Edict of Peace 93
Chapter 93: Your Title!
Using the Qilin array diagram as an example to teach the contents of the *Huangji Scripture*, Zu Wenyuan’s suggestion was one Li Guanyi had no reason to refuse. He immediately said, “Naturally, I’m willing.”
The old man stroked his beard, but then asked Li Guanyi to close the door.
Li Guanyi closed both the doors and windows. Outside, it was still only afternoon. Although the sun had shifted somewhat westward, it hadn’t yet set, but the room instantly became dim. The old man lit a candle and softly said,
“Since it’s a secret transmission, it cannot fall upon six ears.” (This idiom means that the information should be kept confidential; only a few people should know.)
“Come, come, come.”
Li Guanyi sat beside the old man. The elder pointed to the complex scrolls, saying, “The reason I suddenly thought of using this Qilin Pavilion’s array diagram to explain it to you is, firstly, you seem to be quite interested in arrays, and secondly, it’s because of your cultivation physique.”
Li Guanyi said, “My cultivation physique? The Four Symbols gathered together?”
Zu Wenyuan nodded, pointing to the scroll, “The array within the Qilin Pavilion follows the Yin and Yang Five Elements path. It was personally created by Si Wei, the second of the top three in the Yin Yang School in those days. It uses Yin and Yang to move the Five Elements, uses the Five Elements to transform the Four Symbols, and finally uses the Four Symbols to form the array.”
“Although I have many mathematical classics here, they are too dry as an introduction.”
“The central Wu Earth Qilin can only be trapped by the Four Symbols; and coincidentally, it perfectly matches your physique.”
“Using this as your introduction is the most fitting.”
Li Guanyi curiously asked, “Si Wei, was he a fellow disciple of the Si Ming old man?”
Zu Wenyuan sighed, “No.”
“It’s just that what they both learned can be categorized under the Yin Yang School, and both were renowned far and wide, achieving things that ordinary people wouldn’t even dare to imagine. But in reality, they were like enemies. If they met, they would surely kill each other. While Senior Si Ming was unmatched in observing Qi and divination, if it came to a fight, he would probably fall to Si Wei.”
“It’s not difficult to understand. Since ancient times, hasn’t it always been military strategists killing military strategists, and Confucian scholars ruining Confucian scholars?”
“From the same school, but with different stances and ideas.”
“For some people, those from their own school are even more hateful and more deserving of death.”
Zu Wenyuan’s voice was complex, containing emotions Li Guanyi didn’t yet understand. The old man pointed to the scroll, introducing to Li Guanyi the meanings of the individual characters and how their combinations created different changes.
Li Guanyi’s expression gradually tightened.
Difficult!
It was incredibly difficult!
The logical system of the array made Li Guanyi think of the programming languages he had learned before. If Yin and Yang represented the zeros and ones in a program, and the changes in Yin and Yang led to the Five Elements, which were then twisted into the Four Symbols, and then things like the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and the celestial constellations were used as individual program systems, then the “Four Symbols Trapping Spirit Array” before him was like an extremely complex, ultra-large program.
Dense characters filled the scroll.
The scroll, when unfurled, was over twenty meters long, written in small script, the characters intricate.
Each character contained information that could be broken down into several sentences.
Colliding together, they would produce even more meaning changes.
Zu Wenyuan explained slowly, and Li Guanyi could only memorize it mechanically. The old man said, “The way of arrays lies in their infinite changes, and the Qi of Yin and Yang is the most fundamental existence of change. Yin and Yang circulate, transforming into the Five Elements and Four Symbols. Si Wei’s array is, in essence, alive; it constantly changes.”
“One wrong step, and it will be like an avalanche, bringing the backlash of Yin and Yang Qi.”
“It’s truly marvelous! Such an array, he actually completed it when he was only thirty years old.”
“Only such an array can trap a divine beast like the Qilin.”
Li Guanyi let out a breath, feeling a sharp pain in his forehead.
“Thirty years old?”
“Is he still maintaining this array now?”
Zu Wenyuan said, “He had a heavy murderous aura and was arrogant. If he were still around, this array diagram wouldn’t have been left for me to repair. After completing the array more than ten years ago, he left on his own, saying he wanted to use the mountains, rivers, earth veins, and all things as an array, to forge an unparalleled grand array, covering the entire Central Plains.”
“In the following ten years, no one has seen him again. Si Ming’s visit here must also have included the intention of looking for traces of Si Wei.”
The old man smiled faintly, “Take your time; we have plenty of time.”
“Of the *Huangji Scripture*, I only have one volume here, while the complete set has sixty-four volumes. I think that once you thoroughly understand this volume on the Four Symbols Grand Array, it will mean you understand the circulation laws of the Four Symbols, and at that point, your cultivation physique problem will naturally be solved.”
“Doesn’t the second level of Martial Artist require the mixing of the primordial Qi?”
Li Guanyi said, “Senior is correct.”
“It’s just that this *Huangji Scripture* is incredibly complicated.”
The old man chuckled, “Complicated?”
“If it’s something good, a supreme skill, it naturally cannot be easily mastered.”
“But don’t think this *Four Symbols Trapping Spirit Array* is useless. If you learn it, you can use it. You possess the Four Spirit Law Physique; as long as your skill is sufficient, you can form the array alone, sealing all things.”
“Form the array alone?”
Zu Wenyuan said, “Yes, around the second level, with Qi extending several feet from the body, you can begin to use it. This array, from initial learning to mastery, goes from two instruments, three talents, four symbols… Qilin Pavilion only used ‘trapping,’ but with Si Wei’s murderous aura, how could this array only have the effect of ‘trapping’?”
“‘Trapping’ must be followed by ‘killing.'”
“Although martial artists always say that they are invincible in close combat, clad in armor and armed, if you have this ability to form an array alone, the Four Spirits locking the primordial Qi, you will be able to fight against martial artists of a higher realm without defeat, and even win.”
“You must study it diligently.”
At that moment, a commotion suddenly came from outside.
Zu Wenyuan slightly raised his eyes, “They’re here again.”
Li Guanyi, recalling what the little Taoist priest had said, raised an eyebrow, “Are they monks?”
“Even if the emperor forbids ordinary constables and police from attacking monks and Taoists, would they dare to make a ruckus in a Taoist temple at this time?”
The old man seemed never to be angered, only saying:
“It’s not entirely without reason; this place was originally a temple.”
“More than ten years ago, when Puyang Wang’s elder brother, the regent’s brother, was emperor, he revered Buddhism. There were 480 temples in the Southern Dynasty. Later, when Puyang Wang’s iron cavalry broke through, they were burned to ashes. Those monks who weren’t captured for military service fled everywhere.”
“Later, wandering Taoist priests gradually gathered here and built this Taoist temple.”
“Gradually, incense offerings increased, and this place gained some fame. Now some monks are saying that this land is theirs, demanding that the Taoists leave and pay them the rent for the past ten years all at once – 100,000 taels of silver.”
Li Guanyi was astonished, “They would dare to do that?”
“The temples here were all burned down, and they ran away.”
Zu Wenyuan said, “That’s what they claim.”
“However, the Taoists aren’t easy to deal with either. The two sides have quarreled and fought more than once or twice. Recently, during the Grand Festival, the emperor revered both Buddhism and Taoism and forbade ordinary constables from attacking them. They also heard that a living Buddha from the Western Regions is here as a guest for the Grand Festival. These monks are getting bolder and bolder.”
Li Guanyi was surprised, “A living Buddha from the Western Regions?”
“Isn’t there a Buddhist kingdom in the Western Regions? Ruled by the Living Buddha over a vast territory.” (This is knowledge from Xue Divine General.) Zu Wenyuan was surprised, pointing at Li Guanyi and laughing,
“You, you, what era’s old almanac are you reading? Your knowledge is older than this old man!”
“Over five hundred years ago, there was a Divine General from the Central Plains who conquered the Buddhist kingdom, using a war halberd to defeat the Living Buddha in three moves, shattering his golden body and causing him to spit blood and fall to the ground. This destroyed the authority of the Buddhist kingdom, though they managed to barely survive. Later, they extremely exploited their slaves and servants. Then, one of their slaves escaped.”
“That slave traveled in the Central Plains for over ten years.”
“He made many good friends and established an alliance of ‘the flames of rebellion’, finally returning to the Western Regions and sweeping away everything. That was Tu-Gu Hun. The Buddhist kingdom you speak of in the Western Regions was long ago trampled into dust under Tu-Gu Hun’s cavalry.”
“I heard that when he was young, his sister sang for him. Her voice was as clear as the wind on the grassland. Later, that sister disappeared without a trace, never to be found again, and Tu-Gu Hun went mad and escaped.”
“In the end, when that overlord conquered the Western Regions, the Living Buddha flattered him, using the most exquisite musical instruments to play a song of submission for him. It was a white bone flute made from the leg bones of beautiful young women and skull-bone instruments. The sound was clear and bright, like the wind on the grassland.”
“The moonlight was like frost. The overlord of the Western Regions sat quietly all night in the palace of the Buddhist kingdom, leaning on his knife.”
“Afterwards, he tied up the Living Buddha and put him in a sack. On the grassland, the heavy cavalry of the Western Regions trampled back and forth for three whole hours, crushing a Living Buddha with a vajra body into minced meat.”
“He raised his knife under the sun, burned the Buddhist palace, and the serfs in the palace raised their blades.”
“Because of this, he had the first invincible army of the Western Regions.”
“Today’s Living Buddhas are just a martial arts sect, incomparable to the glory of hundreds of years ago. This time, they actually dared to come from the Western Regions to the Central Plains and even shamelessly participate in the Chen Kingdom’s Grand Festival.”
“It’s only because the Tu-Gu Hun dynasty has fallen, and they want to, like the Partyans, climb aboard Chen’s power and rise in the Western Regions.”
The old man asked Li Guanyi to take out his royal seal, holding the small seal in his palm, saying,
“The golden sarira of the Buddhist kingdom, passed down through generations, has been melted into it.”
“Guanyi, according to Buddhist legitimacy, your status is now higher than that Living Buddha; you can also sit on the lotus throne.”
Li Guanyi smirked, not taking the old man’s teasing, only saying,
“The Emperor’s intention is probably not just to support Buddhism, right?”
Zu Wenyuan smiled faintly, “Yes, it’s just that the aristocratic officials and the Taoist school are too close.”
“His Majesty the Emperor feels insecure, so he supports Buddhism and suppresses Taoism.”
“He obtained the throne through competition between several factions, so he only trusts balance and refuses to allow any single faction to become too powerful. Once you understand this, you’ll know that he’s actually always been afraid.”
The court has rules; sword qi and similar methods are forbidden in the capital. Besides, those who can release sword qi are all junior officers; even among monks, they are considered influential and would not appear here. The old man simply pulled him, smiling faintly, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, let’s take another look at the array diagram.”
Li Guanyi sat down.
The old man continued to explain the changes of the array calmly.
Li Guanyi calmed his mind and, drawing on the experience of cramming the night before exams in his past life and specialized training, forcibly memorized the contents of the array. Finally, relying on the superposition of his two lifetimes’ souls and the strengthening of his soul from ten years of playing the zither, he forcefully memorized it all.
He felt dizzy and his forehead throbbed.
The commotion outside grew closer.
The old man smiled at the young man before him, “Have you memorized it all?”
Li Guanyi said, “Yes.”
The old man nodded, his wrist moving to close the scroll; the candle was about to burn out. The old man laughed, “Then, come again tomorrow, and I will teach you the first level of changes.”
“Take this array diagram to the Vermilion Bird Gate of the palace.”
Li Guanyi’s eyes received the scroll.
“Yes.”
Perhaps he could get closer to the Qilin.
Monks had already burst through the door. Li Guanyi stood up; the moment the other party opened the door, he raised his right foot and delivered a direct chest kick. The feeling of frustration he had felt after looking at mathematics problems for ten hours exploded in a burst of catharsis.
The man outside was a monk nine feet tall and with a waist like a water jar, and the boy’s kick sent him three feet into the air. He tumbled and fell, groaning and complaining. Li Guanyi retracted his leg, exhaled, and closed the scroll, carrying it on his back. The people outside began to clamor.
Looking out from the room, a group of fat monks were charging forward in the Taoist temple. The Taoists were thin and not martial arts practitioners, so they were no match for them. Even the pharmacists who prepared medicine for the people were pushed down, their cauldrons falling to the ground, the smell of medicine thick in the air.
A monk shouted, “Another young Taoist!”
“Knock him down!”
Li Guanyi breathed out, reaching for a green bamboo pole used for drying clothes nearby. With a shake of his wrist, the pole shot out like a spear. With a flick of his wrist, the bamboo swayed, sending several monks flying.
The monks made a commotion and charged towards Li Guanyi. Because of the court’s rules, the other pilgrims couldn’t intervene. Li Zhaowen was about to leave, but when she saw Li Guanyi come out, picking up a stick and moving, she frowned slightly. One person against dozens of fat monks, unable to kill them, he was likely to be at a disadvantage.
She placed her hand on her weapon, but then was surprised.
The young man strode out, holding the bamboo pole, sweeping, thrusting, slashing. Dozens of monks were no match for him. More than a dozen monks rushed forward, swarming to grab his bamboo pole. Li Zhaowen had already stepped forward, but the young man suddenly roared.
On one side was a handsome young man of only fourteen years old, on the other, more than a dozen round-headed, big-eared, specially selected fat monks – a stark contrast. But the young man actually lifted those more than a dozen monks with just the bamboo pole!
Changsun Wu’gou was stunned.
What kind of physique was this!
What kind of strength was this! And seeing this scene, the second young lady…
She turned and saw the girl holding her sword, watching this scene, her phoenix eyes shining with excitement. Changsun Wu’gou sighed helplessly.
As expected.
After lifting the dozen monks, Li Guanyi suddenly roared, his hands gripping the bamboo pole like a fierce general wielding a ten-foot-long spear. With a shake and a tremor, his strength spread, sending more than a dozen monks tumbling, unable to hold onto the bamboo pole.
They fell to the ground, groaning incessantly.
And Li Guanyi merely took a few breaths, his muscles, having exerted their maximum strength, quickly recovering.
A dragon tendon, tiger marrow physique!
Li Guanyi used the bamboo pole to knock the remaining monks to the ground. The monk, his nose and face bruised, shouted like a ruffian, “We’ve been defeated today! Hey, you Taoist, dare to leave your name?!”
Li Guanyi was going to the Vermilion Bird Gate and didn’t bother to answer.
Leaving a name wasn’t like being a knight-errant.
He simply pointed the bamboo pole at the monk, scaring the latter pale, then turned his wrist, the bamboo pole spinning like a dragon, pointing to the Taoist temple behind him, before putting away his weapon and striding away. The monks were puzzled, “Taoist temple? You wouldn’t be called Taoist Temple, would you?!”
“No, senior brother, maybe he’s saying to ask the Taoists?”
“Could it be some Taoist name?”
Changsun Wu’gou blinked, her gentle voice saying, “Taoist Temple, is it called Li Dao?”
“Or Li Guan?”
With her sharp mind, she murmured to herself, a Taoist temple.
Li.
Li Yiguan, or perhaps…
Li Guanyi?
Changsun Wu’gou seemed to understand, and Li Zhaowen held her sword, smiling, “Li Guan, Li Dao?”
“What kind of name is that?”
She thought for a moment, smiling, “Perhaps it’s like this?”
Looking ahead, the young man in brocade robes, holding a bamboo pole, strode forward. Although just a youth, in brocade robes, with a bamboo pole, but with everyone prostrate around him, it seemed as if he were clad in armor, wielding a spear, his bearing magnificent.
Li Zhaowen said, “There are pharmacists inside, so, his name is—”
The girl with the appearance of a dragon and a phoenix watched the young man, holding the bamboo like a spear, striding forward, and said,
“Li Yaoshi (Li Pharmacist).”
(End of Chapter)
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