Chapter Ninety-Three: The Eastern Faction

Episode Ninety-Three: The Dongshi Faction

Episode Twelve: On Spirit Mountain, the Way Is Transmitted and a Marvelous Art Is Gained; Through Ten Thousand Miles, One Lone Figure Rises on the Clouds, Part Three

Ye Hua bowed toward Dao Ancestor Qingling and the others and said, "Disciple Ye Hua pays his respects to Master Qingling."

The black-robed elder seated on the cushion turned and looked at Ye Hua. After studying him for a moment, he nodded and smiled faintly. "So this is Young Friend Ye Hua. Truly no ordinary man."

Dao Ancestor Qingling said, "Senior Brother, since you have said he is no ordinary man, then I knew there must be no mistake." He turned to Ye Hua and nodded. "Young Friend Ye Hua, please come and sit."

Ye Hua thanked Dao Ancestor Qingling and stepped forward to take a seat on the cushion. After observing him for a long while, Dao Ancestor Qingling said, "This is the Dao Ancestor of the Ninth Transmission Hall, Master Shouchang." Ye Hua was startled and hurriedly bowed in salute. The black-robed elder nodded. "No need for such formality."

Dao Ancestor Qingling continued, "Yesterday I heard Tian Liang mention that the two of you fought side by side at Taisu Temple on Little Western Mountain. Young Friend Ye, you used the Buddhist lion's roar to break Lin Daozhou's Autumn Lake Moonlit Night Melody from Mulan Mountain in Jingzhou, Huguang. Heh, that truly astonished me."

Ye Hua lowered his head and said respectfully, "How could this disciple possess such cultivation? The middle-aged cultivator was Lin Daozhou? I did not recognize him. I imagine it must have been because his skill had not yet fully ripened. Had a little more time passed, Senior Brother Tian and the others would surely have awakened as well and not remained trapped by Lin Daozhou's secret art."

Upon hearing this, Master Shouchang shook his head. "I have also heard of Lin Daozhou. His Autumn Lake Moonlit Night Melody is an exclusive secret art of the Cloud Dao Sect of Shuangfeng Mountain in Huguang, created by the Sixth Patriarch, Perfected Longbrow. Its power is immense. Though Lin Daozhou is only a disciple in the Three-True Realm and cannot exert even half the true strength of the technique, he still has perhaps three or four parts of power. That alone is more than you Seven-Treasure Realm disciples should have been able to withstand."

As he spoke, Master Shouchang looked at Ye Hua with a slight smile. "Yet you were indeed no ordinary man. I suspect either that you possess a rare artifact capable of calming the spirit, or that you have cultivated some secret method for strengthening the divine mind. In Buddhist schools, such meditative arts are actually quite common."

Ye Hua's face reddened, and he muttered inwardly in shame: This Master Shouchang is truly formidable; his guess is almost exact. He said, "What the Ancestor says is precisely right. Once, I obtained an unnamed green pearl in a clear pool, and it settled itself in my sea of consciousness. I did not know what use it had. Only yesterday did I realize it can steady the spirit and soothe the soul."

"Oh? There are indeed many objects that can steady the spirit and soothe the soul, but very few can withstand the force of Autumn Lake Moonlit Night Melody. Where did you obtain this object? What strange features did it have? You may tell us in detail," said Dao Ancestor Qingling in surprise.

Ye Hua lowered his head respectfully. "Yes. I obtained the green pearl from an unnamed jade-green pool on Mount Wutai. It happened to be the fifteenth night of the full moon, and the pearl rose straight out of the water. At the time, it was only a blaze of brilliant green light. Later, after I confined it, it silently settled into my sea of consciousness. Aside from that, there were no other unusual signs."

Dao Ancestor Qingling and Master Shouchang exchanged a glance, then nodded. "It must be some kind of cold-water pearl. That pool likely absorbed the essence of sun and moon and gave birth to a trace of spiritual energy, which condensed into this jade pool cold pearl. Such things are not uncommon. All mountains and rivers under heaven may give birth to wondrous treasures of heaven and earth, each possessing different miraculous effects. It is already rare enough that yours has the power to steady the spirit; even more precious is that its effect is so great."

Ye Hua nodded at once. "Thank you both, Ancestors, for clearing up my doubts."

Dao Ancestor Qingling smiled. "Young Friend Ye Hua, I would like to ask you about your cultivation. If I touch upon anything private and put you in a difficult position, you need not answer. I wonder what you make of that."

Ye Hua's heart skipped a beat. "Senior Uncle Qingling need only ask. This disciple will speak without concealment of anything I know."

Dao Ancestor Qingling smiled. "No need to say it so grandly. Every sect has many matters that are not fit to be discussed, and we have even less interest in prying into other people's secrets."

Ye Hua lowered his head. "Yes."

Dao Ancestor Qingling looked at him and asked, "Young Friend Ye, apart from the Buddhist Four Noble Truths technique, how is it that you also practice Daoist arts? Where did you learn them?"

Ye Hua thought for a long time, then said, "This is a long story. If the two Ancestors do not mind this disciple's rambling, I will begin from the very start."

Dao Ancestor Qingling said, "Speak as you wish."

Ye Hua nodded and began with what had happened four years earlier: how, in his hometown by Mirror Lake, he had encountered a serpent demon and a woman surnamed Qiu from Zhanggong Cave; how he had been poisoned by the serpent demon and his uncle Ye Ren had hurried from the seat of the Spirit Venerable at Danxia Mountain on Mount Emei to pass on the Six-Origin Wonderful-Heaven Wish-Fulfilling Technique; how he later went to the Palace of Everlasting Life to pay respects to Daoist Lingxu; how he was abducted by Firecloud Grotto's Fiery Lord God at Gao Family Village; how that Fiery Lord God then died in a most strange manner, leaving him the Ghost Valley Secret Classic; how he encountered several disciples of Bishan Monastery on Mount Wutai; and how, through a twist of fate, he had entered Bishan Monastery.

He spoke for nearly half an hour before finishing. Dao Ancestor Qingling and Master Shouchang watched his expression closely, and after hearing him out, they knew his words were true. They nodded. "No wonder you have so much ghost-essence power in your body. So you learned it from the Ghost Valley Secret Classic. The Firecloud Grotto's Daoist Huode was indeed a remarkable man."

Master Shouchang then said, "But the art your uncle taught you was likely not a Daoist method from Mount Emei's Danxia lineage. Though that lineage has many techniques, they all originate from the Great Danyang True Scripture, and the foundation of their inner energy is still the Danyang Dao power. The inner energy in your body is not that pure yang force of Danyang cultivation."

Ye Hua nodded. "The Ancestor's vision is sharp as a blade. My uncle, Ye Cheng, said that the techniques of the Danxia Mountain line cannot be passed on lightly. What he taught me was not the Great Danyang Art, but something he happened to obtain from the Western Balan realm. He himself could not cultivate it, so he passed it to me instead."

Dao Ancestor Qingling nodded. "No wonder. The inner energy you cultivate is so deep and so strange. At first glance it seems somewhat familiar, but on closer inspection it is utterly different from the techniques of the Central Plain. I have never seen anything like it. Very well, the reason I am asking you this today is that there is a cause for it."

Master Shouchang nodded. "Indeed. Dao Friend Qingling specially invited me here to discuss this matter."

Ye Hua was startled and knew at once that this must be an exceedingly important affair. Otherwise, given Dao Ancestor Qingling's status, matters that could not ordinarily be decided would be rare indeed, and he would not have called in another person. He said, "I beg the two Ancestors to instruct me."

Dao Ancestor Qingling said, "The day before yesterday, when you competed with my disciple Tian Liang, I promised to transmit a cultivation art to the victor. At first I intended to casually pass on any method, but later I discovered that your inner energy is exceptionally deep and far beyond that of ordinary people. That stirred my thoughts, and this matter has been on my mind day and night. Today it seems the answer lies with you."

Master Shouchang nodded and said to Dao Ancestor Qingling, "Junior Brother, do not get too full of yourself. You may only try. If it fails, so be it. Do not force matters."

Dao Ancestor Qingling said, "Senior Brother's instruction is very true." Then he turned to Ye Hua. "I wonder whether Young Friend Ye has ever heard of the Dongshi Faction."

Ye Hua thought for a moment. "I heard Senior Brother Zhang Ke mention it, saying that the Ancestor once learned a secret art from the Dongshi Faction in the far northern lands."

Dao Ancestor Qingling could not help but laugh. "Secret art? Ha! Yes, I did tell him something of that sort."

He gazed into the distance for a moment, then said, "Back then, my cultivation reached a bottleneck. No matter what I did, I could not break through. In utter helplessness, I had no choice but to travel abroad in search of an opening.

"I set out from the imperial capital and flew north along the foothills. After leaving the borders of the Central Plains, I often encountered foreign cultivators along the way. Relying on what I had learned, I suffered no obstruction. It was not until I had flown for more than a year that I reached the far northern ice sea. At that time the western sun was about to set, and I had intended to continue eastward along the coast. Yet when I saw the setting sun, it was magnificently radiant and incomparably beautiful. By some ghostly turn of fate, I instead flew west. I never imagined that this sudden whim would nearly cost me my life."

Ye Hua listened intently as Dao Ancestor Qingling continued, "After another three or four months of westward flight, I finally saw signs of human habitation and had reached the Rakshasa Demon Kingdom. After traveling for dozens more days, cities and walls gradually grew more frequent, but everywhere there was war and chaos. After making inquiries, I learned that the armies of the kingdoms of Gaul and Borreli had actually gone to war against the Rakshasa Demon Kingdom. Within the empire of the Rakshasa Demon King were three great religions: the Polytheist Sect, the Eastern God Sect, and the Divination God Sect. In the war among the three realms, all sides suffered devastating losses. The Dongshi Faction was a secret party within the Rakshasa Demon Kingdom, originating from the ruling party of the Atlantic Kingdom. Seizing the chaos, they rose up and actually took the throne of the Rakshasa Empire."