Chapter 129 – Obtaining the Art

Zhan Changfeng bowed three times and lit incense, placing it in the censer before the Stone Stele.

Long tendrils of smoke rose upward, touching the ceiling without dispersing, as if reaching straight to the heavens. Seeing this, Yao Yu’s expression relaxed somewhat. “The dharma lineage has not rejected you. The art may be taught.”

“I will now tell you—” Before he could finish, the Wuxin Stele suddenly erupted with brilliant golden light. Zhan Changfeng felt as though she had been drawn into a vast, ethereal space, where a majestic voice rang in her ears, chanting: “Thrice examine my heart to exchange for no-heart; the ultimate meaning is carefree, boundless liberation.”

Yao Yu stared at the meditating Zhan Changfeng in shock—the dharma lineage had actively transmitted the Art of Wuxin to her.

This… the Art of Wuxin was the core of the dharma lineage.

Could the destined one I’ve been waiting for be her?

Yao Yu furrowed his brows inwardly and unconsciously gazed toward Medicine Mountain. Perhaps it was all predestined by fate.

Zhan Changfeng did not awaken until dawn. Yao Yu, who had been keeping watch beside her, said, “I originally intended to teach you what ‘Intent’ is, but since you’ve already learned even the Art of Wuxin, I won’t bother with the unnecessary. You may now ask whatever questions you have.”

“I’ve received the Art of Wuxin and the Illusory Spirit Domain, but I don’t understand their meaning. Could you explain in detail, Senior Brother Yao Yu?”

Hearing her change in address, Yao Yu’s expression softened slightly. “The Art of Wuxin is the core of our lineage. It cultivates heart-perception, which is still far too profound for you. Let’s discuss the Illusory Spirit Domain today instead.”

“The Illusory Spirit Domain is an auxiliary technique of our lineage. It cultivates ‘Intent.’ Once you perfect your Intent, heart-perception will naturally follow.”

“Try attacking me.”

Zhan Changfeng swept up pebbles from the ground and shot them at him—but the pebbles passed straight through his body and struck the wall behind him!

“How is this possible?”

“Why can I walk on walls and poles as if on flat ground? Why couldn’t these pebbles hit me? Because everything within a ten-li radius—including you—is inside my Illusory Spirit Domain. Within this domain, I am the Overlord of all things.”

“Why can’t I sense it at all?”

“Forget you—even a True Sovereign couldn’t sense it, unless they had awakened heart-perception or possessed an exceptionally powerful Primordial Spirit.” Yao Yu extended one finger and pressed it to the center of Zhan Changfeng’s forehead. “First, take a look at my Illusory Spirit Domain.”

It was as though something had been placed over Zhan Changfeng’s eyes. The scene before her underwent an earth-shattering transformation—the thatched hut became a grand and imposing Daoist temple, with incense smoke curling before the shrine that housed the Wuxin Stele.

“What is ‘Intent’? It is created solely by the heart.” Yao Yu pushed open the temple doors and descended the stone steps, walking onto a white jade plaza shaped like a taiji symbol.

Zhan Changfeng surveyed her surroundings. The temple and plaza were remarkably real, as if they had always existed here. Yet when she gazed into the distance, she could still see Bijia Mountain and Medicine Mountain beyond.

“My domain can only affect ‘reality’ within a ten-li radius,” Yao Yu explained.

“Reality?” Zhan Changfeng was puzzled.

Yao Yu shook his head. “True and false, illusory and real—what is true is false, what is illusory is real. All is created solely by the heart.”

“The wall you see as standing upright—within my domain, I turned it on its side. That is the truth behind why you saw me walking on the wall as if on flat ground.”

“And these pebbles you shot at me—I transformed them into air, which is why you saw them pass straight through my body.”

“All of this is because the ‘reality’ we see is different.” Yao Yu let out a rare, hearty laugh. “Of course, this is my reality alone. To outsiders, it must seem utterly baffling.”

He spoke with deep emotion. “Do you know what the ultimate realm of the Illusory Spirit Domain combined with the Art of Wuxin is?”

“It is to turn one person’s reality into everyone’s reality! Our Founding Master once conjured something from nothing—created an entire world!”

“Sadly, that great world was destroyed, and no disciple of our lineage has ever reached the Founding Master’s heights again.”

Listening to Yao Yu’s words, Zhan Changfeng felt deeply shaken. Could such immense power truly exist?

Yao Yu had inadvertently stirred up memories of the Wuxin lineage’s former glory. His emotions surged, but he quickly sighed and calmed himself. “The essence of this power is ‘Intent’ and heart-perception.”

“Did you truly think I wanted to teach you just because I saw you guiding True Qi on the arena to form an aura field against your opponents?”

“Clearly not. Having heard your explanation, I also understand that my technique bears no resemblance to the Illusory Spirit Domain and cannot compare to it.”

“Correct.” Yao Yu said, “My teaching you was destined from the very beginning.”

When she had first come to learn techniques, he had sent her off to study Daoist Rites and Body Tempering. She completed his demands without impatience or frustration.

At most, that demonstrated her diligence and perseverance—not enough for him to teach her. So Yao Yu had rudely ordered her to climb the mountain a hundred round trips. Zhan Changfeng had asked: was a hundred round trips really all it would take?

It was precisely this question that revealed her confidence in completing “a hundred round trips” and her suspicion of Yao Yu’s sincerity.

That suspicion was correct, because given the circumstances, Yao Yu was clearly just dismissing her. Even if she had climbed the hundred round trips, he would never have actually taught her.

So when he had shouted, “If you’ve come to learn, you should trust your master completely! If your master tells you to jump off a cliff, you jump! Your attitude is wrong—I refuse to teach you!”—she had decisively walked away.

Most people would have gritted their teeth and climbed, clinging to a sliver of hope. But Zhan Changfeng trusted her own judgment and would never gamble on such false hope.

It was precisely because he recognized this that Yao Yu had begun to take serious notice of her.

For those who cultivated Intent and heart-perception, the greatest taboo was listening to others at the expense of one’s own judgment.

Even if a master’s words contradicted your own will and judgment, you must not obey simply out of some notion of respecting your teacher.

To cultivate Intent and heart-perception, you could lack root bones, you could lack elemental energy or True Qi—even if all your meridians were destroyed, it wouldn’t matter. But you must possess an indomitable will.

In truth, the rumors about Zhan Changfeng being rejected by Yao Yu, and later the suspicion that she was the murderer—some of that had been quietly pushed along by Yao Yu himself, all to see how she would respond. It was to discern whether her will was genuinely steadfast, or whether she was merely stubborn and inflexible, or arrogant and self-important.

Through the rumors affair, Yao Yu had already confirmed her. After the lower-grade root bones result, he conducted one final test—bringing her to be tested a second time.

Root bones represented innate potential and influenced one’s temperament, destiny, and future achievements. Without exaggeration, they were a cultivator’s second life—a life that determined how far one could walk on the path of the Dao. There was a saying: “Those without bone structure shall not be taught.”

And testing as lower-grade root bones, for someone like Zhan Changfeng who appeared outwardly gifted, was undeniably a devastating blow.

Negotiating with the chief examiner, agreeing to pass three trials before retesting, only to receive the same lower-grade result—that was adding frost to snow. An ordinary person would have collapsed.

Yet from Yao Yu’s observation, Zhan Changfeng seemed entirely unfazed, even giving him the impression that she thought “that broken stone got it wrong.” Well, all things considered, she met the requirements.

“You already possess the fundamental qualities needed to cultivate the Illusory Spirit Domain. Ensuring that your will remains uninfluenced by others or external circumstances is the first thing you must achieve. After that, you must practice the Illusory Spirit Technique to strengthen your consciousness, gradually changing the things you see before your eyes.”

“By the heart alone?” Zhan Changfeng was not entirely convinced—this differed somewhat from her own understanding. “Why can things with entirely different material structures appear out of nothing?”

Yao Yu was pleased. She was thinking deeply. “The Dao says: from the Limitless comes the Supreme Ultimate; from the Supreme Ultimate come the Two Polarities; from the Two Polarities come the Four Symbols; from the Four Symbols come the Eight Trigrams. Thus arose yin and yang, right and wrong, life and death, light and darkness—all manner of contradictions and oppositions, giving rise to our world of the heart. In terms of reality, it is: from one comes two, from two comes three, from three comes all things. Conversely, all things originate from the one. There are simply too many stages of transformation within to fully perceive. So then—where does this ‘one’ come from? And what is it?”

“That is the Dao. That is the origin. People have life and death; consciousness has arising and cessation. But the Dao is neither born nor destroyed, neither increases nor diminishes. Just as clouds gather to become rain, and elemental energy transforms into power—only energy remains constant and unchanging. There is merely the process of transformation.”

“Our lineage’s Founding Master named the fundamental particles from which all things are derived ‘spirit particles,’ and ‘Intent’ is the medium through which spirit particles are recombined.” Yao Yu picked up a stone. “Is there truly a difference between the flesh and blood of the human body and this stone? Is there a difference between this stone and air? At the most fundamental level, there is none. That is why, just moments ago, I merely used Intent to recombine it into air.”

“Spirit particles exist everywhere. Therefore, as long as you possess sufficiently powerful Intent, you can recombine anything you desire. This is the first layer of the Art of Wuxin’s profound meaning—whatever the heart desires shall come to be.”

“You can even decompose yourself into spirit particles and reassemble yourself in another location. This is the second layer of the Art of Wuxin’s profound meaning—omnipresence.”

“But before you have cultivated heart-perception, forcibly using the Art of Wuxin will exact a price equal to whatever you use. Especially now, when your strength is low and your True Qi insufficient—it may drain your Vital Blood, your fortune, even your very life.”

He handed her the stone. “Practice with this stone first. When you can transform it into air, then you may begin constructing your own Illusory Spirit Domain.”

“I understand. Thank you, Senior Brother Yao Yu.” Zhan Changfeng accepted the stone with both hands. This theory was unlike anything she had ever heard before. Whether or not she fully comprehended it was beside the point—it had given her a profound new respect for a lineage’s heritage. The Art of Wuxin: creation from nothing.

She had once wondered how all things in existence—living and non-living—had first come into being, and where the countless worlds had come from. Now the Wuxin lineage said they came from “nothing”—and that “nothing” was the Dao, the origin, the “one.”

But what was the Dao, and where did it come from?

Perhaps that was what she was meant to explore.

(End of Chapter)