Chapter 77: Repaying A Favour

　　Shen Lian lightly asked, “Do you want me to surrender my Art of Spiritual Enhancement?”

　　Zhang Ruoxu smiled, “Are you willing to do so?”

　　“Of course I am,” Shen Lian replied dashingly.

　　To Shen Lian, no matter how mysterious the origins of Master of Senses were, it was only a martial exercise. It may not help him achieve immortality.

　　Qing Xuan’s celestial studies, on the other hand, have legitimately produced many immortals.

　　Moreover, Qing Xuan was not a charity hall. There would be a limit on how kind Zhang Ruoxu treated his disciples.

　　It was normal for celestials to not have any desires. But as a monk who lived against destiny, one will need to constantly adjust their mentality.

　　Like a Chinese saying that goes “give me a papaya and I will repay with a good jade”, Zhang Ruoxu’s guidance was the papaya while Shen Lian was repaying the deed with his Spiritual Enhancement technique. It may seem like Shen Lian was paying a bigger price but he willingly did that as he felt a sense of belonging at Qing Xuan.

　　There was absolutely no such thing in the word as love or hatred without a reason. It was mutual scarification that would bring people together.

　　Action speaks louder than words.

　　And that was why Shen Lian was clear-cut while Zhang Ruoxu was very delighted by that.

　　A plain white paper appeared out of thin air.

　　Shen Lian was surprised and said, “Did you prepared this in advance and took it out from the mutually accommodating apparatus or was it produced instantly?

　　“Of course this is fresh off the stove. You’ll be able to tell if something is spiritual or not after you’ve broken free from desires. There’s no point going back and forth between ‘fake could be genuine or genuine could be fake’. Zhang Ruoxu smiled but with not much content

　　“Sure enough, that is celestial arts. Can you then transform rock into gold?” Shen Lian asked curiously.

　　“Pearls, gold, and jade were no difference from brush, ink, paper and ink stone. It is just a matter amount of power needed to make it happen,” Zhang Ruoxu answered calmly.

　　Shen Lian thought to himself, “What would my grandfather think if he knew that the wealth he has worked his whole life for could be replicated so effortlessly by someone else.”

　　Of course, Master Shen was not aware that his cheapskate grandson was secretly making fun of him.

　　Shen Lian abandoned that thought and took the brush and ink. The text from the Mastery of Senses slowly flowed from his heart:

　　Lying down with great ease; the nine essences of sleep; soul captured up north…

　　He lifted the brush and started writing; but before he could finish the first stroke, the ink vanished.

　　Zhang Ruoxu moved an expression; Shen Lian tried writing back and forth and yet that first stroke would not show.

　　Ever since Shen Lian burnt the Mastery of Senses, he has never reproduced the content nor leaked it verbally to someone else. This was the first time in doing so.

　　Zhang Ruoxu said, “Go ahead and write, don’t think too much about it.”

　　After making the first stroke, Shen Lian proceeded to make the second stroke but he just could not write it no matter how hard he tried.

　　“Stop the writing and perhaps try reciting it verbally?”

　　Shen Lian was stunned. The stranger it was, the more it showed that the Mastery of Senses had an impressive history behind it.

　　Shen Lian opened his mouth to recite but all of a sudden, he has forgotten how to vocalize.

　　He was speechless.

　　A treasure mirror flew out from Zhang Ruoxu and the lights reflected the two people.

　　Shen Lian did not feel like he was being stalked. Instead, he felt protected.

　　The Tiandi Jian was Qing Xuan’s treasured possession. Not only it could view the heaven and hear the earth, it could also isolate inside and outside.

　　Zhang Ruoxu sighed, “Fortunately the Daoist Master still lingers around. Otherwise, today’s incident may leak out.”

　　Shen Lian’s expression changed slightly, feeling confused, he asked, “What was that?”

　　“Does the “Art of Spiritual Enhancement” enhance one’s spirit even if that person does not have any foundation in cultivation?” Zhang Ruoxu asked.

　　Shen Lian nodded.

　　Zhang Ruoxu gave an ‘as expected’ face and said, “If I’m not mistaken, someone has imposed a Dao restriction to your technique. The effect of this restriction is that once someone has mastered it, they were forbidden from neither teaching it nor putting it down in words.

　　“But when I first started, I was able to record it on paper and the text did not vanish.”

　　Zhang Ruoxu calmly smiled and answered, “That’s because you’ve not shown that to anyone. Is the booklet still around?”

　　“I’ve burnt it,” Shen Lian answered awkwardly. After all, his actions showed that he was not that great of a person.

　　“It’s not a bad thing to burn it and leave no traces behind. Maybe when you get older and better at your practice, you might be able to find another way to inscribe your Art of Spiritual Enhancement. By then, our school would have another fundament to be passed down,” Zhang Ruoxu care freely replied.

　　He initially thought that perhaps Shen Lian had little secrets behind him. Who knew that he would be imposed of a Dao restriction? In the ten thousand years of Qing Xuan history, no one person has the ability to impose such restriction on others. It was an extremely skilled technique that a person has to come to the edge of the spiritual world in order to reach that level.

　　Zhang Ruoxu seemed like he did not want to further elaborate about the Dao restriction. He switched the topic to talk about the fundamentals of practice and cultivation.

　　He was a visionary who was extremely insightful. With just a few words, he could give Shen Lian a sudden feeling of glee.

　　His last advice to Shen Lian was to not rush into finding a breakthrough.

　　This was because it was not necessary for Shen Lian to nourish his spirit after breaking through. He already had the most advanced Art of Spiritual Enhancement. It did not make any difference if he reached the realm of spiritual nourishment.

　　It did not matter if Spiritual enhancement or Qigong comes first. In the most ancient practice, the understanding towards the natural world was beyond everything else.

　　Zhang Ruoxu told Shen Lian to go to the Taiwei pavilion to find out more about the Dao of Talisman, and to focus on his swordcraft as well as his Dao technique.

　　During the ancient times, there were originally no text or writings. The talisman was the very first carrier of culture that served as a medium between heaven and earth. It had the ability to trigger natural forces such as water, fire, wind and thunder; and was one of the earliest forms of supernatural power.

　　Although the Dao of Talisman was very different from the ancient method, if one puts in effort in understanding it, he will realize the similar concept behind it.

　　Unlike Shen Lian, Chen Jianmei was highly talented and brave. His potential has sped up his training. However, slow and steady wins the race. Just like how a sword would have to go through extreme sharpening before becoming a double edge sword and the scent of the plum flower came from bitter coldness.

　　Zhang Ruoxu assured Chen Jianmei that he would eventually go into Huandan.

　　Judging from Shen Lian’s sufferings at the River of Spirit, Zhang Ruoxu could tell what Shen Lian really needed was not the polishing of his techniques and blindly pursuing different realms. Instead, Shen Lian needed to cumulate experiences and learn more about proper practice and cultivation.

　　The nine realms of cultivation was actually a shortcut paved by the Daoist Master for cultivators. It was a pity if the cultivators cast only a passing glance when they were going through the nine realms.

　　Some people lived a short live and thus rushed through their practice. Shen Lian, on the other hand, took it slowly by taking deep strolls.

　　Zhang Ruoxu would not explain these concepts explicitly, but he was more than happy to give some useful key pointers.

　　

1. 还丹 – A Daoist and Qigong term to describe the process of returning to its original form