The old man slowly lit a short, bright red stick of incense. The smoke curled upward, gradually filling the large room.
Beside him, Zhang Ling was carefully grinding an ink stick that seemed out of place in this era, chattering all the while.
"Master, I've thought it through. After I leave here, I'll travel the world first. Once I've seen most of what the Red Dust has to offer, I'll go to the Qi Kingdom and see if that Qi Xiaobai is truly an enlightened ruler."
"If he is, I'll assist him and bring order to this chaotic world… Oh, and of course, it would be best if I could meet the love of my life while traveling."
"After this chaotic era is pacified, I'll take my future wife and become a hermit in the mountains. We'll spend our days chopping wood, farming, and fishing. When I'm bored, I'll go down the mountain and casually bestow some opportunities, create a couple of Immortals."
"See, Master? My path is so clear, my ambitions so grand. Can't you just let me go?"
The old man glanced at him.
"We'll discuss it next time."
Zhang Ling's face fell. He tossed the inkstone aside, stopped grinding the ink, and stood up in a huff.
"Fine, fine, fine! I'll grind the ink next time, then… I'm going to prepare some gifts for the kiddo. His next visit will be his last… Are you really not going to take that child as your disciple?"
The old man set down his bamboo slips and glanced at the discarded inkstone without a word.
Zhang Ling quickly picked the inkstone back up, plastered on a smile, and resumed grinding the ink.
Seeing this, the old man finally spoke, his voice leisurely.
"It's as I've said. I will not easily go back on my word. While Little Lu Xuan and I are fated to meet, our destiny does not extend to that of master and disciple. Therefore, I will not accept him."
Zhang Ling ground the ink block forcefully a couple of times.
"Is it really impossible? Why don't you reconsider? If you take him as your disciple, I won't travel the world, I won't search for a fair lady, and I won't assist Qi Xiaobai!"
"No."
"Reconsider, please, reconsider, please, reconsider…"
The old man, too annoyed to continue reading, turned his head in exasperation.
"You brat! If you want me to accept Lu Xuan so badly, why don't you learn some etiquette from him?"
Zhang Ling pouted, then immediately put on a cheeky grin.
"You always talk about destiny… but I think you have to fight for your own destiny. You have to at least name a condition under which you'd accept Little Lu Xuan, right?"
"Fine, fine, fine." The old man, seemingly worn down by Zhang Ling's pestering, said casually, "How about this: the next time the boy comes, if he has comprehended a single word from the eighteen hundred characters of the Mediation of Creation, I will accept him."
Hearing this, Zhang Ling slammed the inkstone down again, grumbling in frustration.
"Little Lu Xuan comes every two or three days! He'll probably be here today or tomorrow. Comprehend a Great Dao Text in three days? Could you even do that yourself?!"
"I was born having already mastered all one hundred thousand Great Dao Texts," the old man said flatly.
Zhang Ling stomped his foot in frustration. Just as he was about to say more, the door to the room was gently pushed open.
"Grandpa Li, Brother Zhang!" Lu Xuan called out cheerfully. His nose twitched slightly. "Huh, this incense smells wonderful."
He truly thought it smelled good. He took a couple of sniffs, and his utterly exhausted mind and soul felt greatly soothed, as if they had fully recovered, though he wondered if it was just his imagination.
"Kiddo, you're here?" Zhang Ling sounded a bit down, but he quickly smiled and waved. "I didn't expect you so early this time. I wanted to prepare a bit more… but oh well."
He paused, his expression turning serious as he pushed aside his gloomy mood and continued,
"Kiddo, Master taught you the Mediation of Creation. And while I, your Brother Zhang, can't compare to Master, I can't fall too far behind either. I have to give you something too."
Lu Xuan was taken aback and quickly waved his hands.
"No, no, Brother Zhang, you don't have to…"
Zhang Ling cut him off.
"Just listen to me this once. I'm also passing a Dharma on to you. Consider it a welcoming gift for stepping onto the path of Cultivation!"
'And a farewell gift.'
He added this in his heart.
Lu Xuan hesitated for a moment but didn't refuse again. In his eyes, Grandpa Li and Brother Zhang were like family, like elders. And whether it was a gift from family or an elder, one shouldn't refuse too vehemently. The important thing was to remember the gesture.
He immediately accepted with a brilliant smile and a word of thanks, temporarily setting aside his questions for Grandpa Li about the Mediation of Creation and that miraculous grain of rice.
Zhang Ling forced a smile and said,
"Master is teaching you Divine Techniques, and that Senior Brother Dong is teaching you methods of Slaughter. So, I will teach you a Cultivation technique."
As he spoke, he glanced at the old man before continuing his proclamation.
"The Dharma I will teach you is called the Supreme Foundation Establishment Chapter. It corresponds to the Jade Tower level of Cultivation. This chapter allows one to refine three hundred and sixty Acupoints within the Jade Tower."
The old man looked up, but ultimately said nothing.
Lu Xuan asked, confused,
"Three hundred and sixty Acupoints… Does that mean different cultivation scriptures allow you to refine a different number of Acupoints?"
"Indeed." Seeing that the old man hadn't stopped him, Zhang Ling let out a small sigh of relief and began to explain with a smile.
"The worst Cultivation Skills allow you to refine nine Acupoints in the Jade Tower. Better ones allow for eighteen, and even better ones for twenty-seven or thirty-six. It's all multiples of a base of nine. But the most supreme techniques allow you to refine a full three hundred and sixty Acupoints."
Lu Xuan's eyes lit up. He couldn't help but swallow, his desire piqued.
'Ooh, a top-tier Cultivation Skill!'
Zhang Ling then added,
"Of course, you must be aware that for every additional Acupoint you temper, you will indeed become much stronger and your foundation will be much more solid. However, the difficulty of your Cultivation will also increase immensely!"
"To cultivate this Dharma, you will likely have to expend a hundred or even a thousand times more effort than others. Are you still willing to cultivate it?"
Lu Xuan nodded without hesitation.
"I am!"
"Then I shall teach you!" Zhang Ling laughed heartily, sat down cross-legged, and, amidst the curling incense smoke, began to recite the scripture!
By the time he finished reciting the Supreme Foundation Establishment Chapter, Lu Xuan was utterly entranced, completely lost in the teachings.
"Go home and comprehend it well," Zhang Ling instructed softly after finishing the scripture. "If you can't fully understand it in a short time, don't worry. Just take another eight or ten years."
Lu Xuan slowly opened his eyes and nodded, still a bit dazed. He was, however, a little confused.
'This Supreme Foundation Establishment Chapter is profound, but it's a bit less difficult than the Mediation of Creation. In just that short time, I've already understood at least seventy percent, if not all of it…'
'What's this about eight or ten years?!'
Just as Lu Xuan was trying to make sense of it all, the old man, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke.
"Zhang Ling, in two days, you may go out and travel the world."
Zhang Ling's body trembled. He nodded silently.
The Supreme Foundation Establishment Chapter was the First chapter of the old man's Cultivation Technique and was forbidden to be taught to outsiders. By passing it on, Zhang Ling had broken the rules.
Letting him go travel the world was not an act of indulgence; it was a punishment…
For the Taishang Lineage, the lightest punishment for breaking the sect's rules was expulsion from the Supreme Sect, only to be allowed to return after enduring a hundred lifetimes of trials.
Lu Xuan, however, didn't know the details and just smiled foolishly.
"Brother Zhang, Grandpa Li is finally letting you go! You can go find your fair lady and assist that Qi Xiaobai guy… Brother Zhang, why do you look so sad?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Zhang Ling smiled, but then looked at the old man. "You really do have a sharp tongue but a soft heart."
He understood. If his master truly hadn't wanted him to teach Lu Xuan the Supreme Foundation Establishment Chapter, how could he possibly have succeeded?
'It's just some trials, just a hundred lifetimes of Reincarnation. It's nothing much.'
Beside them, Lu Xuan was still struggling to understand, but he quickly remembered his main purpose for coming. He bowed respectfully and asked,
"Oh, right, Grandpa Li, I went home and practiced the Mediation of Creation."
The old man looked at Lu Xuan, a kind look in his eyes, and smiled.
"Did you gain anything from it?"
"A tiny bit," Lu Xuan said with a nod. "A very, very tiny bit."
'Just a tiny bit?'
Hearing this, Zhang Ling sighed with regret and took a sip of his tea. The old man also sighed with regret, stroking his long beard.
Lu Xuan then added,
"I comprehended some glittering golden words and created a single grain of rice from thin air. But for some reason, after I ate it, it had many miraculous effects…"
Zhang Ling choked on his tea and began to cough violently. The old man, who had been stroking his beard, flinched, and his hand jerked, plucking out one of his long whiskers.