Chapter 121 — The Capital Has Many Taboos

The young Patriarch too fetched a fish bone and drew upon the ground the Five Luminaries realm circulation diagram he had seen in the ruins — though it, as well, was broken and incomplete. "This is all I saw," he said. "The diagram was far too damaged, and so I did not have it carved in Chunyang Hall."

Something stirred in Shen Mu's heart. He drew out the fragmentary Five Luminaries realm circulation diagram he himself had seen in the Palace of Quelled Calamities, and set it beside the young Patriarch's for comparison. The two broken diagrams were missing largely different parts; laid one over the other, they might well fill in some of the gaps!

Shen Mu then drew a new diagram to one side. In this new diagram only a single part was missing — the left collarbone!

Still, even with the left collarbone cultivation method lacking, he could perfectly well circulate the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art and go on cultivating!

The young Patriarch studied this new diagram of his closely, mused a long while, then with the fish bone traced a few strokes at the left shoulder. "I will complete this circulation diagram for you after my own understanding," he said. "Only, what I complete is not necessarily right, and it is certain to diverge from the original. When you run your yuanqi in a duel, there will likely remain a hairline flaw at your left shoulder. Should your opponent's skill be ordinary, he will not find it. But should his eye be keen, I fear that left shoulder will be your fatal weakness."

A chill ran through Shen Mu. "Patriarch," he said hastily, "how keen must an opponent's eye be to see through this flaw?"

The young Patriarch mused a moment. "The Heaven-Human realm," he said. "Or the Life-and-Death realm."

Shen Mu's heart eased, and he laughed. "Where would I go to provoke a strongman of that sort?"

"There are also young folk who, though their realms are not high, have very keen eyes."

The young Patriarch spoke placidly. "The Grand Academy, for instance, has such young folk. Do not hold yourself too high. This is no longer an age when a man can command the winds and clouds on the strength of one or two arts handed down by his ancestors. If your dao arts and divine powers make no advance, and you lean only on those two tricks your forebears passed down — heh — sooner or later others will wipe you out. Do you know why I took the seat of Grand Libationer of the Grand Academy? It was so that I might survey all the learning under heaven, and bear witness to a new age."

A thread of sorrow entered his gaze. "A pity," he said softly. "I fear I shall not live to see it..."

Though he had long looked past life and death, and grieved not at his own end drawing near, it wounded him to the quick that he would not witness the coming of a new age — a desolation of the heart, for that new age was one he had pushed forward with his own hand.

"It does not matter that I cannot see it."

The young Patriarch's spirits lifted, and he smiled. "But you can. Young Cult Master, do not seal yourself in the old ways. Your vision must be broad; your heart must be broader still!"

Shen Mu took his leave of the young Patriarch. This old man had made an impression on him unlike anyone else in the village.

The villagers of the Village of Hidden Remnants gave one the impression of a pack of harmless old worthies. Fearsome as they looked, once you had known them a while you found them truly kind at heart. They had taught Shen Mu the principles of how to be a man; they had taught him the means by which to survive.

The young Patriarch had taught him none of that. His method was patient, step-by-step guidance, setting him on a higher place from which to look upon the world.

Stand at a different height, and you see a different world.

Chickens and sparrows flit low; they see only coops and thatched huts, and can only peck for worms and grain upon the ground.

The eagle spreads its wings and its eye reaches a thousand li; a thousand li is the domain in which it stoops upon its prey.

To become the Holy Cult Master of the Dark Demon Cult, one must have the spirit to see a thousand li.

For Shen Mu, the most tangible gain this time was still the Five Luminaries realm circulation diagram of the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art. With this diagram he could go on cultivating; otherwise his cultivation would have been trapped at the Five Luminaries realm without an inch of progress.

He returned to the Scholars' Lodge and tried circulating the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art, driving his yuanqi along the diagram he had pieced together. The Five Luminaries realm pathway of the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art was far more complex than before: upon the foundation of the Yuan-Drawing Art and the Spirit Fetus realm method, it laid down another layer of cultivation.

Shen Mu had read through every method in the Great Nurture Dark Demon Sutra. The methods in that sutra were many and wondrous indeed, yet few could rival the Five Luminaries realm pathway of the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art.

The Five Luminaries realm pathway of the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art was like driving three methods at once: one set the simplest Yuan-Drawing Art in motion, the Yuan-Drawing Art drove the Spirit Fetus realm pathway, and the Spirit Fetus realm in turn drove the Five Luminaries realm pathway — complex, to say the least.

This time his yuanqi surged forth. He circulated it by the diagram, and all at once his consciousness divided into five, rushing with his rolling yuanqi into the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury.

Within the Divine Treasury, five great stars suddenly blazed with light!

This time, however, the five elements did not fall into chaos and annihilate one another. Instead a shaft of starlight pierced down from the Metal Luminary and fused with one strand of his consciousness, becoming a Metal God: a snake hanging at its left ear, feet treading twin dragons, tiger claws and white fur, a bronze battle-axe in hand.

Shen Mu cautiously drove his yuanqi onward, letting the Metal God's phantom drink unceasingly of the Metal Luminary's starlight.

The starlight composed the Metal God's phantom; such starlight was called star power — the power of the stars.

At the same time, a shaft of starlight pierced down from the Wood Luminary and merged with another strand of his consciousness, becoming a Wood God: human head, bird body, bird feet, feet treading twin dragons, a willow whip in hand.

From the Water Luminary a shaft of starlight also fell, merging with his third strand of consciousness to become the phantom of a Water God: human head, red hair, serpent body, a trident in hand.

The light cast from the Fire Luminary merged with his fourth strand of consciousness, becoming the phantom of a Fire God: beast body, human face, feet treading twin dragons, a fire gourd in hand.

The light that came from the Earth Luminary merged with his last strand of consciousness, becoming the phantom of an Earth God: human head, serpent body, two door-leaves at its back. Upon those doors were even written characters, but because it was only a phantom they were dim and indistinct, and he could not make out what they said.

His yuanqi fused with the phantoms of these five gods, and between yuanqi and star power a slow mutual transformation was taking place — a state of affairs that left him baffled.

"Yuanqi turning into star power, star power turning into yuanqi, each into the other — does that change signify something?"

Shen Mu doubted it, and felt it out with care, yet found nothing different within; only that when yuanqi transformed into star power, he dimly sensed some nameless force stirring restlessly in the starry heavens, though what force it was he could not tell.

And when star power transformed into yuanqi, he found that his cultivation had risen a little.

"That is no bad thing."