Joy of Life - V1C9
Chapter 9
Overpowering Bàdào Zhenqi
“Alright, teacher, you’ve avoided the subject for too long. You haven’t told me what’s happening with this Zhenqi in my body yet.”
Seeing a rare childish tantrum, Fei Jie carefully checked Fan Xian’s pulse, then stated, “As I said earlier, the Zhenqi inside you is very powerful. Even though you’ve been training briefly, the amount of Zhenqi in your pubic region and meridians has far surpassed what a body of your age can contain.”
“Is it that serious?” Fan Xian looked uneasy.
“I don’t know.”
“Then you’re just trying to scare me.”
“I’m not trying to scare you. It’s just that you are right now like a leather bag used to hold alcohol. The bag can only hold so much, but the amount of alcohol inside keeps increasing. If you continue, I’m worried that you will burst.”
Recently, Fan Xian felt some burning pain around his waist while practicing, but aside from that, there were no other unusual symptoms, so he was reluctant to believe his teacher. He shook his head. “My teacher is scolding me for being a glutton.”
“Try moving your Zhenqi like you do every day in practice.” Fei Jie frowned slightly.
Fan Xian did as told and closed his eyes, naturally entering the meditative state of his training. The warm cloud of Qi around his abdomen began to expand slowly, gradually moving towards the limbs along the body's meridians.
Fei Jie, too, closed his eyes, setting his fingertips on the boy’s wrist, judging carefully. After a while, he frowned, saying, “Don’t hold it back on purpose; you’re only a five-year-old child; as powerful as your Zhenqi may be, it can’t harm me. I’m worried your body is too frail and can’t handle it.”
“Oh.” Fan Xian had been controlling his Zhenqi's strength, so he slowly released it out through the abdomen region. Thinking back on what Fei Jie said, Fan Xian couldn’t help but agree; of course, the amount of Zhenqi he had could not hurt that toxic old thing, and therefore, if he released too little of it, his teacher wouldn’t be able to make an accurate diagnosis.
While thinking that, he closed his eyes again, with this nameless art of Zhenqi resounding through his mind, “Do not keep the force within you and bring destruction; let it flow from you like water from a spring…”
As he chanted, the Zhenqi within him began jumping as if being given a command. It joyously emerged from his pubic region, traveled to his back along the meridian, and came rushing towards his wrist on a strange path.
A dull noise was heard from the book chamber!
Fei Jie violently opened his eyes as he felt his fingers being deflected off the child’s wrist by a dense wave of Zhenqi, and being unprepared, Fei Jie himself was flung against the wall, the impact of which created a dull thud. There was a burning sensation in his fingers, and his chest was in pain; Fei Jie spat out blood!
On the other side of the room, Fan Xian felt stuffy and raised his head. Only then did he discover Fei Jie’s miserable state. Shocked, he hurried and helped his teacher up.
Fie Jie waved his hand, signaling that he was fine, and got up alone. Wiping away the blood from his lips, he stared at the little boy with a strange look that was hard to interpret.
Fie Jie mumbled to himself, “He’s five years old, for fuck’s sake! And yet his Zhenqi is this overwhelming? If you keep training, the Zhenqi inside you will explode and kill you one day.”
Fan Xian was stunned to hear his teacher cursing. He didn’t think the rebellious Zhenqi in his wrist would make his teacher bleed. Despite being hurt, the first thing Fie Jie thought of wasn’t his own well-being but his student's. Realizing this, even though Fan Xian locked away his feelings while hiding in the body of a small child, he felt moved.
The wooden door opened, and a black shadow rushed in.
“A pair of idiots.”
Although the blind Wu Zhu spoke coldly, he ran to Fan Xian and touched the child’s slender neck with his fingertips. After a pause, he said emotionlessly, “You’re not hurt, just shaken from seeing Fie Jie throwing up blood.”
He then took another “look” at Fie Jie and said, “Fie Jie, you are teaching him to use poison; I trust you’re qualified. But her Ladyship once said that your martial abilities are one of the weakest of the Eight Headmasters in the capital. And since this is something I gave Young Master, it’s better if you don’t say anything unnecessary.”
In Danzhou City, Fie Jie was a rather inconspicuous, trivial man. But in the capital, he was a very impressive character. Now, having been injured —though mostly through his own carelessness —he was unhappy after hearing Wu Zhu put it that way. Adding to his worry, Fan Xian was learning such an overly powerful ability at the age of five; his expression darkened.
With a dark expression, Fei Jie spoke taciturnly. “I know I am not qualified to question the training method you passed on to Fan Xian. However, I am very curious. Why did you not teach him personally? Knowing that he was only five, even if he was truly talented, for something so dangerous, you should have been there for him as his mother’s servant.”
This was understandably reasonable to say. After all, Wu Zhu left the obscure Zhenqi training method next to Fan Xian’s swaddle, which meant he had an obligation to ensure that no problems arose during his training.
Fan Xian glanced awkwardly at Wu Zhu, his eyes on the black cloth wrapped below his brow.
“I did not leave this for the young master. Her Ladyship left it,” Wu Zhu said deliberately.
Fie Jie had no intention of offending the blind man, but he was growing agitated. “Cunning. For someone with such profound training, even just a simple tip or two could have saved Fan Xian from training in such a perilous manner.”
After a pause, Wu Zhu suddenly spoke. “I have never practiced Zhenqi.”
With this, he simply turned and left, leaving behind the dumbstruck master and apprentice pair.
"I must have misheard. What did he just say?"
“He said he never practiced any Zhenqi.” And his voice faltered when he said that.
Fei Jie watched Fan Xian’s feigned sophistication and felt rage boil inside him. Where did a five-year-old boy learn to speak with such sarcastic wit?
“It’s hard to imagine a man without any Neigong coming to a draw in a Sanshou fight with Liuyun, one of the Four Grandmasters.”
“At that time, Ye Liuyun was still using his sword, as he had not yet completed his Sanshou training.”
“Teacher, can someone without Neigong and Zhenqi become as powerful as Wu Zhu?” Fan Xian questioned him sincerely.
Fei Jie’s brows furrowed in thought as he spoke. “Only if he carried out every single movement with perfect precision would he be able to fatally injure someone with his iron rod before they could react.”
Fan Xian naturally remembered the night he had arrived in this world in the arms of the blind young man and how the iron rod he held dripped with a steady stream of fresh blood.
Fan Xian continued, “However, this speed and power are beyond what humans are capable of.”
Fei Jie shook his head, then suddenly cleared his throat. He quickly sat next to the desk and peered at Fei Xian. “Kid, if you can’t grasp this art, then it is best that you stop. I guarantee that with my method, you will never have to worry about anyone bothering you.”
“I will consider it,” Fan Xian answered maturely.
After some thought, Fei Jie retrieved a medicine sachet and placed it in Fan Xian’s tiny hands. “Take this. It’s an expensive medicine. If your training ever goes awry, consume one pill with plenty of water.”
Fan Xian nodded his head in response. “Thank you, Teacher.” He knew that the medicine was extremely valuable.
Fie Jie smiled faintly as he looked at this child, who was like an adult, and then spoke suddenly. “Isn’t it strange that I’m treating you so nicely even though your father forced me to come all the way to Danzhou just to teach you?”
Fan Xian didn’t say anything but merely stared at him with puppy eyes and an expression of thanks.
Fei Jie laughed and shook his head, patting Fan Xian’s head. “Perhaps, at my age, having a student as clever as you is worth being happy about.”
“For now, don’t think about the Count’s estate in the capital,” Fei Jie said seriously. “Even though you’re still young, I hope you remember what I’m about to tell you.”
Hearing his teacher’s serious tone, Fan Xian turned his face seriously, sat straight, and listened carefully.
“Your family is far more complicated than you could ever imagine. This matter involves not only your own survival but the lives of many others, so you must always remain vigilant. In the years you grow to be an adult, you must learn how to protect yourself to protect others in the future.”
“In the future? Protect whom?” Fan Xian was puzzled.
Fei Jie laughed as he pointed at his nose. “Someone close to you, like myself, for instance.”
Fan Xian nodded hazily. He thought that the situation was indeed complicated. Even though he had lived in two different worlds, he still could not understand what his teacher was getting at.
“All right, go to your room now and get some rest. As for that corrupt Bàdào, it’s probably best not to practice it anymore.”
•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••
Fan Xian prudently returned to his room. When he opened the door, he saw Wu Zhu sitting silently in the corner. With the lights off, the room was just an inky patch of gloom, yet despite this, the piece of black cloth that covered Wu Zhu’s eyes seemed even murkier and opaque than the night itself.
“Uncle.” Fan Xian bowed his head in respect.
A faint, monotone voice traveled from the corner where Wu Zhu sat. “The book is divided into two parts. The first is called Bàdào, and the second one has no title. Her Ladyship gave you the book, so I left it beside you when you were young. I have never learned these spiritual methods, so I cannot teach you. I believe, however, that, since it is called Bàdào [1], one can assume that its use of is more aggressive. If you encounter any issues during training, then it’s your problem.”
With that, the man with the black cloth disappeared.
“What a basic, simple explanation and an odd, apathetic man.” Fan Xian sighed, climbed into bed, and retrieved the nameless book from a secret compartment. He thought about his training and realized that when Zhenqi filled his Dantian, it did not follow the meridian flow as it should. Instead, parts of the Zhenqi split into the Xue-fu, which leads directly to the Xue-shan, located above the back of the kidney. [2]
The Xue-shan passes through the spine. Fan Xian had learned the vital importance of the spine in his past life and in his lessons with Fei Jie. As the spine is directly connected to the brain, a single careless move could leave one trapped in a vegetative state.
However, as Fan Xian meditated during his daily lunchtime naps, the Bàdào Zhenqi in his body travelled through his cushion, becoming relaxed and calm. The agitation subsided, and a feeling of serenity washed over him, like eating ice cream on a hot summer day.
This was how he had trained since he was one year old. Could it be that he had been doing it wrong? Fan Xian did not think he would take the path of corruption if immersed in the martial arts world. Yet, like a man desperate for relief, he found himself addicted to the pleasures of the Bàdào path. If he stopped training, the remnants of the Bàdào Zhenqi within him would one day burst through his mortal body.
Blind Wu Zhu told him that the consequences of his training were all up to Fan Xian himself.
To train, or not to train? That was the question plaguing Fan Xian at that moment.
[2] The Blood forms in the body through two separate cycles (1) the pre-heaven cycle to use Congenital Qi and the Kidneys to produce marrow, which produces Blood, and (2) the post-heaven cycle to use foods and fluids (acquired Qi) to form Blood. The blood is circulated by the heart and stored in the liver. The Blood’s purpose is to moisten and nourish the organs, bones, muscles, tendons, and skin. It works synergistically with Qi to provide the foundation for mental activities. Source: West meet Est, Concept of Qi and Xue.
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