The flying crane beat its wings, swooped down, and landed on the bluestone plaza.
As the fierce wind whipped about, an old Daoist immediately stepped forward and led it aside.
“From the outer sect?”
“Yes.”
“Go register your name at the Qigong Courtyard yourself.”
The old Daoist was a little over fifty, yet unlike the mortal menials of the outer sect, he did not look decrepit. Instead, he had a ruddy complexion and crane-white hair, his qi and blood abundant.
Jiang Yi made a formal bow.
“May I ask, Senior, which direction is the Qigong Courtyard? It’s my first time here, so I’m not familiar with the way.”
The old Daoist gave him a sidelong glance, originally unwilling to answer.
After all, that gray Daoist robe of an outer-sect mortal menial was enough to reveal his status, causing the old man to lose all interest in conversation.
But seeing that Jiang Yi was quite young, fair-skinned, and that a faint jade-like luster seemed to linger between his brows, he did not look like one of those short-lived beasts of burden who had long toiled in the workshops.
The old Daoist paused slightly and asked one more question.
“Which steward introduced you?”
“I was fortunate to receive the recommendation of Steward Yang of the Tempering Room on Chiyan Peak, and have come to the inner peak to await the Transmission Elder’s lecture.”
Jiang Yi spoke in a low voice.
Yang Xun of Chiyan Peak?
So he was indeed a mortal menial with connections.
The old Daoist’s expression grew amiable, and he raised a hand to point.
“Go that way. There’s a courtyard there. Just say a word to the Daoist guarding the door. Oh, right—the elder usually arrives at the Hour of the Goat. You’d best go over during the Hour of the Snake to claim a seat, or else you’ll have to stand and listen.”
Jiang Yi thanked him, then thought to himself:
“It’s rather like attending a professor’s lecture. Seats are in short supply.”
Following the direction the old Daoist had pointed, he indeed saw, in one corner of the plaza, a cluster of small courtyards with green tiles and white walls.
The main gate was half open, and a middle-aged Daoist was leaning against the side, dozing.
“These ‘senior brothers’ of the inner peak all seem rather lazy and carefree, as if they’ve come here to retire.”
Jiang Yi pondered this as he slowly stepped forward and called softly:
“This… senior brother, may I ask if outer-sect mortal menials register here?”
The middle-aged Daoist was perhaps in the midst of a pleasant dream. Being suddenly disturbed, he was quite displeased and waved him away.
“Go, go, go. Write your name over there yourself! Don’t bother me!”
Jiang Yi smiled good-naturedly and said, “Sorry to disturb you, Senior Brother.”
Then he bent over the long table set up by the entrance and, taking up a brush, wrote the eight characters: “Chiyan Peak Tempering Room, Jiang Yi.”
He could see it now. The inner peak’s attitude toward mortal menials was probably along the lines of, “those stinking outer-sect people have come to our place begging for scraps.”
It could not be called utter loathing, but there was indeed obvious disdain.
After completing the registration, Jiang Yi returned to the old Daoist and cupped his hands.
“I would like to ask Senior where the Transmission Elder usually opens the altar to expound the Dao.”
He did not come empty-handed. As his words fell, several bright-red talisman notes were lightly passed into the old Daoist’s hands.
When an outer-sect mortal menial entered the inner peak, he was naturally unfamiliar with the place, blind to everything around him.
Who knew how many cold looks Old Hun He had suffered back then before he managed to inquire clearly about the situation.
“See those steps? Climb all the way to the end. When you see a stone stele about three zhang tall, that’s the place.”
The old Daoist swiftly put away the talisman notes and answered his question.
At the end, perhaps because Jiang Yi was sensible, he added:
“I can see you’re a sharp one, so I’ll give you one extra word of advice. When you claim a seat, keep your wits about you. Don’t foolishly touch the mats in front.”
Jiang Yi’s heart tightened. It seemed the inner peak was also a place of strict hierarchy. If one was not careful and overstepped or offended someone, it might bring fatal disaster.
He made another formal bow. These talisman notes spent asking directions had not been wasted; they had bought him a warning.
“Compared to the outer sect, where the qi currents are muddied and the noise is like a vegetable market, the inner peak is indeed much quieter.”
Jiang Yi climbed the stone steps one by one. After walking for about half an hour, his view suddenly opened up.
He let out a long breath and strode onto the broad, level ground with his head held high.
Beside him stood an especially conspicuous broad stone stele several zhang tall, upon which were written the two characters: “Guanlan.”
“The bell that urges the mortal menials of the four outer peaks to work every day comes from here.”
It was just past the Hour of the Snake, and there were not many people yet—only a few scattered figures. Judging from their attire, they were all in gray robes.
“They’re probably all ambitious mortal menials from the outer sect.”
Jiang Yi silently stood at the back, his gaze passing straight across several dozen zhang. He saw a nine-chi-high platform, around which were placed bronze chimes, bells, drums, and the like.
Farther up was an altar built from five-colored earth, with a meditation mat placed in the center.
Below the platform were seats, arranged with over a hundred rattan and rush mats of various materials, serving as places for inner-peak disciples and outer-sect mortal menials.
Jiang Yi found the most inconspicuous corner and sat down.
As the Hour of the Goat drew near, more people arrived, and clamor began to rise.
“Elder Xu only opens the altar once every ten days. He’s made us wait bitterly!”
“Exactly, exactly. I hear Senior Brother Xu has had terrible luck this year.”
“Just a while ago, he beat an outer-sect menial to death on Chiyan Peak and had to pay quite a few talisman notes…”
Jiang Yi looked up and saw that the inner-peak disciples were all dressed in black robes. Each of them had full qi and blood, their eyes shining with vigor. Like a pack of tigers and wolves, they were imposing and majestic.
They sat below the high platform, occupying the mats in the front rows, chatting and laughing among themselves.
The others kept far away and did not dare approach, as though an utterly distinct line had been drawn between them.
Only the first two rows remained empty from beginning to end. Clearly, those were the exclusive seats of the “eldest senior brothers” and “eldest senior sisters.”
“The rules of superiority and inferiority are everywhere.”
Jiang Yi remarked inwardly, then sighed with feeling:
“Not yet eighteen, newly arrived at the inner peak, as insignificant as a foot soldier.
I only hope that when I come again next time, I can sit a little closer to the altar.”
Clang, clang, clang!
The bronze chime was struck, and its long, lingering sound spread in all directions.
Everyone’s expression turned solemn, and all noise ceased at once.
An old man with a thin, refined face and a long beard hanging to his chest came riding the wind. He slowly descended onto the high platform and sat cross-legged on the meditation mat.
This was the sect’s Transmission Elder. It was said his surname was Xu, and he was one of the foremost “great figures” of the inner peak.
“Last time, this old man spoke of the local customs and conditions of Dongsheng Continent, and the forest Dharma lineages of Ximi Continent… Today, I will not expound methods or lecture on the Dao. I will only speak of antiquity and history, so that you may understand just what sort of place our Yanfu Vast Land is.”
Elder Xu’s voice was loud and sonorous, full of vigor, like the roar of a lion, containing immense authority.
It caused the many disciples and the few mortal menials listening below to hold their breath and fall silent.
Jiang Yi glanced over the first two rows before the high platform and discovered that the mats were still empty. He thought to himself:
“They haven’t even come, yet no one dares touch their seats. The hierarchy truly is strict.”
He set aside his stray thoughts and concentrated on listening to Elder Xu’s lesson on ancient history.
After all, he had spent several hundred talisman notes. He could not afford to slack off!
“The Yanfu Vast Land is said to be the ancestral land of the myriad heavens and myriad Daos. It has endured several great calamities and catastrophes without being destroyed or extinguished.
It is said that in an age even more distant than high antiquity, there were far more than just four continental lands…”
Elder Xu gave his usual rambling discourse, speaking at length in words that reminisced about antiquity. Boiled down, it amounted to one sentence:
Our Yanfu Vast Land had once been glorious in the past!
“A pure filler class.”
Jiang Yi grumbled inwardly.
“Then why are only the four continental lands left?”
An inner-peak disciple asked.
This was the benefit of sitting in the front rows: one could have the Transmission Elder answer one’s questions.
If a mortal menial in the back rows opened his mouth to interrupt, it would be called “overstepping and lacking manners.” Without question, he would be punished.
“There are many different accounts of this matter, and even now no consensus has been reached. This old man will only choose the most widely circulated versions to tell you.
The first is that a great war broke out, and immortals, Buddhas, demons, devils, the various sages and Dao Lords shattered it. Earth, fire, water, and wind were reenacted and rearranged, leaving only four continents.”
Hiss!
Everyone drew in a breath of cold air. For small Qi Refining cultivators, it was truly difficult to imagine.
Just what sort of great divine ability was needed to sink continents and shatter suns and moons with a raise of the hand?
“There is also another saying: that under the Great Extinction, the various sages and Dao Lords did all they could to protect the Yanfu Vast Land, preserving the four continental lands…”
When Elder Xu spoke to this point, there was obvious teasing in his tone. Presumably, he did not believe it.
“Lastly, there is a rumor that before high antiquity, close to middle antiquity, a titan of the demonic path defied Heaven itself and forcibly seized a continental land from the Yanfu Vast Land, fleeing beyond the heavens.”
Jiang Yi’s expression turned strange when he heard this. This was truly “leaving one’s homeland” in the most literal sense.
“For some unknown reason, this act triggered many Dao Lords to follow suit. You took one piece, I took one piece, and thus only the four continental lands remained of the Yanfu Vast Land… Of course, this sounds more like a jest and cannot be trusted.”
Elder Xu then answered a few more questions, slowly drawing the topic back to Nanzhan Continent.
“Lastly, I will speak to you of the ‘struggle of orthodoxies.’ Do not look at the Yanfu Vast Land of today and think there are only four great orthodoxies: Immortal, Demonic, Yao, and Buddhist.
In truth, as early as the beginning of high antiquity, roughly one hundred twenty-eight thousand four hundred years ago, there once existed a supreme lineage of world-shaking brilliance that nearly established a fifth orthodoxy and opened up another continental land.”
This grand opening immediately captivated everyone. Whether inner-peak disciples or outer-sect mortal menials, all looked toward Elder Xu atop the high platform with expectant eyes.
This left the latter quite satisfied, and he said unhurriedly:
“It is said that one hundred twenty-eight thousand four hundred years ago, there was a lineage that took the ‘sword’ as its foundation and used it to prove the Great Dao and ascend to its ordained station.
It rose from the east, cleaved open the Grand Void, borrowed passage through our Nanzhan Continent, and slaughtered its way toward Ximi Continent, seeking to contest superiority with the great powers of the Buddhist path.
As for the specifics, you and I cannot know them. But from the scattered fragments passed down to later generations, we can roughly learn the outcome.
It ended with the destruction of the ‘Sword Dao’ and a bitter victory for the ‘Buddhist Dao.’ I hear that fragments of the golden bodies of countless bodhisattvas and arhats are scattered throughout Ximi Continent.
Tens of thousands of years ago, many seniors of the demonic path risked smuggling themselves in, taking the opportunity to ‘pan for gold’ and making a windfall.”
“However, though the Sword Dao was destroyed, it had ascended to an ordained station after all, writing a glorious stroke upon the Yanfu Vast Land.
Even after one hundred twenty-eight thousand four hundred years have passed, among all the myriad weapons under heaven today, only the ‘sword’ can enter the Dao, its killing power unparalleled.
This is the generous gift that the Sword Dao left to all cultivators. It is likewise where the wondrous essence of an ‘orthodoxy’ lies.”
Everyone listened as though drunk and entranced, until the clear, lingering sound of the bronze chime being struck rang out. Only then did they come back to themselves.
When they raised their heads to look again, there was already no one on the high platform.
The Daoist boy below the altar drew out his voice and called:
“Class dismissed!”