worldly ties. Wouldn't that mean disciples killing their own masters happens all the time? Why must it be so?"
"Your master has never read the Scripture of Heaven Heart Wisdom, so I cannot know why they do this." Tao Wenshu thought back. "But apart from that demoness Ji, in the past two or three hundred years, the inheritors of the Scripture of Heaven Heart Wisdom should never have killed their own masters."
Ding Songyan was somewhat taken aback.
He had assumed this was a fixed routine within Juesheng Dao.
Tao Wenshu weighed her words and said:
"The inheritors of the Scripture of Heaven Heart Wisdom most likely possess a complete set of methods to reshape a disciple's loves and hates, their grudges and affections, and their very way of doing things. By the time the disciple finishes their training, they will only be overcome with gratitude toward their master, thanking them for granting them a fortuitous opportunity, without the slightest thought of revenge.
"When Yan Changqing vanished while seeking out Kunlun, Ji Hanyi was perhaps not yet even in her early teens, so it is normal that the method had not yet achieved its full effect. She later emerged victorious from the deadly struggle among a crowd of young fellow disciples, obtaining the reward of the last remaining piece of Taowu's flesh, and in a single bound rose to the heavens—at seventeen, upon first setting foot in the jianghu, she was already a grandmaster at Dharma Realm consummation."
Incomplete brainwashing was not the same as no brainwashing at all. No wonder Master Yan, upon seeing that it was Ji Hanyi, knew things had gone wrong without asking a single question... Still, a cultivation method that prizes one's state of mind actually demands that its practitioners be deceived and brainwashed from childhood—was that right? Ding Songyan nodded thoughtfully.
Before long, Pan Yunzhou arrived at the Ziwei Pavilion.
Facing Tao Wenshu, he actually moved to perform a kowtow.
"Young hero Pan, I, Tao, dare not accept such a grand courtesy." Tao Wenshu hurriedly turned aside to avoid it.
Ding Songyan was left staring, dumbfounded:
What's he doing—asking to become a disciple?
No one asks to become a disciple the very moment they meet someone. Even with my thick skin, I didn't dare do that back then!
Seeing this, Pan Yunzhou rose with a bitter smile and said:
"This junior truly has a matter to beg of you."
"Then I dare even less to accept your courtesy." Tao Wenshu frowned slightly. "For anything I cannot accomplish, I will never make reckless promises."
Pan Yunzhou drew a breath and slowly let it out:
"This junior knows that Sect Master Tao's word is always followed by action, and her actions always bear fruit; she never speaks in grand words to deceive others."
He steadied himself and continued:
"In ancient times, Emperor Zhuanxu commanded Chong and Li to separate heaven from earth, so as to sever the communication between gods and men. Li descended to the earth and begot Ye; Ye had descendants who became the three surnames Xiong, Qu, and Pan, who cultivated the Canon of the Myriad Stars and the Twelve Solutions of Time."
Hearing this, the corresponding passage from The Esoteric Classic of Mountains and Seas naturally surfaced in Ding Songyan's mind:
"Ye: eat of it, and one may draw in the myriad stars, aid the sun and moon, divide the seasons and fix the hours, establish order and clarify sequence."
Seeing that Tao Wenshu did not interrupt him, Pan Yunzhou continued:
"When the hundred clans rebelled and the dynasty made its southward migration, our three surnames too suffered the calamity of extermination. The Xiong clan and the Qu clan have both had their lineages broken; only one branch of the Pan surname fled south of the Great River and took refuge in Dongyuan Prefecture, Bao Prefecture."
This was much like the Xiaoming Sect, which had nearly been wiped out in that disaster more than two hundred and fifty years ago... Ding Songyan's brows twitched slightly, and he could not help glancing at his master; as it happened, Tao Wenshu was looking at him too.
The same doubt arose in both of them:
The Xiaoming Sect had fallen from the ranks of the top powers only because its cultivation methods were peculiar and it was targeted by the heretics and evil paths, and it had barely managed to rebuild. So why were your Pan, Xiong, and Qu clans exterminated?
As one of the great surnames of the realm in years past, you would not have come to such an end unless you had been singled out and besieged.
Could it be that your cultivation methods also had something peculiar about them, or was there some other reason?
Seeing this, Pan Yunzhou said bitterly:
"Our Pan family's forebears also did not understand why such a calamity befell us, but they no longer had the strength to seek out the truth.
"After fleeing to Dongyuan Prefecture, our family's Twelve Solutions of Time was already lost; only the first half of the Canon of the Myriad Stars remains. But even the Dayan Realm is missing the organ installation method and the aperture crafting methods for the corresponding apertures. Thus for over two hundred years, no more of our descendants have been able to set foot in the Dharma Realm, and it has been hard to make up the deficiency."
Even worse off than the Xiaoming Sect... When I first heard the name Twelve Solutions of Time, it sounded like a fine cultivation method, and I was even thinking whether I might get to see it... Ding Songyan felt a pang of regret.
His foundation was not yet solid, and he had not yet put much effort into the "Dividing the Four Seasons" trait; if he could use the Twelve Solutions of Time as a reference, he would surely benefit greatly.
Tao Wenshu had roughly guessed what Pan Yunzhou sought; as she listened to the rest, she began to ponder.
"Since I entered the Dayan Realm, I have always roamed the jianghu, seeking a method to complete the Canon of the Myriad Stars." Pan Yunzhou's expression grew ever more solemn. "By a fortunate coincidence, I befriended several disciples of your esteemed sect and found that the Book of Universal Stars is quite similar to the Canon of the Myriad Stars. Later, from their mouths, I learned of your sect's passing the torch across generations, and of the matter of completing the Book of Universal Stars and the Scripture of Candle Illuminating the Long Night.
"Hearing this stirred this junior's heart; a longing arose in me, and with it a greed I should not have harbored."
With a thud, Pan Yunzhou dropped to both knees again and took a book from his bosom, saying:
"This junior is willing to offer up the Canon of the Myriad Stars to help your esteemed sect perfect the Book of Universal Stars. I ask only to be allowed to join the sect, to be permitted to use the Book of Universal Stars to complete the Canon of the Myriad Stars, and to use the completed Canon of the Myriad Stars to instruct my clansmen.
"And should this junior ever leak the Book of Universal Stars to outsiders, I am willing to be executed beneath the sect master's sword."
Offering up the Canon of the Myriad Stars outright? This was burning his boats... Ding Songyan looked at Pan Yunzhou and sensed a kind of resolute determination.
Tao Wenshu sighed softly and said:
"Young hero Pan, please rise first.
"What if, after you join the sect, you find that the Book of Universal Stars cannot complete the Canon of the Myriad Stars?"
This was the crux of the matter.
Pan Yunzhou rose to his feet, his expression shifting several times, and said in a deep voice:
"This junior would not regret it."
He let out a breath and continued:
"For over two hundred years, the Pan family's forebears tried again and again, and all ended in failure. To this day, all the clansmen have accepted their fate; only this junior remains unwilling to resign himself. Even if I must tread to the ends of the earth and perish by the roadside, I would not shrink from it.
"Your esteemed sect is perhaps this junior's only hope in this life. Even if I should return empty-handed, I would still be willing to consider myself a disciple of your sect and to toil like a dog or horse in your service."
Tao Wenshu pondered for a moment and said:
"This matter cannot be decided by my word alone; I must consult the sect's grandmasters. Young hero Pan, please stay a few days in Warm Lamp Tower for now."
"Sect Master Tao, you may first look over this secret manual. It contains all the chapters of the Canon of the Myriad Stars, from body tempering to aperture refinement. With your martial insight, you may be able to discern the similarities between the two divine arts." Pan Yunzhou held out the book in his hands.
He feared that empty words alone would be hard to make others believe: the Xiaoming Sect had to first preliminarily confirm that the Canon of the Myriad Stars could perfect the Book of Universal Stars, and only then could there be room to discuss what came after.
Since this touched on the sect's heritage and the lingering obsession of the sages of each generation, Tao Wenshu did not decline. She took the book and began to look through it earnestly.
Her face was bathed in the golden sunlight streaming in through the window, and her expression was extraordinarily focused.
Pan Yunzhou waited in anxious suspense. After a full quarter of an hour, he saw Sect Master Tao hand the earlier portion of the Canon of the Myriad Stars to the disciple standing in attendance at her side.
"You take a look too," Tao Wenshu said softly to Ding Songyan.
With her ability, discerning whether the qi-circulation and aperture-refinement methods of the Canon of the Myriad Stars were compatible with the Book of Universal Stars was not too difficult a task; it would only take a month or two to break it down and test it. But just yesterday she had heard from her martial uncle, Wang Zhou, that Ding Songyan had attained aperture-refinement mastery in a single shichen.
Judging by this, "Derivation of the Way and Virtue" was perfectly suited to the present task.
When the master has business, the disciple does the labor!
Beneath Pan Yunzhou's puzzled, bewildered, and astonished gaze, Ding Songyan took the book without feeling there was anything amiss.
He flipped briefly through the chapters on body tempering and qi refinement, then turned his gaze to the visualization chart that ran a full twenty-eight pages.
Within his sea of consciousness, the pale, hazy "seed" turned, and Ding Songyan's mind at once split in two.
As he turned the pages of the visualization chart, focusing on memorizing it, he began the visualization.
In less than the time of two cups of tea, all three hundred and sixty apertures in his body had begun to operate according to the method recorded in the Canon of the Myriad Stars; the starlight, pure and clear, transformed into true qi.
The Book of Universal Stars first trains the special qualities of the different stars, then derives and unfolds their principles, gathering them into a starry sky—it belongs to the progression from chaos to order, and it suits me well... The Canon of the Myriad Stars, from the very outset of aperture refinement, emphasizes the order in which sun, moon, and stars move, and the connections between different apertures—no wonder it is called "Star Sequence true qi"... Whether it can perfect the Dayan Realm chapters of the Book of Universal Stars is still unknown, but for the Universal Stars Grand Array, which is missing key parts, it will surely be of great help; and since it is a grand array, it must place even greater emphasis on principles and sequence...
Thinking of this, Ding Songyan raised his right hand.
Slowly, he struck a palm toward his master.
Though she did not understand, Tao Wenshu still answered with her "Myriad Stars true qi."
The moment their palms touched, she sensed the wondrous beauty of sun, moon, and stars revolving according to their principles.
That true qi was both different from and similar to the "Myriad Stars true qi," distinct in its own right!
Songyan has already cultivated the "Star Sequence true qi" to completion? Tao Wenshu's gaze froze for an instant.
Not far away, the more Pan Yunzhou watched, the more bewildered he grew.
Is this... the master seeking her disciple's opinion?
Chapter 70