Chapter 86
Chapter 86
A Clever Tongue (1)
“Love gu?”
Xin Yi Zhenjun was momentarily taken aback; but when he studied the character and appearance of the person before him, he felt that this was only normal.
Even in the Heavenly Realm where talented people were abundant, one such as Li Wei Zhenjun was exceedingly rare. Like pristine, clear jade, and handsome as an immortal, if he were a female cultivator, even he might develop the desire to take him for himself.
“Yes.”
Cui Wang nodded.
Xin Yi Zhenjun smiled mischievously.
“I wonder which female cultivator used such a severe tactic on you?”
After mulling over it, he still couldn’t think of any female cultivator in the Heavenly Realm who would be capable of this.
It’s not that easy to plant love gu. One had to completely suppress both the other party’s combat and spiritual powers. Guixu Sect’s sword cultivators are famous for their strong combat power, and those who practice the Way of Impassiveness1 were all eminent practitioners—they could face an enemy of higher cultivation levels with just a sword in hand. For someone like Li Wei Zhenjun, it is said that he could deal with opponents of the Grand Magnificence stage when he was in the Accomplisher stage——
Unless it was one of those few old fogey immortals who still refused to transcend, who did it, no one else could pull it off.
Of course, there was another possibility—but Xin Yi Zhenjun waved the thought away almost as soon as it came to mind.
To begin with, Li Wei Zhenjun’s temperament has always been mild and indifferent—he was born with the perfect constitution for practicing the Way of Impassiveness. On top of that, he was also a practitioner of the Way of Heavenly Clarity, which made his heart all the more like still water. It was as difficult to get him to remove his guard against another as to remove the sword in his hand.
But unexpectedly, the moment this question was asked, Xin Yi Zhenjun found that the aura around Li Wei Zhenjun had grown even colder. That face, which was originally already frosty, was now so cold it seemed like millenniums-old ice crystals from the Arctic, appearing to want to freeze everything around him.
Xin Yi Zhenjun shivered with cold, and thought inwardly that this female cultivator had truly bearded the lion in his den. For an old set of bones to dare learn from others to chew on tender grass2, she really was unafraid of retaliation.
“There are many types of love gu in all the three thousand realms, but there are only three that can affect Li Wei Zhenjun.”
“Which three?”
“Selfless Giving, Tolerating Separation, Accepting Fate.” Xin Yi Zhenjun enjoyed researching deviations; otherwise, Cui Wang would not have come specifically to seek him out. He heard Xin Yi Zhenjun say, “Hold your hand out.”
He put his hand on Cui Wang’s pulse for a while, and then said:
“This vital energy will circulate for one cycle, do not resist it.”
This was a technique of medical cultivation.
The two had cemented a life-long friendship in the Jingyu Mountains in the past. Cui Wang trusted him, so he retracted his own vital energy and let Xin Yi Zhenjun’s vital energy flow in. Even so, when Xin Yi Zhenjun withdrew his hand, even his fingertips were trembling. However, he had a strange expression on his face. He got up and walked once around the room, then said with a hurried expression:
“Li Wei Zhenjun, wait for a moment; I’ll return soon.”
This ‘soon’ actually turned out to be half a day. Only when the moon was high in the sky did he step back in through the hazy night.
Upon entering, he saw that Cui Wang was still there, his eyes as cool and picturesque as a painting. Xin Yi sighed and tossed Cui Wang an object—it was a small ball. “I went to my friend’s to obtain an item. Hold it in your hands, and try pouring vital energy into it.”
Cui Wang could only follow his instructions and try again.
Who knew, with this try, a little golden fish actually came out of the small ball; it circled his fingertips and nibbled him with its toothless mouth, as if greedy for Cui Wang’s finger.
Xin Yi sighed.
“As expected.
“This love gu is called ‘Selfless Giving’. It has already disappeared for a hundred thousand years, I can’t dispel it.”
Cui Wang was silent for a long time before asking, “Why can’t it be dispelled?”
“The item to dispel this gu, has long disappeared tens of thousands of years ago.”
Xin Yi Zhenjun shrugged. “But this gu is not that difficult to deal with. As long as Li Wei Zhenjun doesn’t touch other female cultivators, you will not suffer from the pain that feels like there’s ten thousand ants devouring your heart. When Li Wei Zhenjun breakthroughs to the Grand Magnificence stage, and if you still want to dispel it, you will naturally be able to do so as well.”
In Xin Yi Zhenjun’s opinion, apart from refraining from touching or falling for other female cultivators during this period, this truly wasn’t a matter of concern for Liwei Zhenjun.
Who didn’t know that there were only monks and nuns within Guixu Sect’s Xuanqing Peak——
Ah, that’s not right, there were monks and nuns who also participated in tantric practices.
Li Wei Zhenjun possessed a rare immaculate glazed body that was only ever seen once in ten thousand years. Even with a Pure Veracity stage between the Savant stage to the Grand Magnificence stage, it would take only about a hundred years of practice.
Unexpectedly, Li Wei Zhenjun’s expression did not relax in the least, and on the contrary, became even more…
Xin Yi Zhenjun couldn’t describe it… Well, it was about as stinky as his shopkeeper’s favourite stinky tofu.
“All right, hurry and return. If you don’t go back soon, I’m afraid your Guixu Sect is going to collapse from the fights between your master and the Sect leader.”
Cui Wang remained firmly in place, and said after a while:
“Is there a way to suppress it?”
He raised his head, and Xin Yi Zhenjun felt that the face, which has always been cold and aloof, looked to be at a loss in the moonlight. “My heart is on fire, burning with unceasing agitation.”
The compulsion of “shedding the heart” will only magnify one’s own desires, but will not create something out of nothing.
Xin Yi Zhenjun was startled; the ‘Selfless Giving’ gu could only amplify the desires that were in the host, but it wasn’t able to create something out of nothing.
“Li Wei Zhenjun, you……”
His heart must’ve been moved.
He suddenly had nothing to say. If one practicing the Way of Impassiveness developed feelings for another, no one could predict what was going to happen after that.
TL notes:
We are slowly entering the ‘Cultivation’ arc of the story, and there will be many things that might require further explanation, hence the return of the lengthy footnotes! As many of the terms might have something to do with Taoism, I thought it might be helpful to give a brief explanation about ‘cultivation’, and its relation to that. ‘Cultivation’ (variously referred to in Chinese as xiulian [修炼], xiuzhen [修真], xiuxing [修行], and xiuxian [修仙]) is a Taoist concept by which humans can extend their lifespan and gain immortality through practicing martial and mystical arts involving meditation and the cultivation of Qi (vital energy). In many cultivation novels, the ultimate goal of cultivation is to become an immortal, and along the way, cultivators attain supernatural powers, incredible levels of strength and attain eternal life. The “Cultivating Method” could comprise martial arts, Buddhism, or Taoism depending on the doctrine of different religions. In short, cultivation novels can be likened to Eastern Fantasy, and their ‘magic’ system is heavily influenced/ derived from real-life Chinese philosophy, religion and practices (e.g. meditation like qigong).
Footnotes:
1 Way of Impassiveness: 无情道 wu qing dao; Literally translates as ‘No Emotions Dao’. In Taoism, one practices the clearing of heart, mind and spirit, by emptying the body of various things like desire, knowledge, quarrels, self, and in this case, emotions. Cui Wang is a practitioner of the “No Emotions” Dao. In Taoism, ‘no emotions’ does not mean the absence of emotions, but rather, ridding oneself of the various “demons” in one’s heart, as in the process of cultivation, even a little bit of mental obstacles would be magnified— for example, one might not feel the fear they have in normal circumstances, but once the fear takes root is in your heart, the heart’s demon would take the form of what one fears; likewise, something that brings joy may later manifest as a form of temptation. So, one practicing the “No Emotions” would aim to not feel fear in the face of demons, and not feel joy when they see a Buddha, so they would not have nor be affected by any demons in their heart. This is a particularly difficult Dao to practice and master, as one would have to be able to let go of all things, such as life and death, any sort of ties that could stir their heart, never be roused to neither joy nor anger, not be driven by any sort of desire, and so on.
2 At this point, Xin Yi Zhenjun believes that the person who planted the gu has to be one of the super old cultivators, as no one else would have the capability of doing so. In this statement, the ‘old set of bones’ refers to the old fogey cultivator, and ‘tender grass’ to Cui Wang.
‘Centering’ was initially TL-ed as ‘Guardian’ way back in chapter 12, but I’ve decided to change it to better reflect what is happening at that stage (i.e. where one centres oneself by focusing on emptying out)
3 Yin is related to death and Yang is related to life, which is why Granny Jin refers to the half-dead, half-alive tree as a location where Yin and Yang coexist.