Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates

Chapter 15: Heavenly Dynasty

That was the t.i.tle of the article. Unlike Dayang Shengong or the Demonic Body Toning Method, it was not a manual for practicing martial arts, yet it was more valuable than any manual in the world.

Immortals lived forever, however, how many people in the world could become an immortal? There were many methods of practicing to attain immortality, but only a few could reach the stage of immortality throughout history.

Without attaining immortality, one would remain a human being and could live only for so many years.

It was very difficult to become immortal within the limit of one’s life span. Only those who had the superior innate talent and intelligence could possibly break through before their time was up. A human’s life span was short; even those of the Xiantian Stage had two hundred years of life and those at the Gold Core Stage, four hundred years, but if they couldn’t break into the Nascent Soul Stage within four hundred years, they would still die.

With the innate talent like Zhong Shan’s, there was no doubt that he would die sooner or later.

Each person has various types of karma, poor innate talent, low intelligence, interruptions by material goods, and being tangled with worldly affairs. People with more karma would need to put in two, three, or even five times more effort to reach the same stage.

For Zhong Shan’s level of innate talent, it would take extra effort to catch up with others. The barrier for each stage was a huge hurdle for him, it was much more difficult compared to others. That was the reason why he had been anxiously searching for the Pojin Pellet before.

Zhong Shan’s innate talent would always be the same.

That was his karma which was the cause for his difficult time searching for immortality.

This article, “Establis.h.i.+ng A Heavenly Imperial Court,” talked about a method, a method to rid of one’s own karma. The less karma there was, the easier one could achieve a breakthrough.

One had to collect a great amount of fortune[1] and use it all to wash away the karma. Once one could break away from karma, one would be blessed by heaven and earth and speed up one’s practice.

When a certain amount of fortune is acc.u.mulated, one could reach a certain position and be recognized by heaven and earth.

The article mentioned three positions from the lowest to the highest, the Soft Position, the Middle Position, and the Top Position.

Those who practiced Buddhism had a different name for these positions. They called it fruit of the path.

The Soft Position was the Arhat.

The Middle Position was the Bodhisattva.

The Top Position was the Buddha.

The speed of progress at each position was naturally different. One at the Soft Position could progress three times faster than before, ten times at the Middle Position, and a hundred times at the Top Position.

How incredible to progress a hundred times faster? So what if Zhong Shan had poor innate talent?  It was meaningless if he could reach that level. If he stayed at the Xiantian Stage with two hundred years of life, then he could practice as if he lived for twenty thousand years. Even an idiot could breakthrough to the Gold Core Stage by then. What would be there to stop Zhong Shan then?

Zhong Shan was overjoyed. He must reach those positions.

However, Zhong Shan knew that it was an extremely difficult task to gather so much fortune. Yet, did it matter if it was difficult? Zhong Shan yearned for immortality and was unafraid to go through all the troubles it entailed. In addition, Zhong Shan possessed an advantage that no one else had.

Zhong Shan had two bodies; one could practice as usual while the other could follow the teachings from the

.

The contents of the article was about establis.h.i.+ng a country, called a kingdom or Yun Dynasty which would be a congregation of all the fortune under the sky. The fortune of the country, heaven, and the earth had to be gathered in one place. Once this country prospered to a certain degree, it would become a Grand Dynasty and that was when Zhong Shan could reach the Soft Position. When a Supreme Dynasty was formed, he would have the Middle Position. He would reach the Top Position when a Heavenly Dynasty was formed and his progress would improve a hundred times faster.

Certainly, the process to reach even the Soft Position would be exceedingly demanding.

But for the sake of immortality, Zhong Shan had decided to pursue it without hesitation.

Besides, not only did the emperor of a country obtain such fortune, his officials could also obtain fortune or even a position as well. If the emperor of a Heavenly Dynasty was at the Top Position, then the imperial teacher could have the Middle Position.  Therefore, it benefited more than just the person who sought to establish a country.

Zhong Shan had firmly decided that his shadow double would work on the establishment of the Yun Dynasty.

He studied the article over and over until he was sure that he had remembered everything in it. He then put it back into the peach wood box and stored it in the bracelet.

Establis.h.i.+ng a Yun Dynasty?

Suddenly, Zhong Shan was reminded of one person, Prince Lietian. The one who killed his wife, Kui-er.

Prince Lietian? Zhong Shan originally thought it was just a name. But now Zhong Shan realized that he was really a prince of a certain Yun Dynasty. It was not clear whether it was a Grand Dynasty, Supreme Dynasty, or even a Heavenly Dynasty?

In any case, Zhong Shan had a score to settle with Prince Lietian. Yet, he was still far away from reaching that point. At present, he should steadily move forward.

Establish a Yun Dynasty.

For Zhong Shan, it wasn’t a unreachable target, he just needed to take his time to formulate a plan.

That night, Zhong Shan kept working on his future plans, foregoing sleep.

The next day, Tianling-er woke early and came over to ask Zhong Shan to take her shopping. Beiqingsi, on the other hand, stayed in her room; probably still feeling too awkward to face Zhong Shan.

Zhong Shan felt like he needed to relax a bit after the all night planning, so he went out with Tianling-er.

After being out for a whole day, both of them came back tired. Tianling-er went back to her room to rest.  Zhong Shan felt quite refreshed after a bath.

He went outside to sit at the pavilion in the yard. He watched the moon while drinking and thought about his two wives in the past, Kui-er and Bao-er.

Many years had pa.s.sed, but Zhong Shan had never forgotten them.

Holding a gla.s.s of wine while looking at the big moon, Zhong Shan lightly sighed.

Zhong Shan saw a figure sitting, holding both knees, on top of the roof of a room in the distance. The figure was also looking at the moon and seemed very weak and lonely.

Beiqingsi?

Zhong Shan frowned, watching Beiqingsi on top of the roof seemed to be reminiscing on something.

Zhong Shan thought about it then grabbed the food on the table with one hand and the wine bottle and two cups in the other hand. He leapt towards the roof where Beiqingsi was sitting. After a few jumps, Zhong Shan arrived on the rooftop.

Perhaps Beiqingsi was too focused, or maybe she knew it was Zhong Shan, as she didn’t look at him. She just kept looking at the moon.

Zhong Shan walked quietly next to Beiqingsi, set down the food and wine, and quietly watched her. He then discovered that there were tears on her face.

Zhong Shan waited silently.

Finally, after a short while, Beiqingsi blinked her eyes and tears magically disappeared from her face. She then turned around to face Zhong Shan.

“Do you know why I didn’t kill you that day?” Beiqingsi slowly opened her mouth.

Zhong Shan frowned knowing that she was referring to the incident at the hot spring. He had been wondering as well.

“I would like to know.” Zhong Shan said looking at Beiqingsi.

Beiqingsi blushed under his gaze like on that day at the hot spring. After seeing the earnest look on Zhong Shan, she was relieved.

“A man has never seen my body before. I will kill anyone, whoever that is, who sees my body even by accident. But, you, Zhong Shan, placed me in a difficult position.” Beiqingsi showed a self-deprecating smile.

“Because of that jade slip?” Zhong Shan asked.

“Yes, because of that jade slip.” Beiqingsi replied.

“What is in the jade slip? Can I know about it?” Zhong Shan inquired.

“Well, you may not understand it and can’t possibly get it.” Beiqingsi helplessly smiled.

“Since I won’t understand, then you can just tell me. No matter what, you may feel better if you let it out.” Zhong Shan could tell Beiqingsi was very sad.

As if persuaded by Zhong Shan, Beiqingsi started to speak quietly, “In this world, there are three great Heavenly Dynasties. My father was a third rank official in one of the dynasties. He had already reached the Soft Position and had a great future ahead of him.”

Zhong Shan listened carefully. There were three Heavenly Dynasties? It was important information for him.

“My father had a good reputation both in and out of court. But he was framed by traitors and all of my family, 312 people, were killed, except I and the one who had given you the jade slip. The whole family was butchered.” Beiqingsi sadly said and tears streamed down again.

Zhong Shan listened attentively with his eyebrows knitted.

“The one who gave you the jade slip was our family servant. My father had ties with the Kaiyang School so he arranged for me to be taken in by the school when I was still little. A long time ago, my father had a premonition of such a betrayal. Therefore, he had collected all the evidence he could and hid them in three different places. He had never told anyone about it until our servant received the jade slip. Inside the slip was evidence of three crimes of the traitors and those which could clear my father’s name. It doesn’t matter whether I survive or not, but I have to avenge my family and the injustice my father suffered has to be cleared.  Because of you, my father has the chance to clear his name. Therefore, I didn’t kill you even you had seen something that you are not suppose to.” Beiqingsi said with grief.

Footnotes

^ Fortune  here is a literal translation of 氣運 or “qi yun.”  It can also mean fortune, destiny, or luck.