1: Chapter 1 Naless Ancient Book 1: Chapter 1 Naless Ancient Book In the year 1993 of Blue Star, in Liuyuan County, Xiangnan Province of the Yanhuang Empire, alongside a small river near Wuyang Town Middle School.
Chen Hai sat cross-legged on the grass, carefully opening a Naless Ancient Book he held in his hands.
“The position I speak of shall not be transmitted outside my family lineage.”
The first page of the Naless Ancient Book started with this phrase, followed by a na—Heavenly Master Zhang.
The characters were written in small seal script, a common script in Taoist texts.
Chen Hai, with a newly purchased book on ancient language, compared texts for a long ti until he thoroughly recognized all the characters.
The aning was, my skills shall not be passed on to anyone who is not of the Zhang family bloodline!
Chen Hai’s surna was Chen, not Zhang; naturally, he did not possess the Zhang family bloodline.
The reference to “bloodline” by Taoism is not the genetic lineage referred to in modern genetics, but likely refers to sothing more mystical.
He had “borrowed” this ancient book from Limp Zhang, a village religious con man.
Heavenly Master Zhang was none other than the famous founder of the Zhengyi Path from Dragon and Tiger Mountain.
Although Chen Hai was a poor student, he had heard the na Heavenly Master Zhang before.
“Since this Taoist Book was handed down by Heavenly Master Zhang, it must contain profound mysteries.
If I could fully understand it, it would definitely benefit greatly!”
Thinking thus, Chen Hai felt a surge of joy.
With the help of a few other books he bought, comparing modern and classical texts, he continued his studies.
“Man can resonate with all creatures because their eyes can perceive all colors, ears can hear all sounds, nose can sense all slls, and mouth can taste all flavors.
Sound, color, sll, and flavor are the bodies of all things…”
Even with the books for comparison, Chen Hai could recognize most of the words in the ancient book, but he still found the anings elusive and difficult to grasp.
Ti flies quickly when one is engrossed in sothing.
Having organized all his books, Chen Hai slightly closed his eyes, lying on the soft grass beside the river.
Passages from the Taoist Book flowed through his mind; he pondered continuously, hoping to extract so understanding from them.
Unknowingly, the sunset dipped below the horizon, and darkness enveloped the sky.
“If it continues like this, could it be I’ll never understand anything from it in my lifeti?”
“Could it be because I don’t have Zhang family bloodline that I find this so difficult?”
His head spinning with confusion, Chen Hai still failed to gain any insight.
During school, textbooks on subjects like language, math, and foreign languages would make him sleepy and his mind would wander the mont he touched them.
However, now he felt no discouragent at all.
After all, he had Heavenly Master Zhang’s resounding na to inspire confidence in the book.
Moreover, Chen Hai knew clearly that Limp Zhang had genuinely developed so skills by practicing from this book.
“If I can’t understand the whole book at once, then I’ll take it section by section.
I refuse to believe I can’t match up to Limp Zhang!”
This stubbornness in Chen Hai surfaced; he gently massaged his temples to clear his mind a bit.
Without blinking once, he continued to imrse himself in the difficult text.
The Naless Ancient Book started with a few paragraphs which are the general outline of the book— they didn’t contain profound teachings, and seed to just describe the stages of initiation into Taoism, not too difficult to understand.
Focusing intently on these paragraphs, Chen Hai began to grasp so of their anings.
Cultivation is essentially cultivating the mind; whether for Taoism or Buddhism, utilizing the Visualization Technique is essential to cultivate the ntal state.
Buddhists visualize specific Buddhas as their objects of focus, while many sects in Taoism visualize the founding patriarchs of their own sects.
Of course, there are also cultivators who use other objects like the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin, or famous mountains and rivers.
Contemplating their essence, retaining it in the mind; if successful, the cultivator could acquire certain characteristics of the visualized entity.
Ordinary objects, devoid of any essence, used as visualization targets will lead one nowhere after a lifeti of practice.
Real disciples within Taoism, those officially listed, are like having registered in front of the patriarch.
With this slight connection, they could visualize their patriarch and most likely receive an enhancent of essence.
As for those learning from unofficial routes, while not impossible, the chances of achieving anything substantial are extrely slim.
Limp Zhang, having developed so miraculous abilities, undoubtedly owed this to his Zhang family bloodline.
As for Chen Hai himself, he definitely ca from an unofficial path.
“If the objects of visualization truly exist, where do they exist?”
“Besides the real world, could there also be a Spirit Realm?
Places like Heaven and Hell, the Underworld and Heavenly Court, would all fall within the scope of the Spirit Realm?”
“If that’s the case, the creatures in the Spirit Realm would probably fall into two major categories; one born from falsehood, either from faith or the aggregation of various emotions.”
“The other category would be the native inhabitants of the Spirit Realm, like the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin, which are imnsely powerful by nature and can shuttle between the Spirit Realm and the real world; the so-called atmospheric creatures by the scientific community likely belong to this latter category.”
“When visualizing, one aims for a state devoid of thoughts; continuing in this state, a person would quickly enter a trance-like state.”
“Could it an that during such a state, one’s magnetic field changes, and upon reaching a certain frequency, it could touch the existence of the Spirit Realm, seeing so unfathomable entities?”
…
Chen Hai didn’t like to use his brain while studying.
But now, countless thoughts and peculiar ideas surfaced in his mind.
Truly speaking, these thoughts weren’t all just wild imaginings; so did have a basis in reality.
For instance, as people age and co closer to the end of their lives, it’s as if they begin seeing hallucinations, often encountering all manners of strange visions.
Similar incidents in reality, he had heard plenty.
Applying his theory, as death approached, the magnetic field frequency changed, allowing a fragile contact with the Spirit Realm, where one could see strange things and hear strange occurrences.
The existence of the Spirit Realm was incomprehensible to ordinary people, and modern science could not explain it, but this did not an it did not exist.
At the end of science was theology, and the more one understood, the more one felt that many things simply could not be explained by science; late in their careers, many scientists turned to study theology.
“Why not give it a try?
What if I’m lucky enough to touch the unique frequency of the Spirit Realm, wouldn’t the goals of my visualization be resolved?”
“But how can I enter that kind of trance?”
Tilting his head, Chen Hai pondered for a long ti until he thought of betel nuts.
People in his area, many of them liked to chew on that stuff.
Chen Hai had tried it once; he had chewed a single betel nut, and as a result, he felt dizzy and hazy for quite so ti.
A few minutes later, he went to a small shop so dozen ters away, spent a day’s living expenses, bought a small package of betel nuts, and returned to the riverside.
One, two, three…
Chewing several betel nuts, his face flushed and his head spinning fiercely.
He forced himself to remain calm, and, following the visualization posture from the ancient books, he started sitting cross-legged, trying to let his spirit fall into that trance state.
Ti passed bit by bit, and the night had grown deep; a crescent moon, unknowingly, had already hung high in the sky.
Under the cover of night, everything appeared vague and blurry.
In a dreamlike, half-aware state, Chen Hai, surrounded by darkness,
saw a huge, flat-bodied monster hovering in the sky in a zig-zag shape, its body was dark green, interspersed with so brown stripes.
Ten massive eyes arrayed in a U-shape, with suction cups at either end appearing utterly fearso.
This monster, at just one glance, instilled an involuntary sense of dread.
“Pfft…”
The mont he saw the monster, darkness swept over Chen Hai’s vision, and blood began to seep from the corners of his eyes.
At the sa ti, countless pieces of information, in a way he simply could not understand, flooded into his mind, making him feel as if his head might explode.
Gasping like a bull, Chen Hai collapsed.
His whole body soaked in cold sweat; he was like soone who had just climbed out of water.
Lying on the ground, he did not know how long he had lain there before he finally regained so strength and his vision cleared.
“Is that a creature from the Spirit Realm?
So terrifying?
Just one look almost cost my life?”
Still sowhat frightened, Chen Hai lifted his head and looked towards the sky.
The sky was clear with sparse stars; no sign of the monster remained.
Taking a deep breath, he quietly recalled the information that had surged into his mind.
The flow of information was bizarre and disorderly, utterly unstructured.
To that terrifying creature, Chen Hai was as insignificant as an ant.
The information he received was not actively transmitted by the monster, but rely so mystical emissions naturally exuded by its body.
Chen Hai vaguely felt that if he could comprehend and assimilate that information, his cultivation of Taoist Skill might not be as clueless as it was now.
“Not good, it’s almost midnight, I’ve missed the ti for evening self-study at school!”
Unintentionally raising his hand and seeing the ti displayed on his wristwatch, Chen Hai slapped his forehead, his facial expression suddenly changed.
A few days ago, he had a severe illness.
The hospital could not cure it, and they said there was a high chance he would beco a vegetable.
His successful awakening was, oddly enough, thanks to the religious con man, Limp Zhang.
Strangely, the illness that the hospital could not cure was addressed by Limp Zhang simply jumping around and muttering for a while, then suddenly slapping Chen Hai on the forehead.
Unconscious for over a day, Chen Hai only rembered a flash of golden light, then he sprang up from the bamboo bed.
This afternoon, Chen Hai had just rushed back to town; he had planned to return to his dorm during the ti school let out and officially start classes tomorrow.
But now, in this situation…
“Forget it, might as well go around to the back of the school and climb over the fence to the dormitory!” Chen Hai thought silently.
Wuyang Town Middle School, its main gate was close to the street.
Behind it were mountains; it was dark and desolate at night.
Walking on the rough path overrun by weeds, a spot of firelight caught Chen Hai’s eyes.
“At this ti, soone is still going up the mountain?”
Suspicious, he thought that the spot of firelight should be soone moving forward while smoking.
But sohow, although he clearly intended to climb over the back fence of the school to return to his dorm,
now he seed confused, following the firelight continuously.
Suddenly, the firelight disappeared, and he was jolted awake abruptly.
Looking down, he was at the edge of a cliff; one or two more steps would send him plumting down.
Chen Hai broke out in a cold sweat and was about to hurry back.
But at that mont, he felt a force on his back, and he soared up as if riding the clouds.
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