Edict of Peace 115

Chapter 115: Martial Dao Can Reach Divinity, The Remnants of Taiping Gong

The Xuanwu Law Physique, since being passed down from Old Master Siming to Li Guanyi, had remained sluggish and unmoving, only reacting slightly to the presence of treasures. Now, however, it emitted a flow of light, only to instantly dissipate and vanish.

A low hum rose in Li Guanyi’s ears.

Behind Li Guanyi, it seemed as if water was shifting and changing. The next moment, the water light scattered, and a giant Xuanwu (Black Tortoise) slowly emerged from endless waves. Its head was raised, as tall as a young man, and intricate patterns on its shell shimmered with light.

The surrounding clouds shifted and changed.

This was a divine skill that resonated with the Xuanwu.

Like the *Jade Arm Divine Bow Technique* to the White Tiger, like the Crimson Dragon Force to the Crimson Dragon.

But this old man didn’t have a Xuanwu Law Physique, so he couldn’t achieve great success with the Mountain Marrow in one go. Li Guanyi intently watched the changes in the old man’s Qi, incredibly profound. He gradually immersed himself in it, and unknowingly, he adjusted his own breath along with this technique.

Chen Chengbi finished a few sets of exercises, then turned his back to Li Guanyi, saying:

“This *Six Emptinesses Four Harmonies Divine Skill* can contain the world’s Qi within a single body.”

“The first level is enough to refine and eliminate foreign True Qi within the body. Through this cycle, one’s cultivation base can become vast and immense. Let me see… the first step is to adjust the internal Qi, wrapping and circulating it. What was the key point again…”

Li Guanyi knew the old man was deliberately testing him, so he recited the key points he had noted.

Chen Chengbi said, “Ah, yes, yes, yes! After that, you must pay attention to the crucial point of Qi circulation. It needs to be slow, gradual, full, deep, and concentrated, like dipping a brush in ink, you cannot be hasty. If you are hasty, you will make mistakes, and a mistake will injure your lungs and internal organs.”

“How does the Qi travel to the dantian (energy center) and return to the internal organs?”

Li Guanyi answered accordingly.

Back and forth, for a full half hour, Chen Chengbi explained the first level of this divine skill before saying: “Alright, I’ve remembered it all! Hahaha, this old man’s memory isn’t too bad; I haven’t forgotten everything!”

The young man couldn’t help but smile, saying, “Senior, aren’t you going to practice the second level?”

Chen Chengbi shook his head repeatedly, exclaiming:

“No, no, no! Recalling the first level is enough.”

“The later levels cannot be taught, cannot be taught, cannot be taught…”

“Old man means, I’m not practicing anymore, not practicing anymore.”

Only then did he turn around, looking at Li Guanyi with feigned surprise:

“My child, when did you arrive?”

Li Guanyi remained calm, bowing and replying, “Junior just arrived.”

Chen Chengbi said, “I was just practicing my skills, talking to myself. Did you see?”

Li Guanyi replied, “Junior just came out and saw Senior turning around.”

“I saw nothing, heard nothing before.”

Chen Chengbi nodded in satisfaction, “Good child.”

He thought for a moment, pulling Li Guanyi closer, saying:

“Go to the sixth row on the first floor of the library and take a book called *Vast Ocean Force*. That skill is adapted from the *Six Emptinesses Four Harmonies Divine Skill*. When cultivated to perfection, it’s about 80% of the first level of the *Six Emptinesses Four Harmonies Divine Skill*. It can resolve the issue with your Crimson Dragon Force.”

“Remember, if anyone asks, you say you are practicing this.”

Li Guanyi agreed.

Chen Chengbi said, “Chen Kingdom’s *Six Emptinesses Four Harmonies Divine Skill* is extremely powerful in Qi cultivation. However, it’s a technique exclusive to the royal family and isn’t circulated among the martial artists. In my view, it’s definitely no less powerful than the Confucian school’s浩然正气 (unyielding righteousness), but unfortunately, its primary function is killing.”

“Legend has it that five hundred years ago, our ancestor, the Chen State Duke, whose posthumous name was Ying, went to spar with your Xue family’s State Duke. At that time, they fought to a draw.”

“My family also has the ultimate skills [Crushing Mountain] and [Rolling Waves], they fought to a draw.”

“After returning, my ancestor pondered over how to defeat [Rolling Waves], and finally discovered a problem. Do you know about [Rolling Waves]?”

Chen Chengbi had a great interest in martial arts. Getting to the topic, he pulled Li Guanyi to the side of a pond, and with a sweep of his sleeve, the water in the pond began to spin, forming a huge vortex, the water flowing rapidly.

Chen Chengbi pointed at the vortex, saying, “This is Rolling Waves.”

“It’s an extremely complex and high-speed spiral Qi that crushes all defenses.”

“My ancestor’s [Crushing Mountain] was like that.”

Chen Chengbi picked up a stone and threw it into the vortex. It was instantly caught and flung out.

The old man’s simple explanation gave Li Guanyi some food for thought, leading to a deeper understanding of the two ultimate skills he had mastered, subtly illuminating his mind.

Li Guanyi seized upon this fleeting inspiration.

He thought for a moment and said, “Although I don’t understand [Crushing Mountain] and [Rolling Waves]…”

“But wouldn’t it be like this?”

Li Guanyi drew his high-quality long sword, still in its sheath, and stirred it in the pond against the direction of the vortex. Two streams of water collided, creating a strong force of collision and tearing, the surface of the water was torn apart, and one vortex after another erupted.

Chen Chengbi initially thought the boy was boastfully talking nonsense, but upon seeing this sight, his eyes lit up.

He clapped his hands and laughed, “Right, right!”

“Hahaha, this boy has talent! This is more in line with [Rolling Waves], but you’re still a step behind.”

“Playing with water? Watch this old man!”

The old man also picked up a straight stick, guiding it within the small vortices, and the vortices converged again, forming a larger vortex, just like before.

Chen Chengbi said triumphantly, “See, if I were to change it like this…”

“This Rolling Waves is not just one move!”

“One move disperses, then adjusts the internal Qi, the internal Qi flows back, and can gather again.”

“What is this? Unending, continuous.”

“If the enemy attacks, thinking they’ve withstood my first Rolling Waves, they don’t know that my internal Qi vortex has already infiltrated them. With a single movement from me, they’re trapped deep within the vortex and can no longer escape. It can trap and kill!”

“Come, watch again. If you control the internal Qi like this, hey, wouldn’t the vortex reverse its original direction?”

“Isn’t this the circulation of Yin and Yang, infinite changes, capable of both positive and negative, controlled at will?”

“Hahaha, wonderful, wonderful!”

Chen Chengbi won the vortex contest against Li Guanyi, so he laughed triumphantly.

Li Guanyi, watching the changing and converging vortex, felt his mind suddenly open.

The original Rolling Waves was a complete imitation of Divine General Xue. What the old man unintentionally said was clearly the supreme martial arts wisdom. Li Guanyi vaguely grasped this, sensing that his Rolling Waves might undergo a major transformation.

This ultimate skill would eventually walk a different path from that of Divine General Xue.

Chen Chengbi slapped his forehead and said:

“Look at me, where was I? Talking about [Crushing Mountain]. Later, my ancestor discovered that [Rolling Waves] was extremely changeable, and he couldn’t break this move. After much thought, one day he climbed Nanshan Mountain to look into the distance, saw thousands of mountains and rivers, and suddenly gained enlightenment, clapping his hands and laughing.”

“My ancestor said, Crushing Mountain, is a mountain only one layer?!”

“A mountain is thousands of layers!”

“How can my Qi only have one layer?”

“Therefore, he understood the basics of this *Six Emptinesses Four Harmonies Divine Skill*.”

“After that, generations of ancestors perfected it, resulting in this skill that can absorb many types of Qi. Initially, it was just ordinary internal Qi, but the more Qi one sees, the more different types of Qi one absorbs, the stronger this skill’s Qi becomes.”

Chen Chengbi grabbed a stone, crushed it, and threw it away. Each stone precisely broke a vortex. The old man said, “Just like this.”

“If cultivated to perfection, one punch will contain many types of Qi, some cold, some hot, some domineering, some gentle; it’s like countless experts fighting together. And if one uses this skill to use [Crushing Mountain], one can truly achieve the majestic momentum of ‘[one mountain is higher than another, thousands of mountains and rivers are rolling in]’.”

“And that *Vast Ocean Force* also has such changes. When you cultivate this method, you can transform the Crimson Dragon for your use. When you punch, you will have the combined Qi of the Crimson Dragon and White Tiger, isn’t that wonderful?”

Chen Chengbi was almost ecstatic when he spoke of this.

He was happier than Li Guanyi himself.

This joy was pure, the joy born from seeing the profound mysteries of martial arts.

Li Guanyi said:

“Then, old senior, I’ll go to the back, would you like to demonstrate the second level as well?”

Chen Chengbi’s laughter stopped abruptly.

He glared at Li Guanyi, “Boy, don’t say such nonsense, not teaching, not teaching!”

“The first level can contain three types of Qi, you’ve already gained a lot. If it weren’t for your loyalty and the fact that you are a Xue family member, how could this old man teach you?”

“If my father were alive, I would be hanged and beaten to death with a jade *diepan* (a type of ornamental belt).”

Chen Chengbi realized he had let slip something, he reached out and slapped his mouth twice.

Then he turned toward the Emperor’s mausoleum and knelt down, kowtowing three times with a loud thud, saying:

“Father, don’t listen to your son’s nonsense, your son didn’t teach an outsider.”

“You must have heard wrong.”

Li Guanyi felt that this old man was different from when he had met him before, leading the Jinwu Guards to pursue Yu Qianfeng. Yu Qianfeng’s injuries seemed to have been mostly inflicted by this old man. Chen Chengbi only relaxed after doing all this.

He sat there, looking at Li Guanyi, and said in a bad mood: “However, you received benefits from this old man, you must be loyal to your country and the court, boy.”

“Don’t be like those two boys, Wanli and Puyang.”

A trace of gloom appeared on the old man’s face: “More than ten years ago, that sly Puyang King tricked me, saying that there were treasures on Mount Kunlun, containing the divine skills of the Kunlun Sword Sect from three thousand years ago. I excitedly set off, riding thirty horses to death, and finally climbed Mount Kunlun.”

“I fought a white bear the size of a mountain peak on Mount Kunlun, and when I found the jade and came down the mountain, I learned that the world had changed greatly, Puyang’s rebellion had failed, and I rode my horse back to the grand ceremony, only to see Qing Yan blocking the Ye Chi cavalry.”

“It was also after the great fire on that day that Qing Yan abandoned her martial arts and practiced the *Kunlun Heart Technique*, a skill with icy properties. Why, why do people fight like this?”

“They used to have a good relationship.”

The old man muttered, sighing, his hair now white. Looking at Li Guanyi, he smiled and said, “Anyway, you don’t know who’s who, so this old man can only complain to someone like you who doesn’t know anything.”

“I can’t talk to outsiders.”

“Keeping it bottled up makes it hard to eat.”

His face showed genuine melancholy.

Li Guanyi thought for a moment and asked back, “Then if the people of Chen Kingdom and the court conflict, for example, a treacherous minister and the people, who should I stand with to be considered loyal?”

This question seemed to burn the old man’s brain.

He could analyze martial arts, using what he learned to apply to other situations, and he could inadvertently enlighten Li Guanyi about Rolling Waves and Crushing Mountain. But such complex matters made him frown, scratching his head, before finally saying after a long time: “It’s still the people.”

The old man said, “I haven’t read many books, but I’ve seen pigs run even if I haven’t eaten pork.”

“If a tyrannical emperor is in power, the ministers should change things. When I was traveling the world, I met a teacher from the Gongyang school. He had many opinions, and I was young at the time, and I found it head-splitting and sleepy, only two sentences were remembered clearly.”

“‘If a minister is unrighteous, overthrow him.'”

“‘If a ruler is unrighteous, change him.'”

“He was one of the heads of the Imperial Academy, he is educated and right.”

Chen Chengbi said casually:

“Those Confucian scholars say that the emperor is the Son of Heaven, a sage. But if the emperor were truly a sage, Son of Heaven, he wouldn’t have the desires of ordinary men and women, he wouldn’t sneak out to brothels, he wouldn’t pee on me when he was two years old, he wouldn’t refuse to read books and get beaten while crying and wiping his nose.”

“So the emperor is also an ordinary person.”

“Ordinary people make mistakes.”

“Now scholars say that sages are without fault, every single one of them is a treacherous minister.”

Li Guanyi was dumbfounded, “Senior, these words are a little…”

Chen Chengbi didn’t care, “Treasonous, right?”

“My father said the same thing back then, so he didn’t give me any throne.”

“He didn’t give me one, he didn’t even think about it.”

“Saying that my governance would surely cause the country to fall into chaos.”

“And if one reaches a high position, they will surely die! But he passed on various martial arts to me. But what does it matter? Boy, there are so many paths of cultivation in the world. Literati are refined and noble, Daoists are carefree, Buddhas are majestic, yet they all say that martial artists are crude and uncouth.”

“Crude my ass!”

“I think they’re full of shit.”

Chen Chengbi stood up. He looked at Li Guanyi and smiled slightly:

“You’re to my liking.”

“Let this old man tell you what martial arts is.”

This royal master, his hair white, without the constraints of etiquette in front of those not in the Jinwu Guard, having been encased in ice, playing with water, kneeling before his father’s tomb, now with raised eyebrows, had an air of self-confidence.

He said, “Martial Dao cultivation is about three words.”

“Confucians fear Heaven’s Mandate, Buddhists fear karma, Daoists seek the Great Dao, all have restraints.”

“My martial arts cultivation, only three words.”

“They are – Follow your heart!”

“To put it crudely, Heaven’s Mandate, karma, the Great Dao, are all bullshit!”

“A load of fucking crap!”

The old man cursed, then raised his hand, and the wind surged. He stood there, as if he were the center of the whole world, the sky pressing down, the earth rising. In an instant, all things rushed towards him. Chen Chengbi looked at Li Guanyi and said, “Immense power belongs to one person.”

“Within three feet of my body, I am the Emperor!”

“Three feet above my head are the gods.”

“I, am the god!”

“See Buddha when flowers bloom? Wrong.”

“Look up, see me!”
………………

Chen Chengbi enlightened Li Guanyi on the path of the martial artist. Then the old man patted his shoulder, telling him to go to the library to read, saying: “For certain reasons, this old man guesses that the Crown Prince will not be able to ascend the throne, your aunt’s son, your younger brother, may become the Crown Prince.”

“You must protect him.”

Li Guanyi suddenly understood the old man’s goodwill. He guessed that the old man already knew about the Crown Prince’s situation and guessed that the son of Noble Consort Xue would become Crown Prince, so he was willing to teach Li Guanyi skills. The young man lowered his eyes, bowed, paused, and simply replied:

“I will definitely protect his life.”

Chen Chengbi didn’t think much about that sentence.

He patted Li Guanyi on the shoulder, and the young man turned to the library. After verifying his identity, he entered. There were some members of the royal family inside, but when Li Guanyi entered, they fell silent.

He wore a ceremonial robe and a jade *diepan* at his waist.

If a fifty-year-old looked like that, he would just be an old man.

But a fifteen-year-old looking like that is truly youthful and noble, awe-inspiring.

Ordinary members of the royal family felt somewhat intimidated in the presence of such a noble official. Li Guanyi found the skill according to the old man’s suggestion. Seeing no one around, he thought of Princess Chen Qingyan’s words and focused his attention on the bookshelf.

Gradually, Li Guanyi sensed a faint glow from the bookshelf.

His primordial spirit suddenly became active, naturally beginning to change according to the skills taught by his aunt. After practicing the skills taught by his aunt, ripples appeared in the void, the bookshelf seemed to light up, and then words appeared one by one.

[I am Chen Qingyan. Before parting, Miss Murong told me the Murong family skills. Therefore, I used the Twelve-story Tower of Jiangnan’s Rain as a guide to leave a message here. This skill will be passed down from generation to generation. The recipient must be a descendant of the Murong family, perhaps, that child…]

[I leave this message for Taiping Gong]

[This is the real names of the generals of Taiping Gong’s old troops]

[And Taiping Gong’s secret orders to his 24 generals]

!!!
(End of Chapter)

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